The Movie


When one realizes a trilogy of a complex subject matter like Mardock Scramble, based on the book series of the same name by Tow Ubukata, cutting out some character development from the main part for time reasons is inevitable because preparations for the big finale need to be done as well. The Second Combustion is no exception. After her escape from Shells' killer Boiled to a reseacrh facility called "Paradise", heavily-wounded Rune Balot digs deeper into in the world of recovery and also into the complicated relationship of Oeufcoque, who's pretty struck himself, and Boiled. But Boiled is still stalking them so that they're going have to run again with Dr. Easter. And according to latest insights, they're going to have to look for Shell's memory chips at the shady casino.

As already implied, part 2 of the Mardock Scramble trilogy action- and sex-packed than The First Compression. As a matter of fact, it's more like an introduction to the story with the - presumably - big finale.
This movie here is more sublte though it's no less obscure and the main story makes quite a leap forward here. The relationships of Oeufcoque and Rune and also Boiled is being intensified as well. One also gets to know more about Dr. Easter's work. As expected, The Second Combustion ends with a big fat cliffhaner refering to The Third Exhaustion, the end of the trilogy - already been in Japanese movie theaters at the end of September 2012.



The Versions


Similar to Mardock Scramble: The First Compression, there are two different version are available. While the almost three minutes shorter version was shown in Japanese movie theaters, most Blu-ray and DVD releases additionally contain a Director's Cut - also similar to the prequel.

But who was hoping for similar differences to the first one, gets heavily disappointed. There's no additional or alternate graphical sex or violence at all. Furthermore, the new footage usually look trivial and some of them even as if they were cut for a reason (especially the first one mentioned in the following comparison).
Sometimes, the transition from one scene to the next one looks more smoother or some more lights gets shed on a relationship between two people but that's pretty much it and really relevanjt is NONE of the new scenes. One obviously had the marketing strategy from the first one and intended to up the ante even though there when in fact there was no ante to up in the first place.

But look at the bride side: this time, no decision has to be made because the releases of part 2 usually contain the Director's Cut or both the Theatrical Version and the Director's Cut.


The Director's Cut contains for new scenes and is 2 min. 47 sec. longer in total.

6:15
Balot & Tweedledee encounter three old scientists who ask about a girl they've never seen. Tweedledee explains she was Dr. Easter's project, the older female scientist speaks in high terms of Balot for her solid structure and she'd like to invite her to tea.
With the excuse they were in a hurry, Tweedledee drags Balot away from them and explains their so-called tea parties could take hours and hours because they enjoyed performing tests with a buch of doctors.
41 sec

17:10
Boiled is sitting in the shower. He removes slugs from his body with simple flatware.
13 sec

20:38
Boiled and Fingernail are driving to Paradise. Before their arrival, Boiled lets his party out and tells him to approach the premises from the West. As a result, his partner runs off with joy.
29 sec

34:21
Oeufcoque and Dr. Easter are discussing Balot's development resp. her desire for revenge and also about Oeufcoque's mixed feeling about her.
82 sec