Black Lives Matter

the politics of ghost in the shell are interesting. for such a foundational cyberpunk work it's incredibly notable that the main characters are... the police? and they routinely break protocol and apply unnecessary force. they even skim off the top more than once. and the series seems aware that them having all that power isn't exactly a good thing, but it also doesn't really seem interested in interrogating the topic. here and there we get a throwaway line about "this is what it takes to get the job done" in that very tough guy ends justify the means kinda way. the police need all this power because it's The Future and the bad guys also have a lot of power, end of conversation. the rookie character is framed as naive for even questioning this. the possibility of The Good Guys becoming The Bad Guys is sort of explored but it's treated with a "we'll handle it when it happens" kind of attitude; as long as they're the good guys, it's fine if they break some rules. the plight of the common people is largely ignored, and our protagonists actually generally treat them with cold detachment. the first story very purposely shows that Motoko isn't there to save any of the people stuck in the factory, she was just there to get a job done, and then she leaves them to fend for themselves. because Motoko isn't a good person. she's cool and funny and hot, but she's also a high ranking law enforcement officer who treats human life as largely disposable. she's fun to root for, but she's also singularly unsympathetic if you think about her place in the world for even a minute. and that moral greyness serves to make her a very compelling character... but sometimes you get the feeling the writer doesn't really understand that it makes her morally grey at all.

Chainsaw Man Part 2 anyone?

substance “abuse”? that can’t be right…… every substance I use was cherished

you fucking idiot. you misread a social encounter. we're gonna fucking kill you

like honestly jedi are the most interesting in the prequel era period where they’re a diplomatic religious class that works on behalf of an imperial republic, and then become rapidly militarised when a war breaks out. like that’s just a really cool and interesting class of guy in a space fantasy. which means they will do shit that sucks really bad but that’s also cool! alas

Everyone reblog this. Mandatory.