Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Studio: Production I.G 

Where to Watch: Adult Swim

What it’s About: Ghost in the Shell has had plenty of movies and anime series since the original 1995 film, but none can hold a candle to the storytelling quality and overall impact of its 2002 anime, Stand Alone Complex. GitS: SAC takes place in a not-too-distant future where virtually anyone can augment their body with cybernetic enhancements to heighten both their physical and mental capacities. Naturally, criminals and terrorist organizations are no exception. This is why organizations like Japan’s Section 9, a private police operation headed by Motoko Kusanagi, exist: to make sure no cybercrime goes unpunished.

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What makes GitS: SAC so compelling is how each episode plays out kinda like an episode of Law and Order by characterizing an aspect of how the world and its citizens are disrupted by invasive and inhumanly efficient transhumanistic technologies. More often than not, Section 9 is stumped as to whether or not it should rid the world of the mind-altering tech that’s taken their society by storm, which makes the show a provocative watch.