Ghost in the Shell (2026) Ep.05 - Victory through loss. Motoko is clumsy.

Episode five of Ghost in the Shell (2026) is another self-contained episode showing another side of the world while also delivering the first loss of life in Motoko's team. It is sort of a reminder of what kind of job these people are doing, even despite the overall comedy.

Sure, he was a new recruit without any role in the main story, but it still shows how people react to loss: Batou with grief, as he trained him personally; Motoko with indifference, as if she was used to it. It's not uncommon in such a type of job, as they're always fighting on the edge of legality.

It's easy to forget that Motoko's body is fully robotic because of her expressive face, but then you see these scenes with her eyes glowing and...

The series puts fanservice in specific places like here and make it look natural. That's a good practice. Still curious if they'll chase Fuchikoma or not...

Itorubetsu, the megacity where all the events of this episode happen, really reminds me of those dystopian cyberpunk worlds in the way it's structured. Huge, dark, lifeless structures for the rich areas, and slums with pretty much "anything goes" rules below them.

Motoko's body has always been hailed as being next-gen, and we see it in this episode when it resists being axed from behind and then a giant tries to break her head with strength to no avail. I remember some details about the original, but I wonder if the backstory around that body is the same here, too.

Considering the anime is mostly original, I guess the whole first love for Motoko never existed in the first place, which only makes me more curious about what brought her here precisely. It's not like every day you wake up and want to become a mercenary, would you?

Fuchikoma's comedic relief is always there, be it asking for "natural oil" or being attracted to new things as if they were a small child learning about the world. It also shows their way of thinking when they saw the dead soldier and were unimpressed by the grief, saying they should just "repair him".

Apparently dolls like those two are pretty common with rich people. Considering advancement in AI I wonder if we're going to the same direction.

Motoko is not even angry, just unimpressed. He should've tried anything else but chasing her. Especially in that body.

I don't think this will affect in any major way how the story will go from here, because we're still jumping around doing episodic mini-stories that are self-contained. I wonder if the entire series will be like this or if they'll switch to some major arc later. I'd like that, even if it was just a 2-3 episode thing and not a full-blown arc like the Laughing Man incident.