I’m Not Going To Write Long Posts About These

Are you ever at that point where you said or you were meaning to write something about these things and you just don’t? Especially when they are sequels to some of your favorite shows? Shows that made you think you would have a lot to save about them and then you stare at the screen of your word processor for an hour or so and have not much to say? That’s how I feel about the shows that I am looking at here. Those being things like Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045 Part 2 and Tiger  Bunny 2. Yup, those things that appeared on Netflix. 

I expected that I would have a lot to say about at least Tiger and Bunny 2, but I just don’t. Not for bad reasons, but because it’s a decent and acceptable follow up to something that came out a decade ago. You know, it’s not a disappointment like I could mention Devil is a Part Timer Season 2 being which failed on almost every level compared to the first season. 2045 Part 2 has a case where it follows up the first cour after a few years and yeah, it’s a thing that exists. Obviously I have a little more thoughts on both of them otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this post, but that is where my thoughts start for both of them. I’ll try to get into detail here.

Tiger & Bunny 2

This is a season that follows not only the first one, obviously, but the Tiger & Bunny film: The Rising. The results of which left a good hero system to work with the duo system. Heroes that work together which automatically gives the season 2 thing an interesting wink. The 2 means something more than it being a second season. By adding new heroes like Cat, Subaru, and Thomas on top of the other heroes working together with their buddies. Tiger & Bunny are obvious, but duos you wouldn’t expect to be linked together are to provide some more characterization out of all of them. Something which I really enjoyed.

Then the two cours are about these heroes fighting for their right for superheroes to exist and to also examine the buddy system but that feels about it for them?  The twins in the first cour, cor instance, are lame heroes who exist to show the evil side of superhero duos. Then you have the entire destruction of super hero culture lead by the antagonists that were introduced in the second half as there is a virus going around that turns people with superpowers into psychos. That would be a lot more interesting if Tiger & Bunny 2 actually had time to smooth these ideas out and not just have them plot things that happened. But in general, it was a good time though.

Visually, the show doesn’t look as good as season 1 did a while ago. I say that because when Tiger and Bunny came out in the 2010’s, the cg wasn’t bad. This show looks about the same as season 1 or a little worse, but it’s been a decade. Still, the entire show was pretty enjoyable. I loved being in Sternbill and the heroes again in a very serious capacity. It also helps that this season can stand up on its own merits and is possible to watch by itself if you want to. Would not recommend that though, because Tiger & Bunny is a good franchise all the way through. Yeah, just check them all out.

Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Part 2

Yeah, this obviously follows the events of the first set of Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 that I covered here. It is still in the Stand Alone Complex universe and is very much recognizably Ghost in the Shell which is not something that I could say about the first part of the first cour at all for a while. The Post Humans are still out there and there are viruses being formed around people in the slowly rebuilding Tokyo. So yeah, it is an experience to face a super virus. Not to mention the fact that Japan itself is under the threat of being nuked once again and some part of the United States feels like it has to be involved for some reason again. 

Yeah, Ghost in the Shell politics! Excited to see that return in cool ways once again. I have multiple reasons for why that it still isn’t as good as it could be though. For one thing, this entire is at the 2nd Gig’s level of intensity from the finale at all times. The stakes are so intense that nothing feels intense if you know what I mean. If it wasn’t the United States being involved or the inherent nuclear threat, then it’s the super virus. There Are too many things happening at once with characters all over the place trying to solve it and as a result, it feels kind of empty. 

My second complaint is Prynne. She is not only a Mary Sue character thrown into the world of Stand Alone Complex, but she takes the place of Togusa for a lot of his scenes where he barely does cool things on his own. That’s right, the role of the very fragile newbie in section 9 is replaced by a supped up pink haired anime girl which instantly makes every single situation that could have been interesting into something that is kind of meh. The rest of the section 9 scenes were pretty engaging otherwise though. That also ties into the finale which is a major ask of what the hell happened and am I supposed to care? It was another Human Instrumentality project thing but with viruses and it was very whatever. 

So with those details that got in the way, I’m still happy that I watched it. As a whole, you can tell this was at least two years in the making because the cg and composition in general have improved so much because the colors were great and it flowed so much better then part 1. It also helps that part 2 was as bad as it could have been.  I appreciate that SAC_2045 did try to do something new with the Stand Alone Complex formula to spice things up a bit. Just could have been something a bit better or well thought out to make fans that love SAC love this new material too. Or just make more Stand Alone Complex with no strings attached. That works too, you know? Yes, I am a part of those people. You know that already.