This particular perpetrator was featured off and on throughout the first series and the events dealing with him helped to shape the overall story line. The Laughing Man was a hacker who caused a good bit of ruckus some six years before and just as his notoriety peaked, he suddenly disappeared. Over the years, his logo has grown in popularity and become an odd pop-culture icon. Now, all of a sudden, the Class-A hacker has come out of retirement and is causing quite a mess.
His targets seem to be connected to a nano-machine vaccine designed to help cure Cyber-Brain Scoliosis. This disease has been plaguing humanity since people started integrating their brains with computers and the world between flesh and computer started getting blurry. As the story unfolds, we find out that the committee responsible for promoting these nano-machines, which don't seem to be doing all that good, chose this technology out of spite for another scientist that had a serum that actually worked.
As Section 9, the special secret operation group that goes after just this type of hacker, investigates the re-emergence of The Laughing Man, they begin to see the plot that this mysterious person is trying to uncover. As the line between good guys and bad guys blurs, the team realizes the conspiracy goes higher than any of them expected. When their investigation leads to the public becoming aware of their organization, and eventually the destruction of Section 9, all seems lost and the members of Section 9 start to get hunted down.
While Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: The Laughing Man is a long film - it is the combination of many events from across the series, after all - it is still very enjoyable and you never really feel the length. It grabs you and keeps you hooked in from beginning to end.
There are only a couple of features on this two-disc set. One of them is a conversation between Director Kenji Kamiyama and Atsuko Tanaka, the Japanese voice for Major Motoko Kusanagi about what it took to not just compile all of the scenes, but stitch them together as a feature film that makes sense to someone not watching the rest of the series. This was an interesting and really long feature. It is definitely worth watching for any fan of the series. Then, of course, there is the Tachikomatic Days animated short where three of the Tachikomatics decide to try their hand at voice acting through various scenes from the movie. Like always, this short is odd, but fun to watch.
Fans of Stand Alone Complex should definitely pick up this DVD. If you haven't really followed the series before, but you're aware of it and you've been looking for something to watch to get an idea of what it's about, then this movie is perfect. It doesn't force you to invest in the entire series and you get a real good idea of what the show's about.
