Angely i demony kruzhili nado mnoj, Angels and demons circle above me,
rassykhali ternii i vechnye puti. through the thorns to the stars.
Ne znaet shast'je tol'ko tot, Only those unable to perceive its call...
kto jevo zova ponjat' ne smog. ...do not know happiness.
Naljubuites', naljubuites'. Watch in awe, watch in awe.
Aeria gloris, aeria gloris.
Naljubuites', naljubuites'. Watch in awe, watch in awe.
Aeria gloris, aeria gloris.
I am calling, calling now,
spirits rise and falling.
Soboj ostat'sja dol'she. To remain myself longer.
Calling, calling, in the depths of longing.
Soboj ostat'sja dol'she. To remain myself longer.
Naljubuites', Watch in awe,
aeria gloris.
Hey... Hello? Wake up!
Everybody synchronizes after a mission, so why am I the only one who doesn't?
Mr. Batou's natural oil!
Oh, boy! It's full of information!
This is amazing! My experience points are climbing and climbing!
Locky!
Hey, have you seen Locky?
"Locky"?
Locky is the name of the dog I keep as a pet.
He got lost, though...
Keep... Lost...
Sorry, I can't help you.
Will you help me look for him?
Well, I was hoping to go into the city.
I was going to go through town to Seaview Hills Park.
I think he's probably somewhere around there.
Okay, we can go together, but just as far as the city.
Really?! Thanks!
Hey, what's your name? My name's Miki.
I'm Tachikoma.
Tachikoma?
It's nice to meet you, Tachikoma.
I bet Locky's hungry, so I'm gonna buy him one of these.
I... don't really think that's a good idea.
Why not?
Um...
Is that dog there almost like Locky?
Well, is this dog Locky?
No, Locky's not scrawny like that dog there.
Oh.
Hey, Tachikoma! That's mean!
Mean? But you don't need that dog.
It's not Locky.
He's not Locky, but you shouldn't be mean to him! Understand?
I wasn't mean to him. I just didn't need him.
If you ever do that again, I'm really gonna get mad!
Hm? What's this?
Something tells me that this is an amazing discovery!
Well, I'll be! It's a cyberbrain!
Huh? But it doesn't have a barrier...
Could this be our version of the way that humans...
...see their life flash before their eyes the instant they die?
Hm? You're me? And I'm all of you?
T-There's a Ghost!
What're you doing, Tachikoma?
Um, nothing.
Tachikoma! You took something just now, didn't you?!
Taking things without asking is stealing!
You get a leash because you don't behave!
Come on, hand over whatever it is you're hiding!
Excuse me, young lady.
What are you doing in a place like this?
Miss, are you carrying anything that can tell us who you are?
Is this your pet robot?
Miss, where's your house?
All right, you two, I may not look it, but I'm this child's legitimate guardian.
I was critically wounded by enemy fire during the war.
My brain was put into this tank as a quick fix, but it fused with it.
I've been this way ever since.
Calling a patriot who lost his body in the service of his homeland...
...a "pet" is downright rude!
- Spoiled kids like you who never knew war are... - I-I understand. That'll be all, sir.
That was amazing! Was that ventriloquism?
Something like that.
Hey, let's try looking at that "Seaview Hills Park" you mentioned.
Huh? You'll go with me?
Sure. There's nothing else here that looks interesting.
Locky's probably waiting there, right?
Yeah! Thanks, Tachikoma!
Locky's lived with us ever since I was born.
He always played with me, ate with me, and slept on my bed.
Wow, you two must be close.
Yep!
But why did Locky wander off and get lost?
He was always with you, wasn't he, Miki?
Yeah...
Hey, Tachikoma, do you know a story called "The Secret Goldfish"?
The Secret Goldfish? Nope.
It's a story whose main character is a girl who is about the same age as me.
A story?
Yeah.
A story about a girl who doesn't want to let anybody else see her goldfish.
When people ask her why she doesn't want to let anybody see her goldfish,
she says it's because she bought the goldfish with her own money.
So all the adults worry about her, thinking to themselves, "Oh, what a silly girl."
But the goldfish had actually died a long time earlier,
and to keep the adults from finding out, the girl wouldn't let anyone see it.
Hm, I don't really understand. I mean, the goldfish was dead, right?
So she should just use her allowance or something to get it fixed up like new.
It doesn't work like that.
When a goldfish dies, it never comes back.
The girl didn't want the adults to think that she would be sad just because her goldfish died.
She had grieved enough already.
This... is it, isn't it?
Actually, I knew all along.
When I came home from nursery school on Thursday, Locky wasn't there.
He hadn't been feeling well for a long time,
but Mommy and Daddy said that he had gone outside.
When I said we should go look for Locky on Friday or Saturday,
Mommy and Daddy both said no.
So even though I really knew Locky was dead, I pretended to go look for him.
If I didn't, Mommy and Daddy would know that I knew the truth.
Humans sure feel sad when a friend they love dies, don't they?
I don't understand the concept of "death."
I think it might be because I don't have a Ghost,
but I also can't understand the concept of "sadness."
I guess it must be because I can't die.
You won't die, Tachikoma?
Nope! Because I'm an Al.
Even if I kept you as a pet?
Nope.
Even if you got run over by a car?
Nope.
Oh...
Still, I guess I don't want to have any more pets...
Maybe you should head back home...
Your mom and dad must be sad when you're not there, Miki.
Yeah...
I wish you wouldn't look so serious.
It's not like I ran away or...
Pipe down!
There's indications that a small quantity of the proteins used in the neurochips...
...of the Tachikoma's dedicated Al has dissolved in the natural oil you used in it.
It's because you use this Tachikoma exclusively, Batou.
There's a possibility that the data that oozed out into the oil gradually built up,
and the Tachikoma's Al reproduced that behavior memory based on that information.
You shouldn't have babied that Tachikoma so much, Batou.
They're just machines.
- That's discriminatory speech! - We demand a retraction!
Togusa's a bigot!
Machines need love, too!
This would be big news if it had happened at the Artificial Intelligence Research Agency,
but the Major's gonna rip you a new one if she finds out.
Better pack your bags.
Huh? What the heck is this?
Hey, that's...!
A fine morning to you, Major!
Sucking up won't help you.
The use of natural oil is hereby banned.
Understood, Batou?
And Togusa, get that box over to the crime lab.
Ishikawa, I want you there as an observer.
Aw...
Looks like the jig is up. That lady's always on top of things.
I wonder how she found out?
Roger.
I'm surprised. I can't believe it's been online the whole time.
Is whatever's in that box really that dangerous?
This guy dove in a while ago and hasn't come up since.
I was able to run a trace partway, but we lost communication all of a sudden.
What the hell is this thing, Major?
There were indications that when the Tachikoma found this and accessed its contents,
it instantly synchronized with the Tachikoma's Al and dumped data into it.
I thought it might have been some kind of brainwashing program, but it's not.
I was thinking along the lines of some kind of defense maze,
but our backup program was fully operational...
...and there's no indication whatsoever that the inspector's brain...
...experienced a program-induced backflow or attack.
You're saying he doesn't want to come back?
I can't determine that one way or the other.
There's really zero possibility of a virus?
Show me the records from your trace.
It looks like he's receiving the sensation of being in a building of some kind.
See that part where he blurted out something about a long hallway?
And he said there's a stairway at the end of the hall.
I'll dive in and take a look around.
Hey, now! I think you should hold off until you get authorization from the Chief!
What if worse comes to worst?
It already has.
If one of our inspectors hasn't come back, that means this is serious.
Hook me up!
Image display complete.
For such a bland scene, there's an awful lot of data.
And this hall... They were kind enough to make it so you can only go forward.
There's nothing else there but the hallway?
At the moment.
I really wish you'd close your eyes, Sleeping Beauty.
I see stairs! I'm going down.
Keep an eye out for traps! The Major's safety takes priority.
I can see a dim light.
And... It's faint, but I hear voices.
What the...?
Wait! Major!
Hey, Major! Respond!
Major!
It's no use. Her consciousness has left her body.
A Ghost Hack?!
No, it's something else. There's been no attack whatsoever.
Her barrier isn't active, either.
Major!
The lines in the scene before that dispelled his utter despair...
...and had a profound impact on his motivation afterwards.
I'm not so sure. I thought that was the instant he made up his mind...
...to live forever as the result of catching a glimpse of Truth.
What are you people doing here?
Hey!
Don't bother. Everyone here is completely under its spell.
Under its spell? Under what spell?
What's "it"?
Would you care to join us and see for yourself?
Wha...? Hey!
If you don't hurry, you'll miss the beginning.
This film has no previews, you see.
A movie theater?
Hey, what happened to you? What happened in here?
Oh, hello, Major. What a coincidence.
This movie is fantastic...
Come on, we're leaving! Hey!
What did you think?
I have to admit, it wasn't a bad movie.
But all entertainment diversions are fundamentally transitory.
Or at least they should be.
But a movie without a beginning or end...
that only keeps an audience fascinated and never lets them go...
It's harmful, no matter how wonderful you may have thought it was.
My, you're a tough critic...
Are you saying, then, that there is a reality that we in the audience ought to return to?
Yes, I am.
For some people in the audience,
misery is waiting for them the instant they return to reality.
Can you accept responsibility for depriving those people of their dreams?
No, I can't.
But dreams have meaning for you because you're fighting for them within reality.
Doing nothing but projecting yourself into other people's dreams is the same as being dead.
I see you're a realist.
If a romantic is someone who escapes from reality, then yes.
Such a strong girl you are...
If the reality you believe in ever comes to be, call me.
When it does, we'll leave this theater.
Geez, you had me scared back there...
Sorry about that. I had a lot of trouble breaching its Ghost Line.
I couldn't spare the time to talk.
Well, we ran a match on the records.
Wataru Kannazuki, a generally unknown film director.
He was apparently so stubborn in maintaining his personal artistic integrity...
...that he could never secure funding or a crew, so he never released a single mainstream film.
He must have wanted to create his ideal film, if only in his own cyberbrain.
I guess he had his brain and part of his spine removed,
installed a life-support system, and locked himself up in this box.
In other words, you're saying that this box is a mini-theater...
...that's packed tight with that director's movie?
Something like that, I guess.
So, what kind of movie was it?
Some say he had a cult following.
But since there were apparently some people who enjoyed the movie so much...
...they died without ever regaining consciousness after diving into these boxes,
the police have been going around confiscating them.
Rumor had it that the original was still on the market,
and what do you know, this one is the original.
There's a Ghost in here and everything.
Where the hell did that Tachikoma find this thing?
What floors me is that it was the appeal of his film that kept his audience there,
not traps or hacking.
That's some impressive talent.
So, what do we do? Mr. Director is still alive.
Extract his brain from the box and swap it into a different case to keep him from going online.
Put together a list of viewers who have regained consciousness, too.
Plus, arrest the owner of the flea market stall that sold the box...
...on suspicion of trafficking in human beings.
I'll handle the report to the Chief.
That's all.
Hey, this is a surprise!
Batou, has a movie ever moved you to tears?
Geez, what brought this on?
I'm going back to the hangar. I gotta give my Tachikoma an oil change.
I guess there was one time, a long time ago.
A Marx Brothers movie made me laugh so hard I cried.
That sounds like you...
Hey, I know. How about seeing a movie together sometime?
Thanks.
But when there's a movie that I really want to see, I make it a point to see it alone.
What about movies you don't want to see that badly?
I don't see them.
Makes sense.
She's so cold and human
It's something humans do
She stays so golden solo
She's so number nine
She's incredible math
Just incredible math
And is she really human?
She's just so something new
A waking lithium flower
Just about to bloom
I smell lithium now
Smelling lithium now
How is she when she doesn't surf?
I wonder what she does when she wakes up?
When she wakes up?