Death Battle Analyses: Motoko Kusanagi

It's been a while since I've done a good Death Battle Analyses, so let's go with possibly my favorite sexy cyborg. So... Here we go:

In the cusp of the 21st century, World War III has brought death and ruin to many nations. Japan has become a major world power, and Public Security Section 9 exists as its protector from terrorism of both the cyber and violent kind. With its team of highly trained and experienced soldiers and investigators, none are as talented and deadly as the Fully-Cybernetic Major:

Motoko Kusanagi

The Major is hacking into Death Battle

Motoko Kusanagi didn't always want to be the cyborg badass, though. While much of her history is kept to herself, a major point of her life that would define her future came to her when she was a young girl... after surviving from a near-fatal plane crash. Wow. With much of her body broken and beyond repair, Motoko's life had met a crashing halt. Thankfully, the state of medical science has given her a new opportunity: continue life through a full-body-prostheses. With only her brain and spinal cord the only pieces natural, Motoko is left in a state between human and machine. As with any great change, Motoko had to adjust to her new body, both in self control and in identity. Even after decades in her body, Kusanagi will still question her humanity, if she even has a soul or is simply a former life in machine body. Does she have a "Ghost in her Shell", or does she dream electric sheep?

As she aged, Kusanagi would take a military path, becoming a military major, an elite forces squad leader and an expert in electronic warfare after years of intense training. She would eventually become a major member of Public Security Section, a covert intelligence department that's dedicated to search and rescue, counter-terrorism, and anti-crime operations. Overtime, the Major would become Section 9's most important operative, earning the friendship and respect of her unit. When not on the job, Motoko would partake in activities that remind her that she's still human, including... lesbian three-way "e-sex". I'm not making this up. ANYWAY... Let's look at what she brings to the fight.

Statistics

• Age: 31 (Cybernetic body doesn't age)
• Species: Cyborg
• Height: 5'6" (1.68 m)
• Weight: 300 lbs (136 kg)
• Place of Birth: Japan
• Base of Operation: Japan
• Alignment: Good
• Profession: Military major, Section 9 officer, counter-terrorist, investigator, hacker

Equipment

While a powerful combatant without her guns, Motoko is more deadly with guns. The majority of Motoko's guns, especially Seburo weapons, pack extra-powerful, high-velocity, armor piercing rounds designed to penetrate the typically bulletproof bodies of cyborgs and androids.

Seburo M5 Handgun

The standard issued sidearm of Section 9 operatives and the Major's primary weapon, the Seburo M5 is a compact semiautomatic SA/DA concealed-carry handgun that uses a locked-breech operating via a rotating barrel (a system similar to the Beretta Cougar). It is chambered for high-velocity armor-piercing 5.45x18mm rounds, and feeds from a double-stack 20 round magazine. As with other weapons produced by Seburo, the M5 can punch through body armor and the bullet-proof exterior of androids, and can effortlessly kill a normal human. Motoko has shown uncanny accuracy with this weapon, capable of shooting out the legs of a fleeing cyborg far past any normal handgun.

Seburo C26A Assault Rifle

When in need of greater firepower, Section 9 operatives is the Seburo C26A assault rifle. The C26A fires high-velocity armor-piercing 5.45x45mm rounds and uses a crooked 50 round box magazine that feeds in a bullpup pattern. Fired cartridge cases eject into a permanently mounted brass catcher mounted on top of the gun. It has a built-in laser sight and frequently features a two-stage silencer for greater covert use.

Seburo C30 Assault Rifle

Designed for more offensive operations, the Seburo C30 is a variant of the C26 but lacks the compatibility for its two-piece silencer, and instead features an extended barrel, optical sight and a built in grenade launcher.

Other Weapons

The Major is not limited to just these guns. Each version of the story comes with different weapons, including but not necessarily limited to:

• Seburo C25a sub-machine gun (manga)
• Seburo C26a machine pistol (manga)
• CZN-M22 sub-machine gun (1995 movie)
• Walther WA 2000 w/ extended magazine and digital-sing sight (Stand Alone Complex)
• Detonics Pocket 9 pistol (Arise)
• Megatech Knife (First Assault)
• Seburo MG machine gun (First Assault)
• Seburo SR sniper rifle (First Assault)
• Various explosives
• M030 fragmentation grenade  (First Assault)
• Scrambler cyber-tuned flashbang (First Assault)
• FGM-148 Javelin fire-and-forget anti-tank missile launcher (Arise)

Powers

Full-Body Prostheses: Due to her full-body prostheses, Motoko is gifted with greater physical power than anyone at peak physical condition. From her strength and endurance to her speed and reflexes, few are able to match her in combat.

• Superhuman Strength: Motoko's physical strength is far beyond human, along with her shear mass. She is capable of falling great heights and create craters wherever she lands. Her physical might is considered comparable to Hideo Kuze, who was able to leap through walls just by jumping through them. In addition, she is fully capable of firing the Seburo .50 Sniper Rifle with only one arm (3:51). Most impressively, she was able to hold a rouge military helicopter trying to fly away with a cable with only minimal strain on her body (1:51). One estimated measurement puts the helicopter itself between 8 to 10 metric tons and has a shaft horsepower (shp) between 1500 to 2000. (If anyone can translate the shp to an applicable weight, please inform me). 
• Super Jump: As a benefit from her insane strength, Motoko is capable of superhuman leaping, able to jump from skyscraper to skyscraper and leap several hundred feet in the air.
• Superhuman Agility: With the combination of her synthetic muscles and practice, Motoko displays a far greater amount of dexterity and balance that a normal human couldn't have.

• Superhuman Speed: Motoko is crazy fast. When needing  a means to reach the top of a multi story building, she decided to leap off from one story and hop to the top Ninja Gaiden style between two buildings on the opposite side of the street, reaching the top in only a few seconds. She has also kept up with vehicles on foot with little effort.
• Superhuman Reflexes: What's more impressive than her movement speed is her mental speed. She has proven capable of dodging gun fire . In addition, according to team sniper Saito, the Major is more than capable of shooting a fired sniper round in mid air (1:45). That is some INSANE stuff!

• Superhuman Durability: As with all military-grade cyborgs, Motoko is durable as hell. Non-military cyborgs are utterly bulletproof, and Kusanagi is considered even tougher. Nothing short of high velocity "anti-cyborg" rounds will punch through her body, and such anti-cyborg bullets are capable of punching holes in concrete. She has also survived having her head stomped into the ground by a MSDF Type 303 mech, when the concrete under her head was giving way. She has also leaped from skyscrapers and land without harm, and survived having several tons of ruble pin her down.

• Disease/Toxin Immunity: As much of her body is synthetic and her brain and spine heavily protected, Motoko is virtually immune to age, disease and various toxins.
• Pain Resistance:  While she can sense damage on her body, Motoko doesn't suffer from pain like you or me. She can't be slowed down by pain, even if she's missing an entire arm.
• Near-Limitless Stamina: Because of her full-body prosthesis, Motoko doesn't produce fatigue like non-augmented folk. As such, she can fight for periods of time that a normal human would die from.
• Self-Sustenance: Motoko has no need of air, food or water, though it appears she needs some form of rest.
• Superhuman Senses (Sight): Motoko displays senses beyond human. She has been able to see and shoot down invisible targets. It remains unknown if her other senses have also been enhanced.
• Supersensitive Skin: Among the more unique (and yet stranger) features her body provides is 16²/cm² skin tactile elements, meaning she has a greatly heightened sense of touch. This doesn't seem to pick up on pain but is extremely potent when given sensations of pleasure.

• Cyberbrain: The only parts of her body that are organic tissue are her brain and her spine, and even they are not entirely organic. Her brain has been cyberneticly enhanced into a "cyberbrain," which allows her to mentally connect to computers and even other cyberbrains.

• Hacking: Combined wither her talents, Motoko is capable of hacking into computers and other cyberbrains, allowing her to take control of them if she has a means to access them wirelessly or by connecting a cord.
• Back Hack: Motoko can hack into cybernetic parts of others including the senses, being able to see what they see, for example. She can also use this to obtain the memories of others as well as sense other phenomena on the net. Motoko can also use this technique to actively control the bodies of others, such as forcing an enemy to shoot his own comrades. This technique can also be utilized to create illusions in the target's senses (as demonstrated by Batou).
• Digital Communication: Like a commlink, Motoko is capable to communicating with other people with cyberbrains in a way similar to telepathy.
• Attack Barrier: Essentially a computer virus that Motoko can use against others with Cyberbrains, killing them.

• Thermo-Optical Camouflage: Motoko utilizes thermo-optical camouflage,  which projects ambient conditions of the opposing side, making her near-invisible across all visible spectrum and thermal imaging.

Skills

• Superhuman Marksmanship: Motoko is an superhuman markswoman, her skills only second to Sector 9's lead sniper Saito. She has been able to shoot out a cyborg's leg from over 100 meters with a handgun, well past a handgun's effective range. She has also shown capable of unpecable accuracy with two guns at once. Lastly, Saito states that the Major has long-, mid-, and short-range firing control software  (1:45), which would give her the marksmanship skills to shoot a sniper bullet (a high velocity anti-cyborg round, no less) out of the air in mid flight, or as she actually displayed, shoot through a telescopic scope and shoot out Saito's left eye.
• Expert Hand-to-Hand Combat: As an expert in hand to hand combat, the Major is capable of taking on and beating most anyone in a fist fight. Her superhuman strength, speed, reflexes and stamina also help a lot.

• Advance Acrobatics: Thanks to her superhuman strength, speed and agility, Motoko can perform acrobatic feats beyond human possibility, including dodging close-range automatic fire and leaping from skyscraper to skyscraper.
• High Intellect: Motoko's mind is possibly her most dangerous attribute. She is an expert hacker, a genius in combat and strategy, and and skilled in deduction.
• Master Hacker: Motoko's most iconic talent is her ability to hack vertually anything. No defense is too great for her to handle, and she has taken down extreme threats through her hacking skills and will power. So long as she's connected to the net, any opponent also connected is in grave danger.

• Poker Face: When the Major doesn't want you know what she's thinking, you won't  even know it. She has fooled numerous people with her poker face, including Saito, who initially worried that she had the programming that'd allow her to shoot out his bullets, only to be fooled by her use of three rounds on his jamming device to make him think she lacked all the necessary software to stop his bullet, only to prove otherwise. (see video above for her bullet-timing capability.
• Strong Will: Motoko's willpower thrives greatly though her endeavors. She will push through the worst of dangers to get the job done, even if it may cost her her life.
• Hotter Than Hell: Lets face it: Motoko is hot, and I mean REALLY hot. With a fully synthetic body, it's not suprising she would go with a body that's perfect in different ways. Her spunky personality also adds to her appeal. Also, she's bisexual. And like to partake in lesbian three-ways. Yeah.

Weaknesses

• Hackable: While she is capable of hacking into other cyberbrains, her brain is also vulnerable. Someone with great enough hacking skills can easily take over her mind. But when you apply her military-grade defensive programs, her Attack Barrier, her own hacking skills and counter-measures, and her indomitable will, the challenge of getting into her head is near suicide.
• Head-First: With all her intellect and experience, Motoko has been put into dangerous situations for herself. She may be getting her head stomped into cement by a giant mechanized suit, or have her head crunched by a tank with arms (a lot of head crushing for Motoko). In any case, she sometimes needs some saving like how she saves her friends.
• Pushed Too Far: While capable of a lot, she isn't limitless. If she's not careful, she may rip herself apart. In the 1995 film, Motoko tries to rip the hatch off of a tank, only to rip her own arms off.
• A Real "Ghost": Motoko has brooded in the past over her identity, not entirly sure if she's real or not. Does she have a soul inside her artifical body, a "ghost in her shell?" Or has she been programmed to think she's real

 Feats

• Took down numerous cyber-terrorist threats
• Defeated numerous cyborg opponents
• Ripped off the hatch of an experimental tank (from Stand Alone Complex, not the 1995 movie)
• Kept a rogue helicopter from escaping with only a cable and physical strength
• Fired a giant .50 cal anti-tank rifle with one hand
• Survived several tons of ruble on her
• Escaped death on several events

Summery

Here's to hoping Scarlett Johanson doing Motoko Kusanagi good... Scarlett doing Motoko... oh my...

Edit: Yeah, movie was disappointing. Pretty, though.

Motoko Kusanagi is an iconic character in the manga and anime world, and with a video game in beta and a long-awaited live-action adaptation in the works, the Major is due for a fight. Her superhuman attributes, combat talents and hacking skills will make her a deadly combatant, and she'd need a cybernetic opponent capable of keeping up with her.

Sources

• The Ghost in the Shell (Manga - 1989 to 1990)
• Ghost in the Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface (Manga - 1991 to 1997)
• Ghost in the Shell (Anime film - 1995)
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Anime show - 2002 to 2003)
• Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG (Anime show - 2004 to 2005)
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society (Anime movie - 2006)
• Ghost in the Shell: Arise (OVA - 2015)
• Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie (Anime film - 2015)

I apologies for not having more scans and feats from the manga or Arise. The majority of feats I could get came from Stand Alone Complex and a small portion from the 1995 movie.

Fight Type: 3D-Fight

When Motoko Kusanagi enters Death Battle (better be around the release of would have to be 3D animated, with Torrian doing the work. Thanks to the in-progress Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - First Assault, we have access to a 3D model of the Major.

Possible Opponents

Adam Jensen

After a terrorist attack on Sarif Industries, Adam Jensen was left with a mutilated body. However, due to his unique genetics and his company contract, Adam became a test subject to the most advance mechanical augmentation to date. After facing off against a number of terrorists and uncovering more secretes than what was intended, Adam would make a larger mark on society than he every expected.

Possibility: Very High - With both being victims of destruction and forced to become more machine than human, along with their talents in combat, stealth, and counter-terrorism of the cybernetic variety, Adam vs Motoko would make for an excellent fight! I've suggested it and I've been hoping for it to be made, and I'll be happy when it does get made.

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Anything I miss in the Analyses? Anyone I should add to the list of potential opponents? Comment below and tell me your thoughts!