2nd GIG Episode: Poker Face

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douyang
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2nd GIG Episode: Poker Face

Post by douyang »

I really liked Poker Face, so I was wondering if people wanted a thread to talk about this episode. More specifically, I want to hear people's opinions as to what it's supposed to show us about the main players of the show, especially Saito and who he was back then, who he is now, and how his run-in with the major led him to where he is today.
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Motoko2030
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Post by Motoko2030 »

Spoiler

If you haven't seen this episode, don't read what I have listed below.











I also liked this episode getting a glimpse of Saito's and Motoko's past. It is set about 10 years before the first episode of SAC, so we know that Section 9 was formed after the incident between Saito and Motoko. I liked to see Ishikawa and Batou back then and Baou getting advice about his new commanding officer from Ishikawa.

What did everyone think of the business suit that Motoko at the beginning of the episode instead of her military uniform that she normally wears, in my opinion that business suit did not suit her even if it was for a very short period of time.
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Post by Jigabachi »

probably one of my favorite episode.

Does anyone know the song when Saitou start telling his story from beginning?
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douyang
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Post by douyang »

The business suit was weird. It just didn't seem her. But I could understand why they wanted to keep her identity ambiguous, with all the cameras.
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Lightice
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Post by Lightice »

The business suit does indeed seem rather ill-fitting. One possible explanation I can think of is, that she is making herself pass off as an ordinary bodyguard - the obvious presence of an SDF major would give a very different impression both to the media and the diplomatic guest of the nature of the discussion. Also, if she had worn her stylish jacket suit, she would have given an impression of a personal assistant, rather than a bodyguard and made Kayabuki look less important.
In the field of diplomacy, little details like this do seem to matter.

One curious thing I see in the flashbacks is, that Batou already has his fake eyes, although he's clearly first time in the field. Only the Rangers of Section 4 have eyes like that, so he must have at least passed the training as one of them. But if that is the case, then why he is with the UN's special forces team? Was he borrowed to give him some experience, or something?

Also, Major gets called Major, although it doesn't seem, that she'd hold that military rank, yet. Also, it's strange that Ishikawa doesn't seem to know her name - even a fake one. You would imagine, that teammates would be introduced to each other. But she recruits Saito to her group like it would be the most natural thing to do with an enemy fighter. That implies that she already holds at least some power either in the military even in the national level.

That episode gave lots of questions, although it was nice to see what the Section 9 people were ten years ago.
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Motoko2030
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Post by Motoko2030 »

Yes, I was wondering about Batou's fake eyes since as you said, only Rangers of Section 4 have them, didn't Batou have his fake eyes in the flashbacks in the Jungle Cruise episode, could the events that happened in the flashbacks of this episode be set after Project Sunset?

Maybe Ishikawa calling her Major was some codename given to her since she is a professional on the battlefield.

The control software that Saito was trying to stop Motoko from downloading, I know it was to make Motoko's rifle into a medium range semi-automatic but was the control software being downloaded into the rifle or in the Major, I know to people that this might seem to be a silly question, but I wanted to ask it?
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Lightice
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Post by Lightice »

Motoko2030 wrote:Yes, I was wondering about Batou's fake eyes since as you said, only Rangers of Section 4 have them, didn't Batou have his fake eyes in the flashbacks in the Jungle Cruise episode, could the events that happened in the flashbacks of this episode be set after Project Sunset?


To me Batou seems to act like a complete newbie in a battlefield. He just stands looking stupid and saying Major and Ishikawa are efficent, when he and his teammates are being shot at. I'm all but certain that this was before the Project Sunset, which most likely made him more battle-hardened and cynical.
Maybe Ishikawa calling her Major was some codename given to her since she is a professional on the battlefield.


He seemed to use the word Major more like a nickname, than a military code. Also, it wouldn't be a very good codename, to be mistaken with a rank...
was the control software being downloaded into the rifle or in the Major, I know to people that this might seem to be a silly question, but I wanted to ask it?


Since it's the shooter who does the aiming, not the gun, I presume that the soft was being downloaded into Major. This was another odd thing, though - why would she skip an important part of combat programming like that, until the very last minute. Downloads like that should be done before setting into a mission. It was implied, though, that she wasn't downloading anything, but bluffing Saito into believing she was, but still, it's odd for Saito to assume such thing, in any case.
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miki-chan
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Post by miki-chan »

It's interesting that this is the only ep besides "Missing Hearts" where the English language production has characters using anything besides mainstream American accents. I just about fell on the floor when I heard them call that one guy "Pickles." The first time I heard it, I thought they said "Biggles"! (When he's got the antlers on, he's not dictating?)
Yes, very boring suit for Motoko, but at least we get to see a young Batou with his seksi crewcut, and Saito with a halfway decent shirt...
To me Batou seems to act like a complete newbie in a battlefield. He just stands looking stupid and saying Major and Ishikawa are efficent, when he and his teammates are being shot at. I'm all but certain that this was before the Project Sunset, which most likely made him more battle-hardened and cynical.
Makes sense, since the face-off with Saito supposedly takes place in 2020, and if memory serves, that Marco guy was discharged in the mid-twenties.
He seemed to use the word Major more like a nickname, than a military code. Also, it wouldn't be a very good codename, to be mistaken with a rank...
I kinda liked "Queen Kong" myself... :lol:
Does anyone know the song when Saitou start telling his story from beginning?
Yet another reason they seriously need to release another disc of music from this series!
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Lightice
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Post by Lightice »

miki-chan wrote: I kinda liked "Queen Kong" myself... :lol:


That's what he says in the dub? I prefer she-gorilla. A bit more fitting for the situation, IMO.
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Post by cowboyfunk22 »

Lightice wrote: Since it's the shooter who does the aiming, not the gun, I presume that the soft was being downloaded into Major. This was another odd thing, though - why would she skip an important part of combat programming like that, until the very last minute. Downloads like that should be done before setting into a mission. It was implied, though, that she wasn't downloading anything, but bluffing Saito into believing she was, but still, it's odd for Saito to assume such thing, in any case.
Seemed odd she wouldn't have it. Im assuming it might be different for every type of weapon, and perhaps other significant factors. So it either was for a weapon she doesn't typically use and thus never downloaded. Or, if its as program that can let you shoot a bullet out of mid air, it might depend on wind conditions and a whole bunch of other factors im not aware of cause im not a sniper or a physics major. But that would mean there are alot of programs out there, and downloading them all wouldn't be necessary when you could download them on the fly when you needed them (during mission briefing or something). Thats what went through my mind.
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Black Mamba
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Post by Black Mamba »

I really liked this episode and, for once, I actually understood everything :shock:. Very entertaining.

I think I remember a few bleebs and stuff like the characters where swearing. I think this may be a first (not sure), it'll be weird to hear it uncensored on DVD.
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Post by Motoko2030 »

Maybe she already had the control program already downloaded and she shot out the jamming device to make Saito believe that she is currently downloading the control program, which would have given him an advantage but he should have realized that she was bluffing Saito.

I heard that some of today's high tech weapons have firmware updates to enhance and unlock new features that are within the hardware specifications, could it be that the firmware of the Section 9's weapons can be updated to enhance the range of the firing range.
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douyang
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Post by douyang »

Lightice wrote:
That episode gave lots of questions, although it was nice to see what the Section 9 people were ten years ago.
For me it didn't explain enough about them. For example, why did any of them even join the military to begin with? Where were the major and Ishikawa before being selected for that mission?

Why did Saito get involved with a war his government chooses to sit out? He says something vague about being sick of watching the nasty situation and not doing anything, but that doesn't really answer my question as to why he personally decided to hire himself out as a Merc against the American imperialists. For that matter, why are the major, Ishikawa, and Batou fighting for the opposite side? Just because their government ordered them to?

How the hell did the major ever become such a brilliant soldier to begin with? We see her as a tactical genius in the regular storyline and a tactical genius back then, but we have no idea where she learned her stuff. What was her previous military experience? For me, it would have been more gratifying if she were shown less experienced and making mistakes and going through a learning process.

I like the episode, but I was expecting more on who Saito and the major were and explanations of their backgrounds, instead we have a brief blurb describing why Saito joined the fight and claiming he was "a different man back then" without really showing what kind of man he was or how he has changed. We even have Ishikawa saying that the major is mystery even to him, even though he's been working with her for longer than anyone else we know of. I'd also like to know more about the relationship between Aramaki and Kusanagi and whether they even knew eachother 10 years ago.

I was hoping for more character development, but the episode is really more like a side story that occured in the past.

And why do the writers apparently have something against Americans? The American commanding their unit is described as a bigot and seen to be generally inept.
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Post by Motoko2030 »

I too wanted to know more about their pasts in the 2020s and before that, since the news of what the new Ghost in the Shell anime is about is going to be announced in the Tokyo International Anime Fair then we might get more of a chance to see about the history of the characters if Production IG and Bandai Visual decide to do another season of SAC.
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Post by marto_motoko »

Lightice wrote:
miki-chan wrote: I kinda liked "Queen Kong" myself... :lol:


That's what he says in the dub? I prefer she-gorilla. A bit more fitting for the situation, IMO.
:lol: That, or She-hulk. They both seem to fit her well!

As for the episode, someone asked earlier, but I didn't get a chance to see the answer - What was the name of the song that played when Saito began telling the story? It also played at the end, when one of the rookies was giving Saito the 'your story is bullshit' speech.
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