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There are several Mamoru Oshii book lists on the Internet, but they do not provide detailed descriptions of their contents. My collection of Mamoru Oshii books is not yet complete, but I would like to write a short summary for each of those books.
I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors or incorrect information.
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title: 紅い眼鏡 Complete Revival
(The Red Spectacles Original Soundtrack)
release: 03/24/2010
publisher: King Record
[contents]
essay, "A Certain Composer's Dry Laugh" by Kenji Kawai
comment on each soundtrack by Kenji Kawai
prose, "The Story of a Man Who Was Once a Dog" by Mamoru Oshii
comment by Shigeharu Shiba
backgrounds of the film
[review]
These are liner notes of The Red Spectacle soundtrack CD.
Kenji Kawai's essay is so funny and interesting, but I'd like to focus on Mamoru Oshii's prose. It clearly shows Oshii's intention in The Red Spectacles.
The Story of A Man Who Was Once A Dog
It was about 20 years ago. He was a high school student, and he never dreamed that he was a dog. But in fact, he was a dog.
He hated school, studying, and the world. Every morning, he got on the train, but he couldn't get off at the transfer station, so he made it a routine to circle the ring road for several times while indulging in delusions. He kept going around and around like a stray beast, and each time he went around, he got further away from reality. As he watched the people around him hurriedly getting on and off the train, it seemed strange that he was the only one without a purpose, but hunger attacked him relentlessly and drove away his bubbling imagination. Soba noodles were not widely available in those days, and he had no choice but to devour bread and daifuku on sides of roads.
He sometimes thought he was like a stray dog. For a long time he could not escape from that "circular motion based on the back-and-forth movement of delusion and appetite," but the centrifugal force finally made the day-dreamer switch to a private train in the tangential direction. He got off at a strange station and continued walking along the banks of an unknown river, devouring oden and okonomiyaki from street stalls. The city was a blur on the other side of the river, the school was even further away, and he couldn't even tell where his house was anymore.
In the fall of that year, a man died on a bridge not far from his house.
The world suddenly turned excited after that incident.
He started barking. He went to school aggressively, almost just to find someone to bark at.
He barked so loudly that the teacher called him and his parents.
When the teacher said, "Your son is a dog", the mother whined, "I didn't know you're a dog." The father barked, "How dare you become a dog!"
He felt like a stray dog with a pedigree. "So I'm a dog, then I'll bark and bark, and bite anyone. Because I am a dog."
He was completely isolated in the classroom. However, there was at least one dog in every classroom, so they soon joined together to form a pack. Since there was nowhere else to stay, they spent the day lounging around on top of the school building.
The clouds were beautiful. He thought looking up at the sky would keep him from looking at the annoying ground.
He had a feeling that his turn would come soon.
They had all decided that they would bite ferociously when it came.
The following summer.
He was looking down at the ground from a tall building in the central Tokyo with a few friends.
An older dog barked that the war would start soon and the whole city would become a battlefield. He had been dazzled by the fantasy of his school and home crumbling in red flames, so he easily believed the older dog's words. Strangely, he had no fear or regret.
"It's going to happen. It must happen. If it doesn't happen, I will be in a big trouble." Another fellow dog mumbled with a straight face.
The city was full of dogs.
Dogs were everywhere, in movie theaters, in coffee shops, on train platforms, and in soba noodle shops.
If they all rise up at once, he thought, there will surely be a war. Then the game is ours.
He didn't care if he would win or lose, because he knew he would die instantly in the first assault.
He had become a perfect dog.
A few years passed.
There were several clashes in the city, and a large number of dogs were captured, but there was no war.
He was still a dog, waiting for the call to arms. He spent most of his time in movie theaters. Some dogs were still barking on screens.
A few more years passed and still no war. He thought it might be a bad idea and felt a little sorry for himself for waiting so long. He was embarrassed like an actor who had put on all the makeup and costumes and never got to play. By that time, no one cared that he was a dog.
He went out into the world and worked, fell in love, ate, bought a house with a mortgage, and in short, did everything a human being does. More years have passed, and the fact that the streets were once filled with dogs is now almost forgotten. Before we knew it, we had entered the age of <cats>, who forget everything after three steps.
He still prefers the darkness of movie theaters and frequents standing soba noodle shops. Some people say that it is a remnant of his dog habits, but he doesn't think so. Then, what is he now?
He's still a dog.
However, he no longer waits for orders.
