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Click here to visit the Official Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex site! After the massive cliffhanger ending of volume 5 I couldn't wait to see what happened next, and volume 6 certainly lives up to expectations. Following the events of the last volume Section 9 find themselves in the firing line, and both Aramaki and Major Kusanagi are in serious danger as a group of ruthless adversaries decide to take out the Section's commanders. Dangerous agent Gayle would normally be a pushover for the cybernetically enhanced Kusanagi, but when he's wearing the latest in heavy duty armoured suits direct from the military it's a completely different matter, meanwhile Aramaki receives word on his missing brother, who disappeared several years before. Can his search bear fruit or is it just going to leave him open to attack? Also, the Laughing Man finally begins to make his move, and unexpectedly contacts Section 9. What are his motives? This is the volume where things really begin to come together for the big finale, and damn is it good. The standalone episode structure that has been in place for most of the series is abandoned in favour of a continuous story for this penultimate volume, with Section 9 really under fire and the Laughing Man's reappearance the focus of all three episodes. This volume really has everything in it that makes Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex so good, the combination of brains and brawn, intelligent storytelling and all out action, all combined within some really thought-provoking and imaginative sci-fi. Episode 21 features some excellent action, and also has one of the best one-on-one fights to occur in the series so far, but episodes 22 and 23 really step up the intrigue. The story of the Laughing Man and his motivations are really explored in depth in episodes 22 and 23, and to be fair these episodes have more talking than action, but the stage is set for an awesome finale in volume seven. This time round Section 9 are really under the cosh and it is interesting to see how the characters react to it. You really see another side of both Kusanagi and Aramaki in this volume, as both of Section 9's cool and collected commanders let emotion get the better of them you get an impression of unspoken depth to the characters that is superbly handled. The action is excellent as always, but it is the tension that really makes this volume great. Section 9 are in real danger over these three episodes and things get really tense as you begin to wonder if they can survive the situation they are in. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex vol 6 is superb. It is easily the highlight of what has already been an excellent series, even the dialogue heavy episode 23 keeps you intrigued and the series has been so well paced that it manages to keep a story that has run for over 20 episodes fresh and original. There are some minor gripes - there's only three episodes on this disc for one and the subtitles are noticeably out of sync in a number of places - but if you've been buying the series until now you should be used to glitches and the volume of extras do go some way to compensating for the low episode count. Basically this is the best volume so far of one of the best series of the year. What are you waiting for? Extras Only three episodes on the disc so it's good to see a huge amount of extras on show. Disc one carries a trailer for the Stand Alone Complex PS2 game (which was released earlier this year), character profiles and episode synopses, but best of all are the interviews with the series screenwriters. These interviews actually give some real insight into the development of the series, and are definitely worth a look. Disc two contains the usual DTS audio tracks and quiz, as well as UK exclusive interview with Richard Epcar, the American voice actor who plays Batou in the English dub. It's not often the UK gets an exclusive so this is definitely worth a watch, it also makes an interesting comparison with the Japanese voice actor interviews that were on earlier volumes. Manga spoil us once more! Ratings Feature:
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