[Categories: Anime Reviews]
GitS SAC: 2nd Gig episodes 1-4
While I admire the Ghost in the Shell films as much as anyone, the Stand Alone Complex was somehow more enjoyable. Put it down to the gorgeous soundtrack, the easily digestible TV-slot length episodes, whatever. Right from the get-go, the Second Gig promises more of the same. Great, huh? I think so…
Section Nine are back in business…more or less. After the events that marked the explosive end to the first season they are under closer supervision but are glad to be back at work at all. A new prime minister is in office: the elegant Yoko Kayabuki (below, middle). Unfortunately she appears to be little more than a puppet, despite her own obvious intelligence and insight - there is a considerably stronger political slant to the second season, but more of that in a moment.
The series kicks off as the first season did; namely a few self-contained episodes and others that link into the main story arc. While the former once bogged down the progress of the story as a whole, the second season wastes no time and we are thrown into the main theme right away. The new case is a worthy replacement for the now-resolved (and excellent) Laughing Man, involving a terrorist organisation known as the Individual Eleven. It starts with a hostage situation but there appear to be other incidents that may be linked, tying in multination corporations and who knows what else. The great thing is, even the supposed ’stand alone’ episodes have the potential to feed into the main narrative. As cruel as I feel in calling the first season’s stand-alone eps filler, that’s what they were. Entertaining, interesting but filler nonetheless.
This could be due to the GitS movies’ director Mamoru Oshii sitting in as advisor on the production committee: his input has added to the multi-layered and convincing premise of the narrative, including the aforementioned political aspect. The Japan of the SAC is not without its problems, namely the issue of foreign immigrants and the economic and social repurcussions that ensue. The SAC is now more than a high-tech cop show: it is a political thriller as well. On the downside, it is more dialogue-heavy which may leave action fanatics glazing over and missing the finer points. On the plus side the adorable tachikomas are back so we can expect their military firepower and childlike humour by the truckload.
This is all amounting to a worthy continuation of the story but apparently the writers didn’t think a few terrorists were enough for Section Nine so have created another enemy who could be even more dangerous. Before Ep #4 is over we are introduced to Gohda (not to be confused with the Dutch brand of cheese), a very shady and visually distinctive character who works for the Intelligence department. Already he has shown a ruthless and effective knack of going over Section Nine’s heads and outwitting even the shrewd Aramaki. Definitely one to keep your eye on.
Production-wise, it can’t be faulted - the clumsy old CGI-laden opening sequence (which looked like a poor man’s Appleseed) has been dropped in favour of animation more in keeping with the episodes themselves and the song Rise easily matches the glorious rush of Inner Universe. The closer, Inside the Shell, is also an outstanding effort that sounds uplifting and a little plaintive at the same time.
Summary
All in all the Second Gig is another polished and classy dose of everything we’ve come to expect from the franchise so far - it already seems to have met my lofty expectations. Now all they have to do is keep it up…I predict more tachikoma action, some more terrorist characters and Gohda causing more problems for Section Nine in upcoming episodes!
Posted on March 4th, 2007 @ 12:50 am
You will not be disappointed with this series and it actually has a bit more action than the first season later on. And also the tachikoma do play a bigger part in this seaon.
Posted on July 28th, 2008 @ 4:10 am
I loved the 2nd episode, Night Cruise. As was said in many other blogs and forums, it paid homage to Taxi Driver. I really liked the way the character Gino was portrayed as a messed up war vet who is constantly living a delusion. He had grandiose plans but he never came to carrying them out, for fear of probably losing the only constant in his life. His job.
Also the 4th episode Natural Enemy was also well made. The action was good and it was like GitS paying homage to The Matrix. =)