The BEST episodes of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Every episode of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex!
In the future when technological enhancements and robotics are a way of life, Major Motoko Kusanagi and Section 9 take care of the jobs that are too difficult for the police. Section 9 employs hackers, sharpshooters, detectives and cyborgs all in an effort to thwart cyber criminals and their plans to attack the innocent.
#1 - C: The Visual Device will Laugh – INTERCEPTER
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/22/2002
Yamaguchi, an old friend of Togusa's and a police detective working in the Laughing Man task force, is murdered after he calls Togusa, requesting to see him concerning what Yamaguchi terms "suspicious internal activity" by superiors in the police department. At Yamaguchi's wake, Togusa is approached by Yamaguchi's wife, who delivers an envelope from him to Togusa that contain a series of strange photographs. Upon scrutinizing the photographs, Togusa realizes that none of them are taken using a camera. Continuing his investigation, Togusa interviews another detective in the Laughing Man task force, who coincidentally mentions that the task force is waiting to bug a primary suspect in the case with cybernetic surveillance devices called "interceptors". The interceptors allow constant audio and visual monitoring of the subject via their own senses. Togusa concludes that the Laughing Man task force members were bugged with these devices illegally for monitoring.
#2 - C: In The Forest of the Imagoes – PORTRAITZ
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/10/2002
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's database has been hacked into, and classified material has been stolen. Section 9 traces the hack and determines that the hack job originated from a facility that helps people with Cyberbrain Closed Shell Syndrome. Togusa goes undercover to investigate the social welfare facility, and immediately encounters suspicious behaviour from the facility's supervisors. Togusa manages to learn that a person called "the Chief" visited the center during the week that the MHLW was hacked, but before he can determine the significance of this information Togusa is discovered; simultaneously, the facility's security system unexpectedly goes online, and Section 9’s databases are subsequently hacked, leading Kusanagi and Batou to make an emergency insertion to evacuate Togusa.
#3 - IN: Return to Patriotism – ENDLESS∞GIG
Season 2 - Episode 26 - Aired 1/8/2005
Kuze and the Major come up with a plan to save the refugees, but the chances of its success are slim. Realizing this, the Tachikomas disobey the Major's orders and come up with a plan of their own. Batou has also disobeyed the Major's orders to go to the bridge and is desperately searching for her in the ruins of Dejima. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister is frustrated with being spurned by the Chief Cabinet Secretary. Determined to be remembered as more than a mere figurehead, she takes matters into her own hands.
#4 - C: The Copycat will Dance – MEME
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/5/2002
The Superintendent-General's press conference quickly descends into chaos after the Laughing Man's assassination threat. Kusanagi suspects that the Laughing Man has inserted a virus into the police units assigned to guard the event. As Section 9 members struggle to evacuate the Superintendent-General to safety, the anti-virus team at HQ races to develop a vaccine to protect against it. However, random civilians begin joining in the assassination attempt as well, without any sort of external influence. After escorting the Superintendent-General to safety and apprehending all of the assassins, the police are left wondering about what caused dozens of completely unrelated people to attempt to murder a single man. After the immediate threat is averted, Aramaki orders Section 9 to open their own investigation into the Laughing Man case
#5 - DI: Mother and Child – RED DATA
Season 2 - Episode 17 - Aired 9/4/2004
Following a tip, the Major conducts an undercover investigation of Kuze in Taiwan. While there, she saves a boy running from the Mafia. After being saved, the boy follows her, making sure that she finishes what she started. The mafia will continue to pursue the boy and the Major has to protect him.
#6 - SA: Unequal Terrorist – NOT EQUAL
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/24/2002
Sixteen years ago, Eka Tokura, the daughter of a pioneering cybernetics company's CEO, was kidnapped by the New World Brigade, a terrorist group opposed to cyberization. The girl's whereabouts remained a mystery until she was spotted by members of the Maritime Safety Team aboard an abandoned radiation scrubbing station off the coast of Okinawa. Four Special Security Team operators of the Japan Coast Guard were sent to find the girl and rescue her, but the team vanished without a trace. Section 9 is covertly dispatched to the island with two objectives: locate any remaining SST members and evacuate them, and find and rescue the missing girl. Section 9 is inserted by submarine, and after a time manages to find the girl, but when they do, they realize that something is wrong: the girl is the same age she was when she was kidnapped all those years ago.
#7 - DI: Beware the Left Eye – POKER FACE
Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 7/3/2004
While on an assignment guarding the Prime Minister, Saitou and the Tachikomas pass the time playing poker with a few policemen who are also assigned to the case. Much to the chagrin of the other men, Saitou wins hand after hand. The Tachikomas take notice of Saitou's uncanny accuracy and start to comment. Their constant chattering quickly gets on the other player's nerves, so to smooth things over Saitou recounts his time working as a sniper for mercenaries in Mexico.
#8 - SA: Tachikoma Runs Away; The Movie Director's Dream – ESCAPE FROM
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/17/2002
Early in the morning Batou's Tachikoma self-activates and leaves the Tachikoma storage bay to explore the outside world. While roaming the streets of Niihama, the Tachikoma encounters a young girl named Miki who is searching for her lost dog. The Tachikoma decides to help the girl, and together they manage to find the dog. While on their journey, the Tachikoma stumbles upon a cyberbrain being sold in a market that contains a ghost, and brings it back to the storage bay. When the Tachikoma returns to Section 9, technicians begin extensive tests to determine why the tank went AWOL in the first place, while Section 9 members turn their attention to the cyberbrain in an effort to determine what the brain contains. When one of the lab technicians investigating the brain links with it and becomes "lost," Kusanagi volunteers to go after the missing man, leading her find the technician watching a movie that lacks a beginning or ending which brings her to tears.
#9 - IN: Aerial Bombing of Dejima – NUCLEAR POWER
Season 2 - Episode 24 - Aired 12/4/2004
With the felling of Dejima Bridge by the refugees, a rumor circulates around the Cabinet that the refugees plan a mass suicide bombing using nuclear bombs. Fearing this, the Cabinet steps up the attack against the city. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kayabuki has been secretly arrested and taken to an unknown location. Aramaki, Togusa and Proto, in trying to help the P.M. are also taken into custody and secured in her office. With Section 9 having entered the non-communication zone and Aramaki being cut off from communication, Ishikawa and a Tachikoma make their way to Spring-8 on their own. Meanwhile, Gouda has sent an unwitting Section 4 after Section 9 to retrieve the plutonium.
#10 - SA: A Perfect Day for a Jungle Cruise – JUNGLE CRUISE
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/3/2002
Marco Amoretti, a former American Imperial Navy Petty Officer turned serial killer, has arrived in Japan and for the last two months has murdered several women by slicing the skin off their torsos in the form of a T-shirt. American CIA officers have been dispatched to Japan, ostensibly to assist Section 9 in their effort to track down and apprehend Amoretti before he can strike again. When the CIA officers show no surprise at the developments in the case, Ishikawa hacks into the CIA database and learns that Amoretti was part of an American Empire commando team sent into the jungles of South America to conduct a covert operation aimed at breaking an enemy’s will to fight by using terror tactics, such as flaying civilians alive. Elsewhere, Batou — an ex-JGSDF Ranger who has seen first-hand the horrors of the CIA operation — resolves to stop Amoretti by any means necessary.
#11 - IN: Escape in Defeat – EMBARRASSMENT
Season 2 - Episode 21 - Aired 11/6/2004
Much to the chagrin of Batou, Motoko, and the rest of the team, Kuze and the refugees manage to escape in one of the camouflaged boats. They are further hampered when an explosion causes heavy losses, leaving them unable to follow the fleeing boat. Regrouping, the team decides to refocus the investigation to the events surrounding Kuze. They start a secret investigation into Sagawa Electronics, the company responsible for the nuclear material transaction, and find that Gouda was involved. Meanwhile, as the boat heads for Dejima, Kuze makes his own unsettling discovery.
#12 - SA: Chinks in the Armor of the Heart – Ag2O
Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/14/2003
Sensitive information has been stolen from a U.S. Naval base, and the primary suspect is a former Paralympic silver medalist boxer named Pavlo Zaitsev, who works on the base as a hand-to-hand combat instructor. The Public Security office has instructed Batou to go undercover to spy on Zaitsev, a man whom he admires, to see if Zaitsev is somehow related to the missing information. Batou wants his suspicions to be wrong and for Zaitsev to be innocent. The assignment calls into question Batou's attitude on his duty towards Section 9 and the decisions it forces him to make. However, Batou discovers that Zaitsev is indeed the spy and reluctantly turns him in.
#13 - IN: Confusion at the North End – FABRICATE FOG
Season 2 - Episode 20 - Aired 10/2/2004
Section 9 heads to Etorofu in search of Kuze. During their investigations, the Major finds an interesting floppy disk on the body of a dead addict. The floppy proves to be a goldmine of information, as it contains records of plutonium transactions. The last buyer to purchase the material was a group of Asian refugees. Realizing the transaction is about to take place, the team rushes to the location and is surprised by what they find.
#14 - IN: To Those Without Even a Name... – SELECON
Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 6/5/2004
Section 9 has uncovered Shō Kawashima's ("FAKE FOOD") external memory device on the net. Hidden in a route to the Asian matrix only accessible through the European array, Section 9 concludes that the device was hidden by Gouda. Unfortunately, Gouda has left no trace of his movements in the device. The Major prepares to dive into the device with Bōma and Ishikawa watching her closely. However, before she can dive, Aramaki notifies her that someone even more important than the external memory device has just surfaced...
#15 - SA: Public Security Section 9 – SECTION-9
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/1/2002
Section 9 is called in to resolve a hostage crisis at a geisha house staffed by android geisha. After the crisis is taken care of, Aramaki is approached by Kubota, who reveals that the Japanese Foreign Minister was being actively investigated by military intelligence after expressing interest in the Ichinose Report, a document detailing diplomatic and military actions to be taken in the event of a national crisis. Given the sensitive nature of the case, Kubota asks that Section 9 take over the investigation where the original team left off.
#16 - SA: Runaway Evidence – TESTATION
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/8/2002
A heavy-assault multi-ped tank runs amok, under the control of an unknown hijacker using the "recognition code" of the tank's designer, Takeshi Kago, who died a week earlier. After going on a destructive spree at the testing facility, the tank heads towards the urban area of Niihama. Section 9 is called in to stop the tank, as no terrorist group has claimed responsibility, and the JSDF refuses to involve itself unless terrorism is the clear motive.
#17 - C: The Inviting Bird will Chant – DECOY
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/29/2002
Section 9 suspects that the police investigators handling the Laughing Man case are using their primary suspect, a former Serano Genomics programmer with a shady anti-corporate past named Ei Nanao, as a decoy to hide some form of higher-level corruption. Aramaki orders Section 9 to commence around the clock surveillance on Nanao in an attempt to catch him in the act, but the hacker is killed before he can be brought in for questioning. Elsewhere, Kusanagi meets with her friend Kurutan, a hospital nurse, to use her external memory device in an effort to learn more about The Laughing Man case. However, when the police Superintendent-General is set to give a speech about the Interceptor incident and the Laughing Man case, one of the officers present has his cyberbrain hacked by the Laughing Man. The Laughing Man demands that the Superintendent-General tell the truth, or he will be assassinated.
#18 - SA: Idolatry – IDOLATOR
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/12/2002
The Ministry of Home Affairs learns that Jenoma revolutionary leader Marcelo Jarti has been visiting Japan regularly every five months. Jarti is a drug trafficker and one of the world’s most wanted men, and has been targeted for assassination by commandos of the United States Delta Force and United Kingdom Special Air Service (SAS) a total of six times and has survived each of these attempts. When Jarti returns to Japan following the most recently failed assassination attempt, Section 9 is called in to follow him and determine why Jarti has been visiting their country. They discover that the real Jarti had died several months ago after using a ghost-dubbing device to create dozens of cybernetic clones of himself, and the Yakuza running the cloning facility had kept releasing duplicates to prevent the Jenoma government from learning of their national hero's death.
#19 - IN: Chain Reaction of Symmetry – CHAIN REACTION
Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired 10/2/2004
Despite close scrutiny by the authorities, the Dejima refugees declare their independence. Kuze is suspected to be the mastermind behind this new resistance and Section 9 is sent to detain him. The Major hacks into the refugee cyberbrain hub and easily locates Kuze. When the team rushes to capture him, however, they find themselves in the middle of a trap.
#20 - IN: To the Other Side of Paradise – THIS SIDE OF JUSTICE
Season 2 - Episode 25 - Aired 1/8/2005
As the attack on Dejima escalates, the Major catches up with Kuze. She explains the whole situation to him and he agrees to follow her. They are about to leave when both are attacked by the Self-Defense forces and in the confusion are trapped under the rubble. Togusa rescues the Prime Minister and brings her back to her office. There, Aramaki hopes her influence will stop the launching of the ultimate weapon. Meanwhile, Batou reasons with Section 4.
#21 - SA: Automated Capitalism – ¥€$
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/31/2002
Acting on a tip, Section 9 breaks up a cabal of thieves planning to rob a Japanese financial institution. Shortly after the raid, a Chinese intelligence official contacts Section 9 and informs them of suspicious activity that he believes may indicate an assassination attempt by Chinese Socialists on Kanemoto Yokose, a prominent, yet reclusive, Japanese billionaire. Section 9 is therefore tasked with protecting Yokose, a 56-year-old ex-mathematician who has amassed a fortune by playing the stock market. Section 9 and the assassin arrive within minutes of each other, but after reaching Yokose’s bedroom, both sides discover that Yokose died from a medical condition several months ago, and an advanced computer program had been managing his investments the whole time.
#22 - SA: The True Reason For The Unfinished Love Affair – ANGELS' SHARE
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/21/2003
Kusanagi and Aramaki are visiting London for an anti-terrorism conference. While there, Aramaki stops at a wine bank to visit an old friend of his, who asks for his help in breaking up a Mafia money laundering scheme involving the bank and an unknown third party. Before Aramaki can leave, two thieves break in and a hostage situation ensues. In an effort to not let their scheme be known, the Mafia attempts to have Aramaki and the bank staff killed during a police raid, while Kusanagi makes her own plans to rescue the chief and the others from certain death. Aramaki manages to convince the two amateur thieves to surrender, and the entire group takes shelter in a secret basement underneath the wine vault as the corrupt police officers raid the bank. Kusanagi manages to infiltrate the building and extract Aramaki, as well as the evidence needed to implicate the Mafia and their corrupt associates within the police department.
#23 - SA: Time of the Machines – MACHINES DÉSIRANTES
Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/7/2003
Kusanagi's reservations regarding Section 9's Tachikoma units comes to a head. She becomes disturbed by their behaviour, as their artificial intelligence agents appear to be developing too fast; she has additional concerns about the safety of retaining them in the unit for use in a battle situation. The Tachikomas become vaguely aware of Kusanagi's concerns, and attempt to avoid deactivation by hatching a bizarre scheme to appeal to Kusanagi and prevent their removal. When Batou is summoned to a conference by Kusanagi, he learns of the situation with the Tachikomas and is told that they will be disarmed and shipped back to the lab for analysis. Although unhappy with the decision, Batou has no choice but to comply with the order.
#24 - SA: The Fortunate Ones – MISSING HEARTS
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/19/2002
Kurutan calls the Major to the hospital where she works to look into the source of a young girl's heart transplant. The heart she received was given without consent of the owner's parents. The girl's doctors feared she might have had to be given a full-cyborg conversion, a thought that stirs painful memories for Kusanagi. Aramaki, believing that the culprits may be tied to a mass kidnapping ring, orders Section 9 to look into the case for connections between the organs, the company that sold them, and a local refugee camp set up at an abandoned oil refinery. Finally, the culprits are revealed to be a gang of rich medical students. Before arresting them, Kusanagi decides to scare and humiliate the students by posing as a murderous Yakuza enforcer.
#25 - C: The Man Who Dwells in the Shadows of the Net – CHAT! CHAT! CHAT!
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/26/2002
Using her net avatar, Kusanagi enters a chat room dedicated to the Laughing Man. Various theories are passed around the chat room as the members view various bits of evidence from the Laughing Man case. While in the chat room, Kusanagi homes in on an older man sitting at the table who seems to have more knowledge about the Laughing Man incidents than anyone else. After confronting the man and exchanging information with him, Kusanagi and one of the other guests are suddenly transferred out of the chat room and she briefly sees the Laughing Man.