Major Motoko Kusanagi the Major – Honorary Oakley

Submissions for the Honorary Oakley were a little quiet for this month, but one name was mentioned more than once and that was Major Motoko Kusanagi (Ghost in the Shell). The ‘Major’ as she’s known is what could be termed a kick ass female character, but there’s more to the Major than meets the eye. Along with this she’s now a video games character which is just another reason to make her a Thumb Bandits Honorary Oakley.

Let’s take a closer look at the woman herself…..

Motoko Kusanagi – A quick bio:
Name: Motoko Kusanagi
Birthdate: Unknown
Gender: Female
Works: Section 9
Race: Human Cyborg

Motoko Kusanagi is a human cyborg special operative with Section 9 of the Japanese Government (security police – Ministry of Home Affairs). She is the main character in the anime film ‘Ghost in the Shell’ and the manga of the same title. Major Motoko Kusanagi is transformed with cybernetic augmentation which makes her faster, stronger and more intelligent than she appears. She also possesses thermoptic camouflage which renders her relatively invisible (handy in her line of work obviously).

Major Kusanagi also has depth of thought. For those that love this about anime in general the Major doesn’t disappoint. Given the large amount of cybernetic augmentation Major Motoko has undergone she can be seen to philosophize over the human condition wondering whether she is still ‘human’ given her extensive cybernetic modifications.
The name ‘Ghost in the Shell’ refers to Major Motoko Kusanagi’s self doubt as to whether, with all of the modifications she still retains a soul, a ‘ghost’ in the shell of what she has become.

The Video Game Connection: Bandai America have announced ‘Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex’ for the PlayStation 2. Hot on the heels of the hotly anticipated movie release, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. The game is set for a November 2004 release and was developed by Cavia Inc., and published by Bandai America. Ghost in The Shell is a fast-action 3rd person shooter for up to 4 players.

Prior to this release the PS1 saw the release of the Ghost in the Shell video game.

At present the internet is buzzing with news of the forthcoming release of Innocence: Ghost in the Shell 2 which gets a limited cinema release on the following dates:

17th September 2004 (USA)
1st December 2004 (France)

The film was released in Japan on the 6th of March to good reviews.

Plot Summary: Batou is a living cyborg. His whole body, even his arms and legs are entirely man-made. What only remains are traces of his brain and the memories of a woman. In an era when the boundary between humans and machines has become infinitely vague, Humans have forgotten that they are humans. This is the debauchery of the lonesome “ghost” of a man, who nevertheless seeks to retain humanity. Innocence… Is what life is. (imdb)

With the strength of character and the Blade Runner esq Human Philosophizing Ghost in the Shells Major Motoko Kusanagi only falls short of being the perfect Honorary Oakley due to the over sexualisation of the character itself. BUT we’re willing to overlook this since most anime suffers from ‘the male gaze’. The Major kicks ass and that is all that matters.

For all the reasons above and more we have chosen Major Motoko Kusanagi, Ass Kicking, Cybernetic, all round tough female character to be one of our Honorary Oakley characters.

Major Motoko Kusanagi we salute you!

Picture copyright its respective owner. Any picture appearing here you feel should not be will be removed immediately.

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment