The Ghost in the Shell

During a raid on a meeting with a foreign representative that he suspects involves corruption and criminal activity, Public Security's Daisuke Aramaki encounters a mysterious cyborg. Introducing herself as Motoko Kusanagi, the cyborg proposes the formation of a new special forces unit to the Minister of Internal Affairs. Aramaki asks Kusanagi to investigate something as a first step.

Kusanagi and her team begin operating as the Ghost in the Shell unit after being scouted by Aramaki. One day, a virus infiltrates the cyberbrain of the Foreign Minister's interpreter. Sensing that Colonel Mares, who is in exile, is trying to disrupt a secret meeting, Aramaki instructs Kusanagi and the others to track down the culprit using reverse tracking.

After a fierce chase involving the Fuchikoma, Kusanagi and Togusa apprehend the suspect. Meanwhile, while Aramaki and Batou stake out the location, the unidentified hacker known as "The Puppet Master," who is suspected to be the one who planted the virus, makes an appearance at Colonel Mares's location.

There has been a rash of attacks against humans by promotional sample robots. Kusanagi's team rounds up robots of that same model line, and they learn that they all share a common trait. Batou and Togusa head to Hanka Precision Instruments, where they are made, to determine what is behind the attacks.

Kusanagi and her team head to the northernmost point to monitor the combat cyborg Coil Krasnov. To uncover Coil's objectives and the corruption hidden behind Sagawa Electronics' expansion of the underground factory, Kusanagi heads to Sagawa Electronics headquarters, while Batou and his team head to the underground factory.

Kusanagi and her boyfriend are rushed to the hospital after being attacked without warning. They suspect Toru Soma, a terrorist that Kusanagi has a history with. Kusanagi and Togusa leave the hospital, and after leading their pursuers on a chase, they find themselves in a fierce battle against an armed group in an abandoned factory.

A robot escapes from Megatech Body Corporation. It is apprehended by Public Security Section 9, but the robot is inhabited by a Puppet Master. The Puppet Master tells Aramaki and the others that he is a "life form that originated in the sea of information." Immediately after requesting political asylum, the robot is stolen by an unknown assailant.

After diving into the Puppet Master's world, Kusanagi awakens. The truth of the incident is revealed, but Kusanagi occasionally senses the Puppet Master's presence. In one operation, the Ghost in the Shell team subdues terrorists on a ship, but Kusanagi accidentally shoots and kills the leader.

Due to someone's machinations, the incident is reported in the media, and Kusanagi is accused of murdering a terrorist. Suspecting that the Gorantol intelligence agency is pulling the strings behind the scenes, Kusanagi conducts his own investigation, but is eventually brought to trial.

Kusanagi loses her prosthetic body when it is gunned down, and she flees the scene with Batou as a disembodied brain. They go to Batou's safehouse to get her a new body, but she is channeled into by the presumed-destroyed Puppet Master while in lockdown mode.