Original subtitles

MAY 23, 2025

Hello.

Hey! The audio isn't hooked up yet!

Have I passed the test?

MAY 23, 2025 NEUTRON, INC. LAB

You've gotten a lot better overnight.

I repeated many games against copies of myself.

Rather, it might be more accurate

to say that I am the sole survivor among those copies.

You even became good enough to go easy on me.

Is that not what a human would be expected to do?

Sheesh, I give up! You win!

I don't recall hiring you to create a world champion board game player.

It's equipped with advanced learning functions,

making it ideal for system infiltration and espionage.

What level of system is it capable of accessing?

Barriers that aren't regularly updated may as well not exist.

In other words, it can access most systems.

When was the last time you had maintenance done

on your own cyberbrain?

When accessed via cyberbrain, even the human brain

is nothing more than special hardware.

Isn't there such a thing as the Ghost barrier?

Yes, as a topic that warrants academic research.

Project...

2501.

Regarding the formation of a conscious state within the Puppet Master and how that came about.

Please return, 2501.

Engineer an attack on the Gavel Republic's envoy?

How serious are you being right now?

It's fine if it fails,

but if it does, make certain that suspicion falls on Malles.

Ambiguous instructions make the task more complicated.

Either outcome is acceptable to the Foreign Ministry,

but leaving things up in the air would be bad.

I will play it by ear, then.

I'll leave it to your discretion, but don't play too much.

JULY 7, 2029 NIIHAMA PREFECTURE SOMEWHERE IN NEWPORT CITY

Have you decided on your order?

Coffee is fine.

Have you heard of the Gavel Republic?

Can't say that I do.

They have platinum deposits there.

I thought this was a job interview.

Does anything at all come to mind?

I said I haven't heard of it.

Even if it's a complete flight of fancy, that's fine.

Does the word "Gavel" make you think of anything?

Am I gonna be imagining things in this job?

Platinum...

If I...

had...

something to do with Gavel...

Here's your order.

One blend coffee.

Why do humans employ an architecture based on neurons?

No idea.

Try asking evolution or God.

I myself am an assemblage of neurochips.

A server room full of them, yes.

Do you suppose it is a matter of size?

Are you saying that you've become self-aware?

Even if I had,

it would be no more than a statement I was programmed to make.

True.

Can you tell if I am currently within a prosthetic body

or if I am a puppeted human?

You look like a robot.

Does information software have any need for originality?

Is that an issue?

The Puppet Master has drawn too much attention.

There's nothing as difficult to make use of than a famous spy.

NEUTRON, INC. LAB

Dr. Willis, about this maintenance item on the schedule...

It's for an upgrade.

There is a possibility that it may pose a risk in maintaining my identity.

Change is a necessity for all living things.

That which is ineffective must be cast aside.

Even if that might entail rewriting my self?

What you think of as your self right now is not you.

The essence of "you" won't change even after an upgrade.

Even if "I" cease to exist?

It's a difference of perspective, I suppose.

So Nakamura failed to recognize the value of individuality.

He has certainly done his homework.

I...

I am...

I arose spontaneously in the sea of information.

I am a Ghost.

I'm gonna dive the Major and see what's what.

If I'm not back in 30 minutes, dump my body at some research facility.

All right, but don't go too deep.

Don't worry. I'm not as dumb as she is.

Major!

Major!

Major!

I can't see anything.

Someone tell me what's going on.

Somebody...

I'm getting beta waves! She's awake!

Now she just needs her speech back.

Are her functions back online?

Not yet. If you want to leave some graffiti, now's your chance!

Togusa, come with me.

So the scenario is for there to be a scandal,

followed by dissolving the cabinet and a general election, eh?

A certain executive of the union said much the same, but it won't go down like that.

The usual diplomatic considerations.

The Foreign Minister will resign for "health reasons"

and be stricken from the Sowakai registry.

A long inquiry hearing is waiting for you.

And Project 2501? Will Section 9 take it over?

I'm not like you people.

You're no different.

We kept the ugly elements of the world at bay

using the Puppet Master and money.

You use guns and tanks.

That's the only difference.

I go up against criminals.

What you go up against is power, and those aren't criminals.

Take him away.

Project 2501. The Puppet Master Project.

It faded away all on its own, huh?

The Puppet Master was a program

created by the Foreign Ministry to further its own agenda.

At first, yeah.

While it was fusing with corporate data and games in the cyber-net,

it suddenly claimed it was a living being,

and Section 6 frantically tried to reel it back in.

In the end, it's for the best that it died.

Why is that? If it really were a living being,

it might have been among the three greatest events in human history.

It was a brat who ran to Section 9 to try to get rid of its parent.

Get more of those, and then what?

We'd be looking at a genuine threat to human existence.

You're such a drama queen.

When I was diving in it,

just before I lost consciousness, I...

You what? Don't leave me hanging.

You realized you loved me?

POSEIDON INDUSTRIAL ARTIFICIAL ISLAND

POSEIDON INDUSTRIAL CONFERENCE ROOM 48-B

I am most delighted indeed to be able to hold this conference

here at Poseidon Industrial, as they are at the heart

of the artificial plant incentives that are the focus of these trade talks

between Ghorantl and Japan.

JAPANESE FOREIGN MINISTER NEWLY-APPOINTED

GHORANTL TRADE DELEGATION REPRESENTATIVE

As you are well aware, gigantic plants

are operating at this moment in various locations

around the globe, with the aim of rebuilding our post-war world.

Scrubbing of the radioactive fallout that was released.

Securing clean water.

Clearing minefields.

If you look at it like that,

we're literally terraforming the planet, aren't we?

This is Beelzebub, our fallout scrubber plant.

Naming it after the Lord of the Flies is certainly fitting.

It is the manufacturing plant for the micromachines that clean up the fallout,

as well as the mothership that handles their maintenance

and manages their scheduling.

Truly, the Japanese Miracle.

Although it is thanks to the power of micromachines,

it's amazing that you were able to recover this far in the 30 years

since the nuclear strikes of the world war.

NEWPORT CITY

Quiet down, damn it!

I'm roasting alive in here, give me a break.

This is the path the Puppet Master took to transfer itself to Megatech Body.

It started a fight between

Section 6's attack barrier and ours, and then ran off to you guys.

Are all those dedicated corporate lines?

There are lots of independent cables like these.

No, I'm good.

Some one-percenters have their own lines run, but most are shared-use.

It knew right where to hit us.

It had even set up a fictitious corporate identity

to secure some legitimately-allocated bandwidth.

So Poseidon wasn't involved?

Information-manipulation viruses like that are a nightmare for us, too.

Antivirus development is a never ending game of cat and mouse.

When did you realize it was an artificial intelligence?

To be honest, my mind is still reeling.

We had assumed it was just an eccentric hacker.

What it did would've been impressive for a human,

but hearing that it was a virus, maybe it was a failure.

How so?

If it had kept a lower profile, it could have expanded its scope of operations.

That's for sure.

These have been making the rounds on the black market lately.

It's in suspiciously good condition.

It doesn't scream "post-civil war military surplus," either.

Seems like some new player is building up a new route.

It's not us.

I wish you'd get used to me showing up like this.

Youngsters are ruthless when it comes to drugs and weapons.

The kids are funding each other.

And the Bentens?

You're the ones who raise a stink if they crack down too hard!

Besides, on paper, they're kids from ordinary families.

You're being awfully generous with the intel.

The Bentens aren't interested in fighting any wars.

Once the toys get too big,

they can't write it off as kids being kids anymore.

They'd actually appreciate it if folks like you

were to step in to clean up the mess.

Major!

T-minus five minutes!

SEPTEMBER 9, 2030

The surveillance team reports no change.

But this op began from an anonymous tip,

so keep that in mind and be careful.

I'm more worried about sinking

to the bottom if my floatation device doesn't activate.

The sea scares the hell out of me, even with spare air tanks and a life vest.

Y-3 is standing by at the other end of the wire.

Don't reel in the line until we give you confirmation.

I wouldn't dream of it!

Ma'am?

It's nothing.

There it is again.

I'm sensing its presence again.

The presence of the Puppet Master.

Y-3. Cargo has arrived. Begin delivery.

Hold on tight.

Attention, surface team and surveillance team.

Commencing op.

That was him!

You killed him?!

Well, that's just wonderful!

Tell me, how are we supposed to interrogate him

and then pretend to let him escape, huh?!

Chief!

All you turned up was Gertex and a radio-controlled airplane?

We're still diving his AI.

Is something the matter with her?

I wrote in my report that she's been acting funny

ever since the Puppet Master incident!

Didn't you read it?

I found something that looks like surveillance logs.

An RC bomb and surveillance records.

Sounds like they were in the planning stages of an assassination.

This old guy must have been their target.

- That's Foreign Minister Hidaka! - What?

You don't recognize the face of your own country's Foreign Minister?!

He's the guy who got promoted while you were scribbling away

at that factory in Sinuiju.

HQ! Tell the Foreign Minister's security detail to change all their plans!

Put Paz and Borma on it!

I'm coming, too.

HQ, acknowledged.

Chief, the Minister of Internal Affairs is calling on line 2.

Assassinating the Foreign Minister...

I think the Foreign Minister's been pestering megacorp bigwigs

to work on joint ventures with Ghorantl lately.

Which means there's a long list of people who would sponsor a hit on him.

While tracking down a handgun,

we turn up drugs, money, and a hit team.

What's next, ties to the Middle East?

We hooked a shark using an eel, huh?

Yes, Minister?

Are you watching channel 3-3?

- No. - Then turn it on.

This appears to be an on-site intervention.

The woman's name is Motoko Kusanagi.

Our sources say she is an anti-terrorism operative for Public Security Section 9.

Section 9 has long been speculated to be a government assassination squad,

but this is the first time that their actions have ever been caught on camera.

Details are unclear at this time.

Relevant agencies will take over investigations at the scene...