Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
ShotgunHelmet
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 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 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 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 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…
Read at the sourceDarkGyraen
It’s hard for me not to lavish praise upon the altar that is Ghost in the Shell, as I’ve always found the entire franchise to be among the pillars of great anime science fiction. Each movie and show has delved deep into psychology, spirituality and even to some degree religion. The question is how would Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG stand up to the incredible first season and movies. The answer is: it continued to raise that bar of excellence in this franchise.
Story: I don’t want to go into too much detail about the story of 2nd GIG, since it’s a key factor in why this is such a great show. The basic premise is the same as the first season really. The key group of Public Security Section 9 is re-established after the events of the first season and is immediately thrown…
Read at the sourceSkyfall
After watching the fantastic first series of SAC I could not wait to get sunk into the 2nd Gig, however I was only met with disappointment. What made the first series so compelling and original was totally missing in 2nd Gig.
Let me explain; what made SAC different from other anime was the way in which it retold classic crimes with that twist of GITS universe. The plots were always interwoven with tales of morality based on technology and crimes were often solved with the application of complex technology based approaches.
Secondly the very strong characters help to put it all together, whilst they are well defined and linkable they are never take themselves too seriously.
Sadly a lot of these factors were missing in 2nd Gig;
Firstly there are a lot of character development episodes,…
Read at the sourceLeibstandarte
I love the complex story telling. Even though there are a lot of twists in the plot, in the ends it easily merges and effortlessly tells the story.
The sound perfectly conveys the mood of a particular moment whether it is poignant, action filled, suspense. I gave the highest points to both story and sound because much effort has been put into it as evidenced by watching 2nd Gig.
I love the animation, I just hope they kept it more realistic like in the movie or the series' first season. Sometimes Motoko's eyes are too big, she often looks like an anime (well?) character because of the exaggerated features.
Overall it is a brilliant piece of cyber punk anime, one you could categorize as the thinking man's anime! Loved it very much and I recommend it to everyone.
Read at the sourceelc1247
Overall: This is actually one of my favorite anime series, when you watch it right after GitS:SAC, it flows pretty well. If you like a pretty deep sci-fi psychological action thriller, then GitS:SAC 2nd G will do well in pleasing you.
Story: I thought the story was quite good, though it does not top the original SAC story, it did make quite an impression however. There were plenty of twists in the story to keep you guessing all the way till the end. One thing to look out for is the explaining, they usually spend a decent amount of time explaining situations, so be prepared for lots of dialog.
Art: well its GitS, the art is very good and fluid, considering that it gets about 30million yen/ episode budget. The backgrounds and scenes are colorful and rich, they almost always fit the mood as…
Read at the sourceQwerkzy
The 2nd gig is a real disappointment compared to the first season of Ghost in the Shell. There are two interconnected storylines (Gouda and the Cabinet of Intelligence; The Particularist Eleven) that run side by side and eventually are tied together. It's an interesting storytelling approach but wasn't executed particularly well. They should have taken a more conventional approach by having the storylines run more in parallel within each episode, and not have episodes dedicated mainly to one or the other. I can't help but feel some coherence was sacrificed for this interesting innovation.
As far as stories go, there was nothing all that original. We have the scarred, evil antagonist (Gouda) on the one hand and the revolutionary with a heart of gold (Kuze) on the other. These are very tra…
Read at the sourceamaity
NOTE: If you haven't seen 'Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex' I recommend you watch that first. I have reviewed that as well.
Just when one thought that with 'Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence' and 'Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex', this franchise had reached its pinnacle, Studio I.G. came up with GiTS: SAC 2ng Gig.
It carries over the same qualities that made the first series such a brilliant watch - an excruciatingly complex plot with conspiracy, intrigue and plenty of action and smashing music. The reason why this tops the first season is the more personal feel. Character development, that was mostly sidelined in the first season, is present aplenty in the 2nd gig. You feel you're delving into the lives of the men and woman of Section 9. You get a glimpse of the pasts of t…
Read at the source