a5c7b9f00b The second season of Ghost in The Shell: Stand Alone Complex begins with Section 9 being called back to work after a hostage situation of concern to the Ruling Party renders the Police useless. The entire team returns to the front lines: Kusanagi, Batoh, Togusa, Ishikawa, Saito, Paz &amp; Borma, with four of the original Tachikomas restored after the firefight of Episode 26. The hostage situation announced the rising of a new terrorist cell, which takes much after another one in the headlines of today&#39;s papers. The Individual Eleven, whose members are neither individuals, or total up to eleven are a new threat to Public Security. How does a specialized public security group face an enemy more faceless than the &quot;laughing man&quot; during a time of political unrest? Among the broad changes from the first show involve the new ruling party, headed by the new Prime Minister Kabayuki after the prior ousting in GITS: SAC, the Japanese Residents caught in the middle of the affairs and paying the taxes for jobs they&#39;re going to lose in a time of recession, and the downtrodden &quot;invited&quot; Asian Immigrants of the Second Vietnamese War who were brought to Japana half-hearted humanitarian act from the government who was really just seeking cheap labor. And just who is the man called &quot;Gohda&quot;, a mysterious new &#39;supervisor&#39; (don&#39;t worry, Aramaki still runs the group) who appears to be calling the shots for Section 9 during certain missions? He calls out ordersif he was in charge of the group, yet has no apparent loyalty or respect to the government, military or Section 9. In a future Japan, Major Motoko Kusanagi operatesa key agent of Section 9 of internal security under Chief Aramaki. Together with her support crew and a group of quadraped enforcement droids who operate with childlike enthusiasim, they confront the numerous threats facing Japan. However, their opponents are predominately capable of using the advanced technology around them to their considerable advantage and it will take all the talents of Section 9 to stop them. I watched the entire series 1 and 2 whilst I was supposed to finish my thesis - nagging deadlines, raging teachers and what not could not dissuade me from watching this first, then finish my Master&#39;s degree - one has to set priorities! The series is brilliant for a number of reasons: 1. The animation. Admittedly notbrilliantthe movies, but I didn&#39;t expect that either: series work on a lower budget per minute of animation produced. Considering that, what they&#39;ve achieved is just so magnificently well executed, it just took my breath away.<br/><br/>2. The soundtrack. Both title tracks are sung by Origa, and by Jove, are those song &#39;hooks&#39;: even if you donlt care for anime or watching TV anyhow, these tracks glue you to the screen form the first second you hear them. Good job.<br/><br/>3. The Plot &amp; Philosophy. Even though I&#39;ve seen series with a bit more &#39;driving&#39; plots (these series being certain seasons of X-files, Millennium and Buffy the Vampire Slayer), the overarching polt is just amazing. I spent half my days googling all the hints, reading &#39;Catcher in the Rhye&#39; and Baudrillard and more, just to make sure I wouldn&#39;t miss any possible hint or twist.<br/><br/>4. Philosophy &amp; the Future. Next to the philosophical underpinnings of the plot, there&#39;s also the technicological future the makers foresee. Whereas in the movies we got to see more of the development of &#39;individuality&#39; under the advancements of technology, we get to see more of the development of &#39;society&#39;, harking back to the original manga-series a bit more. Here also the production team show their intellectual savvy. Although they saved the guest appearance for Donna Haraway for the movie &#39;Innocence&#39;, this series has &#39;Cyborg Manifesto&#39; written all over it. But their vision goes even beyond these more airy abstract questions: the picture they paint of what the everyday details of future life would be like, are just so incredibly real and on target, it just blows your mind away.<br/><br/>I truly believe that this series accurately describes what our future looks like - and every time I hear a news item stating that &#39;scientists have succeeded in linking this and this computer programme directly to the human brain&#39; or &#39;more and more shops are opening up in Second Life&#39; or whatever, I now constantly think: we&#39;re one step closer to Ghost in the Shell. So, even if you don&#39;t like anime, go see this. You&#39;ll see your own future. I couldn&#39;t believe that someone compared the series with the movie and found it lacking. It is true that it transforms the very cool idea of Ghost in the Shell into a police series, but the underlying idea of Stand Alone Complex is very consistent with the one in the movie: the evolution of the soul.<br/><br/>Now I don&#39;t mean to sound too smart and start explaining the series. It is well done, with nice music and interesting suspense technique. Any GITS lover should watch it, that is for sure. As any movie transformed into series it does have its faults. Sometimes the plot is described by the characters talking to each other and there are inconsistencies in the way the technology is used, but taking into account it is a 2 season of 26 episodes each anime, it does well.<br/><br/>I do feel that the second season was so disconnected from the first that it almost becomes a separate series. I didn&#39;t like that. Fill-up episodes when nothing pertaining to the main story is happening also did not make me enjoy it more, but the atmosphere and the world of GITS is detailed enough to keep you waiting for what is going to happen next.<br/><br/>I am not fanatic enough to kill someone if they don&#39;t continue either the series or the movies, but I am close enough. :D Get to work! Good work, that is.
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354 weeks ago