Review of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Complete 2nd Gig Box Set

Introduction

`Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex`, the anime series based on the popular cyberpunk manga by Masamune Shirow, returns for a second run after the success of the first. Unrelated to the movie series, the serial adaptation sticks closer to the original source as it follows the exploits of Section 9, a team of ex-military combatants brought together to create a crack cyber-crime strike force to police a futuristic vision of Japan circa 2030.

The second season (or `Gig`) more or less picks up where the first left off. After appearing to be hung out to dry by the government top-brass over the Laughing Man incident/CS vaccine cover-up, Section 9 reforms as an off-the-books back-up squad for other departments, although when they successfully dissolve a terrorist stand-off, the team are re-instated to office as Public Security`s cyber-crime specialists. But it isn`t long before their role changes once again, as political tensions over an influx of Asian refugees result in several unrelated terrorist atrocities blighting the city. Charged with putting an end to the unmitigated acts of public violence, Section 9 find themselves answering to a liaison officer from the Cabinet Intelligence Agency named Gohda, and facing a new enemy in the form of the `Individual Eleven`, which at first appears to be a loose affiliation of stand alone terrorists cells, but turns out to be something much worse.

This complete 2nd Gig boxset from Manga is the 7-disc set featuring all 26 episodes.

Video

An impressive transfer in anamorphic 1.78:1, with the only flaws being a touch of apparent softness and the odd spot of banding on the backdrops that feature blocks of colour with gradual shading - but you`ll be lucky to find an anime transfer without those small niggles. With `Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex` from Manga, you`re pretty much at the unchallenged peak of anime transfers, although MVM have been putting out some stock in the same league recently.. The 2nd Gig has a palette that`s colourful without being cartoony, and yet retains the gritty sci-fi flavour necessary to make the world believable. Still using the slightly simpler style of design compared to the movies, the character design is spot on, with highly animated faces and smooth animations. Talking of which, to what is sure to be cries of anguish from oglers everywhere, half dominatrix/half cutie pie Major Kusanagi finally puts on some clothes. Bikini briefs and a bomber jacket may suffice for chasing down dangerous hackers, but real terrorists require something of a sharper dresser, apparently.

Audio

Four Dolby Digital tracks, 5.1 and 2.0 in both English and Japanese. The surround tracks display a great awareness of the soundstage, with effects flying at you from all directions and a real kick to the bass. If you opt for a stereo option, you`ll find tracks that are fairly intense for two-channel, with both good volume and clarity. The English dub is certainly one of the more adept translations, making very few major changes from the Japanese track, and with high-end voice acting. There are occasions when lines sound a little stilted, but they`re few and far between. You`re pretty much in good hands whichever your audio preference.

The show is scored remarkably well, with incidental music which always seems to fit the mood perfectly, whether pulsing beats for the action-intense scenes, the high orchestral for tension or something a little more melancholy. Sadly, they`ve done away with composer Yoko Kanno`s magnificent `Inner Universe` opening theme, which surely must be some form of sacrilege. Thankfully though, she does return with a new song `Rise`, as does Origa on vocals, which while not in the same league, it is still a great tune and the best Eurovision techno-pop entry that never was. Gone too is `Lithium Flower,` the awesome rocker that closed the show, and in its place is something that isn`t an awesome rocker. Bah!

Features

`Tachikomatic Days`, the micro-series featuring a minute-long episode tacked onto the end of each `GitS: SAC` installment, returns with the 2nd Gig, and the silly exploits of the AI `Think Tanks` - the real heart of the main series - are just as amusing as ever. The boxset also contains interviews with the main players from the cast and crew spread across the discs which prove to be well worth watching.

Conclusion

Now this is what anime is all about; epic, dramatic, and above all, fantastic, the 2nd Gig of `Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex` is thinking man`s anime of the highest order. While the original `GitS` movie challenged the perceptions of what can be squeezed from the medium, the series never tried to venture that far. Instead, it resoundingly pushed what we`ve come to expect from a top drawer production to the absolute limits of excellence. The 2nd Gig of `GitS: SAC` continues the trend of meshing interesting, thought-provoking storylines, frenetic action and sly comedy and results in a series that is neither better nor worse than its predecessor. It`s simply just as good, only different. Marking this difference are some significant changes for the second year. For one, it`s a much darker theme, both literally and figuratively. With only a handful of episodes taking place in daylight, this year they`ve cemented the omnipresent cyberpunk feel - in many ways closely resembling the feel of the original `GitS` movie. Thematically, the gloominess comes from the backstory to the semi-dystopia of 2030 Japan that`s been directly addressed as opposed to the mere hinting at from the 1st Gig; world wars that brought the country to its knees, the resulting war refugees in their thousands, warped political instability and nuclear negotiations. So too is much more time given to displaying the dilapidated and crumbling urban sprawls that have a place in new capital Nagasaki, reminding us that in this particular future, there`s a great divide between the haves and have-nots, which is the very essence of the tale at the heart of the 2nd Gig, and which all relates to the main arc which develops over the course of the season.

It`s a particularly Japanese idiom that if a story - whether it be from their cinema, books, video games, manga or indeed anime - has modern philosophical musings, then it absolutely must be furthered in the most convoluted way possible, ie, thrashing out the ins and outs repeatedly through drawn out conversations between two characters, but god love them for it, as it`s distinctly theirs and suits the contextual flavour of `GitS` just fine; cyberpunk should never be too simple. So it`s just as well there`s enough technobabble and computer jargon here to make William Gibson blush for a whole weekend. While the main strand is less concerned with cyber-crime as per Section 9`s original manifesto, there`s still plenty of brain diving, ghost hacking and attack barriers for all, it`s just that it`s more of means to an end, than the sum of the plot. After being re-instated, changes to the political landscape and the resulting civil unrest means Section 9 takes on more of an anti-terrorist squad leaning, and so they aren`t forever chasing down run-of-the-mill hackers, instead their main focus is resolutely on bringing an end to the terrorism that`s sweeping the city. This shift away from being brimming with cyber-criminals also results in a much stronger, more traditional, flesh and blood antagonist, which just may be the 2nd Gig`s trump card over the original. The Laughing Man, a circuits and chips bad guy, was a faceless entity who represented an idea and ultimately occupied a moral middleground, whereas the monsters in the 2nd Gig are of the very human kind, displaying devilish motives and clear actions. There`s nothing as evil as man, so they say, and with that the 2nd Gig`s story is on one hand timely, on the other, somewhat evergreen; terrorism, corporate subterfuge and political malfeasance never go out of style.

With the series` division into stand alone and complex (much like `The X-Files` had monster-of-the-week and mythology episodes), the complex episodes were always the strong point of the 1st Gig. With a season-long arc split over half a dozen or so instalments, there was always room to let the narrative breathe. On the other hand, the rest - taking up the mantle of case-of-the-week - often felt smothered by the short running time, and with only 22-minutes to run through three acts to a resolution, it was the sheer ambition of the stories and a need to rush that often let the episodes down. This isn`t really the case with 2nd gig, where even the episodes that don`t appear directly tied to the main story strand have a meaning that alludes to the main case. Other stand alone episodes explore the background of the Section 9 characters - Pazu and Saito, the most undernourished of the Section 9 characters, are each given their own episode where their past or present are the focus, while the Major is given a whole episode dedicated to delving into her past. In all, the 2nd Gig episodes gel better when watched together, rather than in installments on television or in DVD volumes - which is why this boxset is such a blinder of purchase. When it comes to serialised anime, `GitS: SAC` really is the pinnacle. Anime viewers know themselves what they like and don`t like in what is becoming a medium to suit every taste, yet `GitS: SAC` always seems to find a place on the shelves of most. It`s because it really is that good. The 2nd Gig continues in the vein of the first, presenting appealing characters, good writing and a genuinely interesting show that appeals to the masses within the niche.