Gig

As the second season of Stand Alone Complex continues, 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 term Stand 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. (Rated 13 and older: violence, violence against women, brief nudity, alcohol and tobacco use) --Charles Solomon