Cavallaro Dani. The Cinema of Mamoru Oshii: fantasy, technology and politics

McFarland & Company, 2006. — 256 p. — ISBN10: 0786427647; ISBN13: 978-0786427642.Today’s animation is much more than kids’ stuff. Increasingly complex subject matter has produced a corresponding increase in artistic interest, and forms once specific to certain cultures have crossed borders to enjoy international popularity. Japanese animation has been particularly successful in the United States, and among the most celebrated Japanese animation artists is director Mamoru Oshii.This book is an analytical survey of Oshii’s cinematic works from the early years of his career through his 21st-century productions, including Beautiful Dreamer and the acclaimed Ghost in the Shell. The author examines these and other Oshii productions in relation to the Carnivalesque movement, technopolitics and the director’s post-robotic vision. Oshii’s films are particularly significant in their defiance of the premises of Western animation and their presentation of a highly personal commentary on both individual and collective identities in the 20th and 21st centuries. Special emphasis is placed on Oshii’s revolutionary film techniques, including the stylistically and thematically diverse features of productions ranging from animation to live action to Original Video Animation (OVA), a format Oshii invented. A complete filmography is included.Oshii's Cinema: an Analytical Survey
Background : Developments in Anime
Oshii's Creative Traj ectory
Themes, Imagery and Symbolism
Cinematography and Animation Techniques
Oshii and the Carnivalesque
Concepts of the Carnival
Urusei Yatsura: The TV Series
Urusei Yatsura Movie 1: Only You
Urusei Yatsura Movie 2: Beautiful Dreamer
Urusei Yatsura Movie 4: Lum the Forever
Angel's Egg
Twilight Q2: Labyrinth Objects File 538
Oshii's Technopolitics
Visions of Power in Live-Action and Anime
Dallos
Mobile Police Patlabor, OVA 1
Mobile Police Patlabor, TV Series and OVA 2
Patlabor 1: The Mobile Police
Patlabor 2: The Movie
Patlabor WXTII: Movie 3
Minipato
The Red Spectacles, Stray Dog and Talking Head
Killers: .50 Woman
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
Humanity/Virtuality: Oshii's Post-Robotic Vision
Approaches to Cybersociety
Blood: The Last Vampire
Avalon
Ghost in the Shell
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Post-Innocence Developments