Elmo wrote:
The reason i'm not sure on batou's alliegences in that incident is that in the translation i saw, Ishikawa gets information from the CIA database that says Batou was 'a part of' operation sunset.
It's been awhile, since I saw that episode, but as far as I can remember, in the subs on my DVD, Ishikawa simply says, that CIA has a file on Batou. It wouldn't be difficult to believe, that they had files on everyone, who was in close contact with the Operation.
This is largely speculation, but it seemed to me, that Batou's team was sent with some sort of understanding with the American Empire to wipe out the Operation Sunset team and thus keep the AE's hands clean of the mess.
Also Batou talks about himself as being in the group when he details the operation to Togusa in the car saying 'we' instead of 'they' when describing what happened.
I understood it the way, that "we" meant his team and their team and perhaps all the soldiers in the area. It also works as a suspenser - it makes Batou's role ambiguous and it seemed to me, that it was supposed to be questioned at the beginning of the episode, just what Batou actually did in South-America, but by the end of the episode he should be revealed as innocent to those killings.
...I prefer it that way round anyway because it echos a similar situation in Batous past from the manga.
Well, in the first season there is a scene, where Major threatens to use the "dentist" torture on an enemy fighter - though we don't actually see, if she acts on her threat. And during the 2nd Gig Batou suggests just taking Kuze's head with his knife and Major comments that he's "quite a sadist". They still aren't all that pure and innocent people, but I do think that neither Batou or Major would intentionally harm defenseless civilians, much less children.
They seemed a bit too much like caricatures for my liking. The CIA representatives could have been sinister like ghouda was (different series I know) but instead they come off like absurd clowns.
Curiously enough, they didn't seem like Japanese caricatures of Americans. Instead, they looked like American caricatyres of Japanese. Their names, too, sounded like Japanese versions of John Smith. Also, they didn't seem so much like clowns as people playing part of the clowns. Perhaps they were supposed to give an impression of harmlessness, while on duty?
