Ghost in the Shell Vol 01 Stand Alone Complex, Episodes 1 – 4

Description

Ep 1: Public Security Section 9 Section 9 is called in to resolve a hostage crisis at a geisha house staffed by android geisha. After the crisis is taken care of, Aramaki is approached by Kubota, who reveals that the Japanese Foreign Minister was being actively investigated by military intelligence after expressing interest in the Ichinose Report, a document detailing diplomatic and military actions to be taken in the event of a national crisis. Given the sensitive nature of the case, Kubota asks that Section 9 take over the investigation where the original team left off. While reviewing the details of the hostage crisis at the geisha house, Togusa figures out that the Foreign Minister had his cyberbrain switched with that of an unknown intelligence agent working for the American Empire. Section 9 then successfully prevents the American intelligence agent, who is using the Foreign Minister’s body, from leaving the country with the sensitive report in his possession. Ep 2: Runaway Evidence – TESTATION A heavy-assault multi-ped tank runs amok, under the control of an unknown hijacker using the ‘recognition code’ of the tank’s designer, Takeshi Kago, who died a week earlier. After going on a destructive spree at the testing facility, the tank heads towards the urban area of Niihama. Section 9 is called in to stop the tank, as no terrorist group has claimed responsibility, and the JSDF refuses to involve itself unless terrorism is the clear motive. Saito attempts to snipe the tank, but is thwarted due to the tank’s capability to link into the same satellite Saito is using to aim. Meanwhile, Togusa and Ishikawa interview the tank’s co-designer, Toshio Ooba. After some questioning by Togusa, Ooba reveals the identity of the tank’s hijacker: Takeshi Kago, the original designer. After Kago’s death, Ooba linked Kago’s brain to the tank’s AI, effectively putting Kago in complete control of the tank. Ooba further reveals that Kago’s possible motive may be to avenge himself upon his parents; he had serious medical problems, but his parents refused to allow him to get a cyberbody or even a cyberbrain due to their religious beliefs. Kago’s destination is his parents home, and Section 9 tries to stop him before he gets there. They are unsuccessful, and Section 9 is forced to battle Kago; in the end, they disable the tank and Kusanagi short-circuits Kago’s brain. However, the Major discovers a split second before she does so that all Kago was trying to do was show his parents his new steel body. Ep 3: A Modest Rebellion – ANDROID AND I A series of android suicides prompts Section 9 to investigate the manufacturer, Genesis Androids. While Aramaki questions the plant manager, Kusanagi and a Tachikoma covertly hack into the plant’s database to try to uncover any possible wrongdoings by the manufacturer. As it turns out, all the androids were of the same model, an obsolete product known as the GA07-JL android, dubbed the Jeri by its small but loyal fanbase. The Genesis Jeri-model android was popular because of the ease with which an end-user could modify it to their own specifications. While the plant manager half-jokingly comments that the Jeris have grown despondent because of their obsolete status, Kusanagi discovers that a virus has been inserted into the mainframe, probably by an end-user who had sent his Jeri back to Genesis for refurbishing, which infected other Jeris sent in for maintenance and compelled them to destroy themselves. Section 9 eventually discover that the culprit is Marshall McLachlan, the son of the Canadian ambassador to Japan. After the embassy revokes McLachlan’s diplomatic immunity, the team confront and arrest him, and learn that he had fallen so much in love with his Jeri that he considered her an actual person instead of an android, and wanted to eliminate the other Jeris so that she would be unique. Note: The episode includes an extended homage to the French New Wave film Breathless. Ep 4: The Visual Device will Laugh – INTERCEPTER Yamaguchi, an old friend of Togusa’s and a police detective working in the Laughing Man task force, is murdered after he calls Togusa, requesting to see him concerning what Yamaguchi terms ‘suspicious internal activity’ by superiors in the police department. At Yamaguchi’s wake, Togusa is approached by Yamaguchi’s wife, who delivers an envelope from him to Togusa that contain a series of strange photographs. Upon scrutinizing the photographs, Togusa realizes that none of them are taken using a camera. Continuing his investigation, Togusa interviews another detective in the Laughing Man task force, who coincidentally mentions that the task force is waiting to bug a primary suspect in the case with cybernetic surveillance devices called ‘interceptors’. The interceptors allow constant audio and visual monitoring of the subject via their own senses. Togusa concludes that the Laughing Man task force members were bugged with these devices illegally for monitoring. Shortly thereafter, the information about the illegal use of the interceptors is leaked by Section 9, prompting the police Commissioner to call a press conference regarding the growing scandal. The Commissioner publicly denies any responsibility, instead blaming the head of the ‘Laughing Man’ task force, Kunihiko Nibu, and announcing Nibu’s immediate resignation. News reporters press the Commissioner about the possible involvement of higher officials, as well as the Commissioner’s own ties to nanomachine maker Serano Genomics, Inc., who manufactured the interceptors, but the Commissioner continues in his denials. At that point, the hacker known as the Laughing Man returns. Hijacking a police official’s cyberbrain, the Laughing Man denounces what he refers to as the ‘previous farce’, and announces that due to the police’s efforts to cover up the truth, he will reluctantly challenge them again. Finally, he delivers a death threat to the commissioner, stating that he will ‘remove’ him if the truth is not revealed in full.