No one could have imagined the Laughing Man investigation
would come down to this. As the man
Section 9 has sought to bring down reveals his own hand to play, Section 9
becomes the hunted. Motoko’s order is
simple: stay alive. But as each team
member is relentlessly hunted down, is there any chance of victory. Are these the final hours of Motoko Kusinagi
and her team…or is there more to the situation than it seems?
One thing you have to love about most season finales,
they always do their best to go big, to leave you on that note that makes you
go both WOW and leave you awaiting more down the line. And the end of the first season of Ghost in
the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is no exception.
Bullets fly, people are hacked, heads are blown off and the stakes are
raised higher than they’ve ever been, just when it looks like Section 9 might
finally be ready to close the big case of the season.
So what do you do when you need to pit Section 9 against
something more powerful than the Arm Suit that almost took out Motoko last
week? You send in a platoon lol. Though while it was nice to see Section 9
rock the big guns, especially Batou and hey is that Borma being more useful
than usual, I wish that their weapons would’ve done a little bit of damage
against the building invasion force. The
self destruction of Section 9 HQ was well done too and felt very Star Trek 3
inspired if you know what I mean.
Afterwards we got the team scattered and trying to survive. It was tough to see each member get captured
but really the only ones I was concerned for mostly were Motoko, Batou and
Togusa. And man did Ishikawa get beaten
badly once captured. The other members
sadly I didn’t feel much for when they were captured mostly because the season
has not really done much with Pazu, Borma and Saito for me to really care about
them.
On a better and slightly sadder note, characters who were
given a great payoff for their season long story and made you worry about them
were the Tachikomas. Three units were
back in action and ready to help save the one man who loves them so much, their
man Batou. Granted Batou got his own
nice action sequence before they arrived (even finding a weapons stash
underneath Motoko’s panty drawer, oh Motoko) but it looked dire when the Arm
Suit arrived. Still even though the
Tachikoma’s didn’t make it, their sacrifice was heartbreaking and well done
(the tear Batou’s Unit shed before dying when it saw Batou one more time should
make anyone with a soul cry as well).
Motoko’s too late realization of how far the Tachikoma’s had developed
more than just greater intelligence but also Ghosts was further saddening. And for the millionth time, a standing
ovation for the mistress of Anime Music Supreme YOKO KANNO. She delivers in this final set, especially in
the Tachikoma battle, excitement and somberness all around as the music times
perfectly with what is about to become the inevitable fate of the lovable Think
Tanks.
Motoko and Batou got some nice scenes in this
finale. Next to Aramaki and Motoko,
these two have one of the most interesting relationships in the series. Partners and comrades in battle, it’s always
been hinted that at least Batou feels more than just friendship when it comes
to Motoko. That scene in Motoko’s safe
house, complete with a towel and panty only wearing Motoko, sigh, where Batou
covered her from being spotted by a chopper and the way they looked at each
other screamed plenty but knowing Motoko, she’ll always keep it
professional. Poor Batou, losing his
Tachikoma then being banished to the friendzone…unless more happened but I wont
read too much into that.
But did anyone suspect that the Section 9 takedown and
the “death” of Motoko was ever a complete setup to throw off Yakushima? I certainly didn’t, even if I knew there was
a second season after this one. Togusa
got some fitting payoff in the final episode as we got to see him endure a
three month period of no news about his “captured” teammates and the resolution
to the Laughing Man Case being not what he really wanted it to be (aka some
other organization getting the credit that should have gone to Section 9). It was a bit cold yet funny to see the team
string him along to see what he would do in the end. But Togusa was stopped from doing something
stupid and reunited with his team. Cant
say I’ve gotten a lot of great comraderie scenes with the team as a whole, but
it was pretty great to see them all ok and sharing a laugh. I do kind of wish that Togusa had gotten to
talk with the Laughing Man at some point in this finale since it was really his
work that brought the case back into the light and Togusa was able to piece a
lot of it together. Kind of a wasted
opportunity there.
Speaking of the man who laughs…yeah that sounded like a
better transition in my head, we also got one final conversation between Motoko
and Aoi the Laughing Man about the entire case, the trouble it caused and the
existence of the Stand Alone Complex or copies can be made despite the absence
of the original. I’ll admit, I’ve
watched this episode a few times and it can be pretty hard to follow at times,
especially with the library of existentialism laden quotes the two throw back
and forth at each other. Hell even
Aramaki admitted he couldn’t keep up. Still
I think that the fact that the Laughing Man phenomena had endured and grown
despite the absence of the OG himself and the copycats it created, even Motoko
briefly when she was disguised as him last week, is something interesting to
chew on and take away from the conversation as a whole. If it is one thing to definitely take away
from the season as a whole: between copy cats, clones, ghost dubbing and
merging of minds, ideals and dreams never die in this age, digital or
otherwise…at least that’s what it think.
It’s also worth noting Aoi shooting down Aramaki’s invite to Section 9. While he is a bit of a smart ass and even
says himself “I’m not really a team player” it would have been fun to see Aoi
interact with the rest of Section 9, especially Togusa.
So besides that enjoyable but mind boggling scene and the
fact that we get a tease rather than a resolution to Serano’s storyline (who
knows if it will be resolved in season two), this was a big and action packed
finale which blended bullets, cybernetics and philosophy skillfully like Ghost
in the Shell did long before it was a TV show.
And what about my thoughts on this season as a whole? A couple of dragging stand alone stories
aside and my personal feeling that some of the team members COUGH COUGH PAZU
AND BORMA COUGH were totally unnecessary as well as lack of Togusa getting to
talk with the Laughing Man face to face, Stand Alone Complex had a solid first
season. The Laughing Man case was
intriguing and exciting. The main themes
of life, death and the in between in a digital age were fascinating and expanded
upon in many ways. And there’s plenty to
love about the cast: from Batou and his love of big guns to Togusa and his old
school way of investigation to Motoko being beautiful, bad ass and rocking some
of the most amazing and tad questionable wardrobe in all of Anime. And come on, how could you not want Aramaki
as your boss or the Tachikoma’s as your personal mini tank? Visually it’s stunning, the music soars,
chills and entrances with each of Yoko Kanno’s tracks. Lots of work was put into this Anime on all
fronts and it shows. It may be a bit
before I get around to reviewing the second season Ghost in the Shell: Stand
Alone Complex 2nd Gig, but I look forward to reuniting with Section
9 again for another case in the near future.
8/10
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