is a Japanese anime television series based on Masamune Shirow's '' Ghost in the Shell''

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

. The anime series was directed by Kenji Kamiyama, animated by Production I.G, and produced by Bandai Visual, Bandai Entertainment, Dentsu, Nippon Television Network, Tokuma Shoten, Victor Entertainment, and Manga Entertainment. ''Stand Alone Complex'' was first licensed and broadcast in 2002 by anime television network Animax across most of Asia. It was subsequently licensed in the United States and Canada by Bandai Entertainment and Manga Entertainment, in the United Kingdom by Manga Entertainment, and in Australia by Madman Entertainment. It continues to be broadcast in the United States as of May 2012 on

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...

and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

, and was broadcast in Canada and the United Kingdom by YTV and

AnimeCentral Anime Central was a British television channel owned by CSC Media Group. The channel launched on 13 September 2007. It was first announced on 5 August 2007, though its license first appeared on the Ofcom website in January (initially named "Toon ...

, respectively. In the original pay-per-view broadcasts, the opening theme for each episode is "Inner universe" (lyrics: Origa, Shanti Snyder; music: Yoko Kanno; vocals: Origa) and the ending theme for each episode is "Lithium flower" (lyrics: Tim Jensen; music: Yoko Kanno; vocals: Scott Matthew). For the subsequent terrestrial television broadcasts, the opening theme for each episode is "GET9" (lyrics: Tim Jensen; music: Yoko Kanno, vocals: jillmax) and the ending theme is "I do" (lyrics & vocals:

Ilaria Graziano Ilaria Graziano (also known as ILA or Nanà; born in Naples, Italy) is an Italian singer. She gained popularity with the release of '' Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex'' and the subsequent original soundtracks, composed by Yoko Kanno. G ...

; music Yoko Kanno). The original soundtrack, containing the original opening and closing themes in addition to other tracks from the series, was released by Victor Entertainment on January 22, 2002, in Japan, and by Bandai Visual on November 7, 2004, in the United States. Thirteen DVD compilations, each containing two episodes, were released by Bandai Visual between December 21, 2002, and December 21, 2003. The English adaptation of the anime was released in seven DVD compilations, each containing four episodes, by Manga Entertainment and Bandai Entertainment between July 27, 2004, and July 26, 2005. Complete DVD collection boxes were released by Bandai Visual as a Limited Edition on July 27, 2007, in Japan, and by Manga Entertainment on October 31, 2006, in the United States. ''Stand Alone Complex'' contains 14 "Stand Alone" (SA) episodes and 12 "Complex" (C) episodes. Stand Alone episodes take place independently of the main plot and focus on Public Security Section 9's investigation of isolated cases. Complex episodes advance the main plot, which follows Section 9's investigation of the Laughing Man incident: the kidnapping and subsequent release of a Japanese CEO by a sophisticated hacker. A second season titled ''Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG'' was aired from January 1, 2004, to January 8, 2005. Unlike the first season, the second season has three designations denoting the type of episode: individual (IN), dividual (DI) and dual (DU). IN episodes tie in with the ''Individual Eleven'' storyline; DI episodes are stand-alone episodes that may still be tied into other storylines; and DU episodes tie in with the ''Cabinet Intelligence Service & Goda'' story-line (though the two main storylines inter-relate). There are 11 individual, 11 dividual and 4 dual episodes. In the United States the TV Parental Guidelines system rated the episodes from TV-14 to TV-MA.

Series overview

Episodes

Season 1: ''Stand Alone Complex'' (2002–03)

Season 2: ''S.A.C. 2nd GIG'' (2004–05)

''Tachikomatic Days''

''Tachikomatic Days'' are a series of comedic shorts attached to the end of every episode of '' Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex'' featuring the Tachikoma think tanks of Section 9.

References