Cyborg detective Batou is assigned to investigate a series of murders committed by gynoids—doll-like cyborgs, which all malfunctioned, killed, then self-destructed afterwards. The brains of the gynoids initialize in order to protect their manufacturer's software, but in one gynoid, which Batou himself neutralized, one file remains: a voice speaking the phrase "Help me."

In 2030 AD, even if the intention to run around as light and electrons is concentrated in one direction as the computerization becomes generalized and the information network becomes more sophisticated, by the time the "lonely person" becomes an "individual" as a complex. Is an era when it is not computerized. It depicts the activities of the "Public Security Section 9" (commonly known as "Ghost in the Shell"), which was established as an independent counterintelligence unit under the direct control of the Ministry of Home Affairs to counter complicated crimes. There are a wide variety of top-secret missions such as cybercrime investigation, terrorism deterrence / arrest, VIP protection, and corruption detection, but one incident emerges as it is carried out.

The year is 2030 and six years have passed since a criminal known only as "The Laughing Man" swept through top medical nanotechnology firms committing acts of cyber-terrorism, kidnapping, and espionage leaving no known suspects. New information is revealed, as Section 9 enters the hunt for a suspect capable of unfathomable actions in this compilation of Stand Alone Complex content.

《攻壳机动队SAC 2nd GIG》是根据士郎正宗漫画原作改编的第二季日本动画影集。 2004年1月1日于日本SKY电视播映。每集制作费高达3000万日元。 共26话。 故事内容延续第一部TV版攻壳机动队STAND ALONE COMPLEX的剧情继续发展。但TV版的2部作品与剧场版无甚联系，可以看做是两个平行世界里发生的事情。 这次TV版第2季的制作班底与第一部相同，同时剧情表达上和第一季一样，每话由不同故事构成，各自独立成章，却贯穿着同一条主线。在剧情上同时电影版导演押井守也参与了协力，不过电影版中凄凉的气氛没有在TV版第二季中体现。

The story takes place in the year 2034, two years after the events in Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG. Female cyborg Major Motoko Kusanagi has left Public Security Section 9, an elite counter-terrorist and anti-crime unit specializing in cyber-warfare, which has expanded to a team of 20 field operatives with Togusa acting as the field lead.

塔奇克馬的日常 (英語：Ghost in the Shell: Tachikoma Days，日語：タチコマな日々, Tachikoma na Hibi;也被稱之為Tachikoma Specials) 是一部隨DVD附送的特典性質動畫短片，其出現在以DVD版本發行的電視動畫版攻殼機動隊的每話最後部分，就風格而言是部輕鬆搞笑的作品，作品的主角就是公安九課所使用的思考戰車塔奇克馬(Tachikoma),其內容上除了對部分劇情的哲學思考外也有起到對TV版動畫補完的作用.如今已經播放的攻殼機動隊 Stand Alone Complex以及第二部攻殼機動隊 S.A.C. 2nd GIG的每集的最後均有該短篇的身影，每集長度約為1分鐘左右.

The upcoming installment's story takes place amidst signs of postwar reconstruction in the winter of 2028. Tensions are rising in New Port City as demonstrations are held concerning the interests of foreign cartels. This leads to a shooting incident involving riot police. It all started with a cyberbrain infection released by the terrorist "Fire Starter." An independent offensive unit led by Makoto Kusanagi entrusts the suppression of the situation to their ghosts and aims for their own justice. Below the surface of the incident, lies the "tin girl" Emma and the "scarecrow man" Burinda Junior. As Kusanagi deals with the incident, she draws near to what those two ghosts were seeking.

The 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.

Freed of her responsibilities with the 501 Organization, Motoko Kusanagi must now learn how to take orders from Aramaki. Someone hacks the Logicomas, and Batou enlists the help of former army intelligence officer Ishikawa and former air artillery expert Borma. Kusanagi also seeks to enlist ace sniper Saito and undercover cop Paz into the new Public Security Section 9.

Posing as lovers on vacation, Motoko and Batou work to try to stop a terrorist organization whose symbol is the Scrasath. Meanwhile, Togusa investigates a murder of a man who possessed a prosthetic leg manufactured by the Mermaid's Leg corporation.

A TV anime version of Ghost in the Shell: Arise. The first eight episodes are an edited version of the four movies while the last two features a new arc called "Pyrophoric Cult."