Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 - Episode 5 - 10 Second Anime

The Major and GHOST find their operation at Patrick Huge’s estate mysterious and difficult.

ep 05 – “PATRICK HUGE – Gift from God”

Hmm.

SAC_2045 gave us a good infiltration and action sequence. GHOST’s operation started off normal, picking out obstacles and logistical points, but then the suspense built as questions and mysteries piled up. The biggest question of all, befitting his name, is what happened to Patrick Huge? The text scrawl at the beginning of SAC_2045’s first episode laid out AI as the weapon of contention during the age of Sustainable War. The reunited Section 9 just showed us how big a deal artificial intelligence is in their tough battle against one.

Speaking of Section 9’s reunion, SAC_2045 made a satisfying scene. Togusa popping out of a Tachikoma was one thing, but Aramaki himself appearing from the cockpit of Marine One was something else! A quick note for non-Americans: Marine One is the official callsign for any small aircraft transporting the President and a small retinue. So, when Smith saw that Marine One was landing in front of him, he expected the President to be aboard. That’s a big deal! Then Aramaki revealed himself under that helmet instead. That’s a bigger deal! It was a good cliffhanger for SAC_2045, because I need to know how the Japanese Prime Minister made all this happen.

Heh.

Aramaki is going to hitch a ride with some Americans. In a fighter jet? His schedule must be very tight if they plan to drop him off at “the location,” instead of heading to Washington D.C. first.

Let’s see what’s happening at this “location.” Ha. Ishikawa’s drones have little Tachikoma heads. Patrick Huge’s house is, uh, huge. It also has many of those guard dog units we saw in action in the 2nd episode. What the… his wife’s dead body is out by the pool. Mysterious! Two months dead!

Har. Seeing a crime against a fellow American riled up Standard. Call the police! Batou slapped him! His Clown codename is working out well. Caution! Everything about this mission should make caution alerts appear. Motoko is already planning how to escape Smith’s Delta Squad after they capture Huge. The Tachikomas are her trump cards.

Saitou made his sniper’s nest. Let’s hope he gets some satisfying shots in. Stan isn’t so Standard Deluxe on these stealth entries. The Tachikomas and Togusa will show us how it’s done. Aw. The injured one doesn’t have working camouflage and he struggles with the basic moves.

Huge’s house is very empty. Those maid bots are going to start attacking soon. They look like they’re based on the receptionist models. I like how SAC_2045 presents backstory during the boring scenes. Instead of standing around a computer monitor, the team members just flash info straight into a visual overlay. The way Huge is trying to sell his company, it feels like somebody killed him and is impersonating him, without worrying about identification problems. This plot development feels like the old Stand Alone Complex, where we had a mix of crime solving and commando action. Oh. It was supposed to be a fake death from that missile attack by the Nomads. GHOST’s actions complicated things.

And there’s the “man” himself. Just naked wearing a robe. The hacking thing we saw in the training simulation was foreshadowing. Huge hacked Clown first, since he’s just a Standard Model. No talking, just fighting. SAC_2045 is doing their best impression of the Matrix. Instead of a brawl of Agent Smith’s, we have sexy combat maids! Woof. Huge uses the maids to block bullets!

Huge knows kung fu… He’s dodging and blocking very well. This is not normal. Huge dodges bullets too. Blurred out wang. Insert SAC_2045 “huge” joke here… Huge does not have a complex about something standing on its own. I wonder what other enhancements he made to his body. Batou threw in a reference to FCS (Future Combat Systems) which was a US Army initiative for unmanned drones. Motoko can swat these maids away. It’s Huge who’s the, ah, huge problem. He’s dodging shots without even looking. He’s predicting where they’re shooting. Ishikawa says Huge should only have a cyberbrain. We’ll need confirmation. There’s a dawning realization that he’s not Patrick Huge anymore.

The longer it takes to subdue Patrick Huge, the more all those other scenarios GHOST trained for will happen. They mentioned having to fight a huge tank. Where did Huge stash that? Luckily for GHOST, they have their own tanks that Smith didn’t account for. It’s clear Motoko is the better fighter against Huge, but her handicap is trying to keep him alive. Ouch. She broke that hand completely. Oh man. That’s not a human reaction. Huge looked at his bleeding hand as a curiosity.

Ack. Motoko finally got Huge in a restraint lock and all those guard dogs came crashing in. Those dogs have fangs and claws, but Motoko has a knife! Ugh. More blurred wang. Huge is acrobatic like a break-dancer. He ran into his closet. Are we sure it’s not a panic room? If it is a closet, he’s not coming out of there with another bathrobe. Here comes the tank! Armored suit! His Sunday best would have to be in the closet, right?

SAC_2045 made this battle feel like a boss raid. I’m just waiting to see if this is Huge’s final form. Let’s see how Saitou the sniper helps. Also, the Tachikoma need to rush the party at the right time. Oops. Huge sent the dogs after Saitou. He’s going to use those close quarter combat skills he learned. That Huge guy even dodges a sniper shot. That’s not normal!

Game over. The Tachikomas have arrived! Back up Saitou! Roger! Drink! Saitou is no-scoping these dogs, but his fire rate isn’t good enough. Time to test his gun-kata skills. Meh. Just let Tachikoma do what he’s supposed to do.

Motoko is in the boss-raid’s endgame. She’ll try a cyberlock, but we know SAC_2045 will show us their version of cyberbrain attack. Motoko says, “I was made for this.” Literally true. Boo! It’s too dark to show that fine Motoko behind. Again, the gap in combat training shows, but the problem will be what Motoko finds inside Huge’s cyberbrain. Yeah! Tachikoma! Do it! Oh, there’s Togusa! He’s not the only surprise guest tonight.

Ha! The SAC_2045 version of electronic chaff is throwing a bunch of malwares at a cyberbrain. Eat this! Now they can rip Huge out of that suit. An RPG Chapter Boss fight means there’s a story mode fight going to happen. Yup. Cyberlock doesn’t work, so Motoko is going to dive into him. Uh, that is not human. There’s Motoko’s second outfit for an upcoming figure… It took SAC_2045 five episodes to show us Motoko’s classic Ghost in the Shell pose.

Uh oh. Motoko can’t win. Huge’s head is fine red mist. Smith comes to gloat. Oops. Smith tried to pull rank on Director Byron, but an F-35 with the callsign Marine One says otherwise. That’s not an American president. That’s Aramaki!

SAC_2045 Tachikoma “Roger!” Count — 1.