// Episode Guide
This serves as a quick reference guide for those people with a specific episode or event in mind, but who cannot remember which episode that was. Episode plots are completely given away, so please don't proceed if you want to be surprised. Spoiler-free story summaries can be found on Wikipedia.
Stand alone episodes are called "Stand Alone". Episodes linked by a common storyline, the Laughing Man conspiracy, are called "Complex".
** SPOILERS GALORE! **
// #19 CAPTIVATED
Type: Stand Alone. Title: Embraced by a Disguised Net - CAPTIVATED
- Former prime minster Kanzaki's daughter is kidnapped by the Northern Territories Mafia (Blindfold Ivan) as part of a organ harvesting ring. In a seemingly karmic twist, Kanzaki had used his political influence allow Blindfold Ivan to kidnap girls during his time in office.
- The person behind this kidnapping was Kruzcowa, a beautiful intelligence officer from the Soviet Union, with blond hair, an eye patch, and weaponized arms.
- Ending: Kruzkowa is abandoned by both the the mafia (who had deliberately placed the daughter on hit list to frame Kruzcowa as a traitor) and the Russian embassy (who is affected by the public relations scandal that Aramaki devises).
- Appearance of Kanzaki, who will repay his debt to Section 9 later in the season with valuable information on the Laughing Man case.
- World Events: The Asian Miracle is referenced, which alludes to the heavy nuclear fallout of the World War III. Japan's use of nanomachines to remove radiation from the atmosphere, aka the Asian Miracle, helped the nation obtain international power post-war.
// #20 RE-VIEW
Type: Complex. Title: Vanished Medication - RE VIEW
- Return of the Laughing Man storyline! From this episode on and until the end of the season, each episode is a Complex one that intensely runs through the Laughing Man case.
- A conspiracy revealed: Cyberization brought about unforeseen disease that became the AIDs or cancer of the era. A vaccine was created, but rejected in favor of micro machine technology. Secretly, celebrities and politians took the vaccine while suppressing its success from the public.
- There's a beautiful scene on skyscraper rooftop where Togusa is explaining his newfound revelation about the Laughing Man's motivations to the Major. Togusa showed excellent detective work in this episode.
- Ending: An exciting cliff hanger as the Ministry of Health's Narcotics Squad massacres the Sunflower Society and retrieves the incriminating file of vaccine patients. Togusa barely escapes and lies bleeding in the middle of the city.
// #21 ERASER
Type: Complex. Title: Left Behind Trace - ERASER
- In the aftermath of Togusa's discover, the whole Section 9 team races to secure Imakurusu, a key figure in the conspiracy, against the Ministry's Narc. Squad. The Laughing Man beats them both, in hopes that Imakurusu will reveal the conspiracy out of guilt. Unfortunately, Imakurusu is abandoned by his political allies and assasinated by the Narc Squad in the end.
- AMAZING fight scene between the Major and the sadistic leader of the Narc. Suppression Squad, who is wearing a military graded armored mecha battle suit. It starts off with the Major crashing through into a hotel lobby in her blue sports car, gets intense as the armored suit blows off the Major's arm and starts crushing her head, and ends up with the Major single-handedly firing a large sniper weapon on the suit in a fit of fury against a dramatic rainy backdrop.
- Funny: Ishikawa uses the brain power of old pachinko gamblers as back-ups when their cyborg operators crash.
- The Laughing Man and Aoi, the boy from the children's center, are revealed to be the same person at the end.
// #22 SCANDAL
Type: Complex. Title: Corporate Graft -- SCANDAL
- The DEA Narc. Squad is arrested, but three members are still on the loose and they're targeting Section 9. This episode follows their assassination attempts on the Major and Aramaki.
- Aramaki's assasination attempt is done by luring Aramaki to an impoverished part of the city, with falsified information about his brother, and setting him up to be captured ina drug deal. Batou figures this out and makes it there in time to save him.
- The Major's assassination attempt is done during by her body swap procedure by a woman pretending to be doctor. The Laughing Man appears and frees the Major, allowing her to overpower the assassin.
- The hospital scenes are a huge treat for fans of sexual ambiguity in the show.
- The third meeting between the Major and the Laughing Man, and the first one where they are both comprehend who the other is. Their dialogue is fantastic. These two are admittedly the same intellectual, self-rightous types and their banter is tense, but filled with understanding. Laughing Man also admits that he finds Major hard to talk to.
// #23 EQUINOX
Type: Complex. Title: Corporate Graft -- SCANDAL
- The Laughing Man returns to kidnap the CEO of Serano again, taking him from his house to the same place where they talked six years ago.
- Serano reveals the whole conspiracy: It was Secretary General Yakushima who had blackmailed corporations with infomation of the Murai-Micromachine scandal for years. They turned the Laughing Man coincidence into a cultural phenomenon to be a scapegoat.
- Real world reference: The city square where the Laughing Man threatens Serano is a striking replica to Hachiko Crossing in Shibuya, Tokyo, even down to the placement of the coffee shop. I've seen it with my own eyes. In GiTs, the coffee shop at that location is Starbucks; In GiTS, it's Starchild.
- Surprise ending: It was the Major, disguised as Aoi, who had been speaking with Serano the entire time.