In an age when large-scale natural disasters frequently happen all over the world, when cyborgs and autonomous robots are beginning to appear on the market in technologically advanced nations, and major world powers compete for technology and resources, the divide between rich and poor grows and the future for the poor looks bleak. In this transitional stage, everyone wanders around in a self-indulgent daze and the way out isn't clear... This is the story of how two cybernetically enhanced girls meet.

The Minister of Defense, who is expected to take part in a meeting has ordered an advance onsite inspection. The area must be secured and cleared from a rumoured terrorist threat.

When a ghost-infecting virus known as Fire-Starter begins spreading through the system resulting in the assassination of the Japanese Prime Minister, Major Motoko Kusanagi and her elite team of special operatives are called in to track down its source.

After a global financial crisis, the world is engulfed in an AI-driven "sustainable war." It's up to Section 9 to counter new forms of cyber threats.

In the future when technological enhancements and robotics are a way of life, Major Motoko Kusanagi and Section 9 take care of the jobs that are too difficult for the police. Section 9 employs hackers, sharpshooters, detectives and cyborgs all in an effort to thwart cyber criminals and their plans to attack the innocent.

The story follows Motoko Kusanagi, a highly skilled member of the military, whom upon meeting Daisuke Aramaki, a current chief of the Public Security Section 9, in less than desirable conditions struggles to clear her name whilst forming her own independent team with the highest priority under the sponsorship and guidance of the chief Aramaki himself. Alternative Architecture is a TV anime version of the Ghost in the Shell: Arise movies.

近未来，人类的各种器官均可实现移植，一时间机器人、生化人、仿生人充斥世间，与人类真假莫辨。某座繁华都市的大厦内，汉卡公司高管正与非洲来宾洽谈业务，突然宴会变成血腥大屠杀，暴走的机器人大开杀戒。隶属公安九课的米拉·基里安少佐带领巴特等手下赶往现场，平息事态。根据对暴走艺伎机器人的调查发现，被称作“久世”的神秘之人策划了这一系列的行动，而且他的目标全部指向了掌握着生化前沿尖端科技的汉卡公司及其研发人员。经过一番凶险的周旋，少佐逐渐逼近真相，同时也渐渐解开了发生在自己身上的惊天秘密……

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.

In the year 2045, after an economic disaster known as the Synchronized Global Default, rapid developments in AI propelled the world to enter a state of "Sustainable War". However, the public is not aware of the threat that AI has towards the human race. A compilation film with newly added footage.

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.