Tag: Mamoru Oshii

The Red Spectacles Restored! And Celebrating Mamoru Oshii’s Kerberos Saga

Mamoru Oshii’s The Red Spectacles returns in a striking 4K restoration that reveals just how strange, abrasive, and foundational it is to the Kerberos Saga. Part neo-noir, part absurdist fever dream, it plays like a dark mirror to knightly orders and Orwellian authority, stitched together by one of Kenji Kawai’s most playful scores.

The Red Spectacles OriginalMetrograph Showtimes:

  • Nov 22 8:15pm
  • Nov 23 9:00pm
  • Nov 26 8:20pm

Distributor: Small Sensations!

Anyone unfamiliar with Mamoru Oshii’s Kerberos Saga may wonder where to begin. The franchise sprawls across anime, radio dramas, manga, and live-action films, making its chronology look more like a web than a line. For my part, I believe the journey starts most powerfully with The Red Spectacles. Its recent 4K restoration—debuting at The Metrograph and perhaps also courting other art houses down the road—offers the perfect opportunity to revisit this strange, brooding cornerstone of Oshii’s world. There’s hardly any grain in sight!

To experience this work on the big screen is essential. The Japanese crowdfunding campaign (via Motion Gallery) performed remarkably well, reflecting both local enthusiasm and international curiosity. And for viewers whose entry point was Jin-Roh—as mine was—this neo-noir odyssey feels shockingly raw. More grounded. More abrasive. Visceral in ways that anime, by its nature, softens.

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Mamoru Oshii at the Metrograph. A Cinematic Tribute to a Master

Metrograph honours Mamoru Oshii with restorations of Angel’s Egg and The Red Spectacles, plus influences from Tarkovsky to Yamatoya. It’s a must see for fans of this master auteur!

Mamoru OshiiVenue: Metrograph, 7 Ludlow St, New York
Dates: November 15–23

Among anime fans, Mamoru Oshii stands apart for his singular art-house aesthetic. Though most know him as a director, understanding the depth of his writing means looking closely at his filmography. Angel’s Egg remains his first truly original work, while Urusei Yatsura: Only You (1983) and Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer (1984) were where his unique voice first began to shine. From there, his contributions to some of the most influential anime of the 90s cemented his reputation as a visionary.

With Avalon (2001), Oshii explored the harmful effects of virtual reality long before it became a plaything of today, and parts of that story (written by Kazunori Itō) resonate. Through its existential themes, he explored what it means to live and dream inside a machine—ideas that would echo throughout science-fiction cinema for decades.
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Just How Often Can Major Get Blown Up in Ghost in the Shell (2017)?

Ghost in the Shell

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

The live-action Hollywood “remake” of Ghost in the Shell (GitS) hardly succeeds in waxing the philosophical from Masamune Shirow’s manga or the anime directed by Mamoru Oshii. While I knew these ideas will be the farthest thing the hive mind planned for the Western adaptation, I secretly hoped for some redemption. A few scenes from the anime were nicely recreated in live-action format, but I wanted more substance than style, to which this film had in abundance. When this movie is partially shot with Alexa 6K (65mm) cameras, I’m hoping the National Geographic IMAX theatre in my hometown gets it during this film’s second run at theatres so I can see this movie proper on a square screen.

While I did not expect much of the Frankenstein-style discourse to exist throughout the film, there were a few moments Major (Scarlett Johansson) tries to understand who she is, why she was created and where her “ghost” comes from. This actress basically got a chance to play a different kind of Black Widow, a person stripped of her identity to become a professional hit-man (woman) and not have “family” to worry about. When she’s the main character, at least fans of this actress got what they wanted instead of waiting for a Marvel Comics Entertainment version.

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Discotek Licenses Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer, Lupin III and More!

YatsuraBeautifulDreamerBy James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

Discotek Media announced today their upcoming Japanese anime releases during their panel at Otakon in Baltimore, Maryland. Among some of the titles announced are Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer, Lupin III: Island of Assassins, Captain Harlock: Arcadia of My Youth, and Chargeman Ken.

Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer was the 2nd feature outing for characters based off the Urusei Yatsura manga series by Rumiko Takahashi. Written and directed by Mamoru Oshii, Beautiful Dreamer was ranked number 38 on a list of the top 100 anime by Animage Magazine and was number 9 of the Top 50 Anime Released in North America by Wizard’s Anime Magazine. Beautiful Dreamer will be released on DVD and Blu-ray with both English sub and dub available. The The dubs were pulled from the original master tapes. According to Discotek, the subs are to get a new “polish”. Extras are to be announced at a later date.

Captain Harlock: Arcadia of My Youth was different version of the retelling of Leiji Matsumoto’s Space Pirate Captain Harlock television series. Arcadia was also the last role of acclaimed Japanese actor Yujiro Ishihara before his death at 52 years old. Discotek’s Arcadia will be released on DVD and Blu-ray and will be from the Japanese master. The dub however is extremely old and is from the international Vengeance of the Space Pirate version. Vengeance was previously released by Celebrity Home Entertainment under the “Just for Kids” banner. But according to Discotek the edited version of Arcadia has the best master available. Extras are to be announced at a later date but what has been revealed is the Japanese trailers will be included in the release.

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Patlabor: The Future of Mechs is Here

By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

Ghost in the ShellThe Next Generation -Patlabor- official trailer is online and fans will be pleased to know that the production company, Tohokushinsha Film Corporation, is not only offering a feature-length film but also a live action theatrical series. Thirteen episodes (episodes 1-12 and episode 0) will be broken up up into a seven part saga.

Part one of the series will make its debut on April 5, 2014 at the Shinjuku Piccadilly cinema in Tokyo Prefecture as well as several other theatres throughout Japan. The 100-minute feature film, written and directed by Mamoru Oshii, will be shown during Japan’s Golden Week (between the end of April and the beginning of May) in 2015.
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