Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

GitS: SAC Season 1

Name(s): Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex / Koukaku Kidoutai: Stand Alone Complex / Ghost in the Shell SAC / 攻殻機動隊 STAND ALONE COMPLEX / GitS: SAC
Format: TV series (26 episodes)
Studio(s): Production I.G
Original Publication Date: N/A (unknown date)

The Ghost in the Shell (GitS) franchise has my favorite universe out any sci-fi ever, and I hope they never stop making these extended universe continuities that further expand on the setting and characters. Even though many parts of the franchise are unrelated, whenever I go into them it’s with the mindset of what’s already familiar with other GitS series and I already feel acquainted with and have interest in the cast and their daily lives. I just can’t imagine it getting old. I love their world, Section 9, and I hope it never ends.

Stand Alone Complex is yet another separate continuity in Ghost in the Shell featuring the same universe, characters, and central themes. Unfortunately, as of writing, it’s the only series length Ghost in the Shell media, as the rest consists of feature length movies.

Why do I like this series so much? Because its world is one of the very few I’ve seen in sci-fi that strike the perfect chord between entertaining and inviting, and plausibility. There’s very little doubt in my mind that, given enough time (probably beyond my lifetime), we’ll have technology virtually identical to most of what’s in GitS, which makes it endlessly interesting to me. I’m already calling it brilliant and prophetic, and it’s a future to believe in, despite how GitS definitely shows its flaws.

I want to talk more about the world and its themes, but I’ll have to edit this comment in the future to do that, because I don’t feel like writing for an hour (I have anime to watch). So for now, I’m just gonna give my few complaints.

Section 9 is a really cool team all around. But only Motoko, Batou, and Togusa get a lot of screentime. Ishikawa and Chief Aramaki are also very important, but we get little look into their personal life and motivations. The remaining main characters function primarily as extra tools, nice looking grunts who are usually standing in the background while someone more “important” does all the talking. I feel genuinely bad for them always being outshone by the others, and while it’s true the characters we do see a lot of are all fantastic and permanently memorable, this weird dynamic makes Section 9 feel like less of a team than it should be.

My other complaint is that the plot itself disappointed me in a certain regard. I understand after watching it now that Stand Alone Complex is all about world-building, but the Laughing Man case seemed extremely interesting at first. Their identity was revealed far too early for my tastes, and their motivations weren’t as intense or compelling as I was theorizing in my head.

Still, Ghost in the Shell is amazing. It also has probably the greatest anime series soundtracks that will ever exist, and you should definitely start with Stand Alone Complex. Now, like I said, I have to get back to this anime.

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Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG (2004-2005)

Name(s): Koukaku Kidoutai: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG / Ghost In The Shell S.A.C. 2nd GIG / 攻殻機動隊 S.A.C. 2nd GIG
Format: TV series (26 episodes)
Studio(s): Production I.G
Published: August 16, 2014 (05:26:44 AM)

In my praises for the first season of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (SAC), I wrote that the great thing about SAC is that, while it’s a heavily philosophical series, it can be enjoyed just as much simply as a collection of mystery thrillers revolving around a well thought out, unique yet plausible sci-fi universe that’s endlessly intriguing and carried equally as much by a memorable cast of characters and great sense of visual style.

I stand by this completely, but much of 2nd GIG puts this feeling to the test. Yes, Section 9 is here, all the old tough as nails favorites, and the fictional cyberized universe is still fascinating, and the art style lends to some breath-taking backgrounds at times, but 2nd GIG occasionally comes close to obscuring them with some bland execution.

When I first tried watching 2nd GIG I got bored and put it on hold for about a year. My main reason was the new main refugee plot. Given that the series aired in 2004, I initially suspected this to be some half-baked social commentary on immigration and having little to do with Ghost in the Shell‘s hypothetical technology, focusing more on mundane realistic politics with no connection to cyberization.

This eventually changes, but it takes for about halfway through the season for things to start getting more interesting, and even when they do these problems are only mitigated and the none of this second season reaches the first in quality. It doesn’t help that it retreads old philosophical ground even though it applies the concepts in some new ways.

Remember when you first see The Laughing Man in season one? He makes his appearance with a bang and his mysterious character, motives, and symbol give him a certain mysticism that’s immediately intriguing and plants interest in the rest of the storyline. 2nd GIG had no such spark for me. Goda has a unique appearance, but his character and agenda are readily apparent and he comes close to being a standard antagonist with a superiority complex, even with any of his justification.

The first season was well known for labeling episodes as “stand alone” or “complex” episodes based on whether they were involved with the main storyline or not. 2nd GIG attempts to improve on this by making episodes that initially seem stand alone have a small tie-in to the main events; but to me, this just made the overall plot feel like it was progressing slowly with not enough new information. To my surprise, I found myself preferring the stand alone episodes of season one to two’s, as I thought expanding upon the state of society and technology of GitS’s universe was much more interesting than minor insight into the aforementioned refugee plot.

Yoko Kanno’s soundtrack isn’t as good either, but Kanno always comes through and this is still a soundtrack full of some essential material. The most particularly noteworthy aspect about it is that it’s much more electronic-focused, featuring very little guitar, unlike the first soundtrack.

So, is there anything I feel 2nd GIG does better than the first season? Just one thing, and it’s actually a slight addressing of what was my major complaint about the first season: the rest of Section 9. Yeah, those guys that aren’t Motoko, Batou, Togusa, Aramaki, and Ishikawa. I’d forgive someone for forgetting they existed before seeing this. Saito, Pazu, and Boma are still far in the background of things, unfortunately, but are each given an individual episode to shine and are given slightly more lines than the first season. It’s an improvement, but a minor one that’s nothing for me to get too excited about.

I didn’t go into much detail, but I’d say that just about covers the gist of my complaints, and as major as they are, Stand Alone Complex‘s first season was fantastic enough to have a ways to fall, and while this is probably my least favorite entry into GitS’s various anime projects, I’d never turn down the opportunity for more. The aspects of what I love about the franchise are all accounted for, but they’re surprisingly buried in 2nd GIG. Still worth any GitS fan’s time.

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Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Solid State Society (GitS: SAC)

Name(s): Koukaku Kidoutai: Stand Alone Complex – Solid State Society / GitS SAC SSS / GitS: SAC 3 / gits sac3 / 攻殻機動隊 STAND ALONE COMPLEX Solid State Society
Format: TV Movie (1 episode)
Studio(s): Production I.G

After being fairly letdown by 2nd GIG, my hopes weren’t very high for Solid State Society, yet as a Ghost in the Shell fan I have to see everything through. I’m relieved to say that I enjoyed this not only out of obligation towards the franchise, but as a great stand alone story that surpasses the second season of the series.

My main complaint about 2nd GIG was that a large portion of it was entrenched in realistic politics instead of anything specifically to do with the technology of GitS: SAC. Solid State Society rectifies this instantly, and it was with great immediate satisfaction that I was glad to see Section 9 back to solving cybercrimes rather than being a simple ground military force to control refugee mumbo jumbo.

As a brief aside, the animation quality is disappointingly not up to par for a feature film, but there is a lot of improvement in the indoor scenes, mainly in the way of darker, dramatic shading. Admittedly, this change makes the transition to outdoor scenes odd, as they look exactly the same as they did throughout the series.

Yoko Kanno’s soundtrack is as great as usual. While the second OST was much more electronic than the first, I can’t really pinpoint this one’s specific identity, though that’s no testament to its quality. Some of the more guitar-centric tracks from the first season reappear, and it’s great hearing them again and having the memories of the fantastic first season come rushing back. An ideal move in what’s meant to be a conclusion movie.

And that’s where I’ll actually leverage my only major complaint towards Solid State Society. Despite its place as a conclusion movie for Stand Alone Complex, it doesn’t fully feel like one. I was very interested in the post-time skip situation and the current status of all members and Section 9 itself, and I was more than pleased with being able to see many beautiful new backgrounds.

Seeing Section 9 have to deal with such internal disarray was something new, and it hinted at us the future of the organization. We see maturity in Motoko and Togusa, get some slight background on Aramaki, and the often neglected members of the group continually get more exposure in the dialogue, but this is all framework for a story that’s almost independent of the characters as a whole and doesn’t pay them enough attention as I would’ve liked.

I don’t feel like I have any additional questions that need answering, but there really should’ve been a more fleshed out epilogue. Granted, the quick and final two lines are excellent and make a great kiss-off for Ghost in the Shell in general. Regardless of this, Solid State Society, if not the ideal exit for such a great series, is still a highly entertaining movie that reminds of all the reasons a fan would’ve gotten interested in the world and characters in the first place.

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Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Solid State Society: Uchikomatic Days (2007)

Name(s): Koukaku Kidoutai: Stand Alone Complex – Solid State Society – Uchikoma na Hibi / Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Solid State Society – Uchikoma na Hibi / Koukaku Kidoutai Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society – Uchikoma na Hibi / GitS SAC SSS – Uchikoma na Hibi / GitS: SAC 3 – Uchikoma na Hibi / 攻殻機動隊 ウチコマナ日々
Format: Special (1 episode)
Studio(s): Production I.G
Original Publication Date: August 17, 2014

I was actually hoping this would explain what made Uchikomas distinct from Tachikomas design-wise but instead it’s just a silly take on the classic Ugly Duckling story. I generally find the Tachikomas annoying, but they’re not getting in the way of anything on this bonus short, so decent enough, I suppose.