Stray Dog of Anime: The Films of Mamoru Oshii - Hardcover

Brian Ruh

3.39

71 ratings by Goodreads

9781403963291: Stray Dog of Anime: The Films of Mamoru Oshii

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1403963290 ISBN 13: 9781403963291

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004

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Upon its U.S. release in the mid 1990s Ghost in the Shell , directed by Mamoru Oshii, quickly became one of the most popular Japanese animated films, or anime, in the country. Despite these accolades, Oshii is known as a contrarian within anime, a self-proclaimed 'stray dog', avoiding the limelight in favour of his own personal cinematic vision. He cannot be pigeon-holed, working in both live-action film and animation, directing everything from absurdist comedy to thrillers to meditations on the nature of reality. Stray Dog of Anime is the first book to take an in-depth look at Oshii's major films, form his early days working on Urusei Yatsura to Avalon , his most recent feature. Ruh details Oshii's evolution as a director, paying special attention to his personal style and symbolism, resulting in a unique guide that will appeal to anime fans and cinestes of all kinds.

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From the Inside Flap:

"A fine introduction to one of Japanese animation's few true auteurs, Stray Dog examines Oshii's films from both sides of the camera. Brian Ruh's work is scholarly but readable, and affirmative but critical -- an education for academics and fans alike. Welcome to Class Real." --Jonathan Clements, co-author, The Anime Encyclopedia

"Brian Ruh's Stray Dog of Anime is a wonderfully accessible introduction to Oshii Mamoru, one of the most brilliant and challenging anime directors working today.Stray Dog provides a fine overview of the spiritual, aesthetic and political issues that weave through Oshii's work. This book is an excellent resource on a major director, still too little studied in the States. Fans of Oshii and fans of anime in general will find it both stimulating and enlightening."
--Susan Napier, author of Anime: from Akira to Princess Mononoke

"Ruh deserves attention simply for stepping up to the mat as one of the few writers building a framework for the mature appreciation of anime as a creative form by British and American viewers, but he's also provided an overview of one of the medium's most interesting figures. His synthesis of the available material is accompanied by a passionately argued statement of Oshii's importance as director and auteur. There's plenty to interest students of film as well as anime buffs, and Ruh's thoughts will generate argument in fan circles throughout the English-speaking world."
--Helen McCarthy, Author of Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation and The Anime Encyclopedia

"Brian Ruh's new book Stray Dog of Anime: The Films of Mamoru Oshii is the first comprehensive treatment in English on a Japanese director who is by turns familiar, alien, grim, funny, evasive, brutal, ethereal, and deeply human. Readers will begin to understand why the imagination of Mamoru Oshii inspires The Matrix's Wachowski brothers andTitanic's James Cameron. Stray Dog will be of interest not only to those who want to get to know Mamoru Oshii, but those who presumed they already knew him well. For those new to Mamoru Oshii,Stray Dog of Anime is the viewer's companion to have. For those already fans,Stray Dog is likely to provoke at least half-a-dozen new questions."
--Carl Gustav Horn, co-author, Japan Edge: The Insider's Guide to Japanese Pop Subculture

About the Author:

Brian Ruh has worked as a freelance Japanese translator and as a writer on the subject of Japanese popular culture and film. He is the webmaster of AnimeResearch.com, a site designed to promote the study of Japanese animation and comics.

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