#postanimal

Javi/Joe Chateau in Lewiston NY! (7/23/26)

White Reaper | Town Ballroom | Buffalo NY _ these guys killed it all night long. really bummed I couldn't get to see Post Animal open up, but one of their mates had some serious medical issues arise the night before. The band has set up a link for any donations to help out.

A Love Story for the Ages: Batou & Gabriel

In Oshii Mamoru’s Innocence the posthuman aren’t just represented by the gynoids or humanoid-cyborgs. Batou’s dog Gabriel is both the most humanizing figure in the film, and the cause that leads to Batou’s own cyberhack (because he’s going to buy dog food when his infection manifests). 

Gabriel is not just any dog, however, he’s a clone. Manufactured and produced by human technological intervention he’s evidence that the post- doesn’t always need to be structured and defined as humanoid. 

His relationship with Batou is ridiculously sweet. Stoic Batou rarely shows expression throughout the film, whether he’s gunning down mobsters or reuniting with the new form of Major Kusanagi. But his rigid and implacable features soften when he’s cuddling up with his dog. We see him at his most vulnerable - with bare feet - in his kitchen heating up the special brand of dog food and adding vitamins to Gabriel’s food. 

Twice during the film their reunion is the clear source of joy and also articulates the film’s return to “normal” for Batou. The first is after the ghost hack of Batou’s brain scrambles his perceptions and leaves him shooting up a convenience store. He’s stopped by another member of Section 9, and we cut to him waking up learning he has a new robot arm, perhaps replacing the very last flesh-based appendage he has. As soon as Gabriel enters Batou’s attempts to get used to his new body are ignored/dropped, and he enfolds his fuzzy friend in his arms. The second is at the end of the film, after the gynoids and children are rescued and Batou and Togusa return to Togusa’s house. Togusa reunites with his daugher and there’s a clear visual parallel to Batou reuniting with Gabriel (whose paw he waves at Togusa’s daughter in the last frames).

On a meta-textual level, Gabriel haunts a variety of advertisements and visual spaces in the mis-en-scene. All dog food is branded with Gabriel’s image, including a billboard for dog food that Batou drives past. Batou even drinks a beer with a basset hound on the label. In the hacker Kim’s Chinese Gothic castle, Gabriel’s face (along with a series of other animals) is superimposed on a revolving globe, as if to remind the viewer that the inhabitants and owners of the earth are not only humans. 

Closeup of Javi’s guitar playing during 'Figure You Out' in Lewiston, NY (7/23/26)

Another angle of Javi's guitar skills on 'Figure You Out'!

Javi from the Lewiston, NY show (7/23/26)