In the not so distant future, mankind has advanced to a state where complete body transplants from flesh to machine is possible. This allows for great increases in both physical and cybernetic prowess and blurring the lines between the two worlds. However, criminals can also make full use of such technology, leading to new and sometimes, very dangerous crimes. In response to such innovative new methods, the Japanese Government has established Section 9, an independently operating police unit which deals with such highly sensitive crimes. 
Led by Daisuke Aramaki and Motoko Kusanagi, Section 9 deals with such crimes over the entire social spectrum, usually with success. However, when faced with a new A level hacker nicknamed “The Laughing Man”, the team is thrown into a dangerous cat and mouse game, following the hacker’s trail as it leaves its mark on Japan. 
(Source: MyAnimeList)

In a futuristic world where the internet and cybernetics has blurred the borders between societies; the members of Public Security Section 9 are reinstated to assist in solving numerous cases of cyber crime. 
A spate of similar crimes committed by separate suicidal groups known as "The Individual Eleven" becomes the core focus for Section 9 as war approaches in the form of refugees flooding into the country.
 
(Source: Anime News Network)

Tachikomatic Days shorts released on a fan disc compilation.  Later re-released on a BD box with all the Tachikoma shorts.

In 2024, the terrorist incident known as "The Laughing Man Incident" occurred in which Ernest Serano, president of the groundbreaking micromachine company, Sereno Genomics, was kidnapped and ransomed. One day, the case having remained unsolved for six years, Detective Yamaguchi, who has been investigating "The Laughing Man Incident," sends word that he wants to meet with Togusa from Public Safety Section 9. However, soon after sending this message, Yamaguchi, crucial to the success of the case, dies in an accident. Many days pass and in the midst of a police interview relay concerning suspicions behind interceptors, a forewarning is received from "The Laughing Man" of his next crime. The incorporeal hacker begins to move once again.
 
(Source: Anime News Network)

The first movie of Ghost in the Shell: Arise. 

The anime's story is set in 2027, one year after the end of the fourth non-nuclear war. New Port City is still reeling from the war's aftermath when it suffers a bombing caused by a self-propelled mine. Then, a military member implicated in arms-dealing bribes is gunned down. 
During the investigation, Public Security Section's Daisuke Aramaki encounters Motoko Kusanagi, the cyborg wizard-level hacker assigned to the military's 501st Secret Unit. Batou, a man with the "eye that does not sleep," suspects that Kusanagi is the one behind the bombing. The Niihama Prefectural Police detective Togusa is pursuing his own dual cases of the shooting death and a prostitute's murder. Motoko herself is being watched by the 501st Secret Unit's head Kurutsu and cyborg agents.
 
(Source: Anime News Network)

2029: A female cybernetic government agent, Major Motoko Kusanagi, and the Internal Bureau of Investigations are hot on the trail of “The Puppet Master,” a mysterious and threatening computer virus capable of infiltrating human hosts. Together with her fellow agents from Section 9, Kusanagi embarks on a high-tech race against time to capture the omnipresent entity. 
 
(Source: Lionsgate Films)

Section 9 receives a tip that a criminal group from Henan is planning on attacking a financial institution. To prevent the attack, Section 9 infiltrates the secret base of the criminals. The mission goes well and the threat is neutralized … or is it? Something is amiss, and Major Kusanagi and Section 9 must act quickly in order to stop the criminals from achieving their true goal. 
 

 
(Source: Kodansha USA)

In the not-too-distant future of 2032, the frontier dividing humans and machines has been crossed. Crimes comitted by flesh-and-metal cyborgs are investigated by Section 9, an elite counter-terrorist squad run by Chief Aramaki and his cyborg assistant, Major Motoko Kusanagi. Section 9 has faced countless adversaries in the real world and in cyberspace, but none like 'The Awakened.' It is believed that this lethal group of terrorists can take over the minds and bodies of almost anyone. Used as tools to commit crimes against the state, the victims are unaware of who or what is controlling them. When Major Kusanagi captures one of the victims, she hacks into his cyberbrain to learn the ringleader's identity-what she discovers leads her on a journey deep into the heart of cyberspace, a journey that shakes her to the core.

Tachikomatic Days is a series of comedic shorts attached to the end of every episode of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. The shorts feature the antics of the Tachikoma think tanks of Section 9 and usually involve plot points. The average short time is a little over a minute.

Led by Daisuke Aramaki and Motoko Kusanagi, Section 9 deals with such crimes over the entire social spectrum, usually with success. However, when faced with a new A-level hacker nicknamed "The Laughing Man," the team is thrown into a dangerous cat and mouse game, following the hacker's trail as it leaves its mark on Japan.

Deep into the twenty-first century, the line between man and machine has been inexorably blurred as humans rely on the enhancement of mechanical implants and robots are upgraded with human tissue. In this rapidly converging landscape, cyborg superagent Major Motoko Kusanagi is charged to track down the craftiest and most dangerous terrorists and cybercriminals, including "ghost hackers" who are capable of exploiting the human/machine interface and reprogramming humans to become puppets to carry out the hackers' criminal ends. When Major Kusanagi tracks the cybertrail of one such master hacker, the Puppeteer, her quest leads her into a world beyond information and technology where the very nature of consciousness and the human soul are turned upside down.
 
(Source: Kodansha USA)

Bandai Namco Filmworks announced that the Ghost in the Shell franchise is getting a new television anime series in 2026. Science SARU will produce the anime, as its titled Koukaku Kidoutai THE GHOST IN THE SHELL. Bandai Namco Filmworks, Kodansha, Science SARU, and Production I.G are on the production committee for the series. 
(Source: Anime News Network, edited)

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