Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Original title: Kôkaku kidôtai: Stand Alone Complex

TV Series
2002–2005
TV-MA
24m

IMDb RATING

8.5/10

21K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer1:31

Adult Animation Anime Cyberpunk Seinen Action Animation Crime Sci-Fi Thriller

The futuristic adventures of a female cyborg counter intelligence agent and her support team.The futuristic adventures of a female cyborg counter intelligence agent and her support team.The futuristic adventures of a female cyborg counter intelligence agent and her support team.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.5/10

21K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

4,106

198

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win

Episodes52

Browse episodes

TopTop-rated2 seasons4 years

Trivia
There are two sources for the title of the show. The first is the text at the beginning of the first episode, where it describes the psychology of some of those without cybernetic implants. Essentially, they have a "Stand Alone Complex"; they feel that they "stand alone" from the rest of humanity who have cybernetic implants, which allow those with them to communicate at any time with anyone who also has implants. The second source is a reference to the story itself. The term is used to describe an event where multiple people who have no associations with each other and are not part of a common group(thus they "stand alone"), through similar actions, seem to work together towards a common goal. This "complex" is referenced a number of times in the story, mainly about the laughing man case, but also in reference to a few other cases the group encounters.

Quotes
Major Motoko Kusanagi: Look at the bright side, if this doesn't work, we can all go drown our sorrows at a nudie bar.

Connections
Edited into Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - The Laughing Man (2005)

Soundtracks
Inner Universe
(opening theme - 1st season)
Performed by Origa featuring Ben Del Maestro
Music by Yôko Kanno
Lyrics by Origa and Shanti Snyder

User reviews44

Review

Featured review

Brilliant

I'd been looking at the DVDs for a while, but the different titles on amazon confused me, so a complete boxed set of season 1 was excellent.

I'm a major fan of the movie, and i saw innocence recently, which was stunningly animated, even if it occasionally went up it's own backside with the philosophy side of things.

The series and the movies need to be treated as separate entities, both tell similar stories, but they were produced for different contexts. the animation in the series isn't as polished as the movie, but why would it be? there's an overarching storyline, but it doesn't get in the way of the standalone episodes which have their own separate stories. a few are a bit "huh, what?", but most are nice, compact and exciting, and work their way into the whole nicely. as to one of the other comments here, anyone who looks at it as Anime for teen boys is missing the point, there's a real plot here, and real characters who work in a team dynamic, you need to watch again.....