Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society
Encyclopedia
is an OVA and part of the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
series based on Masamune Shirow
's manga
Ghost in the Shell
. It was produced by Production I.G and directed by Kenji Kamiyama
.
In order to provide theatrical quality, the film premiered on the Japanese satellite PPV
platform SKY PerfecTV! Perfect Choice ch160, on September 1, 2006.
It also aired in Japan on the anime satellite TV network Animax
starting May 27, 2007. The film was also released on DVD
in Japan on November 24, 2006, and was released in the U.S.
by Bandai Entertainment and Manga Entertainment
, in a normal and limited edition on July 3, 2007.
The Sci Fi Channel
aired Solid State Society to inaugurate its Ani-Monday programming block on June 11, 2007. On March 26, 2011, a 3-D
version of the film was released to Japanese theaters.
, Major Motoko Kusanagi
has left counter-terrorism task force Public Security Section 9
. Togusa
is leading a Section 9 field team to investigate several suicides by refugees from the Siak Republic. When they intercept , son of the exiled dictator , who has taken a hostage to ensure safe passage out of Japan, he claims that the is coming for him, and he shoots himself in the head. Chief Daisuke Aramaki asks Prime Minister Yoko Kayabuki for permission to arrest Ka Rum for more information, but Kayabuki declines, stating it would harm her political position. Aramaki orders the raid regardless and Section 9 discovers that Ka Rum has been dead for some time, having been assassinated and staged to look like a suicide, with the word "Puppeteer" written in his blood. Section 9 also discovers that the Siak refugees plan to release a micromachine virus in a terrorist retaliation for Ka Rum's death.
Batou
is sent to intercept , the Siak operative who has the micromachine virus, but he has an unexpected run-in with the Major who says that she is running a separate investigation. When they both find Ma Shaba, he believes that the Major is the Puppeteer and attacks both Kusanagi and Batou in a vehicle that he believes will protect him from cyberbrain attack, but he dies during the fight in an apparent cyberbrain hack. Kusanagi takes a case of virus ampules and warns Batou to stay away from the Solid State Society, before leaving. When Batou reports back to Section 9, he does not say that he saw the Major but says Ma Shaba attacked him without provocation. The Section 9 operatives develop a theory that the Puppeteer is a very powerful hacker who hacked into the Siak agents' cyberbrains and forced them to commit suicide. Togusa also discovers that there are several kidnapped children in the facility, believing that the Siak agents were going to use them as vectors for the virus. While trying to discover their identities, they find that the children have had their cyberbrains replaced and their IDs reveal that they are the children of , elderly citizens who are hooked up to a health care monitoring network that takes care of their every need, leaving them effectively comatose. Further investigation of the children reveals government file discrepancies that show over 20,000 unreported child kidnappings. When a case of the micromachine virus ampules arrives at a government office, Section 9 believes that the Puppeteer is tipping them off to the kidnappings by infiltrating the Siak rebels, when it was the Major who left the ampules behind. When Proto and several Operators
watching the children are hacked, and the children disappear. Due to the turn of events, Batou reveals he saw the Major and that he believes she is the Puppeteer.
When Siak sniper is spotted in Japan, Batou and Saito
are sent to keep him from causing an assassination, but are located before they can stop him. Saito manages to incapacitate Raj Puhto, and under Batou's questioning, he reveals he was tipped off by a mole in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
by the name of that his target was the man who ordered Ka Rum's assassination, until it is discovered that Munei, a highly nationalist member of the House of Representatives
, was his target. Batou believes the Puppeteer orchestrated the events, and Raj Puhto says that he would kill the Puppeteer if he were human, claiming that the Puppeteer is a child abduction infrastructure in the , the root of the Noble Rot program. Batou believes Ka Rum's people were targeted because they made this discovery and planned to use the children for their terrorist plot.
Elsewhere, Togusa tracks down one of the abducted children and discovers his parent, an elderly man in the Noble Rot program. When Togusa takes the child, the elderly man wakes up and demands the child be returned as he is his sole heir and does not want the government to have his assets upon his death, saying it is the will of the Solid State and Togusa will only become another suicide if the Solid State is interfered with. Shortly after, the man dies, and Togusa hands the child over to the authorities pointing out the paperwork discrepancy. However, he realizes that if he had not interfered, the boy would have been given to social services and adopted elsewhere when his Noble Rot adoptive parent died which was the ultimate plan of the Solid State. Togusa receives a call from his wife that their daughter is missing, which he initially believes to be an attempt by the Solid State to retaliate, but his daughter is not cyberized. After he discovers that it is a false alarm and she was at a friends house, he drives her off to school. On the way, he gets a call from the Puppeteer who says he is to be punished by losing his daughter and his cyberbrain is hacked over the phone.
Togusa is forced to drive to a cyberbrain implant hospital, trailed by the Major and Batou, both independently. Togusa converses with the Puppeteer during the hacking, who reveals the members of the Solid State "only wish to utilize resources that have slipped through the net of society", and Togusa realizes that this is how all the kidnappings took place: the parents' cyberbrains were hacked and forced them to have their kids cyberized, before both of their memories were wiped, resulting in kids sent to live with the Noble Rot Senior Citizens and parents who believe they lost their children. The Puppeteer allows Togusa to either allow his daughter to be abducted or commit suicide. Togusa chooses to kill himself just as Batou arrives, but the Major steps in to stop him and end the hacking. She reveals that she discovered the kidnappings on the net and she used Togusa as bait to unmask the Puppeteer: a rhizome
formed by the collective consciousness of the Noble Rot Senior Citizens in a hub cyberbrain in the health care monitoring system. Using several Tachikoma
AIs she managed to scrape from cyberspace, they discover the location of the hub cyberbrain: the . The Major rejoins Section 9 to help with the investigation, starting with Ito Munei who is indeed behind the assassination of General Ka Rum. She had a contract with the Treaties Bureau, an organization Munei has close connections with, to perform the assassination herself, but by the time she found him the Puppeteer had already killed Ka Rum. Munei also has control over the Seishomin Welfare Center that he and other politicians use as a front for a brainwashing facility to create an elite group of pure-blooded Japanese to take control of the country in the next generation and lead it into Munei's vision of a new Golden Age. However, the Solid State is also using the Welfare Center to house their kidnapped children, and Munei was targeted for assassination due to interfering in their plans. Analyzing the building, Section 9 discovers that it was set up to perfectly serve the Solid State's abduction infrastructure. They decide to infiltrate the building to catch the Puppeteer, despite the political consequences
Section 9, with the Tachikomas in their physical bodies, infiltrate the building and the Chief confronts Munei who reveals that he used the profits from the Noble Rot program to fund his "education" program as they need to be used to profit the system, despite being exempt from taxes. When confronted about the Solid State's abduction system, Munei reveals he knows nothing and just thought the children were orphans. A designer named steps forward, claiming he developed the Solid State system before shortly shooting himself in the head. Kusanagi dives into his cyberbrain before the memories are lost and Koshiki explains that he was using the six million Noble Rot Senior Citizens to save abused children. Children in high risk homes were transferred to be children of Noble Rot Senior Citizens who willingly took care of the children, giving them purpose, and allowing them to pass on their assets to the children rather than the state upon their death. Munei interfered with the Solid State by brainwashing the children, eliminating the Solid State's goal of giving the children free will
. However, the Major has fallen into the Puppeteer's trap, and he hacks into her cyberbrain. The Major calls him an "arrogant, self-righteous ass" and asks of his true identity, but the Puppeteer hacks her eyes to replace his face with those of Batou, Togusa, the Laughing Man
, Kazundo Goda, the Chief, Hideo Kuze
, and finally the Major herself. He reveals that he was spread across several ego
s until a collective consciousness
emerged and developed into a Solid State, allowing him to move into the society beyond as the vanishing mediator
.
As the Seishomin building is emptied, Aramaki and Togusa discuss the future of the abducted children whose fates will be left in the hands of the justice system. As Kusanagi recovers at Section 9 from the hacking of the Puppeteer, Batou reveals that the real Tateaki Koshiki used a cybernetic body to work from his home because of his skill. When he was hired by Munei, he built the Solid State Society into the welfare system, but his physical body died soon after and had been dead for two years until someone discovered he died as he never interacted with anyone, but his cyber body continued to act under his control. Batou believes that either Koshiki uploaded his consciousness onto the Noble Rot network or their collective consciousness controlled his cyber body after his death, leaving the Puppeteer's identity a mystery. The Tachikoma did not keep a record of the conversation after Koshiki's death, believing that it had no further meaning, and Batou does not make it clear as to what he remembers, but claims that it is not important in the end as to who the Puppeteer was as the situations of the Noble Rot Senior Citizens and kidnapped children are being resolved.
of 360 million yen (equivalent to US$
3.6 million). It was produced in Hi-vision format and was made by the same staff that originally made the TV series.
As part of the Nissan sponsorship, the movie features two concept cars designed by Nissan. Section 9 drive a white Nissan Sport Concept sports hatchback and seater Infiniti Kuraza
that premiered at the 2005 New York International Auto Show and North American International Auto Show. The license plate on the Nissan Infiniti Kuraza is "3923" which reads in Japanese as "san-kyuu-ni-san" or Thank you Nissan.
In July 2008, Solid State Society was released alongside the two OVA The Laughing Man and Individual Eleven in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex trilogy box set was released.
On November 2010, it had been announced that the film would be converted into a stereoscopic 3D version. The 3D version adds a new opening sequence and was released on March 26, 2011.
to the made-for-TV anime
film Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society
, composed by Yoko Kanno
. It features music composed specifically for the film, in addition to music from the first and second series of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
. The soundtrack was produced by composer Kanno, Victor Entertainment
and Bandai
.
gave Solid State Society an "Impressive" score of 8.0 out of 10, stating that it was "A worthwhile watch". Carl Kimlinger of Anime News Network
gave the film a "B" rating, calling it a "swift-moving futuristic crime film with some clever science-fiction twists and solid action" but criticizing it was "wordy, confusing and somewhat bloodless." Wai Yung (Wayne) Chim of Animesou.com gave Blu-ray version an 8.0 out of 10, claiming, "While the overall product was good, there was just too much dialogue and not enough action..."
The film was awarded the Juri Prize at the 21st Digital Content Grand Prix. The film was featured in the "Late Night Manga to Anime Film Season"hosted by The British Museum. The 3D version won the Movie award for The Japanese Committee of the International 3D Society.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
is an anime television series produced by Production I.G and based on Masamune Shirow's manga Ghost in the Shell. It was written and directed by Kenji Kamiyama, with original character design by Hajime Shimomura and a soundtrack by Yoko Kanno...
series based on Masamune Shirow
Masamune Shirow
is an internationally renowned manga artist, born on November 23, 1961.Masamune Shirow is a pen name, based on a famous swordsmith, Masamune. He is best known for the manga Ghost in the Shell, which has since been turned into two theatrical anime movies, two anime TV series, an anime TV movie, and...
's manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
Ghost in the Shell
Ghost in the Shell
is a Japanese multimedia franchise composed of manga, animated films, anime series, video games and novels. It focuses on the activities of the counter-terrorist organization Public Security Section 9 in a futuristic, cyberpunk Japan ....
. It was produced by Production I.G and directed by Kenji Kamiyama
Kenji Kamiyama
, born on March 20, 1966 in Saitama Prefecture, Japan, is a Japanese anime director. He has worked regularly with the anime studio and production enterprise, Production I.G, such as his work on Jin-Roh, Patlabor, Blood: The Last Vampire, and for whom he has directed the Ghost in the Shell: Stand...
.
In order to provide theatrical quality, the film premiered on the Japanese satellite PPV
Pay-per-view
Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...
platform SKY PerfecTV! Perfect Choice ch160, on September 1, 2006.
It also aired in Japan on the anime satellite TV network Animax
Animax
is a Japanese anime satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. A subsidiary of Japanese media conglomerate Sony, it is headquartered in in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with its co-founders and shareholders including Sony Pictures Entertainment and the noted anime studios...
starting May 27, 2007. The film was also released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in Japan on November 24, 2006, and was released in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by Bandai Entertainment and Manga Entertainment
Manga Entertainment
Manga Entertainment is a producer, licensor and distributor of Japanese animation in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Australia and New Zealand...
, in a normal and limited edition on July 3, 2007.
The Sci Fi Channel
Sci Fi Channel (United States)
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
aired Solid State Society to inaugurate its Ani-Monday programming block on June 11, 2007. On March 26, 2011, a 3-D
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
version of the film was released to Japanese theaters.
Plot
In 2034, two years after the events of 2nd GIGGhost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG
is the second season of the anime series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, based on Masamune Shirow's manga Ghost in the Shell. It was written and directed by Kenji Kamiyama, with original character design by Hajime Shimomura and a soundtrack by Yoko Kanno...
, Major Motoko Kusanagi
Motoko Kusanagi
is a fictional Japanese character in the Ghost in the Shell anime and manga series. She is a cyborg employed as the squad leader of Public Security Section 9, a fictional division of the real Japanese National Public Safety Commission. She is voiced by Atsuko Tanaka in the movies and the Ghost in...
has left counter-terrorism task force Public Security Section 9
Public Security Section 9
is a fictional intelligence department from Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell anime and manga series. In the story, it exists under the Japanese Ministry of Home Affairs. In some translations, the name is given as Public Safety Section 9...
. Togusa
Togusa
is the second most prominently featured male character in the Ghost in the Shell manga and anime series. In Stand Alone Complex, as well as the original Ghost in the Shell movie, it is stated that he is the only member of Section 9 who has not undergone cybernetic replacement in some manner as he...
is leading a Section 9 field team to investigate several suicides by refugees from the Siak Republic. When they intercept , son of the exiled dictator , who has taken a hostage to ensure safe passage out of Japan, he claims that the is coming for him, and he shoots himself in the head. Chief Daisuke Aramaki asks Prime Minister Yoko Kayabuki for permission to arrest Ka Rum for more information, but Kayabuki declines, stating it would harm her political position. Aramaki orders the raid regardless and Section 9 discovers that Ka Rum has been dead for some time, having been assassinated and staged to look like a suicide, with the word "Puppeteer" written in his blood. Section 9 also discovers that the Siak refugees plan to release a micromachine virus in a terrorist retaliation for Ka Rum's death.
Batou
Batou
is a main male character in the Ghost in the Shell series, the second best melee fighter in Section 9, and is the second in command under Major Motoko Kusanagi....
is sent to intercept , the Siak operative who has the micromachine virus, but he has an unexpected run-in with the Major who says that she is running a separate investigation. When they both find Ma Shaba, he believes that the Major is the Puppeteer and attacks both Kusanagi and Batou in a vehicle that he believes will protect him from cyberbrain attack, but he dies during the fight in an apparent cyberbrain hack. Kusanagi takes a case of virus ampules and warns Batou to stay away from the Solid State Society, before leaving. When Batou reports back to Section 9, he does not say that he saw the Major but says Ma Shaba attacked him without provocation. The Section 9 operatives develop a theory that the Puppeteer is a very powerful hacker who hacked into the Siak agents' cyberbrains and forced them to commit suicide. Togusa also discovers that there are several kidnapped children in the facility, believing that the Siak agents were going to use them as vectors for the virus. While trying to discover their identities, they find that the children have had their cyberbrains replaced and their IDs reveal that they are the children of , elderly citizens who are hooked up to a health care monitoring network that takes care of their every need, leaving them effectively comatose. Further investigation of the children reveals government file discrepancies that show over 20,000 unreported child kidnappings. When a case of the micromachine virus ampules arrives at a government office, Section 9 believes that the Puppeteer is tipping them off to the kidnappings by infiltrating the Siak rebels, when it was the Major who left the ampules behind. When Proto and several Operators
Operator (Ghost in the Shell)
An is a fictional class of robot in the Ghost in the Shell series. They are voiced by Eri Oono and Debra Jean Rogers.-Bio:The Operators are designed to handle various tasks within the government agency Public Security Section 9, such as operating computers, carrying equipment within the agency's...
watching the children are hacked, and the children disappear. Due to the turn of events, Batou reveals he saw the Major and that he believes she is the Puppeteer.
When Siak sniper is spotted in Japan, Batou and Saito
Saito (Ghost in the Shell)
is a fictional character from the anime series, Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C.. Among the members of Section 9, he is regarded as one of the least cyberized. He can handle any automatic firearm with deadly accuracy and precision, but his primary role is as the unit's tactical sniper...
are sent to keep him from causing an assassination, but are located before they can stop him. Saito manages to incapacitate Raj Puhto, and under Batou's questioning, he reveals he was tipped off by a mole in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan)
The is a cabinet level ministry of Japan responsible for the country's foreign relations.The ministry is due to the second term of the third article of the National Government Organization Act , and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Establishment Act establishes the ministry...
by the name of that his target was the man who ordered Ka Rum's assassination, until it is discovered that Munei, a highly nationalist member of the House of Representatives
House of Representatives of Japan
The is the lower house of the Diet of Japan. The House of Councillors of Japan is the upper house.The House of Representatives has 480 members, elected for a four-year term. Of these, 180 members are elected from 11 multi-member constituencies by a party-list system of proportional representation,...
, was his target. Batou believes the Puppeteer orchestrated the events, and Raj Puhto says that he would kill the Puppeteer if he were human, claiming that the Puppeteer is a child abduction infrastructure in the , the root of the Noble Rot program. Batou believes Ka Rum's people were targeted because they made this discovery and planned to use the children for their terrorist plot.
Elsewhere, Togusa tracks down one of the abducted children and discovers his parent, an elderly man in the Noble Rot program. When Togusa takes the child, the elderly man wakes up and demands the child be returned as he is his sole heir and does not want the government to have his assets upon his death, saying it is the will of the Solid State and Togusa will only become another suicide if the Solid State is interfered with. Shortly after, the man dies, and Togusa hands the child over to the authorities pointing out the paperwork discrepancy. However, he realizes that if he had not interfered, the boy would have been given to social services and adopted elsewhere when his Noble Rot adoptive parent died which was the ultimate plan of the Solid State. Togusa receives a call from his wife that their daughter is missing, which he initially believes to be an attempt by the Solid State to retaliate, but his daughter is not cyberized. After he discovers that it is a false alarm and she was at a friends house, he drives her off to school. On the way, he gets a call from the Puppeteer who says he is to be punished by losing his daughter and his cyberbrain is hacked over the phone.
Togusa is forced to drive to a cyberbrain implant hospital, trailed by the Major and Batou, both independently. Togusa converses with the Puppeteer during the hacking, who reveals the members of the Solid State "only wish to utilize resources that have slipped through the net of society", and Togusa realizes that this is how all the kidnappings took place: the parents' cyberbrains were hacked and forced them to have their kids cyberized, before both of their memories were wiped, resulting in kids sent to live with the Noble Rot Senior Citizens and parents who believe they lost their children. The Puppeteer allows Togusa to either allow his daughter to be abducted or commit suicide. Togusa chooses to kill himself just as Batou arrives, but the Major steps in to stop him and end the hacking. She reveals that she discovered the kidnappings on the net and she used Togusa as bait to unmask the Puppeteer: a rhizome
Rhizome (philosophy)
Rhizome is a philosophical concept developed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in their Capitalism and Schizophrenia project...
formed by the collective consciousness of the Noble Rot Senior Citizens in a hub cyberbrain in the health care monitoring system. Using several Tachikoma
Tachikoma
A is a fictional artificial intelligence, walker/roller in the Ghost in the Shell universe; appearing in the manga, created by Masamune Shirow, and the Stand Alone Complex sub-universe. Nine of them are assigned to Section 9's use originally. They are spider like multi-legged combat vehicles,...
AIs she managed to scrape from cyberspace, they discover the location of the hub cyberbrain: the . The Major rejoins Section 9 to help with the investigation, starting with Ito Munei who is indeed behind the assassination of General Ka Rum. She had a contract with the Treaties Bureau, an organization Munei has close connections with, to perform the assassination herself, but by the time she found him the Puppeteer had already killed Ka Rum. Munei also has control over the Seishomin Welfare Center that he and other politicians use as a front for a brainwashing facility to create an elite group of pure-blooded Japanese to take control of the country in the next generation and lead it into Munei's vision of a new Golden Age. However, the Solid State is also using the Welfare Center to house their kidnapped children, and Munei was targeted for assassination due to interfering in their plans. Analyzing the building, Section 9 discovers that it was set up to perfectly serve the Solid State's abduction infrastructure. They decide to infiltrate the building to catch the Puppeteer, despite the political consequences
Section 9, with the Tachikomas in their physical bodies, infiltrate the building and the Chief confronts Munei who reveals that he used the profits from the Noble Rot program to fund his "education" program as they need to be used to profit the system, despite being exempt from taxes. When confronted about the Solid State's abduction system, Munei reveals he knows nothing and just thought the children were orphans. A designer named steps forward, claiming he developed the Solid State system before shortly shooting himself in the head. Kusanagi dives into his cyberbrain before the memories are lost and Koshiki explains that he was using the six million Noble Rot Senior Citizens to save abused children. Children in high risk homes were transferred to be children of Noble Rot Senior Citizens who willingly took care of the children, giving them purpose, and allowing them to pass on their assets to the children rather than the state upon their death. Munei interfered with the Solid State by brainwashing the children, eliminating the Solid State's goal of giving the children free will
Free will
"To make my own decisions whether I am successful or not due to uncontrollable forces" -Troy MorrisonA pragmatic definition of free willFree will is the ability of agents to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints. The existence of free will and its exact nature and definition have long...
. However, the Major has fallen into the Puppeteer's trap, and he hacks into her cyberbrain. The Major calls him an "arrogant, self-righteous ass" and asks of his true identity, but the Puppeteer hacks her eyes to replace his face with those of Batou, Togusa, the Laughing Man
Laughing Man (Ghost in the Shell)
The is a fictional character in the anime series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. His voice actor is Kōichi Yamadera, while he is voiced in Bandai Entertainment's English dub by Steven Blum.-Background:...
, Kazundo Goda, the Chief, Hideo Kuze
Hideo Kuze
is a fictional character in Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell anime series Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG. Kuze is a full cyborg and is a main suspect in Section 9's investigation of the Individual Eleven. He is unusual among prostheticized individuals since he has chosen to have a sculpted face,...
, and finally the Major herself. He reveals that he was spread across several ego
EGO
See also Egoism Ego is a Latin word meaning "I", cognate with the Greek "Εγώ " meaning "I", often used in English to mean the "self", "identity" or other related concepts.It may also refer to:...
s until a collective consciousness
Collective consciousness
Collective consciousness was a term coined by the French sociologist Émile Durkheim to refer to the shared beliefs and moral attitudes which operate as a unifying force within society...
emerged and developed into a Solid State, allowing him to move into the society beyond as the vanishing mediator
Vanishing mediator
A vanishing mediator is a concept that exists to mediate between two opposing ideas, as a transition occurs between them. At the point where one idea has been replaced by the other, and the concept is no longer required, the mediator vanishes...
.
As the Seishomin building is emptied, Aramaki and Togusa discuss the future of the abducted children whose fates will be left in the hands of the justice system. As Kusanagi recovers at Section 9 from the hacking of the Puppeteer, Batou reveals that the real Tateaki Koshiki used a cybernetic body to work from his home because of his skill. When he was hired by Munei, he built the Solid State Society into the welfare system, but his physical body died soon after and had been dead for two years until someone discovered he died as he never interacted with anyone, but his cyber body continued to act under his control. Batou believes that either Koshiki uploaded his consciousness onto the Noble Rot network or their collective consciousness controlled his cyber body after his death, leaving the Puppeteer's identity a mystery. The Tachikoma did not keep a record of the conversation after Koshiki's death, believing that it had no further meaning, and Batou does not make it clear as to what he remembers, but claims that it is not important in the end as to who the Puppeteer was as the situations of the Noble Rot Senior Citizens and kidnapped children are being resolved.
Production
The film was announced by Production I.G at the 2006 Tokyo Anime Fair. The film had a production budgetProduction budget
A film production budget determines how much money will be spent on the entire film project. It involves the identification and estimation of cost items for each phase of filmmaking ....
of 360 million yen (equivalent to US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
3.6 million). It was produced in Hi-vision format and was made by the same staff that originally made the TV series.
As part of the Nissan sponsorship, the movie features two concept cars designed by Nissan. Section 9 drive a white Nissan Sport Concept sports hatchback and seater Infiniti Kuraza
Infiniti Kuraza
The Infiniti Kuraza is a concept car the automaker Nissan produced under the Infiniti brand. It debuted at the 2005 North American International Auto Show. The Kuraza is a six-seater SUV with six doors and three rows of seating. It was featured in the anime Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State...
that premiered at the 2005 New York International Auto Show and North American International Auto Show. The license plate on the Nissan Infiniti Kuraza is "3923" which reads in Japanese as "san-kyuu-ni-san" or Thank you Nissan.
Releases
Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society was originally released in Japan as a TV movie on SKYPerfecTV! network on September 1, 2006 and premiered on Sci-Fi Channel's Ani-Monday block on June 11, 2007. Two DVDs were released on July 3, 2007: A normal and special edition. The Special Edition contained an additional DVD containing various development interviews and videos and the Solid State Society Original Soundtrack CD.In July 2008, Solid State Society was released alongside the two OVA The Laughing Man and Individual Eleven in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex trilogy box set was released.
On November 2010, it had been announced that the film would be converted into a stereoscopic 3D version. The 3D version adds a new opening sequence and was released on March 26, 2011.
Music
Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society O.S.T. is the original soundtrackSoundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
to the made-for-TV anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
film Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society
Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society
is an OVA and part of the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series based on Masamune Shirow's manga Ghost in the Shell. It was produced by Production I.G and directed by Kenji Kamiyama....
, composed by Yoko Kanno
Yoko Kanno
is a composer, arranger and musician best known for her work on the soundtracks for many games, anime films, TV series, live-action movies, and advertisements...
. It features music composed specifically for the film, in addition to music from the first and second series of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
is an anime television series produced by Production I.G and based on Masamune Shirow's manga Ghost in the Shell. It was written and directed by Kenji Kamiyama, with original character design by Hajime Shimomura and a soundtrack by Yoko Kanno...
. The soundtrack was produced by composer Kanno, Victor Entertainment
Victor Entertainment
is a subsidiary of Japan Victor Company that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It was formerly known as...
and Bandai
Bandai
is a Japanese toy making and video game company, as well as the producer of a large number of plastic model kits. It is the world's third-largest producer of toys . Some ex-Bandai group companies produce anime and tokusatsu programs...
.
Reception
Christopher Monfette of IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave Solid State Society an "Impressive" score of 8.0 out of 10, stating that it was "A worthwhile watch". Carl Kimlinger of Anime News Network
Anime News Network
Anime News Network is an anime industry news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, Japanese popular music and other otaku-related culture within North America, Australia and Japan. Additionally, it sometimes features similar happenings throughout the Anglosphere and elsewhere in the...
gave the film a "B" rating, calling it a "swift-moving futuristic crime film with some clever science-fiction twists and solid action" but criticizing it was "wordy, confusing and somewhat bloodless." Wai Yung (Wayne) Chim of Animesou.com gave Blu-ray version an 8.0 out of 10, claiming, "While the overall product was good, there was just too much dialogue and not enough action..."
The film was awarded the Juri Prize at the 21st Digital Content Grand Prix. The film was featured in the "Late Night Manga to Anime Film Season"hosted by The British Museum. The 3D version won the Movie award for The Japanese Committee of the International 3D Society.
External links
- Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society Animax's site
- Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society Manga Entertainment's site