Wesly is dreaming.

This thesis considers Mamoru Oshii's main concept and the elements which have been used in his animation and films. Oshii choses 3-D computer graphics (CG) scenes in his animation and films to show the isolation between humans and machines. Characters in different works have a similar quality. Animals and buildings in Oshii's animation and films become meaningful symbols. In addition, the background music of composer, Kenji Kawai, helps Oshii to create atmosphere in these productions. Multicultural influence combines in Oshii's Asian style, especially in Ghost in the Shell. Otherwise, Oshii uses long dialogues to express his concepts in his animation, but he also creates his own humorous style.

Japanese animators have used computer graphics to improve special effects in their productions, and most 3-D animation was made for inserting in TV games in the early 1990s. 3-D computer graphics scenes in Oshii's animation show the isolation between humans and machines. Oshii uses CG to express some kind of inorganic feelings. In Patlabor: The Movie (1990) and Patlabor: The Movie 2 (1993), Oshii chose 3-D CG to present a user interface of the robot operation system, and he also used this technique to build a believable near-future world which is full of unknown technologies. Oshii used more 2-D computer generated images (CGI) to create a cybernetic environment in Ghost in the Shell, and 3-D CG was still used for virtual reality and inorganic machine interface. In Avalon, Oshii created another virtual reality world in which people are involved in a kind of computer war game. Of course, Oshii repeated his concept about 3-D CG as computer interface but enlarged the scale in whole film. The green random letters which are used for the main title in Ghost became orange in Avalon. Moreover, he used more 3-D CG to create battle scenes in the virtual world of Avalon (Chute 85).

Until Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004), Oshii used more 3-D scenes for the animation than before, but he still followed his own ideas. He used 3-D CG to create a fictional city and kept the cold feel about the cyberpunks and hackers in Innocence (Ledoux 135).

Mamoru Oshii repeats his ideas about visual style and screen space. In addition, the characters in his different works have a similar quality and personality. Although most of Oshii's famous anime is based on other original stories or other writers, he performs these characters in his own way. Their opinions are all like Oshii's original characters, and some of them are even totally different from the original version. The obvious example is that some heroines in Oshii 's productions have similar independent minds and strong skills, such as Maroko in Maroko (1990), Shinobu Nagumo in Patlabor, Kusanagi Motoko in Ghost, and Ash in Avalon (Newman 41).

Other characters in Oshii's works give similar performances, too. Because animation is a medium that a director can control in his hands totally, Oshii tells his audiences his concepts about social problems in Japanese by these characters. Oshii used similar characters in different environment to solve different conflicts, and he also made these characters to have similar physical / psychological relationships. For example, Kiichi Gotoh and Shinobu Nagumo never become a couple in Patlabor, and neither do Batou and Motoko in Ghost. Of course, some specific attributes continue showing in Oshii's characters, but that does not mean Oshii's work is boring to me.

Another important aspect of Mamoru Oshii's animation is the environment and background objects. Animals and buildings in Oshii's animation and films become meaningful symbols, such as yellow air-ships in Maroko and Patlabor. Oshii likes to use dogs, birds and fish in his films, especially using the image of his dog. Some of Oshii's fans even call that “Mamoru Oshii's Trinity.” A bird is usually a metaphor for the prophet or spectators, and fish become the symbol of unenlightened people. However, Oshii is more interested in the stories of dogs, which are often symbolic, who follow the political system and national power. Because Oshii loves his dog very much, he uses his dog in most of his recent films, such as Avalon and Innocence. Even in early live action films, such as Stray Dogs, Oshii described his main concepts about birds, dogs and fish. Otherwise, Oshii also uses different cities to create a similar atmosphere. Oshii likes ruins and the Bible for its philosophy, so he created cities which are full of wrecked parts and dark shadows (Ledoux 137). For instance, Tokyo plays a meaningful role in Patlabor, and the audiences can see what is happening when a city is growing. The bridges in Tokyo become the connection of people and the false peace. In Ghost, Oshii used Hong Kong as a reference and constructed an over-developed city full of new buildings and old ruins. Oshii really used these elements to build his film world (Ledoux 138).

Music is an important element of animation. The background music composer, Kenji Kawai, helps Oshii to create atmosphere in these productions. They have known each other since 1980s, and they cooperate on projects many times. Through the Japanese Movie Database and Oshii's official website, Kawai became involved in Oshii's productions from a live action film, called Red Spectacles (1987). In 1989, Kawai joined the production team of Patlabor and collaborated with Oshii again. As a composer, Kawai does not change his style of theme rhythm for many years, so audiences can easily recognize Kawai's music styles. This improved the link between Oshii's works and Kawai's music, and it created a strong image for the audience. It is easy to find these connections in Patlabor series, Maruko, Talking Head, Red Spectacles, and Stray Dog: Kerberos Panzer Cops. When Oshii was making Ghost in the Shell, he asked Kawai to change the music style and basic rhythms. The similar music style repeated again in Avalon and Innocence, and it matched the main themes of these three productions and Oshii's thought.

Another characteristic of Mamoru Oshii's animation is to use ideas from other countries rather than Japanese traditions. Multicultural influence combines in Oshii's Asian style, especial in Ghost in The Shell. This does not mean Japanese traditions can't be found in Oshii's films, but his animation work is really more distinctive from mainstream anime in Japan. In Ghost, the main stage is a fictional city based on real Hong Kong, so it is easy to see many background in South Asian styles. In Avalon, Oshii brought the idea of Arthurian myth in this film to make a hybrid or synthesis (Rayns 31). Moreover, in Innocence, Oshii created a fictional multicultural city which is based on Masamune Shirow's original story. There are even some Gothic buildings with eastern divine statues standing on the top in this fictional city. Oshii really wants to make this kinds of synthesis after working in anime industry for more than twenty years, so he always finds more ideas from other cultures (Rayns 30).

Outside of these serous elements, Mamoru Oshii still has his humor as an animator. Oshii uses long dialogue to tell his main concepts in his animation, but he also creates his own humorous style in this way. The obvious example is Talking Head, and it contains most of Oshii's humorous ideas which appear before or after. These fun ideas came from Oshii's early TV cartoon careers, such as Urusei Yatsura series and Patlabor TV series. Oshii worked with the writer, Kazunori Ito, many times, and he really got some good ideas from Ito. Besides, the voice actor, Shigeru Chiba, also inspired Oshii with his wonderful voice performance, for example, speaking a meaningless non-stop dialog for a long time. Oshii even used stage play style in his animation and created absurd effects in the screen space, such as in Maroko and Talking Head. The kind of humor is not accepted by most audiences, but Oshii's fans would love these funny parts a lot (Ledoux 138).

Mamoru Oshii is really a special director in the Japanese animation industry. Most of Oshii's productions, including animation and films, have common elements. Some people may not like these elements repeated many times, but Oshii always puts some new ideas in his later works. His animation may not the most popular anime in Japan, but his style is the most distinctive anime there is. Indeed, Oshii has made his world-wide fame with animation. I think that Oshii uses familiar elements to combine an excellent work of animation every time, and I hope he can create more new interesting concepts in his new films.

Works Cited