Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2nd Gig Episodes 1–13 Review
Although I’ve watched through the first season of excellent TV anime Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (SAC) three times, up until now I’d only watched the second season once, and even then it was via dodgy bootleg Hong Kong DVDs acquired in the mid-2000s via shady ebay listings. The subtitles were so bad I didn’t really know what was happening. Although I bought the legitimate UK PAL DVDs from Manga Entertainment when they were eventually released (complete with nice shiny metal tin), I’d never got around to actually watching them. This extended Ghost in the Shell retrospective has given me the excuse to finally break open the box set and watch the DVDS.
As before, the only way to stream SAC in the UK at present is either to stump up £30 per season on Apple TV or use the soon-to-be-annihilated Funimation NOW streaming platform. Sony merged Crunchyroll and Funimation together ages ago and promised to transfer every Funimation show to Crunchyroll. That… hasn’t happened. In the UK at least, there’s over 130 shows on Funimation’s servers that are yet to be transferred, and the last tranche of transfers was back in October. Looks like come end of service on April 2nd, a significant number of anime series will completely disappear from UK streaming availability. Screw Sony! This is why you need to buy physical media. Shame that Sony’s near monopoly of the anime industry means that fewer and fewer shows now get physical releases… Thankfully, it’s still relatively easy to find SAC on reasonably-priced physical media in the UK.
SAC’s first season ended with the broadcast of episodes 25 and 26 on Japanese premium pay-per view channel ANIMAX on October 1st 2003. Eager Ghost in the Shell fans with money to burn didn’t have to wait too long for the second season — 2nd Gig — which kept the same odd broadcast schedule as its predecessor, with the debut of its two opening episodes (27 and 28) on January 1st 2004. Two episodes would continue to premiere during the first week of each month until the season’s conclusion on January 8th, 2005 with episodes 51 and 52.
Like the first season, episodes are classified under different story types — whereas the first had “Stand Alone” and “Complex” episodes, season two comprises “Individual”, “Dividual”, and “Dual” episodes. Most episodes have a stronger (or at least thematic) link to the season’s overarching plot this time, as Japan struggles with a post-war refugee crisis. Even though we’re rapidly approaching SAC’s time period, (2nd Gig is set during 2032), it’s important to know that its world has a significantly different recent history to our own.
Sharing a backstory with Masamune Shirow’s other big hit Appleseed (set 100 or so years later in the 2120s), SAC’s world is still reeling from (nuclear) World War III and (non-nuclear) World War IV. During these wars, Asia fought against Europe, while the USA collapsed into three rival nations. Tokyo was nuked, hence the building of replacement capital Newport City, where much of the GitS franchise is set (except for Mamoru Oshii’s movie, which inexplicably shifts the action to Hong Kong). Due to the invention of a micro-machine technology called “The Japanese Miracle”, Japan was able to remove the effects of nuclear fallout and heal faster than other nations. Japan now houses many refugees at various ruined cities across its archipelago, and the typically insular, borderline xenophobic Japanese people have an uneasy, fraught relationship with the foreign nationals within their borders. By 2032, these tensions reach fever point, providing the background for the political situation in 2nd Gig.
While Kenji Kamiyama continues to hold the reins as director and chief writer, this time movie director Mamoru Oshii is more directly involved in the plot of 2nd Gig. Perhaps this may explain some of the tonal and thematic similarities to his excellent Patlabor 2 movie (probably my favourite of all Oshii’s films). 2nd Gig picks up many months following the conclusion of the first season, with Section 9 reconstituted, but not yet fully reinstated to active, legitimate duty. As in my previous articles, we’ll go through each episode, briefly, in turn. We start with a trio of “Dividual” episodes.
Episode 27, REEMBODY does an excellent job introducing the new status quo. Following the fallout of the Laughing Man incident, there’s a new (female) prime minister, but the same old sluggish bureaucracy slowing down Aramaki’s plans to reinstate Section 9. A potentially catastrophic terrorist incident caused by a group calling themselves “The Individual Eleven”, protesting against the Japanese government’s refugee policy, triggers the new Prime Minister to allow Section 9 to defuse the situation, promising post-intervention retrospective legitimacy. This provides us with ample opportunity to see our favourite anti-terrorist unit do their thing, with stealth, liberal application of lethal violence, and a skintight suit-clad Major Kusanagi engaging in her preferred thermoptic camouflage eveningwear. And the Tachikomas return! Hooray!
NIGHT CRUISE continues the refugee theme briefly introduced in the preceding episode, with Section 9 operating merely on the story’s periphery. Instead, this is a deeply weird episode, seen from the viewpoint of Asian refugee, former combat pilot, and World War IV veteran Gino. Gino is an unreliable narrator with delusions about his ability to take revenge on the rich, privileged few in Japanese society. He meets Major Kusanagi (sporting a haircut similar to that which she wore in later chapters of the original manga), and assumes she’s some kind of sex worker, which would usually be enough to get most men killed. The Major eventually concludes that although Gino harbours fantasies about assassinating people, he’s too cowardly and weak to ever be a threat. It’s… kind of depressing, in a way.
CASH EYE seems mostly disconnected from the overarching plot, and has Major Kusanagi essentially cosplaying as a Phantom Thief. The viewer is in on the subterfuge from the start, as Section 9 pretend to protect the ultra-rich and decadent businessman Tadoroko, while secretly manipulating him to open his secret vault. It’s a fun episode, though Tadoroko himself is gross, especially the way he leers at Kusanagi’s prosthetic body. The man is a real perv, so it’s gratifying that Kusanagi only has to endure his sleaze for a short while before short-circuiting his brain.
NATURAL ENEMY is our first “Dual” episode, and introduces the most hilariously obvious villain-coded character in Kazundo Goda, the detail-obsessed bald man with the scarred, asymmetrical face and spiky personality. He’s like six different Bond villains rolled into one, and we know from the outset he’s likely to be trouble. We return to the rapidly-worsening refugee situation in this one, as someone clearly wishes to inflame tensions by manipulating AI-run aerial assault vehicles to circle and then crash over a refugee-rehousing area. We get our first hint of some kind of deep-rooted conspiracy, and our first look at what will become a very familiar ouroboros-containing logo.
INDUCTANCE heavily features the new prime minister, as she caves to pressure and renounces the refugee policy the terrorists were protesting about in the first episode. This inflames Japanese/refugee tensions even further, and there is an assassination attempt by a seemingly-indestructible white-haired man, who seems similar to the Major in that he has a structurally reinforced total cybernetic replacement body. He introduces himself as “The Individual Eleven”, supporting speculation that this is a new “Stand Alone Complex”, a phenomenon without a direct progenitor, arisen from the complexity of human interaction and ideologies with the internet. I have to admit I found this very hard to get my head around before, hopefully with official, non-bootleg subtitles this time it’ll be easier to parse what’s actually going on with this plot! The little history lesson about the historical “May 15th Incident” and related essays is very interesting!
EXCAVATION is a Togusa-centric episode where he, along with the grieving fiance of a man who turned up dead in his bespoke cybernetic body, investigate some shady hiring practices in the remains of war-shattered Tokyo. It seems that even despite the “Japanese Miracle” that removed most of the fallout from the Tokyo nuke incident, there are underground pockets of radiation, including an old nuclear power plant. Mysterious forces are excavating the ruins for unclear reasons. Togusa and his new friend risk life and limb to uncover the truth, including a terrifying chase from aggressive armoured units. It’s a great episode that demonstrates Togusa’s best detective skills, though it ends darkly, and ambiguously. Perhaps the unresolved plot points from this episode will be addressed later?
239Pu continues the radioactivity theme when Section 9 are assigned to accompany the transport of lethal Plutonium rods through a refugee-colonised sector. From the outset, there’s something decidedly not right about the whole setup, amplified by the presence of Goda, who continues to quietly sneer and snipe at the various Section 9 members with his acid tongue. Obviously everything goes horribly wrong, with the needless deaths of multiple refugees and a final audacious “fuck you!” from Goda to Section 9. Just what is his problem? He’s even able to deceive Major Kusanagi, marking him out as a significant thorn in our heroes’ sides.
FAKE FOOD may be a fairly blunt criticism of veganism… perhaps writers Dai Sato and Kenji Kamiyama are dyed-in-the-wool carnivores? It’s another somewhat depressing episode where once again Section 9 are being deceived, and someone dies unnecessarily as a result. The Major and her pals aren’t exactly racking up the wins this season for sure.
In AMBIVALENCE, Kusanagi has finally had enough of Goda’s shit, and decides to hack into the Cabinet Intelligence Agency database to uncover his secrets. Surprisingly, despite it being mostly ignored by almost every single other iteration of the franchise, there’s a few overt references to the manga Ghost in the Shell 2: Man Machine Interface here. For one, Kusanagi uses her digital alter-ego Chroma once more, she uses several Tachikomas as remote digital assistants, plus there are references to the Decatoncale supercomputer, which, as in Man Machine Interface, is associated with the shady Poseidon corporation. Goda appears to be affiliated with Poseidon, or at least their Dai Nippon Corporation predecessor. Appleseed fans will know that in the future, the ultra-powerful, super-secretive Poseidon will essentially overrun Japan, replacing the nation’s name with it’s own.
I like this episode for its heavy use of cyberspace visuals, the way that hacking is depicted still holds up as cool and futuristic-looking today. Chroma’s encounter with Goda’s creepy avatar is spine-chilling, especially how events in the “real world” are juxtaposed against Kusanagi’s online endeavours. Meanwhile Togusa and Batou deal with the horrifying emergence of refugee suicide bombers. No other anime I can think of mixes such high concept, intelligent sci-fi with as compelling character work as SAC.
TRIAL is SAC’s version of a Law and Order episode, and it’s another Togusa-centric story. Togusa is dragged to court for discharging his handgun off duty when he attempts (and fails) to protect a woman from a cyborg attacker. At the perpetrator’s murder trial, the slimy lawyer for the defence attempts to steer proceedings towards prosecuting Togusa, discrediting his choice of weapon and actions. Interestingly, one can argue that Togusa did indeed screw up and let his emotions get the better of him. This is a pretty dark episode, as it shows how this future Japan’s legal system can be compromised by outside influences (in this case it’s likely Goda arranging for this particular lawyer to drag Section 9 through the mud). There’s also a reference to Boma’s side job as hit-and-run-driver-for-hire from the manga, which was originally (I think) supposed to be humorous, but it’s clear in this case that Kusanagi arranges for her minion to severely injure the perpetrator and his lawyer in punishment for their actions. I know that Section 9 are supposed to be the “good guys”, but sometimes their actions are morally reprehensible.
AFFECTION is an incredible episode that leans into the more existential, conceptual side of SAC. During a routine new recruit testing procedure, Major Kusanagi wanders into a seemingly empty part of the city and finds herself in a mysterious shop run by an old woman who claims to store external memory sources for her clients. Kusanagi is intrigued to see two cybernetic child bodies (one of whom who looks… strangely familiar), and the shopkeeper relates their tale. It’s very clear from context that the girl was child Motoko Kusanagi, and this is is her origin story. At the age of six, Kusanagi and the boy sat next to her were the sole survivors of a catastrophic plane crash. The boy became paralysed, retaining only the use of his left arm, while Kusanagi remained in a coma for months. The boy spent his time folding thousands of origami cranes in the hope that the girl would wake up. When Kusanagi deteriorated, requiring emergency surgery, he thought she had died.
Two years later, a girl comes to visit the still-paralysed boy in the hospital to convince him to accept a prosthetic body like she had. He refuses unless she can use her clumsy cybernetic hands to fold paper cranes. She fails, and is unable to convince him to change his stubborn mind. Only after she leaves does he realise she was the girl who had laid in the bed next to him in a coma. Kusanagi asks what became of the boy and learns he did eventually accept a prosthesis, but his whereabouts are unknown. She then demonstrates her ability to fold a paper crane and hints that she’s still searching for “the first boy she ever loved”. It’s a tragic, almost fairy-tale like story that humanises Kusanagi in a way the manga and movie never managed to. It’s one of my very favourite SAC episodes, mainly for its mysterious, dreamlike tone.
Episode 12, SELECON, is where the grumbling Individual Eleven plot really starts to ramp up. Boma almost wrecks his brain by infecting it with a virus that activates once the mind it infects accesses certain information (in this case, the collected essays of fictional revolutionary socialist author Patrick Sylvester), which is certainly one disturbing application of meme theory. It seems this virus can trigger suicidal actions in people, and at the end of the episode there is a deeply graphic, disturbing scene of mass suicide by mutual beheading via katana. This is the one single scene from 2nd Gig that stayed with me over the last almost two decades since I last watched it. We also spend a bit more time with enigmatic antagonist Hideo Kuze, the full-body prosthetic cyborg who attempted to assassinate the Japanese Prime Minister a few episodes previously. He’s the only one who escapes the rooftop mass suicide with his head still attached. It seems the “Individual Eleven” essay by Sylvester that has been mentioned multiple times doesn’t actually exist as no-one can find a written copy anywhere — suggesting that, like season one’s Laughing Man case, this is another one of those Stand Alone Complexes. My brain kind of hurts now.
Marking the halfway point of the season, MAKE UP is a rare Pazu-centric episode where his previous womanising ways come back to bite him in the ass. There’s more Pazu scenes and dialogue in this episode than there is in the rest of the franchise combined. After a case of mistaken identity where Pazu is accused of murder, he gets to fight a cybernetic doppelganger of his physical body that’s inhabited by the cyberbrain of one of his (apparently many) spurned exes. It looks like the (recently murdered) artist who sculpted the Pazu-doppelganger’s face was the same one who provided Hideo Kuze with his. Despite this being a fairly stand-alone “dividual” episode, in common with its contemporaries in 2nd Gig, there’s more of an effort here to tie them (albeit loosely) into the overarching main plot. It does give the impression of a more cohesive, heavily serialised story. It holds up very well to binge-watching. It drove me nuts watching this in short chunks over the course of a year, back in 2004.
Overall, 2nd Gig has been excellent so far. It seems darker and more serious than the first series, and this is reflected in its almost universally more sombre blue and green-tinged colour palette. The opening song Rise by Tim Jensen and Origa is absolutely fantastic, as is chilled closer Living Inside the Shell by Shanti Snyder and Steve Conte. They’re both such atmospheric songs. Yoko Kanno’s music during the episodes are also excellent, with heavily techno-influenced rock and dance tracks that kick in to complement the superb action sequences. I almost can’t believe how good this show still looks after two decades. Few modern anime are so detailed or smooth with their animation, or so well-choreographed with their action sequences. 2nd Gig was absolutely top tier anime for its time, and I expect if it were to be released now, it would still hold up against its more modern rivals. I can’t wait to finish the second half of this season. I’ll be back soon to report on how it went!
