Togusa escapes a maze of personal memories and finds himself near the beleaguered Tokyo Reconstruction Project.
Episode 17 – “ROOM 101 / Man’s Search for Meaning”
Hmm.
Did you think Ghost in the Shell would play softly on our hearts as it transitioned to Togusa’s story? Have you watched Ghost in the Shell before? It eased us back into watching Togusa by showing him wrestle with a moral dilemma. That’s typical of sci-fi episodes. It felt as if I was watching a throwaway Holodeck episode from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Except, instead of the works of Arthur Conan Doyle and his character Sherlock Holmes, we watched Winston from George Orwell’s 1984.
We should keep expecting references to Orwell’s novel about dystopia in Ghost in the Shell. The post-human Takashi read a copy of it from a crazy veteran in the woods. The NSA’s renegade AI, 1A84, is the hexadecimal update to 1984. Instead of Oceania always at war with Eastasia, we have the Sustainable War Global Economy. The episode title refers to Room 101 in the Ministry of Love. Big Brother’s constant surveillance knows the deepest fears of all its citizens, so it knows the worst way to torture them. Takashi used that concept to indoctrinate his new residents of N in Old Tokyo.
Ghost in the Shell loves leaving plot points ambiguous until they matter. Did Purin turn into a post-human who will betray humanity? Keep watching. Did Togusa succumb to Takashi’s purification ritual? He liked the sunset in Old Tokyo without the internet and the noise of his cyberbrain. But will he betray his principles for that? Keep watching. It’s skillful writing to involve an audience like that since the episode’s plot was Togusa riding a train and using a pay phone.
Unfortunately, I tuned out half the episode because Suzuka was the sexy nurse torturer. Ghost in the Shell made a mistake here. Her inclusion at the beginning of Togusa’s memory made me dismiss anything as a real memory. Worse, Togusa should have recognized her because she was one of the post-humans Section 9 was trying to capture. There was no emotional buy-in until Togusa left the scene. His mental attitude toward his escape was the point of his character development. Still, I do appreciate sexy cosplay. Hello Nurse Suzuka!
Ghost in the Shell connected Togusa’s fake memory trial to recent technological concerns. Togusa could tell that what he saw reminded him of an event from sixteen years ago, but it felt wrong. We can see how that relates to social media’s trend of deceptively edited short videos to stoke outrage. And deepfakes using celebrity faces and AI voices will soon make actors obsolete. Imagine the consequences of our memories being edited to serve N’s purposes. What happens to our self-identities when we can’t trust our memories? George Orwell warned us of the dangers of rewriting history. Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 warns us about rewriting our senses of self.
Heh.
Ooh, hurt me, Nurse Suzuka! Eh, Togusa believes he’s watching memories from sixteen years ago. Uh, doubt it! Suzuka Mizukane did not torture Togusa back then in Ghost in the Shell. She was a mathematician before 1A84’s meme code turned her into a post-human. Nothing here matters until Togusa escapes. Wait. Nurse Suzuka’s zettai ryouiki (絶対領域, lit. “absolute zone,” the exposed skin between the top of knee-high socks and the hemline of a skirt) matters. Will she return to Togusa’s delusions? Oh please, oh please, oh please.
Oh, good. Togusa realizes the memories aren’t true. But his recent memories are hazy after tracking Takashi’s past. Let’s see where this goes, Ghost in the Shell. The false memories gave Togusa a fake companion. Aw. Nurse Suzuka only appears in the dentist’s office. Ugh. Moral dilemma. That is so cliché.
Scene changes in Ghost in the Shell! Togusa inserted himself inside the false memories. He’s wearing his modern clothes, not the outfit he wore when he escaped. Togusa suspects Takashi is showing him this dream. Even the Major shows up to remind him he needs to stay alive to fulfill his responsibilities. Nice. Togusa’s trigger back to sanity is his wife and daughters. Too bad that he’s divorced now.
And we’re back to reality. Such as it is for Ghost in the Shell. Togusa needs a shave, so you know it’s real! He’s on the subway. But to where? Cool. A subway rider was Togusa’s fake companion in his dream. How did he know his name, though? Ah. The train to N. That’s a reference to Takashi’s plan. The Episode 12 title was “NOSTALGIA – All Will Become N.” I hear references to Big Brother and Association. If I wanted to read “1984” again, I’d pick up my copy. I don’t need to see it in CGI allegory form. Last stop, Old Tokyo. The fake companion claims “Miniluv,” or the Ministry of Love, purified his heart. Hey, Takashi! 1984 was a warning, not an instruction manual.
Takashi is everywhere. And nowhere. Togusa can’t connect to the internet. Hey, Ghost in the Shell. That corner smoke shop without a street corner doesn’t look suspicious. Oh, no, not at all. Will there be a pay phone in there? Ha! So old-fashioned! He called Batou. And the Tachikomas answered! Togusa saw a sunset so beautiful that it made him cry. Or it was the first one he saw without all those annoying popup ads. We’re supposed to suspect Room 101 purified Togusa too.
Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 streams on Netflix in multiple languages and subtitles.
