[Categories: Anime Reviews]
GitS SAC: 2nd Gig episodes 9-12
This part of the series seems to focus more on the characterisation side of things, which I feel is both welcome and quite important. The volume kicks off with a very interesting encounter with the troublesome Gohda, followed soon after by Togusa getting some screentime again when he lands himself in trouble…with the law, ironically.
I’m still not sure what to make of Gohda even after the interesting exchange during episode 9 - I suspect these scenes are an effort to make the series appear clever through confusing the viewer because it succeeded in making me feel lost and baffled more than anything else. That episode does however offer some action-packed terrorist hunting to give my poor brain a bit of a rest and highlights a new feature for the second season: the tachikomas now operate in the online environment as well, thanks to their newly-granted access during missions. There are an increasing number of occasions during this season in which they make themselves useful during hacking missions; and believe me, Section need all the help they can get these days.
The next episode is a surprising change of pace and theme, as Togusa winds up in the dock after an unfortunate incident in which he is in the wrong place, at the wrong time. The worst of it is, he gets into this mess by doing what can only be described as the ‘right thing’ - a problem as common in our own day and age as it is in Togusa’s (another recurring theme of the GitS universe). The issue of prejudice within a society that sees more and more people mechanically enhanced is a significant ‘take home’ message, but it is eventually revealed that the whole situation is a set-up…no prizes for guessing who’s pulling the strings!
The episode that follows shifts the spotlight from Togusa to the Major, when she quite literally takes a trip down a memory lane. The lane in question ends at a bizarre ‘repository’ of lost memories - not unlike the dreamlike sequences in the second GitS feature film actually. Maybe Mamoru Oshii or even Masumune Shirow himself had a hand in writing the scenario for this episode…? Either way, it is a short break from the Individual Eleven arc and fleshes out one of the main characters - namely the Major and her little-known early life - considerably more.
The final helping on this disc gives some much-needed screen time to Boma and Paz, two members of Section 9 who up until now had sat on the sidelines. It reveals a bit more about the Individual Eleven too, along with some nail-biting moments when Boma’s normally exemplarary hacking and snooping around doesn’t go to plan. It might end the disc in a manner we’ve been accustomed to, but overall this outing tells as much about the main cast as it does about their mission; sometimes it’s good to slow things down for a bit and look at the human element. Although background music is by definition intended to go unnoticed, I couldn’t help but be especially impressed with the vocal and melodic work on offer this time around - with little more than a week to go before my next pay packet arrives I’m already shopping for the second OST album!
Posted on July 29th, 2008 @ 3:30 am
Episode 11, Kusanagi’s Labyrinth: Affection; I would consider this one of the defining moments of 2nd gig. The Major along with the viewer will be drawn to the “physical memory” depository and will be intrigued by the shopkeeper’s story of two young children forced to cyberization.
The story of the two children is both tragic and heartbreaking, and at the end of the episode a startling revelation will come to light. It is then up to the viewer to comprehend with the little comment Motoko made, well, it actually depends if you have the English dub or English sub (both mediums could be interpreted differently).