Koukaku Kidoutai S.A.C. 2nd GIG

Title:Koukaku Kidoutai S.A.C. 2nd GIG
Ghost In The Shell S.A.C. 2nd GIG
攻殻機動隊 S.A.C. 2nd GIG
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - Production I.G.
R1 License - Manga Entertainment
The laughing man Stand Alone Complex is over. The team has been shattered and reborn under the control of the new female Prime Minister Kayabuki. Motoko and crew now have to deal with a new threat called the Individual 11, a terrorist organization that seems to be fighting for the rights of a batch of refugees coming from the mainland.

This series focuses on events just after GITS SAC. While the Individual 11 is the primary target (Like the Laughing Man) we also learn about the pasts of Motoko and crew including some background on the Tachikomas.

[TV series, 2004, 26 episodes, 24 min; produced by Production I.G.,]

See also:
1:27min Series Opening - YouTube Video
Episode Details 
01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent Forbin #
All R1 Episodes Watched
Drama : High
Action : High
Comedy : Low
SciFi : Low
Ecchi : Low/Med (A Motoko FS Scene!)
Ok 1st Gig had me at the edge of my seat. The 2nd gig had me watching. The Laughing Man was a good plot point that went all over the episodes. The Individual 11 was sorta a pointless plot that honestly was the most complicated plot to do one simple thing. Now that it was over (and I am PISSED at the ending), it was nothing. There was nothing in it that lasted in me now that it is over. It's a good show but 1st Gig was definitely a superior product.

What Did I like about it?
  • The Tachikoma's: They are more intelligent and are able to make their own decisions.
  • Mokoto's backstory: It was just lovely. It was a filler episode but I did want to know her backstory.
What Did I hate about it?
  • The whole plot. It was a waste of time.
  • What happened to most of the people at the end. Waste of time.
  • There is no way Kuze could keep in touch with all those people at once.
  • The EMP generator should've shut down a lot more than just the cyberbrains.
  • The whole sub plot with the other nuclear bomb. That was a waste of time.
What was the most memorable scene?
  • Motoko talking to the lady about the car with the 2 children in it.
FYI for those of you who watch Planetes. The Lunarian is the voice for Batou's personal Tachikoma.

So it ends up a low rent. The exact reason why I don't watch non comedies. It ticks me off when they end it this way.

Last updated Sunday, September 17 2006. Created Thursday, August 31 2006.
Rent 9 10 7 7 8 8 Devil Doll #
[Score: 78% = Rent; Episode ratings: 5-10-9-9-8-8-7-8-4-10-6-10-3-10-8-8-7-4-6-8-10-8-9-9-9-6. Recommended SciFi/Mecha animes: Shin Seiki Evangelion, Uchuu no Stellvia, Koukaku Kidoutai STAND ALONE COMPLEX]

The best thing about the prequel had been the "Laughing Man" storyline; we'll see whether the "Individual Eleven" will be as interesting. While the prequel had one main antagonist this 2nd Gig has two of them, offering more mystery and a more complicated (yet not more complex) plot.
In terms of Art and Animation this series keeps the high standards of its prequel. While I loved "Inner Universe" I hate the OP of 2nd Gig and consider the ED merely boring, thus I fast-forward through the OP & ED sequences of each episode, thus downgrading the otherwise decent Music (most notably during the suspense scenes) to a lower grade.
There are several Story elements that I dislike, including the clichéd "good guy with beautiful face, bad guy with ugly face" (although the idea is explained in epic length), the subplot of Kusanagi's first love (no, I didn't like that, so Characters doesn't get a higher rating than in the 1st Gig even though the sniper's solo episode was the highlight of this series for me - my favourite character of this series is Kayabuki), and the silly Tachikoma omakes (which are less related to the current episode than they were in the prequel and contrast too sharply from the overall pessimistic/depressi­ng atmosphere of this series; they're not what I want to see a few seconds after a shocking episode ending which this series will provide every now and then).
Most of the first 8 episodes are good at least, building up the scenario for this series. But during the middle part there are three very weak episodes (9, 13 and 18) with three episodes (10, 12 and 14) being exceptionally good. So this series became a mixed bag - you never know what's next, great suspense or "major nonsense" (and yes, that's a pun).
What's good about the 2nd Gig is that it's less episodic in nature and less violent, putting more focus on political aspects. The creators make good use of the parallel plots as to make certain problems more plausible (like Section 9 being short on people for their actual task). Unfortunately I consider the final episode rather weak (everything falls apart without any particular reason - the mastermind had so many chances to win but couldn't make use of any of them), destroying a lot of the tension that has been built up before. In the end, GITS SAC had the far better story - but 2nd GiG still has a number of outstanding episodes that reward a high "Rent" rating. Given that the effect of this series is based on the performance in detail rather than on the main story (whose ending is obvious anyway), the rewatchability should be pretty high.

Last updated Friday, June 06 2008. Created Monday, August 14 2006.
Unevaluated Jan-Chan #
continuation of the first season, currently being fansubbed. More later.

Last updated Tuesday, February 01 2005. Created Saturday, January 22 2005.

Other Sites
NameURL
Official Series Web Site http://www.production-ig.co.jp/anime/gits4/

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