Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaGhost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG (攻殻機動隊 S.A.C. 2nd GIG, Kōkaku Kidōtai: S.A.C. 2nd GIG) is the second season of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, an anime series based on the Ghost in the Shell manga by Masamune Shirow. The second series was first aired on 1 January 2004 on the Japanese SKY Perfect satellite television network on a pay-per-view basis. The terrestrial Nippon TV first aired the second season on 12 April 2005. 2nd GIG is currently airing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block in the United States. Bandai Visual owns the DVD distribution rights in Japan while Manga Entertainment owns the distribution rights in North America and Europe. The first Region 1 DVD release of 2nd GIG in the U.S. was September 20, 2005. 2nd GIG has just been released in Europe.

The series has an associated short series called Ghost in the Shell: Tachikoma Days that was also part of the first GitS:SAC season. It is a series of comedic shorts involving the robotic mini-tanks, the Tachikoma, with characters from the first SAC and the second.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Contents
1 History
2 Main characters
2.1 Section 9 - Principal Cast
2.2 Old Recurring Characters
2.3 New Recurring Characters
3 Episodes
4 Ghost in the Shell S.A.C. 2nd GIG: Individual Eleven
5 Trivia
6 Theme songs and music
6.1 Theme songs
6.2 Music
6.3 Original Soundtrack CD
7 Staff
7.1 Producers
7.2 Writers
7.3 Art Design
7.4 Animation Directors
7.5 Post Production
8 Distribution
8.1 Official Distribution
9 See also
10 External links
 
History
Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG uncovers a significant amount of back-story that was only vaguely talked about during the first season, including information about the last world wars. Between the turn of the century and 2032, there were two major conflicts that changed world politics. The first being nuclear World War III, and the other being non-nuclear World War IV, also known as the Second Vietnam War. The increase in independent states and sovereign regions grew from the chaos of the last 30 years. The planet remains more divided than ever, and several locations exist on the planet where sovereignty falls into question; where no one is really sure who owns or governs what.

1991 Kuril Islands

Russia returned 4 Kuril Islands (including Etorufu) to Japan.
2000 - 2015 World War III

World War III was a nuclear war, occurring some time between 2000 and 2015. While very little is still revealed about the events that occurred to cause the war, evidence shows that the war started from a series of nuclear exchanges across Eurasia.
Nuclear Bombing of Tokyo - The seat of government was temporarily transferred to Niihama (Kobe) before permanent relocation to Fukuoka, Kyushu. Central Tokyo was submerged under water.
Nuclear Bombing of Okinawa
2015 The Japanese Miracle

Japan remained passive while the war went on, until the city of Tokyo was destroyed by a nuclear blast, and even then, only became involved with the war in the background, never committing JSDF forces to actual combat. By the end of the war, several of the world's powers had fallen. Virtually the only unaffected power left in the world was Japan, because the damage from the war was minimized by the Japanese Miracle, a swarm of micromachines capable of removing radiation from the environment. The arrival of the Japanese Miracle is said to have contributed to America's waning power; since nuclear fallout could now be mitigated, American nuclear weapons were no longer as powerful.
The Rise of the American Empire

After World War III ended, America was divided into American Empire, Russo-American Alliance and United States of America. The American Empire had become an imperialist government, in an attempt to regain world power by conquering new areas in North and South America. Due to a battered economy and weak political position, the American Empire entered a security pact with Japan. The pact prohibits Japan from both deploying its army overseas (Constitution Article 9) and possessing nuclear weapons.
2015 - 2024? World War IV (Second Vietnam War)

The Second Vietnam War, as its name suggests, was centered around the Siam Peninsula. However, while the conflict started in the region around Vietnam, countries around the world were still reeling in internal conflict after the last World War. By the summer of 2020, Europe and Asia were deadlocked in a futile war of attrition.
Japan had moved toward punitive isolationist policies while internally it found a strange political balance after World War III.
Recapturing of Nemuro. The Umibozu became known locally and internationally for their tactics and their skills in the successful recapture of the port city.
2020 Mexican War & South American Campaign

The American Empire called for the deployment of UN troops, under the pretext of overthrowing the corrupt Mexican and other South American governments. Through carpet-bombing, mechanized troops, and wartime atrocities such as Project Sunset (see 1st GIG, episode JUNGLE CRUISE), the combined UN forces moved through the regions to sweep up the remaining guerrillas.
During this time, hundreds of mercenary groups surface throughout the war-torn Central and South American regions, populated by the remnants of armies once connected to nations that no longer exist (Saito was a part of one of these armies before joining Section 9). Also during this time, there were several unofficial operations that involved Japanese UN troops, later as members of Section 9, including Batou, Ishikawa and Major Kusanagi in Mexico and South America.
2024 The Peninsular War (Second Korean War)

Civil war broke out in the peninsula leading to unification.
American Empire called for troop deployment under the name of UN to stabilize fighting within the peninsula.
Japan deployed UN peacekeepers in the relatively safe area of Shinuiju.
The remaining soldiers of the People's Army surrendered to the UN forces.
2024 The Laughing Man Incident

2029 Formation of Section 9

2031 Section 9 Officially Disbanded

Section 9 Disbanded
Formation of Kayabuki Cabinet after general election
Yakushima Arrested
June 9 - Tachikoma AI satellite launched
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Main characters
Image:Tachikoma 2nd GIG plastic assembly toy model up front left.jpg
Plastic model of Tachikoma, featuring design improved in 2nd GIG.[edit]
Section 9 - Principal Cast
Chief Daisuke Aramaki (Osamu Saka/William Knight) - Head of Section 9
Motoko Kusanagi (Atsuko Tanaka/Mary Elizabeth McGlynn) - a Major and 2nd in command in Section 9
Batou (Akio Otsuka/Richard Epcar) - former ranger, full cyborg
Togusa (Koichi Yamadera/Crispin Freeman) - Batou's partner, former police detective
Ishikawa (Yutaka Nakano/Michael McCarty) - specializes in online information gathering
Saito (Toru Okawa/Dave Wittenberg) - expert sniper
Pazu (Takashi Onozuka/Bob Buchholz) - rumored to be former Yakuza
Boma (Taro Yamaguchi/Dean Wein) - explosives specialist
Tachikoma (Sakiko Tamagawa/Sherry Lynn, Rebecca Forstadt, Julie Maddalena, Sandy Fox, Melissa Fahn, Lara Jill Miller, Peggy O'Neal, Bridget Hoffman) - spider-like sentient tanks (there are nine of them)
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Old Recurring Characters
Kubota (Taimei Suzuki/Michael Forest) - Army Intelligence Officer, former colleague of Aramaki
The Minister of Home Affairs (Yōsuke Akimoto/Tom Wyner) - still keeps his old job with the new cabinet, Aramaki's boss
Section 9 Forensics Team - also known as the "red coats"
Section 9 All-Purpose Female Androids (Eri Oono/Debra Rogers) - can make tea, operate computer terminals, answer telephone, pilot tiltrotor aircraft
[edit]
New Recurring Characters
Prime Minister Yoko Kayabuki (Yoshiko Sakakibara/Barbara Goodson) - First female prime minister in Japan
Chief Cabinet Secretary Takakura (Yoshinori Mutou) - The powerbroker behind the new coalition government
Kazundo Gouda (Ken Nishida/John Snyder) - Head of the Cabinet Intelligence Agency
Hideo Kuze (Rikiya Koyama/Kirk Thornton) - A member of the "Individual Eleven" terrorist group.
Proto (Ooki Sugiyama) - Section 9 new recruit, Tachikoma maintenance technician, prototype bioroid
Azuma (Masahiro Ogata) - Section 9 new recruit, field operative
Yano-kun - Section 9 new recruit, rookie and field operative.
Fumiya Dobashi (Makoto Yasumura) - Journalist, expert on the "Individual Eleven"
Yousuke Aramaki (Osamu Saka/William Knight) - Aramaki's long lost brother (previously mentioned in Stand Alone Complex).
[edit]
Episodes
See main article:List of Ghost in The Shell: Stand Alone Complex episodes.
[edit]
Ghost in the Shell S.A.C. 2nd GIG: Individual Eleven
On January 27, 2006, a movie version was released direct-to-DVD in Japan titled Ghost in the Shell S.A.C. 2nd GIG: Individual Eleven. The film edits down the series into a 160 minute version, much like The Laughing Man DVD before it. It is composed of the essential events related to the Individual Eleven storyline, and features new scenes and a remixed soundtrack. [[1] Production I.G. - English Website].

[edit]
Trivia
Episode 1 Reactivation - REEMBODY

Section 9 travels in a disguised van with "Seishinkouki Co. Ltd." logo. This is obviously a reference to Masamune's publisher Seishinsha.
There are 3 million Asian refugees living in Japan. The producer of the show remains vague about the ethnicity of the refugees. Togusa mentioned that the refugees were initially brought as a cheap source of labour after the war.
There are 5 refugee camps in Japan, Dejima Island in Nagasaki Bay, Niihama, New Tokyo, and 2 other camps in Hokkaido.
This episode includes a recreation of a scene from the original manga (and the first movie) in which Motoko jumps off of a building on a tether, shoots someone through a window in the building, turns on her active camouflage, and falls away to the ground.
Episode 2 My Gluttony - NIGHT CRUISE

Much of episode two, Night Cruise, pays homage to the Martin Scorsese film Taxi Driver, including the monologue, the gun-play in front of the mirror, the obsession with the "angel" image of Motoko undercover, his planning to assassinate his boss, and the fantasy of rescuing "prostitute" Motoko from the boss. In some scenes, New York City architecture is referenced, such as the Flatiron Building and the former seedy grindhouse theatres of Times Square, making the homage very direct.
The protagonist has a picture of Che Guevara on his wall, which can be seen during the shots of when he points his gun to the mirror
When the protagonist was talking about tomorrow being the day that would wake up the world, he was referring to 25th December 2031, Christmas day (from the wall calendar).
The protagonist quoted from a Jewish writer of the last century. "There is no life without truth. Truth is probably life itself," possibly a reference to Austrian born Franz Kafka.
According to the news program, suspect Youichi Mizawa AKA You Mintei (Yang Mingting?) was arrested for bombing the Niihama government offices. The name suggests that he is Japanese of Korean or Chinese origin. The news program also mentioned about Japanese refugees experiencing discrimination in Japan.
Episode 3 Saturday Night Sunday Morning - CASH EYE

The safe scene in episode three is directly inspired by Ocean's Eleven.
CASH EYE as a name itself, and the nature of the crime, plus the leaving of a "calling card", refer to the 1983 anime "Cat's Eye".
When preparing herself to commit the heist, Kusanagi takes off her dress the same way Catherine Zeta Jones's character did in Entrapment.
Episode 4 Natural Enemy - NATURAL ENEMY

The Cabinet Intelligence Agency is probably modelled after the Cabinet Intelligence Research Office, a small section of the Japanese Prime Minister's Office responsible for analyzing information from abroad.
Production I.G. paid homage to The Wachowski Brothers's The Matrix with the helicopter scene in the refugee sector.
Episode 5 Those with Motives - INDUCTANCE

In the TV series, Dejima is the largest refugee camp in Japan. In reality Dejima Island is an artificial fan-shaped Island located in Nagasaki Bay. During the period of Isolation, Dutch merchants were confined to the Island to prevent cultural contamination with the population under the orders of the Shogun.
The death threat letter bears the logo of the unknown organization The Refugee Liberation Organization, the same logo that was planted in the flat of the deceased pilot from episode 4. The logo reads 仇∞士, (revenge infinity warrior). The two kanji can be split into 九, and 十一 -- 9/11.
Patrick Sylvestre is a fictional political theorist who published 10 essays on the nature of revolution. Ishikawa finds out about the circulating rumour on Sylvestre's unpublished "Individual Eleven", the ideological bible of the terrorist group bearing the same name. Allegedly, this essay deals with events behind the May 15 Incident. Sylvestre could have been modelled after the Japanese author Mishima Yukio.
Episode 6 Hidden Heat Source - EXCAVATION

Tokyo was bombed during the previous world war and the former downtown area now known as "Inner Ring 7" was submerged under water. Thanks to the "Japanese Miracle", radiation removal nano-technology developed by Poseidon Industries, nuclear fall out was minimized. The Japanese capital was temporarily transferred to Niihama before permanent relocation to Fukuoka. Niihama and Kansai region remain the economic centre of Japan. Much of Tokyo has not yet recovered from war-time destruction.
Poseidon Industries is also a fictional heavy industries company often referenced in other Shirow works like Intron Depot and the GITS mangas.
The depiction of Tokyo is reminiscent of the future Manhattan in the Steven Spielberg movie AI, and also resembles the NeoTokyo in Katsuhiro Otomo's famous film Akira.
Togusa and Ruriko walked 8km from Ogikubo Station to the submerged Shinjuku district using the disused Tokyo Subway.
Togusa discovered a secretly-guarded pre-war nuclear-power plant buried under the ruins of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku District. It is hard to imagine why anyone would build a nuclear plant in downtown Tokyo.
Episode 7 Delusion is the path towards Downfall of a Nation -- Pu239

The title, Pu239, is in reference to plutonium-239, an isotope of plutonium that is one of the two fissile materials used in the production of nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors (the other is uranium-235).
Used uranium fuel rods in nuclear power plants contain about 1% plutonium.
Why didn't the GSDF transport the plutonium by air? There is a grave risk of plutonium dispersion in case of air crash.
Why did Gouda go through all the trouble to use Section 9 as decoy given that the refugee attack threat was probably staged? To set them up; if Section 9 are discredited by this incident and, as he hopes, their normal operation as a technological crime squad is inhibited, he can carry out his plans with far less chance of being obstructed by them.
Episode 8 Vegetarian Dinner -- FAKE FOOD

The incident with the Taiwanese waiter brings to mind the Lillehammer affair, where Mossad agents in search of Black September terrorists connected with the Munich massacre accidentally killed a Moroccan waiter whom they believed was a key figure in the attacks.
Section 1 travels in a disguised van painted with a logo that reads "Hirateuchi" (spank).
The man who asks Batou if Section 9 is "Motoko's unit" is Kusanagi's boyfriend in Section 1 from Chapter 08: Dumb Barter in the original manga.
Episode 11 Kusanagi's Labyrinth -- AFFECTION

There are numerous paintings hanging on the walls in the house where Kusanagi has her flashback. They are by Alphonse Mucha, a commercial painter from the late nineteenth century. Mucha’s paintings are notable for being ubiquitously recognizable—particularly in the western world—though Mucha himself was never as famous as his paintings. This contributes to a combined sense of familiarity yet unfamiliarity experienced by Kusanagi as “nostalgia.”
Episode 13 Face -- MAKE UP

Pazu's quote, "I never sleep with the same woman twice", the idea of an "artificial face", and the resulting plot featuring a jealous ex-lover out to kill Pazu are all elements that appear to borrow from the movie Abre los ojos (Open Your Eyes) and its Hollywood re-make Vanilla Sky.
Episode 14 Beware the Left Eye -- POKER FACE

The reason why Saito's story reminds Azuma of an old movie is because much of the episode takes situations such as the "honeypot" scene, character names like Mother, and its overall tempo from the Huế sequence in the Stanley Kubrick film, Full Metal Jacket.
Episode 17 Mother and Child -- RED DATA

The blouse Motoko wears in this episode (and only in this episode) resembles the outfit of Fullmetal Alchemist's Izumi Curtis. Izumi is, appropriately enough, the alchemy teacher, mentor, and surrogate mother figure of the main characters in FMA, Ed and Al.
The 5 star hotel featured in the show is Grand Hotel (Taipei City), in Taipei, Taiwan.
Episode 18 My Angel's Poem -- TRANS PARENT

Much of this episode pays homage to the Wim Wenders film Der Himmel über Berlin.
When this episode first aired on Adult Swim, on April 1, 2006, it fell victim to the programming block's tradition of inserting April Fool's Day pranks into its aired material. The episode was first aired out of schedule at 11:30 PM Eastern time, an hour before its usual Saturday time slot, in place of a scheduled first-run episode of the series Inuyasha. Furthermore, as the episode unfolded, sounds of flatulence began appearing: some of these "fart noises" were simply random occurrences, but many were strategically placed, timed to character movements and lines of dialogue, in the latter case causing certain lines to seem to be double entendres, as well as completely blunting the impact of dramatic lines by capping them off with a fart. One of the most egregious effects was the timing of the flatulence noises to the movements of a character's motorized wheelchair, so that it appeared to release a little "poot" with each movement.
Many fans of the series were outraged by this mistreatment of a first-run episode, expressing their displeasure and outright anger on the message boards at Adult Swim's website. The outrage was mollified somewhat by the later airing of the same episode, sans the offending noises, in its usual 12:30 AM time slot, which demonstrated that Adult Swim intended to air the unaltered version all along. However, many still felt that the altered episode, as well as a repeat episode of the series Fullmetal Alchemist in which the flatulence sounds were even more rampant and offensive, and other shows on the predominantly anime-oriented Saturday night block were being replaced with comedy programming or 1980s Saturday morning cartoons, as both insulting to fans of anime and a further symptom of a perceived bias on the Adult Swim programmers' part against anime programming, and refused to look at the incident in the context of an April Fool's Day prank. It is note worthy to point out that although this episode did rerun without the offensive noises no other anime shows aired that night did. Adult swim is quite clear in noting in their on-air cards that anime doesn't get high ratings for them but they show it anyway. Many fans in fact found the joke to be funny, which was the intention.
Episode 20 Confusion at the North End -- FABRICATE FOG

Kuze's scheme of stealing fractions of amounts of money and depositing them into a dummy bank account - "Salami slicing" - has been used in various films including Superman III and Office Space.
Episode 26 Return to Patriotism -- ENDLESS∞GIG

This is the only episode to feature a fixed numeral during the title screen; ironically, it is the indefinable ∞.
The song of the Tachikomas is similar to the chorus from the two Ghost in the Shell movies.
The last scene of this episode, and series, is designed to replicate the first few pages of the manga (following the prologue), where the Section 9 members are all wearing armour that appeared in the 1995 film.
Introduction of the "Uchikoma" armored unit as the replacement for the Tachikoma, bringing closure between the original Fuchikoma mecha design from the original manga and the GITS:SAC parallel series.

Theme songs and music

Theme songs
Episode 1-25 (Original)

Opening Theme - Rise, Music - Yoko Kanno, Lyrics - Tim Jensen/Origa, Vocal - Origa
Closing Theme - Living Inside the Shell, Music - Yoko Kanno, Lyrics - Shanti Snyder, Vocal - Steve Conte
Episode 1-25 (Japanese Terrestrial Broadcast)

Opening Theme - Christmas in the Silent Forest, Music - Yoko Kanno, Lyrics - Shanti Snyder, Vocal - Ilaria Graziano
Closing Theme - Snyper, Music - Yoko Kanno, Lyrics - Tim Jensen, Vocal - Steve Conte, Vocal - Ilaria Graziano
Episode 4

Tachikoma Chase Scene - Cyberbird, Music - Yoko Kanno, Lyrics - Tim Jensen, Vocal - Steve Conte, Vocal - Gabriela Robin
(Note: Music also played in Episode 24 Helicopter Infiltration Scene)

Episode 26

Opening Theme - There is an opening theme to this episode, but it would seem the title was never released.
Closing Theme - Christmas in the Silent Forest, Music - Yoko Kanno, Lyrics - Shanti Snyder, Vocal - Ilaria Graziano
[edit]
Music
Composer - Yoko Kanno
Music Producer - Toshiaki Ota
Music Director - Yoshimoto Ishikawa
Distributed by - Victor Entertainment
[edit]
Original Soundtrack CD
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex O.S.T. 2
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex O.S.T. 3
[edit]
Staff
[edit]
Producers
Executive Producers - Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, Shigeru Watanabe
Producers - Koichiro Matsuka, Hisanori Kunizaki
Production Committee - Production I.G, Bandai Visual, Bandai Entertainment, Dentsu, Nippon Television, Tokuma Shoten, Victor Entertainment, Manga Entertainment
Casting - Mouse Production

Writers
Based on manga by - Shirow Masamune
Director - Kenji Kamiyama
Story Concept - Mamoru Oshii
Staff Writers - Kenji Kamiyama, Dai Sato, Yoshiki Sakurai, Junichi Fujisaku, Yutaka Omatsu, Shotaro Suga
Storyboard - Kazunobu Fusegi, Masayuki Yoshihara, Masaki Tachibana, Jun Matsumoto, Toshiyuki Kono, Junji Nishimura, Itsuro Kawasaki

Art Design
Original Character Design (Season 1) - Makoto Shimomura
Character Design (Season 2) - Takayuki Goto, Tetsuya Nishio
Mechanical Design - Kenji Teraoka, Shinobu Tsuneki
Background Artist - Hiroshi Kato
Art Director - Yusuke Takeda
3D Animation Director - Makoto Endo
Color Coordinator - Yumiko Katayama

Animation Directors
Takayuki Goto
Satoru Nakamura
Kyoji Asano
Ryota Niino
Tetsuya Nishio
Toshiharu Murata
Post Production
Director of Photography - Koji Tanaka
Editing - Junichi Uematsu
Sound Director - Kazuhiro Wakabayashi
Sound Effects - Daisuke Jinbo
[edit]
Distribution
This section has information on how Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig has been distributed, including both television and DVD sources.


Official Distribution
Japan
Satellite PPV - SKY Perfect TV 2004
Terrestrial - Nippon TV 2005
Internet PPV Video On Demand - AII offers VOD to subscribers. The service is currently restricted to domestic (Japan) users. (2005)
DVD (Region 2) - Bandai Visual
Asia Pacific (Korea, HK, Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore)
TV - Animax Taiwan, HK, Asia
DVD (Region 3)
North America
TV - Cartoon Network's Adult Swim 2005
DVD (Region 1) - Manga Entertainment
Australia/New Zealand
TV - Cartoon Network's Adult Swim 2006 and Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) (currently on season 1)
DVD (Region 4) - Madman Entertainment
South Asia
TV - Animax South Asia
Europe
DVD (Region 2) - Manga Entertainment
South America & Africa
No local official release yet