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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: PATLABOR MOVIE ARCHIVES
release: 02/25/2004
publisher: Bandai Visual
[contents]
Patlabor the Movie
Patlabor 2 the Movie
WXIII
Minipato
[review]
This is another extra item of Patlabor DVD limited edition. I already reviewed two storyboard books from the same series. This volume covers making videos and interview videos, not the films themselves.
The extra book covers old interviews and paper media such as film brochures. Unfortunately, it's impossible to read the brochure texts because the book format is too small.
However, the interview part is so interesting and important. All of them were reprinted from other media like anime magazines or limited CDs, but it's difficult to get those original sources today. This book helps young fans like me a lot.
It is a really important book, so I'd like to explain the details of the content.
Patlabor the Movie
<Oshii's message to an amateur viewing party>
When P1 was released, some amateur fans held a viewing party. Oshii was supposed to appear at that party, but he couldn't come due to a scheduling problem. He sent a letter to them instead.
"If I had to say, Patlabor the Movie is 'a story of juxtaposition'.
Past and future, dying things and things to be born, the cursed and the blessed...
The old city and the new city, Goto and Shinobu, Asuma and Noa, Sakaki and Jitsuyama, Matsui and Kataoka, AV-98 and Type 0, Hoba/EHOBA and Goto/GOD.
The story consists of dialogues, which are based on one guy's monologue. That story inherited themes from two films.
Of course, each juxtaposition and the choice of items have no meaning. What really matters is to repeat the juxtaposition to the point where they make some sort of structure. If we want to confront and fight against reality, we should throw away our simple preference, especially in anime.
I appreciate the organizers' great efforts. Thank you so much.
December 19, 1989, Mamoru Oshii
P.S. Please check Gosenzo-sama Banbanzai too."
As one of the organizers says, this message clearly shows Oshii’s film-making philosophy. Oshii himself has repeatedly said that he always makes pairs in his films. (And that's why he criticized Kamiyama for not doing that in 009.) Each of his characters and visual elements always has its pair. That concept is useful when we analyze Oshii films. You notice Oshii's intention by analyzing pairs in his films.
Later, he developed that idea and turned it into triangle-structures. INNOCENCE is a good example, <dolls, dogs, and human beings>
<footage of briefing>
They found Production IG's hidden footage. It covers Oshii's explanation to the staff.
Oshii says,
"The cinematographic theme of this film is to avoid 'anime' visuals. We need to do a lot of things, but each shot will be less flashy. I, the director myself, check the quality. As for some important shots, I'll request retakes any number of times. We will make some simple actions, but I also want to keep 'the dull feelings' of Tokyo city. We will juxtapose SV2's actions with those dull scenes"
<Animage's interview with Oshii>
In Animage's interview, Oshii mentions the difference between P1 and AKIRA. They both crush the cities called Tokyo, but he didn't want to express the violent desire so simply like AKIRA. He says he wants to show the process to reach the destructive desire.
Oshii says he doesn't understand the younger generation, but he also expects some sort of rebellious spirit from them. Young people are too obedient to the consumer society, but they probably have some sort of anger. He put the juxtaposition of young people and himself into SV2 members and Goto. In that kind of sense, I can say that P1 is a film to teach the rebellious spirit to the younger generation in a very twisted way. Goto and Hoba are metaphorical accomplices. Oshii shows that structure by Shinobu's line. Goto's grinning face looks like Hoba.
<staff interview>
These interviews are reprinted from Sunday Graphic's Patlabor issue.
Izubuchi talks about the early ideas of the movie. At first, they planned all the labors' berserk in Tokyo, but it was too complicated to depict. Second, they planned a city under construction, but it was too empty. They changed it to the offshore platform in the end. Izubuchi says that it's a bit shame that the platform's visuals are too similar to Ridley Scott's Alien.
In Ito and Takada's interview, they reveal inspiration sources of the character names. Noa stems from a financial products sales-woman. Asuma is some old guy Takada saw in a hospital. Kanuka is a woman Ito saw in a TV show. Shinshi is their scuba diving friend, and Ota is their scuba diving instructor.
Takada also reveals that she joined the Patlabor OVA crew because she wanted to have fun in the brainstorming tour. Ito was going on a tour, so she asked him to take her with him.
Kenji Kawai points out that Oshii often uses soundtracks as sound effects. I don't know an English equivalent of the term, but he calls it SME. (sound effect and music) Kawai needs to care more about timing because of that. And that's why Oshii and Kawai don't make soundtrack until they complete the visual track.
Patlabor 2 the Movie
<Animage's interview with the staff>
It was recorded at the beginning of the production, so they don't reveal much information.
<interviews from PATLABOR DIGITAL LIBRARY vol.2>
When they released P2, they also released data collection CDs called DIGITAL LIBRARY. Those CDs contain rare visual data like 3D models, but it is pretty difficult to get them today. Plus, some of them are unplayable due to the digital format differences.
So, these reprinted interviews are pretty helpful to younger fans.
First of all, Oshii mentions that he always considers the core "perspective" when he writes storyboards. In P2, he thematized "moving point of view" like cockpit scenes. He repeated the same shot composition over and over to emphasize the core concept.
He also mentions his thoughts on weapons as an AFV nerd. He says that weapons like tanks and aircraft symbolize the nation-states' philosophies. That idea appears over and over in his films and books.
Oshii also mentions his creative principle and the difference between anime and live-action films.
"I'm famous as a lazy director in the studio. No matter what kind of questions the staff asks, I always say 'well, that is fine.' Anime directors are asked tons of questions every day, like colors, timing, consistency, etc. To be honest, I don't care about most of them. Do whatever you want. Even if some of them might make the film slightly worse, I don't really care. The live-action experiences convinced me about that."
"In live-action films, we use any kind of footages, even if it is a blooper reel. On the other hand, all the anime shots are calculated from the beginning. They say we shouldn't insert unrelated shots nor replace different lines, but is that true?"
"A sense of duty makes film-making painful. I want to make anime and films for fun. I don't intend to make experimental films. My taste might be different from the mainstream, but I won't sulk about that. If I did that, it would make film-making even more painful and narrow my mind. It would also give me fewer opportunities. I entertain people around me, but I also think of ways to entertain myself. That's my anime-making principle."
(Oshii's "laziness" is mentioned in other books too. Generally, Oshii directs only the preproduction, layout process, music&sound, and post-process. He doesn't touch on the actual direction process. Mizuho Nishikubo often undertakes the direction work of Oshii's films. That style is very different from other directors, especially Hayao Miyazaki. Oshii doesn't check the key animation, so he checks animation quality in the rush check process. Tetsuya Nishio's manga reveals that he even doesn't care much about the rush check. Generally, other creators are more careful than Oshii, and Oshii himself believes that's the best way to direct anime.)
Masami Yuki says that his ideas and Izubuchi's ideas were mostly declined in P2. P2 is Oshii and Ito's film, so Yuki and Izubuchi played subordinate roles.
Anyway, Yuki gave some plot ideas to Oshii. He planned to put a restaurant scene where SV2 members talk about their changes. Yuki thought they need to re-introduce SV2 members to the audience. Oshii accepted that idea, but he had to cut it due to the screen time issue. Later, he put that idea into the novel version called Tokyo War.
Yuki also talks about a scene where Noa rides a bicycle around Tokyo city under martial law. Oshii liked that idea but he had to delete it too. It was supposed to be juxtaposed with the virtual experience through monitor graphics.
Kazunori Ito says that the starting point of P2 was the ep5 and ep6 of Early Days. The problem was that JSDF had no reason to cause a coup. That's why Oshii decided to make a story of a terrorist.
Izubuchi explains that his role in P2 was the organizer of various designers. He complains that labors had few action scenes in P2. He also says that they planned a scene where a Helldiver troop parachutes down to Tokyo.
<location hunting diary and production diary>
If you're a Patlabor fan, you already know that P2 staff performed thorough locating hunting. This chapter covers an Animage editor's location hunting diary and an assistant producer's diary.
The metropolitan government didn't allow them to visit the land-reclaiming sites for a film, so Animage's editing staff planned a fake social issue report and brought the staff to the site. (They printed the social issue report on Animage.)
09/30/1992 and 10/01/1992 diary mention that the photographer, Haruhiko Higami, couldn't come to the first location hunting. He didn't have a cellphone, so other staff wondered what happened to him. A windshield of his car was crushed on the way. I guess that Higami's trouble inspired some shots of P2, but I'm not sure. The text says nothing about it.
It also reveals that Kenichi Arakawa, Oshii's friend in the college, guided the staff in the JSDF base.
<interviews with Oshii and Toshiya Ueno>
Toshiya Ueno is a Japanese media critic. Oshii trusts him because Ueno's analysis shows hidden aspects of Oshii's films. Oshii says in other books that Ueno's analysis points out something even Oshii himself didn't know.
This interview was recorded when an LD box set of the Patlabor series was released. It covers so many interesting topics that Oshii never mentioned in other interviews.
Oshii says, Oshii and Ito shared the same idea when they were making the OVA series. They both thought that the Patlabor series would end when SV2 members become decent police officers. In other words, SV2 members cannot grow up in the series. In that kind of sense, that reclaimed utopia is a variation of Tomobiki highschool, the never-ending cultural festival. SV2 members are in the transitional period between dreaming high school students and members of society. Oshii always wants to destroy those kinds of environments, but he also says that most directors share the same kind of feeling to their series.
Oshii also talks about the use of symbols in his films. The audience tries to analyze the biblical symbols in his films, but that's not what Oshii intends.
O: I have some vague intentions, but I just instinctively use symbols. I'm interested in their unexpected effects.
U: So, you consider the meaning of the symbols afterward?
O: Yes. I don't have any specific intentions about them. They're just gimmicks.
U: It's a structure. You want to emphasize important points of the film structure.
O: Yes. I put a mark on the structure.
U: Still, they look like meaningful symbols. I guess it is the power of your direction (laugh)
O: I like that kind of process. On the surface, those items are unrelated to each other. How should I put it... To me, films are all about structure. Stories and characters are just elements to build that structure.
...
O: I use dogs simply because I love them. It's just like anime girl tropes, you know. I'm excited when a dog appears on the screen.
...
O: This is just my personal affection, so it's probably meaningless to the audience. Dogs are some sort of conceptual entities to me. I don't know what it means. If I had to say, dogs are very grounded entities. They always stray on the same plane, you know.
U: You mean, they don't transcend? They don't have metaphysical levels?
O: They're destined to the grounded level. On the other hand, birds are always in the sky above. Birds are in the other world, and we look up at them. They probably just symbolize different types of environments. I think concepts in the linguistic system don't precede the animals themselves. I read in some books that languages were invented as metaphors of animals, like "run like a dog" or "growl like a dog". I don't intend to compare symbols with the pre-existing archetypes. Birds and the concept, which did it come first? I considered that problem when I made Angel's Egg. Affection exists alone without any target concepts. There can be various ways to explain it. I believe some sort of affection precedes everything. Shapes and moving images precede everything. If I can express that, I can make nonexplanatory films. That's what I considered about birds and fish in Angel's Egg. People asked what the fish mean, but they're just coelacanth. Nobody knows what they mean. I want to convey some sort of emotion by them. I tried to turn that kind of element into a film. I still have the same motivation. Even I don't know what they mean. Dogs are dogs, and that's all that matters. I don't care what they symbolically mean. I consider this or that about symbols at each moment, but expressing dogs themselves are far more important than symbols.
Oshii also explains that he doesn't understand women. He says his female characters have played simple roles without any agency nor inner worlds. That's why he had some troubles portraying Motoko in GitS. She is the protagonist, but Oshii didn't get her motivation. One day, he realized that Motoko might have some sort of suicidal urge. At that moment, he thought he can express Motoko's inner world.
He also talks about a very important motivation about his "girl" symbols and poltergeist symbols.
O: When I imagine some sort of gaze at me, it always has a woman’s face rather than a camera lens. I suppose everyone has the same kind of vision. People might say they imagine their mothers' faces, but it looks like my own face to me.
U: But it is not narcissism, right?
O: Someone said that the ultimate form of narcissism is to meet the boy version of himself. Well, that makes sense because he was a fat old guy (laugh) To me, it is a girl version of myself. I want to meet the possible female version of myself. I feel like she's gazing at me.
Oshii also talks about the lack of good criticism in the anime industry.
O: The anime industry is very unique. It lacks criticism nor any objective criteria. It's all about sales. I have gained some merits from it, tho. I could put my imagination into the very commercial media because the industry lacked valid criticism. The process of anime-making itself became the process of my philosophy development. That won't happen in other industries.
U: The work-in-progress analysis.
O: I could do that because the industry lacked criticism. They don't care about themes. They only care about whether it is fun or not fun. Whether it is thrilling or not. As long as I clear that hurdle, they don't complain at all. That attitude has its own merit, but I sometimes feel so empty.
U: I understand. The industry doesn't make criticisms, so you have to be a critic. Is that the reason why your films are so abstract?
O: I think of so many things during the production, so I can predict every single reaction from the audience. I always prepare my answers to those reactions (laugh)
U: So, that's why you put symbols and marks (laugh)
O: In that kind of sense, I am a critic and an audience at the same time. I just confirm the predicted reactions after film releases. I have to keep a distance from my films. Well, all anime directors actually need to do the same thing due to the characteristics of the anime production process. I have gained some merits from it.
<interview with Oshii from SEVEN DOGS' WAR>
In this interview, Oshii explains his tactics in P2. It is related to Oshii and Ito's initiative that Izubuchi mentioned in the previous interview.
"P2 staff had some conflicts from the beginning, like the conflict over the initiative. I already knew that I would control the film because Ito was on my side. Plus, Bandai had already agreed with the plot about the coup when we made the OVA. We set up the framework of the film first, no matter what other Headgear members complained about."
"However, the schedule was so tight. It was even tighter than P1. We had a lot of things to do. Everyone said we wouldn't finish it. I already achieved the strategic victory against the other members, so the real problem was how to achieve the tactical victory. It ended up in a retrograde battle. I used a lot of fixed images. I told them not to animate tanks. I told them to use fixed images."
"By making P2, I finally got over the curse of Lupin III. I used up all the ideas from that project. P1 was a kinda challenging project, but P2 felt like I finally finished a big poop. I felt so refreshed and empty."
<interviews from sound-remix version>
Oshii says that VA's skills are needed to make the tone of the world, but he doesn't want to foreground the voice acting and their emotion. He wants VAs to convey the emotion of the scene, not the characters.
Kenji Kawai and Shigeharu Shiba also talk about Oshii films' sound. Shiba reveals that Oshii started to make detailed requests when they made Beautiful Dreamer. Oshii's attitude utterly changed after finishing Only You.
Ryusuke Obayashi and Yoshiko Sakakibara's interview is contained as well. Sakakikabara says she wanted to liberate Shinobu from her self-constraint. That self-constraint comes from Oshii's concept, but Sakakibara didn't get how she can convey that kind of emotion. Later, Oshii said he had a conflict with Sakakibara because of that.
Ten Commandments of Anime Directors
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before films
Anime directors play the boss role just for the sake of smooth production flow. You're not the God nor a dictator. Some devilish directors act like God, but they will die miserably. When you want to force your intention, you should say "This is a request from the God of film, not from me." Any cocky staff would follow the orders from God. By the way, I am called "Oshii the Buddha" by the staff, no joke.
2. Thou shalt not put new characters as thou please
Any directors have their tastes of characters. However, you shouldn't put new characters without permission even when you can't find any good characters in source materials and scripts. That will cause conflicts with writers and producers. That will also enrage fans. Never try that.
3. Thou shalt not tell the theme in vain
Directors are asked about themes a lot, but you shouldn't tell bullshit to the mass media. Themes are so abstract that even directors themselves don't know them. Even when you have a clear theme, you shouldn't tell it to the public. If you tell the theme by words, that sometimes narrows your mind. You should tell the different types of bullshit like "the theme is film-making itself" or something.
4. Remember the holidays, and systematize them
It takes a long time to make an anime. Directors should encourage singles parties or something and let off some steam. Directors should definitely keep a five-day week and play with dogs on weekends.
5. Honour thy master
Directors should be humble to critics. Your masters are your best critics because they know your early days. You should invite your masters to previews and send videos to them. It is a good idea to treat them to some blowfish dishes.
Master, please don't be too hard on me.
6. Thou shalt not murder
You shouldn't randomly kill characters even in anime or films. Violence and sex are the eternal themes, but killing and raping characters randomly makes films cheap. You should aim the maximum performance by minimum action. That's what the best directors and the best terrorists should do.
7. Thou shalt not commit sexual harassment
As excessive obsession with a specific female character ruins the film, excessive obsession with a specific female staff ruins the production. Some director organizes the gender balance of the studio and sometimes moves desk positions. That might be too much, but you should consider the gender balance of the staff. The easiest solution to that problem is to hire only old guys. I always take that method.
8. Thou shalt steal ideas carefully
People often steal ideas, especially in the anime industry. Plagiarism itself is not a problem. The real problem is whether you went beyond the original idea or not. What is to blame is a bad rip-off. You should praise skillful thieves.
In the first place, film media started from rip-off
9. Thou shalt not tell an obvious lie
Do not lie to sponsors and staff because they're allies to directors. You should tell truth to them. However, you don't need to say anything to unasked questions. Some people call me a liar because of that. I have to say it is greatly regrettable that they say such a thing.
10. Thou shalt not covet neighbor staff
Do not interfere with other projects nor their subcontractors. However, the number of skillful staff is always lower than demands, so each staff's right to choose a project should be respected for the sake of the free economy principle and market liberalization.
If you keep saying it's a dumbass director's fault, someone takes your staff too.
*You can't always hit a home run even if you keep these rules. The God of film-making is whimsical. There are no absolute principles. Three strikes are a part of life.
WXIII and Minipato
It doesn't have many pages for WXIII and Minipato, so I don't have much to say about this part
