Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex  (2nd GIG, Volume 3) (Special Edition)
As the second season ofStand Alone Complexcontinues, it remains edgier and more contemporary than the first. The agents of Public Security Section 9 face a new crisis as the conflict over the status of the refugees worsens: suicide bombers attacking public targets in Japan. Kuze, the would-be assassin of the Prime Minister, whom Major Kusanagi outwitted, is deliberately fueling that crisis. When the Major encounters sinister Kazundo Gohda in cyberspace, the viewer learns the significance of the termStand Alone Complex. But the most intriguing story development is an apparent digression that hints at the Major's origins. The desgners make increasing use of CG to give the abstract cyberworld a physical reality that is stylistically different from the regular settings. Extras include interviews with animation directors Kenichi Takeshita and Toshiyuki Kono, and series director Kenji Kamiyama.The Special Edition offers one disc with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, the other with DTS and stereo, plus easy-to-assemble plastic figures of Major Kusanagi and a Tachikoma robot. (Rated 13 and older: violence, violence against women, brief nudity, alcohol and tobacco use)--Charles Solomon