Reviews

The 2nd gig is a real disappointment compared to the first season of Ghost in the Shell. There are two interconnected storylines (Gouda and the Cabinet of Intelligence; The Particularist Eleven) that run side by side and eventually are tied together. It's an interesting storytelling approach but wasn't executed particularly well. They should have taken a more conventional approach by having the storylines run more in parallel within each episode, and not have episodes dedicated mainly to one or the other. I can't help but feel some coherence was sacrificed for this interesting innovation.

As far as stories go, there was nothing all that original. We have the scarred, evil antagonist (Gouda) on the one hand and the revolutionary with a heart of gold (Kuze) on the other. These are very transparently obvious archetypes and it becomes a bit underwhelming. The story gets worse over time. I'm not going to spoil anything (you can't spoil anything which is already rotten, after all), but let's just say the ending reveals that Gouda was involved with a certain country that was going to secretly use nuclear weapons on Japan. Sigh. A weak plot with stereotypical characters, leading up to a predictable, weak finale.

Oh, for sure, there were some decent parts. Saito and Pazu finally get some reasonable character development (sorely and very conspicuously missed from the first season), with episodes (13&14) dedicated specifically to the backstory of those two characters, how they joined Section 9 for example. We also get some interesting history on the Major and the other characters. Still, as before, only the Major, Aramaki, Batou, and Togusa get any real action. The rest of the Section 9 team doesn't really do or say much of interest.

We are treated to some well done computer-assisted art, although it pales when compared to the first season here as well.

There were some annoying, noticeable gaffes. Like in the first season, we still have to put up with the nonsense about "offensive" firewalls (there's no such thing, firewalls are software that intercept and block or filter traffic, you can't use them to damage any software, just lock nosy people out or keep spies within from sending stuff out.) Also, encryption only prevents people from understanding your communication, it does not prevent people from realizing that a connection is being established (the series makes this error in Episode 10). There are more annoying mistakes but I will not bore the reader with them.

Unlike the first season, the second season does not make any clever references to Western literature, which was disappointing, as I was quite impressed by how the first season worked the J.D. Salinger angle into the Laughing Man incident.

All in all, a disappointing follow up to a terrific first season.