Best tv shows like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Last updated March 2024
Looking for tv shows similar to Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex? Provide your knowledge to lead others towards tv series and films you've watched before that they may also enjoy. Help enlarge the group of people suggesting videos to each other. We welcome your input!
Plot Summary:
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.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Animation, Action, Crime, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: anime, serious, cyber, futuristic, suspenseful, rough, stylized, philosophical, adult animation, psychological
Best tv shows and movies like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2002):
Similar in 75%
WXIII: Patlabor the Movie 3 (2001)
Plot Summary:
Set in the year 2000 (between the events of Patlabor and Patlabor 2), when the level of Labor accidents begin to escalate around Tokyo Bay, police detectives Kusumi and Hata are assigned to investigate. What they discover leads to a series of government cover-ups, conspiracy concerning a new biological weapon entitled WXIII-Wasted Thirteen and a tragic, personal connection to Hata. The only hope to stop this threat is to cooperate with the military and lead WXIII into a showdown with the Labors of Special Vehicle Division 2.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Animation, Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: anime, serious, suspenseful, stylized, manga, mecha, neo noir, psychotronic, detective, super sentai
Similar in 80%
Darker Than Black (2007)
Plot Summary:
Anime television series created, directed and written by Tensai Okamura and animated by Bones.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Animation, Action, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: anime, manga, atmospheric, rough, suspenseful, stylized, mecha, deep, adult anime, seinen
Similar in 83%
Gungrave (2003)
Plot Summary:
Gungrave is a Japanese animated television series based on the video game of the same name, created by Yasuhiro Nightow. The series is directed by Toshiyuki Tsuru, from a screenplay by Yousuke Kuroda, and produced by Madhouse Studios. The series follows Brandon Heat and Harry MacDowell as they rise through the ranks of the Millennion crime syndicate. Gungrave aired on TV Tokyo from October 6, 2003 to March 29, 2004, totaling twenty-six episodes. Like the Gungrave video game, and its sequel Gungrave: Overdose, the series' music is provided by Tsuneo Imahori; this also includes the series' opening theme. In 2003 Geneon Entertainment, formally Pioneer Entertainment, announced the license of Gungrave in North America. On July 3, 2008, Geneon Entertainment and Funimation Entertainment announced an agreement to distribute select titles in North America after Geneon ceased distribution of their own titles in October 2007. While Geneon Entertainment will still retain the license, Funimation Entertainment will assume exclusive rights to the manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution of select titles. Gungrave was announced as one of the several titles under the agreement on December 30, 2008. As of November 26, 2010, Funimation has fully licensed the anime series. The anime series returned to US television on May 11, 2011 on the Funimation Channel.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Animation, Action, Crime, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, serious, suspenseful, bleak, manga, neo noir, adult anime, perverse, seinen
Similar in 82%
Ghost in the Shell: Arise - Border 3: Ghost Tears (2014)
Plot Summary:
Posing as lovers on vacation, Motoko and Batou work to try to stop a terrorist organization whose symbol is the Scrasath. Meanwhile, Togusa investigates a murder of a man who possessed a prosthetic leg manufactured by the Mermaid's Leg corporation.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Animation, Action, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 55 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful, stylized, deep, adult anime, inspirational, futuristic
Similar in 86%
Appleseed (1988)
Plot Summary:
In the futuristic city of Olympus, built on the ashes of the third world war, a police officer and her cyborg partner fight terrorism.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Animation, Action, Crime, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 71 min
Plot tags: anime, futuristic, mecha, manga, cyber, adult anime, adult animation, serious, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 75%
Heat Guy J (2002)
Plot Summary:
Heat Guy J is a 26 episode science fiction anime series created by Escaflowne director Kazuki Akane and Satelight. Heat Guy J was licensed and distributed in the U.S. in 2003 by Pioneer. It was re-released by Funimation Entertainment in the fall of 2009. The first 13 episodes of the show also was broadcast on the cable channel MTV2. A one volume manga was created based on the series, and was licensed and distributed by TOKYOPOP. The show was picked up for a UK DVD release by Manga Entertainment starting in March 2006. It was packaged in double DVD sets to make up for the long delayed release of the series.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 293
Genere: Animation, Action, Adventure, Crime, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: anime, neo noir, suspenseful, exciting, rough, serious, cyber, stylized, cyberpunk anime
Similar in 82%
Vexille (2007)
Plot Summary:
2067: Isolation: Japan seals herself off from the eyes of the world in the face of unilateral international policy setting strict limits on the use of robotic technology. The island nation exists only behind a veil of seclusion. No soul shall enter. No soul shall leave. 2077: Revelation: The veil is breached. Japan is infiltrated by agents of the organization S.W.O.R.D., a fighting force operating outside of the protection of the United States and her allies. Their mission: Determine if the Japanese are developing banned robotic bio-technology, forbidden due to its threat to humankind. In the battle between machine and man, humanity stands to suffer most.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Animation, Action, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, serious, suspenseful, stylized, manga, sincere, mind bending, mecha, adult animation
Similar in 85%
Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040 (1998)
Plot Summary:
Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 is a Japanese anime series produced by Anime International Company and funded by ADV Films. A retelling of the 1987 original video animation Bubblegum Crisis, the series premiered on TV Tokyo on October 8, 1998 where it ran for 26 episodes until its conclusion on March 31, 1999. Toshiba EMI released the episodes on both VHS and Laserdisc across 13 volumes, each containing two episodes. The first volume was released on January 21, 1999; the final volume was released July 26, 2000. The series was later released on DVD, however the Japanese versions were simply the American DVD releases encoded to play for Region 2. Set in 2039-2040.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 892
Genere: Animation, Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 29 min
Plot tags: anime, cyber, exciting, bleak, serious, futuristic, suspenseful, stylized, fast, mecha
Similar in 90%
Patlabor: The Movie (1989)
Plot Summary:
A mysterious suicide and a series of unmanned robot run-aways sparks off a Police investigation into the suspicious software on-board thousands of industrial robots around Tokyo.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Animation, Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: anime, mecha, manga, futuristic, stylized, adult animation, contemplative, exciting, serious, neo noir
Similar in 83%
Ghost in the Shell: Arise - Border 4: Ghost Stands Alone (2014)
Plot Summary:
The upcoming installment's story takes place amidst signs of postwar reconstruction in the winter of 2028. Tensions are rising in New Port City as demonstrations are held concerning the interests of foreign cartels. This leads to a shooting incident involving riot police. It all started with a cyberbrain infection released by the terrorist "Fire Starter." An independent offensive unit led by Makoto Kusanagi entrusts the suppression of the situation to their ghosts and aims for their own justice. Below the surface of the incident, lies the "tin girl" Emma and the "scarecrow man" Burinda Junior. As Kusanagi deals with the incident, she draws near to what those two ghosts were seeking.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Animation, Action, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 59 min
Plot tags: anime, stylized, philosophical, atmospheric, humorous, suspenseful, deep, exciting, rough, serious
Similar in 88%
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - The Laughing Man (2005)
Plot Summary:
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.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Animation, Action, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 160 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, serious, futuristic, suspenseful, rough, stylized, deep, cyber, inspirational
Similar in 89%
Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG - Individual Eleven (2006)
Plot Summary:
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.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Animation, Action, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 162 min
Plot tags: anime, serious, exciting, suspenseful, cyber, tense, captivating, stylized, cyberpunk anime
Similar in 76%
Ghost in the Shell Arise: Border 2 - Ghost Whisper (2013)
Plot Summary:
Freed of her responsibilities with the 501 Organization, Motoko Kusanagi must now learn how to take orders from Aramaki. Someone hacks the Logicomas, and Batou enlists the help of former army intelligence officer Ishikawa and former air artillery expert Borma. Kusanagi also seeks to enlist ace sniper Saito and undercover cop Paz into the new Public Security Section 9.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Animation, Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 57 min
Plot tags: anime, psychological, exciting, serious, stylized, rough, suspenseful, deep, cyber, inspirational
Similar in 78%
Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (2008)
Plot Summary:
In the year 2029, Section 9, a group of cybernetically enhanced cops, are called in to investigate and stop a highly-wanted hacker known as 'The Puppetmaster'. Ghost in the Shell 2.0 is a reproduced version of its original 1995 counterpart. Among a numerous enhancements, for the film's 2.0 release, were a number of scenes were overhauled with 3D animation, visual improvements, and soundtrack rerecorded in 6.1 surround sound.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Animation, Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, atmospheric, rough, suspenseful, stylized, philosophical, serious, futuristic, cyber
Similar in 83%
Serial Experiments Lain (1998)
Plot Summary:
Strange events begin to occur as a withdrawn girl named Lain becomes obsessed with interconnected virtual realm of "The Wired".
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Animation, Drama, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 316 min
Plot tags: psychological, anime, surreal, mind bending, atmospheric, bleak, serious, cyber, psychological horror, manga
Similar in 82%
Psycho-Pass (2012)
Plot Summary:
Psycho-Pass is a Japanese anime television series that takes place in the future where it is possible to instantaneously measure a person's mental state, personality, and the probability that a person will commit crimes with a device installed on each citizen's body called the Psycho-Pass. It follows members of Unit One of the Public Safety Bureau's Criminal Investigation Division and the crimes they investigate.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Animation, Action, Crime, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: anime, atmospheric, bleak, serious, futuristic, suspenseful, stylized, manga, cyber, adult anime
Similar in 86%
Battle Angel Alita (1993)
Plot Summary:
A Hunter Warrior and cyborg healer named Ido formerly lived in the floating land of Zalem, the paradise that hovers above the refuse heap of Scrap Iron City in which he now resides with his former lover, Chiren. In his travels as a bounty hunter — killing spine thieves in a world in which human nerve tissue has become the most precious commodity — Ido one day discovers and repairs the remnants of a cyborg whom he names Gally. Though possessing the body of a young woman, Gally now embodies Ido's most sophisticated and lethal cybernetic skills. The preternaturally strong, amnesiac Gally begins to forge a life for herself in a world where every day is a struggle for survival. Based on the first two volumes of the manga.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Animation, Action, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 54 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, serious, manga, cyber, rough, mind bending, mecha, seinen, bleak
Similar in 86%
Black Magic M-66 (1987)
Plot Summary:
A freelance reporter stumbles on a desperate military operation. An army chopper has crashed and its cargo has been activated. Now there are two killer androids running loose in the wilderness and have the daughter of their inventor as their target. Can the army stop them or can the reporter reach the little girl before the droids do?.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Animation, Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 48 min
Plot tags: anime, mecha, suspenseful, exciting, rough, serious, futuristic, manga, stylized, psychotronic
Similar in 84%
Cowboy Bebop (1998)
Plot Summary:
In 2071, roughly fifty years after an accident with a hyperspace gateway made the Earth almost uninhabitable, humanity has colonized most of the rocky planets and moons of the Solar System. Amid a rising crime rate, the Inter Solar System Police (ISSP) set up a legalized contract system, in which registered bounty hunters (also referred to as "Cowboys") chase criminals and bring them in alive in return for a reward.
IMDB Rating: 8.9
IMDB Votes: 134000
Genere: Animation, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan, Canada
Duration: 650 min
Plot tags: anime, futuristic, exciting, atmospheric, neo noir, serious, stylized, manga, tragicomedy, ambiguous ending
Similar in 75%
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022)
Plot Summary:
In a dystopia riddled with corruption and cybernetic implants, a talented but reckless street kid strives to become a mercenary outlaw — an edgerunner.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 70000
Genere: Animation, Action, Adventure, Crime, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Poland, USA
Duration: 24 min
Plot tags: anime, cyber, futuristic, tragic
Similar in 82%
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society (2006)
Plot Summary:
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.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Animation, Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: anime, suspenseful, atmospheric, serious, futuristic, stylized, cyber, deep, inspirational, complex
Similar in 81%
Bubblegum Crisis (1987)
Plot Summary:
In the near future, Tokyo was left flattened as a result from a great earthquake. A new city, MegaTokyo, was then recreated due in no small part from the aid of a multi-million dollar company, Genom Corp. Genom created and mass-produced biomechanical creatures called Boomers to aid in the restoration of MegaTokyo. When the Boomers began to run out of control, the ADPolice at first tried to stop them, but they proved to be far more difficult to deal with than was first imagined. Under the ever looming Boomer threat, a group of four girls from varying degrees of society banded together. Calling themselves The Knight Sabers, they were the only ones with enough firepower and resourcefullness to defend the fledgling MegaTokyo from Genom and it's berserk Boomers.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Animation, Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: anime, mecha, cyber, manga, super sentai, exciting, bleak, suspenseful, stylized, semi serious
Similar in 77%
Parasite Dolls (2003)
Plot Summary:
Beauty is only skin deep, but when you can’t see beneath the skin, how can you know what you’re really dealing with? In a world where perfect androids called Boomers have infiltrated every aspect of society, it’s the job of Branch to maintain peace between the people and the plastic. Unfortunately, not all boomers are created perfect, and when boomers go bad, people die. The thin blue line that separates man from machine is about to meet its most horrifying test in Parasite Dolls.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 685
Genere: Animation, Action, Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: anime, futuristic, cyber, exciting, bleak, serious, suspenseful, stylized, detective, mecha
Similar in 82%
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004)
Plot Summary:
Groundbreaking director Mamoru Oshii continues to push the boundaries of art and anime with this universally acclaimed cyber thriller following cyborg detective Batou as he tries to unravel the reasons for a murderous robot revolt in the year 2032. A quest for a killer that becomes a mind bending search for the meaning of life.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 40000
Genere: Animation, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: futuristic, anime, philosophical, cyber, atmospheric, enigmatic, surreal, psychological, bleak, serious
Similar in 89%
Appleseed Ex Machina (2007)
Plot Summary:
As members of ESWAT, the elite forces serving Olympus, Deunan and Briaereos they are deployed everywhere trouble strikes. Olympus finds itself under a stealth attack - cyborg terrorism, deadly nanotech zealots, and rioting citizens are just some of the threats that Deunan must contend with as she fights to save Olympus!.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Animation, Action, Adventure, Drama, Family, Sci-Fi, Thriller, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: computer animated, mecha, anime, stylized, suspenseful, adult animation, futuristic, manga, sincere, mind bending
Similar in 89%
Appleseed XIII (2011)
Plot Summary:
Appleseed XIII is a 2011 Japanese CGI anime adaptation of Masamune Shirow's science fiction manga series Appleseed. Composed of 13 episodes, the series retold the exploits of ES.W.A.T. member Deunan and her cyborg partner Briareos. The series was produced by Jinni's Animation Studios in association with Production I.G and under the direction of Takayuki Hamana with Junichi Fujisaku as script supervisor. All 13 episodes were compiled into two feature-length films. The first feature film titled Appleseed XIII: Tartaros was announced by Shochiku and released on June 13, 2011. The second film, Appleseed XIII: Ouranos was released on October 24, 2011. A North American release of the TV series will be out in June 2013.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 367
Genere: Animation, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration:
Plot tags: anime, exciting, futuristic, suspenseful, tense, captivating, cyber, serious, stylized, computer animated
Similar in 88%
Appleseed (2004)
Plot Summary:
In a utopian society created at the end of the third world war, a female warrior who has been plucked from the badlands begins to see cracks in this new facade. And what does this community have planned for the rest of humankind?.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Animation, Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: anime, computer animated, mecha, stylized, futuristic, adult animation, cyber, apocalyptic, manga, sincere
Similar in 88%
Ergo Proxy (2006)
Plot Summary:
Ergo Proxy is a science fiction suspense anime television series, produced by Manglobe, which premiered across Japan on 25 February 2006 on the WOWOW satellite network. It is directed by Shukō Murase, with screenplay by Dai Satō et al.. Ergo Proxy has been described as a dark sciencefiction mystery with philosophical underpinnings. It features a combination of 2D digital cel animation, 3D computer modeling, and digital special effects.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Animation, Action, Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan
Duration: 25 min
Plot tags: anime, exciting, psychological, futuristic, suspenseful, cliffhanger, cyber, atmospheric, serious, seinen
Similar in 90%
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
Plot Summary:
In the year 2029, the barriers of our world have been broken down by the net and by cybernetics, but this brings new vulnerability to humans in the form of brain-hacking. When a highly-wanted hacker known as 'The Puppetmaster' begins involving them in politics, Section 9, a group of cybernetically enhanced cops, are called in to investigate and stop the Puppetmaster.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 153000
Genere: Animation, Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Japan, UK
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: anime, futuristic, mind bending, philosophical, surreal, atmospheric, exciting, adult animation, manga, cerebral
Similar in 78%
The Animatrix (2003)
Plot Summary:
Straight from the creators of the groundbreaking Matrix trilogy, this collection of short animated films from the world's leading anime directors fuses computer graphics and Japanese anime to provide the background of the Matrix universe and the conflict between man and machines. The shorts include Final Flight of the Osiris, The Second Renaissance, Kid's Story, Program, World Record, Beyond, A Detective Story and Matriculated.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 81000
Genere: Animation, Action, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: anime, philosophical, atmospheric, cyber, stylized, anthology, adult animation, computer animated, exciting, rough