Born in 1957 in Tokyo Japan. Also known as Mamoru Oshii or, Oshii Mamoru; he is he best anime director/writer outside of Studio Ghibli. In fact Hayao Miyazaki respects his work so much that he asked him on several occasions to direct for Ghibli. Of course he refused, because his films are much darker than most of Miyazaki's.

In fact the reason why Oshii is so well respected is because of his unique directing style. He likes to move at a slow thoughtful pace, spending long segments without dialogue: focousing on the worlds or the characters that inhabit them. Another interesting thing about his directing is that he has certian things that he likes to put into all of his movies (see Oshiisims). His directing style had a direct influence on the Wachowski Brothers who borrowed several scenes from Ghost in the Shell and dropped them into the Matrix.

Filmorgraphy

Tenshi no tamago(Angel's Egg) - 1982. Art film about a girl and an angels egg set in a post-apocalyptic world, the most obscure and intense (in directing style) of Oshii's films. (not available commercially in the US). Also makes you sort of understand all of the Oshiisims in later films.

Urusei Yatsura 1 - 1983. Typical Urusei Yatsura haven't seen yet due to Animeigo's lack of business sense.

Urusei Yatsura 2 Beautiful Dreamer - 1984. Interesting Urusei Yatsura movie that deals with time warping and dreams. Supposedly it almost wasn't approved by Rumiko Takahashi after she read the script written by Oshii

Dallos (Daros?) - 1984. The first OAV ever released. Has something to do with the moon. Is released in the US by a company that I haven't heard of.

Jigoku no banken: akai megane(The Red spectacles) - 1987. Live action, set in the world of Jin-Roh. One of three other films set in this world. Not available in the US

Patlabor OVA - 1988. The beginning of the excellent patlabor series.

Stray Dogs - 1988. Sequel to Red spectacles, also not available in the US.

Patlabor the movie- 1988. The excellent well-produced 1st patlabor movie, also the first time he worked with much of the same staff that did Ghost in the Shell.

Patlabor 2- 1993. A sequel to patlabor 1, even closer in style to Ghost.

Ghost in the Shell- 1995/1996. Most Famous Oshii film in the United States.

Jin-Roh- 1998/2001. Oshii wrote the script, the animation director of Ghost directed. Soon available in the US through Viz and BanDai

Avalon- 2001. Live action, Oshii's answer to The Matrix Filmed entirely in polish, about a virtual world in the future. See www.avalon-net.com(Japanese) Will be released by Miramax/Disney, Neil Gaiman is credited with writting aditional material.


Ghost in the Shell 2: currently in production... Sadly Miramax/Disney has acquired the rights to this one (Hopefully Disney will treat Oshii better than they did Hayao Miyazaki or else the work of two of anime's greatest directors, films will never be released.

Other Projects (Manga etc.)

Blood: the last Vampire - a manga just released in Japan about supernatural occurences at a USarmy base during the Vietnam War. It also was the same basic idea that inspired the short compu-anime

Kenrou Dentsu (Hellhounds: Panzer Cops) -A manga that provided the most basic ideas behind the premise of Jin-Roh.

Their is also a manga that he did with Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue), I don't know what it's called, because I found it on Kon's Japanese webpage.

Sources: Imdb, www.nausicaa.net
Interesting Article: http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/interviews/m_oshii_patlabor2.html Oshii and Miyazaki discuss Patlabor 2
Oshii's homepage (Japanese): www.oshiimamoru.com

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