HACHIROKU

I've started re-reading the manga and I'm immediately struck by how accurate this adaptation is. Some of the scenes are almost exact duplicates of the art on the page.

So this episode largely focuses on/around a Russian cyborg named Koil Krasnov. Aramaki has sent a rookie named Yano to tail him and it doesn't end well. Yano is killed and Batou, who was his mentor, takes hit pretty hard. He chases Krasnov to an old military base and kills him.

Kusanagi, meanwhile, is investigating Sagawa Electronics - a company that's also digging around in that military base. We uncover a literal pile of gold, another cyborg agent, and more political maneuvering.

And we see Batou really struggling with Yano's death... Which almost feels kind of uncharacteristic for him? We haven't seen a whole lot of emotion out of him so far. I guess this is the first time we've seen him dealing with the death of somebody he actually knew and cared about.

On the lighter side of things... We get a cameo from a couple catgirls that immediately reminded me of the baddies in Tank Police. And frankly that whole montage as she explores the city is just terrific. It's a kaleidoscopic assortment of cyberpunk tropes that's pushing all my buttons.