The Ghost in the Shell (2026 TV series)

Prologue: Public Security officer Daisuke Aramaki moves to arrest the corrupt Far East Trade Representative under suspicion of assassinating the previous Prime Minister. However, the trade representative stays one step ahead of Aramaki by granting political asylum to the only witness that can incriminate him. Aramaki is forced to let the trade representative go until the mysterious cyborg Motoko Kusanagi assassinates the trade representative, acting under the final orders of the previous Prime Minister. Kusanagi then approaches the Minister of Internal Affairs and proposes the creation of a top-secret special forces unit that will handle cases the regular police cannot. The Minister of Internal Affairs agrees and puts Aramaki in charge of Kusanagi.

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Super Spartan i: Kusanagi and her team are assigned their first mission, which is to investigate an orphanage on suspicion of using an illegal Ghost controller to brainwash the orphans in their care. Kusanagi is skeptical about the mission given the lack of evidence or legal backing but agrees to spy on the orphanage. Despite the harsh conditions inside the orphanage, the team does not find anything explicitly illegal until one of the orphans attempts to escape. Seeing the orphanage's security forces wielding military grade equipment raises Kusanagi's suspicions, and she authorizes her team to attack them. The head of security is revealed to be wielding the Ghost controller, which he uses to hijack most of the team's minds. Kusanagi is barely able to avoid being controlled and manages to subdue the head of security. Afterwards, Aramaki reveals to Kusanagi that the orphanage was a cover for a government sanctioned brainwashing program, but it needed to be shut down due to its members going rogue. Displeased with the Minister of Internal Affairs criticizing her performance, Kusanagi uses the Ghost controller to prank the Minister by forcing him to punch himself.

Super Spartan ii: Kusanagi and her team expect to be dissolved after their stunt with the Minister. However, Aramaki arrives and reveals he maneuvered events so that the team will fall under his sole control and will only answer directly to the Prime Minister. Meanwhile, the orphans have now taken control of the orphanage but are having difficulty in keeping it running.

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Junk Jungle i: Several months later, the team is tasked with spying on a former officer from the Gavel Republic, Colonel Malles, in hopes of finding a lead on a mysterious hacker nicknamed the "Puppet Master". Aramaki meets with the Foreign Minister, who warns that the diplomatic situation between Japan and the Gavel Republic is delicate, as the government must decide to either support Malles and his deposed junta who control the country's valuable platinum deposits, or the democratic government that is now in power. Aramaki briefs Kusanagi that they discovered the Foreign Minister's interpreter was infected with a personality hijacking virus, and he is using her as bait to track down the hacker responsible. Kusanagi and Togusa head into the city to find the hacker. It is revealed that the hacker is using the interpreter's estranged husband, a garbageman, as a patsy to carry out the hacking. Kusanagi and Togusa manage to track them down, but the hacker flees. Togusa is knocked unconscious in the confusion, leaving Kusanagi to pursue the hacker alone.