Призрак в доспехах: Синдром одиночки, 1-й сезон

A high-level hacking has occured at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Section 9 has traced the source of the hack job back to a vocational aid center located high in the mountains. The hack was done by someone very skilled since it only took two hours to crack the MHLW's ultra-secure barriers. The odd thing is that the MHLW has not filed a formal complaint about the incident. Togusa is sent undercover to discover what is going on at the aid center.

"Tachikoma Runaway": The Tachikoma that Batou has been feeding natural oil to awakens before the other Tachikomas do and leaves the hanger to have an adventure. On the town, it meets up with a girl named Miki who is searching for her dog. "The Movie Director's Dream": While out on its adventure, Batou's Tachikoma found a cyberbrain that has something very interesting within it. One of Section 9's lab techs has become "lost" inside the device, and it's up to the Major to bring him back.

While tracking the New World Brigade, an anti-cyberization group, to an unused radiation scrubber facility off Okinawa, the Japanese Maritime Safety Agency took pictures that show Eka Tokura, the kidnapped daughter of a cyber-technology company CEO. However, the girl had been abducted over 16 years ago when she had been 10 years old. In the recent photos, she looks just as she did on the day she was taken. For reasons unknown, contact with the Maritime Safety Agency's reconnaissance team has been lost. Section 9 heads to the facility to locate the unit and find out why Eka Tokura was there.

Acting on a tip, Section 9 breaks up a cabal of thieves hell-bent on wrecking a Japanese financial institution. Shortly after the raid a Chinese intelligence official contacts Section 9 and informs them of suspicious activity that he believes may indicate an assassination attempt by Chinese Socialists on a prominent, yet reclusive, Japanese multi-millionaire.

A new sniper device is tested out, but is found to have flaws. While Section 9 attends a debriefing session on the fate of the sniping device, the Tachikomas themselves begin to worry that tomorrow they could be the ones that are scrapped. The Tachikomas of Section 9 unite and discuss the various issues dealing with them that have occurred within previous episodes. They worry that the Major does not appreciate them. At the same time, the Major is looking into the idea of proceeding without the Tachikomas at Section 9's side. "Machine désirante (Desiring-Machine)" is one of the key concepts of Anti-Œdipus, written by contemporary French philosopher Gilles Deleuze.

After the events of "MACHINES DÉSIRANTES", the Tachikomas are sent back to the lab for further testing. Batou has little time to ponder the loss of his pet, however. A foreign spy is suspected to be working within a Japanese Self-Defense Force training camp based in New Port City. With the Major and the Chief away at a security conference in England, Batou alone is assigned to go undercover to confirm the suspect.

Aramaki and Kusanagi attend an international security conference in London. While there, Aramaki visits an old acquaintance of his, who is the operator of a wine fund, a place where people store their wines in order to let the wine age and become more expensive. Their meeting is not purely a social one, but before Aramaki and his friend can sit down and talk about the old days, the bank is broken into by two mafia men.

Chinese Vice Minister Jin has arrived in Japan to visit the Kagoshima War Memorial where hundreds of Japanese and Chinese soldiers and civilians from a previous war have been interred. Many protesters are demonstrating against the Vice Minister's visit to the memorial. Security is of the utmost concern in this matter. That's where Section 9 comes into the picture...

Recently, there have been numerous kidnappings which resemble the modus operandi of the Northern Territories Mafia. Aramaki and his team have been called in by the Prime Minister. Ironically, the request to investigate the matter has come from the former Prime Minister of Japan, whose own daughter has been kidnapped by the Mafia. During his time as Head of Government, he had denied that the group ever existed. Delving further into the matter, Public Security discovers rumors that the abductors are harvesting organs and cyberbrains from the kidnapped children and selling them on the black market.

Back on the Laughing Man case, Section 9 tries to find evidence of tampering in the Nanao=A case and delves more into the recent hack job at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare ("PORTRAITZ"). Using J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye as a guide, Togusa checks out the MHLW and finds that something is missing: a ledger containing a list of vaccine recipients.

Following the events of the "RE-VIEW", Togusa has been rushed to the hospital. Just before he goes into surgery, he passes what he has learned to the rest of his team. As he fights for his life, his colleagues at Section 9 take over the case to find the vaccine recipient ledger and the person responsible for taking it. However, others in the government are not happy about this investigation. The Drug and Narcotic Suppression Squad, the same unit that had shot Togusa in the previous episode, is again dispatched by the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare in order to find the thief and the ledger before Section 9 does.

Events begin to shift into overdrive after the events of "ERASER". While things seem to be going Section 9's way, people in the shadows are starting to appear. As Motoko, accompanied by her friend Kurutan, arrives at the hospital to switch to a new prosthetic body, Togusa begins the recovery process after being wounded by the DEA's NARC Squad. However, the people still active within the NARC Squad have a few more surprises in store.

The Laughing Man returns and, just as he did six years ago, kidnaps the President of Serano Genomics without being detected. Section 9 arrives too late and sets out to find him. Meanwhile, the Laughing Man and Mr. Serano discuss what happened six years ago. The stakes are much higher this time, and for the Laughing Man failure is not an option.

Togusa, at the request of Chief Aramaki, returns to work. Both head out to the Prime Minister's residence with a detailed report citing Secretary-General Yakushima as the real power behind the Laughing Man Incident. However, before they can even leave their own building, they are told by the Minister of Home Affairs that Public Security has already been accused of being the masterminds behind the Laughing Man. The situation has gone from bad to worse and it will take a concerted effort by all of its members for Section 9 to clear itself of the charges.

As the JMSDF's Special Forces Unit rounds up the remaining members of Section 9, Daisuke Aramaki meets with the Minister of Justice to make one last appeal to the government to salvage his team. Section 9 may be down, but certainly not out. They have help in the form of their "think-tanks", otherwise known as the Tachikomas. Public Security will make one final push to save itself from extinction.