Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045’ Season 2 on Netflix, An Intriguing Story Saddled With Persistently Awful Visuals

Legendary anime franchise Ghost in the Shell marches on with another 12 episodes of its latest installment, Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045. Season 2 picks right up where the previous season left off, or where the compilation movie, Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045: Sustainable War, was meant to help catch viewers up to. It continues the narrative already established in the first half of the season, with the conclusion here, if you can stomach the abhorrent CG animation that the creative team inexplicably decided to go with.

GHOST IN THE SHELL: SAC_2045 SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: As the camera pans over a brightly-lit city, we get a look at a man ranting about what post-humans actually are, that they’re not aliens, and are instead mutants having been infected by code — that he’s carrying, as he explains to the agents interrogating him, in his brain. “It’s all right here,” he says, and asks for asylum as soon as possible. The camera zooms out, however, as if to show that someone is watching him and is listening in on everything he’s saying.

The Gist: At the end of the first season of Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, Major Motoko Kusanagi and the rest of what was left of her team at Public Security Section 9 had been working as private security contractors in a post-apocalyptic world. The “Synchronized Global Default”, essentially an economic meltdown, left the world reeling as the larger nations began perpetuating a “Sustainable War” (hence the movie-length recap Netflix released of the first season) to keep the economy rolling. When a new threat known as “post-humans” emerges, the Major and crew are quickly swept up in the conspiracy, and this season picks up right where the previous one left off.

This time, as we learned at the end of the previous season, it appears Togusa has been infected by the same code that’s affected the post-humans, and the Major, as well as the rest of Section 9, are hot on his trail. They’re also poised to figure out exactly what this bit of code means, where it originated, and how they might be able to stop all of this madness from continuing to transpire. It’s more of the same juicy Ghost in the Shell storytelling, decent but completely marred by low production values and some of the worst 3D animation you’ll ever see, second only to shows like Ultraman or Berserk.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? You’ll long for the days of traditional animation from the Ghost in the Shell series, namely Stand Alone Complex and Solid State Society, as well as the original film. This particular season also has shades of anime like Psycho Pass or Black Lagoon.

Our Take: If you’re still upset that Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Solid State Society ended, SAC_2045 is a series that was clearly meant for you. It’s based off of the same framework as those shows, despite having no “standalone” or “complex” episode designations, and the gang is all here, in terms of familiar characters and voice actors. It should, for all intents and purposes, be a great watch.

The problem is that you have to endure it all through the lens of truly abhorrent CG animation. Ghost in the Shell has always boasted impressive traditional animation, but for some reason for this series, the decision was made to stick to the wooden, bizarre character models that make established players look like children or, at worst, clay figures that are hardly expressive or convincing. So it’s a bit confusing and frustrating. The writing and voice acting are still on par with what you’d expect from the Ghost in the Shell franchise, but it’s so difficult to overlook such abhorrent visuals that they really do tend to tank the whole thing.

The continuation of a fun, twisty saga involving heady questions, major character revelations, and shifty cybercriminals is an enticing proposal. But when it’s approached like this, it’s hard to recommend or even want to sit through, especially when it looks like a PlayStation 3 title instead of the next installation in a high-profile anime series.

Sex and Skin: The Major does tend to wear some tight, revealing outfits, but since she’s basically a CG Barbie doll with a baby face she looks like a paper doll. There’s nothing titillating about this episode, despite Kusanagi’s usual sex appeal.

Parting Shot: While the Major, Batou, and Purin ruminate on how they could have been hacked, there’s something even more pressing they have to deal with first. Looking further down the highway, the very same glasses-clad hacker is standing up and poised in the backseat of a car through the sunroof holding a rocket launcher, looking very threatening. Looks like some bad things are about to go down.

Sleeper Star: Prolific voice actor Cherami Leigh does a great job of infusing pink-haired Purin, who could immediately become an annoyance otherwise, with youthful effervescence and a big personality. She’s a veteran actress who’s voiced many similar characters, and her expertise doing so truly shines through here.

Most Pilot-y Line: “We’ve been using the IR system to run facial recognition,” Major Motoko Kusanagi says in response to Section 9 chief Aramaki’s inquiry about fellow member Togusa, who’s been MIA.. “But if he’s moving around like a post-human, it’ll be tough. Maybe we’ll get lucky.” This sets the stage for where we’re currently at in the narrative, as Togusa previously tried to retrieve data from the code that can infect the brain with a deadly virus.

Our Call: SKIP IT. Skip this season, but only with this caveat in mind: If you were as put off by the visuals as I was with the first season or the recent compilation movie, then there’s no real reason to continue this series further. However, there’s a decent story here that, if you close your eyes and wish, you can almost enjoy it as part of the superior Stand Alone Complex and Solid State Society collection of episodes. This first episode, sans animation problems, is intriguing enough to hold your attention, and continues the decent enough story from last season. It’s just so tough to try to care when the action comes across so wooden and blase, and to think there are 12 more episodes of this, it’s hard to want to stay on board. Hopefully we see a return to the classic Ghost in the Shell animation at some point in the future, though it’s doubtful we’ll see that again anytime soon.

Brittany Vincent has been covering video games and tech for over a decade for publications like G4, Popular Science, Playboy, Variety, IGN, GamesRadar, Polygon, Kotaku, Maxim, GameSpot, and more. When she’s not writing or gaming, she’s collecting retro consoles and tech. Follow her on Twitter: @MolotovCupcake.