The middle volume of Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex continues to impress.  This is one of the series that I anticipate the most.  Volume four consists of a quartet of 'stand alone episodes,' and while I was a little disappointed that the Laughing Man story wasn't delved into a little bit further, this is still an eminently enjoyable disc.

In the not too distant future, most humans are augmented by cybernetic implants.  These implants make people faster, stronger, and more powerful.  No longer do you have to spend excruciating hours in the gym to get the perfect body, you can just order one.  Crime is still prevalent in this future society, and the criminals are now much more powerful.  In order to combat these criminals, a special division of the police, Section 9 has been created.  Manned with state of the art cybernetically enhanced officers Section 9 handles the cases that no one else is equipped to.

The disc starts out with an action filled episode that seems to take a page from the Patty Hearst kidnaping.  The ten year old daughter of a wealthy industrialist was kidnaped sixteen years ago by a group of revolutionaries.  She was never recovered and her trail has grown cold until she's spotted, safe and alive.  The odd thing is that she still looks ten years old.  A group of police track her down and confirm that this young girl is the missing heiress by her DNA, but they all disappear before they can extract her from the revolutionary group.  It's up to Section nine to find the heiress and the missing agents and rescue them from a large force that's armed to the teeth.

Full-Auto Capitalism has Section 9 on the trail of an assassin who's gunning for a very rich, reclusive, stock trader.  A fairly typical episode for the series, there is a good sense of mystery and action.
 
One of the themes that gets explored in this volume is development of the Tachikomas, the artificially-intelligent robot tanks who can take out a platoon but have the personality of an adolescents.  They get an episode all to themselves when it turns out that they've been thinking too much.  The Tachikomas start philosophizing about what it is to have a ghost, what the nature of God is (they decide that it's the analog equivalent to the digit zero) and why some people seem to fear them.  This was one of the most humorous episodes in the series, and very enjoyable.

The disc ends up with a bitter sweet episode about Bato, one of my favorite characters.  The heavy hitter of Section 9 is assigned to see if a boxer he idolizes is really behind a string of cyber thefts.  A nice show that sheds a little light on the stoic muscle of the show.

These were four more excellent shows.  The characters continue to grow as the series progresses, the writing and stories are tight, and the animation is some of the best I've ever seen on a TV show.  A very strong series that hasn't disappointed me yet.

This DVD comes in two versions.  A regular version, which is the version that is reviewed here, and a deluxe version.  The deluxe version has an extra disc with the same episodes repeated but with a DTS sound track and a "collectible ID card."  The deluxe version of this volume was advertised as including a T-Shirt, but that is not the case.
 
Audio:

The viewer has the choice of viewing this program with either an English dub (5.1 and 2.0) or in the original Japanese (also 5.1 and 2.0.)  There is good use of the full sound stage on the 5.1 tracks, giving the show a very encompassing feeling.  Music and incidental effects come from all angles surrounding the viewer, but these never become overpowering.  There isn't a trace of hiss or distortion, and everything is very clear and crisp.  I viewed the show in both English and Japanese, and I had a preference for the original language, but the English dub sounded great as well, with the voice talent doing a good job.  There are optional full English subtitles or just subtitles for the signs and song lyrics.

Video:

The video on this show is absolutely stellar.  The anamorphic widescreen video was encoded from a high definition master and is just about flawless.  The colors were excellent, blending gracefully from shade to shade without any signs of banding.  The picture was sharp and the definition was first-rate.  This is a great looking show.

Extras:

In addition to a series of trailers, this DVD sports a pair of ten minute long interviews.  The first is with Koichi Yamadera who plays Togusa, and the second with Sakkiko Tamagawa who gives her voice to the Tachikomas.  I particularly enjoyed Sakkiko's where she relates her thoughts about the happy-go-lucky tanks.

Final Thoughts:

Another great volume.  Ghost in the Shell is one of those shows that starts going strong from the first notes of the intro song and doesn't let up until the credits start to roll.  The animation is absolutely fantastic, with a seamless mix of CGI and traditional animation, and the stories are interesting.  Highly Recommended.