Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2004 - ) is a Japanese anime television show based on the manga by Masamune Shirow and made popular world-wide by Mamoru Oshii's 1995 cyberpunk classic Ghost in the Shell.

Season 1

SA: Public Security Section 9; SECTION-9

Opening Screen: It is a time when, even if nets were to guide all consciousness that had been converted to photons and electrons toward coalescing, standalone individuals have not yet been converted into data to the extent that they can form unique components of a larger complex.

---

Perp: [after being chased down by the Major] You people are cops?! Now I know there’s no hope for justice in the system!

Major: If you’ve got a problem with the world, change yourself. If that's a problem, close your eyes, shut your mouth, and live like a hermit. And if that’s a problem… [cocks gun and presses it against his head]

---

Batou: Borma, I’m almost at your location!

Borma: Don’t run out into traffic, okay?

Batou: I'll look before crossing, Mom. [he runs into traffic and is almost hit by Pazu and Borma’s car]

---

Batou: He’s got guts, burning out his own memories like that. He did it, even though he knew it might cause brain damage.

---

Major: [To Togusa] If you’ve got time to be depressed, why not grace us with your special talents?

---

Major: This next footage is of the Minister and a geisha going into the bathroom.

Aramaki: With a geisha?

Major: Apparently, he sometimes likes to swap bodies with geishas when he gets drunk.

---

Aramaki: At section 9, we aim to please.

---

Aramaki: Major!

Motoko: Almost there!

Aramaki: The military's itching to jump in. Watch your back!

Motoko: Thanks for the concern.

---

Batou: But Major! What if the robot geishas demand a pay raise?

Togusa: Knock it off.

---

Motoko: All personnel in position! Standing by!

Aramaki: Right. You're on.

Motoko: Go!

SA: Proof of Recklessness; TESTATION

Major: Togusa, meet up with the Chief at Kenbishi. Find out what caused the tank to go haywire. Batou and I will herd the runaway tank with the six Tachikomas.

Batou: Gee, you get all the action…

Togusa: Don’t come crying to me if that tank blows you to hell.

---

Tachikoma: [upon seeing the larger tank] Wow.

Major: Don’t get so googly-eyed that you wander into its field of fire! Let’s go!

---

[while following behind the large tank inside the Tachikomas]

Batou: I know we don’t stand a chance against it, but being totally ignored like this ticks me off.

Major: Care to head around in front of it, then?

Batou: I’m kidding.

---

Tachikoma 1: He’s so lucky! He broke down!

Tachikoma 2: Maybe they’ll do a structural analysis on him!

---

Kago: When my body dies, I’ll be free of my religion.

---

Batou: Son of a bitch. He hated his parents that much?

Major: No. It was just for a split second, but I felt something when I burned out Kago’s brain. “Well, Mom? What do you think of me in my steel body?” It was a strange sensation. It wasn’t pride… Or vengeance.

Batou: Forget about it. It was just a hallucination.

Major: I hope so. There’s no way we’ll ever know for sure now.

---

Batou: Hey, we don't even know its capabilities and we're going in with Tachikomas.

Motoko: [chuckles] Don't be too quick to underestimate them.

Tachikoma 1: That's right!

Tachikoma 2: You tell 'em, Major!

Tachikoma 3: Bring it on!

---

Batou: You get all the fun jobs, don't ya?

Togusa: Don't come crying to me if you get blown away.

---

Tachikoma 1: Harima Research Academy is the place where our neurochips were made.

Tachikoma 2: A triumphant return to our birthplace.

Tachikoma 3: The Major gets mad when we chatter.

---

SWAT Officer 1: First time I've seen them work.

SWAT Officer 2: I didn't think Section 9 really existed.

---

Batou: You ok?

Destroyed Tachikoma: I'm fine!

Motoko: Wait there for assistance.

Destroyed Tachikoma: Sure thing...since I can't move.

C: The Visual Device Will Laugh; INTERCEPTER

Laughing Man's Speech:

You haven't changed a bit Superintendant-General Daidoh. Pleased to meet you. But, you already know who I am don't you?

You know Mr. Daidoh, I tried to avoid this. I didn't want to be involved in your world any longer. I was honestly fed up with you people and your rotting rubbish heap of a world.

So I haven't involved myself in this little farce of yours since the incident occured. Even though I know everything.

In a word, I was exhausted from my fruitless exertions, unfortunately.

But I've changed my mind because, well, this show you put on today is pitiful. a farce should be funny, but this one hasn't made me laugh even once.

So, with the utmost reluctance I must I must challenge you once again.

You and your comedy troupe are going to reconvene in 3 days, right? when you do tell the truth this time, won't you?

Because when the curtain goes up, and you put on another performance that rings as false as this one, I will be forced to remove you from the stage.

C: The Man Who Lurks in the Darkness of the Net; CHAT! CHAT! CHAT!

---

Chroma/Major: [entering the chatroom] So I've heard that this is a place where one can find out more about the Laughing Man.

Chat Moderator: You betcha!

---

The Laughing Man: [In the virtual library] ...

Chroma/Major: ...?

SA: A Perfect Day for a Jungle Cruise; JUNGLE CRUISE

Tachikoma 1: Wow, it sure is damp. Our optical camouflage visibility index is definitely going to shoot up.

Tachikoma 2: Our gaskets won't corrode, will they?

Boma: Quit your whining. Just be thankful you don't have a sense of smell.

Tachikoma 1: Is there an unpleasant odor? We can analyze it with our sensors.

Tachikoma 2: Bouma's discomfort index is at 68%.

Boma: Ah, shut up.

C: Inside the Forest of the Sub-Imagoes; PORTRAITZ

• Writing, in blue oil-based paint, on the inside of the door to the cable box: "I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes. Or should I?"

• Writing, in blue oil-based paint, on lefty's catcher's mitt: "You know what I'd like to be? I mean if I had my goddamn choice, I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all."

SA: Tachikoma Runaway/The Movie Director's Dream; ESCAPE FROM

Kanazuki: What do you think?

Major: I have to admit, for a movie it wasn't bad- but diversionary entertainment is transitory, it just comes and goes at the viewers whim. It's the way it should be, but a film with no beginning or end that hooks an audience and won't let go of them is harmful no matter how wonderful you may have believed it was.

Kanazuki: Ohh, you're a tough critic. Are you saying that we members of the audience have a reality to which we should return?

Major: Yes I am.

Kanazuki: For some who sit and watch the film, misery will be waiting for them the instant they go back to reality. You're willing to accept responsibility for depriving these people of their dreams?

Major: No, I'm not. But dreams are meaningful when you work toward them in the real world. If you merely live within the dreams of other people it's no different from being dead.

Kanazuki: You're a realist.

Major: If a romantic escapes from reality, then yes.

Kanazuki: A strong girl you are. If the reality you believe in ever comes about, you give me a call. When it happens, that's the time we'll leave this theatre.

SA: Unequal Terrorist; NOT EQUAL

Tachikoma: [shoots the guards down a flight of stairs] How do you like that?

Saito: Moron! Have you forgotten that you've got somebody inside your pod?

Tachikoma: [whines] Ohh/Aww! But I wanna fight some more!

SA: Time of the Machines; MACHINES DÉSIRANTES

Tachikoma 1: I've got a better idea of the internal design, but it looks like this thing's not equipped with any autonomous functions to output its condition to the outside.

Tachikoma 2: You mean it can't even talk? It's a sub-Turing machine!

---

[The Tachikomas circle behind the Operator]

Operator: Huh?

Tachikoma 1: Keep up the good work.

Tachikoma 2: It's nice to see a robot enthusiastic about her duties.

Operator: Ah, what are you up to? I'm responsible for this prototype until the debriefing is over. Don't you Tachikomas even come near it.

Tachikoma 3: We won't do anything.

Operator: Please stop wasting my time with your blatant lies.

Tachikoma 2: You're right. I only tell lies. I never, ever say anything that's true.

Operator: Eh?

Tachikoma 1: A curious dilemma. Because if what it said is true, that means it wasn't lying. And if what it said is false, that would mean that it does tell the truth. How do you resolve this perplexing contradicton?

Operator: Uh. Um, well.

All Three Tachikomas: Well, come on, don't you know, figure it out.

[The Operator malfunctions. Tachikoma 1 takes the prototype, and all the Tachikomas leave the Operator behind.]

Tachikoma 1: Folks who can't handle a self-reference paradox are real suckers.

---

Tachikoma: So, will we be sent back to lab too?

Batou: Wha...? Who's been telling you that?

Tachikoma: Well, it's just that the way the Major's been looking at us lately is kinda scary.

Batou: Oh, is that all? The major's always scary, remember? I think you guys are doing a fine job.

Tachikoma: You really think so?

Batou: What, you're still worried about that?

Tachikoma: Yeah... It just seems like the Major is angry about what we've acquired recently.

Batou: "Acquired"? Acquired what?

Tachikoma: Well, it's ... Individuality.

Batou: Individuality?

Tachikoma: Yeah! And you know that "existence of God" thing that I had trouble understanding before? I think I am starting to understand it now. Maybe, just maybe, it's a concept that's similar to a zero in mathematics. In other words, it's a symbol that denies the absence of meaning, the meaning that's necessitated by the delineation of one system from another. In analog, that's God. In digital, it's zero. what do you think? Also, our basic construction is digital, right? So for the time being, no matter how much data we accumulate, we'll never have a Ghost. But analog-based people like you, Batou-san, no matter how many digital components you add through cyberization or prosthetics, your Ghost will never be damaged. Plus, you can even die 'cause you've got a Ghost. You're so lucky. Tell me, what's it feel like to have a Ghost?

Batou: How's it feel...? No, I take back what I said earlier. You're pretty messed up, all right.

SA: Chinks in the Armor of the Heart – Ag2O

Pavlo Zaitsev: Now I understand it, it was the same as back then, I'm the one with the blind spot, in my heart.

SA: Assassination Duet; LOST HERITAGE

Tsujisaki: It's been a long time, Aramaki.

Aramaki: It can't be! What's the meaning of this?

Tsujisaki: At first I had no intention of doing anything, I only wanted to tell me the truth. A truth I thought posterity should know. The thing I needed to tell me, was that I overwrote my memories into my cyberbrain. I never suspected the potential danger of it. That it would turn me into an assassin.

Aramaki: What have you hidden in there? What's in your data library?

Tsujisaki: The truth about Okinawa. I only wanted to hand it down to future generations, but when I learned this truth, I discovered the truth behind mom's death. All I wanted after that was revenge. It was a miscalculation on my part. I had no intention of carrying out an assassination, but I am unable to stop the thirst for revenge that festers in my heart.

C: Corporate Graft; SCANDAL

Motoko: The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.

C: The Other Side of Good and Evil; EQUINOX

The Laughing Man: A basic rule of thumb about hackers is that we live to peek at things that others have hidden, it's our nature. But, the depth of darkness in the hotbed of corruption that I had tried to challenge defeated me, and all I could do was become a deaf-mute, and avert my eyes from it all. Just as you've done these past six years. The Laughing Man, hmm, that was a catchy name they came up with. And here I've been thinking that if I was unsuccessful in persuading you, I'd simply follow Holden's quote and disappear. They went with the Salinger angle, too, good grief.

C: Sunset in the Lonely City; ANNIHILATION

Togusa: We've been through this, like I've told you over and over, that's not true.

Questioner: Then why was a member of Section 9 in contact with Mr. Serano while impersonating the Laughing Man

Togusa: Look, that was only to...

Questioner: To what?

Togusa: Hey! Section 9 didn't even exist six years ago, did it? How the hell could it be involved with the Laughing Man incident?! Huh?!

Questioner: Word has it that data falsification is a specialty with you guys, that true?

Togusa: Huh? Ah... gimme a break, would ya? Six years ago I was a police investigator, same as you.

Questioner: All right, let's take this again... from the top.

---

Batou: Hell, this is my own life. How I decide to waste it is my own damn business.

C: Smoke of Gunpowder, Hail of Bullets; BARRAGE

Yellow tachikoma: Once a problem child always a problem child, know what I'm sayin'?

---

Soldier: Finally done putting up a fight? Damn... I killed him!

Batou: What's wrong? I forgot, I look dead to you don't I? Well, don't believe it.

Soldier: Uh??!

Batou: I'm sorry, but I had to hack your eyes pal.

---

Blue tachikoma: Oh God...we're weak and powerless...My fellow tachikomas and I.

Mokoto: That's not true. What you and the others have gained makes you far from powerless.

---

Blue tachikoma: Goodbye.... Mr Batou! [Before both tachikomas sacrifice themselves for Batou]

---

Batou: By the way, I have something that almost didn't make it here. [Batou pulls out a wrist watch]

Mokoto: I knew it.

Batou: No matter how many prosthetic bodies you've went through this was the one thing that was always ticking away, keeping the same time as you. Nowadays thats far to fleeting, people entrust their memories to external devices because they want to set down solid physical proof that can distinguish them as unique individuals. That watch is all you have though, isn't it? Your only external mnemonic device that identifies the person you've been up to this minute.

Mokoto: Those are pretty serious words, where'd you get them from I'd like to know. A watch and weight training gear, both of us have clung to useless scraps of memory, haven't we?

C: Public Security Section 9, Once Again; STAND ALONE COMPLEX

Togusa: It's not like I had aspirations to be a hero or anything. However, I'm positive we followed a code of justice that all of believed in without condition or compromise. Laughing Man, you were the one who first tried to shed some light on the black abyss of this case and bring it to the world's attention. Is it possible that at this moment, you're feeling the same as I am? Nah, you wouldn't. Your not the type to go in for that stuff. You must've had a revelation of something and you're watching this with eyes that see the big picture. Isn't that right? I could tell. Major...

---

Laughing Man: Welcome. You took longer than I expected.

Motoko: Don't give me that. You didn't even send me an invitation.

Laughing Man: "If you stay right where you are, then people will eventually come to you."

Motoko: I believe it was Doisneau who said that?

Laughing Man: Yes.

---

Laughing Man: I'll tell you. It was a simple piece of mail I stumbled across on the net that began the whole thing. What I'd found was a blackmail document that had probably been sent to Serano Genomics. It was armed with a thesis that was a comparative of the inadequacy of Serano micromachines versus the effectiveness of the Murai vaccine.

Motoko: Then the original Laughing Man was the person who authored it?

Laughing Man: You could put it like that, I suppose. "I am the machine that reveals the world to you as only I alone am able to see it"

Motoko: Dziga Vertov. He was a Russian filmmaker, wasn't he?

Laughing Man: Yes. I was kidding myself by thinking it was my personal mission to prove and circulate that information, vital data I alone had happened upon.

Motoko: Failing spectacularly. The pure innocent mediator grew dejected at the base nature of the social system and he turned mute.

---

Fukami: You have to adapt in order to survive. Bend your morals, or you'll break eventually.

---

Laughing Man: Who knew that copies could still be produced despite the absence of the original? If you had to give a name to this phenomenon, what would you label it?

Motoko: It would be "Stand Alone Complex"

Laughing Man: Yes, it's the stand alone complex. From the start the very nature of our current social system has contained the mechanisms to trigger such an amazing occurrence. Personally however, I feel this marks the beginning of a new era of despair. What's your opinion?

Motoko: I don't know, it's impossible for me to say. Although I have found one thing that is capable of restoring your individuality after all your information has been syncronised.

Laughing Man: Oh really, and what's that?

Motoko: Everyday human curiosity.

Season 2 (2nd GIG)

DI: Well-Fed Me; NIGHT CRUISE

Gino: [Describing the Major in a hooker's body] Her beauty is an undeniable truth. A beauty that makes no attempt to hide the fact that she's a living creature. A purity that accepts pleasure for its own sake and possesses nothing except that which is necessary for survival. A single glance tells you this body is a full prosthetic. Perfect physical form indistinguishable from a being that's specialized for pleasure. This is true beauty. She's the only one that I can be certain is human. I see something in her, something I connect with. It's as if she's stubbornly trying to protect her humanity just like I am. Everything else pales before her spirit. Even if you obtain her body through the power of money you could never possess her will, her beauty, or her truth.

---

Motoko: [Describing Gino, after learning his assassination plan is just a fantasy] He's just one of the countless number of pitiful souls who harbor faint dreams of greatness and is frustrated by reality. He'll never carry out his plan. He's a member of the proletariat who is pathetically out of touch with reality.

DI: Saturday Night and Sunday Morning; CASH EYE

Tachikoma 1: Are these the people they refer to as perverts?

Tachikoma 2: Yeah, but maybe we should refer to them as eccentric.

IN: Those Who Have the Motive; INDUCTANCE

Tachikoma 1: If I understand it correctly, zen is not so much a religion, but rather it is a means of freeing human karma from worldly thoughts, right?

Tachikoma 2: For us, maybe it correlates to deleting data from our cache when it's full.

Tachikoma 1: Yeah, maybe it's similar to that, and having our data synchronized, too.

Tachikoma 2: Wow, if that's true, maybe we could link up with someone who's meditating , and download enlightenment!

Tachikoma (all): Yeah!

DU: Rhapsody - The Melody of a Bygone Nation; Pu239

Batou: You son of a bitch; who the hell do you think we are?

Gohda: The real question you should ask is, who do you think you are? An elite special unit of the handpicked chosen few? If your little group had been confronted by an angry mob of refugees and they had come at you with those smuggled weapons, you know you couldn't have stopped them! Try to rein in your ego and be thankful you got to play the role of decoy under my direction.

IN: Kusanagi's Labyrinth; affection

Kusanagi: Thanks for telling me the story. I'll bet that even now, that girl is still searching for the first boy she ever loved.

IN: To Those Without Even a Name...; SELECON

Male Reporter: Hey, Are you getting this? What did he say? Get him on camera!

Batou: What the hell?!

Male Reporter: Swords! They're swinging swords and— [horrified yell] Their heads! They just chopped off each other's heads! Each of them, they—they killed each other! What a unbelievable sight! [grunts] THESE MEN WHO APPEARED ON THE ROOF AND MURDERED ONE ANOTHER WITH SWORDS!

DI: Beware the Left Eye; POKER FACE

Saito: [the rookies with whom he's playing poker are lashing out at the Tachikomas] Now don't take it out on those two just because you're losing.

---

Ishikawa: The key to survival on the battlefield isn't courage or weapons. It's caution.

---

Motoko: Cover us! Snow and I will storm the building!

Batou: So, what am I? Her backup?

Ishikawa: Look on the bright side, pal: this means you've earned her trust now.

---

Saito: [narrating his confrontation with the Major] In that fleeting moment when I was facing off against the Major, I envisioned the outcome of our exchange of fire, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. After assessing the situation and taking all the factors into account, my experiences as a sniper led me to one conclusion: I was about to die.

DI: Repaired Mother-Child Relationship; RED DATA

Kid: [When Motoko gets into bed that night] I have a question. When you're full prosthetic, can you have sex?

Major: care to find out?

IN: Chain Reaction of Symmetry; CHAIN REACTION

Guy With Gun: The real deal. With these, we can mount a war.

Kuze: We didn't buy them for the purpose of fighting a war. These oughta give us enough power so we won't have to fight.

---

Motoko: Sounds like Dejima's declared itself an autonomous region.

Daisuke: Hmm.

Batou: You figure Kuze's behind it?

Daisuke: So far, there's been no evidence of Kuze himself, but it's a safe bet it's him. He's cleverly making affected use of the net to divulge the refugee's intentions to the media.

Togusa: He's the Che Guevara of the refugee residential district. At least that's what the Nonial Press is calling him.

Batou: Great, another intangible hero. The thing I don't get though is, Kuze started it as one of the Individual Eleven, correct? Why did the refugees welcome the guy with open arms? Does he really have some kind of special ability like investigations of The Major and Ishikawa suggested?

Motoko: To get the answer, we'll just have to capture him and ask him in person. You also have to realize it's only due to his involvement that we can even step in here like this.

Daisuke: That's right. The first order of business is to put the bricks on this situation by apprehending Kuze, the suspected leader of the refugees. We'll worry about getting the authority to challenge the C.I.S. afterward.

---

Ishikawa: In cases like this, it's always the ones whose backs are up against the wall that pull together and take action the quickest. The actions of our own citizens are an opposition to the government agencies at this point.

Togusa: It's a mass trend toward individualism. No, it's more like a peace at any price movement growing within the population. Even though this is basically a declaration of war from the refugees.

---

Motoko: Batou, you and the others go on ahead and gather information on how extensively the refugees are armed. Ishikawa and I will dive the refugees' net and rendezvous with you after we've pinpointed Kuze's location.

Batou, Ishikawa and Togusa: Roger!

---

Batou: Section 9, looks like things are starting to turn ugly here.

Police: The top brass don't seem to think so. I admit we're always hard up here on the field. More than a few of them are itchin' to pass operation command over on to the self defense army. I'm guessing you guys are here as part of them right?

Batou: We just came as part on an independent op.

Police: Huh, must be nice to pick your jobs with no strings attached.

Bateau: You'd think but we gotten haul our own ass' out of the fire.

---

Motoko: We'll hack a refugees' brain. Kuze's cyberbrain seems to be accessible to them at any given time. We won't require any back up until we get close to his ghost line.

Ishikawa: Understood.

---

Togusa: It's a lot livelier here than I had heard.

Batou: The refugees have been building up this high rise slum for over twenty years. That's why I don't find it strange they refer to the place as their castle.

---

Motoko: Now then, what would be the shortest route to Kuze?

Tachikoma: Major! I found a duty roster for a Dejima police station showing that a female officer no else is of full percent is on duty right now!

Motoko: Alright good work. Give me a visual.

Tachikoma: Here you go!

Motoko: Hmm they sure seem bored.

Tachikoma: Maybe they're on alert for terrorist attacks.

Motoko: OK, we're going to borrow this woman's cyberbrain.

Tachikoma: Roger!

---

Motoko: Ishikawa, I want you to run a trace back from gate 5 on the net and try to find out what draws these people to him.

Ishikawa: I'm on it.

Kusanagi Motoko: Tachikoma, inject maskarae I'll cross his ghost line using my corma file.

---

Kuze: It's me.

Refugee: That you, Kuze? Something happened?

Kuze: I'm sorry, but there's a good chance that you'll be raided by the police or a military special ops soon. There's no need for you to fight them. Hide the weapons and avoid combat as much as possible. Don't throw your lives away.

---

Motoko: Batou.

Batou: What's up?

Motoko: We have Kuze's location. It's a camouflaged harbor on the north east edge of Dejima. There's a retro-fitted fishing trawler anchored there. He's probably aboard it.

Saito: That's not like you, Major. Are you sure?

Motoko: He spotted me at the last minute. We're currently circling above the harbor. He hasn't gone anywhere yet. We'll grab him before he escapes. Meet up with us at the harbor ASAP.

Everyone: Roger!

---

Refugee: You came here to capture Kuze.

Motoko: What the hell.

Refugee: You're idiots. Kuze will never be caught by the likes of you. He's the real thing, he's a legend.

---

Batou: Major, what the hell's going on? You never screwed up like this before. Kuze's not here, and we've just lost one of our own damn rookies. In an ambush by a handful of armed refugees!

Motoko: I know. Sorry, because he was never even here to begin with.

Batou: Huh?

Motoko: Kuze is securing a deal with the Russian mafia for plutonium. He's in Etorofu.

IN: Escape in Defeat; EMBARRASSMENT

Batou: [holding Kuze at gunpoint] You're overconfident of that P.K.F. body of yours.

Kuze: It's exceeded its product lifespan. It no longer gives me an edge.

Batou: [furrows his brow] But you think you're gonna beat me anyway? That pisses me off!

---

Saito: What the hell's up? How long has this guy been running around without his frontal lobe? Does he ever stink.

IN: The Day the Bridge Falls; MARTIAL LAW

Kuze: Just as water runs downhill, the human heart also tends to revert to its basest instincts.

IN: Return to Patriotism; ENDLESS∞GIG

Man in Car: Ishikawa of Section 9 I take it. I came here to take that off your hands.

Ishikawa: Oh, you mean this?

[Ishikawa motions to the plutonium hanging from his shoulder.]

Man in Car: That's right.

[Ishikawa punches him in the face through the car window]

Ishikawa: Don't screw with us punk, Section 9 practically invented dirty tricks and information warfare.

---

Motoko: Kuze?

Kuze: Yes?

Motoko: Do you know how to fold origami cranes?

Kuze: Cranes?

Motoko: That's right, and only using your left hand.

Kuze: With the correct control software, anyone can do that.

Motoko: No, that's not what I mean.

Kuze: Can you do that, fold left handed?

Motoko: Now I can.

Kuze: It sounds like you've endured your fair share of loneliness too. I never asked, but who are you? What's your name?

Motoko: Don't recall, I do have a pseudonym though. It's the same thing with you, isn't it?

Kuze: I see, you're right. The refugees have given me countless names. I joined forces with them with the intent to save them. But maybe the real reason I united with them was to keep the loneliness at bay.

Motoko: Yet in the end you couldn't make it go away, because others could rely on you, but you couldn't rely on them.

Kuze: Do you have someone you can open yourself up to?

Motoko: I suppose I do.

[Flashes to Batou trying rescue Motoko]

Kuze: I see, I've been looking for mine, for a long long time.

About Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

• Since the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex first season took forever to complete and took a lot of energy out of me, I was beginning to feel that people might be getting bored with the characters and the anime setting. This was before commencing the production of the 2nd Gig.

Then after I started working on the second season while still finishing up the first one, I felt I hadn't fully got everything in. I also felt that the characters were sort of guiding my way.

In other words, the characters were no longer moving according to a set plan, but were moving according to their own will, so to speak. I felt that their movements and conversations just came about naturally.

Sometimes I had strange experiences while writing a script or drawing a storyboard when I wouldn't really remember writing or drawing it. At that point, I feel that I could work with these characters even further.

This is one of the reasons for experimenting with minor characters from the first episode, and creating original stories for them in S.A.C. 2nd Gig.

If you felt that we added a more human quality to S.A.C. 2nd Gig, then it might be because to this.

The Ghost in the Shell TV series inherited many aspects from Director Oshii. I didn't try to distinguish myself from Director Oshii, Instead, I totally tried to copy him.

• Kenji Kamiyama [1]

Cast

• Atsuko Tanaka (Japanese), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (English dub) - Major Motoko Kusanagi
• Akio Ōtsuka (Japanese), Richard Epcar (English dub) - Batou
• Osamu Saka (Japanese), William Frederick Knight (English dub) - Chief Daisuke Aramaki
• Kouichi Yamadera (Japanese), Crispin Freeman (English dub) - Togusa
• Yutaka Nakano (Japanese), Michael McCarty (English dub) - Ishikawa
• Tōru Ōkawa (Japanese), Dave Wittenberg (English dub) - Saito
• Sakiko Tamagawa (Japanese), English dub versions - Tachikoma