Purin awakens in a full-body prosthetic and hitches a ride to Old Tokyo.
Episode 19 – “TRUTH POINT OF CONTACT / Bridge of Promise”
Hmm.
I’m impressed! Ghost in the Shell did not avoid showing Purin’s new body in its full glory. And Purin wasn’t shy either! Was she always so confident about her body? I worried that she might be cold as she walked around the factory, but she might not need to care about freezing floors anymore. Purin’s artificial body and mind put the title of the series front and center.
The “ghost” in Ghost in the Shell refers to a person’s organic sense of self. When full-prosthetic bodies and brains came into the show, what mattered was the “ghost line.” That’s the unbroken chain of a person’s mind as it transferred from a natural brain to a partial prosthetic and finally to an artificial cyberbrain. Motoko and Batou have entirely artificial bodies and brains, yet they still have their “ghosts.”
But what about Purin? She technically does not have a soul anymore! Her personality is a backup of her “diary.” She even found her memory files in a database labeled “Tachikoma.” If she had copied her mind to a waiting cyberbrain before she died, that would have counted as keeping her “ghost line.”
Purin’s case could count, though, because she is a post-human. Her “diary” was a full daily backup of everything her brain did. It wasn’t just subjective memories she chose to write down. I’m glad to see Ghost in the Shell address edge cases as it did in earlier seasons. The anime also continued its “ghost line.”
Heh.
That’s not good. I’m not happy. Blowing up an American SOP cargo jet is suboptimal news. Video chat calls with screen sharing look so cool in 2045. The Americans are so pushy in Ghost in the Shell. They “ordered” Japan to leave the post-humans Takashi and Suzuka alone. The Americans want their submarine back, but Japan has a pop-up nation over in Old Tokyo. Will using Code 1A84 as leverage against the Americans work? John Smith only cared about it not making more post-humans on American soil. Let’s get to work! Motoko is in heavy armor mode! The Tachikomas always have fun.
Ooh. Purin is looking good! Banzai for Ghost in the Shell and uncensored CGI! I wonder how long it took to make her replacement body. Ha! They manufactured her glasses right onto her face! Now, when do her memories start? Wow. Right when the hacked bodyguard shot her! Purin looks for bullet wounds. None there. Beautiful young lady just walking around naked. No big deal. The sign on the wall says she came from the factory. It’s not a hospital, Purin. Her console interface says “Megatech Body,” so is that where she is? Or is that her new body’s OS? MTB-OS ver.3.1, like Windows. Purin’s access rights don’t work for Section 9 either. Time to bother the Tachikomas!
One Tachikoma is reading the 1984 softcover! Ahaha! It’s a ghost! And not the Ghost in the Shell! Har. The Tachikomas are superstitious! How effective would Buddhist chants be if an AI robot performed them? Oh no. Purin can’t find her cyberbrain’s OS. Because she is the operating system! She realized the post-human virus infected her, and then she died. But she’s animating a full-prosthetic body without a brain. Can an AI cry like that?
Batou and Togusa track the armored Navy Seals back at Geo City. Was the Ghost in the Shell production trying to be funny when they named this incomplete hole in the ground? Because every GeoCities website was always “under construction.” Wait a hot minute. That voice sounds familiar. His teammates tell him to cut the chatter. Is this when Standard comes back to the show?
Thank Ghost in the Shell again for the high-quality uncensored CGI. Purin can’t find her ghost line. That’s confirmation that she died. Ooh, she’s mad! Those little Tachikomas read her diary! Wait. Did Batou see them too? She wanted to reveal her identity differently. Purin’s dying of embarrassment. Except, it already happened. And Code 1A84 just floats along inside her brain. Enough wallowing. Bring on the rock music! Purin can still fulfill her mission to help others! And to do that, she will run naked in public! You go, girl! Purin knows how to get attention for hitchhiking. That’s a VW van! Do they still have hippies in 2045? “Open up! It’s the naked police!”
Do not trust the graffiti in Geo City. We know from past Ghost in the Shell episodes that the 1A84 code uses memes to hack cyberbrains. It’s like ancient eastern magic with seals and talismans again. There sits Suzuka. What is she controlling from that chair? Is she about to start a Twitch stream? Oh? The Americans claim that post-humans need to hibernate for fifteen minutes a day. This is brand-new information. And the commandoes got hacked into shooting each other. Ooh. Suzuka doesn’t like sleeping gas. I’m still curious about where post-humans find their black patent leather goods.
Hilarious. The dude in the VW van dresses like an idealistic college student. He’s on his way to Woodstock’s Ghost in the Shell version! Nice form-fitting suit for Purin. The dude hoped to give it to his future cosplaying girlfriend. Yup, idealistic! Is that outfit another reference to a sci-fi title? Aw. No more ogling. Purin is now Little Red Riding Hood. Ah. The dude is Purin’s exposition device. He’ll give her an info dump on all the 1984 references in “N.” Purin makes a good skeptical face from dealing with uppity Tachikomas.
Yes! What a reunion! It’s Standard! He gets no respect, even from the Tachikomas. Ghost in the Shell comes full circle for its characters at the end. The VW Van Dude claims, at Purin’s prompting, that N probably has millions in Old Tokyo. But there are not enough people there, from what we’ve seen. This is bizarre, but I hope it becomes a key plot point. Large numbers can be persuasive of popularity and authenticity. Are they illusions created by the post-humans, or did Takashi and Suzuka store them in an unrevealed location?
I’ve never seen an anime plead so much with the Japanese public to teach 1984 in high school. Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045’s future society would have better resistance to the concepts of doublespeak, doublethink, and the two-minute hate. Ugh, our present culture could have used that resistance to what we’ve seen during the rise of social media, but I’m just an old man yelling at clouds. Purin’s examination of VW Van Dude confirms the corruption of his ghost-line. N members have a degraded sense of individuality. Har. Ministry of Love is an installed app. That’s perfect! “Big Brother” published that app.
Takashi should know that Big Brother is supposed to be the bad guy. Right? I’d like Ghost in the Shell to show how Suzuka joined forces with him. In the first season, she made flash mobs target individuals. Takashi programmed Think Poll at his school to focus mob violence on a pederast teacher. Was there an alignment in methods between the two post-humans? We might never know. Suzuka tried to take Code 1A84 for herself, but that side plot fell by the wayside.
Let’s get back to Ghost in the Shell’s clown show where Standard gets no respect. I hope the NSA upgraded his security software. Ahahaha! He still believes the story Motoko installed into him! Princess Mei Ling will be on site shortly. Inside VW Van Dude’s mind, Purin is a harsh literature critic. Huh? Why would Takashi show up for VW Van Dude? Oh, we know why. He crossed that bridge to get Purin’s attention. He can recognize other post-humans. Who gave Takashi a leather trench coat and patent leather Doc Martens? Is there a supervillain dress shop nearby? Suzuka must have obtained her catsuit from the same place. That’s the cliffhanger for Purin. She came back to life and needed to battle tanks and a post-human!
Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 streams on Netflix in multiple languages and subtitles.
