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In my initial review of the first twelve episodes of this season, I lamented over how so many franchises were being brought back tailored for new audiences that completely miss the point of the original show. At the time, I didn’t think I’d ever see a legacy franchise successfully resurrected with the way entertainment is being handled lately.

But then Top Gun: Maverick came out. So, it is possible. With the right writing. Any idea can work with good writing, really. But the people who did this show? I wouldn't trust them to do a nursery rhyme.

As before, I will limit myself to five points. Spoilers ... ahead.

Use what worked before. That’s fine. But don’t depend on it. The first season dealt with someone who took a book too seriously. The second season dealt with a dude who attempted to get his hands on a nuclear weapon to get his point across. Let’s use them again! The new idea is post-humans, which had the potential to be interesting on its own, but they just go ahead and do what the Laughing Man and Kuze did because nobody will notice. Leaning too heavily on what worked before is a subtle way of your plot not being strong enough to stand on its own.

It had previously been my understanding that the members of Section 9 were the best of the best, mainly by their own merit. And then Batou admits to an AI helping all of them aim. Great. This is as bad as the Major downloading how to box. Our heroine and her heroes are not the best of the best. They have the right bodies to handle enhancements that make them superhuman.

Saito’s augmentation makes sense. He had to have his eye ruined before he was able to use his little gizmo. A sacrifice was necessary. That’s compelling and adds to his character. Well, now we can all be Saito! And we don’t have to have the Major poke our eye out! Just so long as we have the right prosthetic body.

Why should I care about characters whose talents are not unique? I guess all one must do to be special here is download a Wikipedia article and find an AI to fill in the blanks. How does one get to be a member of Section 9? I mean, they let Purin in. It can’t be that hard to join them.

Accepting the finality of death demonstrates a mature perspective of life. Of all characters, I would have been willing to bet the Major would understand this. But she is not interested in the ethical implications of her decision, despite how philosophical she can otherwise be. They needed Purin’s brain. Because nobody else in Section 9 is talented enough to hack the Pentagon. Uh-huh. Here’s a thought. Did the writers really have to kill Purin in the first place? Evidently, because they wanted to use this trope, and they made the Major look like an absolute idiot while doing so.

Having said that, it will come as no shock that I found the ending to be on par with how Neon Genesis Evangelion concluded. Rebuild included. Everyone’s consciousness is in “heaven” because the world is in the throes of nuclear war. The Major is given the chance to pull the plug, but relents. Yet she can’t live in a fantasy world, so she decides to retreat into the net. To essentially live in a fantasy world.

Yet it is not all negative. As before, I applaud the dub. Everybody did fantastic. I got mad respect for Cherami Leigh's portrayal of Purin. This is one of the few shows I prefer to watch in English, but the dub was not ready at the time this first came out due to the pandemic. I wasn't enthused enough to watch the first twelve episodes a second time despite how much I like the English voice cast for this show, so I missed Leigh's performance. Until this season. As much as I do not like Mary Sue---oh, excuse me. Purin! As much as I do not like Purin, Leigh made her tolerable.

Where do they go from here? It would take a miracle to come back from this. Oh, wait! A Rebuild. That’s right, it would take a Rebuild to come back from this. Maybe when they get to 2045 a second time around 2055, they’ll get it right. But I doubt it.

Some spoilers ahead.

It’s easy to pity Punpun when he’s a kid because he doesn’t have any control over what’s happening to him.

To some extent, the environment he grew up in can be blamed for causing him to make poor choices as he gets older. But Punpun makes bad decisions all the time. Constantly. At some point, it is hard to keep making excuses for him. Because he’s an idiot.

He repeats the same mistake he makes on his date with Kanie twice before finally learning his lesson. Kind of. In order to show his aunt and uncle how serious he is about living on his own, ... he gives them a huge sum of money. This decision is entirely motivated by the chance that he just might bump into the girl he has spent most of his life searching for.

Despite having a very poor opinion of his mother, he gets romantically involved with a woman who reminds him of her. His temporary personality shift after the events of chapter 113 is ridiculous. If he truly requires that to stop brooding over what other people think of him, he is a lost cause. However, there is a brief glimmer of brilliance when this sequence pairs up with a friend of his who is looking for him. She learns about his childhood, and it is clear how far he has fallen. This almost redeems the act.

It’s not just Punpun, though. A couple of other things make this manga barely tolerable.

The cult was fluff. Whenever it shows up, it changes the pace of the story to a slog. This aspect of the plot does not play in service to Punpun’s story. Instead, it is used as symbolism, because it isn’t evident enough how bad things are going for him without it. The cult focuses on secondary characters that Punpun has no interaction with. These other twits are not nearly as interesting as he is. To justify the inclusion of the cult, either Punpun or his long-lost love should have been involved with it.

Asano, upset with how his passion project was initially received, self-inserts as Sachi. That’s not enough. It gets worse, peaking with the ‘Pick up that can. Now put it in the trash can’ scene. Ultimately, everything seems to have worked out in Asano’s favor, judging by how highly regarded this manga is.

It would be interesting to see how Punpun managed to talk his way out of being punished for acting as an accomplice to a serious crime. He’s got more than one charge against him. Aiding and abetting. Improper disposal. Theft. An attempt to do it again. He still gets that license at the end of the story, though. How?

While all of this works against the manga, it does have fantastic art. Some of the panels are gorgeous. However, this is literature. It’s meant to be read. Art alone can’t save it.

Fate just won’t cut Punpun a deal. Except at the end, that is. He gets what he has coming. It’s tragic, but forgettable. Much like Punpun himself. If that’s somehow the whole point of the manga, it’s a big waste of time.

I don’t normally leave reviews since some members of the audience react impulsively to low scores of their favorite thing, but I promised myself I wouldn’t stay quiet if the third season of Stand Alone Complex came up lacking.

I could talk about this for hours, so I’ll limit myself to six points. I’ll start with the bad news.

Spoilers ahead. Turn back now if you haven’t been with this show since the first season.

***

- I initially wasn’t concerned about the decision to do this season using CG because I figured that might mean there would be more action sequences. This is a situation fit for a ... monkey’s paw. The fights with Huge and Harts were acceptable. Everything else was a bit excessive. The previous seasons in this series relied more on winding tension and building intrigue. When Section 9 had to start shooting, it was quick and clean. The soundtrack Yoko Kanno composed fit that aspect of the show perfectly and helped tell the story in a way that words and images could not. Without Kanno and with CG, the mood of this show has changed completely.

- Section 9 always gets disbanded. That’s fine. I can groove to that. After all, they spend most of their time bringing justice to those who believe they are above the law. This show begins with them already being disbanded. No problem. But wait. Something is amiss. They are working for a foreign PMC on foreign soil. What? In the past, they worked closely with the Japanese government. And they just get let go, but not before they smuggle three Tachikoma’s out with them? This is a weak part of the plot that needed more of an explanation. And them being very expensive is not a good one.

- Purin. I initially didn’t have an issue with Purin until I realized what she was. I used to read a lot of fan fiction. I even wrote it. Purin is a Mary Sue. She might even be a self-insert, although I base that on nothing more than suspicion. She would not be half as bad if she didn’t have a crush on Batou and if the Major made it a little more difficult for her to get in good graces with the team.

I don’t know why they used her when they could have just as easily used Maven or Kuro from First Assault. I guess they just had to get the moe audience.

- The single most offensive scene in the first twelve episodes occurs when the Major has to protect the Prime Minister against the post-human who digs boxing. First of all, wouldn’t it have been a good idea to use Batou here? He can box. There was a whole episode about it in the first season of this show. To brush up on her skills, the Major is seen downloading a program that turns her into Mike Tyson and George Foreman. With a Doritos promotion.

No.

Absolutely not.

You can’t convince me that someone as experienced in combat as the Major wouldn’t have been able to lay that clown out flat without downloading a community fan patch from GitHub. This cheapens her character. Why? Because if anybody in this universe can do that, then anyone can be the Major so long as they have the right kind of prosthetic body and the necessary clearance to access such files.

+ The episode where Batou helps a bunch of old people rob a bank and the one where the Major devises a test for Togusa so he will feel more confident about rejoining Section 9 were great. They’ve got that old-school Stand Alone Complex flavor. I was also pleased to see that the Major still has problems fighting anyone who’s wearing one of those pesky armored suits. She’s got to have some kind of weakness. Might as well be that.

Maybe she can download something off the App Store to help her with it.

+ The Major is my favorite fictional character. Across all mediums. Doesn’t matter what it is, she’s got it under control. I dig that. I wish I could be that kind of person. I found her portrayal in Arise to be lacking and was tickled pink when this show did her right. Atsuko Tanaka doesn’t sound like she took a single day off from the role and I adore her for it. I can say the same thing for Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, especially since this is one of a handful of shows that I prefer to watch in English.

I was thrilled that they got Michael McCarty back as Ishikawa. I must admit, when I heard his voice, I had to cheer. They even got Dave Wittenberg back as Saito. Just about all of the American voice actors reprise their roles. It’s so good. I almost can’t. It makes me want to squeal in delight every time I think about it. Too bad Sherry Lynn and Jimmy Neutron didn’t get to come back as a Tachikomas, though. That’s okay. Oh, and Megumi Hayashibara was in this? Wow! This show has some serious star power.

***

In addition to all the above, I can’t say I cared much for the main plot, but it wouldn’t be fair to say anything about it without seeing the rest of the episodes first. I’ll do that later. I do not believe they will be able to turn this boat around before it collides with the iceberg in front of it, but I suppose there’s always a chance. Though I did not like this show, it was fun getting to see the Major and all her buddies again. I’ll just have to forget this show ever happened when I’m rewatching 2nd Gig.

It has been 13 years since Solid State Society. Man. I guess it’s called getting old. Everything you like gets remade for a new audience that you aren’t a part of. The same thing will happen to you as well, dear reader. It’s only a matter of time.