Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex E11 Portraitz

"I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes"

Ghost in the Shell Episode 10

A government database is hacked and the source is tracked to a health centre for children with Cyberbrain Closed Shell Syndrome. Togusa is sent to the facility under cover as a medical assistant to investigate.

The Children all suffer from what we might call high functioning autism. They are so engrossed by the networks that their cyberbrain's allow them to access, that they never want to leave.

A group of children refer to an individual they name 'The Chief', but will not divulge anything else. Togusa hacks the facilities computer server but is caught in the act. At the same time, someone starts hacking into Section 9.

Kusanagi and Batou storm the facility, only to find Togusa unconscious. It is revealed to the viewer that The Chief is a young boy called Aoi. He tells the other children that he has been found and so will be leaving. He also mentions that he will wipe the children's minds of any memory of him.

Back at Section 9, Togusa is told that no boy of the name Aoi was ever at the facility. When Togusa draws a portrait of the child from memory, everyone is surprised that he instead draws the Laughing Man logo.

What I liked

This is my new favourite episode as it reminded me so much of the Ghost in the Shell (1995) movie. Deep, philosophical, atmospheric and a teeny bit scary. There were a lot of scenes in this episode where you could see Togusa thinking to himself  'what the hell have I walked into'?

The facility itself was very reminiscent of One flew over the cuckoos nest, even down to the facility directors physical likeness to Nurse Ratchet. Given previous cinematic nods to new wave films of the 60's, this is likely intentional. 

What we learned

We learnt a lot. This episode was the turning point in the Laughing Man case, at least for the viewer. We can now be certain that the Laughing Man is real, and not wholly a stand alone complex. We also know that the Laughing Man is a young boy, with a history of institutionalization for Cyberbrain Closed Shell Syndrome. 

If the Laughing Man's situation at the health facility we witnessed in this episode is anything to go by, he has probably been mistreated his whole life. I imagine this is his motive for the attacks.