MovieChat Forums > Kôkaku kidôtai: Stand Alone Complex (2004) Discussion > Thoughts about Second Gig.

Thoughts about Second Gig.

posted 16 years ago by efchodkowski
1 reply | jump to latest

I've seen all of the episodes 2 or 3 times, just saw the Individual Eleven season edit movie.

Gohda's philosophy, and how it unfolds, reminds me of the Foundation psychohistory stuff. Or, more generally speaking, the thinking behind both gigs is that the behavior of individuals in regards to the net is predictable and inevitable.

The focus on two remarkable individuals (Aoi and Gohda) goes in line with the original movie and the Puppet Master. That's what makes it all so cool and intellectual I guess, you've got this heady stuff incarnated into these foils for the Major, with lots of stuff blowing up around them.

I'm not sure if Kuze appearance was a stroke of luck, or an inevitably, in Gohda's scheme. Probably a bit of both. The first time I saw the series I thought Kuze was like the guy from Jupiter Jazz or the Cowboy Bebop movie, a messed up soldier fighting a never ending war. The fact that he can't move his lips is quite apt. He's a wooden character who makes these life-changing jumps at a whim, from dummy photographer to Individual Eleven zealot to mass cyberbrain Moses. But he's so essential to Gohda's scheme. It's the great flaw of the 2nd gig, which is why I can't get into it like the 1st gig.

Gohda is the real star of the show, an awesome villain, Shakespearean and all that. I find myself sympathizing with his demise...the guys with the guns always win in the end. His character, and the way Motoko's character is developed are the best things about the gig.

[–] Little_Korean 16 years ago

Kuze's appeaance in Gohda's scheme was an accident, albeit a happy one for Gohda. Gohda wanted to engineer the rise of a hero and intended for the Individual Eleven to be just that, thinking that the Japanese public would rally behind their anti-immigrant example. Instead, the Individual Eleven became more or less forgotten by all but a few (as Batou observed) and instead, Gohda had to turn his attention to making Kuze the 'hero' of his piece. Which led to Batou musing in front of Gohda as whether he, Gohda or Kuze was the real one in charge.

I also liked (to loose the word loosely) Gohda as a character more than Kuze. Both are pretty far gone but Gohda also had a strange patheticness about them. He failed at almost everything he did. Even bringing Japan to the point of civil war was 'accomplished' by as much Kuze and the suicide bombers as Gohda.

When darkness overcomes the heart, Lil' Slugger appears...