Manga Mania Month: Some color commentary

I haven't finished reading The Ghost in the Shell (as this edition is called on the cover, with the definite article included) yet, but I did want to mention that I like the color work in the pages sporting it, and noticed something interesting that I don't think I've ever seen before.  As with a lot of manga, the first few pages of most of the chapters are in color, but interestingly, they often do a sort of transition or fade to black and white on the last colored page, rather than jarringly switching to the different style:

Here's another example, notable in the way the color drains away as the scene switches from greenery to man-made interiors:

There are even a few chapters that end with color pages, and they pull the same trick, in reverse:



This is something that I've never seen any other manga (or Western comic, although it's not as likely to be an issue there) do.  It's an interesting idea, and one that could stand to be explored.  Masamune Shirow; he was kind of ahead of his time, wasn't he?