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BATOU
Batou: “Chief, why not let us give up on this dull-ass investigation, grab Nanao and make him talk? Section 9’s specialties are playing rough and cyber warfare. We have the manpower and resources, so let’s let them handle the routine snooping.”
Batou, like the major, is a nearly full-body cyborg with the most notable attributes being his cybernetic optical implants and his prodigious strength. No matter whether he is viewed on TV, Film, or in the manga, Batou looks like a big bruiser out of an old boxing movie with his wide bent nose, the bluff visage, and the massive, but muscular frame. But his reports are filled with unsolicited opinions, which may have held him back from promotion.
From Innocence
Togusa: “Just for the record, I didn’t volunteer for this. There’s no way I’ll measure up to the Major.”
Batou: “That’s besides the point.”
Togusa: “I hear she’s still listed as missing.”
Batou: “The Major could only call her brain and her ghost her own. Although even she doubted whether they were real. Her brains and hardware were government property and her entire memory, including the classified information, were part of the deal. The top brass only cares about recovering that memory. Her life is not an issue for them.”
The oddest difference is that his hair is short in a military buzz cut and blond in the film, whereas in the manga, his hair is dark and short. In the manga, he occasionally wears shades and a trench coat like the hero from a pulp detective novel. But in GitS: SAC and in GitS: Innocence, his hair is white and pulled back into a long ponytail – which looks pretty cool when he runs and jumps.
He’s gruff and irascible and yet he has a big heart and a lot of love for his comrades-at-arms, even if most of that sentiment is hidden behind sarcasm, casual insults, and candor.
Kusanagi: “What are you guys up to? More weight training equipment, Batou? Look, you can blow your pay on whatever you want, but I can’t say I approve of the way you waste your money.”
Batou: “Say what! Why don’t you give up trying to look feminine on the outside and switch over to a male prosthetic model already? You’ll get more power that way.”
Kusanagi removes her watch and gestures for Batou to try her.
Batou: “You want a piece of me?”
Everyone stops to stare, shocked. Batou puts his fists up. Kusanagi smiles at him. Batou drops his guard momentarily, makes a fist, and punches himself in the face. He falls backward to the floor.
Kusanagi [standing over him]: “So long as you can turn an over-amped opponent’s strength against him, I’d say that there’s nothing wrong with female models.”
Togusa: “You okay, Batou?”
Batou [from the floor]: “D-Didn’t hurt at all!”In the manga and the movie, Batou clearly was a thing for the major. That feeling is a bit more obscured in GitS: SAC.
Ishikawa: “Where’s Batou?”
Saito points to the tower, where Kusanagi and Togusa are seemingly pinned down.
Ishikawa: “Off rescuing the she-ape, huh? As if she needs it --.”
Moments later in the tower, after Batou helps Kusanagi and Togusa push back the bad guys, Kusangi turns to Batou.
Kusanagi: "What are you doing here?"
Batou: "What do you mean? I came to save you.... Huh? Wait a minute, where's the girl?"
Kusanagi: "She wouldn't shut up, so I stuffed her into the Tachikoma."
Batou to Togusa: "...I have no idea what's going on, but you can fill me in later."But there is a moment in the 2nd Gig in Pu239 – Rhapsody – the Melody of a Bygone Nation, when Internal Affairs Officer Goda is traveling with operatives from Section 9 and Section 1 in an armored van through the Refugee Area, to make certain that plutonium gets to the proper installation. Batou has nothing but contempt for the man and Goda rather nastily shows his for Section 9.
Goda: “You don’t take me seriously? Tell me, are you afraid of your female commander?”
Batou: “That’s not how it is.”
Goda: “Speaking of which, why did you become a member of her team? Don’t tell me you’ve fallen in love with her. How could something like that happen?”It's sort of all right for your friends to know about your crush on your commander, but not so much if your enemy knows and tries to use that knowledge against you.
He doesn’t often think before he says things to his colleagues at Section 9, because he goes with his gut reaction – it’s easy for him to do, he’s a big guy and he has the commensurate military training. Kusanagi has hunches, i.e ‘things her Ghost tells her,’ but she’s the squad leader, she has to think beyond the moment. And as a female, she has to be better than the men around her.
Kusanagi: “Batou, you read me?”
Batou: “See you too. I’m waiting in ambush at the location you indicated.”
Kusanagi: “Herd the car to poing D-3. You can spook’em, but don’t kill’em.”
Batou: “Whoa, are you sure? We can actually have some fun?”
Kusanagi: “Knock yourself out.”
Batou [laughs]: “Now that’s more like it! Tachikoma!”
Tachikoma: “Here goes!”
Batou and his Tachikoma drop from a huge distance. Batou’s landing is as heavy sounding as Tachikoma’s.
Batou to his Tachikoma: “Oh, that’s them. Okay then. Just don’t hit anything human.”
Tachikoma: “Just leave it to me! [Shoots out tire of the car.]
Batou: “Whoohoo! Real go-getters. [Changing gun to Tachikoma] Okay, once more!”
Tachikoma: “Don’t mind if I do! [Shoots charge behind fleeing med students.]
Batou: “Hey! We’re getting the job done in serious style!”
Kusanagi: “Good work.”
Togusa arrives on scene in the car. “Geez, aren’t you guys going a little overboard?”
Nor can Togusa go with the gut reaction, no matter how overt his emotional aspect is in contrast to the rest of the team. In GitS:SAC, he has a cyberbrain, but in the film and the manga, he is limited to a cybernet implant, either way, his body is all-natural and in his line of work and with the company he keeps very vulnerable.
Batou and Togusa, while investigating the disappearance of twenty-nine young women, walk in on the kidnappers trying to make a deal with the Yakuza. The Mafioso, who thinks the Russian operatives have brought in friends when he sees the two men, shoots at them. Batou grabs Togusa and dives behind the wall for cover.
Togusa: “What the hell is going on?”
Batou: “How should I know? Anyway, let’s go after ‘em. You circle around from the other side.”
Togusa does so and runs into the full-bodied cyborg of the female Russian operative, who is in truth nearly four times his age. Still, a cyborg is a cyborg. They fight and he’s barely staying out of her swings, but he manages to take her arm off. She runs to the truck where the hostages are being held and drives away. Batou comes running.
Batou: “You dumb ass! Get rid of the arm!”
Togusa throws the arm and it explodes, bringing the entire warehouse down on their heads. Batou digs out with Togusa in tow, battered, but alive.
Batou: “The son of a bitch is alive.”
Togusa: “That’s a helluva thing to say. Images of my family flashed before my eyes.”
Batou: “I didn’t mean you…”Of course, Section 9 thinks Batou’s a show-off.
Togusa: “The Big Man’s just doing that to try to get on TV.”
Ishikawa: “Must be nice.”He also has this thing with weight lighting and exercise, although his body doesn’t require it.
Saito: “What’s in the box?”
Ishi: “This? Batou’s new weight training equipment.”
Saito: “He bought more?”
Ishi: “I have no idea what part a cyborg like him needs to work out.”
Saito: “No kidding. Doesn’t he have anything better to spend his money on?”He smokes. He drinks. He likes to take the big leaps from buildings and drives the flashiest of cars.
Togusa: “Hey, Big Man, is it bothering you that the Tachikomas are being sent back to the lab?”
Batou: “Why?”
Togusa: “Well, I guess it’s okay if it isn’t, but …”
Batou: “The last thing I need is you fussing over me.”
Togusa: “It’s not like I’m worried about you or anything. You just don’t seem very enthusiastic about this.”
Batou: “You’re wrong on that count. After all, I used to be a big fan of this Zaitsev guy.”
Togusa: “A fan?”
Batou: “The important thing here, is that you take this car back to Section 9 once I get to the base.”
Togusa [waves him off]: “I know, I know. I’m not about to take a car like this for a joyride.”But, he is well-respected by the Major, the Chief, and his comrades-at-arms. He’s the one who Kusanagi picks most often for back up. He’s the one usually stuck with looking out for the relative rookie, Togusa. But he can also do the detective work and goes undercover when the military is concerned as in XXX, when he had to learn if his Olympic boxing hero was stealing secrets from the Maritime Self-Defense Force. It hurts him to see this man he has long admired turn into a criminal and abandon his marriage with a kind-hearted woman.
Togusa: “Is your investigation over, Big Man?”
Batou: “Yeah.”
Togusa: “What’s the matter? You solved the case, but you look the same as you did before you left.”
Batou: “Do I look that way?”
Togusa: “Aren’t you? [Batou walks away.] “Huh? Hey!”
Batou slams the bottle of wine given to him by the boxer’s wife into a trashcan. Togusa watches concerned.
Togusa: “Big Man…”
Batou goes to let off some steam with a punching bag.He’s the tenderhearted type when you cut through all the cybernetics and prosthetic muscles. He likes and admires Kusanagi, possibly loves; but he certainly puts himself at risk to keep her safe.
Kusanagi plans to go up against a military-issued armored suit.
Kusanagi: “Batou, I’ll draw it off.”
Batou: “Don’t be stupid! That’s what you have me for!”
Kusanagi: “It’s not that I don’t have faith in you, but you can’t stop that thing. That’s an order from your superior officer.”
Batou: “All right, I’ll do it… Don’t get yourself killed!”And for Togusa as well.
Togusa is in the hospital and Batou is visiting him.
Togusa: “Was that the chief?”
Batou: “Yeah. The chief collared a guy named Niimi who was pulling the strings behind the narc squad.”
Togusa: “No kidding… So, maybe my getting perforated was worth it. But what was that about a powered exoskeleton?”
Batou: “A toy the narc squad got their hands on somewhere. The major took it on. She overheated and now she’s swapping her body for a new one.”
Togusa: “Is she okay?”
Batou: “Well, yeah, but –. What you said was for real. My eyes got hacked, too. I’m outta here. I’ve got a ton of work to do.” [Hands Togusa the missing file.] “I’ll leave this here with you for the time being.”Batou has a dark history with the military. Before he came to Section 9, he was in the Rangers and spent time in the jungles of South America, which is where he encountered the rouge agent, Marco Amoretti, a soldier turned into a trained killer for the American Empire. Marco skinned women and children alive in Project Sunset to demoralize the enemy of the American Empire during the last World War.
Batou: “It’s not a matter of the killers proclivities, either. He doesn’t get any sort of pleasure from his crimes.”
Togusa: “How cam you be so sure?”
Batou: “If there even is a motive, I’d say it’s out of a sense of duty.”
Togusa: “Who ever heard of a serial killer like that?”
Batou was sent to the jungles to fight and stumbled into the area where Project Sunset had been carried out. He did not eliminate Marco, he pitied him as much as he pitied Marco’s victims.
Batou: “This damp… This stench of stagnant water… Yeah… This is the jungle we fought in all right.”
When CIA operatives come to Japan to assist in the case against Marco, they tell Section 9 that they want Marco retrieved. But Section 9 later finds out that their orders are to eliminate the suspect and make it look like an accident. They planned for Batou to do his duty.
Togusa: “The big man has really lost it. He seriously wants Marco dead. I’m not sure what… I… do…”
Again, Batou does not kill him, explaining to Marco and likely to the CIA operatives who tried to use him that his war ended a long time ago.
Batou to Kusanagi: “You thought I was gonna shoot him? I’ll admit, the thought of expunging the stain on my honor out of some antiquated sense of justice did cross my mind. If the past is unchangeable, I’m gonna take it with me to the grave. I didn’t because this isn’t the jungle. This is our town. And because I’m a cop.”
Kusanagi: “You saved one [victim] this time.”
Twelve years ago, he served in an outfit commanded by Kusanagi with Ishikawa as her second, still getting info via the computer. They were in South America with a mix of Japanese, British and American personnel. One day they were ambushed in the ruins of a small town. The shots came from everywhere and the other commanders were hasty with their orders to take out the gunmen. Kusanagi speculated that the shooters might just be one shooter. She went to an abandoned church alone to confront him, but not before speaking to her two subordinates.
Kusanagi: “Cover me!” She runs off with a big gun.
Batou: “Too rash.”
Ishikawa: “That’s good. It means that she trusts you.”That day they met Saito, the lone gunman stationed high in the old church, attacking because he wanted to be promoted. He lost his left eye and a chunk from his arm that day. But they all gained a commander.
