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Ghost In The Shell Stand Alone Complex
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Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is the TV series adaptation of Shirow Masamune's classic manga, Ghost In The Shell. It follows the activities of a covert operations police counter-terrorist task force called (in translation) Public Security (or Public Peace/Safety) Section 9.
The series is visually stunning, home to some of the finest digital cel animation to be seen anywhere (shot in full widescreen). The plot and characterization is exceptionally deep, with philosophical implications about dehumanization through technology and synthetic life being played out alongside running gun battles.
The world of the TV series is different from that of the original cult hit Ghost In The Shell feature film and its sequel ( Ghost in the Shell: Innocence), as well as that of the original manga. The original two feature films and the manga focus on Major Kusanagi as she leaves Section 9 to evolve into something beyond human, with the aid of a mysterious "software life-form" called The Puppetmaster or Experiment 2501. This figure has yet to appear in the series, and Section 9, including the Major, remains together as yet.
There have been two 26 episode series so far. The first was Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, while the second, sequel TV series, is called Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Second Gig. For obvious reasons, both of these are usually abbreviated by fans; the first as "GITS:SAC" (pronounced "Git-Sack" by the uncouth) and the second simply as " 2nd Gig". There has also been a Stand Alone Complex Made For TV Movie set after 2nd Gig, called Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society.
As mentioned above, it's important to note that the franchise actually has three separate but equally legitimate continuities, one being the manga itself, one centered around the Oshii films, and one based around the TV series. The three don't actually interact, which can be somewhat confusing because there are some similar developments (i.e. The Major leaving) which supposedly occur for different reasons.
The anime series, like The X Files and many other Speculative Fiction TV series, has "Stand Alone" episodes following a single case and other ("Complex") episodes following the ongoing Story Arc involving a hacker known as The Laughing Man. In 2nd Gig, there are three types of episode: "individual", "dividual", and "dual", relating to the storyline of a terrorist group called the "Individual Eleven".
As of Spring 2008, Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks have acquired the rights to Ghost In The Shell and plan to make a 3-D Live Action Adaptation.
This series has a Character Sheet, Discussion, and a Just Bugs Me.
This show contains examples of:
- Action Girl - The Major.
- Adaptation Distillation
- All Love Is Unrequited: The Major doesn't seem to reciprocate Batou's fairly obvious feelings for her.
- Anime Accent Absence
- Anime Theme Song
- Anti Villain - The Laughing Man in the first season, and Kuze in 2nd Gig.
- Arm Cannon - Many, including one which shoots rolls of coins in a deadly shotgun-like blast.
- Artificial Limbs - Everything from a single arm (like Saito) to full-body prostheses (like the Major and Batou).
- Badass Normal - Togusa
- Being Watched - The Major and Batou can intuit when they are being spied on.
- BFG - A number of weapons.
- Bi The Way - The Major.
- Book Ends - The first season begins and ends with Major standing on a rooftop, and Batou appearing in a helicopter rising past it.
- Brain Uploading
- Brown Note - Several interesting takes on this, including one which turns people into fanatical terrorists.
- Camera Abuse - Particularly noticeable during the bombardment of Dejima towards the end of 2nd Gig.
- Call Back - The Major jumps on tanks several times, including in the opening of season one.
- Camera Spoofing - Taken to extremes, including hacking people's eyes.
- The Captain - The Major
- The Casanova - Paz, who claims that he never sleeps with the same woman twice. This comes back to haunt him in 2nd Gig.
- The Chessmaster - Gohda.
- City Noir - Tokyo.
- Click Hello
- Cold Sniper - Saito. The episode dedicated to him in the 2nd Gig only reiterates the fact.
- Colon Cancer - Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex: 2nd Gig and Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society.
- Conspicuous CG - EXTREMELY noticable in the first season opening, as well as some fight sequences. Curiously averted with the Tachikoma (they're animated with CGI rather than traditional cell-shading).
- Contemplate Our Navels: Not the series itself, but the tendency for the Tachikomas to do this does more than bug The Major, it makes her worry about their efficiency as fighting machines.
- Continuity Nod - Several scenes in the Stand Alone Complex series and OVA reference the movies, the tank/Armor Suit battles perhaps the most obvious.
- Much of the Etorofu episode in 2nd Gig was largely lifted from the manga, including the cyborg Coyle, the geofront and the visit to Sagawa Electronics.
- There's also a few nods to the manga, even in otherwise totally unrelated cases; for example, one where an invisible Section 9 agent interviews someone asking for the current face and name of someone they're looking for, remaining invisible throughout the interview, then departing with a comment on how it must be nice to be a desk jockey.
- Crapsack World - somewhat. The heroes can win, but the victories usually are short-lived and pyrrhic. The villains don't exactly get away scott-free though.
- Crowning Moment Of Awesome - The Major has a tendency to become a walking, talking CMOA when push comes to shove.
- Crowning Music Of Awesome - Yoko Kanno.
- Cyberpunk / Post Cyberpunk - In a big way. Ghost in the Shell has been classified by some commentators as Neo-Cyberpunk or Post-Cyberpunk rather than classic 1980s Cyberpunk, in that the protagonists of GITS work for the government and hunt down terrorists instead of being urban guerillas and streetpunks fighting against governments and mega-corps. Most noticeably, while GITS shows a global community still suffering from the aftereffects of a third and fourth World War, the society in those nations that we get to see has not utterly collapsed and segregated into corporate wage-slaves living in gated communities ("arcologies") on the one hand and the rest of the population living in dismal slums outside the system. The Japan of GITS, while being something of a police state with government and intelligence service controlling the propaganda permeating the media, still has an urban middle class, nature resorts and traditional society. Even the poor and the refugees in their ghetto are not "invisible" and "falling through the cracks" (except in a social sense). Instead, cyberbrain interconnectedness is widespread and surveillance by public cameras, spy satellites and the Net is all-pervasive.
- Cyberspace, specifically of the Metaverse variety (see the episode where Major Kusanagi visits a chat room, for an example), though not the central theme.
- Cyber Punk Is Techno - The soundtrack, played straight.
- Dangerously Genre Savvy - The commander of the Umibozu expects ambush, denies his enemies their greatest advantage, expects them to have survived an apparent suicide attack, deploys an entire squad supported by two walking tanks against a single enemy, and is quite possibly the most intelligent and dangerous enemy Section 9 ever faces.
- A Day In The Limelight - Several episodes focus heavily on Tachikomas. Pazu and Saito each get one in 2nd Gig.
- Dead Man Writing - The clues Yamaguchi leaves to Togusa in the Interceptor case.
- Defeat Means Friendship - In Saito's flashback in POKER FACE, the Major's first words to him after their duel are:
You're pretty good. I want you to join my team.
- The exact translation of that line differs, often altering the connotations a little. Variations include:
From now on, you're mine!
You work for me now.
- Of course, calling it "friendship" is a bit of a stretch given the personalities involved...
- Did They Or Didnt They - The Major may or may not have slept with Batou near the end of the first season. It's another shot you might miss if you look away, as the two of them (wearing their undershirts and having had the prerequisite discussion of mnemonic devices as related to personal identity) enter the Major's room and the door closes behind them.
- Digital Avatar - See Cyberspace example above.
- Distress Ball - Despite an overwhelming amount of experience and knowledge about political and domestic affairs, Aramaki falls victim to this when he hears his brother was arrested under (falsified) drug trafficking charges.
- Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep - Not only do the Tachikomas do this, but the humans themselves do to, though in the opposite fashion: at what point does a human stop being a human, if there is such a point?
- Does Not Know His Own Strength - The Major had difficulty controlling her prosthetics when she first became a cyborg. The opening sequence of the first season show her crushing a doll due to being unable to control her hand properly.
- Dystopia... sort of. See above.
- Exposition Beam
- Gatling Good - Batou uses a huge gatling gun at one point.
- One of the Tachikomas uses a gatling gun instead of a rocket launcher for a raid on a terrorist hideout.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man - somewhat.
- Gorn: The scene where The Major blows off Gouda's head at close range, as well as the serial killer in the episode JUNGLE CRUISE.
- Government Conspiracy - well, considering who they work for, was anyone that surprised?
- Gratuitous English - Dramatic reveal moments are made somewhat Narmful by Japanese voice actors saying things like "Standu Arone Conpreksu".
- Another particular example is the Major's conversation with the Laughing Man at the end of the first season, where he replies to her questions with the English "yes" and "no", for some reason.
- Guile Hero - Aramaki. Without his skill at politicking, Section 9 would not be able to operate. Especially evident at the end of the first season.
- The Major, Batou and Saitou also have elements of this, using mind games to gain the advantage in a fight.
- Happily Married - Togusa
- Heroic BSOD - Several, sometimes literally.
- Heroic RROD - The Major trying to rip the tank hatch open in the movie results in this. In the second episode of the series, there's a shout-out subverting it; she's just not strong enough, and nothing actually happens.
- Heroic Sacrifice - The Tachikomas. In both seasons.
- High Octane Nightmare Fuel - The episode JUNGLE CRUISE, where people are forced to watch themselves die has this in spades. The episode is one long homeage to both Heart Of Darkness and Silence Of The Lambs which should explain a bit.
- The second series uses exploding heads symbolically, once in the first episode and once in the last. There are no censors. You May Panic Now.
- Hot Amazon - The Major, obviously.
- I Know You Know I Know - In the episode POKER FACE, Saitou thinks that the Major doesn't have control software installed for mid-range aiming, based on her shooting. It turns out that she was deliberately being inefficient to mislead him, allowing her to blind him with a sort-of Scope Snipe.
- I'd Tell You But Then I'd Have To Kill You - Paz's Crowning Moment Of Awesome / Crowning Moment Of Funny in Solid State Society.
- It Always Rains At Funerals - Yamaguchi's funeral in the episode INTERCEPTOR.
- Just A Machine
- Laser Sight - Used to the hilt - and often. One of the first instances might have been purposeful, as many people expect this trope to carry over into real life, and the sight of several red dots on the chest of the target in question forced him into compliance very quickly. There's a few more instances where it's used similarly, but there's also a number of examples of where it would be completely counter-productive.
- Les Yay: Though the manga was overt about this, it never becomes explicit in the series, in which we see the Major relaxing on a (very large) bed with one of her female friends when another emerges from the shower. She's also subject to a rather blatant come-on by a busty female doctor when she's getting a new body, but the Major is unimpressed.
- There are also several scattered bits of rather suggestive subtext between the Major and Prime Minister Kayabuki in 2nd Gig. "Independent investigation into the Prime Minister's character" indeed.
- Lighter And Softer: The Stand Alone Complex series, while still fairly dark, is noticeably less grim than the manga and the movies. Usually.
- Lotus Eater Machine - A variant. One of the Tachikomas brings back a mysterious cyberbrain core which seems to have trapped a number of people inside a theater in cyberspace which repeatedly shows a film so beautiful and sad none of the viewers ever wish to leave - only to discuss the film. The Major dives in to save them. Her assessment of the movie? It was okay.
- Made Of Iron - In a somewhat literal sense. Despite being beaten so badly she loses a limb, the Major is back in fighting shape by the next episode by simply having her trashed body replaced with a new one. It's debatable if this is a realistic treatment of cyborg individuals, or just a handwave. Batou's cybernetic body is badly mangled in at least three episodes, too. Completely cyborged individuals can also opt to switch-off their artificial pain receptors, and cyberbrains can sometimes be seen outside the heads of their owners, where they appear to be relatively self-contained.
- On the other hand, individuals without extensive cybernetics avert this. Togusa and Ishikawa both spend substantial amounts of time in hospital recovering from injuries that would have been shrugged off by a full-conversion cyborg.
- Magical Database - Although they can justify it somewhat, and it doesn't always work.
- Magnificent Bastard - Kuze. Aramaki would be one if he were a villain. And how can you forget Kazunoto Gohda?
- Male Gaze - The Major is often shot from interesting angles.
- Matrix Raining Code - Guess where the Matrix got its inspiration from!
- Memento Macguffin - The Major's watch and Batou's exercise weights, as discussed in "Barrage".
- Memetic Mutation - The Laughing Man - both in-universe and out.
- Mrs Robinson - Somewhat subverted with the teenage drug dealer in Taiwan.
- Ms Fanservice - the Major (Try to not let it distract you from her incoming fist)
- Her fist? Worry about your own fist first. It's probably hacked by now.
- Mood Whiplash - The rather cheerful "Tachikomatic Days" omakes sometimes cause this. For example, the episode BARRAGE ends with Section 9 disbanded and most of the main characters arrested. This is followed by a tongue-in-cheek segment describing "The Life Cycle Of The Tachikoma".
- More Dakka - Batou loves this trope. Also, some of the gunfights can go in this direction, especially if Powered Armor or gunships are involved.
- Musical Spoiler - In the episode TRIAL, the instrumental intro of I Can't be Cool is played over a speech by Togusa. I Can't be Cool is usually played when The Major is hacking. Later in the episode it's revealed that she hacked Togusa's brain to deliver that speech.
- Named After Somebody Famous - Section 9 is named after real-life German counter-terrorism unit GSG9 (Border Guard, Unit 9).
- I'd like to vouch for Article 9: the infamous disarmament order of Japan's new constitution after WWII. Given that Section 9 is an unofficial paramilitary unit, I'd say it's played for irony.
- Also, it's likely that Prime Minister Kayabuki's surname is a reference to Margaret Thatcher - the kanji used translates as 'reed thatch'.
- Neural Implanting - At one point, a character theorizes that another character is downloading fire-control-software for their gun in the middle of a shoot-out.
- Never Found The Body - Double Subverted. Section 9 takes extra care to leave fake corpses to be found and the commander of the Umibozu isn't fooled.
- No Holds Barred Beatdown - The Major absolutely flips out on Gayle. Considering that he blew off her arm, tried to crush her head in, and nearly killed Togusa, it's hardly surprising.
- Nuclear Weapons Taboo - Averted - nuclear weapons feature quite prominently in 2nd Gig.
- Older Than They Look - First, there's Kurzekova, who's 80+ but looks mid-20. The Major's extensive backstory places her birthday in 1986, placing her be in her mid-40s at the point of the series. The series itself isn't that consistent on that point, and she could also have been born as late as 1999.
- Naturally, this justified by them having fully prosthetic bodies that do not age.
- Omake - "Tachikomatic Days"
- Ominous Latin Chanting - Torukia, featured in the Mexican Standoff between the Major and Saito at the climax of POKER FACE.
- Positive Discrimination - The team are all specialists who are world-class in their field. Except for Motoko Kusanagi, the only female, who is usually better than anybody at everything. If she's not better, she'll just change the rules of engagement.
- Powered Armour - The Narc-squad use this to go after the Major, and later Batou. Makes several other smaller appearances as well.
- Psycho For Hire - Gayle. In the raid on the Sunflower Society, he casually kills his own men to make it look like his squad was acting in self-defense.
- Psycho Lesbian - Sano, the Narcotics squad member, has elements of this. She is blatantly flirtatious towards the Major while trying to kill her during her body-swap operation.
- Ripped From The Headlines - The episode about kidnappings by the Northern Territories Mafia which is being denied by a prominent politician probably takes from the story of kidnappings by North Korea that were being denied by a prominent politician.
- Robo Cam - Batou's vision through his cybereyes. Also, the Tachikomas.
- Robot Buddy - The Tachikomas, cute and bubbly killer robots.
- Robot Girl - The Major and other female cyborgs and androids.
- Robotic Reveal - Towards the end of 2nd Gig, Proto is revealed to be a prototype bioroid when he coughs up white blood after being injured.
- Say My Name - "MOTOKOOOOOOO!" (The other Section 9 operatives later make fun of Batou for it)
- Scope Snipe - The Major does this to Saitou in a flashback in POKER FACE. Unlike most of the examples of this trope, he survives.
- Serial Killer: Marco Amereti from "Jungle Cruise".
- Sexbot - One episode in the first season revolves around all sexbots of a particular model committing suicide. The 2nd Gig episode CASH EYE has a bunch of corrupt politicians holding a party to show off their sexbots.
- Shaggy Dog Story: NIGHT CRUISE has no relation to the overall storyline, follows a one-shot character for 90% of the episode, and features the Major and Batou in what could easily be cameo appearances. It's by many considered a
bad not-so-good episode. Your Milage May Vary.
- Shoo Out The Clowns: In the first season, the Major decides to send the Tachikomas to the lab for analysis just as the truth behind the Laughing Man case starts to become apparent.
- Shout Out
- Internal: The first season and 2nd Gig feature many a shout-out to scenes from the original movie as well as the comic, and in 2nd Gig, the Major has the same haircut as her manga counterpart.
- External: Several
scenes episodes are Shout Outs to, of all people, J. D. Salinger, and the series references many western movies, including the Matrix, Blade Runner (twice), Taxi Driver, and Ocean's Eleven. Another episode is named for and mirrors many themes and events in Wim Wenders' film Wings Of Desire. A comprehensive list would be too long for this article to contain it.
- Tachikomatic Days: Many, many shout outs to everything from Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure to Jin-Roh.
- Show Some Leg: Not used often, which is surprising given the Major's Stripperiffic outfit (she prefers to hack her way past the guards). An exception occurs in London when the Major (dressed in a trenchcoat, but showing some cleavage) lures a police Special Weapons officer into an alley so she can knock him out and steal his uniform. In 2nd Gig, Aramaki brings the Major along to infiltrate a meeting of Corrupt Corporate Executive-types showing off their sexbots. The team are eager to see what the Major will be wearing, and she doesn't disappoint with her Sexy Back Absolute Cleavage dress.
- Shown Their Work: All the time. When the series is inaccurate with regard to physics or technology, it's more a matter of Rule Of Cool than Did Not Do The Research.
- Skyward Scream: Batou, at the end of BARRAGE.
- Sliding Scale Of Robot Intelligence: The Tachikoma are Human-level. The humanoid Operators subvert this by superficially appearing to be Human-level, but are easily confused when presented with a logical paradox by the Tachikoma.
- Smug Snake - Gohda
- Spider Tank - The Tachikomas, all other tanks shown in the series.
- Spot The Imposter - A duel between two Pazus. It's never made clear, but close examination reveals that the real one won.
- The Stoic - The Major never laughs, cries only once, and it takes a hell of a lot to make her angry. But if you do manage to piss her off, be very, very afraid.
- Stripperiffic - The Major's clothes are too hot for espionage, and that's what she wears in civvies. (Some fans call it the Battle Teddy.) However, in more formal public functions, she wears a standard military uniform instead.
- She gets slightly better civvies during the 2nd Gig - still Stripperific by conventional standards, but at least includes pants. She also gets a fairly modest, and very stylish black business dress for formal occasions where military garb is unsuitable.
- Tear Jerker: Many, including the runaway tank in TESTATION.
- Theme Music Power Up: If Run Rabbit Junk is playing, Section Nine is about to do something awesome.
- Translation Convention - The Tachikomas talking to each other. Lampshaded in one of the Tachikomatic Days Omakes.
- Try Not To Die: Aramaki says this to the Section 9 crew in season 1 after finding out that Section 9 is to be shut down by force.
- Ubermensch - Hideo Kuze, with his plan of trying to emigrate his followers onto the web to create a new society, and his charisma. Gouda probably falls under the last man type.
- Unstoppable Rage: The Major, usually quite level-headed, totally flips out on Gayle after he blows her arm off. It's not often that you see a mech pilot begging for mercy from someone on foot...
- Unusual User Interface - Most characters have the standard back-of-the-neck network jacks. Also, in the first episode a character is seen reading barcodes out of a book.
- Used Future
- Viewers Are Geniuses - Tons of deep philosophy and literary references tossed about. And they rarely repeat themselves. And they won't spell out many things (like the Bitten green apple at the end of season 2, which is supposed to show that Kuze was left-handed implying many things or the locked car door at the end of the first season, which has been interpreted as a cyber-brain hack, a bomb, and simply indicating that the guy's car was broken into) as they assume the audience memorized everything in the Complex episodes beforehand.
- Even the casual terminology often requires you to have at least some background in philosophy to get. For example, at one point the 20th century cognitive philosophical concept of "Rhizomes" is mentioned in passing. Chances are, most viewers just heard that and assumed "Rhizome" meant "thing" and moved on.
- Lampshaded:
Aramaki: "I've been listening in for a while, but without an external memory device, I can't follow your conversation at all."
- Voices Are Mental - The cyber-telepathic "voices" of the characters sound just like their speaking voices with an electronic reverb added.
- What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic - Batou struggles under the burden of a massive steel cross as he tries to save the Major at the end of 2nd Gig.
- Let's not forget the scene in BARRAGE (episode 25 of season 1) where the Tachikomas hear the Major's voice encouraging them and the audience is shown a close-up of the Kannon statue on her estate. Conveniently for Western viewers, it could also be seen as a statue of the Virgin Mary.
- World War III: According to a series co-writer World War III erupted in 1996, and World War IV erupted in 2020. It's never made totally clear which countries fought which, though it can be discerned from context that the USA fought China during WWIII.
- Xanatos Roulette - The Chief's plan at the end of Season 1, definitely.
- Xanatos Gambit - Gohda's plan.
- Your Head A Splode: and does it ever. The animation crew seems to have a somewhat disturbing liking for these; there's a head asplode in some form or fashion in the first/last episodes of both anime seasons. Up to and including the Major herself.
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