Public Security Section 9
| Public Security Section 9 | |
|---|---|
|
Operatives of Public Security Section 9 by 2nd GIG series | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher |
Kodansha (Japan), Dark Horse Comics (US) |
| First appearance | Ghost in the Shell manga |
| Created by | Masamune Shirow |
| In-story information | |
| Type of organization |
|
| Base(s) | National Public Safety Commission, Japan |
| Leader(s) | Daisuke Aramaki |
| Agent(s) |
|
Public Security Section 9 (Japanese: 公安9課 Hepburn: Kōan Kyūka) is a fictional intelligence department from Masamune Shirow's Ghost in the Shell manga and anime series. In the story, its jurisdiction exists under the Ministry of Internal Affairs.[1] In some translations, the name is given as Public Safety Section 9. In the original film, it is known as the Shell Squad or Security Police Section 9.[2]
The Section-9 spec-ops team is composed of former military officers and police detectives. Its operatives are trained in various methods ranging from criminal investigation and cyberwarfare to counter-terrorism and special operations, as their structure was based on the German GSG-9.[3] They had cross-training exercises in the past with the British SAS's 22nd Regiment.[4]
History
Public Security Section 9 was established as a search and rescue organization.[1] Officially billed as an international organization, it is actually a counter-terrorist network and anti-crime unit operating in the Japanese National Public Safety Commission. Its operatives are allowed to act with or without government consent as they are almost unknown to the public eye.[5] In particular, Section 9 and its members are among the best cyber warfare operatives in the country, and as a result usually end up involved in cases relating to the Internet, such as hacking and cyberterrorism.[5]
Ghost in the Shell
Major Motoko Kusanagi was dispatched by Section 9 to spy on a building in New Port City. A foreign power is conspiring to recruit a domestic engineer to fix the Project 2501 "bug". The team moves in while Major activates her therm-optic camouflage. The foreign official refuses to return the engineer, while Kusanagi moves in and kills him.
Stand Alone Complex
During the investigation of the Laughing Man case, Major Kusanagi posed as the Laughing Man in order to uncover a conspiracy held against Serano Genomics, a (Micro Machine) nanotechnology company by the Japanese government. After higher-ranking government officials uncovered information about the investigation conducted by Section 9, the government disbanded the agency and declared war on them.[1]
In preparation for an attack on their headquarters by the Umibozu's shock troopers and their Type 303 Armed Suit robots, all remaining Section 9 members barricaded themselves into the building and fought the invaders with all the heavy weaponry they could muster.[1] Failing that, they assembled a diversion and escaped through a passage located in the sewers of New Port City. They are all eventually captured, with the Major apparently killed.
Togusa spent the next three months wondering what happened to the rest, before suddenly meeting up with Batou. The whole thing turned out to be one of Aramaki's brilliant plans, sacrificing Section 9 in order to leave the prime suspect wide-open to arrest, investigation and prosecution.[6] Everyone, including the Major, is perfectly fine, and Aramaki is in the process of rebuilding and securing funding for the newly-reborn Section 9, which does not happen until 2nd GIG.
2nd GIG
The 2nd season starts with Section 9 still not existing in an official capacity because of an amendment to the Special Forces Bill. The first episode involves a hostage situation in which eleven terrorists, who call themselves the Individual Eleven, hold up the Chinese Embassy demanding a swift change in the Refugee Action Policy. In other words, they demand the freedom of the refugees from the stand point that refugees drain the country. The previous PM of Japan issued a temporary bill that allowed for the entrance of refugees into certain zones, but the bill was never repealed. Because the new PM, Kayabuki, planned to repeal the policy soon, she had to act quickly on the terrorists before their demands became known in order to make sure it didn't seem like she was caving in to terrorist pressure.
Section 9 is promised full reestablishment, and the approval of their new budget proposal that includes the reinstatement of think tanks (Tachikomas), on the condition that there are no hostage casualties in the process of stopping the terrorists before the press blackout runs out. From this point on the 2nd season goes on to focus on the refugee issue from multiple perspectives, along with providing missing background information on almost all of the characters.
A new group is involved in this season, The Individual Eleven. This group first appears in the first episode as a group of Individual Eleven "copycats" take hostages in the Chinese Embassy. Later in the series it is revealed that the Individual Eleven's true intentions were to harm the wellbeing of refugees that had taken shelter in Japan at the end of World War IV. However, this group ends themselves in a crossfire between members. Only one survives, Hideo Kuze, who then sides with the refugees and puzzles Section 9 as to his motives.
Solid State Society
Section 9 has been radically reformed after the Major leaves in order to pursue investigations of her own. The section has increased in size, and is now run by Togusa, because Batou declined the position. Solid State Society starts off by focusing on the cyberbrain suicides of members of a terrorist organization that gained asylum in Japan. This case leads into the finding that around twenty thousand children may have been abducted. The mastermind behind the crimes is known as "The Puppeteer," and is classified as a Super Wizard Class Hacker.
Arise
Arise is an alternate universe telling of the formation of Section 9. Major Kusanagi, an ex-army hacker, is recruited by Aramaki and charged with putting together a team to deal with high level hacking threats. Over the course of the series while pursuing her own personal investigation she encounters often for the first time and works with (sometimes double crossed by) all of the original team members. At the end of the series she offers them positions on her team. A notable change is that Togusa is involved from the beginning rather than being recruited some time after the teams' formation.
Location
Public Security Section 9 is located in the fictional Japanese city of Niihama-shi (also known as New Port City). The exact location of Section 9's headquarters is held as top-secret and is only known by the Japanese government and Section 9 employees. Their building is known to the public as a false security company.[3]
Section 9 Headquarters facilities include a rooftop helipad, underground car park, Operator-managed control room, cyber-warfare and information gathering room, holding cells, meeting rooms and Tachikoma/Fuchikoma/Uchikoma workshop.
Members
| Agent | Speciality | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Daisuke Aramaki | Lieutenant Colonel/Section Chief | Head of Section 9 and advisor to Prime Minister Yoko Kayabuki. He and two other friends he served with under Colonel Tonouda were known as the Tonouda Three. Aramaki also has a brother that he has not seen in years. |
| Motoko Kusanagi | Major/Field Commander | Female cybernetic counter-cyberterrorist field commander and squad leader. She is a highly skilled melee fighter and one of the world's most skilled hackers and net divers. She is also the tactical leader of Section 9. When describing her, the Chief said her abilities are rarer than ESP. She has a lot of military connections, and is the kind of person that sections of the government hire to assassinate without leaving a trace. She can control two remote prosthetic bodies at once. |
| Ishikawa | Covert Intelligence and Technology/Executive Officer | Ishikawa is the covert intelligence and technology specialist.[7] Like Togusa and Saito, he has a low prosthetic percentage. Ishikawa is a master at recognizing data manipulation, along with being highly skilled at hacking in general. |
| Batou | Lead Investigator/Point man | Batou is an ex-Ranger. Although not officially stated, he seems to jointly hold the position of 3rd in command with Ishikawa. He served in the military with Motoko and Ishikawa (under both of them), and has cybernetic eyes that are used by Rangers, improved strength from cybernetic arms, legs, and also contains other unlisted parts (these parts are not stated, but they can be implied). He primarily does field work with Togusa, and takes point for the Major on serious occasions. |
| Togusa | Investigator/2nd Field Commander | Togusa is mostly human, having only cybernetic memory upgrades and other small brain implants. He is also the only member of Section 9 to not have military experience, having only served as a civilian police officer in the past. To Section 9, Togusa is a reminder to them all of true humanity, because he is the most like a normal person compared to the rest of Section 9. He has a family, and strong moral beliefs that visibly get in his way. He primarily does work with Batou, but also investigates on his own at times. Togusa often plays the role of the idealist in Ghost in the Shell, and could easily be said to be the least likely to win in a fight against anyone else in Section 9. |
| Maven | R&D/Combat specialist | Female cybernetic combat specialist who proved herself to be a lethal operative during the conflicts in South America. She has a fiery temper and the skills to match. She worked with the Kodansu Corporation during WWIV where she served in R&D and field testing of technologies. She spearheaded the development of the therm-optic barrier to aid in the evacuation of refugees during the Bolivia Crisis.[8] |
| Pazu | Investigator | Before joining the Public Security Commission, Pazu was rumored to have been involved with several yakuza gangs.[5] He usually teams up with Borma. Pazu seems like a superficial character, but it is later revealed that there is more to him. He is the kind of person that says "I never sleep with the same woman twice," but his basis for such is later found to be that he does not want to pull others into the world he lives in. |
| Borma | Spotter, Investigator, and demolition specialist | Borma usually handles rear support for the rest of the unit[7] and handles heavy weaponry during assignments. Borma does field work with Pazu, and information gathering with Ishikawa. Borma's character easily gets the least attention of any member of Section 9. |
| Saito | Tactical Sniper specialist | Saito is Section 9's primary tactical sniper, and also a class A super sniper, known to have been a mercenary in the South American campaign. Saito possesses a long-range cybernetic eye called a Hawkeye that can be used for extreme accuracy by making use of satellite linked imaging data. Saito was recruited by the Major while they were on opposing sides. Saito has the second lowest prosthetic percentage in Section 9, but later starts getting new parts due to the requirements of his line of work. |
| Azuma | Recruit/Field Agent[9] | One of Section 9's newly recruited field operatives from JGSDF intelligence. He was advised to the chief through a friend. |
| Yano | Recruit/Field Agent | One of Section 9's newly recruited rookie and field operatives alongside Azuma. |
| Tech Specialists | Tachikoma Maintenance/technological forensics and observation | In charge of Tachikoma maintenance and overall oversight of them. They also provide forensic data, and overall observations on technology. |
AI Personnel
| Unit | Specialty | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Fuchikoma | Think Tanks | A 1-man tank (walker/roller) used by members of Section 9 of the National Public Safety Commission in Masamune Shirow's manga Ghost in the Shell. They have four legs and two simple hands with three fingers on extensible arms which double as machine guns. Additional armament consists of either a grenade launcher or heavy machine gun mounted in the tanks "mouth" under its large optical sensor. They possess a simple artificial intelligence and can act independently to support their user in combat. When not in use, they exhibit a childlike personality and provide much of the humor in the series, while also being used to elaborate on Shirow's philosophy and ideas. Fuchikomas were replaced with Tachikomas in the Stand Alone Complex anime due to copyright problems.[5] |
| Tachikoma | Think Tanks | These experimental tanks are used during combat missions and are equipped with a 7.62×51mm light machine gun built into the right arm and an optional 50mm grenade launcher or 12.7mm rotary cannon mounted on a central hardpoint. They can be ridden in like a vehicle and controlled from inside, or remotely through the net. Their systems are universally linked through a central satellite where they develop AI traits similar to young children. |
| Uchikoma | Think Tanks | These tanks are covered with ultra-heavy armor (unlike the Tachikoma units) in the Stand Alone Complex anime, in which they appear at the end of the second season and during the Solid State Society film. Uchikomas never reach a state similar to Tachikomas, because the surroundings that they exist in do not provide the requirements for an advancement from AI to individual. |
| Operators | Operators | Are an advanced line of gynoids designed to handle the day-to-day matters within Section 9. Although they look human, their AI operating systems are not sophisticated enough to process complex logical problems. The Tachikomas demonstrated their own superiority by causing an Operator to experience a crash using the Liar paradox. Operators confirm commands by repeating them back to humans. Operators can act together as a parallel processor network. |
| Proto | Tachikoma's Maintenance Technician /Field Agent in Solid State Society | Proto can also be used as an Operator. It is later discovered that he is in fact an experimental bioroid, and Proto stands for prototype. He holds a higher position than operators and provides a position similar to assistant to the Chief late into 2nd Gig, and also during Solid State Society. |
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Sunset in the Lonely City – ANNIHILATION". Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Season 1. Episode 24. 2003-03-11. Animax.
- ↑ "Midnight Animation's Public Security Section 9 Page". Retrieved 2010-05-08.
- 1 2 "Public Security Bureau Section, Ghost in the Shell -- Japan". Retrieved 2010-05-08.
- ↑ Stand Alone Complex Visual Book 1, page 14.
- 1 2 3 4 Phil Higgins (2005). "Ghost in the Shell - Characters". Retrieved 2010-05-08.
- ↑ "Public Security Section 9, Once Again – STAND ALONE COMPLEX". Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Season 1. Episode 26. 2003-03-25. Animax.
- 1 2 From Bandai Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Limited Edition DVD Pamphlet.
- ↑ Ghost in the Shell: First Assault
- ↑ By Solid State Society movie
Further reading
- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Visual Book (in Japanese). Hobby JAPAN. ISBN 4-89425-341-0.