Aeria Gloris - Flying in Glory

In the past few weeks I managed to finish watching the second season of the Anime television series "Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex", which is based on the critically acclaimed motion picture "Ghost in the Shell". The series shows the work of a small japapanese anti-terrorist/-crime unit called "Public Security Section 9" in 2030 AD with a lot more depth and background information than in the motion picture.

What I like about the series beside the great artwork, is the fact the story is not entirely black-and-white, with the government essentially being the good guys and the terrorists being the bad guys, as in, for example, "24". There's a lot more backstabbing and scheming going on, although the philosophical side comes up a little short in comparison to the original movie. The only real short-coming of the series is that the individual episodes are rather short (about 22 minutes), which is made up by the fact, that there is a strong story arc throughout both seasons.

The TV series is IMHO definitely not suitable for kids, since the violence is quite graphic, expect some blood splattering here and there. If you want to get a first impression, you can check the article on Wikipedia or the american official site. If are hooked, do not buy the rather expensive individual DVDs (with up to four episodes), but the DVD collection, one for each of the two seasons. Hopefully there will be a 3rd season someday.