The Best Episodes of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Despite their best efforts, the remaining members of Section 9 are rounded up one by one by the government forces; only Batou and Motoko are left.

Director: Kazunobu Fuseki

Writer: Taiki Sakurai

The tables seem to be turning in favor of Section 9, but the nuclear missile is still being prepared for launch.

Director: Masayuki Yoshihara

Writer: Kenji Kamiyama

After being shot, Togusa's in the hospital and about to go into surgery, but he is desperate to pass on what he's learned to the rest of Section 9. As Togusa fights for his life, the rest of Section 9 takes over the case, but others within the government have learned of the investigation and are not happy.

Director: Kenichi Takeshita

Writer: Dai Sato

The government orders Section 9 disbanded. Aramaki is taken away, and Togusa is arrested. Motoko assembles the remaining team members at HQ for one final mission. They prepare for a full-scale assault while Elite troopers and Armed Suits descend on Section 9 HQ.

Director: Yasuhiro Geshi

Writer: Taiki Sakurai

While field testing new recruits, the Major finds herself hacked, and an old woman tells her a story from her past.

Director: Jun Matsumoto

Writer: Kenji Kamiyama, Yutaka Omatsu

Togusa has been released from jail and he's given papers showing the dissolution of Section 9. Out of work and depressed, he tries to find information on the others, but there is nothing available. Thinking that he has nothing left to lose, he goes to assassinate the man responsible when he is stopped by–Batou!

Director: Toshiyuki Kono

Writer: Dai Sato

The Prime Minister is taken into custody, and the military begins its strike on Dejima. The Major and part of Section 9 head to Dejima to try to hand over the nuclear device to the military there, in order to defuse the situation, while Ishikawa heads to SPring-8 to deliver the rest of the plutonium.

Director: Masaki Tachibana

Writer: Kenji Kamiyama

Kuze manages to take down the jamming plane, but becomes trapped in rubble with the Major. The Tachikomas begin discussing what to do about the nuclear submarine they have spotted, and Batou manages to convince the special forces that have been sent to kill them to listen to him.

Director: Jun Matsumoto

Writer: Kenji Kamiyama

Saito recounts his first run-in with the Major, and how he became part of the group that would eventually become Section 9.

Director: Masayuki Yoshihara

Writer: Kenji Kamiyama, Taiki Sakurai

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.

Director: Masayuki Yoshihara

Writer: Kenji Kamiyama

Marco Amoretti, a former Navy Petty Officer from the American Empire, has come to Japan and is committing heinous acts of brutality against women. Section 9 is assisted in this matter by the American Empire's CIA. While this doesn't sit well with Public Security's members, Batou finds the whole case particularly hard on his psyche as the nightmares from his past rear their ugly head.

Director: Jun Matsumoto

Writer: Dai Sato

Togusa is on the trail of the Laughing Man again, and this time, his investigations lead him towards both a leading micromachine corporation and an NGO called the Sunflower Society.

Director: Toshiyuki Kono

Writer: Dai Sato

The Laughing Man returns! And, just as he did six years ago, he kidnaps the president of Serano Genomics without being detected. Section 9 arrives at Serano's house too late, and sets out to find him.

Director: Jun Matsumoto

Writer: Junichi Fujisaku

The Major and Batou are flown to Berlin in an effort to track down a terrorist called "Angel's Feathers". While there, Batou attracts the attention of a young girl in a wheelchair.

Director: Toshiyuki Kono

Writer: Kenji Kamiyama

The government declares martial Law in Dejima, believing that the refugees have a nuclear device and plan to use it to gain independence. When the refugees' connection to Kuze is cut off, one shot begins a bloody war.

Director: Toshiyuki Kono

Writer: Kenji Kamiyama

Motoko is about to be fitted for her new prosthetic body. But when the doctor arrives and begins the procedure, it's clear that she has no intent of letting Motoko out alive. Meanwhile, Aramaki receives a disturbing message that his brother has been kidnapped.

Director: Masaki Tachibana

Writer: Junichi Fujisaku

The Tachikomas, Ishikawa, and Borma locate a suspicious file believed to be the Individual Eleven virus, The Major, Batou, Saito go after Kuze, and the Individual Eleven prepare to put their plan into action.

Director: Masaki Tachibana

Writer: Kenji Kamiyama, Yutaka Omatsu

As Togusa and Bato track down Nanao, Motoko and Paz are attempting to protect the Superintendent-General at a press conference about the police misuse of interceptors. When the virus does hit, Motoko and Paz have to act fast to save the intended victim. Meanwhile, the road to Nanao=A hits a dead end.

Director: Masaki Tachibana

Writer: Junichi Fujisaku

Togusa goes undercover at a hospital for patients with Closed Cyberbrain Syndrome, a hospital completely cut off from communication with the outside world.

Director: Toshiyuki Kono

Writer: Taiki Sakurai

One of the Tachikomas decides to take a little stroll through the city. It meets a little girl, Miki, who is searching for her lost dog and it agrees to help her. On their journey, the Tachikoma finds a strange box.

Director: Masayuki Yoshihara

Writer: Taiki Sakurai

While working late, Togusa gets a call from one of his colleagues from his days on the police force. It seems that he's uncovered something strange happening with the investigators in the Laughing Man Unit, a special task force formed to catch the infamous cyber criminal known only as the Laughing Man. But before he can meet with Togusa, he's killed in a car accident.

Director: Hideyo Yamamoto

Writer: Shoutarou Suga

A routine live-fire exercise goes wrong, leaving a fleet of AI controlled helicopters flying above a refugee area, firing on anyone who comes near. And a mysterious and creepy man known as Gohda arrives to tell Section 9 how to handle it.

Director: Masayuki Yoshihara

Writer: Kenji Kamiyama, Junichi Fujisaku

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.

Director: Kazunobu Fuseki

Writer: Kenji Kamiyama

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.

Director: Kenichi Takeshita

Writer: Kenji Kamiyama

The city of Fukuoka is evacuated when a live nuclear bomb is found. With the Dejima Refugees targeted as the prime suspects, the government sends the Self-Defense Forces into the city.

Director: Itsuro Kawasaki

Writer: Kenji Kamiyama, Dai Sato