Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

      Ghost in the Shell deserves the honorary bestowment of being the first review on All Your Anime are Belong to Us. There aren't many animes that are complete top to bottom such as this one is. The story is drew up around a public security sector within Japan's government known as, "Section 9". It takes place in the relatively near future, year 2034. Their overt mission is to bring justice to those deserving. "Deserving" being the keyword (keep that in mind).
      The story revolves around a women they call, "The Major". Her real name - in case you're curious - is Motoko Kusanagi, but it is sparsely used in the series. Her anatomy is full cyborg, including the cyber-brain she has. This brings on an internal conflict of whether or not she was ever human. Supposedly, she had to get a full prosthetic body due to an incident, which is not acknowledged until the proceeding series (2nd GiG). Ever so often, The Major will contemplate the possibility of her memories being fake. It doesn't help that her personality robotic and unemotional.
      Perhaps her most humanistic feature is her relationship with Batou; who is another human with a full prosthetic body. He, like The Major, is apart of Section 9, which is comprised of eight members total. As a viewer you can sense the subtle romance the two share together. They never deliberately court one another, but there are micro-moments where you catch an ounce of affection, mainly stemming from Batou's concern for The Major.
      The philosophical conjecture in the Ghost in the Shell collection is hell bent on making you lose sleep at night. Which is what I really enjoyed about the anime, despite some of the dialogue being somewhat forced. "What is life?", "What makes us human?", "Have my memories tampered with?", "Am I existing in a virtual simulation?", you'll find yourself asking an assortment of abstract questions, that in turn may reinforce or make you doubt what you already believe. The title in itself is a concept in philosophy referred to as dualism. Ghost in the Shell is the same idea of having a body[shell] and a soul[ghost]. You'll notice this is a reoccurring theme in creator Masamune Shirow animations. More specifically, your ghost being able to connect to cyberspace.
      The plot of the season one (Stand Alone Complex) and the first movie are conjoined. They encompass a fight against a Super Class A Hacker, dubbed "The Laughing Man", for his trademark in real-time hack that gives off the impression it's mocking the authorities who are after him. Section 9 tries to gather information on who the hacker is to capture the criminal. In the series you find that The Laughing Man has his own agenda that he's fighting for. You'll find there are a lot of politics that are in the works. The ending of the 26 episode series is definitely worth the time and just when you think it's all over - BANG - a mind numbing twist to get you excited for 2nd GiG.

BONUS: The Original Sound Track composed by Yoko Kanno is nothing short of amazing.