The science fiction setting of "Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG" revolutionizes drama by acting on the animation structure. [Nostalgic Anime Retrospective No. 65

The new web-anime "Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045" will be distributed on April 23, 2020. from the "Ghost in the Shell STAND ALONE COMPLEX" series that started in 2002, we would like to look back at "Ghost in the Shell S.A.C. 2nd GIG" this time.

Telecommunications can skip the "go ahead.

The beginning of the first episode. The main character, Motoko Kusanagi (a.k.a. "Major") and other members of Public Security Section 9 are about to intervene in an embassy building where an anti-terrorist operation is being carried out. The Major, Batou, Togusa, Ishikawa, Boma, Saito, and the members of Section 9 are scattered in three locations. Despite being split into helicopters and vans, they are briefing without opening their mouths.
Usually, when a person in the frame does not open his or her mouth but dialogue is heard, it is called an "off line" and is interpreted as an inner voice or as narration. The storyline is made easier to understand and organize by overlaying dialogue on recollections or inserting another person's voice from off-screen.

In the "Ghost in the Shell" series, however, the situation is different. The members of Public Security Section 9 are able to speak telepathically with their mouths closed in real time. And in close proximity, they speak normally with their mouths open. In the first episode, when Ishikawa says, "Noise is also mixed in with telecommunications," it can be inferred that the former is a special technology called "telecommunications.
The reason why it is a special technology is that in episode 4, the helicopter crew and the base operator are talking to each other normally via headsets. (We tend to assume a science fiction setting outside of the film, but to do justice to the value of the film, we should only look at what is happening inside the frame.)

In the fourth episode, an incident occurs in a refugee settlement where a Self-Defense Forces helicopter goes out of control. Section Chief Aramaki of Public Security Section 9 contacts the parties involved and elicits information from them at a coffee shop. After a brief conversation, Aramaki speaks to the Major, who is not present, saying, "I heard it was ......, Major. Immediately afterward, the scene switches to the Major driving to the refugee settlement, and the conversation with Aramaki continues.
The effectiveness of this arrangement is the effect of the telecommunications on the play.
In one story, a young boy is asked by his master to "go next door and borrow a cane" to do some errands for his master. In the next scene, the boy goes next door and asks to borrow a cane. In the next scene, he hands the canazooch to his master and says, "Yes, I borrowed it. If only the scene where the boy is asked to borrow the canazuchi was followed by the scene where he reports that he has borrowed it, the story would be able to move forward. It is not wrong to insert a scene in which he deliberately asks to borrow it, but it is not interesting.
In the "GHOST IN THE SHELL" series, the only scene that is a setup, such as reporting "□□ says that is the story," is cancelled through telecommunication. It is efficient and lean.

Why do Kuze and the Major resonate with each other, feeling a "discrepancy of mind and body"?

In Episode 5, "The Motivated Ones," Kuze appears, a key figure who drives the main storyline to its conclusion. He is in his private room, watching the TV news about the Prime Minister's move, and mumbles to himself, "No reaction about the warning letter? But Kuze's mouth is not moving. This must be the voice of his mind, since no sound effects like those of telecommunications have been added.
Later, Kuze gets on a truck to assassinate the prime minister, but even while he is doing so, he continues to speak in his mind about the "Eleven Individuals," a critique he considers to be his scripture.

Now, when he finally slashes at the prime minister, Kuze says, "Justice is mine. Erase!" but for some reason his mouth does not move at all. Is he transmitting his words via telecommunications?
In episode 7, Kuze's body is revealed to be a "high-spec prosthetic body" and "maintenance-free PKF specifications. Furthermore, in episode 13, it is analyzed that "he does not move his mouth when he speaks," "he probably uses very little of the micromachine that forms the neural net of his facial muscles," and "it is not that he cannot move, but that he can barely move.

In episode 25, when the story reaches its climax, Kuze, alone with the Major, talks about his upbringing and revolutionary plans. He says, "Since I was born with a full-body prosthesis, I have always felt a discrepancy between my mind and body. "You also have a prosthetic body," he said. "Then you must have suffered from the doubts and fears of a mind-body mismatch. How about you come with me?" Kuze offers his hand to the Major.
In animation, three differently shaped mouths can be combined to make it look like they are talking. Ghost in the Shell" depicts the high-tech technology of telecommunications by omitting this arrangement and adding sound effects to the off-line dialogue, which should have been processed as a monologue.
Kuze does not use telecommunications. He has no choice but to speak to the person in front of him without moving his mouth; he speaks with his mouth closed because he has been omitted from the three different mouth shapes. Their resonance with each other is not a matter of scenario, but a matter of pictorial destiny.

We tend to evaluate visual works by piecing together simple, easily catchable information that has already been verbalized. What we should pay attention to is the structure of the animation, which omits the moving mouth. If we pay attention to this, we will realize that the reason why Public Security Section 9, which is full of outsiders, appears to be tightly united is because they share the characteristic of drawing "talking without opening their mouths".

(Text by Keisuke Hirota)