Friday, July 29, 2011

Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex impression


Should have watched this series earlier.
After watching Muvluv MAD videos which used Ghost in the Shell Song i become interested with the series and i am not wrong decided to watch it. I would say the strongest point of GiTS is its cyberpunk futuristic setting while look feasible enough for a near future sci-fi setting. I also like this series as they got equal share of Intense action and political mindgames which i do enjoy.


 Ghost in the Shell settings takes place around year 2030s where the world have experienced 4th world War where the technology of Cybernetics flourished. Most of the population in developed nations already have their brains got Augmented with Cybernetics which provide them direct interface to the internet and makes life convenient while the crimes also adapt the technology.

GiTS series focus on a Japanese Police division Section 9 where they serve as counter terrorist unit and specialist in wet works and cyber warfare. This section only has 7 core members which had different specialties and led by Major Motoko Kusanagi who had a full prosthetic body. While the Section 9 are few in number, they are pretty much the most elite unit of police where usually they are deployed in dangerous and complex missions. For Stand Alone Complex, the series mainly focus on case known as "The Laughing Man"



"The Laughing Man" was the nickname given to a genius hacker who was famous for blackmailing Large corporations which seems to be corrupt. 6 years prior to SAC He became famous after pointing a gun to an Executive of a large micromachine company in the front of media stating that he demand the executive guy to confess something. What makes him famous is that he is able to hack the media to conceal his face while being shown on Tv with a logo which makes him called the Laughing man. Section 9 is tasked to investigate this hacker after showing up again after 6 years of absence. As the Section 9 investigate this case they gradually find the event 6 years ago is somehow related with the conpiracy inside the government body which become more corrupt and this is the Task of the section 9 to bring the people responsible for the corruption to justice.


One of the reason that i should have watched the series earlier because it has really interesting characters and Tachikomas are my favorite. Tachikoma are Think Tanks used by section 9 which are modernized combat vehicle which are much better compared to the present counterpart in particular their advanced AI and adaptability of terrain. What makes tachikoma become my favorite is their AI are sentient and somewhat programmed with childlike manner and they often pull pranks in section 9. After seeing this series i understand why these guys are adorable and they are pretty much the mascot of Stand Alone Complex series.


I would say Stand Alone Complex is pretty good gateway for getting into GiTS series as the settings are much more easy to understand. Masamune Shirow did a good job on creating the GiTS universe while i notice there are plenty of differences between SAC and the original series, i would say Shirow did lay the foundations of the series really well. Probably i will post my thoughts about 2ndGiG and the rest of series in one post and i will definitely cover more about the characters.

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