Stray Dog of Anime: The Films of Mamoru Oshii

Like many others, my first introduction to Mamoru Oshii was via the first Ghost in the Shell movie. At the time I was looking for something like the Matrix, and the Internet of the time highly recommended looking at Ghost in the Shell.I would go on later to watch and enjoy Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, another of Oshii’s works, and then in 2006 I discovered Urusei Yatsura Movie 2: Beautiful Dreamer, seemingly thanks to a forum post recommending it as being similar to the movie Waking Life.In 2007 I would watch the animated Blood: The Last Vampire, and then in 2010, Avalon. It was the use of the dog in the film that made me think of Innocence, and then to discovering that Mamoru Oshii had a part in all of these movies. So in 2014 when I saw a used copy of Mamoru Oshii: Cinema Trilogy, I immediately picked it up, with Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade and the first Patlabor film being additional recent purchases this year.I say all this because I came into Brian Ruh’s Stray Dog of Anime: The Films of Mamoru Oshii with some level of experience with Mamoru Oshii’s works, and is definitely a creator (being much more than just a director) that I’m aware of and watch out for. So with Brian Ruh’s book I was hoping to get a better idea of just who Mamoru Oshii is, and for new insights into his various works.First, I must comment on the Kindle version of the book. This version appeared to be the easiest (and possibly only) way to get a copy of the Second Edition, which includes three additional chapters, including most importantly one on Innocence. Sadly, the Kindle version of the book (read on a Kindle Fire 7, in mid-March 2016) appears to have issues with some special characters. For instance, the Yen symbol, as well as oddly placed dashes and underscores, are mingled within Japanese names. This was slightly distracting, and is something I would hope would be corrected.Otherwise, this book covers Oshii’s major films, including a brief synopsis of the piece, characters of note, commentary, and analysis. With the book setup to cover a major work, or universe, in chronological order, you can truly see the transition and growth of Mamoru Oshii. Since I have not seen all of the works covered, of special note were the synopsis pieces, as Brian Ruh does quite a good job of retelling the stories.However, one thing that I would have hoped for was more on Mamoru Oshii’s The Red Spectacles, Stray Dog, and Talking Head. While mentioned briefly, they are some of the more cryptic works of Oshii’s, although that difficulty and obscurity may in fact be why Brian Ruh didn’t devote a chapter to them.Ultimately, however, the exclusion of an in-depth look at these works does not sufficiently detract from the works that are covered, and the level at which they are. The Second Edition of Brian Ruh’s Stray Dog of Anime: The Films of Mamoru Oshii is definitely a good overview of Mamoru Oshii, and comes recommended with a full five of five stars. If some of the ideas brought up by the first two Ghost in the Shell movies are of interest to you, or you’ve seen more than a couple of his films, then you too may enjoy this book.

Very intriguing and insightful look into the mind of Oshii. Well written, well researched and easy to comprehend.

I wrote a review of the book "Cinema of Mamoru Oshii: Fantasy, Technology and Politics by Dani Cavallaro", describing it as "comprehensive, even if a bit dense." Well, Brian Ruh's book "Stray Dog of Anime" accomplishes the same goal that Cavallaro set out to accomplish, only minus the thick academic language. This is not a slight to Cavallaro's work, which should help bring Oshii's genius into the line of sight of Western Academia. However, for the rest of us who appreciate an intelligent yet more accessible style of writing, there is Ruh's book.What's interesting is that Ruh's book captures the same format as Cavallaro's, walking the reader through Oshii's work in chronological order. Ruh follows a helpful outline approach that offers an introduction, description, synopsis and, finally, analytic commentary on each film. Ruh's dissection of each film is presented in a conversational format that is without pretense. Readers like myself will especially appreciate the Oshii interview excerpts throughout the book. In fact, I bought both books hoping to find not just a critical look at Oshii's films, but also some insight from the man himself. It's always a good feeling to come across an outside view of a movie or film director that is in line with my own. I really appreciated how Ruh takes notice of Oshii's maturation through each film, with Patlabor 2 being something of a pivotal point in Oshii's more subdued yet enriching approach to how dialog and mood is captured and conveyed in his films.Unfortunately, my favorite Oshii film -- Innocence -- was not yet finished at the time of the publishing of this book, so you won't find any discussion about this film. But it is a minor miss for an otherwise well written, comprehensive inspection of Oshii's other works.If you can afford it, buy this book and Cavallaro's together.

Well researched and a pleasure to read on Mamoru Oshii