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.

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.

《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 year is 2030. Six months passed since the Laughing Man Incident was solved. About 3 million refugees are living in Japan, invited to fill the labor shortage. However, the emergent presence of the invited-refugees intensified their confrontation with the "Individualists", who called for national isolation, which then led to the increased incidences of terrorist attacks. Under these circumstances, a terrorist group called the Individual Eleven carries out a suicide attack. But there was a greater scheme behind their action. When Section 9 learns this, they attempt to nail down the mastermind of the incident. Meanwhile, Kuze, a surviving member of the Individual Eleven, becomes a charismatic leader of the invited-refugees and intensifies the confrontation against the government. And Motoko starts feeling a strange sense of fate connecting her with Kuze...

A 3D version of Kôkaku kidôtai: Stand Alone Complex Solid State Society (2006).

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.