Following nuclear World War III and non-nuclear World War IV (also referred to as the Second Vietnam War), Japan passed an act known as the Refugee Special Action Policy, inviting war refugees from all across Asia to enter Japan. One of them is Gino, a helicopter pilot who lives in his own fantasy world.
- Arc Words: "Reset the world".
- Bait-and-Switch: The Action Prologue makes it look like a normal episode about terrorists or political assassination, then the assassin is revealed to be a helicopter pilot called Gino having an Indulgent Fantasy Segue about killing the VIP he ferries around.
- Complexity Addiction: It all seems a rather complicated way for Section 9 to run a background check on a potential threat.
- Dream Sue: In his fantasies he's a steely-eyed assassin ready to kill and die for his philosophy, but in real life Gino finds himself unable to perform with a prostitute, then gets beaten up by her pimp who steals his money and Desert Eagle pistol, making Gino beg for his life. At the end of the episode, Kusanagi decides that he'll never act on his fantasies.
- Indulgent Fantasy Segue: Gino has repeated fantasies in which he assassinates the VIP and gains the attention of his aloof mistress.
- High-Class Call Girl: Kusanagi poses as a professional courtesan as part of her investigation. Gino pines after such an unapproachable beauty and incorporates her into his fantasies. At one point he approaches Batou (posing as Kusanagi's bodyguard) with a wad of cash to purchase her services. Batou sends him packing. "Ain't enough. You keep your chickenfeed. It ain't nowhere near enough."
- Quit Your Whining: Batou indicates his own cyborg body and tells Gino that a lot of people lost something precious during the war. "We belong to a big club." Gino just flees.
- No-Respect Guy: Gino sees himself as this; when his VIP passenger doesn't notice that he took the day off, he has a fantasy of committing Murder-Suicide by deliberately crashing the helicopter.
- The Reveal: Section 9 has been investigating Gino the whole time, but find he has no connection with the terrorist attacks that are going on and decide that he's not a threat. Turns out Gino's injuries aren't from combat, but from a particularly nasty sexually-transmitted disease he picked up while serving overseas. So he doesn't even have the consolation of being a war hero, explaining his retreat into Power Fantasy.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: "NIGHT CRUISE" follows a one-shot character for 90% of the episode and features the Major and Batou in what could easily be cameo appearances. It has no overall relation to the storyline other than to foreshadow and highlight the treatment of post-war refugees, which would become more prominent as the season goes on.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Gino lets himself get lost to his own delusions of grandeur in order to forget all he's gone through and cope with how disgusting reality has become.
- Stalker with a Crush: Gino to Kusanagi, who is posing as a High-Class Call Girl. He doesn't follow her around (though he makes an inept attempt to purchase her services) but waxes lyrical about her perfection and has fantasies of giving his life to save her.Gino: 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.
- Whole-Plot Reference: To Taxi Driver.
