Ghost in the Shell:
Standalone Complex Vol. 4
(Manga Region 2 PAL DVD)
(2005)
review by Blackgloves

Production IG's landmark TV spin-off from the original Manga and film versions of "Ghost In The Shell" continues with an interesting fourth volume of 'stand alone' episodes. The cryptic story-arc concerning "The Laughing Man" cyber terrorist is temporarily set aside for a clutch of episodes which concentrate on exploring some of the philosophical issues raised in previous episodes: such as the consciousness changing effects of cyber brain implants and the difficulties of developments in AI and humans' attitudes to it. The twenty-five minute running time of each episode is sometimes too short to deal with the complicated issues that form the backbone of the series. This was particularly felt in some of the episodes from the last volume. Here, it is not so great an issue -- although one still has the feeling that some of the stories have to be truncated somewhat. What's becoming more apparent as the series progresses though is that, even in the 'stand alone' episodes, ideas and themes are recurring and bringing more depth to instalments which previously appeared somewhat shallow. The show will probably gain considerably from re-watching it as a whole once all seven volumes have been released.

EPISODE 13: Not Equal

The futuristic, Japanese counter-terrorist unit, Section 9 are called into action when secret reconnaissance photographs taken at an abandoned radioactive waste reprocessing plant, appear to show the image of a young girl who was kidnapped sixteen years previously by an anti-cyber brain cell of terrorists known as the Kokoku Brigade! The bizarre thing is that the girl -- Tokra Eka: heiress of a fortune from her father's company Tokra Electronics -- has not aged a day since her disappearance! Information from the members of SST (Coast Guard), who manage to track her to the plant, suggests that her DNA is, indeed, that of Eka -- but all signals from the SST team then go dead! Section 9 (led by cybernetically enhanced, purple-haired female action hero Major Motoko Kusanagi) mount a mission to rescue the girl from her terrorists captors and discover what lies behind the mystery of her lack of ageing. Once at the heavily guarded base, the team discover a SST member who has had his cyber brain corrupted by a "suicide virus" leaving him unable to function; but more surprises and mysteries are on the way!

This episode is one of the most visually stunning of the series for some time; it showcases Production IG's amazing digital animation techniques beautifully and demonstrates their versatility via some smoothly animated action sequences, which come across as dynamically as any live action equivalents would! High praise -- even by the very high standards that have become the norm in modern Japanese animation! Interesting story ideas are thrown into the mix but, with the majority of this episode's running time dominated by the fantastic visuals and high action, they aren't developed or resolved, leaving one with something of an anticlimactic feeling. The many questions still to be answered at the end suggest that we will be returning to this story line at some point.

EPISODE 14: YE$

Major Motoko and the team stage a daring sting operation which results in the capture of a well-known Chinese anti-capitalist terrorist who has been heading operations aimed at disrupting major Japanese banks. This leads to the recovery of some critical intelligence: a female cyber terrorist has been hired to assassinate ex-mathematician turned stock market annalist, Mr. Yokose Kanemoto. The reclusive multi-millionaire's whereabouts are initially unknown -- the only traces of his existence are in his online stock market transactions. Eventually, Motoko and Section 9 trace him to his expensive, heavily fortified mansion -- which is defended by cyber attack dogs and robotic maids concealing weapons in their arms. But has the hired hit woman beat them to it?

This is another beautifully animated episode featuring some outstanding fight sequences and gorgeous cell animation. This time, the story is not too complicated and it has a nice pay off at the end. This, and the last episode, portray Section 9 working as a team without giving too much emphasis to one character over another -- this works nicely for the most part, but the series cannot resist introducing a note of ambiguity and eventually draws some parallels between the events of the story and Togusa's family life.

EPISODE 15: Machines Desirantes

This is another episode featuring (almost exclusively) Section 9's Tachikomas. These are intelligent robots which act as both military weapons and vehicles. They have cutting-edge AI technology which gives them a personality of sorts, but, because they can be hooked-up to share experiences, they also have a shared memory. For some time now Major Motoko has been disturbed about how the Tachikomas' amazing ability to learn has led to them developing a will of their own -- something which she believes could compromise their military use. In previous episodes, one of the Tachikomas had an "experience" which gave it an understanding of the concept of death. When they learn that Major Motoko is planning to have them all memory-wiped they try to make themselves more appealing in order to change her mind.

This strange episode becomes something of a philosophical treatise on AI as the Tachikomas debate human attitudes to them as artificial beings and exam their own emerging identities and beliefs. Since the Tachikomas are characterised as hyperactive children with high pitched voices, it gets rather weird when they start examining paradoxes in set theory and other rather arcane issues! Personally, I'm not such a big fan of them; each episode of the series always has a short, thirty-second coda called "Tachikoma Days" which is meant to be rather quirky, but the appeal of them has always passed me by; a twenty-five minute long version of the same thing is even more irritating! This episode is most revealing in examining the varying attitudes of humans to AI: Major Motoko downplays the individuality of artificial intelligence and does not consider them worthy of the same consideration and rights as human life. On the other hand, her colleague, Batou has become attached to one of the Tachikomas and has difficulty accepting the decision to have them all memory-wiped. These issues look set to become even more important as the episodes progress.

EPISODE 16: AG20

As the Tachikomas march off to meet their fate, Batou is given a new undercover mission: an information leak has been detected coming from a military training facility. An ex-fighter called Pavio Zaitsev now works as a freelance trainer and is suspected of having originated the leak. Batou used to be a great fan of his and manages to work his way into Zaitsev's confidence in order to expose him -- but his sympathies cause a conflict with his mission.

This is probably the best episode on the disc in terms of the completeness of the story. It is also very cinematic and features some very well orchestrated suspense sequences. Their are several boxing scenes which are as powerful and exciting as any animated sequence could be. The detailed audio track adds to the effect and Manga Entertainment continue with their policy of providing all the episodes with a variety of audio options. Disc one features English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound, English Stereo 2.0 and Japanese 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound with optional English subtitles. Disc two features the same four episodes but with English and Japanese DTS audio. The problem is that, apart from the English 2.0 Stereo track, they are all nearly one second out of sinc with the visuals! This is bound to be a major annoyance!

Disc one features two ten minute interviews with two of the Japanese audio actors: Koichi Yamadera (the voice of Togusa) and Tamagawa Sakko (the voice of the Tachikomas). There are also the usual selection of trailers and character profiles. Disc two also features a quiz on the four episodes included in the set.

As usual the widescreen anamorphic transfer is fantastic and shows off the attractive digital animation beautifully!

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