#kuze ghost in the shell

[gnnbloupthworld]

Kuze Ghost In The Shell Concept Art

"The final look for Kuze plays heavily on how the constant replacing of components, when they lose their bond with his body, affects him. Gradually losing control over his body as his transplanted brain rejects the synthetic shell he's been placed in. This recycling and scavenging of synthetic skin panels and body parts presented some existential questions around how gender and race might play into someone's construction of identity and self, which to us delved into some of the core themes of the original material. As his human likeness falls away, he would preserve and express his humanity through other means; painting, poetry, music... That contrast was always something we tried to come back to. He's broken, ugly, and decrepit; yet somehow also vibrantly beautiful."

[morganhopesmith1996]

Hideo Kuze Voiced By Kirk Thornton in Ghost In The Shell Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig

[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.

[vampyrekorkie]

i drew these forever ago (a couple months at least).

welcome to section 9

[pedroam-bang]

Ghost In The Shell (2017)

[tatianarlove]

Michael Pitt in "Ghost in the Shell". A very touching episode.

[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

[spirito-libero199]

io li trovo una bella coppia

[kinghijinx22]

Top 10 Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex episodes

Number 10- SA: Runaway Evidence – TESTATION

One of the most trans coded stories in a franchise with a lot of trans coded themes, I mean have you read the lyrics to the song from this episode Beauty is Within Us? It's just in the text at that point. Very emotional episode that made me cry a lot more on recent viewing.

Number 9- SA: Tachikoma Runs Away; The Movie Director's Dream – ESCAPE FROM

An episode split in 2 halves. The first being a Tachikoma development episode that gets surprisingly emotional. And the second being a subtle development episode for the Major with a very cyberpunk premise as we see just how mentally powerful she is.

Number 8- DU: Abandoned City – REVERSAL PROCESS

For a character that is so confident in herself and rock solid in her resolve, at least in Stand Alone Complex, this is one of the few times where we see the Major shook. Batou's reassurance is sweet though and also answers the question of why so many people follow Kuze as well, strengthening the parallels between them. Batou's philosophy talk with Gouda with the help of linking with Major's big brain is great. Boma does something.

Number 7- IN: The Day the Bridge Falls – MARTIAL LAW

The Major and rest of Section 9 deciding to break off from Government orders and go on their own mission to help save the refugees is really suspenseful. The highjacking of the chopper while Gouda makes his own moves and the Major warning Kuze just in time through brain connection while one of the best songs Torukia plays is super hype. I also like the conversation where Kuze literally talks to that old guy about Communism and also that old very much feeling like his version of Aramaki and I think even having the same VA? Again emphasizing the parallels between the Major and Kuze.

Number 6-C: The Copycat will Dance – MEME

*Monsoon has entered the chat*, seriously though this a great episode that explores the concept of memes, copy cats and how something becomes an icon as we really dig into the Laughing Man case. That final scene with the Major and Aramaki with that sunset lighting while Velveteen plays is real good.

Number 5- IN: Return to Patriotism – ENDLESS∞GIG

Beautiful but somber ending to an incredible show. The Major siding with Kuze and trying to save the refugees in her own way was awesome. The steaks have literally never been this high. I mentioned this in another post but I appreciate GITS not pulling any punches in it's accurate portrayal of the american government being as vile as they are, causing violence in other countries so they can call themselves heroes. The Tachikomas once again sacrificing themselves to save the day. Both Torukia AND I Do playing. The Major giving that genocidal right wing politician Gouda the most satisfying comeuppance that real life evil politicians should be getting. But then the Major not being able to save Kuze and the mellow ending of stopping the immediate conflict while certain issues still persist, and Christmas in the Silent Forest playing for the final credits. Beautiful but sadly realistic ending.

Number 4-DU: Natural Enemy – NATURAL ENEMY

Great episode to really kick off the main plot of 2nd Gig. It manages to introduce us to our main antagonist of the season, the vile but memorable master manipulator Gouda. The main conflict with the discrimination and poor treatment of refugees leading to heightened tensions. And the scene of Major leading her team in the Tachikomas to stop the rouge AI controlled choppers while one of the hypest but most beautiful songs Cyberbirds plays is one of the greatest action scenes in the entire show, especially the ending of Major getting out of the shot up Techikoma to hold down the chopper herself to give Saito a clear shot.

Number 3- DI: Beware the Left Eye – POKER FACE

The only time that we ever get to witness the Major and her team when they were in the military. Told through the framing device of Saito telling this story to his poker friends, we see how the Major and Saito first met on the battlefield in an intense sniper duel. It's one of best fight scenes in the entire show and what I love about it so much is that is manages to so much while not a lot is physically happening, it's all a super intense 4D chess mind game until the sudden ending where Major makes her move and we see how Saito lost his eye. Good backstory and cool fight scene that demonstrates just how scary facing down with the Major is, as well as making Saito a little more interesting.

Number 2- C: Left-Behind Trace – ERASER

The ramp up of the Laughing Man Case as we head into the endgame of 1st Gig. The Major showing concern for squshiest boy Togusa and being the protective parent of her team was very sweet. The final action scene where she takes on a big mech, all on her own in a fight that is very purposefully reminiscent of her fight against the Spider Tank in the original Oshii film is incredible. And the moment where she hulks the fuck out and demands Saito bring over the big ass anti armor rifle that she wields with one hand gives me chills every time. A nice detail I like is how it looks like her Ghost leaves her Shell for a moment when the mech almost crushes her head and the intense anger she feels afterwards probably being because she almost never feels that helpless and is ready to bring down the pain on anyone that makes her feel that.

Number 1- IN: Grass Labyrinth – AFFECTION

The most backstory the we ever get for the ever enigmatic but inspiring Major Motoko Kusanagi. I love the surreal vibes of the set up as she finds the antique store and what are original prosthetic bodies of herself of Kuze. The story that old lady tells, not knowing that one of those prosthetic bodies used to belong to the person she's talking to is beautiful. Where we learn more about just how young the Major was when she had get a full prosthetic body, why she had to get it, how she lost her parents and even how she knows Kuze. The Major being such an inspiration to someone even at such a young age is beautiful. And I love how this trip down memory road eases her up on the new recruits, because no body is perfect when they are new at something. Even Batou couldn't trail her. A beautiful episode and another one that always makes me cry.

[nightbringer24]

Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C 2nd GIG is a better show than the the first season, I feel, since the overarching plot was tighter, which worked well with the drama of the Individual Eleven and the whole situation with Kuze.

And again, it's amazing how an anime that aired in 2004 could cover such topics as radicalization via the internet along with the manipulation of data via government and non-government agencies to their own ends, and how people can easily fall pray to such techniques.

Small wonder Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is considered such a great anime series.

[hanna-shut-up]

i'm obsessed with how michael pritt "prepared for the role" of kuze in ghost in the shell, unprompted, by locking himself in a cargo container for 6 months. during which time he produced ~300 pages of concept art for the movie. this was not asked of him either, nor was his art used in the production of the film. i would flay my own skin off and then eat it if it meant i could see scans

[morganhopesmith1996]

Kuze Edited Screencaps by morganhopesmith1996

[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.

[jchang-art]

Loved weta ghost in the shell. My interpretation of kuze!

[pedroam-bang]

Ghost In The Shell (2017)

“They created me. But they can not control me.”