A parallel story in 2029
GLITCH WITCH started serialization on YanMaga Web on September 9 with a new chapter planned every other Wednesday. The official franchise announcement is unusually specific about continuity: the manga shares both the world and the timeline of Shirow Masamune's original Ghost in the Shell. Its date, April 10, 2029, places the action while Motoko Kusanagi and Aramaki are preparing to establish Public Security Section 9. The immediate plot moves to the United States, where the FBI, AI researchers and the military confront a new technological crisis.
How Masamune and Azuma divide the work
Masamune provides the original concept, writing foundation and character designs, while Naoki Azuma supplies the finished manga art. That division matters because the announcement describes GLITCH WITCH as a new Masamune story rather than a licensed reinterpretation using only familiar imagery. The conflict also invokes Project 2501, the Puppet Master central to the original manga, and a Solomon-class artificial intelligence. Those connections establish a direct narrative intersection, but they do not yet reveal whether Motoko herself will become a regular participant or remain part of the parallel chronology.
What readers can and cannot expect
The launch gives readers immediate Japanese web access and a predictable cadence, but it does not establish a collected-volume schedule, official translation or screen adaptation. Ghost in the Shell has accumulated distinct animated versions whose plots and histories do not always align, so the owner's explicit reference to the original manga is more useful than a generic claim that the title is canon. The next meaningful milestones are therefore translation and print plans, plus evidence of how closely the American plot will cross Motoko's creation of Section 9 rather than simply sharing its date.