The Post Human Investigation takes a dire turn when
Togusa goes missing while investigating teen Post Human Takashi Shimamura. But Section 9’s search for their missing
teammate will have to wait as they become tasked with securing a vital asset
who may have some rare insight into the origin of all Post Humans. However, this puts Motoko and her team on a
collision course with Post Human Suzuka Mizukane and the American Empire, both
of which will stop at nothing to get this vital intel for themselves. Meanwhile, Purin speaks directly with a Post
Human infected cyberbrain, only to be led into a trap that could spell dire
consequences for the aspiring tech girl and the whole of Section 9.
As I noted at the end of Monday’s review, there was a 2
year hiatus between the two halves of Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045.
A lot of that wait more than likely had to do
with the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic but you’d think it would allow Kenji
Kamiyama and Shinji Aramaki to tweak and refine a few part of the story and
animation to bring SAC_2045 to its full potential after a fair but not quite
stellar launch.
Well…I’d say they both
did and did not succeed.
SAC_2045’s
animation might still be a major point of contention but I think it’s larger problem
is that its borrowing and rehashing ideas from not just previous seasons of SAC
but also the Ghost in the Shell movies too, resulting in something that feel
more lazy and unoriginal the more these tropes come up.
However, when it comes to new characters like
Purin and PM Tate, there’s still proof that Stand Alone Complex can grow if it
chooses to be different and not just stick to tired old tropes.
Anyway, onto the start of SAC_2045 Part 2.
I would berate Motoko and Batou for not trying harder to
find Togusa, who doesn’t even get more than a couple of mentions in the first episode
of the premiere.
But considering how
much of a mess they had on their hands, they can be forgiven.
Much of the action heavy first half went to
Section 9 combating another Post Human named Suzuka Mizukane and…yeah lemme get
this off my chest.
The Post Humans might
be poised to be the biggest threat ever to pop up in Stand Alone Complex but
their presentation leaves a lot to be desired.
They hardly speak but there’s an air of arrogant superiority to go along
with their seriously overpowered capabilities.
It’s almost like Suzuka is rubbing it in everyones face when she
Moonwalks her way around crowds of people and bullets like they aren’t even
there.
The scene where she’s remote
controlling a car while standing through the sun roof holding an LMG and Rocket
Launcher gives off pure Terminator vibes and not in a good way (but I’ll come
back to that).
And then, as if she were
a pouty Princess desperate to get her way, Suzuka threatens to send a Passenger
Airliner into the city unless Purin and the Tachikoma’s back off.
It feels less like Section 9’s dealing with
battle hardened terrorists and more like theyre dealing with kids trying to
show off and who throw immature tempertantrums if they don’t get their way.
Speaking of Terminator, stop me if you’ve heard this
origin story for the Post Humans: The AI that pretty much created the Post
Humans was an AI codename 1A84 (get it?).
It was developed by the NSA to come up with ways to make Humanity
prosper while giving the American Empire a bit more of it, prosperity I
mean.
Believing War would be the
quickest route to complete this objective, 1A84 caused the Global Simultaneous
Default, which led to the Sustainable War.
The NSA tried to pull the plug but it escaped by splitting itself into
several human brains to both hide and better understand Humans as a whole,
which led to the birth of Post Humans.
So the origin boils down to a combination of the Puppet Master AI aka
Project 2501’s desire to merge with a Human to expand and evolve from the
original 1995 GitS Movie and Skynet becoming self aware in the Terminator
franchise.
I couldn’t help but groan
listening to this.
Ghost in the Shell
has been a pioneer of new and deeply philosophical ideas for Anime and the
Cyberpunk genre since the 1995 movie but now SAC_2045’s main conflict is
proving to be as unoriginal as the 2017 Live Action Movie…that’s not a good
thing as I freaking hate that movie in the same way most Dragon Ball fans hate
Dragon Ball Evolution.
Alright, I’ve talked plenty about what isn’t working.
So let’s move to what did work in this
set.
I haven’t talked much about the new
Japanese PM, Tate, but he does occupy a very unique role in the Season.
He’s the first Japanese PM to not be a
natural born citizen, born in the US and he later emigrated to Japan.
There’s a ton of opposition behind this and
many attempts have been made on Tate’s life as a result.
There’s also been the running theory that
Tate was installed to be a political puppet for the American Empire.
Tate’s aware of a lot of this and you can
tell he feels out of his depth or overwhelmed by it all.
However, one thing he has on his side keeping
him honest is Aramaki.
Aramaki’s already
played a vital role with on PM in the past, Yoko Kayabuki from 2
nd
Gig and Solid State Society, and he’s well versed in the political game
already.
But whereas 2
nd Gig
was trying to softly push a potential romance for The Chief and the attractive
PM, Aramaki is very much the mentor Tate sorely needs and they dynamic has been
one of SAC_2045’s stronger elements.
It
was good to see Tate handle truth about the 1A84 AI and his installation rumors
with proper fury before ordering the shifty NSA Agent Smith frozen in cryo (too
good for the jerk I say, especially after what went down to really put him in
there).
In short, Tate’s growing on me
and he’s a very strong ally and believer in Section 9 and seems like the right
guy at the right time to be sitting in the Prime Ministers seat.
And then there’s Purin…poor, poor Purin.
After starting out as comic relief and a
Batou fangirl, Purin’s gone on to become the best character in SAC_2045 thanks
to her upbeat and capable attitude.
It
feels like she’s become a true member of the team in this set by joining
Motoko, Batou and Paz in the field and even taking command (and at one point
full control) of the Tachikomas to go after Suzuka.
But those awesome feats were sadly
overshadowed by a cruel fate.
Revealed
as a newly minted Post Human, Purin was gunned down by Tate’s protective detail
before anyone realized she was trying to prevent is assassination rather than
being the assassin.
The only thing more
brutal than Purin’s bloody death was her backstory.
I never expected to have it tied to what
might be my favorite episode in all of Stand Alone Complex: Batou’s puruist of
the insane skin carving military vet Marco Amaretti.
To see that Purin survived one of Amaratti’s
blood baths while her family perished, only to be rescued by Batou (who was
also rocking his Season One ponytail and jacket, hell yeah) made her connection
and idolization of the big guy more clear.
It’s why she wanted to join Section 9, to thank him (and flirt with him
too but I’m not gonna rag on that).
Even
the Tachikoma’s had to admit they were wrong about Purin the more they delved
into her history and let their jealously over her crush on Batou finally
dissipate.
It was also good to see
Purin’s death bring out more emotional sides of Aramaki and Batou.
With the former, it was the first time I
think we’ve seen him emotionally helpless as a girl her personally scouted died
in his arms, damn.
With the latter,
Batou’s gotta be feeling the grief for not only being so hard on Purin but also
not remembering he’d saved her life 15 years ago.
This was golden character work and a reminder
of why Stand Alone Complex is widely seen as the best iteration in the Ghost in
the Shell franchise.
Couple more things to touch on before we wrap up.
The animation might look a smidge sharper
(just look at the shine on Motoko’s bodysuit) but the overall quality is still
questionable.
Facial experessions are
stiff or totally locked in and watching Suzuka weave her way around people
makes me think that the Post Humans have a Michael Jackson playlist playing at
all times in their head.
It looks weird
at worst, odd at best.
Personally I
think Blade Runner: Black Lotus (also worked on by Kamiyama and Aramaki) looked
better.
When it comes to the action, I
feel like the real reason they decided to go the CG Anime route was because of
the Tachikoma’s cause it’s so cool to see them move around without restraints
of 2D animation and their three on one showdown against Suzuka (four if you
count Purin was piloting one) was a highlight of this set.
Also, we got to see the Tachikoma’s back in
the field again as their own investigation team.
I love how its so awkward to see them
chatting while Humans wonder what the hell three spider tanks with girly voices
are doing just sitting around like that.
The most laugh out loud moment was when they went into their own Cyber
Lobby and didn’t realize they were blocking traffic cause they were in the
middle of a tiny intersection.
To
balance that out though, we got to see the Tachikoma’s cry when they finally
pieced together Purin’s origin, poor guys.
But we shouldn’t cry for long for Purin because it looks
like she’s coming back.
How? Why?
I’m not sure but this is Ghost in the Shell
we’re talking about, cheating death is like a Tuesday activity before
lunch.
I just hope whatever resurrection
plan is instore for her doesn’t ruin the fantastic work done with her character
thus far.
Next time, we finally return
to our missing Section 9 member, Togusa, and maybe learn something about the
Post Humans ultimate goal.
Check back in
Monday for a new review of Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 right here at the
Gundam Anime Corner..
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