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Digital
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Monday, 10 November 2008 00:00 |
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 26 episodes of one of the best shows of recent years for less than £1/episode (if you use the series pass option) - the folks at Manga are feeling awfully generous at the moment, and their generosity is our gain - unless you insist on having a Japanese track. No release is perfect, I guess...
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, 2nd Gig is the second of Manga's TV shows to hit iTunes, and while it may have made more sense to put 1st Gig online first, you have to agree that it's a high-profile, high-quality series to get started with. As you'll probably know by now, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex follows the adventures of cyborg Major Motoko Kusanagi and her colleagues in Public Security Section 9, with this season dealing with the attempts by the shadowy Goda (from the Cabinet Intelligence Office) to use man-on-a-mission Kuze to create the conditions necessary to overthrow the Japanese government. If that sounds horribly complex, don't worry - it's not, and it's definitely easier to follow than the first season's Laughing Man story.
At the start of the series, Section 9 are still out of action, thanks to events at the end of the first season, but a hostage situation at the Chinese embassy gives them a chance to earn their active status back - but only if they can resolve the situation without civilian casualties. A group calling themselves the "Individual 11" are behind the attack, hoping to force the government into dealing with the country's refugee problem - although unknown to them, the Government was about to announce plans along the lines of their demands anyway. The issue still needs to be dealt with, though - preferably quietly - and that's where S9 come in. The mission is just the start in a string of events that, if the Major and her team aren't careful, could see the end of democracy in Japan and the release of nuclear weapons within the country. The story initially develops in a way that tries to intrigue rather than explain things outright, and leaves a number of questions unanswered: Is the "Individual Eleven" one man or many? Just who is Goda working for - his own personal agenda or someone else? Why are Section 9 being sidelined? Is the PM a victim in all of this or somehow pulling the strings? Those are just a few of the questions that came to mind while I was watching the early episodes, and none of them are answered until later in the series. It's fairly clear that Goda knows a lot more about what's going on than he tells anyone, and he seems to play Section 9 and others for fools as his maneuvering continues to catch them off-guard. He's definitely the most enigmatic of the characters in this series, and while his appearances are kept to a minimum he's definitely one to watch.
There are also a few little surprises thrown into the mix, hidden away in what seem to be standalone stories, with pieces of information about Motoko's past that only reveal themselves as relevant later in the series. I do enjoy little touches like that, as they both develop the characters and make me appreciate that some effort has gone into the storytelling. The only downside of the stand-alone stories is that they sometimes make the main story arc feel disjointed or forgotten about - but that's always just a passing feeling.
By around episode 20, events are coming together and the story begins to build towards its climax. These episodes were a lot less action-focussed than I had expected them to be - SAC is the more action-oriented side of the GitS franchise, it's the end-of-series climax, so I had reckoned on it being a non-stop gunfight throughout, but while there is a fair amount of action it's heavily interspersed with talkie scenes of the sort that would be more associated with the movies. They're not always particularly useful or interesting, either, so they break up the story in a way that I didn't exactly welcome.
That's not a big enough fault to spoil the show, though, which overall can only be described as impressive. The main plot details are properly dealt with and there's no use of the dreaded Big Red Reset Button during the ending, making it very satisfying to watch. The only downside is that there's no sign of a 3rd Gig yet - with Ghost in the Shell being such a cash cow for all concerned, though, I strongly suspect we'll be seeing more of Section 9 in the future.
I have no problems recommending 2nd Gig to anyone, even at full DVD price. If you want that Japanese track, that's what you'll have to get - it'll cost you £40 retail, but for a show of this standard that's a gimme. The lack of that track also sees this download option reduced to four stars - but if you're a dub fan anyway, there really is no reason not to get this, with the season pass price having been set so reasonably. Very highly recommended.
For full episode summaries and screenshots, see page two of this review onwards.
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