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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: 押井言論 2012-2015
(Words of Mamoru Oshii: 2012-2015)
release: 02/02/2016
publisher: Cyzo
[contents]
introduction
2008-2012, three years blank
GARM WARS The Last Druid
THE NEXT GENERATION Patlabor
Kenji Kamiyama and 009 RE:CYBORG
Nowhere Girl
2013-2015, Enrage the half of the world
[review]
This is a collection of Oshii's e-newsletters. It is one of the enthusiasts' items. 270 Yen * 55 volumes newsletters are contained in this book. Simply put, I don't recommend this book. I enjoyed it pretty much, but it's too expensive. It doesn't worth 5500 yen.
It is written purely for hardcore fans, so Oshii sometimes speaks very honest thoughts on each topic. For example, Oshii tells that Tomohiko Ishii's commercial intention had a big impact on The Sky Crawlers. He decided to accept all the producer's ideas, including recommendations about staffing, the source material, the post-credit scene, and the battle scenes. "I'll do whatever you request, but let me release the director's cut afterward." That was the promise between Oshii and the producer, and that's why some fans demand the director's cut of that film.
[tips]
*"The Red Spectacles" stems from an old Japanese film title cliche. "Red sth" was often used in old films, so Oshii parodied it. Oshii doesn't care about the title, so he always let producers make titles. "Innocence" was made by Toshi Suzuki, but only Tetsuya Nishio kept saying "Ghost in the Shell 2" (攻殻機動隊2).
*Oshii thinks that Katsuhiro Otomo wants to achieve both artistic success and social success, and that's different from Oshii's goal. James Cameron achieved that kind of double success at the cost of his private life. Otomo should give up the happy subculture life in Kichijoji to become Cameron.
*Oshii says, the theme of TNG Patlabor is "the third generation". The first generation did what they wanted to do, but the second generation self-destructed suffering from an identity crisis. The third generation has a potential theme. As some fans already noticed, he already said the same kind of thing in Tachiguishi Retsuden. The generation category is different between Tachiguishi and TNG, tho.
* When the anime project of Blade of the Immortal was brought to Production IG, Oshii wrote two hours long script. The editor requested a prime-time TV series, so Oshii's plan was canceled.
*Oshii thinks that Kamiyama made the same mistake as Only You in 009 Re: Cyborg. Kamiyama's film lacks what Oshii calls "structure". Dr. Gilmore is a father figure to 00-numbers, but Re: CYBORG is a story of the god. They play a similar role. Kamiyama should have deleted Dr. Gilmore for the consistent plot. Oshii deleted Fuchikoma from GitS for that kind of reason. Fuchikoma/ AI water-downs the Puppet Master's uniqueness. Creators should omit all the unnecessary characters even if they're important in the source material.
*Oshii developed G2.5 as a technical experiment. It was supposed to be a pilot film of GitS 3.0. (The footage of G2.5 is included in Garm Wars blu-ray.) Skywalker Sound staff liked it so much, but the Japanese side said it's gross. Oshii and the staff were so exhausted by INNOCENCE's 2D/3D mix style, so he wanted to do full-3D anime in GitS 3.0.
*The project of Garm Wars started because Shinichi Unosawa quit the 009 project. He intended to work with Oshii anyway, so he requested another plan from Oshii. Oshii proposed Garm Wars. Unosawa is the person who decided to cancel the G.R.M. project. Oshii says, he wanted to kill Unosawa in those days, but the same person restarted it in a different project.
*In Beautiful Dreamer, Oshii threatened the producer by deliberately slowing down the production. He waited until the producer said ok to anything Oshii makes.
*Rei Haibara doesn't have much screen time because Kanna Mori's schedule was so tight. Oshii gave up on Haibara's dialogue and focused on the symbolical storytelling. He says an interesting thing about Hoba, Tsuge, and Haibara.
"Eiichi Hoba has an apocalyptic belief. He's a Chilialist in a sense. Yukihito Tsuge has a more specific vision. He wants to criticize post-war Japanese society. Haibara is utterly different from them. She's much purer and simpler. Only that kind of character can convey the malaise of this era. She ignores any kind of political and religious ressentiment. She is fundamentally a 'nonexistent' terrorist."
"It is an unindividualistic evilness."
*Oshii came to hate Isao Takahata's Agrarianism/ Marxism at some point. He doesn't like that Takahata tried to put the "cheap candies" into the high-art framework. Oshii once sold the same kind of cheap candy called "Tachiguishi", but he didn't put any luxury sugar-coating on it. He thinks that's what film directors should do.
"Takahata never invented his framework because he solely depends on the old systematized knowledge. He never experienced life struggles. He never loved someone. He never experienced ordinary life events. That kind of person can never make his framework. No one can do that without encountering life struggles.
That's why Takahata's films fit Iwanami Hall. His films look good only in that kind of pre-established framework."
