The year is 2030. Six months passed since the Laughing Man Incident was solved.
About 3 million refugees are living in Japan, invited to fill the labor shortage.
However, the emergent presence of the invited-refugees intensified their confrontation with the “Individualists”, who called for national isolation, which then led to the increased incidences of terrorist attacks.
Under these circumstances, a terrorist group called the Individual Eleven carries out a suicide attack.
But there was a greater scheme behind their action.
When Section 9 learns this, they attempt to nail down the mastermind of the incident.
Meanwhile, Kuze, a surviving member of the Individual Eleven, becomes a charismatic leader of the invited-refugees and intensifies the confrontation against the government.
And Motoko starts feeling a strange sense of fate connecting her with Kuze…
Invited-refugees from Asia: At the time of the Third and the Fourth World Wars, about three million Asians became refugees.
As a source of cheap labor, they were invited into Japan.
Thus they were called “invited-refugees.”
As post-war Japan recuperated, the unemployment rate of the invited-refugees increased.
This developed a circumstance that could lead to a conflict.
The problems surrounding the invited-refugees might explode any minute…
This is how MyAnimeList describes this anime (animated) television show:
Following the closure of the “Laughing Man” case, Section 9 is re-established by Japan’s newly elected Prime Minister, Youko Kayabuki, to combat the persistent threat of cyber-terrorism.
A group calling themselves “The Individual Eleven” has begun committing acts of terror across Japan.
While Motoko Kusanagi, Daisuke Aramaki, Batou, and the other members of Section 9 investigate this new menace, the Japanese government faces a separate crisis, as foreign refugees displaced by the Third World War seek asylum in Japan.
But as the members of the special-ops team continually encounter Kazundo Gouda—a leading member of the Cabinet Intelligence Service—in their hunt, they begin to suspect that he may be involved, and that the events of the refugee crisis and The Individual Eleven may be more connected than they realize…
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
Alternative Titles
Synonyms: Ghost In The Shell S.A.C. 2nd GIG
Japanese: 攻殻機動隊 S.A.C. 2nd GIG
English: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG
German: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG
Spanish: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG
French: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG
Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG is the second season of the Japanese anime series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, based on Masamune Shirow’s Ghost in the Shell manga series.
It premiered on the 1st January 2004 in Japan on the anime satellite television network, Animax, on a pay-per-view basis.[1]
The series was later aired on the terrestrial Nippon TV from 12 April 2005.
Animax also later aired the series across its other networks worldwide, including its English language] networks in Southeast Asia and South Asia, and its other networks in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Latin America and several other regions.
It was also later aired in the United States on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim block.
Bandai Visual owns the DVD distribution rights in Japan while Manga Entertainment owns the distribution rights in North America and Europe.
The show began airing daily on AnimeCentral beginning November 4, 2007 in both English (two nightly screenings) and original Japanese (one late-night screening).
As with other AnimeCentral series (e.g., Wolf’s Rain and .hack//SIGN) the first run of episodes was immediately followed by a re-run.
The series has an associated short series of comedic shorts involving the Tachikoma called Tachikomatic Days, which was also part of its first season.
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 divided and several locations exist on the planet where sovereignty is in question, where no one is really sure who owns or governs what.
This fictional history matches one presented in Appleseed Databook, suggesting that both Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell may be occurring in the same fictional universe, albeit at different points of its timeline.
While originally intended to “underscore the dilemmas and concerns that people would face if they relied too heavily on the new communications infrastructure.”[2].
Stand Alone Complex eventually came to represent a phenomenon where unrelated, yet very similar actions of individuals create a seemingly concerted effort.
In the first series, it usually refers to events surrounding the Laughing Man case, and to some extent, the teamwork observed in Public Security Section 9.
It is presented as an emergent phenomenon catalyzed by parallelization of the human psyche through the cyberbrain networks.
For the second series, when Kenji Kamiyama discussed the theme with Mamoru Oshii, they decided that they could not avoid the issue of War: “In other words, we simply couldn’t ignore the way society had evolved since the events of 9-11 : That was the approach we decided to take, and I tried to illustrate a 21st century (near-future) war.
But to tell you the truth, I couldn’t avoid feeding back into modern reality”.[3]
Chief Cabinet Secretary Takakura (Yoshinori Mutou/Eddie Jones (eps 31, 33, 42) Bill Basset (eps 49, 52): The powerbroker behind the new coalition government
Kazundo Gouda (Ken Nishida/John Snyder): Head of the Cabinet Intelligence Service. A megalomaniac man who enjoys inflicting emotional and psychological pain upon others. Divine entity wannabe.
Hideo Kuze (Rikiya Koyama/Kirk Thornton): An apparent member of the “Individual Eleven” terrorist group, who is later revealed to be a former JGSDF commando gone rogue in hopes to help the refugee community. Despite being set up by Gouda unwittingly, Kuze hums a strong unspeakable energy deep beneath his damaged shell. He has a peculiar connection with the Major.
Yano: Section 9 new recruit, rookie and field operative.
Fumiya Dobashi (Makoto Yasumura/Chris Smith): Journalist, self-proclaimed expert on the “Individual Eleven” theory. Later revealed to be a brainwashed mole set up by Gouda.
Yousuke Aramaki (Osamu Saka/William Frederick Knight): Aramaki’s long-lost brother (previously mentioned in Stand Alone Complex). Helps Hideo Kuze with saving the refugees from collateral damage.
John Jr's Blog 