(Editor's Note: Chris Feldman has been writing the anime reviews for AWM for the past year. This is his last column. We'd like to thank him for his many contributions and we wish him all the best in his future pursuits.)

Ghost in the Shell became the standard by which all futuristic cyberpunk movies will be judged. The TV series GITS-SAC feeds the loyal fan base's hunger. All GITS-SAC images ©2006-2007 Shirow Masamune-Production I.G./Kodansh

Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex: The Laughing Man
2007, movie,Director: Kenji Kamiyama. 160 minutes. Bi-lingual DVD $24.98. Distributor: Manga Video

Back in 1996, Masamune Shirow's cyberpunk masterpiece Ghost in the Shell was brought to life. Influenced by works such as the novel Neuromancer by William Gibson, Shirow painted a society where cyborgs and physically connecting people's minds to the Net are a part of a brave new world. Through the legendary creative eyes of Mamoru Oshii, a future world obsessed with pursuing perfection while hiding a dystopian society became a living, breathing reality. With the film's highly graphical depictions of human/Net interfaces and hyperrealistic character movements, a paradigm shift happened throughout the film community in both animation and live action. Heavily influencing movies from around the world, such as The Matrix, Ghost in the Shell has become the standard by which all futuristic cyberpunk movies will be judged. With all of the critical acclaim, financial success, and its loyal fan base, it was only a matter of time before a sequel was produced. In this case, due to the technological nature of the story, a film sequel was several years off, but thankfully a television series was produced to help tide the fans over until it could be finished. And since the television series could take place on a separate timeline than that of the film, it provided an opportunity to explore who the people are that make up section 9 and what their influences are.

In 2002 the first Stand Alone Complex was released on TV in Japan and, when word hit the shores here in the States, many a drooling fanboy eagerly awaited his chance to see the Major again. The series was literally a standalone universe compared to the movie and the manga. I guess it could be described as a hybrid of the two. The Stand Alone Complex series includes the Tachikomas from the manga and also incorporates the lofty political intrigue of the film. It is a best of both worlds type of situation. The first season was composed of individual situations (or standalone complexes) that are solved in one or two episodes, but underlying that is a larger plot following a criminal called the Laughing Man. I found this to be a fairly original and very interesting concept.

GITS-SAC The Laughing Man helps fans understand the whole Laughing Man story without having to rewatch the first season multiple times. But don't they do that anyway?

This movie is also interesting because it is an edit of all the Laughing Man content from the first season with no new content. I really like this first season of the Stand Alone Complex series because it seemed less pretentious than 2nd GIG and the sequel movie Innocence. Not that I didn't like those, but I did feel that they were a bit on the preachy side about the ideals of a utopian society. The episode content cuts together beautifully and, if no one had told me that this was assembled out of chunks of individual episodes, I would have never known. To be honest, there is so much happening in the series plot line that the Laughing Man plot gets a little lost because it is broken up throughout the series episodes. Therefore the underlying story of the Laughing Man can be a little difficult to follow for anyone who has difficulty with stringing together all those bits of subplot. In a way this movie helps the fan to understand the whole Laughing Man story without having to rewatch the first season multiple times. Then again, most anime fans will keep rewatching a season until the next one is released, so I suppose that point is moot.

What I think makes this first season's story really stand out is that it deals with a very real issue in our lives and applies it to a fictional situation. What the writers are really talking about in this story is the influence that the pharmaceutical industry can exert and the conspiracies and manipulation surrounding treatments for viruses such as HIV. In this story, due to the rise in brain augmentation, a new disease for the 21st century called cyberbrain sclerosis has begun killing more people than AIDS and smallpox. This cyberbrain sclerosis is a degenerative disease that destroys a victim's nerve conductivity inside the brain until the point where the brain literally dies inside an otherwise healthy body. The only way to know if someone is at risk of cyberbrain sclerosis is after they have had their brain augmented and they begin to show signs of the disease. There are two competing cures for this disease that have applied for approval for human testing. The first is a more traditional vaccination style of treatment and the second is a cutting-edge medical micro-machine treatment that represents the future of medical treatments. Due to the amount of money that the pharmaceutical companies and certain government officials stand to make from the micro-machine treatment, it is passed several months early. The only problem is that the treatment is only theoretical and doesn't actually work. Ironically the vaccine treatment does work, but the knowledge that this treatment can help people is suppressed for fear it will set back the development of the medical micro-machines. The Laughing Man has discovered this fact and has been attempting to expose this conspiracy, only to be labeled a criminal. Section 9 comes into contact with the Laughing Man as they investigate what seems to be an unrelated incident. But they soon find that they cannot approach the Laughing Man like any other cybercriminal because he may be their toughest opponent yet.