Stand Alone Complex takes place in the year 2030, in the fictional Japanese city of New Port. The series follows the members of Public Security Section 9, a special operations task-force made up of former military officers and police detectives. The series is composed of individual cases that Section 9 investigates, along with an ongoing, more serious investigation into the complex Laughing Man incident.[1]
The Laughing Man incident, central to the events of the series, occurs in 2024 - 6 years prior to the start of the series. An accomplished computer hacker discovers an internal memo on a form of sclerosis called cyberbrain sclerosis, which reveals that a tuberculosis vaccine is more effective at treating the disease than an emerging therapy using micro-machines. Members of the micro-machine industry in Japan and the Japanese government suppressed the memo in order to profit from the costly but less effective micro-machine therapy being developed. Outraged, the hacker kidnaps the CEO of fictional micro-machine corporation Serano-Genomix, and at gunpoint, tries to convince him to disclose the ineffectiveness of the therapy on live TV. The CEO refuses, and the hacker flees the scene. To protect his identity, he simultaneously hacks every electronic device viewing him and replaces his face with a stylized laughing face instead. The brazenness of the kidnapping and the hacking skill required to make his getaway turns the Laughing Man, as he is later dubbed, into a folk hero. The secret of the memo on cyberbrain sclerosis and the ineffectiveness of the micro-machine therapy, however, remains hidden from the Japanese public.
In the wake of this initial incident, referred to in the series as the Laughing Man incident, a series of corporate terrorism and blackmail attacks occur which cause most micro-machine corporation stocks to dive. Although the incidents make use of the Laughing Man's stylized face to indicate his involvement, they are not carried out by the Laughing Man himself. The incidents are instead part of a massive stock manipulation scheme intended to force a government rescue of the targeted corporations. The success of the scheme benefits top corporate executives and government officials, who become extremely wealthy as a result. The Laughing Man is used as a scapegoat, and a police task force is formed to investigate the Laughing Man incidents. Top officials in the Japanese police and various internal government ministries spy on the police task force in an attempt to make sure the truth about the fake incidents and the internal memo on cyberbrain sclerosis remain hidden from the Japanese public.
At the start of the series, a detective working as a member of the Laughing Man task force inadvertently uncovers the spying by discovering that several members of the task force have been injected with specialized micro-machines called Interceptors that accumulate in the eyes and act as remote cameras, allowing authorized users to see from the visual perspective of the person injected with them. The detective passes the information to Togusa, a friend and fellow detective recruited into Section 9 several years prior. Before he can meet Togusa, however, he is murdered by his superiors to prevent discovery of the truth. Before he is murdered, he manages to send Togusa a series of surveillance photos taken from the viewpoint of the Interceptors in the task force members. Togusa, although initially confused, quickly figures out the abnormal viewpoint of the photos and alerts Section 9 chief Aramaki.
Section 9 launches its own independent investigation of the Laughing Man incidents. Throughout the course of the series, Section 9 discovers the background behind the original Laughing Man incident and the identity of the Laughing Man. Because their investigation implicates top executives of micro-machine corporations and prominent members of the Japanese government in criminal activity, Section 9 becomes the target of a public misinformation campaign to discredit it, and extensive efforts are made to eliminate Section 9 members at all costs. Near the end of the series, Section 9 uncovers the full truth and ascertains the identity of the Laughing Man, but is declared a rogue organization by the Japanese government and is attacked by a black ops JMSDF commando unit called the Umibozu. To survive, Section 9 members carry out an elaborate deception, leading the Japanese government and military forces to believe Section 9 members have all been killed; Section 9 itself is temporarily disbanded by chief Aramaki.
The members of Section 9, now safely in hiding, proceed to disseminate information on the internal memo concerning cyberbrain sclerosis and the truth about the fake Laughing Man incidents. This causes a public scandal, leading to the downfall of the Japanese Prime Minister and his administration, as well as several micro-machine corporations and their CEOs. In the aftermath of the scandal, Section 9 is reinstated to its former position in secret. The Laughing Man himself, now revealed to be a skilled young hacker by the name of Aoi, is offered a position at Section 9 but refuses. The series ends with the members of Section 9 once again settling into their accustomed routines.