After watching Endless Gig last night, I felt I needed somewhere to discuss the series and found your excellent forum.
After reading some posts I've re-watched the last 2 episodes,and here are my thoughts,feel free to disagree,it you want
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It seemed to me that the writers were trying to put a SAC spin on the first Ghost in the Shell movie.
The Gouda exercution scene,in the movie you had a hotshot programmer trying to defect to America and is taken out by the Major,and in Sac you had Gouda doing the same thing.The animation of the head shots was handled very similarly,and also the american body guards were carrying what looked to be the same brief-case Uzies.When Motoko jumps through the window,it is also very reminiscent of the signiture scene from GITS(the background is almost identical).
Kuze plan to upload the ghosts of himself and the refugees to the net,and talking about taking the next evolutionary step.That was like the converstaion between the Puppet Master and Motoko where the same idea was discussed. The only explanation of the significance of the apple that jives with me,is that it IS a reference to Adam and Eve.It was Motoko that gave the apple to Kuze,and perhaps the symbolizm of Batoh and the cross shaped girder was trying to give a biblical context to the scene.
I like to think that both Kuze and the tachikomas both did escape to the Net.It certainly looked like the tachikomas where linked to the space that they where reserving for the Major.
Does anybody know if there's any spirital conection with cranes in Japanese folklore? Could shed some light on whether Kuze survives,considering the scene fades to white and focuses on the origami crane.
Am I right in saying that Isakawa,had the real pultonium,and what Batoh had was fake? If so was he taking it to the UN inspectors?
One last thing,who was Batoh alluding to when he commented to Motoko about her zoneing out,and he said "Sounds like somebody elses problem"
(maybe a nod to his alternate self from Innocence?or perhaps the Major from the first movie?).