Motoko Kusanagi

Major Motoko Kusanagi
Motoko Kusanagi from the manga. Major Motoko Kusanagi from the manga Ghost in the Shell
Publication information
Publisher	Dark Horse Comics (US)
First appearance	Ghost in the Shell (manga) ISBN 1-56971-081-3 (US)
Created by	Masamune Shirow
In-story information
Alter ego	Unknown (Motoko Kusanagi is a pseudonym)
Team affiliations	Public Security Section 9, Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces
Notable aliases	"The Major" (nickname), Motoko Kusanagi
Abilities	Highly reinforced prosthetic body, Realtime cyberbrain hacking capability, combat experience, Thermoptic camouflage, Martial arts expert, high intelligence

Major Motoko Kusanagi (草薙素子 Kusanagi Motoko) is a fictional character in Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell anime and manga series. She is a cyborg in the employ of Public Security Section 9, a fictional division of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission as the squad leader. In the Japanese movies and TV animes, she is voice-acted by Atsuko Tanaka. In the English dubbing of the film, Mimi Woods provides the voice. In the Stand Alone Complex TV series, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn is the voice actress.

Motoko Kusanagi is portrayed in different incarnations across the different media of manga, movie, and anime. Since each of these have different storylines, the character has been adapted in different ways to reflect the focus of the story. Thus, her physical as well as mental characteristics differ widely from story to story, and this is reflected in the different ways that artists draw her.

Background

The Manga

In the original manga, Kusanagi's portrayal differs from the movie. She has a much more slapstick, and a more vivacious and sassy personality. She participates in a lesbian sex splashpanel and has a boyfriend. The lesbian sex panel stems from the compatibility of cyborgs that are of the same gender. The splashpanel Motoko takes part in is apparently a "side business" for Motoko, as stated by Masamune in the back of the manga collection. Motoko's body is one of the most advanced models on the market, possessing 16² sensory nerves. This allows Motoko a heightened sense of touch.

Apparently, e-sex (the splashpanel) is an illegal act that most will pay high dollar for. The reason for it being illegal is due to the fact that it ties together the users' nervous systems to allow shared simultaneous sensations. This has potential for serious complications, which are illustrated by the accidental arrival of Batou in the splashpanel (see next paragraph). Motoko makes a profit off of this due to the fact she has the 16² sensory nerves, which causes the splashpanels she participates in something to remember and something people want to experience.

Heterosexual splashpanels cannot exist and causes e-sex to be illegal, due to the fact it causes immense pain. The pain is caused by the fact that nerves stimulated by one user are transferred to another user simultaneously. Homosexual splashpanels are safe because everyone has the same body parts being stimulated (in Motoko's three-way panel, the fondling of a breast). When Batou accidentally crashes Motoko's panel while trying to contact her, he experiences intense pain since he is receiving stimulations for organs that he doesn't possess.

All of this gives good cover to a more simplistic reason for the lesbian activity: Shirow said in his book Intron Depot 1 that "I drew an all-girl orgy because I didn't want to draw some guy's butt."

Motoko supposedly only participates in the splashpanels to make a profit and for the sensations it brings. Otherwise, she is probably heterosexual or bisexual, since she does date a man in the manga. She does have sex with him as well, since she says to herself when she goes to answer her apartment door, thinking it is her neighbor complaining, "Hmm … guess we made too much noise last night."

She is a commanding presence when on assignment, but also trades insults with her troops. She constantly calls Aramaki "Ape Face", and his view of her has her tongue sticking out. She also smiles a lot, and gives the "V" for victory to her boyfriend. She does, however, discuss whether she is a "real" person with her girlfriend. However, she assumes a "horror movie"-style pose, and they both laugh at the end (slightly nervously).

In the sequel Ghost in the Shell 2: Man/Machine Interface, a person known as Motoko Aramaki appears. She identifies herself as containing "Motoko Kusanagi" elements, along with her opponent, on page 243 of the translated version by Dark Horse. She is also identified as "Motoko 11". It is possible she is one of the "children" Motoko talked of creating along with her opponents. If so, it is possible that humans have become obsolete!

The Movies

Motoko Kusanagi's character is distinctly different in the movies because Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell: Innocence both follow one continuous timeline that is separate from the anime series as well as the manga (from which it is derived).

Ghost In The Shell

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

File:Ghost in the Shell - Major Kusanagi.png

Major Motoko Kusanagi in the movie Ghost in the Shell.

Kusanagi is the main protagonist in the movie Ghost in the Shell and second in command under Aramaki in Section 9. She is a very effective leader and is able to use her wits and cybernetic body in order to bring criminals to justice. However, despite the number of cyborgs in Section 9, Kusanagi hand-picks Togusa, who has undergone only minimal brain modification, to balance the roster. This is indicative of her belief that homogeneity is a weakness and that versatility is a strength. Kusanagi is oftentimes contemplative and brooding, whilst her counterpart Batou is livelier.

Since she has a full cybernetic body, she is not certain her ghost, or her soul, retains any humanity. She goes scuba diving for relaxation, although she is so heavy that she would sink like an anchor if any malfunction in her buoyancy devices were to occur. Her fatalistic attitude towards her diving thoroughly confounds Batou. Throughout the movie, she seeks to find answers to her questions and finally meets the Puppet Master, a rogue AI become sentient, who is similar to her in its quest for meaning. By the end of the movie, Kusanagi and the Puppet Master merge to form a new entity that will propagate itself artificially.

Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence

In Innocence, the Major's first verifiable appearance occurs in Kim's manor, where she breaks into the hallway component of Kim's looping false memories. She inserts herself, a basset hound and a progressive set of clues alerting Batou to the fact that he and Togusa are being hacked (Their private code 2501 from the first movie is part of the clues, as confirmation). Later, the Major's ghost returns to help Batou when he is on the factory ship that produces the gynoid dolls. Only a fragment of the Major is downloaded into the doll, as it does not have the memory to hold all of her. Her personality has not changed much from the previous movie, except for the fact that she has gained the Puppet Master's mastery of hacking the net. She has uploaded herself to a satellite, and has become further detached from humanity.

While her actual appearance is mainly a cameo, she is everpresent, and she does provide some nice philosophy, including the line "We weep for a bird's cry, but not for a fish's blood. Blessed are those with a voice. If the dolls also had voices, they would have screamed, 'I didn't want to become human.'" Before departing, she tells a despondent Batou, who realizes she's going to leave him again, that whenever he connects to the net, "I will be right beside you."

There is a sequence early on in a convenience store where the Major's voice can be heard warning Batou that he is in danger. Whether the warning genuinely came from her, or was part of the hack attempt, is unknown. If it's genuine, it would predate the manor sequence as the first appearance. If it's false, then it was simply part of the hack attempt.

Stand Alone Complex

The Major retains much of her personality and spunk from the films in the anime series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and its followup Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG.

In the first season the title Stand Alone Complex has two meanings. One meaning comes from a theoretical mental complex attributed to the adaptation of cybernetics into the mass public. In the first season’s story, 'stand alone complex' is said to describe copies with no original and is portrayed by copycat crimes with no original criminal. In other words, an imaginary criminal. It also refers to the structure of each episode. Episodes are listed as 'stand alone' or 'complex' in the title screen. 'Stand Alone' episodes are just that; self-contained stories that end with the episode. The 'complex' episodes are connected on an encompassing plot involving a hacker called The Laughing Man, the title of which comes from a short story by J.D. Salinger.

Unlike the first season, the second season has three types of episodes denoting the type of episode. Each episode has two names, a proper title and a subtitle. The DI/IN/DU nomenclature denotes DI=Dividual, IN=Individual, and DU=Dual. Episodes designated DI are stand alone episodes not strongly tied with the other storylines, while those designated IN are tied in with the Individual Eleven storyline, and those designated with DU are tied with the Cabinet Intelligence Service & Gouda storyline (though the two storylines are interelated).

Season one

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Motoko Kusanagi in her tan military uniform.

Major Motoko Kusanagi's formal introduction in the first season comes during the first episode, when Section 9 is called in to resolve a hostage situation at a Geisha house. Throughout the series, The Major maintains her signature commanding presence and authority. Unlike other members of Section 9, The Major could best be described as a lone wolf, relying very little on outside help to accomplish her goals. Among the various members of Section 9, Kusanagi is usually the one Chief Aramaki singles out to accompany him on official and off the record business.

About half-way through the first season, Kusanagi starts having reservations about the use of the Tachikoma sentient tanks, which have begun showing signs of individuality and curiosity not befitting their use as combat weapons. During an episode in which the tank that was supposed to be watching her back wanders off, Kusanagi begins to seriously contemplate having them returned to the lab. This feeling is further increased when Batou's Tachikoma escapes Section 9's Tachikoma storage facility and proceeds to go on an unauthorized joy ride through the city and spends the day with a young girl looking for a lost dog. Ultimately, she decides to have them stripped of the weaponry and sent back to the lab that manufactured them for analysis and further work.

During the last of the episodes of the first season Kusanagi, like the rest of the members of Section 9, becomes a target of Narcotic Suppression Squad (NSS) agents and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Forces (JMSDF) after discovering the truth behind the Laughing Man scandal. She is first targeted by the JMSDF, who damage her prosthetic body, forcing Kusanagi to seek repairs. During her prosthetic body swap, an NSS agent attempts to kill Kusanagi, but fails after the real Laughing Man saves her. After Section 9 is disbanded, its various members are captured by shock troopers of the Umibozu (an unofficial JMSDF special forces unit adept at paramilitary operations) until only Batou and Kusanagi are left. It was only after the three remaining Tachikoma's sacrificed themselves to save Batou that she realises that their individuality made them better weapons. She even speculated that they might have gained ghosts becoming truly alive. As Batou and Kusanagi attempt to leave the city, Umibozu commandos ambush and subsequently arrest Batou, and supposedly assassinate Kusanagi.

After Section 9's fall, Togusa sets out to assassinate the man responsible for its dissolution when he is intercepted by Batou, who brings him back to the team's new headquarters. Here, all members of Section 9 — including Kusanagi — are revealed to be alive and in good health, and the first season concludes with the reinstatement of Section 9.

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Motoko Kusanagi in her combat suit.

As in the manga, Kusanagi maintains her provocative dress, wearing nothing more than thigh-high boots, a strapless leotard with no pants, and leather jacket, except in cases where this is inappropriate; during such times she will usually appear either in a tan military officer's uniform with markings that denote her rank as a Major (see top picture), or in a black and grey form fitting combat suit that the team uses on its raids and other paramilitary operations (see picture on the left). In rare cases, Motoko will adopt other styles of dress appropriate to her surroundings, such as a London police officer and garbage lady. She still maintains a dim view of sexism in all forms — even going so far as to empathize with sex robots, despite how she herself dresses.

Kusanagi's personal life is not alluded to much in the first season, although the events of the episode "Missing Hearts" suggest that she underwent cyberization at a very early age (approximately age 9), and that she had trouble adapting to the use of the body which resulted in her inadvertently breaking one of her favorite dolls. Based on the episodes "Decoy" and "Missing Hearts," some people have suggested that Kusanagi may be a lesbian, although a more probable alternative is that such scenes are the result of abnormally high compatibility with cybernetic devices in cyborgs of the same sex. Most fans lean more toward her being bisexual, citing her boyfriend (in the first manga), and (although rarely) she has opened up to Batou, particularly in the episode "Barrage," where The Major brings Batou back to her safehouse to hide from the JMSDF and the Niihama City police. The two share a moment of closeness that hints they would like to go further, but don't.

Season two

The second season begins much like the first, with a hostage situation and Section 9 (unofficially) on the scene. After receiving the permission of Prime Minister Kayabuki, Kusanagi orders Section 9 in to resolve the conflict. The scene climaxes with a shot right out of the original film. In accordance with the deal Prime Minister Kayabuki made with Aramaki before the raid, Kayabuki fully reinstates Section 9 for their success in resolving the situtation without losing any of the hostages. In a surprising move, Kusanagi reverses her earlier position on the Tachikoma mini tanks and reinstates them as members of Section 9. This may be due in part to the heroic sacrifice of three of these units to save Batou at the end of the first season. The Tachikomas clearly retain their old impishness, as one plays a 'gotcha' prank on Batou, who had a real soft spot for the blue tanks.

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Motoko's Cyber Body (aka "Chroma"), shown here shortly after she infiltrated the CIS computer database.

About a third of the way into the second season, Kusanagi — fed up with the way Section 9 is being used by Kazundo Gouda and his Cabinet Intelligence Service^[1] — undertakes a risky sorté to infiltrate the CIS’s computer database. With the aid of the Tachikomas in their new net agent forms, the Major gains access to the central CIS database and learns that the CIS is behind a recent series of terrorist events in Japan, and also confirms that Section 9 is being manipulated in an effort to sway public opinion against the growing refugee population in Japan. This information, along with the other events in the series, leads Kusanagi to suspect that Gouda is attempting to overthrow the Japanese government, or at the very least, shake it up in such a way as to advance his position in it.

Shortly after Kusangi’s infiltration of the CIS database, the Individual 11, a terrorist orginazation responsible for a violent string of attacks on unsuspecting japanese citizens and vital government interests, surfaced in Nagasaki. The group made one short speech atop a skyscraper before committing mass suicide by mutual decapitation with katanas. Aramaki, acting on his suspicion that Gouda had something to do with it, orders Section 9 to launch a full-scale investigation into Gouda in an effort to tie him to the Individual 11. The investigation comes to a head when a nuclear bomb is discovered in Nagasaki; Kusangi, with the aid of other section 9 members, secures the plutonium from the atomic bomb in an effort to tie it to a CIS run nuclear reactor excavation project, thereby linking Gouda to the nuclear bomb and the Individual 11 incidents.

File:Youngmajorcybernetic.jpg

Young Motoko after undergoing full cyberization.

In the second season, we learn that Kusanagi underwent full cyberization due to severe injuries she suffered after a plane crash when she was just nine years old. Only she and a young boy survived. She was in a coma until it became apparent that she would die without undergoing cyberization. (Both of the children's parents died in the crash, and the boy is another main character in the second season series.) The boy had lost the use of much of his body except for one hand, which he used to make origami cranes non-stop. The young Kusanagi was brought to see him after receiving her first artificial body to encourage the boy to undergo cyberization. However, the boy, not recognizing her as the same girl who had survived with him, rejected it because he wanted to continue to make paper cranes and Motoko was unable to do so due to difficulty operating her cyborg body (until later). So she left him to make paper cranes, but eventually, he relented and underwent cyberization, later becoming Hideo Kuze.

Season two also serves as a revamp for Kusanagi's attire. She wears the form-fitting black and gray combat uniform much more often, and for street clothing, she wears low-ride blue jeans over a long sleeve leotard. Some fans have also noticed that the Major's bust has been somewhat enhanced with this season.

Character Analysis

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Major Kusanagi using thermoptical camouflage in Ghost in the Shell.

During her childhood years, Motoko underwent full cyberization after surviving a plane crash, although enough of her brain remains organic to maintain contact with her ghost. Her current body is a standard 25 year old female model (the Major is believed to be in her mid-thirties), but in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex it is revealed that its internal specifications are top of the line, with advanced components that are illegal for ordinary cyborgs. Motoko only eats specially manufactured foods made for cybernetic organisms. In the anime, original manga, and movie, there are no hidden weapons built into her body, although due to the nature of her internal specifications her body could be considered its own hidden weapon. However, in Ghost in the Shell 2: Man/Machine Interface, Aramaki Motoko shows off a bowgun hidden in her arm which fires minigrenades.

File:Gits-katsuragi-camouflage.jpeg

Major Kusanagi using optical camouflage in Stand Alone Complex.

In the manga and anime, the Major tends to dress in a fairly provocative style in her day to day life, unlike in the movie. Her co-workers rarely comment on her style of dress, and then only in an indirect manner. It is unknown why she dresses this way in the series. It is said to be an act of fan service and/or to explain the character's personality. Others have speculated it's her way of reminding herself that she is a woman, since Kusanagi is plagued with so much self-doubt of her humanity.

In situations where provocative dress is inappropriate, she wears a tan military uniform with markings that denote her rank as a Major, or a form-fitting combat unitard with optical camouflage abilities. The former is frequently used during official or high profile events (such as guarding the Superintendent General), while the latter is used during raids or other militaristic activities. Motoko is not above using her sexuality to complete a mission as shown in the episode Angel's Share. Motoko strips down to nothing except a long coat to lure away a member of CO19 to steal his uniform in the back alleys in order to rescue Aramaki.

As a person, she tends to be a no-nonsense leader. She delivers orders rapidly, and expects (and receives) prompt compliance. She's a master of coordinating troops and of using her special abilities at just the right moment. On rare occasions, she shows a softer side--she has a definite soft spot for small children undergoing cyberization. The Kusanagi of Stand Alone Complex doesn't share the penchant for skin-diving with her Oshii counterpart. At the end of one episode of SAC, she gives Batou a hard time for spending all of his money on exercise equipment, since he is a cyborg and exercise is pointless for him. He challenges her to a fight, she hacks his brain and makes him punch himself out, establishing who's boss. (This was also something of a running joke in the manga, with Motoko getting Batou to punch himself whenever he irritated her.)

Notes

^ In the anime this agency is refered to as the "Cabinent Intelligence Service", but in other GITS material it is known as the "Cabinet Intelligence Agency"