By far my favourite characters in Stand-Alone Complex are the Tachikomas. I don't know what this says about me, but I didn't really care if anyone else died, whether that be Bateau (he's a warrior anyway), or Saito, or even Togusa (despite being the most human out of all of them). I actually half expected Motoko to die (but I was still holding my breath during the tank fight), but the thing is, it'd be shocking for the main characters to die, but I don't think I would've felt sad.
Tachikoma (or the Tachikomas, I suppose) were the only character(s) that always smiled in the face of adversity. Their kindness, playfulness and compassion shows whenever they're on-screen, and they're always fun to watch. Examples are when they start mucking around on their missions, or the episode where one spends time with the girl, or even when they're just talking to one another. Their surprising wit in the face of a near-certain death (the song they sing for Bateau as they're being sent off to be disassembled) was hilarious. Their sacrifice at the end made me want to cry.
So this post is for the Tachikomas, the best darn character on GitS bar none. Hopefully you'll be appreciated by others who watch the show.