Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Light Novel) - Recommendations

• Vol: 5; Ch: 42
• 2009 - 2012

When a high-ranking government official is kidnapped, the Prime Minister must call in his top crime fighting force known as Section 9. Led by the beautiful (and deadly) Major Kusanagi, the cybernetically enhanced squad must use all their skill to take down the kidnappers and rescue the hostages. But that's only half of the mission; can Kusanagi and company find out who's behind the kidnapping, and, more importantly, just what they're after?

• Vol: 4
• 2013 - 2016

In the year 2024, Ernest Serano was kidnapped and ransomed; the event was known as the Laughing Man incident due to the involvement of a world-class hacker of the same name. Six years later, the police force Section 9 finds itself in the midst of a terrorist plot and conspiracy unlike anything they've ever known. The Laughing Man - with the ability to hack into even the eyes of those around him - has returned, and his motives are unclear. The Major, Batou, and the rest of Section 9 must race against the clock to determine the reason for the Laughing Man's re-emergence and unravel the twisted conspiracy of major corporations around them...

• Vol: 2; Ch: 12
• 1995 - 1998

• Vol: 1; Ch: 7
• 2017

Steel and rust. The City structure has endlessly propagated itself for so many years that the reason for such growth has long since been forgotten. Even within such a techno-dystopia, humans still exist: The Electrofishers. Driven to the brink of extinction, they are visited by a traveler—a man named Killy. But will his presence bring the Electrofishers ruination or hope...? 

• Vol: 1; Ch: 6
• 1997 - 2001

March 6, 2035. Motoko Aramaki is a hyper-advanced cyborg, a counter-terrorist Net security expert, heading the investigative department of the giant multi-national Poseidon Industrial. Partly transcending the physical world and existing in a virtual world of networks, Motoko is a fusion of multiple entities and identities, deploying remotely controlled prosthetic humanoid surrogates around the globe to investigate a series of bizarre incidents. Meanwhile, Tamaki Tamai, a psychic detective from the Channeling Agency, has been commissioned to explore strange changes in the temporal universe brought about by two forces, one represented by the teachings of a professor named Rahampol, the other by the complex, evolving Motoko entity. What unfolds will all be in a day's work—a day that will change everything, forever.

• Ch: 3
• 2018

In this future, advertisements have infiltrated fashion, and young people earn lucrative amounts of money by becoming affiliates. As affiliates, people wear devices attached to clothing that advertise products. However, crimes related to this advertising trend have increased. Law, a persona program, has teamed up with Reisen, a former ad agency employee,  to investigate these crimes. An odd-couple team, Law and Reisen dive into a hi-tech world of commercialism and…murder?

• Vol: 1; Ch: 5
• 2009

In the future, all facets of society are tied into OZ, a virtual world inhabited by millions of users. Kenji, one of OZ’s moderators, was set to begin another typical summer when the lovely Natsuki asked him to accompany her to her hometown as a job. However, little did Kenji know that the 'job' entailed pretending to be Natsuki’s fiancé in front of her eccentric family! Now on display and feeling like a fish out of water, Kenji tries his best to fit in with Natsuki and her relatives, until one day he receives a mysterious math problem through a text message. As an avid math fanatic Kenji can’t help but try to solve it, unaware that his actions may jeopardize not only OZ, but also the entire world...

• Vol: 3
• 2019 - 2020

"Justice" opens up a new world. In the near future, the Sybil System, a surveillance network that quantifies human souls, maintains public order. In a changing world, detectives with Dominators, guns that measure "Crime Coefficients," pursue "latent criminals" before they commit crimes. The third series of Psycho-Pass follows two inspectors seeking the truth: Arata Shindo and Kei Mikhail Ignatov.

• Vol: 3; Ch: 13
• 2009 - 2010

In the future, all facets of society are tied into OZ, a virtual world inhabited by millions of users. Kenji, one of OZ’s moderators, was set to begin another typical summer when the lovely Natsuki asked him to accompany her to her hometown as a job. However, little did Kenji know that the 'job' entailed pretending to be Natsuki’s fiancé in front of her eccentric family! Now on display and feeling like a fish out of water, Kenji tries his best to fit in with Natsuki and her relatives, until one day he receives a mysterious math problem through a text message. As an avid math fanatic Kenji can’t help but try to solve it, unaware that his actions may jeopardize not only OZ, but also the entire world...

• Vol: 2
• 2019