Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig

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Origin: Second season of the Ghost in the Shell TV series

Studio: Production I.G.

Made in: 2004

Genre: Seinen / action / thriller

Premise: Several decades in the future: Section 9 is back, and this time they get involved in a potentially explosive political situation involving refugee tensions. The creators stated that they wanted to throw Section 9 against a problem too big for them to handle.

Who thought it up? Kenji Kamiyama is chief director, as with last season, and Mamoru Oshii is credited with "story concept." Apparently, they crew brought Oshii in for a day to brainstorm about the plot.

Show x Show: It's Law & Order crossed with The Matrix

Episodes: 26

Anime Review
Is there a plot? Very much so. Multiple factions are involved, and Section 9 spends much of its time investigating and discussing possible leads.

Does the end feel satisfying? Oh yeah. A few moments felt a little forced, but it was a hugely effective and powerful ending

Does Section 9 rock? They rock.

Are the Tachikomas back? Spoilers....

How seinen is it? There's a lot of talking, heads exploding in showers of blood and teeth, and ruminations on what it is to be human. On par with an average Mamoru Oshii film, but less boring.

Really, is it boring? While there are quite a few scenes of people standing around tables talking, this is balanced with high-quality action sequences of Section 9's blazing guns. It's no worse than an average cop drama's amount of dialogue.

Ratio of plot episodes to stand-alone episodes: About 1:1 overall. The plot episodes are usually clustered together, too.

Can I show it to my Mom? It's probably a bit too violent for your average Mom to enjoy on her own, but it's a fantastic example of anime that's not Pokemon. If nothing else, it'll show her that anime is more than just wild hair and ninjas.

Can I show it to a non-anime fan? Please do. This is the perfect show to impress non-anime fans.

Sheet count (drawings per second): Very high by TV standards. Production I.G. does a great job of marshaling their cels for the action sequences.

Believability of animation: While I noticed a couple of stiff walking sequences, they were extremely rare. More importantly, the action sequences managed to be super-human while being believable.

Does the art quality vary from shot to shot? There are a few shots in which the character designs switch around significantly, but it's more a matter of different design interpretations rather than poor ones.

Quality of action sequences: Very high. There's not a single under-funded action sequence.

Music: Yoko Kanno at her best. This soundtrack is a bit more ethereal than the first season's.

Editing: Top-notch. Lots of brief cuts where necessary (particularly expensive in animation, so a sign of high quality).

Direction (use of camera angles, etc.): Love it. Lots of unusual camera angles and shots composed to provide a lot of information.

Voices: The classic Ghost in the Shell cast. No duds (except for a few "Man in Street A"s), in both the Japanese and English dubs.

Availability: Licensed by Bandai Entertainment as 7 DVD volumes, all released. Special Editions include figurines of various characters.