Original subtitles

DECEMBER 24, 2029 5:26 SOUTHERN HONSHU UNDISCLOSED LOCATION

The Seburo C-25a and 26a.

They're chambered in 6x25 HV ammo and hold 50 rounds each.

When the brass catcher isn't attached to the top,

the spent casings get ejected forward from the top?

These things will probably jam in the field.

How can you say that after I spent months doing firing tests?!

Look at these blisters on my hand!

These aren't fake!

Paint them in matte. Maybe we'll use them if the chance comes up.

Wow, that's amazing!

Hey, stop that! Don't touch Section 1's tank!

Huh, only your brain is operational. No barrier, I see.

You're…

No, I… Wha…

You, me!

You… No, me!

Oh, dear!

The old man wants to see us. Come on.

I feel like I just had a realization of profound significance!

My records of the event are unclear!

It was something incredibly important!

You remember your job as my work clothes, don't you?

To the Fuchikomas, "incredibly important" means "classified as a top-priority item."

DECEMBER 24, 2029

What is it?

W-We are here to demand that natural oil be used in us!

Yeah! Yeah!

Denied.

We're tired of synthetic oil! We hate it, hate it, hate it!

Do you want trouble with ants, mold, and freezing?

Now hush and keep surveilling the subject.

But Mr. Batou puts natural oil in his Fuchikoma!

Batou is such a bonehead.

He said this sendoff would only take two minutes.

Maybe the old man's trying to sell out to their InterCom.

That, or maybe he's fallen for her.

Once the subject is secure in her terrorism-proof pod,

our security mission is over.

Then it's a straight shot by helicopter to their submarine.

Once the Halma plain has become

a city on par with your Kyushu province's capital of Fukuoka,

I will invite you to visit, Comrade Aramaki.

Sadly, I'm not as ageless as you, Methuselah.

Although our exchange produced nothing of real benefit,

which is why it meant something for us.

I will leave you with one thing of real benefit as a parting gift.

If you mean clippings from yesterday's state paper, I have it.

My replacement, Asechinov, was not chosen by the Central Committee.

It was the result of fund manipulation by Gen. Marlov, whom you know well.

That's the first bit of information I didn't already know.

It's sweet of you to lie.

Everyone, assemble at the heliport!

We're going to the Far North!

FAR NORTH: SOMEWHERE ABOVE ITORUBETSU

Koil Krasnov.

Estimated age, 26.

A cyborg that Asechinov sent into the country, huh?

He's a combat cyborg.

He has a titanium prosthetic arm hook that goes all the way up to his shoulder blade.

He's currently en route to Hokkaido on the Tohoku Maglev Express.

The Tohoku Maglev?

Why on earth would he take the train?

Weapons.

He couldn't bring any aboard if he went by plane.

Who did you assign to watch him?

- Yano. - Who's that?

A new guy that Batou sent up from the academy.

Can somebody like that handle this job?

We used to say the exact same thing about you all the time.

So if we're going in with all hands on deck,

this isn't a simple surveillance op.

In the Far North subprefecture, Sagawa Electronics Corporation

is expanding their underground factory in Itorubetsu ward.

Itorubetsu?

Where that Volgarena submarine base used to be?

I heard they used demo charges and buried it when they pulled out.

Public Security has had their eye on Sagawa,

but between their expansion zone reaching an old military base

and an agent entering the country, it's time for us to get involved.

Keep firing!

Stabilize your lower body! Your hips are too high!

You over there! Don't go for style points against a big target like a human!

Like this, brace yourself for the kick!

Batou. The Major says to come to the Far North.

Sweet deal!

I ain't cut out to be an academy instructor!

Damn it, this stupid thing jammed on me!

Dumbass! Instead of complaining, field strip it and clean it!

Itorubetsu is composed of a cluster of gigantic buildings.

It is a megacity that is 4500m high and 11-12km across.

The Far North is an old-school cyber city.

Every data broker here worth their salt is probably

collecting and researching every type of data that exists on this aircraft.

Ishikawa, meet up with Batou and take over Yano's tail.

Okay.

We'll meet up at grid-ref 4722 at 0845 hours.

Farewell, my friends! Nyom!

This Koil guy, what's he here to do?

Not to see the sights, that's for sure.

I'm more curious about

what Sagawa Electronics is hoping to find by digging up a Volgarenan base.

Borma, check out the underground factory with Togusa.

I'll check the main office.

String wires and communicate by direct link.

From here on in, don't use any wireless communication.

BAR

Fuchikoma, whatever you do, don't wander off.

O-Oh my gosh!

A No.1 Yamaton!

You'll never find this anywhere else!

I'll cut you a sweetheart deal and throw in some armor fragments to boot!

Its data is active!

MERCHANT

Anna, this guy is a lookie-loo!

Are you gonna buy it or not?!

Can I trade you this manipulator for it?

Idjit! I'm tryin' ta make a living here! Get lost!

LUBRICANT

He's dead!

Let it go, that thing was hot anyway.

Let's go back to working the red light district.

Huh?

The wire snapped.

That's not good.

Very nice indeed.

You're too kind.

Not you. I meant their optical camouflage.

It must be Kyo-Re 2902 thermal optical camo.

If it can't be picked up by Sagawa Optics cameras,

it means we have some troublesome guests.

So 2902 means Public Security Section 9, Section 6,

or Rangers Section 4.

They report directly to the Prime Minister making them immune to pressure.

The only ones immune to pressure

are the Executives of the union that control the National Council.

"Answers directly to the PM" tends to only be true on paper.

- Move up the timetable. - Yes, sir!

We're in a race against time.

Itorubetsu. Itorubetsu.

The next train has been suspended,

and there is no clear estimate of when service will resume.

Yano…

Koil was in such a rush he didn't even bother to try to shake his tail.

We need to contact the others, or they'll be in trouble.

Let's go straight to the underground factory.

Batou…

This is Batou calling the Chief! Chief!

- Answer me, a-hole! - You idiot!

Why'd you send a total rookie all alone to do this job?

If he'd been working in a two-man cell, Yano'd still be alive!

- You piece of crap! - That's enough!

Yelling at him won't solve anything.

You're the one who sent somebody who couldn't manage a tail solo.

If you feel responsible, instead of taking it out on the old man,

put everything into this investigation!

You got that?

Koil, you bastard. You're a dead man!

- Fuchikoma! - Coming!

Treat the body with respect. I appreciate it.

If he's broken, they should just fix him up!

Batou has sure been on edge lately.

It's a good thing that Togusa didn't chime in.

Die, militarist!

Miss, I can get you some new skin for cheap.

Get lost, pervert.

Hey!

Ma'am?

You remember? It's me.

I hear that the hacker Krolden is still doing his thing in here.

Step right in!

In this world, nobody likes people who are too friendly.

Because I know if I'm not on my best behavior around you,

I'll regret it big-time.

Hey, Krolden!

The lady from the Nemuro landing operation is here to see you!

Where?

Optical camouflage.

I'm standing right next to you, Krolden.

I'm here on business.

Sagawa Electronics, eh?

They're the Yamatons I hate most of all.

After the peace talks ended, they were the first vultures to swoop in.

That said,

we up here don't consider any treaty that includes a military base to be legitimate.

As I recall, on the Japanese side at the time,

the coalition ruling party's tax policy failed,

and there was growing momentum for pushback.

The opposition party was itching for some event to take back power.

Volgarena found themselves lost in a maze of policy coordination

with the European economic block

and was looking to strengthen their ties with Japan.

They also failed to predict how the MAG union would act.

And… I'm in.

I have a direct feed to Sagawa Electronics head of security at the main office.

What can I get you, a Public Security net map? An all-access pass?

You shouldn't have quit your job at the Cabinet Press Agency.

Is that a compliment?

Living in a musty, dirty apartment with dolls that cost more than a supercar,

it's just not healthy.

What would your poor parents say if they found out?

Seeing as how we're friends and all,

why don't we say that this one is on the house?

SAGAWA CONSTRUCTION

A geofront, huh?

Meaning that if we keep going, we're bound to run into Koil.

Togusa and Borma are probably down there, too. Let's go.

Between the dust and the damp, our optical camo will be useless.

Here's hoping that it's the same for the bad guys.

SAGAWA ELECTRONICS

What's up?

My oil is gumming up!

Not again!

What do you people want this time?

You have authorization, I hope?

Are you the site supervisor? Nobody told you?

There's a radiation leak!

Stop what you're doing and have all your men evacuate ASAP!

Hang on, you said "Not again." Who else has come down here?

A pair like yours and a six-man suit squad from the main office.

And a foreign guy who looked like a bureaucrat! Bye, now!

A suit squad from the main office?

We'd better pick up the pace.

Ow! What's your major malfunction, you piece of junk?

My thread brake oil is frozen!

Didn't I tell you to turn on its heater?

Just returning the favor from the other day, "Senpai"!

Togusa?

Meet me at the bottom, Fuchikoma!

Aww!

Gold?

Koil Krasnov!

Son of a… Who the hell was firing just now?!

Hey, are you okay?

Stop where you are, or I'll fire! Koil!

Koil!

You didn't have to kill the guy!

Dead men tell no tales about who they're working for, or give us intel leads.

You're the last person I wanna hear that from.

Borma took care of the last one.

Looks like they were all being puppeted by Koil.

The better question is, what are military Type 24 armored suits doing here?

Just because they make them doesn't mean it's okay to arm themselves with them.

That's the actual military.

Just because they've been brainwashed

doesn't make 'em any more skilled.

Come to think of it, I remember hearing stories about large amounts of gold

flowing out of Volgarena at the turn of the century.

This is part of it?

Meaning that Sagawa Electronics and the military

knew about this gold this whole time?

You'd be better off hacking them from the outside.

I'd get back-hacked.

My expensive body would be left defenseless.

Well, be careful, Ma'am!

I will.

I'm the photographer for the internal company catalog.

I'm here to do a walkthrough. I have a pass.

Please proceed to the president's office.

They keep personnel down to the absolute minimum.

There are folks here living under the machines' noses.

I guess people can't live on talent alone.

So, do I try the information processing room or the records admin room?

No, it would be faster to hack the brain of a C-suite type.

SECURITY

Intruder acting suspiciously detected. Junction 9972.

- Present your identification and pass. - You've got it all wrong, I… Crap.

Why did I even bother getting an all-access pass?

I'm a big ol' dummy.

There's no radiation leak!

If you want to keep your supervisor job,

then patch the detonator circuit to this console!

I want that sector buried…

Freeze! Put your hands on your head!

A robot.

Where's his primary?

Whoa!

He must have been nearby, but did he already get away?

That attack barrier was set up by an old pro.

That's not what the Secrets Preservation Act says you're supposed to do.

What was he in such a hurry to destroy?

There's not much on here, but the encryption is pretty heavy.

"March, '98. Area B sold from M to K."

"May, '98. Area L sold from K to M."

What's all this? Land parcels around the base?

So M and K were swapping land back and forth

to skim their respective public funds?

If "M" is Marlov, then "K" must be…

Your cranium is made of tough stuff.

I'll have to dissect you for further study,

Lieutenant Motoko Kusanagi!

People better than you have tried,

Lt. Col. Sohei Kagasaki, former Chief of Far North Special Operations.

And besides, that's not my rank anymore.

Your intel is out of date.

Everyone refers to me as "Major" now

Impossible! Even the readings from the floor pressure sensors are fading!

I'll be holding on to this disc.

This is plenty to make you an enemy of the state.

Run and hide all you like.

That'll make the game more fun,

and it'll be easy to put you down.

Oh, now I see. She's sticking to the walls.

No, I need to get out of here.

I haven't been back in my primary for so long that it's creaky.

I should've kept it maintained!

Oh, dear.

To think you were hanging out on the wall in that body this whole time.

You're a pretty freaky guy yourself.

I served my country for 20 years up here in the Far North!

I think I deserve at least a little something in return!

Life's a bitch.

I received a notice from Foreign Ministry regarding yesterday's incident.

He says that Asechinov has been recalled to his country.

Despite him only having just taken his post.

Diplomatic recalls look bad for everyone.

What were you doing in the Far North?

There was a cave-in in the geofront.

We stumbled across the gold bars during our search and rescue efforts.

Their premier must have had quite the shock,

those gold bars being returned all of a sudden.

Well, it was their property to begin with.

I expect they'll use it to build a nuclear waste processing plant

or an underground city on the Halma plain.

You really aren't cut out for politics.

I'm a simple public security employee.

And proud of it.

Although Kagasaki also started out as a simple public security employee, too.

His mission was to work at Sagawa Electronics as his cover

to get close to the Volgarena base.

Which is how he raised enough funds to turn

Sagawa Electronics into one tentacle of the Sagawa Group octopus,

through cozy business ties and embezzlement.

They must have learned

that Marlov had been steadily converting those funds into gold.

Their Central Committee didn't like the idea of Marlov getting his hands

on those funds and winning the next election.

Meaning that the Central Committee wanted to use us

to do their dirty work and stop Marlov.

Coincidentally, Yano's bank account seems to be one gold ingot larger.

Oh, I was going to file that as "bereavement money" from Koil.

That's fine, then.

Feel free to leave that out of your report.

It's been 20 minutes since Batou went to pay his respects to Yano's family.

Go pick him up.

I don't know what to say to him.

Me neither.

I don't know why he came to train at the Blood Pond.

A grave like this is better than nothing.

When I die, my body will be retrieved by a lab for testing or re-use.

I'm in a position to get thrills, money, and top-class maintenance,

so it's a small enough price to pay in return.

That's Yano's little brother.

I'll never get used to people glaring at me with that look in their eyes.

Were there any other options?

Fixating on the what-ifs is human nature.