Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is a Japanese anime television series produced by Production I.G and based on Masamune Shirow's manga Ghost in the Shell. It was written and directed by Kenji Kamiyama, with original character design by Hajime Shimomura and a soundtrack by Yoko Kanno. The first season aired from October 2002 to October 2003 and was positively received by critics. A second season, titled Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd Gig, aired from January 2004 to January 2005. Critical response to the series was generally positive.
The series centers on the members of an elite law enforcement unit known as Public Security Section 9 as they investigate cybercrime and terrorism cases; the cases in the first season often are connected to their pursuit of an elite "Super Class A" hacker and corporate terrorist known only as "The Laughing Man", whose actions end up creating the series' titular "Stand Alone Complex". A series of associated short comic animations, titled Tachikomatic Days, aired after each episode. These shorts star the Tachikoma "think-tanks" from the main series, and they typically relate directly to the story of the preceding Stand Alone Complex episode.
The first season was adapted into a feature-length OVA titled The Laughing Man, which was released in 2005. The series also received video game spin-offs for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and mobile phones. 2nd Gig was also later adapted into a feature-length OVA entitled Individual Eleven, which was released in 2006. Solid State Society, a TV-film sequel to the Stand Alone Complex series, was also released in that year. An original net animation (ONA) series installment titled Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 was formally announced in December 2018 and the first season was released on Netflix on 23 April 2020. The second season was released on 23 May 2022. Both seasons consist of 12 episodes each, with Kenji Kamiyama directing one season, and Shinji Aramaki directing the other season.
Plot
Premise
The series takes place in the year 2030, where many people have become cyborgs with prosthetic bodies. Primarily set in New Port City (新浜市, Niihama-shi), in the fictional Japanese prefecture of Niihama (新浜県, Niihama-ken), the series follows the members of Public Security Section 9, a special-operations task-force made up of former military officers and police detectives. While the group investigates various crimes, both seasons feature ongoing investigations into two incidents that embroil the group in corruption within other branches of the Japanese government.
Season 1
The first season of Stand Alone Complex focuses on the Laughing Man incident, wherein a hacktivist ultimately reveals to Major Motoko Kusanagi that he had discovered that several micromachine manufacturing corporations, in association with the Japanese government, suppressed information on an inexpensive cure to a debilitating cyberization disease in order to profit from the more expensive micromachine treatment. Following this, he abducted one of the owners of the company and attempted to force him to reveal the truth on live television, resulting in the hacker live-hacking everyone's vision and cameras at the event to cover his face with the stylized laughing face logo that became synonymous with his image.
His popularity spawned several genuine imitators, resulting in the series' titular Stand Alone Complex. After an investigation by the authorities causes him to resurface in the present, Section 9 discovers these companies and several Japanese politicians later used the Laughing Man's image to garner public support and profit, and they begin a campaign, spearheaded by Togusa and the Major, to disseminate the truth. This ultimately leads to the Cabinet labeling them as domestic terrorists and forcibly disbanding them, resulting in the capture of several members and Kusanagi's apparent death. However, it is all a ruse to deceive the government, and the very alive and well members of Section 9 regroup to bring the micromachine corporations and corrupt politicians to justice, resulting in the dissolution of the current Japanese government.
Season 2
The second season, 2nd Gig, set two years after the events of the first season, explores the political and social ramifications of the two world wars that took place prior to the events of the series. At the time of the Third and the Fourth World Wars, about three million Asians became refugees and were invited into Japan as a source of cheap labor. These "invited refugees", based on the reclaimed island of Dejima, soon became unemployed in the post-war period, and their social unrest borders on outright war.
Section 9's involvement in the refugee issue begins after they successfully stop a hostage crisis caused by a domestic terrorist group known as the Individual Eleven, after which newly elected Prime Minister Yoko Kayabuki officially reinstates the organization. The group seems to be modeling themselves after the May 15 Incident, where a group of naval officers assassinated the Prime Minister and then gained the support of the public, and hope to stir up the refugees' spirits by fighting for them against the Japanese government.
The group also comes into contact with Kazundo Gōda, head of the Cabinet Intelligence Service, who gets assistance from the group in defusing several instances between the refugees as well as assisting him in transporting plutonium through Dejima, result in several failures and refugee deaths, further straining relations.
Section 9 ultimately discovers that Gōda has been manipulating both events behind the scenes, leaking the social virus that creates the Individual Eleven ideology and creating a new Stand Alone Complex, as well as the intentional failures with the refugees. However, he cannot account for the charismatic Hideo Kuze who genuinely believes in the best for the refugees and helps rally for their independence from Japan. Throughout the investigation, Kusanagi discovers she may know Kuze from her childhood. Ultimately, Gōda is found guilty of his part in the refugee incidents and killed before he can defect to the American Empire, but not before his ministrations also result in the death of Kuze.
Film
In the film Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Solid State Society, set two years following the resolution of the Individual Eleven incident, the Major has left Section 9, and Togusa is now field commander, leading an investigation into several deaths of refugees from the Siak Republic, which results in the discovery of a government computer system coordinating the kidnappings of 20 thousand abused children who have had their cyberbrains replaced and placing them under the care of several senior citizens made comatose by another government program that takes care of all of their bodily needs.
Their investigation, which brings the Major out of hiding, reveals an entity known as the Puppeteer behind the kidnappings. The Puppeteer is a rhizome formed by the collective will of the senior citizens, and the Siak Republic's intent to use the kidnapped children in their plans leads to their downfall. However, the investigation further reveals that a member of the House of Representatives is also using the children for his nationalistic purposes. Section 9 and the Major infiltrate a welfare center where the MP brainwashes the children, resulting in the Puppeteer revealing that the senior citizens wished to give the children free will in their future, with the politician interfering in that new plan.
Production
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex was animated by Production I.G, and produced by Bandai Visual, Bandai Entertainment, Dentsu, Nippon Television Network, Tokuma Shoten, Victor Entertainment, and Manga Entertainment. The series was directed and written by Kenji Kamiyama, with additional screenwriters including Junichi Fujisaku, Yoshiki Sakurai, Shōtarō Suga, Dai Satō, Nobutoshi Terado, Yutaka Ōmatsu, and Yūichirō Matsuka. Masamune Shirow, author of the original Ghost in the Shell manga, provided plot for several episodes, sketches of characters and mechanical designs (including the Tachikoma), and gave his approval to the scripts before production. The series was produced with an 800 million yen investment. Kenji Kamiyama decided to make the anime television series as a "relative" to the manga and film, serving as a separate parallel world from both.
For the second season, Mamoru Oshii contributed with his ideas to the concept of the entire series and initial planning stages. In an interview, Oshii described his role in 2nd Gig as supervising the entire series and writing the plots for each episode. Dai Sato stated that they were initially going to concentrate on how Japan was going to participate in war after 9/11 as intended to portray a fictional future. But by the time they were working on the episodes, the Iraq War had already started and Japan's Self-Defense Force was sent to Iraq. During this time Japan also had an election. Sato continued to state that he created the "Individual Eleven" episodes to express irresponsibility of the Japanese people when they voted for the politicians that planned to send Japanese troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Music
The soundtrack for the series was composed by Yoko Kanno and produced by Victor Entertainment. The first season's opening theme is "Inner Universe" performed by Origa (written by Origa and Shanti Snyder). The lyrics are in Russian, English, and Latin. The first season's ending theme is "Lithium Flower" performed by Scott Matthew (written by Tim Jensen). When the series was later re-broadcast on terrestrial television in Japan, "Inner Universe" was replaced with "GET9", performed by jillmax (written by Tim Jensen), while "Lithium Flower" was replaced with "I Do", written and performed by Ilaria Graziano.
The opening theme for S.A.C. 2nd Gig is "Rise" performed by Origa (written by Tim Jensen), while the ending theme is "Living Inside the Shell" performed by Steve Conte (written by Shanti Snyder). 2nd Gig also used alternate opening and closing themes when it was re-broadcast on terrestrial television, with "Rise" was replaced by "CHRisTmas in the SiLenT ForeSt" performed by Ilaria Graziano (written by Shanti Snyder), and "Living Inside the Shell" was replaced by "Snyper", performed by Ilaria Graziano (written by Tim Jensen).
Broadcast
The pay-per-view distribution of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex started on SKY PerfecTV!'s Perfect Choice on 1 October 2002. It ran for 26 episodes until 1 October 2003. The series was later aired on the terrestrial Nippon TV from January to June 2004. A series of associated short comic animations, titled Tachikomatic Days (タチコマな日々, Tachikoma na Hibi), aired immediately after each episode of the series. These shorts star the Tachikoma "think-tanks" from the main series, and typically relate directly to the story of the preceding Stand Alone Complex episode.
The production of a second season was immediately decided after the first season's TV airing. The second season was initially hinted when Bandai has extended the episode list to 52 episodes at Otakon of 2003. In October 2003, Production I.G officially announced a second season of 26 for the series, which would air at a rate of 2 episodes per month. The second season of Stand Alone Complex, titled Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd Gig, aired on Animax from 1 January 2004 to 8 January 2005. It later aired on Nippon TV from April to September 2005.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex was subsequently licensed by Bandai Visual and Manga Entertainment in North America, and Madman Entertainment in Australia. It was broadcast in the United States on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block, in Canada by YTV and in the United Kingdom by AnimeCentral.
On 18 March 2015 it was announced that Stand Alone Complex would receive a full weekly rebroadcasting in Japan on BS11, starting on 1 April 2015. On 25 April 2017, Starz announced that they would be offering episodes of the series for their video on demand service starting 1 May 2017.
OVAs
A feature-length OVA titled Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – The Laughing Man was released in Japan on 23 September 2005, and in North America on 2 October 2007. The OVA retells the first season of the anime television series with minor alterations to the storyline to accommodate an abbreviated take on the Laughing Man affair. Some additional animation and voice work was also added. Although the Japanese-language version retained the voice cast from the anime series, the English version has a new cast of voice actors. The dialogue recording for the English version was produced by Ocean Productions. A Blu-ray version was released on 22 December 2010.
Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd Gig – Individual Eleven is a feature-length OVA which retells the events of S.A.C. 2nd Gig, altered to focus on both the Individual Eleven investigation and the relationship between Hideo Kuze and Motoko Kusanagi. Newly animated scenes and a remixed soundtrack are also included.
Television film
A television film sequel titled Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Solid State Society was released in 2006.
Video games
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex has received two console game spinoffs, both of which were published by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan and Bandai in North America and Europe. The first is Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex for the PlayStation 2 and was developed by Cavia. It was released on 4 March 2004 in Japan and 8 November 2004 in North America. The second—a sequel to the first—is a PlayStation Portable title, developed by G-Artists, and is also titled Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. It was released in Japan on 15 September 2005 and in North America on 25 October 2005.