YMMV / Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

• Alternate Character Interpretation: A really minor one that doesn’t affect anything in the grand scheme of things, but in the episode Mother and Child Motoko seductively offers Chai, a young boy, to find out if a cyborg like her can have sex (even almost uncovering her bare breasts to him) but Chai refuses and she looks rather amused by his response. Was she just teasing him or was she actually being serious about it? Given how the series portrays her as being a bit more sexual like she is in the manga, it’s not unusual for some people to think she’s sexually open enough to be a cougar.
• Awesome Music:
  • For the first season, Inner Universe. For the second, Rise. You could set this to Rei Ayanami, carrying out Instrumentality, and it would still be nine kinds of awesome.
  • We're the Great (Which is played in an edited form in the first episode of SAC).
  • Surf and Home Stay.
  • Cyberbird, the track that plays during the Jigabachi attack scene in 2nd Gig, and makes it even more awesome.
  • Run Rabbit Junk from the first season, which plays whenever Section 9 is about to do something badass.
  • 2nd Gig has plenty more, including I Can't Be Cool, I Do (the Major/Kuze theme) and GET9.
  • "lithium flower" by Scott Matthews and "Living in the Shell" by Steve Conte, the ending theme songs for both seasons, is spectacular given how rare it was for foreign artists to do songs for anime at that time.
• Best Known for the Fanservice: Aside from Motoko’s revealing outfits and gratuitous shots, when talking about the series, almost EVERYONE brings up the episode with the scene where Motoko sleeps half-naked with a young boy and even offers to have sex with him. It’s probably the one moment in the series with the most fanart, parodies and fanfics made about it.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • No information is ever given about Proto in the few appearances he makes in 2nd Gig. It isn't until he falls victim to an attack barrier and reveals that he's a Bioroid prototype that we ever learn anything. Unfortunately, this comes near the end of the series, and really plays no part of the story, and such a detail was never hinted at or mentioned again. It only serves as a Shout-Out to Shirow's Appleseed, which he made before creating Ghost in the Shell.
  • NIGHT CRUISE is an entire Bizarro Episode, even considering the series' other Stand Alone episodes. Other than a quick conversation between Section 9 off-handedly tying it to the Individual Eleven arc in the last couple of minutes of the episode, it serves no purpose other than being a Whole-Plot Reference to Taxi Driver, and Section 9 barely even shows up. The episode in whole serves as world-building for the general situation that many refugees have to deal with.
• Complete Monster (2nd GIG): Kazundo Gōda is the scarred, pitiless director of the Cabinet Intelligence Service who callously exposes workers to an irradiated environment and covers up his crimes with strings of murder. Infecting Japan's postwar refugees with the cyberbrain "Individual Eleven" virus, Gōda raises tensions as the infected are willed to carry out terrorist attacks, believing they are acting of their own volition. As tensions rise, and Gōda's actions lead to the emergence of a "hero" who goes rogue and seeks to arm the embattled refugees with plutonium, Gōda manipulates events such that the hero's attempts to empower the refugees will fail, leaving them powerless in the face of a potential genocide. Ultimately seeking to restructure society to his own liking regardless of how many deaths are caused, Gōda's reprehensible nature is sealed by his only motivation being to take credit for the atrocity to allow himself a sense of importance.
• Epileptic Trees:
  • The fandom has suggested that the first Laughing Man may have been Fukami. Someone at Reddit made an argument for it.
  • What was the Nemuro Landing op about and what happened there? Who officially participated in it (at least among the rank and file of most Public Security sections)?
• Faux Symbolism: Batou struggles under the burden of a massive steel cross as he tries to save the Major at the end of 2nd Gig. Furthermore, this shot is immediately following a line that suggests he is the one person she can open up to.
  • Not long before that, when Kuze reaches his hand out to the Major, the bullet holes in his hand only serve to underscore the Messiah role he seems to be taking up.
    • And the Major gives Kuze an apple. Way to mix your Biblical metaphors, guys.
  • The scene in BARRAGE (episode 25 of season 1) where the Tachikomas hear the Major's voice encouraging them and the audience is shown a close-up of the Kannon statue on her estate. Conveniently for Western viewers, it could also be seen as a statue of the Virgin Mary.
• Growing the Beard: While the first season is still good, 2nd Gig could be considered an improvement, with more episodes tying into the overarching plot, including the "stand alone" episodes (even the infamous NIGHT CRUISE episode), delving into the Major's backstory (and at the same time giving the main conflict more of a personal meaning) and with a more satisfying ending compared to the more anticlimactic ending of the first season.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Even though no one is surprised, the confirmations of CIA activities during the Vietnam War and the War on Terror seem way to close to what the American Empire (a very hard Boorish Eagleland) did in South America after the U.S. fell apart after World War III, as revealed in "JUNGLE CRUISE".
  • 2nd Gig focuses primarily on a refugee crisis. In 2015, the migrant crisis in Europe caused by the ongoing chaos in the Middle East and their use as pawns in clashing political ideologies makes the second season suddenly uncomfortably relevant.
  • Anti-immigrant and anti-refugee nationalists are one of the driving sources of conflict throughout the show. Come 2016 and the election of a right-wing nationalist who ran on an anti-immigrant platform in the US.
  • The Laughing Man's first public appearance is set one summer ten years before the start of the series, right in the middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Aramaki looks very similar to Doctor Wily. Not too funny on its own, but then you realise that Dr. Wily had robots under his control in almost every game, and Aramaki is in charge of a police department comprised almost entirely of robots and cyborgs.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Chief Daisuke Aramaki is the head of Public Security Section 9. Famed for his shrewd tactics, Aramaki heads Section 9 on the Laughing Man case, willing to let civilians die as long as he can protect Japan as a whole and even has his own team declared fugitives in a ploy to lure out their foe. In 2nd GIG Aramaki uses his political connections to have the disbanded Section 9 reinstated and shows further tactical acumen when he is taken captive by hapless crooks during an assassination attempt and manages to not only evade the onslaught of police but also turn the tides on the corrupt higher-ups seeking his end. Utterly dismantling the schemes of the wicked Kazundo Gouda, Aramaki threatens the unarmed villain to desist from his attempted treason and when ignored mercilessly orders Gouda's death.
  • Season 1: "The Laughing Man" or "Aoi" is a genius cyberterrorist out to expose the misdeeds of the Serano Genomics corporation. Kidnapping their CEO to reveal the truth about their dangerous premature treatment for a android brain disease, with the Laughing Man's hacking skills so inspiring copycats and even companies begin using his name to commit attacks of their own. Displeased but undaunted, the Laughing Man begins cultivating students of his true teachings, fooling most of Section 9 by playing the role of a deaf mute, the Laughing Man's skills end up impressing Section 9 so much that their chief offers him a job at the agency.
  • 2nd GIG: Hideo Kuze, the first boy that Major Motoko Kusanagi ever loved, was the survivor of a plane crash who underwent the process to transfer himself into a cybernetic shell. Becoming involved with the military and seeing the plight of the Dejima refugees, Kuze becomes a terrorist and eventual revolutionary, manipulating all of Japan in the process of helping Dejima win independence and link his mind with millions of others so he might control them for his plans. Assisting Motoko in piercing the schemes of the villainous Kazundo Gouda, Kuze sparks his revolution and seemingly gives his life for his cause with implications he may well have succeeded in joining the Network after all.
  • Solid State Society: The mysterious "Puppeteer" is a gestalt created by the combined subconsciousness of countless Noble Rot senior citizens. Aiding the vile Hitshoi Munei, the Puppeteer allows for multiple terrorist attacks to occur and even aids Munei in his kidnapping of pure-blooded Japanese children to create his ideal ruling class. Behind Munei's back the Puppeteer sneaks in children from abused homes, wishing to give them a better life, evading Section 9's attempts to stop it all along the way until finally confronting them to politely reveal its plans before killing itself, its schemes seeing the abused children's parents taken to court.
• Memetic Molester: Dr. Sano, the woman the Major entrusted to transfer her mind into her new body, has a lot of fan-art depicting her as a very handsy Psycho Lesbian.
• Memetic Mutation: The Laughing Man logo. This is an extra special meta meme, since the Laughing Man arc is partially an exploration of memes in the traditional sense, with the Laughing Man coming to represent a meme with no clear origin.
  • The use of the team shot in the OP of 2nd Gig "Rise". You can even do a google search on it.
• Moral Event Horizon: Gohda appears to first cross it when he tricks a panicking soldier into firing into a group of unarmed refugees, leading to the entire group being killed, for no other reason besides he thought it was fun. Turns out he crossed it well before that when he created the virus that turned people into the Individual 11, creating a dozen terrorists who killed hundreds of people and left an order for anybody infected by the virus to kill themselves.
• Narm: From the English dub of Episode 6: "NOW THE PURGE WILL BEGIIIIIIIN!"
  • Not to mention the episode's title is "Meme", albeit used in the Dawkinsian sense.
• Narm Charm: "Go DA DA", Gouda's theme in 2nd Gig. You wouldn't expect a kazoo could ever sound menacing, but by god Yoko Kanno found a way to make it happen.
• Paranoia Fuel: If you think about it, you can be hacked at any time, by anyone, to force yourself to commit suicide, murder your family, reveal personal secrets... There's a reason why some people refuse to have any cyberization in their brains at all, despite the disadvantages: it makes their brains effectively hack-proof. There's one case of an extremely reclusive rich guy who is paranoid of anyone stealing his secrets, and has no brain-jacks at all, so Section 9's usual method of digging up cyber-dirt on their subject is stymied.
  • The Tachikomas are usually pretty adorable, but when we see them being stealthy, it's a bit unsettling. They're invisible, nearly silent despite their bulk, can fit into surprisingly small spaces, and can climb walls and ceilings. A freaking tank could be stalking you and you'd never notice.
• The Problem with Licensed Games:
  • Mostly averted in both the PS2 and PSP spin-off games. Both games have plenty of character interaction that you'd expect to experience from Section 9's members, and has deeply fleshed out storylines and dialogue that tie neatly into the SAC universe as Stand Alone episodes. Connections to the Nemuro Landing Operation in particular for the PS2 game. The problems are that they're technically mediocre, featuring loose Run-N-Gun controls, difficult platforming, fair graphics (for 2006-era games), cheap AI, and downright horrible music that usually consists of a few boring notes looping every 30 seconds or so. They're faithful to the series' established lore and storylines, but aren't presented in the best fashions.
  • On the other end of the complaint spectrum is Ghost in the Shell: First Assault Online. By most accounts it's a perfectly serviceable shooter, but since it's just an online shooter it does not have the time or space to delve into the metaphysical aspects of the show, which annoys some fans.
• Values Resonance: Despite the influence of Japanese politics, the conflict in 2nd Gig revolving around the plight of refugees, with no easy solution and them suffering from locals with no sympathy towards their plight, easily touches audiences across borders, especially in light of the refugee crisis that came to international attention in 2015.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: The anime was created and aired during both terms of the Bush administration, but making an imperialistic version of America as the villain is not supposed to be a shot at either America or Bush's policies. The premise dates back to Shirow Masamune's Appleseed series, which he wrote before Ghost in the Shell in the early '80s.
  • While the concept may be derived from a much older work, it's hard not to see Kenji Kamiyama's choice to use this particular idea for the series in light of the wave of anti-American sentiment sweeping the international community during the mid-Bush years when both seasons were made. Kamiyama seems none too fond of capitalism either. What makes all this particularly ironic is that the series was partially funded with American and British money (Bandai USA and Manga Entertainment, specifically).
  • The Laughing Man and the social phenomenon he inspires bear distinct similarities to Julian Assange and Anonymous, respectively. However, the series was made several years before Anonymous popped up, and several more years before Assange gained international notoriety, making the first season come across as bizarrely prophetic in hindsight.
  • It's hard not to see the similarities between Hideo Kuze and left-wing revolutionaries such as Che Guevara (the Major even explicitly compares them at one point), plus the similarities between his vision of the "superstructure" and a socialist utopia. That the second season's other (far less sympathetically portrayed) villain is a right-wing bureaucrat who has a close working relationship with the imperialist Americans and is jonesing for a return to Japan's Cold War economic golden era is also somewhat eyebrow-raising. America has also been portrayed as an openly imperial power that conducted an openly imperialistic invasion of Mexico in the series. This does tend to fit the usual leftist narrative that describes America as an evil imperialistic capitalist super power.
    • Kuze is also compared to Malcolm X and Cassius Clay (a 19th century abolitionist). What they all have in common is that they were highly controversial liberators, whose true achievements still remain a matter of debate. Kuze's ideals are repeatedly called a "delusion", even by people who willingly follow him. It's supposed to remain ambiguous how good answers he actually has to the very real problems he presents, and how much is just people being influenced by his enormous charisma.
  • Take a good look at this map◊. The Russo-American Alliance is basically the Democratic base, plus Arizona. The United States of America encompases several swing states and the American Empire is built on the states which used to form the confederacy and currently the Republican base.
• The Woobie: The Tachikomas in the English dub are this, but only sometimes. When they're only talking, they become The Woobie because of their adorable voices, but when they're fighting the Woobieism changes and they become both an Iron Woobie and Badass Adorable at the same time.
  • Prime Minister Kayabuki. She's a rare good politician in a very cynical world, and her party intended her to serve as figurehead. When things keep getting worse and worse, she tries to action to help Section 9 to help stop a war, and her own cabinet has her arrested for treason for it and fully intended to set up to take the fall for Godha's plans.
  • Iron Woobie: Togusa, being the New Meat on the team.
  • Stoic Woobie: Major Kusanagi, herself.
• Woolseyism: Since a lot of characters speak without opening their mouths, there's more room for this than in most productions. The dub usually strays really close to the subtitle's translations, but there are a few times when some minor improvements are snuck in. A notable one is when Batou sees a rich man's collection of expensive cars and remarks, "What a shame." The dub inserts the line afterward, "All these beauties in captivity, when you should be running free in the wild." Entirely in-character for Batou, and funny to boot. Another is when a Tachikoma is shot to pieces on a highway by a tank they're pursuing; its brain is fine, fortunately, and the Major tells it to sit tight. The dub adds the line "Sure thing... since I can't move..."
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: There's no followup on Fukami since he was last seen secretly going after Serrano.

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