Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex / Episode List

The Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex episode list includes all 26 episodes of the Japanese anime television series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex .

The individual episodes can be divided into two categories: “Stand-Alone” episodes (SA) and “Complex” episodes (C). Stand-alone episodes tell a separate and self-contained story that is unrelated to other episodes or the main plot of the series. Complex episodes, on the other hand, are part of the case of the Laughing Man , a plot complex that spans the entire length of the series.

Episodes

No.	German title	Original title	First broadcast in Japan	German-language first broadcast (Germany)	category
1	Section 9	Kōan Kyūka SECTION-9 ( 公安 9 課 SECTION-9 )	Oct 1, 2002	May 7, 2006	SA
The Section 9 team is called in to rescue the tea house guests who have been taken hostage by geisha robots. After the mission, Aramaki is informed by his former comrade Kubota that the military has started a secret investigation into the foreign minister, who was among the hostages. The reason is the interest shown in the minister's environment in the Ichinose report, which contains secret information about military strategies in times of crisis. With Kubota's consent, Section 9 begins its own investigation. It turns out that the foreign minister's cyberbrain in the tea house was exchanged for the cyberbrain of a US agent. The report is supposed to be smuggled out of the country with the body of the minister, but Section 9 can prevent this.
2	Proof of frenzy	Bōsō no Shōmei TESTATION ( 暴走 の 証明 TESTATION )	Oct 8, 2002	May 7, 2006	SA
On a test site, the prototype of a multi-legged battle tank gets out of control. A stranger broke into the tank AI using the identification code of the recently deceased designer Takeshi Kago . Section 9 has the task of stopping the prototype. However, the tank can repel an attack by the sniper Saito because it taps into the satellite signal used for target acquisition. In the meantime, Togusa and Ishikawa discover the hacker's identity: it is Kago himself, whose brain was integrated into the tank's system by an employee after his death. It is believed that Kago wants revenge on his parents; For religious reasons they refused to have their sick son cured with cyber implants. In front of Kago's parents' house, Section 9 finally succeeds in stopping the tank. In doing so, however, Kago's brain is finally destroyed.
3	A humble riot - Android and I	Sasayaka na Hanran ANDROID AND I ( さ さ や か な 反 乱 ANDROID AND I )	Oct 15, 2002	May 14, 2006	SA
After the suicide of several androids, Section 9 investigates their manufacturers. All androids came from an obsolete series, known to enthusiasts under the nickname "Jerry". Major Kusanagi finds out that the Jerrys were infected with a computer virus during regular maintenance at the factory. While analyzing the virus, Ishikawa discovers program code that protects a specific Jerry from the virus. After the owner has been located, Batou and Togusa break into his apartment. However, the suspect Marshall MacLachlan has already fled with his Jerry. A short time later he can be asked by Major Kusanagi, Batou and Togusa. When MacLachlan draws a gun, he is stopped by his Jerry and can be arrested.
4th	The visual component laughs	Shikaku Soshi wa Warau INTERCEPTER ( 視 覚 素 子 は 笑 う INTERCEPTER )	Oct 22, 2002	May 14, 2006	C.
A former colleague is murdered after asking Togusa to meet to discuss suspicious police operations. These events are related to the never-solved case of the Laughing Man , in which ransom money was extorted for the kidnapped directors of micro-machine companies. Togusa learns from another former colleague that a new suspect has emerged who is to be monitored with an "intercepter", a cyber implant that is secretly inserted into the target person. Togusa finds out that the investigators themselves were illegally used intercepter. Section 9 passes this information on to the media, whereupon General Inspector Daido calls a press conference, presents the head of the department as responsible and announces his suspension. Daido denies own connections to Serano Genomics, the manufacturer of the Intercepter. At this point, the hacker known as the Laughing Man reappears and invades a police officer's cyberbrain. Through this he explains that he can no longer stand the comedy put on by the police. The hacker threatens to kill Daido if he doesn't reveal the whole truth.
5	The decoy sings	Manekidori wa Utau DECOY ( マ ネ キ ド リ は 謡 う DECOY )	Oct 29, 2002	May 21, 2006	C.
Aramaki believes the Laughing Man's appearance at the press conference was faked by the police to distract attention from the corruption within their own ranks. He believes that Nanao A, who was previously a programmer at Serano Genomics and who was named as the main suspect by the Department of the Laughing Man, is a decoy with the help of which the true background is to be obscured. Aramaki sends Batou and Togusa to monitor the suspect in order to get to the real people behind it. While the rest of the team scrutinizes Nanao A's past, Major Kusanagi refreshes her knowledge of the Laughing Man and his first victim, the director of Serano Genomics. When Batou and Togusa are supposed to arrest Nanao A, it turns out that he is not in the apartment under observation.
6th	The imitators dance	Mohōsha wa Odoru MEME ( 模倣 者 は 踊 る MEME )	Nov 5, 2002	May 21, 2006	C.
Nanao A sends a computer virus from his hiding place and is then shot by an unknown person. The virus attacks a bodyguard of Inspector General Daido and causes him to attack his wards. Major Kusanagi and Paz protect the inspector general and bring him to safety when more imitators attack Daido. After this incident, Section 9 begins its own investigation to shed light on the truth of the Laughing Man's case, as Aramaki continues to believe that the events of the past few days were a staging from the ranks of the police.
7th	Idol worship	Gūzō Sūhai IDOLATIANS ( 偶像 崇 拝 IDOLATIANS )	Nov 12, 2002	May 28, 2006	SA
Marcelo Jarti, former leader of the Jenoma revolution, has visited Japan regularly every five months for the past few years. Jarti is one of the most wanted men in the world and has been the target of several assassinations, all of which he miraculously survived. On his current visit, Jarti is being followed by Section 9 to find out the reason for his frequent trips. After Jarti has met the boss of the local drug mafia, the task force follows them to a warehouse, where the two are incapacitated. Shortly afterwards, Kusanagi, Batou and Togusa discover that there are several copies of Jartis in the warehouse. The real Marcelo Jarti died years ago. To keep up appearances, the Mafia made copies of Jarti's body and Ghost. The many trips served to compare the memories of the copies with each other. Section 9 keeps the matter secret and returns a copy of Jartis, who is considered a hero in his homeland.
8th	Blessed people	Megumareshi Monotachi MISSING HEARTS ( 恵 ま れ し 者 た ち MISSING HEARTS )	Nov 19, 2002	May 28, 2006	SA
An acquaintance of Kusanagis, who works as a nurse, asks the major to investigate the origin of a donor heart that was implanted in a young girl, since not everything seemed to be right when the organ was obtained. In their investigation, Section 9 comes across a group of medical students who are illegally trafficking in stolen organs. The task force arrests the students after teaching them a lesson.
9	The man in the dark of the network	Net no Yami ni Sumu Otoko CHAT! CHAT! CHAT! ( ネ ッ ト の 闇 に 棲 む 男 CHAT! CHAT! CHAT! )	Nov 26, 2002	June 4, 2006	C.
Major Kusanagi enters a chat room online where numerous conspiracy theories about the laughing man are making the rounds. Your focus is on an older man who seems to know more about the Laughing Man's case than the rest of the discussion group. After Kusanagi has had a private conversation with him and has received information from him, she is transferred from the chat room by the discussion moderator, who appears to have connections with the real Laughing Man.
10	A day made for a jungle trip	Mitsurin Kōro ni Uttetsuke no Hi JUNGLE CRUISE ( 密林 航路 に う っ て つ け の 日 JUNGLE CRUISE )	Dec 3, 2002	June 4, 2006	SA
Section 9 is assigned to the CIA to track down and arrest Marco Amoretti, a former US Marine responsible for a series of gruesome torture killings against women. Amoretti was a member of a secret command of the CIA, which was supposed to demoralize the enemy during the war in South America by murdering the civilian population as cruelly as possible. The CIA hopes that Batou, who is very emotional about the case, knowing firsthand the brutality of this tactic from his time in the army, will kill Amoretti in his anger, thereby removing the last bit of evidence of ties to the CIA. Batou finally places Amoretti in the sewer tunnels. However, his sense of duty triumphs over his emotions and he hands the perpetrator over to the CIA alive.
11	In the larval forest	Aseichū no Mori de PORTRAITZ ( 亜 成虫 の 森 で PORTRAITZ )	Dec 10, 2002	June 11, 2006	C.
Togusa is sent undercover to a facility for rehabilitation of people with cyberbrain blockade syndrome after secret data was stolen from the database of the Ministry of Social Affairs. He meets an apparently autistic boy named Aoi and his friends, and learns from them that the so-called "Führer" visited the facility at the time the ministry's system was broken into. Before Togusa can find out more, he is exposed and knocked unconscious. Aoi, who turns out to be the "leader", erases the memories of his person from the memory of the other residents and disappears from the facility without a trace. During the debriefing of the mission, it turns out that Togusa's memories of the boy's face are also wrong.
12	A tachikoma tears away - the director's dream	Tachikoma no Iede, Eiga Kantoku no Yume ESCAPE FROM ( タ チ コ マ の 家 出 映 画 監督 の 夢 ESCAPE FROM )	Dec 17, 2002	June 11, 2006	SA
Batou's Tachikoma unexpectedly activates himself and goes on a journey of discovery into town, where he helps a little girl find her missing dog. On the way he finds a cyberbrain at a dealer that houses a ghost and brings it back to Section 9. While the Tachikoma's sudden initiative puzzles the technicians, other employees are busy researching the cyberbrain. When one of the analysts plunges into the cyberbrain's system and does not return, Major Kusanagi follows him. It ends up in a virtual cinema in which a director who is hapless in real life has created the perfect film for himself, which holds the ghosts of the analyst and other people who wanted to flee from reality under its spell.
13	Machine terrorists	Unequal Terrorist NOT EQUAL ( ≠ テ ロ リ ス ト NOT EQUAL )	Dec. 24, 2002	June 18, 2006	SA
Eka Tokura, the daughter of the president of a cyber implant company, was kidnapped 16 years ago by opponents of increasing cyborgization. It remains missing until it is discovered - apparently not aged - by a team from the Coast Guard on a decontaminated decontamination facility off the coast of Okinawa . Section 9 is given the task of rescuing the kidnapped Eka and the meanwhile missing members of the coast guard. After a violent firefight with the insurgents on the site, the girl, an old woman and a survivor of the coast guard team managed to escape. It turns out that the girl is the kidnapper's daughter. In fact, the rescued old woman is Eka Tokura, who has aged prematurely from her life as a hostage.
14th	Fully automatic capitalism - ¥ € $	Zenjidō Shihonshugi ¥ € $ ( 全自動 資本主義 ¥ € $ )	Dec 31, 2002	June 18, 2006	SA
Section 9 receives information from the Chinese security service that unknown persons may have hired a contract killer from the Chinese mafia to kill a Japanese multimillionaire. The reclusive former mathematician has amassed his fortune with the help of a self-developed, independently operating software for stock trading. The task force arrives shortly after the killer at the millionaire's house and overwhelms her before she can carry out the planned assassination attempt. Then it turns out that the millionaire who lives alone has died of natural causes some time ago. But since his sophisticated software continued to generate wealth on its own, no one noticed.
15th	The era of machines - machines désirantes	Kikaitachi no Jikan MACHINES DESIRANTES ( 機械 た ち の 時間 MACHINES DESIRANTES )	Jan. 7, 2003	June 25, 2006	SA
Major Kusanagi has concerns about the rapidly developing artificial intelligence and the resulting individual characteristics of the tachikomas. She is unsure whether the machines are still suitable as weapons in combat. The Tachikomas notice the major's reservations and try to appease them with an emphatically robotic behavior. Despite this ruse, Major Kusanagi decides to disarm the Tachikomas and send them back to the laboratory.
16	Weak point in the heart - Ag2O	Kokoro no Sukima Ag2O ( 心 の 隙間 Ag2O )	Jan. 14, 2003	June 25, 2006	SA
Pavlo Zaitsev, a former silver medalist at the Paralympic Games who now works as a hand-to-hand combat instructor for the army, is suspected of espionage. Batou, for whom the boxer was once a role model, is sent to the military base to investigate undercover against Zaitsev and his backers. He watches Zaitsev as he is actually secretly copying data and follows him to meet his clients. After Batou knocked this out, he offers Zaitsev that he would let him go if the boxer could defeat him in a fight. Batou defeats Zaitsev and hands over his fallen idol to the authorities.
17th	The truth about an unfinished romance	Mikansei Love Romance no Shinsō ANGELS 'SHARE ( 未 完成 ラ ブ ロ マ ン ス の 真相 ANGELS' SHARE )	Jan. 21, 2003	July 2, 2006	SA
After an anti-terrorist conference in London, Chief Aramaki visits an old friend who runs a wine fund and suspects one of the managers of laundering money in the fund through third parties for the mafia. During the conversation between the two of them, two thieves break into the bank to steal expensive wine. When the police arrive, the planned robbery turns into a hostage situation. In order to cover up its own tracks, the mafia wants to have everyone in the building killed when it is stormed through its liaison officers at the police. Aramaki is able to convince the two thieves to trust his experience and thus save those present by simulating an escape through the sewer system and then hiding in a secret storage room. After the police leave, Aramaki lets the two thieves go and uses secret books from the bank to expose the mafia liaison officers.
18th	An assassination attempt in a duet	Ansatsu no Nijūsō LOST HERITAGE ( 暗殺 の 二重奏 LOST HERITAGE )	Jan. 28, 2003	July 2, 2006	SA
A death threat is issued against State Secretary Kim, the first Chinese politician to be allowed access to a war memorial in Kagoshima . At the grave of a former comrade, Aramaki is approached by his daughter, who is concerned about changes in her brother Yuu's behavior. When Section 9 identified Yuu as the prime suspect for the death threat, Kusanagi and Togusa are reported to take the young man into custody, but arrive too late. At the same time, Aramaki receives a call from his deceased friend, whose memories have merged with his son's cyberbrain and make him an assassin. Section 9 succeeds in stopping Yuu by hacking into his cyberbrain and placing the false reminder that the attack was successful; however, the boy's personality may be irretrievably destroyed.
19th	Caught in the camouflage net	Gisō Ami ni Dakarete CAPTIVATED ( 偽装 網 に 抱 か れ て CAPTIVATED )	Feb. 4, 2003	July 9, 2006	SA
Former Prime Minister Kanzaki's daughter is kidnapped. "Blindfold Ivan", a Russian mafia organization, which, with the approval of the Russian government, kidnaps young women in order to sell their organs on the black market, is suspect. Kanzaki had always denied the existence of this organization in order to strengthen ties between Japan and Russia. When the perpetrators, including a former SVR agent, escaped an attempt to gain access by Section 9, Kanzaki, on Aramaki's advice, publicly confesses the existence of "Blindfold Ivan" and the kidnapping of his daughter. The former agent then applied for asylum at the Russian embassy with Kansaki's daughter as hostage, but was turned away there for fear of political involvement and was arrested by Section 9.
20th	Eliminated medicine	Kesareta Kusuri RE-VIEW ( 消 さ れ た 薬 RE-VIEW )	Feb 11, 2003	July 9, 2006	C.
Togusa is following a lead that suggests the Ministry of Social Affairs may be implicated in the Laughing Man's case. In a ministry archive he found that a list of patients with the Murai vaccine, which is used against cyberbrain sclerosis , has disappeared. Togusa followed up a copy of the list to a non-profit organization called the "Sunflower Club", where he learned that micromachine therapy against cyberbrain sclerosis was ineffective and that numerous social and political figures, including Hisashi Imakurusu former head of the New Drug Administration, who appears to have leaked the list to the organization, have been secretly treated with the officially unapproved Murai vaccine. Suddenly, the drug control raid force enters the building, kills the staff and takes the list. Togusa escapes with life-threatening injuries.
21st	Traces left behind	Okizari no Kiseki ERASER ( 置 き 去 り の 軌跡 ERASER )	Feb. 18, 2003	July 16, 2006	C.
When Major Kusanagi and her team arrive at Imakurusu, who they believe to be the key to the Laughing Man's case, his house was razed to the ground by the drug squad. Imakurusu, who was able to escape in time, tries to justify himself in his hiding place to the laughing man for the non-approval of the Murai vaccine and the preference for the ineffective therapy with micromachines. He learns that the hacker is not responsible for blackmailing the micromachine companies. Section 9 can determine the whereabouts of Imakuru via US reconnaissance satellites. Batou and Major Kusanagi arrive almost at the same time as the drug squad, but they cannot prevent Imakuru's death. However, the laughing man gives Batou the patient list of the Murai vaccine before it disappears again without a trace.
22nd	corruption	Gigoku SCANDAL ( 疑 獄 SCANDAL )	Feb 25, 2003	July 16, 2006	C.
After the director of the Ministry of Social Affairs was arrested as responsible for the deaths in the "Sunflower Club" and the murder of Imakurusu, Aramaki was told that the general secretary of the ruling party, Yakushima, was the mastermind behind the scenes. Shortly afterwards, the chief is lured into an ambush by the survivors of the drug squad with an alleged sign of life from his missing brother. He is said to be arrested for allegedly drug trafficking in a run-down neighborhood, but Batou rescues him. At the same time, Major Kusanagi wants to have her battle-damaged cyborg body replaced. The doctor who is supposed to perform the procedure, however, also belongs to the drug squad and wants to kill Kusanagi. The laughing man enters the treatment room unrecognized and asks the major for help. He transmits his memories to her, enables her to take out the wrong doctor and disappears again without a trace.
23	Good and Evil: Equinox	Zen'aku no Higan EQUINOX ( 善 悪 の 彼岸 EQUINOX )	4th Mar 2003	July 23, 2006	C.
The Laughing Man kidnaps his first victim, Ernest Serano, the director of Serano Genomics, who has been under de facto house arrest for six years, and talks to him in a café about the events of that time. He asks Serano why he didn't keep his promise to publicize the ineffectiveness of micro-machines against cyberbrain sclerosis. Serano reveals that General Secretary Yakushima used the events surrounding his abduction to create the myth of the laughing man and to bring several micromachine companies under his control through fake blackmail. After Serano agrees to bring Yakushima's crimes to light, the police storm the café. The supposed Laughing Man escapes, however, and turns out to be Major Kusanagi, who played this role to clarify the connection between Serano and Yakushima.
24	Lonely castle, setting sun	Kojō Rakujitsu ANNIHILATION ( 孤城 落日 ANNIHILATION )	11th Mar 2003	July 23, 2006	C.
Yakushima learns of Kusanagi's imitation of the Laughing Man and uses it to cast Section 9 in a bad light in public. The prime minister, to whom Aramaki presents the evidence against Yakushima, fears for his position of power as the general election is imminent. He promises to take action against the General Secretary after the election and officially declares Section 9 dissolved in order to preserve his public image. While Togusa, who was accompanying Aramaki, is being taken into custody, a special navy unit storms Section 9's headquarters in an attempt to eliminate the remaining members. They fake suicide with an explosion, escape the building and try to go into hiding in the city. Paz and Boma are picked up after a short time, but they are able to pass on information about Yakushima's crimes beforehand.
25th	Hail of bullets	Shōendan'u BARRAGE ( 硝煙 弾 雨 BARRAGE )	18 Mar 2003	July 30, 2006	C.
Aramaki turns to the Justice Minister to ensure the survival of his subordinates. Due to the political situation, the latter declared himself unable to help him. Saito and Ishikawa are picked up by the special unit, but they are able to circulate evidence of Yakushima's crimes beforehand. Batou is attacked by the special unit when he tries to retrieve a wristwatch from the Major's hideout, for which Kusanagi has sentimental feelings. When Batou seems to succumb to the attackers, the three remaining Tachikomas come to his aid and sacrifice themselves to save him. Together with the major, the seriously injured Batou hides in another shelter where Kusanagi stores their remote bodies. The two want to leave the city, but are discovered by the special unit. The major is shot dead by a sniper on the orders of the government committee and Batou is captured.
26th	Public Safety Section 9, second	Kōan Kyūka, Futatabi STAND ALONE COMPLEX ( 公安 9 課, 再 び STAND ALONE COMPLEX )	25th Mar 2003	July 30, 2006	C.
After his release, Togusa found out the official fate of his colleagues: Section 9 was disbanded after an alleged coup attempt and the surviving members were arrested as traitors. Three months later, the Prime Minister kept his word and made the crimes of Secretary General Yakushima public. Togusa wants to hold Yakushima personally accountable and shoot him in front of the party headquarters, but Batou can stop him. He learns that Section 9 has been secretly rebuilt and that all members, including the major, are safe; only one remote controlled cyborg body of Kusanagi was destroyed in the assassination. Elsewhere, Aramaki and the major meet Aoi, the young man responsible for the kidnapping of Serano six years ago. Aramaki offers him to work for Section 9, but Aoi refuses.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Broadcast dates for the Japanese premiere. Anime News Network, accessed December 25, 2009 . 
2. ↑ Broadcast dates of the German first broadcast. fernsehserien.de, accessed December 19, 2009 .