The Visual Device Will Laugh
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (攻殻機動隊 STAND ALONE COMPLEX, Kōkaku Kidōtai Sutando Arōn Konpurekkusu?, "Mobile Armoured Riot Police: Stand Alone Complex") is a Japanese animated television series, based on Masamune Shirow's manga Ghost in the Shell. The episodes were directed by Kenji Kamiyama, animated by Production I.G, and produced by Bandai Visual, Bandai Entertainment, Dentsu, Nippon Television Network, Tokuma Shoten, Victor Entertainment, and Manga Entertainment. Stand Alone Complex was first licensed and broadcast in 2002 by anime television network Animax across most of Asia, as well as Latin America. It was subsequently licensed in the United States and Canada by Bandai Entertainment/Bandai Visual, in the United Kingdom by Manga Entertainment, and in Australia by Madman Entertainment. It continues to be broadcast in the United States as of May 2012 on Adult Swim, and was broadcast in Canada and the United Kingdom by YTV and AnimeCentral, respectively.
In the original pay-per-view broadcasts, the opening theme for each episode is "inner universe" (lyrics: Origa, Shanti Snyder; music: Yoko Kanno; vocals: Origa) and the ending theme for each episode is "lithium flower" (lyrics: Tim Jensen; music: Yoko Kanno; vocals: Scott Matthew). For the subsequent terrestrial television broadcasts, the opening theme for each episode is "GET9" (lyrics: Tim Jensen; music: Yoko Kanno, vocals: jillmax) and the ending theme is "I do" (lyrics & vocals: Ilaria Graziano; music Yoko Kanno). The original soundtrack, containing the original opening and closing themes in addition to other tracks from the series, was released by Victor Entertainment on January 22, 2002 in Japan, and by Bandai Visual on November 7, 2004 in the United States.
Thirteen DVD compilations, each containing two episodes, were released by Bandai Visual between December 21, 2002 and December 21, 2003. The English adaptation of the anime was released in seven DVD compilations, each containing four episodes, by Manga Entertainment and Anchor Bay Entertainment between July 27, 2004 and July 26, 2005. Complete DVD collection boxes were released by Bandai Visual as a Limited Edition on July 27, 2007 in Japan, and by Manga Entertainment on October 31, 2006 in the United States.
Stand Alone Complex contains 14 "Stand Alone" (SA) episodes and 12 "Complex" (C) episodes. Stand Alone episodes take place independently of the main plot and focus on Public Security Section 9's investigation of isolated cases. Complex episodes advance the main plot, which follows Section 9's investigation of the Laughing Man incident: the kidnapping and subsequent release of a Japanese CEO by a sophisticated hacker.
Read more about The Visual Device Will Laugh: Episodes, Tachikomatic Days, See Also
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