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Comment by cheschire | Hacker News Reader

One of my favorite little nuances in the original GITS anime is a scene in the middle that immerses the viewer in the world. This video[0] goes into detail about this and how it relates to aspect-to-aspect transitions in comics.

Comparing this element alone with the nature of the 2017 Hollywood film really has helped me identify so many other similar events in media where I previously would have struggled to pinpoint why I felt certain responses to something I watched.

The most recent example being the comparison of the pacing of The Mandalorian with The Rise of Skywalker.

0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXTnl1FVFBw

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One of the strongest elements in that scene regarding the concept of 'identity' is completely missed by that video: Kusanagi briefly sees someone in an office building that looks exactly like her. It's a great nod to the book, which briefly explains that her face is made to look like a cheap factory-line model, belying the astronomically expensive military grade hardware she's made of. Nothing better than having a bunch of people look exactly like you to make you believe in dualism, if only as a straw for your identity to hand on to.

In the Stand Alone Complex timeline, Kusanagi is literally several different people throughout the story. She assimilates memories from a few different sources (the tank in episode 2, the Laughing Man, and Kuze, Puppetmaster in the SAC:SSS movie). It's implied (and made explicit in other GitS timelines) that the only reason she is able to do this and maintain her sense of self is because she was "cyberized" as a young child and had to figure out the answer to the question "who is Motoko Kusanagi?" independently of her physical form.

She even has a line towards the end of the SAC:SSS movie that says something like "next time you meet me I might be a completely different person". But there is indeed a "base" personality that she tries to hold on to (e.g. via her watch) despite the wide range of memories she acquires.

The second manga explores this in detail as well.

He did mention at the beginning he could almost do an hour video just breaking down scene by scene. I think he kept on target even in the face of numerous enticing rabbit holes.

looking at the video today on how its portrayal of Hong Kong's struggle with it's identity and existence is somewhat surreal because the Hong Kong protesters in gasmask gives me an eerie cyberpunk vibes

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