Yu Kinutani's adaptation of the hit anime series 'Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex' takes place in 2030, in the fictional Japanese city of New Port. The story follows members of the Public Security Section 9, a special-operations task-force made up of former military officers and police detectives. The manga presents individual cases that Section 9 investigates, along with an ongoing, more serious investigation into the serial killer and hacker known only as The Laughing Man.