Those Who Have the Motive

Prime Minister Kayabuki formally abandons the Refugee Special Action Policy, a decision that stirs anger among refugees across the country. During a visit to Dejima Island, a hub of the refugee population, she receives a threat on her life, and Daisuke Aramaki is called to Fukuoka to weigh in. The cabinet presses Section 9 into guarding her, an assignment the team takes on without enthusiasm.

While the protection detail forms, Ishikawa and Togusa dig into what drives the Individual Eleven. Their findings link the group's thinking to the May 15 Incident, an episode in which military officers killed a former prime minister and then won public sympathy through the sheer force of their conviction. The parallel casts an unsettling light on the current threat.

Kayabuki travels to a Buddhist temple to meditate and is caught off guard there by an assassin. Fast reactions from Motoko Kusanagi and Batou keep her alive, but in the confusion the attacker slips past Section 9 and gets away.

Kayabuki repeals the Refugee Special Action Policy and becomes a target while touring Dejima. Section 9 reluctantly takes over her protection. Ishikawa and Togusa connect the Individual Eleven to the ideology of the May 15 Incident. An assassin strikes at the temple, is thwarted by Kusanagi and Batou, yet escapes.

Bearing the production subtitle Inductance, this second-season entry advances the Individual Eleven storyline and the wider refugee crisis. A lighter aside has the Tachikoma muse over Zen, comparing the clearing of worldly thoughts to purging a full cache and imagining they might link with a meditator to download enlightenment.