Manga/Anime Memorandum

random thoughts on manga and anime

MAMORU OSHII book review [nonfiction] Part 17, Mechaphilia

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There're some Mamoru Oshii book lists on the Internet, but they don't have detailed explanations about the contents. My Mamoru Oshii book collection is far from complete, but I'd like to write some short summaries for each of those books.

I apologize in advance for grammatical errors and misinformation.

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title: 押井守・映像機械論 [メカフィリア]

(Mechaphilia: Mamoru Oshii's Mecha Theory In Visual Media)

release: 10/05/2004

publisher: Dainippon Kaiga

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[contents]

introduction by Isaku Okabe

SHINOHARA type 98 AV, INGRAM

special armor type 92, PROTECT GEAR

AH-88 J2 Kai, GRAY GHOST

Fa666: JAGD HOUND

DODGSON J-11: BLACK JACK

HAL X-10

XR-99: DUSHKA

KV-22: ZITADELLE

CZN-M22: NINE WEAPON

ULTIMA RATIO FULL SENCING

SUPER LIGHTNING

interview with Yutaka Izubuchi

interview with Atsushi Takeuchi

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[review]

This is a collection of Mamoru Oshii's essay series in Model Graphics magazine. Model Graphics is a magazine for hardcore plastic model fans. Because an editor of that magazine was acquainted with Oshii, he launched Oshii's essay series. Model Graphics often features anime creators. Some people might know that Hayao Miyazaki's "Wind Rises" was originally a manga series serialized in Model Graphics. They also featured "In This Corner of the World" recently. It's an important magazine even to anime fans.

Anyway, Oshii started an essay series with Atsushi Takeuchi's illustration. Oshii talks about the mecha and gadgets from his films, and Takeuchi re-designs those items. Oshii also mentions his design principle and thoughts on each film.

 

However, that kind of explanation is very superficial. One-third of this book's contents is Oshii's personal criticism against Yutaka Izubuchi and his mechanical design. In this book, Oshii explains how illogical Izubuchi's design is. He even says Izubuchi is childish and ignorant. Even after being criticized like that, Izubuchi gently speaks in the interview of this book. I guess Izubuchi's forgiveness is infinite. Takeuchi felt so bad for Izubuchi, so he ignored Oshii's essay and just focused on the illustration (That story was told in Complete Works of Mamoru Oshii Remix.)

 

Then, does this book have nothing but Oshii's personal trash talk against Izubuchi? That's not true. Oshii's essays are still very interesting.

It's like the second episode of Minipato. In that episode, Oshii explains his ambition for Patlabor series and gives a very long monologue. He does the same kind of thing in this book. If you like Oshii's pedanticism and jokes, this is a good book for you. I don't recommend it to non-Oshii fans, tho.

Plus, it is recommendable to protect gear/ Kerberos Saga fans too. Oshii explains the problem of protect-gear and Kerberos Saga in this book. He even criticizes himself in that chapter. He admits that protect-gear is very weak and ridiculous equipment. He analyzes why such a weak armor was adopted in the Kerberos world. That analysis was utilized in Pazer Cop and Panzer Jager.