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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: セラフィム ２億６６６１万３３３６の翼
(SERAPHIM: 266613336 WINGS)
release: 12/04/2010 (revised and reprinted on 10/25/2019)
publisher: Tokuma Shoten (reprinted by Fukkan.com)
[contents]
illustrations
prologue
chapter 1 to 10
chapter 11
chapter 12 (the creadit says "original work by Mamoru Oshii" from this chapter)
chapter 13 to 15 ("Part 2" was added to the title)
intermission
chapter 16 (the index of the magazine says "the end of part 1")
afterword by the editing team
character design sheets
interview with Mamoru Oshii (reprinted version)
[review]
This is a manga written by Mamoru Oshii and drawn by Satoshi Kon. It was serialized on Animage. Nausicaa started from Animage and made a big hit, so the Animage staff wanted to produce the same kind of thing. They asked Oshii to write the story.
Oshii chose Satoshi Kon as a manga artist because he worked with Kon in Patlabor 2 the movie. He already knew that Kon was a skilled artist.
After several chapters, they got into a conflict, and the series was suspended forever. After Kon's death, it was collected into a one-volume book.
The story is set in Eurasia, 21st century. A weird disease called "Angel Plague" devastated the Earth, and many people became mindless zombies. Balthazar, Melchior, a dog called Gaspar, and a mysterious girl called Sera set out on a journey to solve the mystery of the Angel Plague.
There is already an official English release of this manga, so I don't have much to say about it. If you're a hardcore Oshii fan, you probably noticed that Oshii has reused many ideas from this manga. For example, G.R.M. or Garm Wars is almost a remake of this series. Plus, the same idea from Lupin III was used again.
I suppose some people also noticed that Keikaku Itoh's Harmony was heavily influenced by Seraphim.
It was unfortunately canceled, but it is one of Oshii's biggest projects. I want to watch the completed version of Seraphim rather than Garm Wars.
The reprinted version by Fukkan.com includes a special interview with Mamoru Oshii. It contains very important information and Oshii's honest thoughts on Kon and Seraphim.
*After the cancellation, Oshii and Kon cut off all contacts with each other. In fact, they signed some contracts to do that. Oshii says "We didn't like each other from the beginning."
*Hiroyuki Kitakubo introduced Kon to Oshii. Oshii was impressed by the accurate perspective of Kon's works, but he thought "It lacks sexiness". Kon didn't fully utilize pseudo-lens distortion.
*Oshii felt Kon was an unlikeable person because he trashed Jojo OVA crew at that time. He said that anime creators are so irresponsible compared to manga artists.
Oshii secretly thought "But you failed in the manga industry and came to the anime world. If you keep saying that kind of thing, people won't trust you anymore."
*Oshii didn't get why Kon took on the Seraphim project, but he was impressed by Kon's clever shot composition. He appreciates that Kon made gorgeous visuals without taking too much time.
*Oshii knew that the series wouldn't conclude because the story was too large. That was okay with him because he regarded it as preproduction for an anime project. It was Animage's project, so Oshii thought Tokuma Shoten wanted him to make some source materials of an anime.
When the interviewer asked
"I understand your intention, but did you discuss that problem with Kon-san?"
Oshii answered
"He apparently didn't know that."
The interviewer was shocked and said, "Even though the manga was on an anime magazine, it is natural that Kon-san regarded it as a standalone manga. You should have told it to him."
After some chapters, Kon got angry and said, "This is not a manga. This is just a material collection. You're rude to the manga readers." The problem was that the "material collection" was what Oshii wanted.
*Kon was pissed off and said, "You make up the script in one night, and I have to struggle for two weeks. This is not fair." Oshii got angry and explained how much effort he put into information gathering. Kon apologized at that time, but they broke up in the end.
Kon started to make his own story around that time, but Oshii didn't accept that. Oshii and Kon signed the contract and agreed that they need consent from both of them to release new episodes. It was supposed to be suspended forever, but the Animage staff said that they need extra pages to collect them into a book. Oshii didn't want to be bothered by the series anymore, so he allowed Kon to write the last chapter. The last part after Sera's crucifixion was not written by Oshii.
