Anime Review: Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex: 2nd Gig (English dubbed version)

The second season of Ghost in The Shell: Stand Alone Complex, 2^nd Gig brings back the familiar faces of the previously disbanded public Security Section 9. A hostage situation the police can't handle calls them back to duty, but their power is now greatly controlled. Section 9 returns with the full gamut of characters, including Major Kusanagi, Batou, Togusa and even some of the endlessly curious tachikomas. With the hostage situation comes the arrival of a new terrorist organization called "The Individual Eleven". With an identity even more obscured than the first season's Laughing Man case they're nearly impossible to track down, which is why Section 9 is put on the task.
A new government is in the works since the ending of the first season as well, led by Prime Minister Kabayuki. She finds herself facing a cabinet that doubts her power, a coming recession (and the resulting anger of her people), and an increasingly restless population of Asian immigrants who were offered refuge in Japan after the second Vietnamese War by a self-absorbed government looking to exploit them. On top of these tenuous circumstances is a man named "Gohda", a man who seems to be ordering the actions of Section 9 on specific assignments. Though he acts like he's in charge, no one really knows where his loyalties lie.

While the first season of Ghost in the Shell didn't delve too far into the circumstances leading up to the grim, harsh world depicted, 2^nd Gig goes much further to fill in the gaps. It explains how Japan stayed mostly neutral during World War III (said to have taken place between 2000-2015) and developed a system of radiation scrubbers that largely negated the effects of nuclear warfare. The series helps maintain the continuity of the GITS world without getting bogged down by details.

The first season also dealt more with cryptic questions and paradoxes regarding man as a human being and the blurring line between humanity and machine. 2^nd Gig still retains much of this "intellectual observer" quality, but dwells more on interaction between the characters and poses ethical questions concerning the desperation of the human state. The Individual Eleven plot line is a good example of this.

Following in the same vein as the separation of "Stand Alone" and "Complex" episodes in the first season, the episodes for 2^nd Gig are segmented into three designations: DI, IN and DU. "DI" episodes are similar to the first season's "Stand Alone" episodes (meaning they aren't tied directly to one of the main plots); "IN" episodes follow the Individual Eleven plot; and episodes that fall under "DU" follow the story line behind Ghoda and the Cabinet Intelligence Service.

The animation for 2^nd Gig is every bit as top notch as it was in the first season. The subdued colors of city streets contrasts sharply with brightly lit interiors, and the smooth flow of characters' movements as they react with their environment often make it difficult to remember you're watching an anime. The techno-pop music is back as well, blending in seamlessly with the futuristic and slightly gritty urban landscape.

Because of the rather graphic and realistic depictions of blood and violence, even older children should not watch this series. You also may not enjoy it if you don't enjoy realistic discussions of political machinations in a fictional city. The second season of Ghost in the Shell has more of an emphasis on the intrigue behind corruption and the chaos it can generate, but is as equally compelling a season as the preceding one was, with perhaps a bigger (and more surprising) finale.