Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
tyler_dbz
Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex season two, for the most part, improves upon the majority of the aspects that shined in season one. The action, the music, the atmosphere, it's all there again in a more streamlined package.
It feels like there's less standalone episodes in season two, and there's more of a focus on the overarching plot. But even in the standalone episodes, there's still at least some elements that add to the overarching plot. All the characters in season two feel way more fleshed out. You see more of the backstories of more members of Section 9, and it leads to an incredibly engaging narrative.
But some of the negatives that I had with season one are still prevalent in season two, and in some cases worse. There's some poor character decisions made here and there, b…
Read at the sourceElyshion
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG, a deep and engaging sequel. I find that this second season remains on the same basis compared to the first season. It's always a pleasure to follow Motoko and her team! The plot is always more interesting and the themes broaden, mixing the problem of refugee integration, financial and political scandals. The animation and character design evolve slightly and they are still very neat. In terms of the soundtrack, I really like the opening which mixes Russian and English languages. The ending is relaxing and it is sung in English. Finally, the OST remains at the top. Regarding the French dubbing, the voices remain correct. In short, this season remains on the same wavelength as the first season, which is always so pleasant to follow!
Read at the sourceShotgunHelmet
Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex has no philosophy. It is a cop show with cyborgs in it. It's immensely disappointing that after 52 total goddamn episodes nothing fucking happens and no lessons are learned and no points are made. "GITS SACK" is stylish but it's not stylish enough to make up for how vapid it is (unlike, for example, Cowboy Bebop). Actually, it's pretty awkward and ugly and the art style suggests this sort of plastic fisher-price quality that totally betrays the maturity it tries to sell. At least the original 1995 movie played to its strengths and focused their budget on the animation.
There are no central themes. Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex appears to be "cyberpunk" but it fails to make the one point by which even the most juvenile cyberpunk fiction is…
Read at the sourceHereLiesWaste
The two seasons of this show communicate pretty well with each other. The first takes as it's main focus autotelic memetic processes, and the second then investigates how those same forces can be both manipulated and/or fabricated by agents of power like, for example, intelligence agencies. This kind of idea was obviously very sexy back in the 90's and 2000's, but the particular treatment given to it here, particularly in the second season, still feels pretty prescient and relevant today. There's definitely much more of a political focus here than in the first season too, and, though it can feel a bit hard to pin down precisely at times, whilst also working within the usual problematics entailed by presenting such a political/conspiracy thrillers from the perspective of what are, essential…
Read at the sourceMr_Yaz
Reviewer's note: This is my 3rd entry into the G.I.T.S. franchise unless you count the live-action film of 2017, starring Scarlett Johansson. Also, this review will mirror in many respect my review of the 1st S.A.C.
✪ Genre: action (gunfights), detective, mecha (android, power suit, robot), science fiction (artificial intelligence, cyberpunk, cyborgs/human enhancement) seinen, along with some other themes: law and order (cyberterrorism, police, special squads), military, nudity, political corruption, virtual world
✔Positive Aspects✔
◧ Soundtrack: a solid compilation of compositions spanning multiple genres: instrumental Middle Eastern-influenced percussion, funky jazz fusion, techno, solo piano, orchestral music (violins, violas, pianos, flutes), pop piano ballads, new age (violins,…
Read at the sourceLightningComet
In my previous review (on Eden of the East, please read it :D), I provided a long explanation and list of arguments that detail why director Kenji Kamiyama is a hack writer. I have nothing against the man on a personal level, I have never interacted with him, I currently have no reason to believe that he is not a kind person, and I have quite a bit of respect for his directorial style, but I do not find his writing very appreciable. So far, the only work of his that I thought was actually good was the first season of Stand Alone Complex (I gave it an 8). The reason I want to write a review for the season I despise rather than its better half is because I want to further my own understanding as to why it's terrible, recognize the qualities that make it so, and share them with all of you in…
Read at the sourceLaLeLuLiLo
Second Gig starts of a several months after the first season. Section 9 begins to reorganize itself after the events that took place in the laughing man case. During this time a terrorist organization known as “The Individual Eleven” begins to commit acts of terror across japan, with the hope that by doing so, they will force the refugees off japan. The scope of the series has expanded with the first series focusing on domestic terrorism on a domestic level: second Gig puts it on both a domestic and international level. Second Gig focuses on the ramification of war as the reason of the Refugee crisis was the effect of two more world wars and with WW3 being an actual nuclear war. With both wars over, but many other conflicts still going on, many people left in destitute look for refuge with…
Read at the sourceVeiledEdge
2nd Gig is a continuation of Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex. They're so similar I'd rather just talk about their differences here. The atmosphere, execution, and characters are all the same. The only thing that changes is the story. The story in 2nd Gig is simply worse, which is weird. It feels just as epic and dense, but it's not. The music, the directing, the monologues, they're all there. But, the substance is missing. It feels like a Shell of its predecessor, missing its Ghost. I know I said earlier that the characters were the same, but that's the missing factor. The Laughing Man is an incredible, plot-driving mastermind with amazing convictions and self-righteousness, while the Individual Eleven are just... bleh. 2nd Gig tries to make this "Jesus" character, but it fails trem…
Read at the sourceLegendAqua
Once more into the Stand Alone Complex cyber rabbit hole we go...
The 2nd season of Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex or "Ghost In The Shell S.A.C. 2nd GIG" once again follows Section 9 after their re-establishment by the new Japanese Prime Minister Youko Kayabuki to combat cyber-terrorism in the form of the Individual Eleven...or are the Individual Eleven the REAL villains here?...
Just like LA's first season review, S.A.C 2nd GIG has it's own form of episodes; individual, dividual and dual. The individual episodes concerns the Individual Eleven, the dividual episodes are stand alone episodes that have development towards the Section 9 members (from the Tachikoma's creation, Pazu, Togusa gets into a courtroom case to his justice being conflicted, how Saito got recruited to Section…
Read at the sourceBowlingJD
The studio that brought such anime as FLCL and the previous Ghost in the Shell (GitS) Stand Alone Complex (S.A.C.) brings a sequel to the popular series. Production I.G. along with Kenji Kamiyama, the previous director of S.A.C. and background artist for Akira, caught lighting in a bottle with season one of Stand Alone Complex. Following the events of the Laughing Man case, a new prime minister of Japan, along with Section 9, fight the threat of cyber-terrorism.
To start off, a recap of what GitS is would help. The anime follows an elite anti cyber-terrorist group called Section 9. It is a specialised group formed to fight against crime involving the evolving technology of the 21-st century. This group consists of: director Daisuke Aramake (political handler), Togusa (old school investiga…
Read at the sourcektulu007
A couple years back I reviewed Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex, and it was fantastic with complex characters and compelling writing. It's one of the few things I've given a “10” rating. There's a sequel to the series, 2nd GIG, that came out not long after the first. So, will it be up to the same standard? Let's delve in and see.
Story:
We open with Section 9 on standby, waiting for the official order that will allow them to go back into action. A group calling themselves the Individual Eleven has stormed the Chinese embassy and taken hostages. Aramaki manages to get the Prime Minister's approval and the group moves in, cementing their resurrection. Shortly thereafter, the refugee issue begins becoming more and more of a problem and the Individual Eleven name seems to keep popping…
Read at the sourcePiraHxCx
I didn't like SAC, but SAC2 is in a whole other level. It's the same staff, and they did a great job here.
There is improvements in everything; the art, the story, the characters, and I would say even the music (that was already great) got better - as the opening song felt connected to the anime, and not taking on the existentialism of the movie... even Motoko got an improvement in her wardrobe! I mean, looks like she got a pay rise and finally was able to buy some pants.
Some of the "stand alone" episodes were great, with great stories and characters, like the second episode that had all that Taxi Driver feeling on it - this one really got me into the SAC2, as it showed it wasn't going to be just another police drama - and the poker one, which was also great - is that story true? Maybe…
Read at the sourceRoneSpeak
Usually a second season of a show puts me off, I mean that's a whole lot of episodes to watch. 26 is my sweet spot, but 52? I watched the first season and could not start this fast enough, and the craziest thing happened: season 2 was even better than season 1.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex second Gig is, again, a tightly packed action/thriller. The premise of the show is sort of simple, there is a refugee crisis, a low pay work surplus, and mass immigration into Japan. Think civil unrest, and confusion between whether terrorists are locals, refugees, or even something new. Again, Major Motoko Kusanagi and Section 9 attempt to stop the crisis that is facing society: Civil War. I sure hope there's no conspiracy to spark unrest going on in the background...
Again, there are stand…
Read at the sourceCauthan
(This is a spoiler-free review adapted for this site)
[Synopsis]: The second season of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex takes place two years after the resolution of the Laughing Man incident – After resolving a hostage crisis Section 9 becomes reinstated under a new Prime Minister however becomes involved with an enigmatic terrorist organization called the ‘Individual Eleven’. Between this new terrorist threat and the numerous refugees in Japan left over from the aftermath of the Third and Fourth World Wars who’s rebellious sentiments have been stirred by recent events, Japan has turned into a powder keg and as the story unfolds it becomes clear that some of those in power are manipulating both the government and the refugees towards an all out war. Kusanagi Motoko (Tanaka, Atsuko…
Read at the sourceratchet573
Arguably one of the greatest anime films of all time, Ghost in the Shell pushed the boundaries of modern science fiction, building upon the cyberpunk genre invented by William Gibson in his momentous novel Neuromancer. It inspired The Matrix, and also inspired an anime television series that was both complex and smart without being too convoluted. Ghost in the Shell’s futuristic world is something so beautifully complex and realistic, it’s like a sci-fi author’s wet dream. With Second Gig, there is a lot to live up to. Made exclusively for Adult Swim (back when Adult Swim actually played good stuff and was not a nightly parade of Family Guy and King of the Hill reruns), Second Gig is arguably better than its predecessor.
The story is complex. Very complex. There are multiple layers to wha…
Read at the sourceacerninja
Ghost in the Shell 2nd gig, second part of the Stand Alone Complex story-line of the Ghost in the shell franchise, is one of those anime which aren't usually talked about much, but of course, you might have heard about it but not too many discussions around. Now does it deserve more recognition or it just wasn't worth noting? Oh who am I kidding, I gave it a 9, of course it does, its not perfect though, but still close.
This is the 2nd part of the Stand Alone Complex story-line, so you would expect some improvements over the first part/season, and thats just what it did. The series had quite a cast of characters, and it's quite visible that they put some effort into making them all distinct, and unique, they did quite a job at that. The main plot focuses on only The major (Motoko Kusanag…
Read at the sourceggultra2764
Continuing off from the first season, Ghost in the Shell 2nd GIG effectively makes itself into a political thriller series where what comes across at first sight as Section 9 trying to halt terrorist activity turns into an elaborate political conspiracy that once again pushes Section 9 to its limit in trying to halt. Much like the first season, 2nd GIG explores what appears to be a typical case for Section 9 to get involved in. But as they uncover more holes in facts being shown on the surface with said case, they become entangled in something much bigger than originally anticipated. In this case, the situation uncovered by Section 9 slowly develops to involve multiple factions trying to push events for their own cause resulting in things getting increasingly chaotic as events press on thr…
Read at the sourcekurzweil1024
Stand Alone Complex was based on Yoshiki Sakurai’s 2001 Media Ecology dissertation “The Whereabouts of the Other in the Future of Human-Robot Interaction” (「他我を宿す条件 ～人間・ロボット間コミュニケーションの行方～」).
It is about how the phenomenon of THE LAUGHING MAN — unique minds becoming individual components of a complex system acting as one collective consciousness (memes), and the phenomenon of THE TACHIKOMA — perfect machine copies of each other evolving individual differences, are the two inevitable consequences of data synchronization.
The interaction between these antithetical phenomena is explored on a literary level in Stand Alone Complex, and political in 2nd GiG.
Stand Alone Complex is the most cerebral anything anywhere, and it has prophesied most contemporary Internet phenomena such as Anonymous…
Read at the sourceyellowheartren
Masterpiece. Again. And just gotta love the last episode, like ep6 of Star Wars: when all the pieces of a brilliant 3D-puzzle fall into place. Quite overwhelming really, having to arrive to understand what everything's been about, even the details that made no sense earlier...but that's just like the first series, too. Same with how they close all the plotlines at the end, no open questions, no events left hanging in the air. Same with the complexity as well, woven together from many abstract layers, a feast for thought.
And just like the first series, this one's sure to make a few re-watch as well. Too deep, to full - too complex. And that's the best damn characteristic of GitS.
Read at the sourceArchaeon
"Life without truth is not possible. Truth is perhaps Life itself" - Franz Kafka
One of the keys to creating a successful story is innovation, in particular, creating something that is both interesting and relevant, but approached from a different perspective. Of all the genres of the storytelling medium, science fiction is the only one that holds up a mirror to a possible future be it good or bad. It's for this reason that the genre is often lauded and derided, sometimes by the same person, as science fiction is predictory by nature, in other words, it posits how humans would behave in certain circumstances.
During the last twenty years there have been numerous sci-fi tales in one form or another, many of which came about because of the end of the millenium. Some of them were simply te…
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