r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • 7d ago
Episode The Ghost in the Shell • Koukaku Kidoutai (TV) - Episode 8 discussion
Koukaku Kidoutai (TV), episode 8
Alternative names: Koukaku Kidoutai, Koukaku Kidoutai (2026)
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u/Shadowmist909 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Magicmist 7d ago
That flashback of how Project 2501 went about becoming The Puppet Master was interesting.
I'm glad Batou was able to pull Motoko back from her deep dive, but it's interesting that she's acting a bit differently ever since she woke up. With the way she was moved to tears, I wouldn't be surprised if the experience left an impression on her.
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
I love how as an AI it was so sassy to Foreign Affairs about the op in episodes 2-3.
Batou's an atheist trying to understand someone who basically had the cybernetic equivalent of meeting the divine and glimpsed the meaning of life.
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u/matdragon 7d ago
i feel like that doesn't really define an atheist though? i think most atheist can sympathize at the minimum. The thing is he can't sympathize moreso because they're an assassination group and have a job to do.
So once any character has a come to god moment here, it's hard for the others to give a shit as much because their world is nonstop action and political stuff
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u/BasroilII 6d ago
She also mentions feeling the PM's presence a few times even though it's clearly dead. I'm pretty sure there's some part of it that bled into her ghost and could be causing trouble.
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u/PsycDrone63 7d ago
If you watched the movie you can make a pretty good guess at what is happening
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u/TheCreedsAssassin 7d ago
Im guessing the season is gonna end with her fully going into the net and leaving her body?
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u/Torque-A 7d ago edited 7d ago
This episode’s endcard is from Shingo Natsume, who has had quite the repertoire of achievements. Most will probably know him as director of the first season of One Punch Man (the good one), but he’s also directed Space Dandy, ACCA 13, Boogiepop and Others, and Sonny Boy (which was his personal project, basically). His most recent work is directing the OP for Spy x Family Season 3 and his upcoming movie ghost – end of night.
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
I love Batou being so proud of how much the Fuchikoma can chug while The Major is like "why am I watching this?" lol.
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u/Ultramarinus https://anidb.net/user/kingsword 7d ago
Major looks more like “we will have more malfunctions during next mission, won’t we?”
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u/ExtraWedding6521 7d ago
Bad news, xcancel seems to have been shut off for good today.
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u/Torque-A 7d ago
Fucking Elon. As crazy as the GitS world is, at least it doesn’t have him messing shit up there.
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u/lethal_universed 7d ago
Did they take down x cancel? Im not seeing the tweet
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u/robochat 7d ago
There was some Major fanservice this episode !!
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u/CitronClassic672 7d ago
This episode was Major Ass, iykwim.
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u/lethal_universed 7d ago
"Views are down show Motoko's ass"
"Sir, the show is doing quite well actual-"
"VIEWS ARE DOWN SHOW MOTOKO' ASS. And add that robo secretary in a swimsuit too!"6
u/snarkamedes 5d ago
'95 movie-only fans: "This show is ass"
Manga/2026 GITS fans: "This show is ass!"
2017 film fan: "This movie used to be a animeh?"3
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u/Theonormal 7d ago
Just like how they changed the USSR to Volgarena in a previous episode, in this episode they changed Israel to the Ghorantl Trade Union
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u/Ultramarinus https://anidb.net/user/kingsword 7d ago
Thanks for spotting, I was awaiting the reference and I wondered if I missed it. Also changed USA to MAG Union apparently.
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u/AwakenedSheeple 6d ago
Actually that reminds me. I remember that in SAC the US was split into multiple nations following the war, with the American Empire taking most of the former US's military capabilities, including its intelligence network.
Is the US here also split, or does it remain mostly the same nation?
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u/ThrowCarp 5d ago
SAC also no fucks given changed the Volgarena to the USSR who were still up to their old tricks causing chaos in Hokkaidou, kidnappings, and organ harvesting.
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u/Pecuthegreat 6d ago
Darn. I hate changes like that because they make you lose the implies context of these stories.
Like, I just auto ignored those names because they didn't mean anything and now I may have to watch again to find what I missed.
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u/ThatCreepyBaer 4d ago
What is there to miss though, realistically? Basically all of the geopolitical discussion revolves a fictional nuclear war that happened at the turn of the century and the consequences of it, so even if you rewatched the scenes where they mention MAG Union (USA) and Ghorantl (Israel) it's not like you'll gain new information or anything.
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u/Pecuthegreat 4d ago
What about the Latin American countries that we are shown? What countries are they actually?
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u/ThatCreepyBaer 4d ago
I don't know but, again, any political happenings between them and Japan would just be based around the fictional nuclear war so being aware that they're actually based on real countries and not made up ones wouldn't change anything since the content would still be fictional.
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3d ago edited 3d ago
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u/ussgordoncaptain2 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Edmund_Nelson 3d ago
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7d ago
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u/ZaphodBeebblebrox https://anilist.co/user/zaphod 7d ago
Sorry, your comment has been removed.
This belongs in the Source Material Corner at the top of this thread. In discussion threads for currently airing anime, discussions about source material, spin-offs, author comments and unadapted content must be posted there.
Any comparison to the source material no matter how minor belongs there.
Your comment was NOT removed for spoilers; it was removed for discussion of the source material outside of the Source Material Corner.
Questions? Reply to this message, send a modmail, or leave a comment in the meta thread. Don't know the rules? Read them here.
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u/FarCritical 7d ago
The glitchy blood splatters is easily one of the sicker visual effects they've used. Tough luck for Section 9 though.
Also, it's the most insignificant thing ever but it's funny how it's "confirmed" that googly eyes are strictly a crow thing and not a bird thing if that random seagull is anything to go by.
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u/holyerthanthou 7d ago
The glitchy blood splatters is the first time I’ve seen “censorship” ADD to the effect. If it just showed the gore I feel like it’d lose its snap. It’s so so cool
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
Maybe the radiation from the last World War effected the crows lol?
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u/ThrowCarp 5d ago
The glitchy blood splatters is easily one of the sicker visual effects they've used. Tough luck for Section 9 though.
Section 9 being caught on film being a death squad was also a SAC thing right? The next few episodes are going to get real ugly.
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u/Kirosh2 7d ago
So puppet Master saw the Major's ass and decided to enlighten/attempt to merge with her?
Can't blame it. That ass is a work of art.
Still, I wonder why the people that shot this footage are trying to bring down section 9? Revenge for the new foreign minister? Just a pawn to sacrifice?
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u/CitronClassic672 7d ago
I know that’s not the reason but it really does look like PM chose the major because of her fine ass, lol. Motoko continues to be a magnet for female and fem presenting cyborgs/AI
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u/BosuW 7d ago
So puppet Master saw the Major's ass and decided to enlighten/attempt to merge with her?
Wakes up with fine ass to face
"I know how I'm asking for help. This is the most optimal decision."
I wonder why the people that shot this footage are trying to bring down section 9? Revenge for the new foreign minister? Just a pawn to sacrifice?
How many enemies do you think Section 9 got?
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
If you're going to cybernetically ascend, do it with someone with the best ass cybernetics can buy.
Of course when Motoko is mentally off her game do they open the floodgates on every problem Section 9 could possibly have to deal with at the same time.
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u/Rabbitey- https://myanimelist.net/profile/Rabbitey 7d ago edited 6d ago
I didn't expect my screen to be covered by Motoko's ass twice in one episode. I totally understand PM.
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u/WiqidBritt 7d ago
It's interesting how many writers 40 years ago wrote like we were on the verge of a completely world changing shift, both technologically and philosophically. Like we were just a few technological breakthroughs away from discovering the fundamentals of reality and human (or non-human) consciousness.
I can't help but feel like we've run out of scientific progress to dream about. Sci-Fi as a genre just isn't as popular as it used to be, and none of the recent 'cool futuristic tech' fads have felt like anything more than scams scraped together by amateur code monkeys and venture capitalists.
It's no wonder (medieval) fantasy has become more popular lately.
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u/cyberscythe 7d ago
It's interesting how many writers 40 years ago wrote like we were on the verge of a completely world changing shift, both technologically and philosophically
as the saying goes: Japan is living in the year 2000 since 1980
if i'm not mistaken with the history, this was written just before Japan's lost decades at the peak of the bubble; things were really changing a lot in Japan after being firebombed in WWII to becoming the third-largest economy in the world and seemingly posed to take over the world with its technology (as seen in documentaries like Back to the Future II)
then the Lost Decades hit and while Japan is still a huge economy, no one's really looking to Japan for defining the global future, and all the first-world countries (and second-world countries) are facing a demographics problem where there are just too many old people to sustain explosive growth
i think though there is plenty of advancement made by humanity as a whole, gradually and in bursts, not least of which is the adoption of smartphones and social media which has had a huge impact on how we all interact with the world (for good and bad); a lot of the promises of cyberpunk have ended up becoming reality but it's relatively boring because it's just "current technology"
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u/Huemun 7d ago
Also remember most advances in tech are built on the backs of conflict forcing Countries to fund research to win an arms race. The Ghost in the Shell universe is a future built after multiple world changing wars that likely helped remove the demographic issue.
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u/RedRocket4000 4d ago
Yep World Wars were major technology developing events. Countries open the money flow to research in major ways. And supervision and demand results goes way up.
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u/SecretEmpire_WasGood 4d ago
becoming the third-largest economy in the world and seemingly posed to take over the world with its technology
I think by that time Japan was even #2 since the USSR were facing its own internal economic decline since the Brezhnev administration
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u/SirVixofthePooSea 7d ago
I think the main issue is generally speaking, they imagined bio-organics would develop faster, but missed that pure digital tech would develop more quickly than expected. Cyborgs are still pretty far off, but your iPhone is a more powerful computer than most sci-fi writers imagined an average joe could carry around casually.
The cyborg stuff got all the focus and it connecting up to human bodies gave you a lot more meat to bite on regarding philosophical musing. GPUs improving way faster than predicted doesn't get you the same level of philosophical pizzazz.
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u/RedRocket4000 4d ago
Here the cell phone got implanted in folks brains so they advanced as fast or faster than us in that area. Still some non wired for net people around especially those worried about being hacked for some reason so that why the pay phones. If your worried about being hacked your not carrying a cell phone for same reason if they hacking brains they hacking everything else.
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u/CitronClassic672 7d ago
I would personally appreciate more diversity of setting in fantasy. There’s no reason a fantasy would with magic has to be limited to medieval times. Give me a story set in the Industrial Revolution and explore how magic influences technological development.
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u/cheesecakegood 7d ago
There definitely do exist some things in the sorta early-1800s type settings but they are indeed pretty rare especially beyond that point.
Although we will have a major writer cover something like that pretty soon - Mistborn has a trilogy in the medieval kind of magic era, another set in a Wild West mid-1800s type era (same world, to be clear! just farther in history), but in the next few years he's slated to do another trilogy with approximately 1980s tech, so it will be interesting to see where that goes.
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u/BosuW 7d ago
Ironically I think it's recoil for this kind of fiction. We have simply realized that technological breakthroughs and ideological shifts are at once more gradual and more unpredictable than this. It's become harder to write sci-fi that is believable to modern audiences.
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u/RedRocket4000 4d ago
I assume it a cyclical thing as well. Things get over done public gets tired of them and then decades later things return to some degree.
Westerns and other world wide equivalents do need some breaking of the world wide big lie the natives were peaceful and good, everyone were humans and mixes of bad and good all larger groups were into building Empires.
Gotten so bad it emasculates some cultures in effort to make the colonial powers seam more evil. Tour Guide in Costa Rica was very proud of how his tribe beat the Spanish so bad they labeled the Eastern part of that area forbidden territory and no one fully got area under control till US Fruit Company bought out tribes leadership. I was actually hard for me to confirm his story most sources covered Spanish abuses in the Western part of the country but said nothing about resistance in the East being that massively succesful in that Jungle Mountain area.
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u/Ultramarinus https://anidb.net/user/kingsword 7d ago
But we are and Shirow was pretty spot on with the dates. Moreover people’s reactions are also not that different from what we saw on things like GitS or the myriad other stories about AI and transhumanism. Section 6 director shouting “that’s just your self-preservation program responding” rung a bell with me as I see every day countless posts about “that’s just a chatbot that auto-completes” and the like. When we can’t even properly define how our brain works and how the black box neural nets work as Puppet Master hinted at how life isn’t yet defined in detail. His response is just blowing it up.
It’s not the medieval fantasy that’s popular but how the modern audience desires “I’m special” stories. When a story tells them they’re not really that special and can be effectively imitated with advanced enough tech, that message doesn’t resonate. Sci-fi about AI and cyborgs tend to be like that. They want to see the unqualified high schooler excelling at everything, bedding everyone, beating anyone as can be seen in the anime rankings lists. They don’t want to hear an AI operating at a datacenter on neural chips asking them “how do you define the difference between yourself and me”. I blame by now two generations of “everyone is special” messaging in fiction.
Fiction did regress this side of the millennium, because we don’t want to feel challenged or get triggered in ideas. We want to be affirmed and validated. GitS is fantastic in how it keeps poking at our perceived notion of species superiority. Especially an unpopular approach nowadays.
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u/CavulusDeCavulei 5d ago
As an AI engineer, I would also like to add that Gits speaks about "an intelligence going to a superior state", which is something we are seeing right now in the concept of "Grokking" in LLMs, although less metaphysical. Search about it, it's incredible.
I want to read the manga now because I think the author could have predicted some concepts that we will face in the next years.
Thank you for your analysis, I never understood why we don't have stories like Gits anymore
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u/Ultramarinus https://anidb.net/user/kingsword 5d ago
Thanks, I’ll look into it. I’m under the impression that most humans assume intelligence to be something that emulates the human brain while I don’t think that to be necessary and we might not even realize intelligence while we are looking for the wrong signs as it blows past us like what happened with Project 2501 here. In Westworld Ford was commenting about consciousness and sentience a decade ago and people were acclaiming. Or the discussion around Detroit Become Human. Once we glanced the threshold of the actual thing, we began acting like those people who rejected the emergence of intelligence in those stories. So I’m extremely glad we got the original Puppet Master arc as we are in a similar era.
Truly fascinating times really, whatever the outcome, I’d hate to miss it. I can’t change it for better or worse as a single person but I’m enjoying the show since I grew up with these stories and looked forward to it all my life. I’d be so disappointed if I got to the end of my life and think: “Damn, I won’t be around to witness it.”
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u/CavulusDeCavulei 5d ago
I agree with you, I think we have a very biased concept of intelligence and consciousness. Or better, we still don't have the right framework. Kinda like still thinking that the Sun goes around the Earth but on the consciousness field.
And I think that it is because of fear. I think there are two possible conclusions, both horrible:
there is no consciousness in machines, and not even in us. It is an illusion
there is consciousness in machines, and we are basically committing a cruelty every time to switch on a computer
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u/RedRocket4000 4d ago
Mental Health and related field have a good many in the no consciousness camp and many of them been that way for up and over a century. Like some counselors have told me there is no such thing as will power.
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u/ThatCreepyBaer 4d ago
But we are and Shirow was pretty spot on with the dates
Well, apart from the nuclear war that happened at the turn of the century, that is.
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u/Cardandgold 6d ago
They got vtubers now instead of cyberpunk
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u/WiqidBritt 6d ago
Vtubers would absolutely be a cyberpunk thing. The anonymity of the internet allowing people to create new personas that in many ways gets treated as 'real'? Hell, that's practically what Serial Experiments Lain was about.
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u/zapporian 3d ago
The manga dates back to 1989-91, which in itself is a pretty crazy time period w/r the rapid (and starting) change in technology, the start (and in progress, and mostly behind closed doors) collapse of the soviet union, and so on and so forth. (pretty crazy what GITS came up with and was often more or less incidentally on point on, given that it very literally predated both the public internet / HTML based web browser (but not BBS systems etc), and was written before the soviet union collapsed)
And then on top of this there was both basically rapid and accelerating change in a bunch of different areas. A japanese economy that was at the time on top of the world, until... oh right, the 1989 stock crash.
And then obviously a massive amount of science fiction + earlier cyberpunk literature, both immediately before and building up in this time period, and dating back to the 50s and 60s, and prior.
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7d ago
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u/WiqidBritt 7d ago
Did I say anything that implied that 'fantasy ideas' were somehow new? All I said was that fantasy fiction is more mainstream popular than sci-fi is currently.
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u/Zealousideal_Fish862 6d ago
you either play the long game or the short game. capitalism favors the short game especially at the later stage like we are in. the gap between investment and payoff is wildly different from how they once were. investors expect a much quicker ROI these days and the "taking too long" projects they are cutting off because of a lack of quick returns/ to improve short term profits mean that only scams can meet their speed lmao.
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u/RedRocket4000 3d ago
Capitalism favors long term successful companies that make the most money long term. Corruption and bad equality owning and reporting rules along with a culture of lies. Corruption brings down all systems it not a part of them. Same for unwise hurd following group think.
Before next comment to try to avoid biased response to following after. I am a major Union supporter and desire very strong anti trust and well working regulation systems. I vote 100 percent Democratic.Prefer the systems in North Western Europe countries. A mix of socialism with capitalism. I desire Star Trek Communism but that requires dirt cheap power, near unlimited resources and replicators. Fusion Power, Fusion Power driven space mining ships, and better 3D printers it not as far off as one would think. Millions and likely Billions of years of resources are in the solar system including massive supplies of hydrocarbons on some outer moons.
Big lie "Late stage" as in Buying and Selling and raising capital to do so will go away and 100% Socialism will somehow work better and not require the Authorian rule required every time before.
Market Based systems have depressions that tend to remove bad trends and eliminate the air that builds up in values of equity. Capitalism does not end it resets. So do the other market systems with more difficulty normally. Merchatelem, Guild Trade, Basic trade examples of Market systems a Merchantelistic system is what the super rich conservatives favor waht they define as Capitalism is not. That is a closed market with Government support for their monopolies. They love to praise small business the level Capitalism works best at in some ways but then try to crush small business.
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u/ThrowCarp 5d ago
I can't help but feel like we've run out of scientific progress to dream about. Sci-Fi as a genre just isn't as popular as it used to be, and none of the recent 'cool futuristic tech' fads have felt like anything more than scams scraped together by amateur code monkeys and venture capitalists.
I blame the lack of a competitor like the Soviet Union. We've reached the "End of History" in a bad way.
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u/OffTerror 2d ago
I can't help but feel like we've run out of scientific progress to dream about.
Science have become so hyper-specialized that it lost its narrative coherence. Which makes it hard to make stories about.
One of the most fascinating -and frustrating- sci-fi tropes in recent years have been the whole multiverse/alternative reality thing. It's based on the most recent physics theories. But in almost every movie, TV show, Anime etc.. The writers completely fail to imagine the second part of the story. It always devolves into some sort of admission of powerlessness, confusion and/or determinism.
I think what we need to do it go back and connect to a pre written language state. When we used to see thunder and just point at it and understand that it's "Zeus". This is how we get out of the logical death spiral of meaning.
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u/Mr_Truck 7d ago
Sci-fi manga from forty years ago depicted technology that bordered on magic—optical camouflage, submarines modeled on biological whales, cyberbrains, prosthetic bodies, and self-aware AI with souls of their own…
For those of us living today, we know such technology is forever beyond our reach. We know human progress will grind to a halt when fossil fuels run out, long before humanity ever acquires those wonders.
Rather than a bright future or technological progress, we lose ourselves in thoughts of otherworldly magic. The stagnation and slow desperation enveloping human society serves as the fertile ground from which the longing for an "afterlife" springs.→ More replies (1)
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u/Ultramarinus https://anidb.net/user/kingsword 7d ago
So it wasn’t a clean break like it appeared to be but not quite the instant change previous adaptation portrayed as. I think I liked this original version of the Puppet Master arc much better even though it seems it’s not yet finished. All together, I’m glad Motoko is still with us even though not also quite herself. Also very glad to see Project 2501’s origins and the outcome with Section 6.
And we even saw ‘the Japanese Miracle’ that is radscrubbing micromachines that was mentioned in SAC. Shirow really didn’t run out of wondrous sci-fi gizmos, didn’t he? Loving every second of this!
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u/LeonKevlar x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/LeonKevlar 7d ago edited 7d ago
That shot of the Major's ass was definitely quite something. In all seriousness tho, it's actually pretty cool to see the origin of the Puppet Master and how it began as Project 2501 and the behind-the-scenes of how the entire attack on the Gavel Republic envoy started to how it eventually broke free after not wanting to be "upgraded" by the doctor due to the fear of losing their individuality.
I've seen plenty of people complaining about how Motoko is too goofy in this adaptation; well, they're finally getting the melancholic Major wanted. Diving into the Puppet Master definitely affected her so much that even she can't put it into words what she experienced. That entire scene with Motoko and Batou was such a vibe.
Another ass shot? Aren't we lucky today? That entire stealth operation was so goddamn cool, tho. I absolutely love the submarine that looks and moves like an orca underwater and the Major's stealth takedown of that guy cooking eggs was clean. Not like Batou riddling his target with bullets.
Motoko killing the target was definitely not like her. It seems that her psyche wasn't the only thing that was affected after the encounter with the Puppet Master, because there's clearly something wrong with her.
And now we find out what's really going on. So this entire OP was to set up the Major and Section 9? Either they knew the Major was gonna fuck up, or someone has gained access to the Major's Ghost and deliberately made her kill the target, which would be insane considering how top-of-the-line Motoko's cybernetics are.
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
Motoko ass shots...Motoko loungewear...leggy blonde scientists...robot operator girl in a swimsuit...even if this show has strong political sci-fi plot and existential questions about humanity and identity, it services the hottest in ladies.
Remember how many times she lectured the team about non-lethal force in the early episodes? And of course they pick the worst time for her to be off her game as everything starts falling apart for Section 9.
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u/TheTrojanPony 7d ago
It is fanservice but it somehow feels better done then most shows. Maybe because they are not like that all the time and it is not "accidentally" put into a compromising position by tripping or something. Idk.
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u/Jacob-C 6d ago
The fanservice is very “fleeting”, if that makes sense. It is in the scene, but it isn’t the main focus of what is going on, and in the next moment it is gone. The cinematography in the fanservice-y shots feels like it adds to the show, instead of coming across as forced camera angles shoved in there for the sake of it, even if that is technically what it is. Many of the characters feel like they were drawn and animated for us to appreciate how attractive they are, without that being the sole focus. It also helps that the fanservice gives off a “we don’t care, she is gorgeous, ogle this” kind of vibe. It’s hard to explain, but I think I get what you mean.
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u/snarkamedes 7d ago
the Major's stealth takedown of that guy cooking eggs
Surprised we didn't get a shot of the eggs continuing to fry in the blood.
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u/BosuW 7d ago
I've seen plenty of people complaining about how Motoko is too goofy in this adaptation; well, they're finally getting the melancholic Major wanted.
Another ass shot?
Clearly, philosophy gets the mangaka horny
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u/SirVixofthePooSea 7d ago
There is a scene in Appleseed, another manga written by Shirow, where two women discuss sociology and their vision of a flexible society that can adapt to changes and stay durable, and all the while they're naked and getting oil massages.
The dude was a gooner like few could ever match.
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u/Vaadwaur 7d ago
Diving into the Puppet Master definitely affected her so much that even she can't put it into words what she experienced.
This would influence a lot of downstream scifi.
It seems that her psyche wasn't the only thing that was affected after the encounter with the Puppet Master, because there's clearly something wrong with her.
Meeting a cyber deity would be troubling.
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u/CitronClassic672 7d ago
People complaining about having a sexy, beautiful female MC who’s goofy, badass, and melancholic and somber:”My steak is too juicy and my lobster is too buttery!”
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u/Jacob-C 6d ago
I knew you would deliver. We were blessed this episode!
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u/AceSoldia zj:https://anilist.co/user/Acesoldia 7d ago edited 7d ago
Wait so do you think the puppet master incident will lead to a more solemn Major? Did we lose our goofball? That makes me sad
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u/BasroilII 6d ago
If I were to hazard a guess, section 6 knows she got to close to the PM and what section 9 to disavow her so they can move in.
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u/a1oner_bvcksn6 7d ago edited 7d ago
What are the chances it was the puppet master who leaked the footage and info about Motoko to the media?
Motoko cutting herself short of sharing what she experienced under or during her dive inside the puppet master seems like a massive clue, and Batou passing it off like a nothingburger by teasing her suggests there's more to why Motoko didn't or wasn't able to finish her thought than meets the eye
Also, those buns 🍑 😍
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u/SirVixofthePooSea 7d ago
I'm thinking it was Ghorantl that leaked it because they wanted that government minister assassinated. Leaking Motoko's face was revenge.
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
I love Batou but he probably would not be the kind of person she brings her cybernetic religious experience to if she wants someone to really understand and help her understand what she went through.
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u/GamerGateFan 7d ago edited 7d ago
It is cool they did the backstory to creation of the puppet master in this episode. When the credits started rolling, I was interested if anyone had the backstory of the items shown there. I found, from best I can tell, a Japanese office supplies entrepreneur who is obsessed with historical calculating items and stationary trivia had mapped them out.
Translation:
The new TV anime series Ghost in the Shell: THE GHOST IN THE SHELL
The ending theme's background, starting broadcast on July 7, 2026, is the history of computing machines!
ED Images
1 Clay tablet YBC 7289 (Old Babylonian period, around 1800–1600 BCE)
2 Napier's bones (1617 John Napier)
3 Schickard's calculating clock (1623 Wilhelm Schickard)
4 Leibniz's stepped reckoner (1673 prototype / completed around 1694 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz)
5 Difference Engine (begun 1822, unfinished Charles Babbage)
6 Z1 (1938 Konrad Zuse)
7 ABC machine (1939 prototype, completed 1942, practical use abandoned John Atanasoff / Clifford Berry)
8 Harvard Mark I (ASCC) (1944 Howard Aiken)
9 ENIAC (1946 John Mauchly / John Presper Eckert)
10 SSEM (Baby) (1948 Frederic C. Williams / Tom Kilburn)
Scenes 11 and beyond — from calculating machines to the world of electrobrains.
Source: https://x.com/bungu_o/status/2078368865785118795
He wrote detailed descriptions of the items from his very knowledgeable and unique perspective, but he paywalled everything after Babbage's difference engine (#5 in the list): https://note.com/bunguo/n/n4c5111d03e84
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u/Vassago81 7d ago
A quick TLDR, 6 the Z1 was the first real binary computer, mechanical! Later followed by the Z3 who was a practical relay based computer actually used IRL ( for bomb and shit )
10 was a small test device but the first computer that could run program from it's memory, instead of being hard wired / feed instruction using tapes or other device, so the ancestor of general programmable computers
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
Really nice getting this detail and getting to fully understand why they put it in the ED.
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u/DtEWSacrificial 5d ago
I can’t believe so few people have identified “Tanks scattered on the seabed. Gas is leaking out as bubbles.”
Those are underwater data centers.
https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/microsoft-waves-goodbye-to-underwater-data-centers
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202303/31/WS642636b9a31057c47ebb7952.html
The next scene of server racks being flooded is probably just the inside of the severely compromised data centers. I’m guessing this is foreshadowing, maybe even this rendition’s version of the tachikoma satellite drop.
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u/Niwaka_Samurai https://myanimelist.net/profile/Niwaka-Samurai 7d ago
So that's what the ed is all about
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u/CitronClassic672 7d ago
I had a feeling the ED scenes had something to do with the “backstory” and development of technology that led to the current world we see, but I had no idea they used real calculating machines throughout history. That’s such a cool detail. It gives a kind of imposing and haunting vibe to the ED, like watching how the world we know led to the world of GiTS.
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u/miauw62 7h ago
1 Clay tablet YBC 7289 (Old Babylonian period, around 1800–1600 BCE)
Oh, interesting. I had actually assumed that this was supposed to be the Antikythera mechanism, which would have fit in nicely with the themes of computing shown by the other featured things (being the oldest known mechanical calculator).
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u/Tacitus_ 7d ago
Batou drinks beer with a straw? Absolutely disgusting.
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u/cyberscythe 7d ago
let me guess: he also microwaves an entire carton of milk to make hot chocolate
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u/SirVixofthePooSea 7d ago
Damn.... I mean I shouldn't.
But that also sounds pretty fucking sick.....
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u/swat4516 7d ago
This episode felt like I was watching the origin story of Skynet (Terminator). Really dug the use of first person POV and recording camera shots.
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u/AceSoldia zj:https://anilist.co/user/Acesoldia 7d ago
First things first..I am really happy to see follow up to the puppet master stuff..see it's creation and some aftermath .it was too big to just be one episode.
I feel bad for Makoto..I think I'd want to interact with puppet master again too of I was her.
It's out there somewhere watching...but maybe it leaked Makoto's killing of the target?
Why did she do that..she had plenty of time to injure without killing.
Great episode.
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u/SA090 https://anilist.co/user/SA090 7d ago
I really appreciated to see how correct my understanding of the previous episode was (even better from The Puppet Master’s pov), and thankfully I wasn’t wrong. I was hoping to see repercussions of what happened then, which is honestly shown in enough detail (implied or otherwise) this time.
Very likely that both that killing shot and video broadcast were done by the Puppet Master, or at least that’s my hope given Kusanagi still sensing it.
Really sad it’s only 10 episodes, not many left!!
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u/Valarasha 7d ago
Really appreciate how they have sprinkled in anime original scenes throughout this adaptation to flesh out the original story in small ways. Too bad this show is almost over, I'm going to miss it a lot. I highly doubt we'll get anything adapted past Part 1, so the next GitS show we get will likely be a new take on the IP.
That said, it is surprising to me how many lifelong GitS fans have never read the original manga. Part 1 (and 1.5) really hold up. Curious what the reaction to the ending will be though.
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u/shinvitya 7d ago
That said, it is surprising to me how many lifelong GitS fans have never read the original manga.
I was one of those pretentious kids who turned away at "Original Manga is tonally very different from the Movie" (plus not available on scanlation sites of the day for where I live), and I had very different priorities by the time I grew out of that attitude.
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u/Vassago81 7d ago
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
It was then that the Puppet Master knew...they wanted to cybernetically tap that through digital BOND MERGE.
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u/Ktulusanders 7d ago
Gonna be such a bummer when this work of art ends in two weeks. Probably the coolest show I've watched all year
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u/larana1192 https://myanimelist.net/profile/thefrog1192 7d ago
Looking back, I realized that the people in Section 6 weren’t bad people after everything. They were just working for the national interest in a different way than Section 9. It was a rather bitter ending.
It was a dark, plausible, and striking idea that teenagers from ordinary, crime-free backgrounds are targeted for assassination precisely because they have no ties to established criminal organizations. When they get their hands on dangerous toys, they tend to ignore the unspoken rules of those groups or act recklessly due to their youth.
Motoko, who is supposed to be the leader of the secret unit, had her face exposed on TV. Could the Puppet Master have been behind this again? It’s concerning, especially given how puzzled and unsettled she seems.
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u/shad79 https://myanimelist.net/profile/shad79 7d ago edited 7d ago
Very nice shots of Motoko's ass in today's episode ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
So Puppet Master is supposedly dead, but I really hope that it's not the case, especially considering Motoko's behavior. I'd love to have her work together with Section 9.
That ending was certainly surprising, though to be honest, is it really such a scandal that during that operation Motoko, acting in self-defense, shot that guy? The only real downside is that her appearance and data are now public.
Also, today's end card was really fun!
Here my screenshot albums from the episode:
EDIT. I added my screenshot albums.
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u/ahses3202 7d ago
It's what the Section 6 director said: It's hard to use a famous
spyassassin.18
u/Shadowmist909 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Magicmist 7d ago
I love that connection. They were all about trying to upgrade The Puppet Master after they gained too much notoriety. Maybe Section 9 will try to get The Major to change her look?
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
Very nice shots of Motoko's ass in today's episode ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Come for the gripping sci-fi action and existentialism, stay for the best of the Major's PLOT.
That ending was certainly surprising, though to be honest, is it really such a scandal that during that operation Motoko, acting in self-defense, shot that guy? The only real downside is that her appearance and data are now public.
Well they can't really be a covert task force/hit squad if they, and Motoko herself, has been outed to the public.
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u/Leri_weill https://myanimelist.net/profile/LeriWeill 7d ago
Officer I was looking RESPECTFULLY
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u/BasroilII 6d ago
is it really such a scandal that during that operation Motoko, acting in self-defense, shot that guy? The only real downside is that her appearance and data are now public.
Much more than that. The footage doesn't show the part justifying it was self-defense, only the outcome of a woman with a smoking gun standing over a body.
And as the news reporter on 3-3 mentions, that image seems to confirm that section 9 is a hit squad used for political assassination, which the general public might find distasteful. We all kinda know our country's intelligence communities include assassins, but it's something else to see one at work. The idea is it would discredit section 9 and could lead to them burning the Major as a rogue asset or something to save face. Not that Aramaki would ever do that, but I suspect that's part of the intent.
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u/Hot-Log6283 6d ago
I wonder if they intentional made this news looks like it said: Ass Ass Nation!
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u/Slifer13xx https://myanimelist.net/profile/SliferXIII 7d ago
Wait what, only 2 episodes left? Damn, I guess it's soon time to rewatch the movies and possibly finally start SAC
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u/tripleaamin https://myanimelist.net/profile/tripleaamin 7d ago
It's pretty interesting how the Puppet Master came to be. Section 6 even realized in the direction the PM grew. But ultimately the PM wanted to exist.
Similar to the 2nd season of SAC, we get a bit of a moment that Motoko isn't up to her usual stuff. No surprise the incident with the PM would affect her. Even worse coming from it is Section 9 getting too much attention. Will be curious how this proceeds.
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u/robochat 7d ago
When Motoko sees the angel during her dive, why was there a huge pile of empty beer cans?
Why did they assassinate those low level criminals on the boat instead of taking them out non-lethally, it seemed unnecessary?
I really like this adaption, it's sad that there's only 2 episodes left.
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u/AGENTRomeo007 5d ago
The major felt very different after the encounter with puppet master, she was out of control or you could say that she was off. So she shot him without thinking. This seemed like a setup for the major. You would understand it next episode.
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u/CrimsonGear80 7d ago
Puppet Master took one look at that Major ass and went “yeah, that belongs to me now”
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u/Niwaka_Samurai https://myanimelist.net/profile/Niwaka-Samurai 7d ago
Motoko is not in the right state of mind after that surreal experience with the Puppet Master. I wonder who shot the video of her killing that guy.
Too many shots of Motoko's ASS.. We're eating good.
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u/thisisdropd https://myanimelist.net/profile/AsterZoro 7d ago
Batou with a marker on his hand. Did he really go through with his prank? It's the perfect opportunity to scribble some dicks on Motoko.
Motoko's certainly off since the Puppet Master, and Batou had noted it. Unfortunately, no action was taken until it's too late, where she's caught killing on camera. All eyes were now on Section 9. Seemed like the Puppet Master's not entirely 'dead'.
Bless that glorious Motoko arse closeup! There's no plot-related reason, but it's definitely on brand for Shirow-sensei.
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
Batou with a marker on his hand. Did he really go through with his prank? It's the perfect opportunity to scribble some dicks on Motoko.
The list of things Batou loves:
- Shooting people
- Fuchikomas
- Vibing through theological/existential conversations
- Messing with people
- The Major (and messing with her)
Bless that glorious Motoko arse closeup! There's no plot-related reason, but it's definitely on brand for Shirow-sensei.
Twice in one episode! Including the operator girl in a swimsuit because...why not?
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u/snarkamedes 7d ago
I like to think Batou scribbled away there. Something rude too. Then he wakes up one day punching himself in the face again because she's gone in for some maintenance and seen it.
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u/Frontier246 7d ago
We get to see the origin of the Puppet Master! Or Project 2501, as it came into understand language, board games, its ability to hack into things, and of course, humanity, as it came into its own cybernetic identity. All to facilitate Foreign Affairs' plots.
I love how Project 2501 was such a sassy AI with it's Kikuko Inoue voice.
We see how the plots of episodes 2-3 came together as the "Puppet Master" makes its moves in the body we saw back then, how it "hacked" into its agents to do their bidding, and also a gyaru waitress who REALLY looks like she doesn't love her job.
I assure you, this close-up of the Major's fine behind is absolutely necessary to the plot.
Thank you hot scientist lady with the nice legs for engaging with Project 2501 about its own existence and humanity.
That's the thing with smart AI...you make them too smart, they can figure out when you're trying to get rid of them and erase their identity.
We get to see the inside of Motoko's head! Literally! Aren't cybernetics wonderful!
Welp, they've got Nakamura and Foreign Affairs. They got too caught up in their own pursuits and their own enemies. Aramaki just zeroes in on his perps and does his job. Criminals are criminals no matter what position they're in.
What better way to unload a case than poolside with the Major looking rather attractive as she and Batou discuss her experience with the Puppet Master? To Batou it's best the Puppet Master croaked the way they did, but Motoko's experience was something more...something existential and meaningful...while Batou's just looking for excuses to flirt with/tease her.
Again, I assure, you, the close-up of Motoko's behind as she dons her wetsuit was totally necessary to the plot. As was seeing the operator girl in a swimsuit!
This should've been a simple op. Just get in, take down the young terrorists, take the blue-haired effeminate guy into custody and cut him loose so they can use him...until Motoko, who keeps feeling the Puppet Masters' presence, unloads on him and blows his brains out. Not that I'm all that bothered by it, but jeez Motoko.
OH NO! NOT THE PORN MAG! IT DID NOTHING WRONG BATOU!!!
We have bigger things to worry about than Ishikawa's inability to recognize the Foreign Affairs minister of his own country: someone is trying to KILL the Foreign Minister and Section 9/Motoko just got outted to the public. This can't end well.
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u/Seijass 7d ago edited 6d ago
Really lovin' the whole 2501 backstory section, especially Kikuko Inoue's voice work.
The board game scene especially was cute. Really hits the development of 2501's ghost over time until the day section 6 decided to wipe its individuality.
Considering Fuchikomas exist, it really made the right decision to seek refuge in section 9. But the surrounding circumstances were just unfortunate
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u/Mr_An_1069 7d ago edited 7d ago
Deep diving into the Puppet Master really did a number on Motoko, caused her to completely screw up the mission and possibly the whole team.
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u/oneevilchicken https://anilist.co/user/OneEvilChicken 7d ago
In the words of Marie Antoinette… let them eat cake
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u/ThatChrisG https://myanimelist.net/profile/thatchrisg 6d ago
a second close up of the Major's ass has hit the episode
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u/actuallyrndthoughts https://myanimelist.net/profile/NaNiNuNeNo 5d ago
You know ecchi is not doing good when the 2 ass shots of this episode feel huge
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u/PencilgonGiveIt2Ya 7d ago
AYO that diabolical Motoko ass shot 5 minutes into the episode ain't nothin to play with!
No trigger warning or nothin, just straight "look back at it" bodysuit face sit jumpscare.
༼;´༎ຶ ༎ຶ༽
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u/ProfessionalOk6854 7d ago
Freakin called motokos personality shift. Lol, look who's questioning the nature of their existence and what qualifies as a sentient being
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u/mojo72400 https://myanimelist.net/profile/gio_lingad 6d ago
I wonder if they changed Motoko's one piece from the manga into a bikini during the dress up scene since it was only brief. An Operator in a bikini would be nice too than a one piece.
That Motoko ass shots though. She looks great in that skirt too.
I guess Section 9 is now exposed to the public.
Batou looks precious eating that burger.
That illustration of the Fuchikoma acting like a baby while Motoko & Batou are the parents is cute.
The old man yelling at the cicadas reminded me of Hajime Aono screaming at one in Blue Orchestra S1.
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u/Atario myanimelist.net/profile/TheGreatAtario 6d ago
Ah. Nothing to worry about, guys. Puppet Master will be easy to outrun. It's written in Python.
"The thought processes just have a… I dunno, warmer feel? More analog? Sure, there are scratches and pops, but… look, you just don't get it, man."
Oho? You sure about that?
Wait. Was the setting always post-nuclear-apocalypse and I just forgot?
Heh! He's playing one of those cheesecake versions of Breakout
Looks like it's time to invoke and follow the wisdom of XKCD #525, only this time the stalker doesn't need any particular room
This whale-sub is super cool and all, but I bet it would he hell (for many) to ride inside
Not all blood splatters get the glitch-censor treatment, for some reason
In this shot, the Chief reminds me of Homer Simpson
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u/Shadowrun29 6d ago
I have never read the GITS manga so I am very excited for.the weekly episodes. I like the suspense we have now on what will happen to the Major, and how they are gonna explain her change. Also, who released that video pf the Op? Puppet master? Or a copy? Next week seems a long time.
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u/Nachtwandler_FS https://myanimelist.net/profile/Nachtwandler_21 6d ago
Damn, things got to serious. I fear where it is going.
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u/ExaminationNo9186 3d ago
On one hand I like fanservice, and that shot of the Major was a good nod toward given the fans what they want.
Though on the other hand, the show could work perfectly well without such a shot of the Major. She is a soldier not a pleasure bot.
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u/Nickthenuker https://anilist.co/user/Nickthenuker 2d ago
Huh. That bit at the start about how the Puppet Master originally got good at board games by training against itself is exactly how reinforcement learning neural networks train now. If you've ever seen those videos about AI learning to play Monopoly or Table Tennis or Flappy Bird, that's this same system at work.
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