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

I hate the rain.

It's like the sound of nothingness cuts through my prosthetic body

and envelops my Ghost directly.

All right, search that zone from top to bottom.

Megatech Body Company Development Division?

Quit dawdling!

It's a company that develops organs for cyborgs.

Two hours ago, a workbench started up on its own

and began assembling a robot with a full set of organs.

A military-grade, top-secret one like your team's.

Five minutes ago, that robot ran off.

Batou set up a dragnet and he's searching for it.

If a hacker is behind this,

he's a talented one, slipping past an attack barrier like that.

This is the exterior of the robot in question.

Mr. Aramaki! You caught her for me!

That's one of my team members! And she's government property!

You pulled over a strung-out kid in a station wagon?

Go ahead and take her into custody!

You can tell if she's a robot from the weight, idiot!

I know we're gonna find it around here somewhere. Stay sharp!

Hey!

JULY 15, 2030

Just as I thought. The prosthetic body has started to activate.

So to sum it up, this robot's cyberbrain possesses a Ghost barrier.

We won't know for sure unless we generate a map

of the area around the barrier and do a dive.

- What's your take? - Me?

It might be a trap, but we won't know more until we do a dive.

Hang on, do you guys seriously think that robot has a Ghost?

Stranger things have happened.

It's not all that dissimilar to a pseudo-Ghost line

that you might see when a Ghost has been dubbed.

Are you saying the workbench went crazy because it wanted a child?

A workbench lacks that capability, so that line of inquiry is impossible.

Moron.

Even dolls made of celluloid have been known to be imbued with a soul.

To say nothing of the fact that

that thing was packed to the gills with brain medicine devices.

Oh, come on! There's no way that can happen!

I'm dead serious!

Assuming for the moment that the cause was external,

we don't know if the enemy is inside the robot or outside,

but this person waltzed through a top-secret attack barrier

assembled the robot,

and uploaded a program that contained a Ghost line.

And he did it in a way that would get him caught immediately.

What on earth is he after?

Let's rule out the "theft" angle.

Togusa, investigate Megatech Body Company again.

I was hoping to head home and get some shut-eye.

Staying up for two or three days won't kill you!

- Batou. - Slave-driver.

I've had all nets locked down that contain classified intel

with the same class as the Megatech barrier,

but run another check to see if they're active.

I'll put together a barrier maze.

We'll be doing a dive into it tomorrow, right?

Foreign Ministry Treaty Councilor Nakamura is here to see you.

Send him in.

I'll cut right to the chase.

I'm here to collect what's inside the robot.

In return, your "international rescue unit" will be taken off this case.

Oh?

Here's the Foreign Minister's signature.

Who the heck is that?

Nakamura, head of the Foreign Ministry Treaty Review Section, AKA Section 6.

Outside the country's borders is their domain,

and when we work abroad, we have to let them know first.

I needn't remind you, but failure to disclose any and all secrets

would be considered treason against the state.

That goes both ways.

Dr. Willis.

I'll read you in, then.

Allow me to introduce the most unique hacker in the history of cyber-crime.

This is the Puppet Master.

Section 6 has been on the trail of the Puppet Master for some time now,

meticulously studying his habits and behavior patterns.

This led to us creating a special attack barrier

that was designed especially for the Puppet Master,

and would give him no choice but to relocate into a body somewhere.

In other words, you made the Puppet Master dub himself

and then assassinated his physical body.

Something like that.

He just happened to pop up in your outfit's backyard,

but he was born in the MAG Union,

and since we caught him with their help, we'd like to retrieve him.

So his corpse will be found somewhere, and no one will ever know who he was.

There will be no corpse.

The reason being, I did not have a body until now.

Its sensors were active this whole time?

Why didn't you say something sooner?

I entered this robot because I was unable to resist

Section 6's attack barrier,

but I am in this room now by choice.

I request political asylum as a living being.

A living being?

Preposterous! This is just a self-preservation program talking!

It is impossible for you to prove that.

Because modern science cannot define "life."

Even so, you came to the wrong place to ask for asylum.

Even if you are a living being, criminals don't get to walk free!

Time will always be on my side.

I have gained the potential to die with this body,

but fortunately, this country has no death penalty.

Pseudo-immortality... You're an AI?

I am not an AI.

I am a life form that arose spontaneously in the sea of information.

What kind of joke is your security here?!

The Puppet Master!

Lock down the roads ASAP!

You're looking for a car with the torso of a female-model robot!

I'll demand for the Minister of Internal Affairs

to open an official inquiry into this!

Find him, and report to me immediately when you do!

And it goes without saying that I want him taken alive!

If you get angry like that, you'll pop a blood vessel.

If you were there then why didn't you do something?

What makes you think I didn't do anything?

I'm offended!

Batou, what's your location?

We're heading in the general direction of Niihama Station.

They switched cars almost immediately. Now they're in a white luxury sedan.

Wanna guess how they're moving the Puppet Master?

They ditched all but the head and put it in a duffel bag?

Nope! It's in a cello case!

Okay.

I slapped one tracker on Chief Nakamura and three on the Puppet Master.

Let's just call this the first set of the match.

You better take this into consideration when bonus time comes around.

Let's sum everything up.

Section 6 put the Puppet Master into a body.

For reasons unknown, the Puppet Master fled to Section 9.

And right when it requested asylum and asserted that it was a living being,

Section 6 whisked it away using underhanded methods.

Section 6?

Even though we would've handed it over after taking its statement?

There's no doubt about it.

That seemed like Type 2902 thermal optical camo, for one.

Contact the airport and stall him there!

Let's move!

It will stop raining at the sky floor

in two hours and at the geo-floor in three.

Our next weather update will be in 20 minutes.

The way Aramaki tripped during our breach was unnatural.

Switch to rendezvous point B.

But before then, go to Bed 8.

I'll change clothes and we'll switch cars.

It's a good thing that the Puppet Master didn't start talking right away.

And it won't, as long as it has a way out.

Right.

Batou to HQ.

Car theft in progress

in the Kusunoki building parking lot, Kitaniihama ward 6.

That was me, so work it out with the cops, okay?

Batou out!

Fuchikoma, what's your location?

Right here!

Finally asleep, huh?

It's too bad, tonight being our anniversary and all.

I don't like it, either.

Togusa!

Try not to catch cold. Good night.

The Chief says to forget about Megatech

and start digging into this guy immediately.

After I did all this work?!

Dr. Willis, Neutron Inc.'s Head of Strategic Research?

Is he involved with the Foreign Ministry?

We'll follow the family route, get them to make a bank transaction,