Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence - Scene 13: Kim's Mansion. Again and Again

• August 19, 2006
• James Skemp
• philosophy, dvd / movie

[13 Kim's Mansion. Again and Again]

(We're back outside, and Batou and Togusa turn towards the building, hearing a shot.)

"Here goes!"

(The girl is gone, but there's the number '2501'.)

"Batou!"

(This time Batou is on the chair. There's a noise, and the window explodes inward. This is where it gets damn cool. The building is attacked by the Locus Solus sub.)

(Togusa is shot from behind, through the chest, and as he looks, his chest bursts open, revealing his mechanical parts. He screams.)

(We see Togusa, staring, and then move back to see Batou standing behind him.)

"How do you feel?"

"How did I..."

"Looks like a tangle of virtual experience hacked into your e-brain. Just as luck appears in threes, misfortune also arrives three times. A gaze averted in discomfort, a realization unspoken, advice unbidden. Without noticing, we welcome catastrophe. But our world cannot afford to ignore the first sign, let alone all three. I told you, Kim, I don't have time for your stupid jokes!"

"When did you catch on?"

"No one's easier to trick than the trickster. You may be an electronic warfare specialist, but you forget my line's intelligence. And besides... I come complete with a guardian angel. Try digging up the hall image in your external memory database.

"Jacob Grimm wrote that by inscribing 'aemaeth' upon the ancient Golem's brow, the clay man lived by drawing energy from the word for 'truth'. But simply removing the 'ae' to form 'maeth' or 'death,' returned the Golem back to inanimate clay. That prophecy told me that no truth would be found within these walls."

"Someone broke through the firewalls I devised? Preposterous. Who on earth could!"

"Like I told you, my guardian angel. Game's over, Kim. It's time you started talking..."

(His head falls back and the small girl who served the tea goes running. Batou shoots it through the head.)

"That's just a doll. You don't know when to quit, Kim. I won't fall for another diversion."

"Batou, how can you disprove this reality is genuine or an extension of false illusions generated by virtual signals?"

"My ghost is whispering to me."

"Humans are nothing but the thread from which the dream of life is woven. If dreams, consciousness, even ghosts are no more than rifts and warps in the uniform weave of the matrix."

"We are both but worthless humans, though we walk very different paths. Of course, if you don't believe in ghosts, you'll never know madness or schizophrenia, either. The little that's left of your body will not rot, Kim, but continue to function until you meet a suitable death."

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Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence - Script

• ghost in the shell