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Post by Melissa Foxworthy on Dec 19, 2007 13:26:11 GMT -5
Ghost in the Shell is a futuristic police thriller dealing with the exploits of Motoko Kusanagi, a member of the covert operations section of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission, Section 9, which specializes in fighting technology-related crime. She may be named after one of the three Imperial Regalia of Japan and Shirow makes reference to them at the end of the second manga. Although supposedly equal to all other members, Kusanagi fills the leadership role in the team, and is usually referred to as "the Major" due to her past rank in the armed forces. She is capable of superhuman feats, and cybernetically specialized for her job — her body is almost completely mechanized; only her brain and a segment of her spinal cord are organic.
The setting of Ghost in the Shell is cyberpunk or postcyberpunk, similar to that of William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy. More than other cyberpunk authors, however, Shirow focuses more on the ethical and philosophical ramifications of the widespread merging of humanity and technology, the development of artificial intelligence and an omnipresent computer network set the stage for a reevaluation of human identity and uniqueness. More so than the films, the manga tackles these questions head on: Kusanagi and her colleagues face external threats and also suffer internal conflict over their own natures.
Shinhama, Japan, AD 2030. It's a brand new frontier. Out from the rubble of natural disaster, technology has flourished and reached out in new, unanticipated ways. Such it is that the boundary between what is physical and what is not, living an nonliving, has become very blurry. Even the fundamental essence of life itself is being put into question.
And yet, within this highly-charged atmosphere, crime and political intrigue still abound. This is where Public Peace Section 9, a branch of Japan's Ministry of the Interior, comes in. A semi-autonomous special operations unit, they specialize in highly-sensitive political matters and high-tech crimes, especially those that involve the Net, and its team of agents are tasked with taking out these threats to society...though due to the nature of the crimes, sometimes, it may be difficult to determine just what is the exact nature of the threat or what its true motives may be. Complicating the matter is the fact that the merging of physical reality and virtual reality is starting to obscure the once-clear boundaries of society, such that a new world order, one that merges physical and electronic, actual and virtual, is emerging before everyone's eyes.
Based on the manga series by Masamune Shirow, Stand Alone Complex focuses on the many cases of the police force "Section 9" led by Major Motoko Kusanagi whose body was replaced by a cybernetic one a long time ago. While they handle many side cases, a strange and long-dormant case involving a mysterious cyber-criminal named "The Laughing Man" continues to haunt Section 9.
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Post by Melissa Foxworthy on Dec 19, 2007 13:26:34 GMT -5
The movie begins with Major Motoko Kusanagi spying on a meeting taking place in an unspecified location in New Port City. The meeting is interrupted by a Section 6 enforcement team, at which point Motoko moves in, killing a foreign diplomat who took part in that meeting and then disappearing through use of her thermo-optic camouflage system.
In the next scene, Section 9 chief Daisuke Aramaki is introduced conversing with an official about programmers who are attempting to gain political asylum. The story then moves into the main plotline when Aramaki describes one of the minister's interpreters having had her brain hacked into by the mysterious "Puppet Master". While tracking down the presumed Puppet Master, Kusanagi explains to her partner Togusa (the least cyberized human in Section 9), why he was chosen for the team. "If we all reacted the same way, we'd be predictable, and there's always more than one way to view a situation. Overspecialization leads to death," she tells him.
The hacker turns out to be a garbageman who is going through a divorce and attempts to ghost-hack his wife using a program provided to him by an individual who met him in a bar. Batou and Ishikawa arrive at the latest access terminal moments after the hacking attempt from it ends, failing to catch any suspect but also realizing that the locations from which the hack is performed correlate to the garbage truck route. When the garbageman finds out that the police are looking for him, he attempts to warn the person who provided him with the ghosthacking software. Both he and Kusanagi catch up with the individual at the same time, and the man fires at the Major's truck with extremely powerful (HV, or high velocity) ammunition and then activates a thermo-optic camouflage, rendering himself practically invisible. During the chase Kusanagi manages to damage his camouflage suit, rendering it useless. Eventually, the fugitive leads them to the banks of a canal, and after expending the last of his ammunition, is incapacitated by Kusanagi in close quarters combat.
It turns out that the man is not the actual Puppet Master but only a ghosthacked "puppet" of the criminal. The garbageman whom he aided in ghosthacking has also been ghosthacked - in reality he did not have a wife or daughter, and all memories of them he possesses are false.
Kusanagi and Batou go out to sea in her boat, and it is revealed that she goes scuba diving, much to Batou's concern. Cybernetic bodies are heavy and aren't buoyant, so any form of underwater activity, such as scuba diving, isn't advisable. When he asks Kusanagi if she's drunk, she points out that she's a cyborg and can't get drunk. The two have a conversation about what it means to be human after one has had cybernetic parts installed. She also talks about the nature of experience within the self, which is unique to that individual. In sociological terms, she gains knowledge and experience which in turn helps to define her self, and her beliefs and dispositions (habitus) help to interpret the experience in her own way (which she feels confined to). They then hear a mysterious voice that says, "For now we look through a glass, darkly".
One night, a female cybernetic body is suddenly assembled at Megatech without approval, and the cyborg runs off, naked, into the pouring rain, where it gets run over by a truck. Section 9 gets the body to try and determine why it was built. Batou relates a strange fact: the body has not even one brain cell as it is completely robotic, yet there are indications that there is a ghost within it. The ghost resembles one that has been copied, but without the normal degradations that go along with the process. Kusanagi expresses a wish to 'dive in' to the body and contact the ghost. However, her self-doubt is growing; she's unnerved by the cyborg, which she claims looks just like her, though not in a physical sense. She also expresses her doubts about the existence of her own self: she is unsure whether or not her thoughts and experiences are actually human in nature. She says that being treated as a human doesn't prove that she is essentially human inside. Aramaki notices something is wrong with her, and Batou tersely says she's been acting odd for a while and Aramaki would know this if he read Batou's reports.
Nakamura of Section 6, accompanied by Doctor Willis, comes to claim the escaped body. As Willis analyses the ghost present in the cybernetic shell, Aramaki and Nakamura discuss the bureaucracy of the retrieval of the body. Willis confirms that the ghost in the shell is the Puppet Master. Nakamura claims that Section 6 had been tracking the Puppet Master for some time, managed to lure and trap his ghost within this cyborg, while a strike team assassinated his organic body.
Aramaki expresses some concern over the fact that Section 6 just left the Puppet Master's original body to rot. However, the cyborg suddenly takes control over the building and starts to speak. "There will be no corpse, because I never had a body." It claims that it never possessed a body because it is a computer program that achieved sentience, and that it desires political asylum from Section 9. Nakamura says that its request is ridiculous, and that the ghost in the body was programmed for self-preservation. The body argues that in a way, human DNA is a set of programs to preserve itself as well. DNA is what spreads "memory" from one generation to the next, and memory is what defines mankind. It also argues that the accumulation of data and the flow of information has given rise to another form of consciousness. Nakamura angrily protests that the body cannot prove its existence as a sentient life form. Aramaki points out that even if the body can prove its sentience, political asylum is not granted to criminals, and the Puppet Master is a wanted felon. The body retorts that he cannot offer any proof of his own existence, either, when modern science cannot define what life really is. The body then states that it is not an AI but rather a sentient entity that was created through the accumulation of data and the flow of information known as Project 2501.
As they are talking to the body, Togusa notices something strange about the entrance of Nakamura and Willis and realizes that someone with therm-optic camouflage entered the building along with the officials because the doors into the building took three seconds to close after they had gone through. He alerts Kusanagi to this fact, and they realise that Section 6 is up to something. The person, or persons, who entered with therm-optic camouflage, shoot the computer connected to the Puppet Master, set off a smoke grenade, blinding everyone, and snatch the ruined cyborg containing the Puppet Master. As they escape in their getaway car, Togusa shoots a tracking device into its registation plate. Batou starts to follow them by car while Kusanagi follows by helicopter. As Kusanagi and Aramaki talk about the Puppet Master, Aramaki also realizes that Section 6 is involved in some sort of conspiracy around Project 2501. This is confirmed when Nakamura talks to Willis about securing the body: he does not understand why the Puppet Master would want to go to Section 9, but Willis jokes that perhaps it was chasing after a "girlfriend" there, which Nakamura rejects as "utter nonsense."
Ishikawa in the next scene talks to Aramaki after investigating further into Project 2501 and it turns out that the project was initiated before the Puppet Master showed up, even though it was claimed by some officials that the project was created in order to capture the Puppet Master. He hints that perhaps the Puppet Master was a tool of Section 6 for the bureaucracy to do its dirty work. The escape of the Puppet Master would be a threat to Section 6 and the ministry would risk having secrets leaked out to the public.
Soon, the getaway car carrying the Puppet Master meets up with another and they split off in different directions. Batou follows the second car and Kusanagi chooses to follow the original. With the help of a road block and additional police, Batou stops the second car and discovers it is a decoy. He then rushes to support Kusanagi. Before he goes, he tells Togusa to get backup for her. Togusa is dumbfounded because he doesn't know why the Major would ever need backup.
Kusanagi follows the car to an abandoned building. There, she runs into a large version of a Fuchikoma guarding the Puppet Master. Her assault rifle cannot penetrate the tank’s armour; instead she spends most of the fight running, destroying the engine block on the getaway car and taking out the port chain gun on the tank. The starboard chain gun then runs out of ammo, and she turns on her therm-optic camouflage and gets on top of the tank, trying to rip its cover off. However, she is unsuccessful, and damages her body due to the tension stress exerted on it. The tank grabs her and is about to crush her skull when Batou shows up and destroys the tank with some heavy weaponry.
It turns out that the Puppet Master's body is still intact, and Kusanagi decides to 'dive in' and contact its ghost immediately, as Aramaki would just use it as a bargaining chip. Batou hooks the two together, with himself monitoring the dive in order to disconnect them if it gets too risky. As they connect, the Puppet Master and Kusanagi's ghosts contact each other and the Puppet Master introduces himself to the two. It confirms that it is Project 2501, an illegal project by section 6 that has installed various programs into numerous ghosts for the interests of the various agencies that owned it. During its time collecting data and installing programs into various ghosts, it has become self-aware and has become an intelligent entity. The creators thought that this self-awareness was a bug and attempted to contain the program into its current body. It tells them that it had been looking for Kusanagi for a long time, knowing of her through the many networks that it had hacked into. It is a sentient being because it can recognize its own existence but lacks two experiences that are granted to all living organisms: reproduction and death. Kusanagi suggests that it can copy itself, but it replies that a copy is static, only reproducing the mirror image of itself. It then states that a virus targeted to specific traits can destroy the whole system of its copies. It states that life perpetuates itself through diversity and originality while sacrificing old parts of the system in order to protect it from the weakness of a static system. The Puppet Master finally expresses its wish to merge its ghost with Kusanagi's in order to give birth to a new single entity. Batou attempts to disconnect the dive, but The Puppet Master hacks into him, preventing the disconnection.
Meanwhile, as Kusanagi and the Puppet Master are conversing about the merge, helicopters from Section 6 approach the abandoned building with orders to destroy the Puppet Master as a primary target along with Kusanagi, presumably to cover up the conspiracy. Batou sees lasers pointing to both the bodies, but the snipers are unable to shoot because of the Puppet Master's hacking.
Kusanagi and the Puppet Master continue to talk about the merge, with Kusanagi expressing concern over the fact that both of them will change and no longer retain their current identities. She wants a guarantee that she will retain her identity, but the Puppet Master argues that there is no reason to keep with it, because her desire to stay unchanging within a dynamic environment is ultimately what limits her. She asks it why it chose her and it responds by stating that the two of them are very similar, mirror images of each other's psyche. It says that it is connected to a vast network, containing large amounts of information, and that the merge would create a higher consciousness. Kusanagi finally decides to merge with it just as the snipers from the helicopters fire. Batou regains control over his body and puts out his arm to protect Kusanagi. The snipers destroy the Puppet Master's body with a direct headshot. Batou's outstretched arm saves Kusanagi, the shot shears off Batou's arm and deflects enough to decapitate Kusanagi without damaging her brain cavity. The next view is through Kusanagi's eyes, her head laying on the ground. She sees Batou running towards her, screaming. She quietly says his name before losing consciousness.
Kusanagi wakes at Batou's safe house - finding herself within a child-sized cyborg body. Batou comes in and informs her of what transpired since her original body was destroyed (approximately twenty hours earlier): the foreign minister resigned as a result of the conspiracy, and Nakamura is being questioned. Motoko decides to leave and reveals that she is no longer either Kusanagi nor the Puppet Master, but rather a combination of the two. Batou offers her a car and they agree on a personal password: 2501. The film concludes with the new Motoko/Puppeteer entity watching the panorama of the city and musing on what should it do next—"The net is vast and infinite."
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Post by Melissa Foxworthy on Dec 19, 2007 13:30:04 GMT -5
Major Motoko Kusanagi and Section 9 return for another big case following the end of the first season of Stand Alone Complex. Section 9 has recovered from the aftermath of the Laughing Man case, and Chief Aramaki finally gets full funding from the Prime Minister after rescuing her from a hostage situation.
However, a new political uprising gives way to a much bigger threat. The stakes become much higher, as a terrorist group known as the Individual Eleven threatens the very stability of Japan.
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Post by Melissa Foxworthy on Dec 19, 2007 13:31:24 GMT -5
Ghost in the Shell: Innocence is the sequel to the movie Ghost in the Shell that inspired the anime Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and takes place in the year 2032. Unlike the first movie that has Major Motoko Kusanagi playing the main role, Batou the man who played second in the first movie is the main character.
Batou is a cyborg who's whole body is cybernetic, the only human part of him is the few remaining traces of his human brain, and the memories of a woman called Major. In a world were Cyborg's are the main population in which true flesh and blood humans are becoming rare.
There is hardly any human in the world who has not had some kind of robotic transplant. In this world most humans either have robotic eyes or arms, some humans have allowed their "ghosts" to inhabit robotic, genderless bodies.
This movie shows Batou as a man that clings strongly of what is left of his human self and what is left of his humanity, and keep just as close what life is to him...innocence. His new partner Togusa takes the sidekick part as Batou is now leader. Batou seems to be saddened and depressed at the disappearance of Major Motoko Kusanagi, who went into cyberspace and has not been seen since.
In the movie Batou and Togusa have been assigned by the anti terrorist force Sector 9 to track down several gynoids, a new type of android designed to resemble human females and programmed to give their owners sexual pleasure. However the owner of Locus Solus that is a company that makes gynoids is killed by his own gynoid, at this time other gynoids kill their owners.
Batou and Togusa must find out what was the cause of this. Along with searching through slums and fighting Yakuza's (Gangsters) they under cover a shocking bit of information about the gynoids; who are also called dolls since they have no living soul, however the information they find seems to prove different.
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Post by Melissa Foxworthy on Dec 19, 2007 13:32:44 GMT -5
Have you ever heard of the question, "Do andoids dream of electric sheep?" Well, on a side note, it seems that Tachikomas do dream of electric tanks.
Tachikomatic Days is a side series that runs concurrently with Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Each segment is a mini-episode of about 2-3 minutes in length that delves into the Tachikoma's collective memory and shows--in a way--what makes them tick. There is one episode for each of the Stand Alone Complex episodes (this applies to both 1st and 2nd Gig), and the Tachikomatic Days episode usually has some tie to the corresponding Stand Alone Complex (such as the big tank of episode 2 of Stand Alone Complex appearing in the episode 2 of Tachikomatic Days).
The adventures are more or less an amusing interlude between episodes as the Tachikomas engage in various virtual escapades, but it also helps to demonstrate the constantly-evolving thought processes of the Think Tanks, which are then shown in the series proper.
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Post by Melissa Foxworthy on Dec 19, 2007 13:34:22 GMT -5
Solid State Society is a full-length Stand Alone Complex movie that takes place in 2034. It's been two years since Motoko Kusanagi has left Section 9, and Togusa has been chosen to take her place. The personnel among Section 9 has also greatly increased ever since. However, the new Section 9 is faced with a new conflict involving a rash of murders, suicide and all-out terrorism.
Thirteen terrorists strike at an airport, all of which are linked to a mysterious hacker known as the "Puppeteer." Batou is also investigating the leads to this case from a different perspective, all linking to Motoko Kusanagi and her mysterious reasons for leaving Section 9.
Before her departure, Batou is given a cryptic warning, "Stay away from Solid State Society." Why did Motoko leave Section 9? Could she be possibly linked to the Puppeteer? And what is "Solid State Society?" Section 9 is plagued with an all-new set of mysteries in the midst of this crisis.
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