Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Episode 13 Discussion

Love the action scenes in this epsiode. They make up for many of the previous episodes not really having much combat. The tachikoma were the highlight of the episode in both the action and the dialogue department, though the ending scene where Section 9 discuss the context behind the kidnapping was also something to make note of. Seems like this case had more of an effect on Motoko than most.

Eka was one of the first to receive a cyberbrain, so maybe cyberbrain tech was still rudimentary at the time, with side effects like rapid aging if something goes wrong with them.

Corrected in bold. She was 16 when she was kidnapped. When she was rescued she was 32. I was perplexed by what happened initially, but once it was revealed her daughter didn't have the cybernetic implants I got it immediately. I didn't want to believe it since it was pretty horrifying, but its definately believable. Look at President Obama's photo 8 years ago, look at him now, and that's just through the stress of presidency. Imagine Eka's torture and trauma she went through in 16 years held hostage my a terrorist organization (rape, beatings, verbal abuse, etc.). That's how its believable for me. What also gave her traumatized mind away was when the gunshot was fired before Mokoto raided the room. If you listen to the daughter she's yelling at her mom saying she shouldn't leave herself alone and stay with her at all times, implying the mother wanted to shoot herself and end her misery (much like the counter-terrorist that went insane after linking with the old woman; the memories were just too much). This was a deep deep episode of just how shocking people can be...look at any extremist today and ask..."How are people even capable of so much hate/cruelty?"

I think she may have been experimented on, too. The Major and Togusa had a conversation in the middle of the episode about the possibility of her having been cloned, and I think this is supposed to imply that - not necessarily that they wanted to clone her, but that she was experimented on. It would make sense - if they captured someone with a cyberbrain, they'd likely want to take them apart and see how they worked.

The cyberization itself had to be a factor too. Especially since she was one of the earliest cyberized people, there were probably issues and defects that weren't caught early. I mean, you mess with the brain, you're probably messing with the glands and hormones and pathways that control physical aging...

I think it's nice that they left it open-ended, though. Most shows wouldn't be able to pull it off, but GitS, I think, earns the benefit of the doubt since its storytelling is so intelligent and solid overall. They tell the story, and then give you enough hints to ask you to piece the conclusion together yourself.

edit: wait, actually she had to have been cloned. Her DNA and her "daughter's" DNA were an exact match. There's no way that would've happened if her daughter was born naturally. So I think the cloning thing is right.