Early career (1977–1982)
Oshii has said he had an interest in Christianity and the Bible from an early age. In an interview with Animerica magazine in 1996 that "I really liked the Bible when I was a little boy. And when I was a student, at one point I was planning to enter a seminary, but I didn't. Even now, though, I read the Bible sometimes."[2]
As a student, Mamoru Oshii was fascinated by the film La Jetée by Chris Marker.[3] He also repeatedly watched European cinema, such as films by Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Michelangelo Antonioni and Jean-Pierre Melville.[4] These filmmakers, together with Jean-Luc Godard, Andrei Tarkovsky and Jerzy Kawalerowicz,[5] would later serve as influences for Oshii's own cinematic career.[6] He was also influenced by his father, who was a cinephile.[7]
In 1976, he graduated from Tokyo Gakugei University. The following year, he entered Tatsunoko Productions and worked on his first anime as a storyboard artist on Ippatsu Kanta-kun.[8] During this period at Tatsunoko, Oshii worked on many anime as a storyboard artist, most of which were part of the Time Bokan television series. In 1980, he moved to Studio Pierrot under the supervision of his mentor, Hisayuki Toriumi.[8]
Success with Urusei Yatsura (1981–1984)
Mamoru Oshii's work as director and storyboard artist of the animated Urusei Yatsura TV series brought him into the spotlight. Following its success, he directed two Urusei Yatsura films: Urusei Yatsura: Only You (1983) and Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer (1984). The first film, though an original story, continued much in the spirit of the series. Beautiful Dreamer was also written by Oshii with no consultation from Takahashi[9] and was a significant departure and an early example of his now contemporary style.[10] Beautiful Dreamer is also notable for experimenting with concepts such as a time loop, where a high-school class relives the same day over and over again,[11] as well as dreams and reality manipulation.[12]
Dallos, Lupin, Angel's Egg and Anchor (1983–1985)
In the midst of his work with Studio Pierrot, Oshii took on independent work and directed the first OVA, Dallos, in 1983. In 1984, Oshii left Studio Pierrot.[13] Around this time, Oshii was hired to direct a movie for Lupin the Third for summer 1985, for which he started writing a column in Animage magazine in December 1984.[14] However, his proposal for it was very eccentric, with the producers from Yomiuri TV and Toho opposed his vision of the film, saying that it "made no sense". The film had been widely advertised with Oshii's name attached to it, and with the project based around him, they could not make the film without his proposal getting approved, and it was cancelled.[15][16] He would later go on to reuse themes and concepts he had come up with for the movie in later works such as Angel's Egg
Patlabor and live-action (1987–1993)
In the late 1980s, Oshii was solicited by his friend Kazunori Itō to join Headgear as a director. The group was composed of Kazunori Itō (screenwriter), Masami Yuki (manga artist), Yutaka Izubuchi (mechanical designer), Akemi Takada (character designer) and Mamoru Oshii (director).[34][35] Together they were responsible for the Patlabor TV series, OVA, and films.[36]
Between production of the Patlabor movies/series, Oshii delved into live-action for the first time, releasing his first non-animated film, The Red Spectacles (1987). This led to another live-action work titled Stray Dog: Kerberos Panzer Cops (1991); both films are part of Oshii's ongoing Kerberos Saga. Following Stray Dog Oshii made yet another live-action film, Talking Head (1992).
Ghost in the Shell and international acclaim (1995–2008)
In 1995, Mamoru Oshii released his landmark animated cyberpunk film, Ghost in the Shell, in Japan, the United States, and Europe. It hit the top of the US Billboard video charts in 1996, the first anime video ever to do so.[3][40] Concerning a female cyborg desperate to find the meaning of her existence, the film was a critical success and is widely regarded to be a masterpiece and anime classic. Additionally, Oshii said that creating Ghost in the Shell allowed him to "finally get over Lupin".[41]
After a 5-year hiatus from directing to work on other projects, Oshii returned to live-action with the Japanese-Polish feature Avalon (2001), which was selected for an out of competition screening at the Cannes Film Festival. His next animated feature film was the long-awaited sequel to Ghost in the Shell, titled Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. Four years in the making, the film focuses on Batou
Return to live-action and anime directing hiatus (2009–present)
In 2009, he wrote and directed the live-action feature Assault Girls and served as creative director for the Production I.G-produced segment of the animated short film anthology Halo Legends. In 2010, Oshii announced his next film will be an adaptation of Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Tetsujin-28 manga.[49] The Tetsujin-28 project turned out to be a live action film called '28 1/2'.[50]
In 2012, Oshii announced that he was working on a new live-action film. He will be writing and directing the military science-fiction thriller Garm Wars: The Last Druid.[51] The film's trailer was released in September 2014,[52] and the premiere screening was held the following month at the 27th Tokyo International Film Festival
