Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Episodes 14–26 Review
Sometimes classics are considered so for a reason — and this is most definitely the case with beloved 2002 TV anime TV Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Last time, I revisited the first half of the first season, and now it’s time to cover the incredible second half. Stand Alone Complex (SAC) remains high up there in my top ten anime of all time. Even watching it two decades after its original release, it holds up so well. There aren’t that many of its contemporaries for which I can say the same.
Writer/director Kenji Kamiyama and his team at Production I.G. worked some kind of mad alchemy with SAC — successfully adapting a notoriously dense, complicated manga with jarring tonal and aesthetic inconsistencies, while also homaging the beautiful but dour previous movie adaptation. Wisely, Kamiyama chose not to directly adapt the manga’s main storyline (as it was already done admirably well by the movie), but instead faithfully adapted the characters, settings and varying tones into an expertly hybridised episodic police-procedural/heavy continuity-reliant techno-crime drama serial.
All through the show I’ve gone “aha! I recognise that bit!”, as one iconic manga scene after another is recreated or referenced, but usually repurposed or reinterpreted in a clever way. Although this is a different tale to Major Motoko Kusanagi’s print encounter with electronic life form The Puppeteer, many of the individual plot beats, character interactions and thematic explorations are ripped straight from Masamune Shirow’s original manga… And dare I say it, Stand Alone Complex is just better than its progenitor — and it’s not even a close race. In terms of storytelling consistency, plot coherence and overall viewer satisfaction, SAC is the best Ghost in the Shell production, hands down, no contest.
It helps that the forward-thinking Production I.G. animated SAC with widescreen TVs in mind, even though back then flat screen 16:9 ratio HDTVs were much less widely used than now. Even without watching the more recent blu-ray upscales, my original Manga Entertainment UK PAL DVDs still look great on my modern TV when played via PS4 Pro. (The less said about the variable font used for the subtitles the better, some DVD volumes are irredeemably bad…)
Character animation is detailed and well-observed, and the machine and mecha designs down-to-earth and convincing. Even though the relatively early CGI gives vehicles and mecha an overly-clean and smooth sheen, it still looks damned good, which is more than you can say for the majority of anime CG even in the 2020s. Although not every episode is a balls-to-the-wall action spectacle, the episodes in which all hell breaks loose hit incredibly hard with occasional brutal violence. Major Kusanagi and her team are ruthless killers when they need to be, and so are their enemies. In this half of the series almost every main character is injured, traumatised, beaten or mutilated in some way. Given the generous time spent building up Section 9’s characters in SAC, it’s easier to empathise with them compared to their counterparts in the manga which often veers from goofy, scatterbrained comedy to endless pages of cold, clinical technobabble.
Little blue, metallic, rays-of-sunshine the Tachikoma armoured tanks are unfortunately sidelined for much of the second half of the show, for important plot reasons that I’ll get into later. At the end of every episode however, there’s a “Tachikomatic Days” CG comedy short that never fails to raise a smile. The Tachikomas are so cute, innocent and mischievous that it’s hilarious to watch them spying on Batou or Ishikawa’s bedtime routines, or playing catch with props from the preceding episode, or just generally messing with one another.
It’s surely deliberate on Kamiyama’s behalf that in some ways, the Tachikomas are the most “human” of all the characters — full of curiosity and the joys of life. It’s deeply upsetting when, fearing their burgeoning, evolving collective AI, Major Kusanagi sends them to the lab to be dismantled or wiped. (Though apparently one particular Tachikoma quite enjoyed the process of being dismantled, the little blue deviant.) Kusanagi’s concern that their playfulness and developing individualities makes them a liability as weapons is of course completely valid, and her treatment of them only goes to demonstrate her cold, ruthless, utilitarian streak. She’s a fascinating protagonist, and thankfully one who is later able to admit when she’s wrong…
The second half of SAC’s first season is itself split into two — with episodes 14–19 comprising all Stand Alone episodes, largely unconnected to the main “Laughing Man” storyline. In fact after Complex episode 11, there are eight full Stand Alone episodes until the Complex arc restarts in episode 20, running breathlessly for an intense seven-episode climax. This final septet could almost all be run together unedited like a movie (and there is a digest movie of this season The Laughing Man which excises the Stand Alone stuff and jams 12 episodes worth of Complex story into 153 minutes…)
However, even some of the Stand Alone episodes feature events which feed into the main arc, in particular the above-mentioned Tachikoma storyline which bleeds across multiple installments, and is very important for the final couple of episodes. Administrator Aramaki’s dealings with politicians and other police departments are also referenced, so it’s not like the Stand Alone episodes are really missable, either. I’ll go through each episode briefly now:
Episode 14: ¥€$ is a capitalism-focused Stand Alone with a (possibly even more so than when it was first broadcast) timely focus on hyper-capitalism and the acquisition of obscene wealth by society’s disgustingly rich plutocrats, at the expense of everyone else. Our main antagonist this time is a cybernetically enhanced girl who has modified her arm to shoot bundles of 500-yen coins like lethal vice-fuelled shrapnel. If I ever become a homicidal ultra-communist cyborg deathmonger, I want a weapon like that.
MACHINES DÉSIRANTES gives us another welcome Tachikoma-centred episode with some really fascinating stuff about how their intelligence is rapidly advancing, enough to freak out Major Kusanagi. The little blue tanks’ infatuation with Batou is so delightful, and the way he treats them almost like pets is so endearing, that it’s heartbreaking to see the Major tear them away from him. I love the Tachikoma’s naive attempts at subterfuge and spying — of course they’d never be able to hoodwink Kusanagi.
Ag2O is a Batou-centric character piece where our favourite artificial-eyed thug goes undercover at a US Naval Base to investigate retired silver medallist boxer Pavlov Zaitsev. Perhaps Batou is still hurting from the loss of his Tachikoma friends, but his earnest hope that Zaitsev isn’t a traitor is palpable. Zaitsev spars earnestly with Batou, introduces him to his family, takes him out for drinks, and it seems like they develop a really solid friendship… but of course the characters in this show can’t have nice things. The denouement is tragic, and emotionally upsetting. Poor Batou.
ANGELS’ SHARE is a long-awaited chance to focus on old man Aramaki, as he re-connects with an old female friend (old flame, even?) in London, UK, and ends up embroiled in a botched bank heist. This one packs a lot into its short running time — aborted romance, police/mafia intrigue, covert infiltration, clever escapes… Aramaki is a master manipulator who knows how to get people to do what he wants… yet he’s not a selfish man. He doesn’t pursue his own interests, and when offered a chance of happiness outside of the political/law enforcement sphere, he prioritises his job and colleagues. A public servant, almost to a fault. It’s clear that despite his emotional ties to his friend, the number one (platonic) lady (cyborg) in his life is Major Kusanagi.
LOST HERITAGE is the kind of twisty-turny political intrigue thriller that SAC does so efficiently, and so well. The backstory of this one relies on some familiarity with the history of SAC’s world — Japan is still recovering from the effects of World War III and IV, and both Japanese and Chinese casualties of their joint war against Europe are commemorated at a site in Kagoshima, on the southern end of Honshu, the main island of the Japanese archipelago. When the Chinese vice foreign minister is permitted to visit for the first time, Section 9 must prevent an assassination attempt by someone related to one of Aramaki’s dead war buddies. The underlying technological angle to this one is quite unsettling, if a bit underdeveloped, involving merging the “ghost” of a dead person with their own son. Great twist at the end though.
CAPTIVATED references the manga’s frequent use of human trafficking as a plot device, with Russians abducting young women in order to harvest their organs. That they’re able to do this in broad daylight, in busy streets, using cyberbrain hacking, is a horrifying concept. Aramaki uses his skills as a political operator here, and that will aid him later on. I like the female cyborg antagonist in this one — in a way she’s a bit like a dark mirror of the Major — seemingly ageless (she’s thought to be around 80 years of age but still runs around in a young woman’s cybernetic body), and willing to do whatever it takes to achieve her goals.
With episode 20, RE-VIEW, the Laughing Man crashes back into the main narrative, and from there the complexity shoots into overdrive, and the plot jets off like a rocket. This may possibly be one of the best sustained runs of episodes in anime history. Togusa’s been agonising over his undercover screwup back in episode 11, and following his police investigator’s instincts, and doing some old fashioned, slow-paced, methodical detective work, he finds a solid lead on the Laughing Man case, Serano Genomics, and a suppressed (yet successful) vaccine against the terminal disease Cyberbrain Sclerosis.
Cyberbrain Sclerosis is an entirely plausible-sounding fictional disease caused by an immune reaction in the brain against the foreign material implanted in it. Thickening develops around the implants, which spreads to other sites in the brain, causing apparently irreversible, life-limiting damage. I expect we’ll begin to see the first cases in the real world soon, as in the news this week Elon Musk confirmed his terrifying company Neuralink has “successfully” implanted the first computerised brain interface into a willing human volunteer. Hmmmm. In SAC’s chronology, cyberbrains have been around since the late 2010s, so we’re a few years behind the fiction, but not that far…
Anyway, it turns out the “original” Laughing Man (it starts to get somewhat complicated when we start talking about originals and copies in this context) blackmailed the CEO of micromachine company Serano Genomics because he discovered evidence that their patented micromachine therapy for Cyberbrain Sclerosis never worked, whereas their competitor’s “Murai Vaccine” did. With the collusion of the Japanese Medical Association and certain elements in the Japanese Goverment, the vaccine was refused certification and the evidence for its efficacy suppressed. This then led to the needless deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, but protected the profits of the micromachine corporations. I feel we’ve heard many such similar stories in our own world. SAC’s backstory is intricate, and depressingly familiar. I mean that as a strength.
When Togusa and his teammates learn of the truth, they attempt to bring the conspiracy to light, unfortunately things don’t go to plan — first Togusa is shot, Aramaki is almost framed as a drug addict, their main witness Dr Imakurusu is murdered, then a creepy purple-haired fake doctor tries to destroy the Major’s brain during a body-swap operation. This scene is particularly upsetting as our normally extremely capable protagonist is completely disabled, in a room blocked from all telecommunications. Her enemy violates her exposed cyberbrain with large acupuncture-like needles, first disabling her ability to move, then removing her senses one by one. It’s pretty nightmarish, especially as Kusanagi’s friend sits in the corridor outside, completely oblivious to the significant medical malpractice happening in front of her! Help arrives from a rather unexpected source. This eventually leads to one of the biggest, most gasp-inducing twists in the entire series, when Serano Genomics’ CEO is once again kidnapped by the Laughing Man… or is he?
Once Aramaki identifies a senior government member as the main instigator behind the whole Serano Genomics/Murai Vaccine/Laughing Man incident, Section 9 become government enemy number one and are forced to disband. Their base is invaded by the Umibozu, an elite black ops paramilitary unit, with several members using prototype power armour that Appleseed fans might recognise as Landmate mechs. This is such a great scene, as the Major and friends essentially blow up their entire base and attempt to fake their own deaths. TV anime action is rarely this spectacular, or sustained, and it holds up incredibly well against its contemporary rivals.
Unfortunately most of Section 9 ends up in government custody, with only the Major and Batou left to fight for truth and justice! They share a really tender scene together that almost hints at some kind of romance, but although I think Batou probably loves her, I’m not sure Kusanagi really harbours those kind of feelings for anyone. Yeah, she has her, uh… close… female friends, but she uses them mostly for recreational purposes. Oh well, at least the Tachikomas love Batou! Three of them return in the most hilarious, heartwarming, but also ultimately tragic way, as they sacrifice themselves for him. I love those silly blue metal bug boys.
Finally we get an explanation about the Major’s wristwatch — I was incorrect in the last article — it’s not a memento of her biological body, it’s a memento of when she graduated from her last child-sized body into her final adult-sized prosthetic. Doesn’t seem to stop her from remotely controlling random spare child bodies every now and then, though. She uses the watch on her “prime” body, ie the one that contains her actual, physical cyberbrain. So keep an eye out for whenever the Major doesn’t wear her watch… This is relevant to a particularly brutal scene later on that’s directly lifted from the manga, where the Major suffers grievous bodily harm.
Final episode STAND ALONE COMPLEX, with its prominent title drop, is a deliberately anticlimactic, quiet coda set three months after the dust has settled, though it may as well be titled “Everyone Is Mean To Togusa”. Poor guy has been left to his own devices, thinking all of his friends are either dead or imprisoned, it’s understandable he’d be pissed off to find that Aramaki et al had pulled the wool over his eyes. We get a final scene with the “original” Laughing Man, who of course turns out to be anything but. It’s been the entire point of this plot that there are no definitive explanations or origins for Stand Alone Complexes, and that sometimes inexplicable phenomenae seem to arise wholesale from complex sociological environments like the internet. I remember being totally mystified by this when I watched it 20 years ago, but I think I get it now.
It’s kind of funny, and not at all deliberate, that as I finish this article it’s “Laughing Man Day” — in-story it’s February 3rd 2024 when the Laughing Man abducts the Serano Genomics CEO and makes his appearance on TV, along with his iconic logo. There probably isn’t a better day to publish an overview of the season in which he is prominently featured. SAC’s 2024 of course isn’t the same as the real world’s 2024 — although the internet is a huge part of modern life, we’ve not quite reached the same level of biological/cybernetic almalgamation as is common in Major Kusanagi’s compatriots. We’ve also not had to survive two world wars to get here either. With grumbles in the news about inevitable war with Russia and the possibility of reactivating the draft for UK citizens, I do worry that a timeline not dissimilar to SAC’s may be awaiting us in the very near future…
The very best SF anime leave us plenty of food for thought, and SAC has certainly done that. I’ve really enjoyed going back to watch this show all over again, and I’m excited to revisit season 2 (2nd Gig), as it will be my first time watching it without incomprehensible bootleg subtitles… See you again soon!
