Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaGhost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (攻殻機動隊 STAND ALONE COMPLEX; Kōkaku Kidōtai, Mobile Armoured Riot Police) is a Japanese anime TV series set in the Ghost in the Shell universe created by Masamune Shirow. It is often referred to by its acronym GitS:SAC.

Production of the show was undertaken by Production I.G. headed by director Kenji Kamiyama. The overarching series was sketched by original creator Masamune Shirow, unifying each season's 26 episodes into a larger encompassing plot.

The series receives its subtitle from a theoretical mental complex attributed to the adaptation of cybernetics into the mass public. In the story, 'stand alone complex' is said to describe copies with no original and is portrayed by copycat crimes with no original criminal or, in other words, an imaginary criminal. It also refers to the structure of each first season episode: each episode can be viewed independently of each other, and there is little catch-up (if at all) given in each episode to keep the viewer up to date (unlike many anime series). The individual episodes are discreetly marked either "stand alone" or "complex" in the title screen. The "complex" episodes are more closely entwined with this encompassing plot, and the "stand alone" less so.

There is also a series of comedic shorts, Ghost in the Shell: Tachikoma Days, attached to the episodes on the home video releases featuring the antics of the Tachikoma mini-tanks of Section 9, involving plot points from the episodes it accompanies.

After finishing its run in 2003, the series was continued into a second season under the title Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GiG. The first season is sometimes colloquially referred to as 1st GiG to emphasize the relation between the two and to distinguish between the first season and the show as a whole, which would otherwise both be called Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. The second season episodes are labeled "Individual", "Dividual", and "Dual", with "Individual" episodes closely intertwined with the Individual Eleven case, "Dividual" episodes stand-alone, and "Dual" episodes having to do with the Cabinet Intelligence Service and Gouda.

In the United States, the series is licensed by Bandai Entertainment with the English dub produced by Animaze. The English version of the series airs on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block in the United States and YTV's Bionix block in Canada on Friday nights.


Story
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
It is a time when, even if nets were to guide
all consciousness that had been converted to
photons and electrons towards coalescing,
standalone individuals have not yet been
converted into data to the extent that they can form
unique components of a larger complex.

Taking place in a fictional city of Japan called New Port City ("Niihama-shi") in the year 2030, Stand Alone Complex tells the story of a special operations task-force called Public Security Section 9, or simply "Section 9". The series follows the exploits of Section 9's agents who range from ex-military to ex-police to even ex-mafia as they address each case and how it affects them on a personal level, eventually leading to the mysterious figure dubbed by the media as "The Laughing Man", and later a case involving the Individual Eleven terrorist group and the enigmatic man in charge of the Cabinet Intelligence Service called Gouda (pronounced "Go-da,").

Public Security Section 9 is an elite domestic anti-crime unit charged with the task of preemptive prevention of technology-related acts of terrorism and crime. Their duties include response to serious cyber crimes (i.e. Cyberbrain hacking, cyber-terrorism), investigation of unlawful acts of those in public office and of high profile murder cases. From time to time they also serve as protection to foreign VIPs.

While the characters themselves are carryovers, this is not a re-telling of the popular manga. In this telling of the story, the character of Major Motoko Kusanagi (草薙素子 Kusanagi Motoko) has not met the net-lifeform called Puppet Master, or Project 2501, as detailed in the movie adaptation. Literary references include Flowers for Algernon, the Nine Stories written by Salinger, and, more importantly, The Catcher in the Rye.


Cinematic comparison
The TV series differs from the cinema adaptation in its focus upon issues created by the advance of technology. Instead of the intensely focused and personal examination of technology, what is presented is a look at society and technology as a larger whole. The series of 52 half-hour TV episodes has a larger budget of time to explore the concepts and ideas found in the original manga. In comparison to the film version, the series is considered by many to be easier to understand. Also, in comparison, the series can be found to be closer to the manga; due to the presence of some humor, the usage of the Tachikomas (Fuchikomas in the manga, and referred to simply as "tanks" in the one scene a derivant version makes an appearance in), the design of the characters, and also, the usage of the characters Pazu, Boma and Saito.

Stand Alone Complex exhibits the accumulated experience and expertise of Production I.G. in their application of computer generated imagery. This is evident in their digital color grading, environmental effects, and cel-shaded computer models. Their work has been highly praised for its subtle contribution to a scene, which adds greatly to the atmosphere.


Technology
Stand Alone Complex tries to depict the near future convincingly, extending trends from the current day into the future. Often a viewer can even speculate which current-day factory or design firm would be responsible for the future machines and buildings.

 
CyberbrainsOf the many futuristic technologies, the cyberbrain or neural computer augmentation technology is discussed and convincingly portrayed. This is the implantation of powerful computers directly into the brain, greatly increasing certain mental capacities such as memory. Coupled with ubiquitous access to the informational net, this is shown as a fundamental technology integral to the future Japanese society. Applications include wireless communication just by "thinking" it, massive informational recall capabilities, and digitization of printed media and the encryption thereof. The series is notable for portraying a comprehensive and believable user interface to this technology. At the same time, drawbacks are revealed in the form of "Closed Shell Syndrome" or cyberbrain autism and "Cyberbrain Sclerosis". This technology is in many ways the crux of the series.

Nanotechnology and its medical, as well as less benign applications also figure heavily within the futurescape depicted within the show. In the fictional future date of 2030, nanotechnology and its applications are still considered to be experimental only reaching the first stages of practical usage.

 
Major Kusanagi with an active thermo-optical camouflageAn important technology used in the series is thermo-optical camouflage. Members of Section 9 as well as their Tachikoma tanks have the ability to activate a special camouflage technology which enables them to blend in with the environment, making them near-invisible to the naked eye. It is an active stealth system which projects ambient conditions of the opposing side, and thus rendering the masked object transparent by transmission. The system is not shown to be perfect, as it seems unable to compensate for sudden changes and physical impacts nor impervious to close observation. A faint translucent distortion is shown as the limitations of the technology. In the legal landscape of the series, usage of the technology without a warrant is heavily restricted. The use of this technology by Section 9 is the exception, and not the norm - further highlighting their extraordinary legal standing. Surprisingly, there is present day research into the active optic camouflage inspired by the fictional portrayal of it by the University of Tokyo [1].

The use of Light Autonomous Tanks which had to be left out of the 1995 Ghost in the Shell movie by time constraints come to their full right in Stand Alone Complex. Called Tachikoma (also known as think tanks), they are four-legged light tanks with two forearms and adhesive wire shooters. Armed with a small calibre machine gun in their right arm and an interchangeable weapons mount at their "mouth", they provide Section Nine with a quick and highly mobile weapons platform. The weapons mount is often equipped with a grenade launcher or a gatling gun. The body design and movement of the Tachikoma appear to be modelled after jumping spiders.

With very advanced AI, they act as the comedic relief of Section 9, as they are endlessly curious and innocent. As such they provide a counterpoint to the cynical and hardened humans of the force. Two episodes are dedicated to their exploits; episode 12, "ESCAPE FROM," and episode 15, "MACHINES DÉSIRANTES." In the latter episode, the curious nature of the Tachikoma result in instabilities in their artificial intelligence fatal to operation as weapons, leading to their disarmament and decommission from service with Section 9.

 
TachikomaAnother technology that is noticeable in the series that was also not included in the 1995 film is the use of Armed Suits, bipedal power-actuated armored exoskeletons. Resembling Shirow's Landmate armor from another of his works, Appleseed, the Armed Suit uses a small set of inner "master" arms to control the larger, more-powerful, "slave" arms. A prototype Armed Suit makes an appearance later in the first season, and a new, upgraded version of the Tachikoma returns in 2nd GiG. Another Armed Suit, the Fuchikoma (that chronologically later appears in the Manga too) is briefly shown at the end of the 2nd GiG.

 
The tiltwing aircraft from the series.The series features Section 9 using a tiltwing aircraft very similar to the American-designed V-22 Osprey tiltrotor. The aircraft depicted within the show has the capacity to carry six Tachikoma and a complement of personnel, allowing Section Nine to rapidly deploy a highly mobile and well-armored force anywhere in Japan.

The ECHELON wiretap system makes an appearance in a later episode. While under the command of the American Empire's (United States) CIA, the system is borrowed by Section 9 for a short time. The system depicted within is a more powerful and more pervasive communications monitoring system capable of real-time interception of all phone, internet, cyberbrain communication of Japan. The limitation of this system was shown to be the computational power to process the flow of information.

The subtitle "Stand Alone Complex" refers to the phenomena of emergent behavior catalyzed by parallelization of the human psyche through the cyberbrain networks on a societal level. There is no original, there is no leader. What ties together the disparate and unrelated individuals into the event called the "laughing man" case is the systematic motive encoded into the basic informational flow itself. This concept of an ever normalized ego into the fabric of society recalls the writings of Philip K. Dick, among others.

Spoilers end here.
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Episodes
See main article: List of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex episodes
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Voice cast
Japanese voice cast

Atsuko Tanaka as Motoko Kusanagi
Akio Ohtsuka as Batou
Koōichi Yamadera as Togusa
Osamu Saka as Daisuke Aramaki
Takashi Onozuka as Pazu
Tarô Yamaguchi as Boma
Toru Ohkawa as Saito
Yutaka Nakano as Ishikawa
Yoshiko Sakakibara as Prime Minister Yoko Kayabuki
Rikiya Koyama as Hideo Kuze
Ken Nishida as Kazundo Gouda

English voice cast

Mary Elizabeth McGlynn as Motoko Kusanagi
Richard Epcar as Batou
Crispin Freeman as Togusa
William Frederick Knight as Daisuke Aramaki
Robert Buchholz as Pazu
Dean Wein as Boma
Dave Wittenberg as Saito
Michael McCarty as Ishikawa
Steven Jay Blum as The Laughing Man
Barbara Goodson as Prime Minister Yoko Kayabuki
Kirk Thornton as Hideo Kuze
Ivan Buckley as Kazundo Gouda
[edit]
Soundtrack listings
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

[SOUNDTRACK]-Yoko Kanno
Track Listings:
Run Rabbit Junk (with Hyde)
Yakitori
Stamina Rose (with Gabriela Robin)
Surf
Where Does This Ocean Go? (with Ilaria Graziano)
Train Search
Siberian Doll House (with Gabriela Robin)
Velveteen (with Ilaria Graziano)
Lithium Flower (with Scott Matthew)
Home Stay
Inner Universe (with Origa and Benedict Delmaestro)
Fish - Silent Cruise (with Benedict Delmaestro)
Some Other Time (with Gabriela Robin)
Beauty Is Within Us (with Chris Mosdell)
We're the Great
Monochrome (with Ilaria Graziano)
GET9 [TV Size] (with Jillmax) (included in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex TV Single only)
Rise [TV Size] (with Origa) (included in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex TV Single only)
Inner Universe [TV Size] (with Origa and Benedict Delmaestro) included in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex OST+ only)
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Vol. 2

[SOUNDTRACK]-Yoko Kanno
Track Listings:
Cyberbird (with Gabriela Robin)
Rise (with Origa)
Ride on Technology
Idiling
I Can't Be Cool (with Ilaria Graziano)
3Tops
Gonna Rice
GET9 (with Jillmax)
Go da Da
Psychedelic Soul (with Scott Matthew)
What's It For? (with Emily Curtis)
Living Inside the Shell (with Shanti Snyder and Chris Mosdell)
Pet Food
Security Off
To Tell the Truth
I Do (with Ilaria Graziano)
We Can't Be Cool
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Vol. 3

[SOUNDTRACK]-Yoko Kanno
Track Listings:
The End Of All You Know (with Scott Matthew)
Torukia (with Gabriela Robin)
Know Your Enemy
Laser Seeker
Break Through
Flying Low
Europe
Hantou No Higashi (East Of The Peninsula)
Mikansei Love Story
Christmas In The Silent Forest (with Ilaria Graziano)
Access All Areas
Sacred Terrorist
Dear John (with Scott Matthew)
35.7c
Smile
Flashback Memory Plug (also known as Flashback Memory Stick) (with Origa and Benedict Delmaestro)
Dew (with Ilaria Graziano)
Be Human

[SOUNDTRACK]- Yoko Kanno
Track Listings:
Be Human
Trip City
Patch Me
Tachikoma No Iede
Osanpo Tachikoma
Bang Bang Banquet
Fax Me
Rokki Wa Doko?
Spotter
Let's Oil
Cream
Spider Bites
Good By My Master
Piece By Ten
What Can I Say?
Hi!
I'm Not Straight
Ai Sentai Tachikomanzu
Pro Bowler Tachikoma
Don't Sponge Me
Po'd Pod
Ciao!