Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Difference between revisions

The world of ''Stand Alone Complex'' is different from that of the two ''[[Ghost in Thethe Shell (1995 film)|Ghost in The Shell]]'' feature films and [[Ghost in the Shell (manga)|the original manga]] -- while the feature films and the manga focus on Motoko Kusanagi and her evolution into something beyond human after her encounter with The Puppetmaster, in ''Stand-Alone Complex'', The Puppetmaster has yet to appear and Section 9 (including Kusanagi) is a fully functional team.

* [[AIA.I. Is a Crapshoot]]: Various androids and programs show their fare share of faults, including the sniper assisting program that tried to compensate Saito's own natural skills, but the Uchikomas count in particular. Enough to actually become an in-universe [[The Scrappy|Scrappy]].

* [[Ambiguous Disorder]]: In ''PORTRAITZ'', Togusa infiltrates a facility for the care of children with Cyberbrain Closed Shell Syndrome, of which some individuals show signs that strongly resembles autism.

* [[Badass Longcoat]]:The Major gets one in the opening credits of ''2nd Gig'' to go along with her more modest dress for the sequel, but oddly, doesn't seem to wear it much in the show itself.

* [[Bavarian Fire Drill]]: Section 9 pretends to be from the sanitation department ''and'' a maintenance crew ... in the same episode.

* [[Blade Reflection]]:

** In ''SELECON'', Batou's combat knife provides a perfect mirror reflection of his face while he's commenting on taking an alternative option for bringing Kuze into custody: by bringing back his head.

** The second season's first and last episodes involve Major Kusanagi shooting a villain in the head, causing it to explode rather violently. This is also a callback to the prologue in the manga and [[The Movie]].

* [[Brown Note]]: Several interesting takes on this, including one which turns people into fanatical terrorists.

** Though it only works on people with a tendency towards fanaticism in the first place. Other people get far less dramatic reactions: a journalist assumes more radical views and later becomes suicidal, while a professor of sociology just becomes convinced that he's studying a text that does not in fact exist.

* [[Chain Link Fence]]: Big, heavy Tachikoma climbs over a flimsy chain link fence at the top of a high-rise building.

* [[Click. "Hello."]]: ''CAPTIVATED'' has Batou doing this {{spoiler|to Cruzkowa immediately after she and Motoko engage in a [[Mexican Standoff]] with each other}}.

* [[Cyberpunk]] / [[Post Cyber Punk]]: ''Ghost in the Shell'' has been classified by some commentators as Neo-Cyberpunk or Post-Cyberpunk rather than classic 1980s Cyberpunk, in that the protagonists of GITS work ''for'' the government and hunt down terrorists instead of being urban guerrillas and streetpunks fighting against governments and mega-corps. Most noticeably, while GITS shows a global community still suffering from the aftereffects of a third and fourth World War, the society in those nations that we get to see has ''not'' utterly collapsed and segregated into corporate wage-slaves living in gated communities ("arcologies") on the one hand and the rest of the population living in dismal slums outside the system. The Japan of GITS, while being something of a police state with government and intelligence service controlling the propaganda permeating the media, still has an urban middle class, nature resorts and traditional society. Even the poor and the refugees in their ghetto are not "invisible" and "falling through the cracks" (except in a social sense). Instead, cyberbrain interconnectedness is widespread and surveillance by public cameras, spy satellites and the Net is all-pervasive.

* [[Eagle Land]]: Type 2, Americans aren't depicted very well in the series. [[Appleseed|Established in other]] [[Shirow Masamune]] works, The United States has been split up into 3 individual countries:

* [[Exposition Beam]]

* [[Faking the Dead]]: Part of Section 9's plan while {{spoiler|evacuating their headquarters}} is to leave several prosthetic bodies laying around in the hopes that they'll be confused with those of the actual members.

* [[Fan Disservice]]: In one episode where we're introduced to a [[Hospital Hottie]] doctor via a [[Male Gaze]] close-up of her [[Foot Focus|high-heels]] and [[Gainaxing|bouncing breasts]], who then proceeds to carry out an [[Creepy Physical|intimate examination]] of the Major's body whilst making overt [[Les Yay]] comments. Things quickly turn here when we realise she's {{spoiler|a corrupt narcotics officer out to kill the Major once she's been immobilized.}}

** The SST team who plugged into Eka Turkuro's brain were apparently [[Go Mad Fromfrom the Revelation|horrified]] by what they saw.

* [[Go Mad Fromfrom the Revelation]]: The team that plugged into Eka Turkuro's brain are so traumatized by their findings that Batou has literally [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|grab ahold of one]] to get him to talk about it.

* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Several, sometimes literally.

* [["Hey You!" Haymaker]]: Batou delivers one to the [[Giant Mook]] android in episode 14.

* [[Infrared X -Ray Camera]]: Section 9 uses something like this to spy on suspects through walls, eg. when Batou is staking out Nanao's apartment.

* [[Lighter and Softer]]: The ''Stand Alone Complex'' series, while still fairly dark, is noticeably less grim than the [[Ghost in the Shell (manga)|manga]] and the [[Ghost in Thethe Shell (1995 film)|movies]]. ''Usually.''

* [[Memetic Mutation]]: The Laughing Man's very existence is a central and clear demonstration of this - both in-universe and [[Defictionalization|out]].

** The fight between the Major and a [[Powered Armour]]-wearing Gayle in ''ERASER'' is an almost blow-by-blow recreation of her fight with the [[Spider Tank]] in [[Ghost in Thethe Shell (1995 film)||the first movie.]] At the end, [[Big Damn Heroes|Saito even shows up]] with an [[BFG|anti-tank rifle]] the way Batou did in the original scene.

** It should also be noted that many of the [[PlayStation 2]] game's conventions of gameplay and interface were lifted almost directly from the game ''[[Oni]]'' by [[Bungie]] Studios, which was published several years before it. However, ''Oni'' itself was inspired almost entirely by ''Ghost in the Shell'', bringing the inspiration full-circle.

* [[Pin-Pulling Teeth]]: Batou does this a couple of times during the shootout in Kusanagi's mansion, though as a full-body cyborg his teeth might be a lot tougher than those of an ordinary person.

* [[Remote Body]]: Major Kusanagi (and presumably other characters) can remotely control robot bodies. At the end of the first season she uses this ability to avoid being killed.

* [[The Reveal]]: At the end of ''EQUINOX'', the Laughing Man is shown to be {{spoiler|Major Kusanagi in disguise}}.

* [[Ridiculously Human Robot]]: Well, cyborgs, anyway; a full-body cyborg can look just like any human and even has skin and all the senses a human would have.

* [[State Sec]]: Public Security Section Nine. Well armed with military equipment and staffed with ex-military operatives, they conducted intelligence ops and law enforcement. Operating with great autonomy and great leeway, they only answer to the Prime Minister or the Minster of Home Affairs. They are also one of the few heroic examples of this trope.

* [[Would Not Shoot a Good Guy]]: [[Averted Trope|Yes, they would]]. Whether or not the guys gunning for them are actually "good" is debatable, since they're Black Ops types who specialize in erasing people, but they are definitely working for their government and Section 9 doesn't hesitate to defend themselves lethally against them.

** Aramaki isn't fazed at all when he's captured and held hostage, even though he's threatened with a gun to his forehead multiple times.

[[Category:TurnAnime of the Millennium/Anime And Manga2000s]]