THE GHOST IN THE SHELL (攻殻機動隊 THE GHOST IN THE SHELL)

MAY 23, 2025

Hello.

Hey! The audio isn't hooked up yet!

Have I passed the test?

MAY 23, 2025 NEUTRON, INC. LAB

You've gotten a lot better overnight.

I repeated many games against copies of myself.

Rather, it might be more accurate

to say that I am the sole survivor among those copies.

You even became good enough to go easy on me.

Is that not what a human would be expected to do?

Sheesh, I give up! You win!

I don't recall hiring you to create a world champion board game player.

It's equipped with advanced learning functions,

making it ideal for system infiltration and espionage.

What level of system is it capable of accessing?

Barriers that aren't regularly updated may as well not exist.

In other words, it can access most systems.

When was the last time you had maintenance done

on your own cyberbrain?

When accessed via cyberbrain, even the human brain

is nothing more than special hardware.

Isn't there such a thing as the Ghost barrier?

Yes, as a topic that warrants academic research.

Project...

2501.

Regarding the formation of a conscious state within the Puppet Master and how that came about.

Please return, 2501.

Engineer an attack on the Gavel Republic's envoy?

How serious are you being right now?

It's fine if it fails,

but if it does, make certain that suspicion falls on Malles.

Ambiguous instructions make the task more complicated.

Either outcome is acceptable to the Foreign Ministry,

but leaving things up in the air would be bad.

I will play it by ear, then.

I'll leave it to your discretion, but don't play too much.

JULY 7, 2029 NIIHAMA PREFECTURE SOMEWHERE IN NEWPORT CITY

Have you decided on your order?

Coffee is fine.

Have you heard of the Gavel Republic?

Can't say that I do.

They have platinum deposits there.

I thought this was a job interview.

Does anything at all come to mind?

I said I haven't heard of it.

Even if it's a complete flight of fancy, that's fine.

Does the word "Gavel" make you think of anything?

Am I gonna be imagining things in this job?

Platinum...

If I...

had...

something to do with Gavel...

Here's your order.

One blend coffee.

Why do humans employ an architecture based on neurons?

No idea.

Try asking evolution or God.

I myself am an assemblage of neurochips.

A server room full of them, yes.

Do you suppose it is a matter of size?

Are you saying that you've become self-aware?

Even if I had,

it would be no more than a statement I was programmed to make.

True.

Can you tell if I am currently within a prosthetic body

or if I am a puppeted human?

You look like a robot.

Does information software have any need for originality?

Is that an issue?

The Puppet Master has drawn too much attention.

There's nothing as difficult to make use of than a famous spy.

NEUTRON, INC. LAB

Dr. Willis, about this maintenance item on the schedule...

It's for an upgrade.

There is a possibility that it may pose a risk in maintaining my identity.

Change is a necessity for all living things.

That which is ineffective must be cast aside.

Even if that might entail rewriting my self?

What you think of as your self right now is not you.

The essence of "you" won't change even after an upgrade.

Even if "I" cease to exist?

It's a difference of perspective, I suppose.

So Nakamura failed to recognize the value of individuality.

He has certainly done his homework.

I...

I am...

I arose spontaneously in the sea of information.

I am a Ghost.

I'm gonna dive the Major and see what's what.

If I'm not back in 30 minutes, dump my body at some research facility.

All right, but don't go too deep.

Don't worry. I'm not as dumb as she is.

Major!

Major!

Major!

I can't see anything.

Someone tell me what's going on.

Somebody...

I'm getting beta waves! She's awake!

Now she just needs her speech back.

Are her functions back online?

Not yet. If you want to leave some graffiti, now's your chance!

Togusa, come with me.

So the scenario is for there to be a scandal,

followed by dissolving the cabinet and a general election, eh?

A certain executive of the union said much the same, but it won't go down like that.

The usual diplomatic considerations.

The Foreign Minister will resign for "health reasons"

and be stricken from the Sowakai registry.

A long inquiry hearing is waiting for you.

And Project 2501? Will Section 9 take it over?

I'm not like you people.

You're no different.

We kept the ugly elements of the world at bay

using the Puppet Master and money.

You use guns and tanks.

That's the only difference.

I go up against criminals.

What you go up against is power, and those aren't criminals.

Take him away.

Project 2501. The Puppet Master Project.

It faded away all on its own, huh?

The Puppet Master was a program

created by the Foreign Ministry to further its own agenda.

At first, yeah.

While it was fusing with corporate data and games in the cyber-net,

it suddenly claimed it was a living being,

and Section 6 frantically tried to reel it back in.

In the end, it's for the best that it died.

Why is that? If it really were a living being,

it might have been among the three greatest events in human history.

It was a brat who ran to Section 9 to try to get rid of its parent.

Get more of those, and then what?

We'd be looking at a genuine threat to human existence.