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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: JIN-ROH BEHIND OF THE SCREEN
(JIN-ROH: Behind the Screen)
release: 06/26/2000
publisher: Seishinsha
[contents]
screen captures
interview with Hiroyuki Okiura
interview with Mamoru Oshii
interview with Takashi Watanabe
interview with Kazuchika Kise
interview with Tadashi Hiramatsu
tips about production
interview with Kenji Kamiyama
interview with Tetsuya Nishio
interview with Toshiyuki Inoue
layouts
key animation
interview with Hiromasa Ogura
interview with Yumiko Katayama
interview with Shuichi Kakesu
interview with Kazuhiro Wakabayashi
interview with Toru Noguchi
interview with Hajime Noguchi
interview with Yoshikatsu Fujiki
interview with Sumi Muto
interview with Mitsuhisa Ishikawa
production diary
staff's comments
staff list
[review]
This is a database and interview collection of JIN-ROH.
It is pretty different from other anime databases. It was planned by Production IG themselves, not by anime magazines nor publishers. Okiura himself supervised the contents. (It was called "Okiura's book" by other staff, apparently.) And thus, it contains much more detailed information than other books. It is probably one of the most "official" anime databases.
Some hardcore otaku might notice the publisher's name. Seishinsha is an Osaka-based publisher. It's known for Masamune Shirow's Appleseed. It's a very small company, but they are loved by hardcore sci-fi fans and manga fans. (Almost all Japanese publishers are based in Tokyo. Seishinsha is a very rare case. Appleseed surprised many otaku because of that.)
In many ways, it is a special book for JIN-ROH fans.
[tips]
*Oshii and Ishikawa chose Okiura as a director of JIN-ROH, but Okiura himself didn't want to direct it at first.
*Okiura didn't get the point of the original story from Panzer Cop, so he requested three things from Oshii:
1. He needs a main character because he can't control a grand hotel-type story.
2. He needs a main heroine.
3. He wants to try the "hardboiled" style.
Okiura thought that Oshii would give up on him. However, Oshii put all those three things into the script. Okiura lost excuses for not directing the film.
*When Okiura revised the script, he discussed it with his friend. This is not mentioned in the book, but that friend is Satoshi Kon.
*Oshii lent a copy of "House of Bamboo" to Okiura. Okiura checked the '50s amusement park in that film.
*Oshii worries about Okiura's style. Oshii thinks that Okiura's attitude is too kind and too close to the audience. Film directors should defend their souls from the audience's selfish desire. If they don't, their creative energy will be consumed quickly. Oshii doesn't care about the audience's reaction anymore because of that.
*In the shot where a train turns a corner, the animator utilized a 3D wireframe as a reference model. That idea was actually brought up by Hideaki Anno. When a production staff visited GAINAX, Anno advised them to use a 3D model.
*The staff didn't know the real protesters yelling phrases, so Oshii wrote those lines. Some of them were omitted, but Oshii told them to keep a few phrases like "lap dog" and "whipped dog"
