[S7E7] Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd Gig, eps. 14–19

This week on the podcast, 2nd Gig has started to try to bring in more of the case-of-the-week format, but some of the skill and magic of the first season is gone.

We dig into the incongruence of the few case-of-the-week episodes; 2nd Gig’s growing fascination with creating backstories for characters; the geopolitical allegory of 2nd Gig and specifically Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution and its connection to Japanese nationalism and fascism; the show finally developing the Tachikoma some more; podcasting is synchronizing your consciousnesses; the quality of the animation in 2nd Gig; more backstory on Kuze and how it relates to Noh theater and themes around death; Koestler’s theories in The Ghost in the Machine; the difficulties and problems of even the good-faith reading of what happens between the Major and the boy Chai; Niamh’s apparently inexplicable love of 2nd Gig’s Wings of Desire episode; themes around the failures of heroism and leadership, and the beginning of the end…

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(Oh I did kill GarfReadAloud shortly after this, sowwy)

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Works Cited in this Discussion

The Ghost in the Machine by Arthur Koestler

“The Major’s Body (10): Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: 2nd Gig” by Claire Napier (full series: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Sexual harassment, abuse, and rape

Pedophilia and child sexual abuse

Sex, sexuality, and sexism

Body hacking & possession

Food & alcohol

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