Ghost in the Shell: Stand alone complex E10 Jungle Cruise

"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it"

Episode 10

A former U.S imperial naval officer, Marco, has killed several women in Japan in the past months. The CIA requests Section 9's support to bring him to justice.

Suspicious of the C.I.A's true motives, Section 9 hacks the American agent's computer to reveal that Marco was part of a secret operation in South America aimed at breaking the enemies morale by using terror tactics, such as skinning civilians alive. Batou then reveals that before joining Section 9 he was a ranger in the Japan Defense Force, and encountered Marco's work first hand.

Under persuasion from Major Kusanagi, the CIA agent reveals that they intentionally asked for Section 9's help as they knew that Batou would likely kill Marco, thereby removing the last piece of evidence that the terror squads ever existed.

While Batou does track down Marco, he arrests him despite wanting to kill him.

What I liked

This episode is really compelling viewing, and quite confronting in its violence. The serial killer, Marco, was monstrous in the extreme. He skins his victims alive, leaving them to slowly die. He also and uses sensory deprivation on them, and connects their vision directly into his own. All the victims could experience was pain and their murderer's point of view.

How Batou managed to hold is temper and arrest this scumbag is beyond me.

What we learned

While the episode was not focused on the Laughing Man, we still learnt a lot. Firstly, the Japanese and the U.S have a semblance of co-operation after WWIII, but it's very fragile.

Batou's background has been fleshed out somewhat for us, it`s clear that his time as a ranger is responsible for his cynical attitude and lack of trust for authority.

The line that struck me most was when Kusanagi mentioned that Marco's attempt to break the will of the Japanese people through terror would fail because the Japanese had become too accustomed to horror to take any notice. This is the first time it's mentioned how dangerous the world had become and how bad domestic affairs are in Japan.