#2: Jun 4th 2022 at 2:08:24 PM
This doesn't belong in the media subforum because the thread wasn't made with a specific work in mind so I moved it to Yack Fest.
Macron's notes
Total posts: 2

This is a hill I am going to die on, as I have been fighting this for over a decade on this site. Let me rant.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Real Drive, and Appleseed XIII all take place in The 'Verse.
All three animes are adaptations of Shirow Masamune's works, and all were done by Production I.G. As such, there is some overlap behind the production teams of all three.
Stand Alone Complex, specifically its second season "2nd Gig", provides a bit more focus on the greater geopolitical landscape of the world in the series.
Both the Russo-American Alliance and American Empire were first established in Appleseed. The AE serves as much of an antagonist in that series as they do in Stand Alone Complex.
Appleseed takes place in over 100 years down the timeline, but the establishment for a connection in SAC is there.
Real Drive has a bit of a different tone, but there are connections. Stand Alone Complex establishes a very specific theme and aesthetic for its presentation on technology. Technical terms like "Prosthetic Bodies, Cyberbrains, Operator Androids". Established materials for SAC explore the difficulties that a human who hasn't been cyberized has with keeping up with the rest of society. You need a cyberbrain to learn and process information at the same rate as people who have them. This is something that is better explored in Real Drive, as one of the main characters isn't cyberized and has trouble keeping up in society.
The series uses the EXACT SAME TECHNOLOGY in aesthetics and terminology for prosthetic bodies, cyberization implants installed at the base of the neck, mass-produced fanservice-y Operator Androids whose purpose is to act as the middle management worker bees for data collection and similar operations. The show isn't even being subtle about it. It's not a Shout-Out, it's literally the very same technology and themes of humanity integrating with technology. Remember that radiation scrubber nanotechnology from 2nd Gig? Real Drive uses that technology as the frame work to develop new nanotechnology for environmental purposes that can stabilize a region's weather and such. This is a literal plot connection that they mention was derived from the "Japanese nanotech" from 2nd Gig.
So why isn't Real Drive part of Stand Alone Complex's extended universe? Because the director said so. He originally wanted it to be connected, but changed his mind at the last minute in development despite using the exact same technology, terminology, and an actual story plot connection. Just because he says it isn't?
I know I'm arguing semantics here and just... really want the series to be connected as part of my headcanon, but there are too many overlapping connections with a greater established world-building for each series to just be what they are. Everytime I try to connect the three series together, someone comes along and says "nope, Word of God says otherwise" or "This series takes place too far down the timeline".
At this point I'm not trying to so much prove myself correct, but as a troper, I'm just trying to figure out how I can write on each page that there's too many coincidences and intentional references for them to not be connected despite a Word of God and a couple "Wink Wink Nudge Nudge's".
Edited by DRCEQ on Jun 4th 2022 at 3:32:42 AM