I'm a soldier, znatchit ya... I'm a soldier, and that means...
...i otvetchik i sud'ya ...that I am both defendant and judge.
Ya stoyu na dvuh kontsah ognya I stand at both ends of the fire.
Ogibaya virazhi, Leaning into the curves,
obgonyaya smert' i zhizn', overtaking life and death,
ya begu srazit'sya s ten'yu lzhi I'm running to fight the shadow of lies.
Skol'ko b nitej ne plyol obman, No matter how tangled the web of deception is woven,
pokazhet lik sveta istina... truth will always illuminate the outline of the light...
Save your tears for the day...
...when the pain is far behind.
On your feet, come with me.
We are soldiers, stand or die.
Save your fears, take your place.
Save them for the Judgment Day.
Fast and free, follow me.
Time to make the sacrifice.
We rise or fall...
Manage to dig up anything on him?
I'm not making much progress.
Their protection's tougher than I thought.
The Intelligence Agency is the newest administrative organization, after all.
It was created by uniting various prewar intelligence agencies...
...and the old Defense Policy Bureau.
But I found evidence of multiple instances of illegal information manipulation relating to...
...the gathering and analysis of foreign and domestic information, as well as SDA activity,
inside that Strategic Influence Investigatory Committee that Gohda's assigned to.
And the plutonium incident was among them, huh?
That's right.
What about his personal history?
He was part of the group that was headhunted from the Defense Policy Bureau,
...and he quickly rose to his current position.
But his record at the time wasn't anything special. He was more like an outcast.
To tell you the truth, the man's an enigma.
What's that?
It's what Gohda looked like when he was in the DPB.
He was apparently injured in some kind of accident,
but he's keeping the wounds the way they looked back then.
Definitely leaves less of an impression than he does now.
Okay.
Call off the background search for now. We're getting new instructions from the Chief.
- Roger. - Roger.
Oh, man... Straight from an all-nighter to a lunch meeting, huh?
You're probably wondering why I called this emergency meeting.
It is to lay out our policy in regards to a response...
...to the string of incidents that have been happening lately.
Fine, but I'd like to belt that son of a bitch first.
I agree with him.
The CIS' actions are clearly meant to put pressure on us.
I don't feel like keeping my mouth shut and letting them get away with it a second time.
Relax. I don't like it any more than you do.
Even so, it seems to me that you've been making a lot of trips to see the Prime Minister.
Don't you think it's the P.M. Herself who wants to slap a leash on us?
I find that unlikely.
It's true that she is merely a figurehead who was set up in hopes...
...of distracting the populace from the previous administration's scandals,
but while she may or may not be a friend, she most certainly is not a foe.
I believe the Major's already conducting an investigation on her own about this,
but there are signs of deliberate information manipulation being carried out at the CIS...
...regarding the runaway helicopter incident, as well as the plutonium transfer the other day.
At this time, it's uncertain what the CIS is planning to use these incidents for,
but I believe these repeated pressures being brought to bear against us...
...are actions within the government, which hopes to keep that "something" hidden.
Is that true for the Individual Eleven case, too?
Because they're keeping us away from the investigation...
...into the attempt on the Prime Minister, which is a serious act of terrorism,
even though we were the ones most closely tied to the case.
If the Prime Minister's a paper tiger and it's the government who's behind this,
we're still gonna be biting the hand that feeds us.
You're gonna do this anyway?
Do you have a problem with it?
I've been waiting to hear you say that.
Very well. Let's get on with the mission briefing.
All of the crimes in this file were committed by various criminal groups...
...that have called themselves the Individual Eleven.
The illegal siphoning of funds contributed to JNN-TV.
The bombing of a refugee aid association.
Threats made to an NPO that had donated free prosthetic bodies to refugees.
The drowning of a back-alley doctor who specialized in prosthetic bodies.
The death of a net-bank president, who was killed when hit by a train.
The stabbing death of a Democratic Party assemblyman.
The shooting death of Densetsu, the popular cyberbrain-rapper.
Threats made against Nanyou Shimbun Press.
And now, the attempted assassination of Prime Minister Kayabuki.
Of these nine cases, it had been believed that the only one...
...in which a suspect was spotted was the attempted assassination.
However, one other case has been found in which a possible suspect was spotted.
That's news to me. I thought the National Police Agency refused to disclose any information.
They did. Unlike during the Laughing Man case, they are taking this one quite seriously.
Admittedly, this is creating unnecessary barriers.
This footage didn't come from the police,
but is rather something I obtained personally from an involved party.
From a Nanyou reporter, huh?
That's right. Because of the Nanyou Shimbun's critical stance against the refugee policy,
they've had shots fired into their building by the Individual Eleven on three separate occasions.
And this man showed up on their security cameras on every one of those occasions.
His name is Sho Kawashima.
He started working as a Taiwanese vegetarian cook...
...at a restaurant near the Nanyou building about a month ago.
I turned up the fact that he used to be an officer in the SDA.
Where'd this intel come from?
I sent Military Intelligence his face's structural data and got their assistance.
So in other words, we're on better terms with the military than the police now. Huh?
So, what do you want us to do with this guy?
For starters, take him into custody.
Look for anything of significance hidden in his ideology and background.
At present, we can't prove any connection between the CIS and the Individual Eleven,
but if we unravel the thread of what vector was used...
...to cause these standalone terrorist groups to appear,
we should also find out what they hope to accomplish.
You might be right.
Batou, Togusa, Saito and Paz, you take Sho Kawashima into custody.
Ishikawa and Borma, you keep digging into Gohda's background...
...while at the same time investigating the person who attempted to kill the Prime Minister.
Roger.
We're finally acting like ourselves again,
but I can't say that I understand these guys at all.
The Individual Eleven...
The complaints in the other seven cases were all the same old "free the refugees" stuff,
but I don't see anything linking 'em.
Aside from that logo written the letters claiming responsibility, there's no common factor, either.
If this is following the same pattern as the Laughing Man case,
that would make the copycats' original that bunch...
...that holed themselves up in the Chinese Embassy, wouldn't it?
Well, they were the first ones to call themselves the Individual Eleven...
Yeah, but none of the others have called themselves that.
Even with us, the only reason we know how to read that logo...
...is that we stumbled across a thinker's essays in the course of investigating the damn thing.
In a standalone-type crime,
the intermediary who provides the motivation isn't necessarily the original, remember?
Yeah, you're right.
I get more of a sense of originality from the bunch that's using this logo, though.
Nasty! What the hell? This is food for cyborgs!
Relax, it won't kill ya.
It's made of 90% gluten, plus a dash of amino acid based micromachines.
Hey. Any luck?
Nothing. He hasn't gone home to his apartment in over four days.
I'll try staking out the newspaper building.
Right.
Looks like we got a late start. Even hot tips are useless when they go past their best-by date.
What now, Major? Want us to maintain our stakeout?
Taking him into custody is our top priority, so all we can do is play the odds.
The Nanyou Shimbun Press is still receiving threats,
and he'd been showing up to work at the restaurant until yesterday.
We're not exactly taking an active role here, though.
I've sent out reinforcements to cover our bets.
Our stakeout isn't gonna get any more efficient with just three Tachikomas.
Don't be like that, Togusa buddy!
We can maintain our individuality even while we're synchronized now,
and we've even had agent functions installed!
Boo-yah!
It's kinda like we're able to do that "astral projection" thing now.
This way, we can go off and constantly absorb data...
... while our bodies stay in place at the scene!
We call it a "data smörgåsbord"!
That's enough chatter!
Batou, increase the IR-System's search functions...
... and actively track down Kawashima and take him into custody.
Roger.
Smörgåsbord! Smörgåsbord!
When the heck did the Major upgrade those guys?
You have to admit, we have been shorthanded lately.
Gosh, there's no sign of this guy anywhere.
You'd think that you'd be able to track somebody down for sure...
... if they tried to swap into a PKF-use prosthetic body.
Maybe he's not in the country anymore.
Almost makes you doubt the CIS' information manipulation, doesn't it?
Major, I found something interesting on a local net.
It's Gohda's senior thesis from when he was a student.
"Given that Cyberbrains Govern Socialization,"
"Which do they Favor? Individuality or Collectivity?"
"A Theory of Heroism from the Standpoint of a Producer."
What he writes in it is surprisingly interesting.
Like he writes in the title, he suggests that in our current social structure,
there's a tendency for cyberbrains to instill a subconscious desire for collectivity...
...at the same time that they eliminate individuality.
But in response to this, they create a leader as part of the system...
...who consciously controls the subconscious of the masses.
Almost sounds like he'd analyzed the Laughing Man incident, doesn't it?
Yeah. But judging from the date on it,
this thing was written a long time before the Laughing Man incident.
After that, he studied Information Science, Information Ethics, and Applied Informatics,
and then got a job at a private company for a while.
Private company?
A mega-multinational that's known to everybody now...
...for their prosthetic body technology and micromachine fabrication.
Poseidon Industrial.
Back then, they were Greater Japan Technical Research.
Take the superhighway and head for Hakata.
Understood, sir.
It's me.
Sorry, Aramaki, but I won't be able to get away for long.
When will you get here?
Right on time. Why?
Oh, really? In that case, how about that one restaurant?
We shouldn't meet anywhere too public, after all.
That's all right with me.
Okay. I'll meet you there, then.
Man, that looks good...
I've hardly been home at all lately.
Do you even know what that is?
Eel, yeah? Even I know that much.
Guess again. That's a mock eel dish that's made out of gluten and shiitake mushrooms.
Taiwanese vegetarian cooking.
What they call Su Shi is a special, time-honored cooking style...
...that was independently developed by Buddhist priests.
It's like Buddhist vegan cooking?
Yeah, sorta.
Unlike Japanese Buddhist vegan cuisine, though, it doesn't cook its ingredients as-is.
It plays around with beans and mushrooms to duplicate meat and fish.
It's pretty much the same as that sandwich that you didn't finish eating.
Are you serious?
But why would those Taiwanese priests have come up with such an elaborate cooking style?
If they never knew what meat tasted like, there wouldn't be any need for it, right?
True enough.
But before people join the priesthood, they can eat whatever they want.
You can meditate all you want, but you're never gonna be able to erase those memories.
I guess that makes sense.
Still, you sure seem to know a lot about this.
Don't tell me that you get nostalgic for the taste of the real thing, too, Big Man.
The brain has cravings for food, even when you're a cyborg.
That's exactly why they make novelty food for cyborgs.
Taste as a playback device for past memories, huh?
Where would this Kawashima guy have learned how to make this stuff?
He probably picked it up while he was stationed in Taiwan.
Keep your eyes peeled, you guys.
Yes sir!
What's up?
Our theme tonight is "The Refugee Issue and Terrorism."
I'd like to review your argument again and see if I have it straight.
Are you saying that you believe the government's carelessness...
... in losing sight of its policy objectives has given rise to individualists,
and that extremist elements have appeared who are looking to a restoration as the answer?
You've got it all wrong.
They haven't come forward because this administration is weak.
Defense-minded assemblymen were mulling over the New U.S.-Japan Security Treaty...
...long before the present administration took office.
They were thinking that they could take the initiative from America.
That means that the individualists were already present while that was going on.
On the contrary, the thing that provoked the individualists...
... is the three million refugees that are eating up our tax money!
They were thinking, "It's time for this country to finally stand up...
Dobashi
"...and do something about those people!"
Now this is interesting.
If that's true, we never should have taken them in in the first place.
Talk like that will ruin your career.
But do you have any idea how big an increase in our tax rate...
... the Refugee Action Policy caused after that?
And that tax money is vanishing into the darkness under the pretext of the Refugee Action Policy.
Is anyone there?
I have no idea why the ruling party doesn't abandon...
Bring me a disk with the recording of the debate show that's on channel 3-3 right now.
... that action policy that's nothing more than a facilitator for criminal activity.
Understood.
And keep on recording it, of course.
It's no surprise.
Listen, if the refugees are ever suddenly provoked by something,
that is when they will truly go out of control.
What's commonly referred to as suicide bombings...
... is a weapon of last resort used when people lose the last shred of hope for their future.
That's why it's vital that we encourage them to support themselves economically.
Give them freedom under the guise of liberation.
What in the world are you saying?
The refugees won't be able to solve their own problems...
... just by granting them freedom, and you know it!
Tachikoma. Run a match on that van's plates.
Roger that!
Now that we've gone over the particulars of the various terrorist acts,
Fumiya Dobashi
why don't we begin discussing concrete examples?
Wait a minute...
Mr. Dobashi, what's this terrorist incident that you say...
His name was on that...
... the National Police Agency is trying to cover up?
I believe that everyone here knows of the incident itself.
You're aware that since the takeover of the Chinese Embassy,
there have been roughly eight terrorist incidents, I take it?
You mean the stabbings of that cyberbrain musician...
... and the politician who supported a policy of reconciliation towards the refugees?
Yes, that's right.
There is one fact regarding those incidents that the National Police Agency...
... has made no mention of in their press releases.
Stop stringing us along! Hurry up and tell us!
Have you ever seen this logo?
Looks like it's regular van that's registered to a retail chain.
Oh, it is?
This logo is the one thing in common on all of the letters...
... sent in as claims of responsibility for the crimes.
I haven't heard anything about that.
How the hell does he know that?
Neither have I. Who's your source?
How's it going? You leaving all the lookout work to the Tachikoma?
Well, that's a trade secret.
No, I...
That's not very convincing, then.
Here.
In that case, you might be a little surprised when you learn how this logo is read.
Is this any time for us to be eating that stuff?
Now what's your problem? This is the real thing.
That's not what I meant!
This guy here... I think he's a member of a reporter group that I met with earlier,
The proper reading for this logo is "The Individual Eleven."
While that name is taken from the title of an essay written some fifty years ago,
and he knows top-secret information about the Individual Eleven case.
The groups behind these incidents who use this name...
... are individual groups that have appeared without any ties with one another,
and are all motivated by the goal of refugee liberation.
Individualists whose first appearance coincided with...
What the hell is this guy saying?
... the GSDA helicopters circling in the skies above the refugee town.
These groups are motivated agents who are genuinely trying to liberate the refugees.
I hadn't thought of this method of infection...
Yes, sir.
I hate to interrupt, but we have to take a commercial break.
We can't tarnish the good name of the police, so I thought...
...this would make a good incendiary device.
I suppose it is. By the way, what's being done about the carriers...
...in the Nanyou case and the attempted assassination of the Prime Minister?
Sir. Regarding the Nanyou carrier, we're already manipulating Public Security Section 1,
so I believe we'll be able to affect a purge soon.
As for the carrier who tried to kill the Prime Minister,
we believe he may be someone who went to the peninsula as part of a PKF.
His name is Hideo Kuze.
We arrived at this answer by working backwards through the infection agents,
so he is probably our man.
So, it's you, Kuze?
About that man, Gohda...
I've asked people who worked with him at the Defense Policy Bureau,
but there weren't many people who remembered him.
Even those who did could only remember that he wasn't very memorable.
But I did find the records of his psychoanalysis testing from when he was employed there.
Introverted, but has a strong sense of self and desire to court publicity.
On the contrary, has tendency to use others to express himself.
That presents a somewhat different picture from the man he is now.
What's the matter? Aren't you going to eat?
It tastes the same as it did in the old days.
The same as the old days, huh?
And about that SDA officer named Kawashima that you asked me about a while ago...
I also had some inquiries about him from Public Security Section 1.
They came to us and asked for his facial data because a hitman named Wong Chu Ren...
...had taken Kawashima's face and was hiding out in Chinatown.
Why didn't you tell me that earlier?!
I just assumed that they'd already contacted you about it.
Major!
It's strange that Section 1 would also be involved in this in addition to the Nanyou case.
Hurry up and get word to Batou and the others.
I'm already on it.
Wong Chu Ren?
The guy's an international terrorist from Taiwan.
The top brass have issued a termination order on him,
but I've never heard anything about him changing faces.
So, are we being played, or is Section 1?
Either way, the timing of this is awfully fishy.
Tachikoma! Just to be safe, secure the guys in that truck from earlier.
Mr. Batou! The subject just appeared in alley behind the restaurant!
Wha...?
This country is too luxurious for refugees to live in.
But it's not affluent enough to be able to take in any refugees.
Wong Chu Ren, I presume?
Keep 'em pinned down!
Roger!
Put down your guns!
Kawashima!
Who the hell are you people?
On the ground!
I'm sorry...
The alley was too narrow for me to act as a shield for him.
You guys must be Section 1.
Who are you?
We're in the same line of work.
Take a good look at his face.
He's got prosthetics, but his face ain't one of 'em.
In other words, this guy ain't Wong Chu Ren.
What's going on here? The intel we had at Section 1 was solid.
You guys work with Motoko...
This means you guys just got played. Just like we did.
Finding out a galaxy...
...of planets and stars within me...
Listening to each of them...
...singing the same silent melody...
I've never seen such beauty...
In possibility...
No speck of doubt or fear...
Wake up!
I hear a voice,
hear a voice calling out to me...
I see inside,
see the light now ever holding me...
All the truth, all I need...
...to make of this reality, it's inside...
The beauty within the shell...
I hear a voice,
hear a voice calling out to me...
I see inside,
see the light now ever holding me...
All the truth, all I need...
...to make of this reality, it's inside...
Right here within the shell...