Music of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Yoko Kanno composed the majority of the music for the anime series *Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex*, with production handled by Victor Entertainment. Additional soundtracks were created for the OVA films *The Laughing Man* and *Individual Eleven*, as well as the TV film *Solid State Society*. Kanno aimed to craft music that stood apart from the formal, "manly" tone of the original manga, weaving in ideas of humanity and what she called "tangible fuzziness." Sound director Kazuhiro Wakabayashi supplied her with thematic guides she described as "delicate emotional feelings that were like poems."

Kanno wrote all the opening and closing themes for the series, its second season, the film sequel, and the OVAs. For the opening theme "Inner Universe," she used the concept of digital bits to build a score with rapid, recurring beats. In *Stand Alone Complex*, the opening was "Inner Universe" (performed by Origa, with lyrics in Russian, English, and Latin by Origa and Shanti Snyder), and the closing was "Lithium Flower" (performed by Scott Matthew, lyrics by Tim Jensen). When the series later aired on terrestrial TV, "Inner Universe" was swapped for "GET9" (performed by jillmax, lyrics by Tim Jensen), and "Lithium Flower" for "I Do" (written and performed by Ilaria Graziano).

For *Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG*, the opening was "Rise" (performed by Origa, lyrics by Origa and Tim Jensen), and the closing was "Living Inside the Shell" (performed by Steve Conte, lyrics by Shanti Snyder). Terrestrial broadcasts of this season replaced "Rise" with "CHRisTmas in the SiLenT ForeSt" (performed by Ilaria Graziano, lyrics by Shanti Snyder) and "Living Inside the Shell" with "Somewhere in the Silence (Sniper's Theme)" (performed by Ilaria Graziano, lyrics by Tim Jensen).

Several albums were released. *Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex O.S.T.*, the first soundtrack for the series, was composed by Kanno and co-produced by Toshiaki Ota, featuring music from the first season. A later version, *O.S.T.+*, included TV edits of "GET9" and "rise"; early copies had mastering errors where tracks didn't match the listing.