The OVA centers on Public Security Section 9 trying to cope with a rash case of suicides and terrorist cases concerning ex-officials from the collapsed Seok Republic in the year 2034, two years after the end of 2nd GIG. The Major aka Motoko Kusanagi has tendered her resignation, making Togusa the second commander of Section 9. In the wake of restructuring, Section 9 has expanded with new recruits and a full-time tac team to help in raids.
While the investigation into the suicides and the case of an attempted assassination on a Diet assemblyman, the Major returns from the shadows to join her ex-subordinates to investigate who's the Puppeteer and figure out what he's up to, especially with the case of children who were being abducted from various families and homes in Japan.
It's followed by Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045.
This anime provides examples of:
- Alliterative Title: Solid State Society.
- All There in the Manual: The website has more info on the Seok Republic
. - Bittersweet Ending: The Puppeteer has been killed, Munei's brainwashing program is revealed and shut down, and the Major reunites with Section 9, but the children who were abducted are returned to their homes, where they must again face their abusive parents, or spend years waiting for their cases to percolate through the judicial system.
- Bulletproof Vest: Section 9 has now started the practice of donning bulletproof vests worn over street clothes for a raid, as opposed to combat bodysuits, serve to show how the core team have moved on from being the tip of the spear, and that things have changed significantly from two years ago.
- Clue of Few Words: "Puppeteer" is written in blood by the General after he's forced to commit suicide by the hacker.
- Colon Cancer: Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society.
- Cool Car: Aramaki is driven around in the Infiniti Kuraza concept car from the 2005 Detroit Auto Show while Togusa drives the Nissan Sport Concept from the 2005 New York International Auto Show, both of which were done as part of a Product Placement deal with Nissan.
- Batou drives a Ford GT, meanwhile the Major has what seems to be a Bland-Name Product version of a Ferrari F430.
- Dead All Along: The original Puppeteer who created the abduction program, Tateaki Koshiki, died two years before the start of the movie.
- Enemy Without: Section 9 is worried that The Puppeteer they're chasing is actually the Major, who's retired from Section 9. When Motoko tracks down the Puppeteer and asks What the Hell Are You? because the Big Bad appears to share her amoral determination and cyber skills, she's shocked to find it's a cyber-personality of herself evolved from her subconscious interacting with the Net.
- Eyepatch of Power: Raj Puhto from the collapsed Seok Republic has a Hawkeye built into his right eye, the same satellite sniping system that Saito uses.
- I'd Tell You, but Then I'd Have to Kill You: Paz says this to a Mook in response to his Who Are You?. He clearly enjoys every second of it.
- Improvised Weapon: Ma Shaba uses a construction mecha as a Spider Tank to attack Motoko, who doesn't have a weapon heavy enough to damage it. However, he ends up breaking his own neck as he's thrown around in the cockpit during the battle.
- Japanese Delinquents: The Uchikomas in the omake turn themselves into spiked-bat wielding delinquents because they know they don't fit into society.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: The project of the Puppeteer involves rescuing children (of parents classified as abusive) and wiping the parent's memories so they never knew they existed.
- Milkman Conspiracy: The titular Solid State Society consists of childless bedridden elderly who want to save society by helping the Puppeteer in its plot to kidnap children from their abusive parents. By leaving all their assets to the children after their family histories have been rewritten, the children have a chance at a true future, and the elderly's assets are not automatically forfeited to the state upon their death due to having no heirs.
- Noodle Incident: A serious one in the OVA on what happened in Seok that forced the government to disband.
- Of Corpse He's Alive: General Ka Rum of the former Seok Republic, the ringleader of the terrorists who are committing suicide one after another. Prior to seeking asylum in Japan, he had made a proclamation that his followers would commit acts of terrorism around the world upon his death. When Section 9 visit his isolated island where he is being held under house arrest at the beginning of the movie, they discover that he's long dead, and the nursing system connected to his body has been tampered with to pretend that he was still alive. The Major found him after he had been killed by the Puppeteer, and hacked the system to prevent his followers from realizing he was dead and committing their terroristic acts, though this also had the effect of allowing the Puppeteer to murder them one by one.
- Quality over Quantity: A dilemma that Section 9 has to deal with as a result of their organizational structure in the TV series. In the movie, Section 9 has expanded its rank with new recruits and a full-time tac team to complement its manpower. As Aramaki explains to Batou, this way instead of using all of their efforts to solve one case a a time, the new Section 9 is capable of solving three cases at a time while only using 80% of its manpower.
- Sadistic Choice: The Puppeteer hacks Togusa's cyberbrain after he refuses to back down from investigating the case of the kidnapped children. After explaining the process of the abductions, it gives him control of his right arm and leaves him two options: let the Solid State Society kidnap his daughter, or use his gun to kill himself.
- SWAT Team: Section 9 now has a full-time tac team with recruits meant to do the task. They're seen when they raid Ka Rum's island estate in secret.
- The Scrappy: In-universe, Section 9 acknowledges that while the Uchikomas are supposed to be technologically superior to the Tachikomas they replaced, their AI's weren't capable of advanced development. They just acted like robots with a flat monotone voice, much to the expressed dislike by the members of Section 9. They were eventually... well, scrapped. With a little help from the Major, The Tachikomas are brought back and reinstated. The Omake even expresses how the Uchikomas just want to be loved, but are incapable of experiencing or understanding it.
- Suicide by Assassin: Raj Puhto, the Seok sniper who was part of Ka Rum's conspiracy, got the intel on his target's location from said target. The Puppeteer, looking to eliminate Munei for his interference in the Solid State Society's plans, manipulates the information to get rid of him.
- Title Drop: Solid State Society is the codename of an AI system meant to take young children from abusive homes and place them under senior citizens who are being kept alive by the Noble Rot Senior Citizen program.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: Batou and Motoko, which is once again explored briefly in a very faint Maybe Ever After in the end of Solid State Society. Batou puts his arm around her and she doesn't throw him into the pool. Yes, that's the closest their romantic and sexual tension ever comes to going anywhere.
- With Friends Like These...: Motoko's car gets crushed by a Spider Tank, so she casually helps herself to Batou's expensive sports car while he feebly protests. And she's not even his superior officer any more, having left Section 9.
