This is the 2nd part of the Stand Alone Complex story-line, so you would expect some improvements over the first part/season, and thats just what it did. The series had quite a cast of characters, and it's quite visible that they put some effort into making them all distinct, and unique, they did quite a job at that. The main plot focuses on only The major (Motoko Kusanagi), Togusa and Batou, and in the first season they left the rest of the team left out, however, in 2nd Gig, they tried to fix that and they made some time for some of the other characters. Although they left out two of the team (Borma and Ishikawa), but nevertheless, they did a good job with the other characters.
The story is mainly episodic but, unlike the first season, this time, they actually all get connected nearing the end. I felt like shows a lot of Motokos past, along with some of the other characters, making them more memorable, the only complaint I have on this, is the lack of screen-time for the supporting characters, but still that didn't stop them from being distinct or memorable. Some of the side characters had their own episodes showing their pasts, but during actual events they don't really show much. The villain is amazing, the story itself connected really well and went smoothly, even though it has a lot to do with politics, and cyberpunk themes at the same time, it makes it interesting.
The concept of a "Stand Alone Complex" is great, its may give people who don't like episodic in general some ammo to dislike the concept, especially in first season, but in this, its more connected, the singular stories are even better, and you would just know how important every episode is while you watch it.
There's not much to say about the animation and music. The OST was brilliant, done by Yoko Kanno, it is beautiful, I could listen to nearly every track in the OST alone, and the opening "Rise" by Origa added a great touch to the anime, and better yet, the opening video isn't in that hideous 3D animation like the first season, its animated just like the rest of the show, it fits perfectly and gets you excited for the anime, and as for the ending "Living inside the shell" by Steve Conte, was not only one of my favourite endings, but also one of my favourite songs in general, I loved his vocals from the Cowboy Bebop OST, actually, I think 2nd Gigs OST rivals cowboy bebop. The only issue I found in the music was that the ending didn't have any animation, if they had anything for us to see like pictures of the characters like the first season, but still, a great song, and nearly all the music in the OST is amazing.
The animation was quite fluid, and its art style really fit the show and the theme, but for some reason, I didn't really notice or just stop to look at the animation or the art in general, except on some parts where you would notice how beautiful the faces were made, but at other times its just bland, doesen't really captivate you, but still pretty goodlooking.
In overall, this is not only good for its own story, it gave us a whole new story and still somehow maintained a good link with the first one, fixed nearly all the flaws of the first part, such as showing more of Section 9 team, and making the villain much better, it didn't exactly go all the way to making a perfect anime, but its still amazing and I highly recommend it.
The first part is still amazing, this just gets better.
