#Hideo Kuze

[morganhopesmith1996]

Kuze Edited Screencaps by morganhopesmith1996

[lstr-master-of-unlocking]

He's kind of nonbinary

[tielt]

"Just as water runs downhill, the human heart also tends to revert to its basest instincts." -Hideo Koze

[alroma1]

One of the most hilariously “right in your face” implication through all three seasons of Gits Sac is that on one (un)marvelous day CIA is going to start eliminate witnesses to operation “Sunset” which of course includes Batou. But apparently none in elite section 9 can put two and two together lol

[sunsetagain]

Love and Deepspace x Ghost in the Shell 2017 headcanon:

Project 2571.

Sylus as Hideo/Kuze.

(main character as Motoko/Major Mira Killian)

I made him wear Japanese hakama like Kuze in concept art instead of in the film.

Edit: added more parallel settings as someone asked on X:

Both LADS MC's and Mira's memories were lost/suppressed.

Aether core experiment - Project 2571 (putting human brains into mechanical bodies). Before they succeeded on Mira, Kuze was one of the failures.

Josephine - Doctor Ouelet.

Xavier - Batou.

Onychinus - Kuze's network.

We are the same. I have been born more than once. So I have more than one name. In this life, my name is... Kuze. I was conscious while they dismembered my body, and discarded me like garbage... and they had to move on... to you. They thought that we would be a part of their EVOLution. But they have created us... to EVOLve alone... beyond them.

[todayisafridaynight]

SORRY SEEING HITOSHI OZAWA REMINDED ME pleeeeeeease please please please if you never take any of my recs again (<- being dramatic) PLEASE watch The Clan's Heir is a Trans Woman at some point... it is, as the title says, about a trans woman who's the successor to a yakuza family... it's got overwhelmingly positive reviews and it IS fucking incredible I'm not over it...

But Here's Why It's Worth A Watch Specifically As An RGG Fan:

Written and directed by Ozawa (he killed it on both counts)

Stars multiple RGG FCs (listing with who they played for convenience): Obviously Ozawa himself (Kuze in Y0), Hideo Nakano (Shibusawa in Y0), Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi (Tsuruno in Gaiden), and Yasukaze Motomiya (Shishido in Gaiden)

According to Motomiya, this basically came about as a bunch of trans-positive actors getting together to support Ozawa's project. For me that was a big deal because pretty much the entire cast is incredibly prolific in V-Cinema (direct-to-video action movies; I think direct-to-video has a negative connotation in the West but I don't think that's the case in Japan). Half the OG and Neo V-Cine Four Kings star in this movie, and all of them have starred in RGG at this point, so if nothing else I was pleasantly surprised to not have to disavow several of my favorite actors for this movie...

Also in the same article as Motomiya's comment, Nakano (who plays a detective) said he wished he got to play a trans woman so he "wouldn't have to craft a role." OK queen <3

Tonally just very RGG with how it blends spectacle and comedy and hard-hitting drama sometimes back-to-back... some of the themes and writing choices definitely struck me as RGG as well despite this coming out before Ozawa's involvement... lmao... I thiiiiink there's also a pretty overt reference in the climactic scene to Kiryu's iconic Step The Fuck Up line to look forward to :)

The Cartoonishly Bigoted Villain played by Motomiya kept reminding me of Mine and Aoki for some reason?? Maybe it was his Mine-stache and costuming and how lame his lines are. Maybe it was the way he runs his clan. Anyway it was funny To Me because I HC both of them as trans

Many opportunities to hallucinate about transfem Arakawa!

That is all... I rest my case... I will say obviously transphobia and homophobia (on the part of the characters) are Constants 'cause a lot of it's about portraying bigotry and acceptance on an individual level + the subs kinda go overboard on the slurs... so I can get if it'd be tiring or something... but yeah... good movie...

You had me at Simply Recommending Something LMAO DONT WORRY ill check it when i can :]

[watasemasaru]

Ten Films I LOVE

tagged by my comedy partner in crime, the tsukkomi to my boke; @zurdoabsurdo

Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl (1999 dir. Katsuhiro Ishii) This is my movie. Movie of all time. Rotten Tomatoes can eat my ass with their 25% rating. A yakuza on the run for stealing from the boss from a wacko cast of assassins with a clever girl in tow. It's what Tarantino wishes he could make.

Heat (1995 dir. Michael Mann) I mean, come on. AlPacino, Robert DeNiro, Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Ashely Judd, Mykelti Williamson? This movie could not fail even if that was the goal.

The Accountant (2001 dir. Ray McKinnon) It's a short film, and Ray is actually from the town I've lived in the last twenty years, so I have a soft spot for him. Ray is so captivating as an actor, and this film was something else. It's somber but still moving.

Straight Talk (1992 dir. Barnet Kellman) It's a cornball romcom, but it's DOLLY PARTON'S romcom. I love this movie to pieces. I even have one of the original movie posters. Unfortunately I have to also look at James Woods' face lol.

Tombstone (1993 dir. George P. Cosmatos) Another that's like, be serious. I love westerns and the outlaw/lawman yeehaw bullshit. You know how it is with yeehaw bullshit.

Deadland Inferno/Zアイランド (2015 Hiroshi Shinagawa) An action zombie comedy. This one is for the yakuza gworls (gn). Basic we have a plan to get to safety from zombies and hijinks ensuse. Sho Aikawa, SHINGO TSURUMI MY BABY BOY BABY, Hideo Nakano, Hitoshi Ozawa, Sawa Suzuki. So like...dead souls but you're playing as Takasugi, Sagawa, Shibusawa, and Kuze LOL

The Bridges of Madison County (1995 dir. Clint Eastwood) Romance between an older couple, bittersweet partings, it's everything. I'm a closet die hard romantic.

My Dead Dad (2021 dir. Fabio Frey) I watched this for Raymond Cruz and wasn't expecting much but it really hit me. For reasons of my own dead dad that I was estranged from, but there were so many pieces that were like snapshots of my own teens years. The skate parks and ugly fucking skate shoes, weed, sour beer. It's also beautifully shot. It was my movie of 2022.

Grosse Pointe Blank (1997 dir. George Armitage) The soundtrack fucking rips. Probably one of my favorites ever. Joe Strummer put his whole pussy in it. A black comedy, John Cusack & Minnie Driver? Hot stuff

The Devil's Advocate (1997 dir. Taylor Hackford) MY GAY AWAKENING, A MOVIE I HAD NO BUSINESS WATCHING UNDER THE AGE OF TEN. I was obsessed with this movie. Tamara Tunie only had a small part man....she changed my life forever. If you love the tropes of good and evil, the devil, lawyers, Keanu Reeves with a terrible southern drawl, watch this :)

Tagging @necrotizer @coffeemakesmeahappybean @xyndario and anyone else that wants to share their favorite films <3

[lordelmelloi2]

(I just woke up and I am a little hungover so forgive me if this seems incoherent at times/I have mistaken information)

I can only really write about the ones I've seen, but here's some comments on the fascism and how these stories handle fascism as a topic...

Ghost in the Shell is a difficult one. I say this as a longtime fan that got into GitS and was inspired by how it talked about politics, but the bottom line is that it is still somewhat copaganda. You cannot have Section 9 without police, without an institutional framework of violence -- but the thing too, is that especially within 2nd GIG, it explicitly shows how these institutions create and fuel the fire of violence against minorities, refugees, and other groups struggling in post-war society. Section 9 as a funded structure is something of a government corruption investigation group at times but also is at the behest of that same government. There's an episode where the head of S9 decides that it's better to not reveal the truth about a South American revolutionary hero being a clone because the political situation it would arise would damage the situation way too much. So the thing is that S9 shows an extremely strong anti-corruption stance and has a firm moral backbone. The first season is explicitly about police structure corruption tying in with the corruption of the Medical infrastructure because of a disease called Cyberbrain Sclerosis and a lifesaving vaccine being denied a patent because other medical companies who have ties to the government heads want money, and how all of that unfolds upon the scandal being brought back into the public eye. That's the Laughing Man incident. The second season is about the government intelligence agency using propaganda and manufacturing incidents in order to get away with literally genociding refugees from WW4 who are fighting for independence in Dejima. This is where Section 9 also ends up being used to further this by Kazundo Gohda, an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency. That and the leader, Hideo Kuze being someone that the Major personally knows and can trust and isn't just some megalomaniac leads to her becoming so disillusioned that she leaves S9 at the end of the 2nd GIG and becomes an independent.

Then there's SSS, which shows even more government corruption on a mass scale having to do with child abuse/CPS kidnapping scandals; the Major rejoins S9 after this, years and years pass, and then we get whatever the fuck 2045 was and all of the hard work that went into depicting this complex layered political world kind of goes to shit.

I think that Ghost in the Shell overall is written with an antifascist tone and that its political beliefs as a work are meant to encourage investigation of political corruption and to encourage groups to look into and expose these sorts of things. I would say that is its general primary message that it espouses is fairly leftist in nature. But operating with the structure of Public Security also means we have ex-cops, ex-military who are a part of this organization, and so while headed by a man who prides himself on just and fair judgments of situations that aren't dehumanizing, you will also see S9 involved in incidents where they are truly being used as a political tool of violence. So it falls in the line of copaganda as well, even sometimes within that leftist ideology. But I think it brings into view the discussion of the structures that enable it and the human greed that causes it. It talks about the attitudes that enable it, the violence that causes more violence. I think it's a very thorough work in that regard and the writers consistently cite and reference back authors and writers of political ideology, psychology, philosophy that show that they really cared about trying to put together a story that is coherent and digestable.

Revolutionary Girl Utena is another story that is very highly antifascist on a more interpersonal level. It critiques the structures of patriarchy that enable incestuous, pedophilic domestic abuse to continue and also does it with a layered, multifaceted approach to the topic. It shows Anthy as not a "perfect" victim and shows how deeply the incestuous abuse that she has suffered has destroyed her from the inside out, but also shows how her bonds with someone who is also being groomed by the same person enables to her have hope to be able to escape. It clearly shows Akio as an abuser who doesn't discriminate and also shows how he will groom male incestuous abuse victims into being his pawns and furthering the cycles, as shown with Touga and Nanami. Saionji and Miki both also show, albeit without being so directly groomed as Touga, how attitudes of sexism and misogyny in young men further these cycles of abuse towards women; Utena's experience interacting with all of these people all show how young women struggle and suffer but ultimately can find escape and can fight past these cycles and enter a world where they are not suffering anymore. Utena's ability to reject her grooming and clearly see how Anthy is suffering under the abuse also gives Anthy hope that she can leave and escape the constraints of her agony. It doesn't go out of its way to give fanservice, it's pretty straightforward, and it's another great work that also delivers messages that encourage people to be more open about sharing their pain with people they trust so that they can seek help and support and find ways to end these cycles of abuse.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica... isn't... really about fascism like that. It has a fascist structure in place (the manipulation/coercion of young girls into sacrificing their lives for the greater good through some bullshit that Kyuubey made up that isn't at all investigatable or confirmable by these girls) but it's not really About it on a core level I would argue. It's more of an interpersonal story about a girl who loves another girl so deeply that she would sacrifice herself and everything; then when faced with the other girl's return of the favor, she breaks down and tries to find a way to change things so that the other girl is no longer tied down by another System that's in place that keeps her from having a joyful, human life.

Psycho-Pass is about fascism in government structures but it's like the 2010s attempt to be Ghost in the Shell. It is not at all like Ghost in the Shell. It's interesting, it is about government structural fascism, but it fucking sucks, and in the end the structure that enables the fascism, although it's critiqued, doesn't see much change that actually materially changes anything for the people involved that are suffering in the story. The Sybil System still exists even though it's literally structurally ableist and classist and racist, etc....

Ergo Proxy is very nothing IMO... Go watch Texhnolyze instead... I think Texhnolyze has stronger execution and themes of what it's trying to talk about in these same veins.

Also, Code Geass should be higher on this list, according to my mentee who writes a lot about it and the central themes of it; I guess it's just not very popular amongst anime crowds anymore like it was back in the day.

[idk-iposteverythingiwant]

They're really cute

[morganhopesmith1996]

Me & my affection for cyborg guys

[somebodysittingthereallthetime]

Ghost In The Shell Stand Alone Complex

[goodjohnjr]

Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG – Individual Eleven

Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG – Individual Eleven

Source: IMDb

Source: IMDb

What is it?

The 2006 Japanese anime OVA Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG – Individual Eleven.

Trailer (This is not for the OVA, but it is basically what it is about)

(more…)

[justanotherfilmfanatic]

Alternative Film Poster for Ghost in the Shell (2017) Dir. Rupert Sanders

[manyimaginativemuses]

When you close your eyes

What do you see?

Do you hold the light

Or is darkness underneath?

In your hands

There's a touch that can heal

But in those same hands

Is there the power to kill...

[apas-95]

rest my case

[vena-veena]