With no new leads in the Laughing Man case, Section 9
returns to business as usual before the infamous cybercriminal returned to
their lives. Rescue ops, assassination
thwarting, even cyber espionage, it’s all what Section 9 does best. All the while, some interestesting and yet
troubling developments are occurring within the units Tachikoma Think
Tanks…developments that might force Motoko to make a tough decision.
The Laughing Man case was given a back seat this week in
favor of some stand alone adventures for Section 9. Yet there was one thread tying most of these
tales together, though it didn’t become evident until later on in the set. I didn’t realize until I watched this volume
again that the Tachikomas were the real case this week in the middle of all the
other plot lines.
The Tachikomas have always been one of Ghost in the
Shell’s notable aspects. Their cyber
warfare specialist AI’s inside dangerous weapons, yet they have the minds and
vocals of children. I’m not sure why
this was done to begin with but it was set from the get go and moved along
with. Personally, when the Tachikoma’s
start having philosophical and existential heavy conversations, it can be a bit
gratting cause of their voices but they are asking all of the right questions
about life, death and what it’s like to have a Ghost and be more than just
Section 9’s shield. They’re evolving and
learning but is that a good or a bad thing?
Motoko had to make a somewhat difficult call on that during this set of
episodes. And while I think it was a bit
cold how she went about it, I can understand why. Her reasoning is that the Tachikoma AI’s are
developing too quickly and could lead to them not providing adequate combat
support in the field, which we did spot in a couple of episodes (particularly
when Saito had to remind one that it had a human in it’s cockpit while it was
enjoying getting shot at). Sadly, this
is Motoko doing what any ordinary commander in charge might do to protect her
unit and the missions they might be sent on.
So the Tachikoma’s are out for now but for how long and what will become
of them down the road? All remains to be
seen as we’re only halfway through the season.
However, between seeing his favorite combat companions sent back to the
lab for analysis and his boxing hero revealed to be a traitor AND being left in charge of Section 9 while
Aramaki and Motoko are on business, Batou was sure having a rough week.
It wasn’t all rough times this week though. We did get some awesome action sequences like
the Oil Rig battle that capped off a strange rescue mission to rescue a young
girl. Plus we got a nice mini gang bust
scene that resulted in some funny moments at Motoko’s expense…not to mention
any excuse to see Motoko in revealing clothing is always a plus. And while Batou did have to take down his
idol in Episode 16, he did so in bad ass boxing fashion that would’ve made
Rocky proud. One downside this week for
me were the two villainesses Section 9 had to face back to back. The little girl leading the New World Brigade
was annoying as hell, a trend in some Anime as to how one treats a kid running
a terrorist organization (just wait til we get to Gundam Wing Endless
Waltz). And in Episode 14, it was kind
of disappointing to see Motoko disable some hot shot assassin so easily at the
end…I expected more of a challenge I gues
For a Laughing Man-less week this was not a bad set of
episodes at all. And we got to see a
nice steady buildup and payoff to the Tachikoma’s situation or at least give it
a bookmark for now. Throw in some great
action with some great cybernetics philosophy and it was a great week for the
show, even with some downer moments for the team in the second half of this
set. Oh and a Motoko-less episode at the
end? Guess we’ll catch up with her and
the Chief next time. Til then…
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