Hindsight

The latest soundtrack release for the “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex” series is a pricey, 6-disc package that should also have an equally long acronym: GITS SAC LE CD Box. I purchased mine from Amazon.com Japan.

For Kanno collectors, all previous soundtracks from Stand Alone Complex are included: OST Volumes 1, 2, 3, “be human” and the Solid State Society movie soundtrack. The sixth disc is really what you’re trying to get if you already bought the previous discs.

What do I do with my previous CDs? Do I keep them as a collector or sell them off now that I’ve gotten this box set? I’m still holding onto the former since all the individual discs have great art and inserts.

The sixth disc in the Box Set is authored as a single audio track and carries the title of “OST 4-” along with “Smooth in the Shell”. There aren’t any breaks to skip to automatically but I’ve seen fans online mention making their own .cue files to make a CD with 16 tracks (seen in a comment stream over at the fantastic GabrielaRobin.com blog).

It’s a great disc… mostly instrumental and ambient, but an excellent selection that was previously unavailable. Around the 40 minute mark, one of my favorite compositions played - I felt I got my money’s worth right there. I love the disc - I can let the entire soundtrack play on the train to work and back home.

Included in the package is a USB flash drive. It’s got a 256MB capacity and has a Tachikoma design to it, very cute. Wallpapers, sound files and some incidental music snippets are included in the drive.

If you haven’t purchased any of the previous GITS SAC soundtracks, this is a must-buy since it contains all of her work for the series. It can be purchased at CDJapan (www.cdjapan.co.jp) or Amazon Japan (www.amazon.co.jp).