The Lost Memory (2004)
Author: Junichi Fujisaku | Page Count: 212 Pages
"We still don’t know what their purpose is but I sense they have an aim of some kind, something different from that of the Laughing Man phenomenon."
In the first of a trilogy of GitS: Stand Alone Complex tie-in novels a group of revolutionaries calling themselves the Good Morning Terrorists are hacking cyberbrains and forcing the hapless victim to carry out acts of terrorism against the State. Major Motoko Kusanagi and her team of experts in Public Security Section 9 intervene to find the perpetrators.
Junichi Fujisaku had previously penned a number of episodes of the TV series, so was a good choice to carry the series into a different medium. There's a list of characters on page one with a brief description of their role, but the text offers little in the way of characterisation, so it helps if you're already familiar with the series. Readers new to the franchise may well be left scratching themselves, however.
Fujisaku gets overly technical when describing hardware, so unless you're a weapons tech junkie it can get tedious to read. Much of the prose is rigid and clinical, but because it's translated from Japanese I'm unsure if it was due to the translation or simply Fujisaku's preferred style.
Strip away all the tech-talk and make allowances for the translation and the main story is certainly interesting. If it was filmed it would easily fit the 25 minutes template of the show.
Author: Junichi Fujisaku | Page Count: 204
'Kusanagi's body soared [...] She crashed through the lounge's glass wall, tumbling out into the sky.'
The second tie-in novel has three shorts tied together thematically; they also tie in with episode 6 of the GitS: SAC: 2nd GIG anime TV series (episode titled: Excavation) but it's not necessary to have seen it to read the book. The three stories are stand alone but when viewed together tell a larger story.
The middle one is a Tachikoma story, told from their POV; it's good fun. The two that bookend it are more suited to being an actual episode starting point.
The text is less cold and technical than it was in The Lost Memory, which makes it easier to read but also highlights how empty the prose is at times. Overall, it's successful in giving fans some new Section 9 adventures, but don't sell your body parts to afford it, because it's not that essential.
White Maze (2006)
Author: Junichi Fujisaku | Page Count: 220
'…Kusanagi experienced an uncomfortable sensation, as if insects were swarming over the surface of her consciousness.'
The last book is again based on the TV series, but there's some interesting info about cyberbrains that's reminiscent of Shirow's original manga; it manages to be referential and respectful to both sources.
Something malevolent lurks in the new tech, transmitted via two puncture wounds to a victim's neck. Is it a new virus, or is it something very, very old? And what have the anti-China faction got to do with anything? The answer lies in the past.
The story focuses primarily on Kusanagi, but when the others do appear they're faithful to their TV counterparts and Fujisaku places them in situations that play to their strengths. If you love the Tachikomas as much as I do, there are a couple of scenes that may make you literally grin with glee.
The translation is functional but not always enjoyable. The Japanese language may rely heavily on proper nouns, but a more liberal and efficient use of pronouns in the translation would've helped it feel less like it was handled by a machine while the real translator slept. Yes, I'm suggesting small changes could've been made, but in this instance I believe it would've been beneficial and not heretical. It's a fine line for people who care about such things, but a compromise can be found.
Fujisaku mentions in the afterword that he planned to work on another SAC novel, but it didn't appear and the chances that it ever will are diminished even more now that the Arise anime has replaced the SAC series. Someone ought to tell Production I.G that light novels like this would be the perfect way to continue the SAC franchise as it was. I'd buy them.
