Mamoru Oshii facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mamoru Oshii
押井守
Oshii at Lucca Comics & Games in 2015
Born	(1951-08-08) 8 August 1951 (age 73) Tokyo, Japan
Occupation	Film director screenwriter mangaka television director novelist
Years active	1977–present
Known for	Ghost in the Shell
Relatives	Otsuichi (son-in-law)

Mamoru Oshii (押井 守, Oshii Mamoru, born 8 August 1951) is a famous Japanese filmmaker, television director, and writer. He is known for telling stories that make you think deeply. Oshii has directed many popular anime films, including Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer (1984), Angel's Egg (1985), Patlabor 2: The Movie (1993), and Ghost in the Shell (1995).

He also directed the very first OVA, which is an anime made directly for home video, called Dallos (1983). As a writer, Oshii has created screenplays for movies and sometimes written manga (Japanese comics) and novels. Some of his well-known written works include the manga Kerberos Panzer Cop (1988–2000) and the movie based on it, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1999).

Mamoru Oshii has won and been nominated for many awards, like the Palme d'Or and Leone d'Oro (Golden Lion). Other famous directors, such as James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, and The Wachowskis, have praised his work, especially Ghost in the Shell.

Career Highlights

Starting Out in Anime (1977–1982)

Mamoru Oshii was interested in Christianity and the Bible from a young age. He once said he even thought about going to a seminary, a school for religious training.

As a student, Oshii loved watching movies. He was especially amazed by La Jetée by Chris Marker. He also watched many European films by directors like Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman. These filmmakers, along with others, later inspired his own movies. His father, who loved movies too, also influenced him.

In 1976, Oshii finished college. The next year, he joined Tatsunoko Productions, an anime studio. He started his anime career as a storyboard artist for Ippatsu Kanta-kun. Storyboard artists draw out the scenes for a film or show before it's animated. At Tatsunoko, Oshii worked on many anime, often for the Time Bokan TV series. In 1980, he moved to Studio Pierrot to work with his mentor, Hisayuki Toriumi.

Success with Urusei Yatsura (1981–1984)

Mamoru Oshii became well-known for his work as a director and storyboard artist on the animated Urusei Yatsura TV series. Because of its popularity, he directed two movies based on the series: Urusei Yatsura: Only You (1983) and Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer (1984).

The first movie was an original story but felt like the TV series. Beautiful Dreamer was also written by Oshii. It was very different from the original series and showed his unique style. This film is famous for playing with ideas like a time loop, where a high school class keeps reliving the same day. It also explored themes of dreams and changing reality.

Dallos, Lupin, and Angel's Egg (1983–1985)

While working at Studio Pierrot, Oshii also directed Dallos in 1983. This was the first-ever OVA, meaning it was made directly for home video release. In 1984, Oshii left Studio Pierrot.

Around this time, Oshii was asked to direct a movie for Lupin the Third. However, his ideas for the film were very unusual. The movie producers did not like his vision, saying it "made no sense." Even though the film was advertised with Oshii's name, it was canceled because his ideas were not approved. He later used some of his ideas from this canceled Lupin movie in other works, like Angel's Egg, Ghost in the Shell, and several Patlabor films.

Oshii later said that making Ghost in the Shell helped him "finally get over Lupin." He did get to work on Lupin again much later, writing two episodes for Lupin the 3rd Part 6.

Moving to Studio Deen, Oshii wrote and directed Angel's Egg (1985). This was a surreal film with many symbols from the Bible. The character designs were created by Yoshitaka Amano. One of the film's producers, Toshio Suzuki, later started Studio Ghibli with Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. After Angel's Egg, Miyazaki and Takahata started working with Oshii on his next film, Anchor. However, this project was canceled early because they had different artistic ideas. Despite their disagreements, Toshio Suzuki and Studio Ghibli later helped Oshii with his film Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004).

Patlabor and Live-Action Films (1987–1993)

In the late 1980s, Oshii's friend Kazunori Itō asked him to join a group called Headgear. This group included Kazunori Itō (screenwriter), Masami Yuki (manga artist), Yutaka Izubuchi (mechanical designer), Akemi Takada (character designer), and Mamoru Oshii (director). Together, they created the Patlabor TV series, OVAs, and movies.

While working on Patlabor, Oshii also tried directing live-action films for the first time. His first non-animated movie was The Red Spectacles (1987). He then made another live-action film called Stray Dog: Kerberos Panzer Cops (1991). Both of these films are part of Oshii's Kerberos Saga. After Stray Dog, Oshii directed another live-action film, Talking Head (1992).

In the early 1990s, Studio Ghibli asked Oshii to direct an animated film based on the novel Bokkō. Animator Katsuya Kondō even drew some early pictures for it. But this project was also canceled due to disagreements between Oshii and Miyazaki.

Ghost in the Shell and Global Fame (1995–2008)

In 1995, Mamoru Oshii released his groundbreaking animated cyberpunk film, Ghost in the Shell, in Japan, the United States, and Europe. In 1996, it became the first anime video to reach the top of the US Billboard video charts. The film is about a female cyborg who wants to understand her own existence. It was a huge success and is seen as a masterpiece and a classic anime.

After a five-year break from directing to work on other projects, Oshii returned to live-action films with the Japanese-Polish movie Avalon (2001). This film was shown at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. His next animated film was the much-anticipated sequel to Ghost in the Shell, called Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. This film took four years to make and follows Batou as he investigates strange murders. Innocence was chosen to compete for the Palme d'Or prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. This made it the first (and so far, only) anime film to receive such an honor.

Oshii promotes The Sky Crawlers, June 2, 2008.

Oshii's next film, The Sky Crawlers (2008), competed for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. After The Sky Crawlers, Oshii wrote the screenplay for the Production I.G film Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai. This film has been called possibly the first anime documentary.

Return to Live-Action (2009–Present)

In 2009, Oshii wrote and directed the live-action film Assault Girls. He also worked as a creative director for a part of the animated short film collection Halo Legends. In 2010, Oshii announced his next film would be a live-action movie called '28 1/2', based on Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Tetsujin-28 manga.

In 2012, Oshii announced he was working on a new live-action film. He wrote and directed the military science-fiction thriller Garm Wars: The Last Druid. The film's trailer came out in September 2014, and it premiered the next month at the 27th Tokyo International Film Festival.

He then made the live-action film Tōkyō Mukokuseki Shōjo, a suspense thriller released in July 2015.

In March 2017, Toonami started showing Sand Whale and Me, a live-action mini-series directed by Oshii. In 2018, it was reported that an anime film based on the novel series Chimera was being made, with Oshii as the director.

In June 2019, Oshii announced Vladlove, a comedy series he described as a "girl-meets-girl story" about a vampire. This project is special because Oshii is supported by a single investor, real estate company Ichigo Inc., instead of the usual Japanese anime production committee system.

Filmmaking Style

Oshii has explained that his way of directing is different from the typical Hollywood style. He believes that the visuals are the most important part of a film, followed by the story, and then the characters. He also says his main goal in making films is to "create worlds different from our own."

Mamoru Oshii's films often begin with an action scene. After that, the movie usually slows down, with bursts of fast action in between. Oshii also often includes a montage sequence in his films, usually about two minutes long. These parts have no dialogue and are set to music by Kenji Kawai. He often uses images like reflections, flocks of birds, and basset hound dogs, similar to his own pet. The basset hound was very noticeable in Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence and was an important part of his live-action film Avalon.

Oshii is especially known for changing the original story when he adapts it into a film. For example, in his adaptations of Urusei Yatsura and Ghost in the Shell, he made them much darker and slower than the original manga, which were more comedic. For the Ghost in the Shell movie, Oshii removed the humor and friendly conversations from Masamune Shirow's original manga. This can also be seen in Patlabor 2: The Movie, where Oshii focused on a political thriller instead of the everyday life aspects of the original story.

Andrez Bergen wrote in a 2004 newspaper article that Oshii's work "steers clear of such stereotypes in both image and sexual orientation." He added that Oshii's movies are "dark, thought-provoking, minimalist diatribes with an underlying complexity." They also push the limits of technology in filmmaking.

Many of his works include references to Christianity and the Bible.

Influence on Others

The Wachowskis, who directed The Matrix, were very impressed with Ghost in the Shell. They even showed it to producer Joel Silver to explain the kind of film they wanted to make. Many scenes from Ghost in the Shell seem to have inspired parts of The Matrix. Ghost in the Shell was also a major inspiration for the video game Oni.

His 1984 anime film Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, which explored ideas like a time loop, dreams, and changing reality, has been compared to later films like Groundhog Day (1993) and Dark City (1998). Many believe it influenced these movies.

Kenji Kamiyama, the director of the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex TV series, sees Oshii as his mentor. He said he "totally tried to copy" Oshii's style when creating the Stand Alone Complex series.

Many people have also noticed how similar the Helghast design from the Killzone video game series is to the Kerberos Panzer Protect Gear, first seen in Oshii's 1987 film The Red Spectacles. The game developers say their design was inspired by World War I gas masks, but this doesn't explain the glowing red/orange eyes that both designs share.

James Cameron, another famous filmmaker, has also praised Oshii. He once said that Avalon was "the most artistic, beautiful and stylish sci-fi film." He also called Ghost in the Shell "the first truly adult animation film to reach a level of literary and visual excellence."

Personal Life

As of 2009, Oshii lived in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, with his dog, a mutt named Daniel. He has said, "I'm not a Christian, but I've been reading the Bible since my student days."

Collaborations

Mamoru Oshii has worked a lot with Production I.G, an animation studio. Every animated film he has made since Patlabor: The Movie (1989) has been produced by this studio. He also worked closely with screenwriter Kazunori Itō; they made five films together, starting with The Red Spectacles and ending with Avalon.

His closest partner, however, is music composer Kenji Kawai. Kawai has created most of the music for Oshii's works, including ten of his feature films. Oshii believes that "Kenji Kawai's music is responsible for 50 percent of [his] films' successes" and that he "can't do anything without [Kenji Kawai]."

The Kerberos Saga

The Kerberos saga is a major part of Mamoru Oshii's work, which he started in 1986. It's a military science fiction franchise and an alternate history universe. It includes various types of media and has continued for over 20 years since his radio drama While Waiting for the Red Spectacles in January 1987.

In 1987, Oshii released The Red Spectacles, his first live-action movie and the first film in the Kerberos saga. The manga version, Kerberos Panzer Cop, written by Mamoru Oshii and drawn by Kamui Fujiwara, was published from 1988 to 1990.

In 1991, the live-action film StrayDog Kerberos Panzer Cops was released, based on the manga. In 1999, the anime film Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, which Oshii wrote, was directed by his colleague Hiroyuki Okiura. This film, based on the first part of the manga, was shown at international film festivals starting in France.

Other Works

Besides directing, Oshii is a talented screenwriter and author of manga and novels. He wrote the Kerberos series of manga. Oshii also wrote the script for the manga Seraphim 266,613,336 Wings, which was originally drawn by Satoshi Kon. Their work together was difficult because they had different artistic ideas about the story, and Seraphim was never finished.

Oshii also wrote the screenplay for Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade. He is also credited as a co-planner for Blood: The Last Vampire (2000) and Blood+. Oshii also wrote the first novel connected to the film, called Blood: The Last Vampire: Night of the Beasts.

Oshii is also credited for the "story concept" of Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG. He describes his role as overseeing the entire series and writing the plot for each episode. In 2005, Oshii was a supervisor for the Mobile Police Patlabor Comes Back: MiniPato video game. In 2008, he was a special consultant for the video game The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces.

Awards and Nominations

Annie Awards:

• 1996: Nominated for Outstanding Achievement for Directing in a Feature Production (Ghost in the Shell)
• 2004: Nominated for Outstanding Achievement for Directing in a Feature Production (Ghost in the Shell: Innocence)
• 2016: Winsor McCay Award

Animation Kobe:

• 1996: Feature Film Award (Ghost in the Shell)
• 2004: Feature Film Award (Ghost in the Shell: Innocence)

Cannes Film Festival

• 2004: Nominated for Palme d'Or (Ghost in the Shell: Innocence)

London Sci-Fi Film Festival:

• 2002: Best Feature Film (Avalon)

Mainichi Film Concours:

• 1993: Best Animated Film (Patlabor 2: The Movie)
• 2008: Best Animated Film (The Sky Crawlers)

Nihon SF Taisho Award:

• 2004: 25th Nihon SF Taisho Award (Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence)

Sitges - Catalan International Film Festival:

• 2004: Orient Express Award (Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence)

Venice Film Festival:

• 2008: Nominated for Golden Lion (The Sky Crawlers)
• 2008: Future Film Festival Digital Award (The Sky Crawlers)

Filmography

Directed Feature Films

Images for kids

• 

  The English version of Kerberos Panzer Cop

See also

In Spanish: Mamoru Oshii para niños