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At the end of 1995's Ghost in the Shell, Major Motoko Kusanagi, now combined into a single entity with the Puppet Master, stands on a precipice high above New Port City. As Major (melded with this AI born in the "sea of information") looks out toward the city lights, she contemplates her shared, open-ended future: "And where shall I go now? The net is vast and infinite."

Since Mamoru Oshii's first Ghost in the Shell -- adapted from Masamune Shirow's manga of the same name -- dug its hooks into audiences worldwide, its profound and confounding ending has been co-opted and, invariably, degraded by a surfeit of films that just don't scratch the same itch. The appropriations are a testament to the truly "infinite" possibilities of an open-ended finale, but an uplinked, jacked-in consciousness doesn't have the same pop with the glut of offerings that end similarly. Part...

Second Coming

Distributor, Gkids is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the award-winning Japanese anime classic, “Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence,” in a new 4K restoration. It will be available in theaters across North America for three nights only from June 23-26.

Directed by Oshii Mamoru, “Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence,” is a cyberpunk crime drama based on the manga “Ghost in the Shell” created by Masamune Shirow.

Imagined as a standalone return to the world of Ghost in the Shell, the story is centered on the character Batou from the original film. Featuring visuals that demanded five years in production, “Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence” debuted in competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, thus becoming the first and only anime in history to compete for the Palme d’Or.

Grand Ambitions

Media industry veteran Francis Coady is launching Grand Pacific Entertainment, a new Australia-based venture aiming to develop and fund scripted drama,...

Angel’s Egg 4K Remaster Is Coming to Cinemas in North America - Main Image

Gkids continues to bring more classic anime to the big screen. Aside from its recent Studio Ghibli Fest, Gkids announced that it will bring the Angel’s Egg 4K remaster to North American cinemas.

This anime film was released back in December 1985, though it has not gotten a major release in North America. That’s not too surprising given that Angel’s Egg is more of an art film that may not appeal to mainstream audiences.

Gkids Is Bringing Mamoru Oshii’s Angel’s Egg Remaster to North America

Angel’s Egg is directed by Mamoru Oshii, one of the most acclaimed anime directors of all time. Oshii is best known for directing the 1995 Ghost in the Shell movie, along with Patlabor 2: The Movie and the original Urusei Yatsura.

The film was also made in collaboration with Yoshitaka Amano,...

Animator / director / manga artist Yoshikazu Yasuhiko ( Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin ) has provided the official illustration for the Domannaka Anime Film Festival (pictured below), a two-day event featuring movie screenings and guest speakers that focuses on classic anime films from the 70s, 80s and 90s. The Domannaka Anime Film Festival will be held on May 17 – 20, 2024, at the Midland Square Cinema venue in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Domannaka Anime Film Festival poster Related: Crunchyroll to Bring Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island Anime Film to Theaters in September The films screened include: the Mobile Suit Gundam trilogy (1981 – 1982), Patlabor 2: The Movie (1993), Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979), The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? (1984), Harmagedon (1983), Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise (1987), Akira (1988) and Venus Wars (1989). Quest speakers include: Shinichiro Inoue, Masuo Ueda, Yutaka Izubuchi, Kazunori Ito, Ichiro Itano, Shoji Kawamori, Masao Maruyama, Kazuhide Tomonaga, Hiroki Yamaga, Shigeru Watanabe,...

The official website for the two-part Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction anime film, based on Inio Asano's manga of the same name, announced five new voice cast members who will join its upcoming second part as follows: Ojiro-senpai voiced by Chiharu Sawashiro (Banri Settsu in A3! ) Hikari Sumaru voiced by Saori Onishi (Miyako Shikimori in Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie ) Takarada voiced by Kenichiro Matsuda (Bond Forger in Spy x Family ) Taro Miura voiced by Kengo Kawanishi (Mikazuki Augus in Mobile Suit Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans ) Ogino voiced by Masafumi Kobatake (Senya in Bucchigiri?! ) Additionally, veteran actor Naoto Takenaka will make a supporting appearance as the "chairman" of the invaders. Among anime fans, he is well-known for his voice appearances in Mamoru Oshii films, such as Shigeki Arakawa in Patlabor 2: The Movie (1993), Kimu in Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004), and Master in The Sky Crawlers (2008). Takenaka is...

The late Satoshi Kon was amongst the most prominent Japanese animators, with his works transcending the world of anime and manga, thus creating a modern division of the genre, which chiefly addressed a more mature audience. However, he did not accomplish that via sex and violence, but through the profundity of his themes and a complex style of presentation. The former becomes evident in his nightmarish worlds of terror that are based on concepts like fixation, publicity and the perspective of reality and personal identity, while the latter is clear through the mixture of fantasy and reality in the surrealistic environments of his movies. Additionally, he was equally elaborative as a designer and animator; hence, his works amount to masterpieces, both visually and in content.

Satoshi Kon was born on October 12, 1963 in Kushiro, Hokkaido. Early on, he became a fan of anime and manga, chiefly “Mobile Suit Gundam” and “Space Battleship Yamato...

The Mobile Suit Gundam is the main name when it comes to "Real Robot" mecha anime. This genre involves somewhat more grounded and realistic takes on the genre, with the giant robots in question usually being military weapons. While the Gundam franchise may have started the Real Robot subgenre, it isn't the only example of it.

There have numerous other takes on the concept throughout the decades, some of which are set in franchises of their own. Showcasing mechs in a more believable world, these shows excel due to their strong characters and the fact that giant robot fights are only part of the equation. Far from cartoony romps, these anime are the best examples of how the most important part of a mecha series is the pilot inside.

Related: 10 Best Mecha Romance Anime For Beginners

Dougram

Released in 1981, Dougram was one of the earliest examples of Real Robot anime...

(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)

The Movie: "Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer"

Where You Can Stream It: Crunchyroll, RetroCrush

The Pitch: Ataru is a horny teenage boy who wants to make out with every pretty woman he meets. Lum is a beautiful alien from outer space with lightning powers. Lum loves Ataru, but Ataru thinks Lum is annoying. So goes "Urusei Yatsura," one of the most popular anime series of the 1980s. Based on a comic by the queen of romantic comedy, Rumiko Takahashi, it ran for 194 episodes and launched the careers of many young animators and directors. The chief director of its first 106 episodes, Mamoru Oshii, would go on to direct such films as "Ghost in the Shell" and "Patlabor 2."

The strangest work...

The BFI today announce full details of a hotly anticipated two-month season dedicated to Anime, running at BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX from 28 March – 31 May. Originally planned for summer 2020 as part of the BFI’s major survey of Japanese cinema BFI Japan, the season arrives, at long last, to entertain and delight anime fans and novices alike.

The programme will include:

· A broad mixture of classic films such as Akira, Ghost In The Shell, Belladonna Of Sadness, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie and Tekkonkinkreet, as well as an early shorts programme spotlighting work from 1917-1946· Previews of new releases including the thrillingly original Inu-oh, high-octane urban fairy tale Bubble and the powerful and thought-provoking short Summer Ghost (2021) followed by a Q&a with director loundraw· Much-loved recent work by major auteurs Mamoru Hosoda, Makoto Shinkai (Your Name) and the late great Satoshi Kon· A spotlight on emerging female talent Naoko Yamada...

Mizuho Nishikubo's animated feature Giovanni's Island has picked up yet another award. The Production I.G film won Best Animated Film by the Mainichi Film Awards. This is the tenth distinction for the film since it began its festival run in 2014. The awards are sponsored by the Mainichi Shinbun newspaper in Japan and date back to 1946 to celebrate the best in Japanese productions. The Best Animated Film award was first awarded in 1989 to Studio Ghibli's Kiki's Delivery Service.This is the fifth Production I.G film to be awarded this distinction. Previous films to win the award were Patlabor 2: The Movie in 1993), Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade in 1999), Blood:The Last Vampire the Ofuji Noburo Award in 2000 and The Sky Crawlers in 2008....

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Mamoru Oshii (Kokaku Kidotai, Innocence, Patlabor 2, Sky Crawlers) has one hell of an impressive resume, containing some of the biggest, challenging and most successful animation films out there. At the same time he never stopped experimenting, expanding his oeuvre with smaller, more artistic films (think Tenshi no Tamago or Tachiguishi Retsuden). Talking Head clearly belongs to this second category of films and should be approached with at least some level of caution.Talking Head is part of the unofficial live action trilogy Oshii directed between '87 and '92. It's not a true trilogy though as Talking Head has little (actually nothing) to do with the other two films. Red Spectacles and Stray Dog are both set in the Kerberos universe, Talking Head is a meta...

Mamoru Oshii's (Tenshi no Tamago, Patlabor 2, Sky Crawlers, Tachiguishi Retsuden) Innocence is without a doubt one of the trickiest accomplishments of his already rich and challenging career. From the get go the film was doomed to fail, back then it simply seemed impossible for a sequel to live up to the standard of its predecessor (Kokaku Kidotai). But Oshii persevered and created what would become another benchmark in Japanese animation.To me Innocence is the perfect sequel. It's everything a good sequel should be, while at the same time avoiding all the predictable traps so many other sequels fall victim to. It's a film that respectfully refers to its predecessor but stands well on its own. It shares the same perks as Kokaku Kidotai, but...

Mamoru Oshii (Tachiguishi Retsuden, Sky Crawlers, Ghost In The Shell 2.0, Patlabor 2, Tenshi no Tamago) is without a doubt my favorite director out there, so there's really no way I could ever pass up on reviewing his ultimate classic: the 1995 adaptation of Masamune Shirow's much-lauded Ghost In The Shell manga. Almost 17 years after its original release, the film still houses a truly captivating and mesmerizing power. If Eraserhead and Tetsuo are the films that made me become serious about film as a hobby, Oshii's Kokaku Kidotai is the film that actually introduced me to the world of cinema. Sure enough I watched and liked films before this one, but only in a more simple and straight-forward entertainment-based manner. Before this film it...

Tenshi no Tamago is the film where it all started for Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, Sky Crawlers, Patlabor 2). For the first time he was freed from any limitations, finally at liberty to make whatever kind of movie he wanted to make. The result is one of the most important milestones in Japanese animation history, a film that shattered any remaining notions that animation was merely kid's fare. When people say Japanese animation is more mature than its Western counterpart they actually mean it appeals more to the inner geek. Even "mature" films like Ghost in the Shell or Jin-Roh are still littered with geeky elements and details (cyborgs, guns, random nudity). Of course these film also tackle more serious themes and ideas,...

Patlabor 2 is the film that first defined Mamoru Oshii's trademark style. While most people came into contact with Oshii (Sky Crawlers, Tachiguishi Retsuden) through his first adaptation of the Ghost In The Shell manga, Patlabor 2 predates that film by two years and still holds all the key ingredients that made GitS into a world-wide success. And even today Patlabor 2 proudly stands its ground, having lost very little of its initial impact. Oshii came a long way before he made this film. He started out working on series like Nils Holgersson and Madame Peppermint. In between he directed several feature films, each sporting their very own stylistic experiments, but none of them really connecting to form a encompassing whole. Patlabor 2 brought all...

Hosoda is back with another feature film and remembering the sweet little surprise that was The Girl Who Lept Through Time I was determined not to let his newest slip by. Hosoda is slowly turning into a certainty for quality work, Summer Wars only reinforces this position. He combines the two stretches of his earlier works to great effect and produces an anime that feels like the common denominator of all other anime out there while still coming off as a unique piece of work.

Hosoda started off directing the film (and several episodes) for the Digimon series. With The Girl Who Leapt Through Time he shifted gears and brought a sci-fi inspired rural tale. In Summer Wars he goes on to combine both elements within the same film, keeping both parts neatly separated but still coming up with a satisfactory mix. This is definitely the strong point of Summer Wars.

Just when you thought there was never enough Samurai animations in the world Ghost in the Shell’s lord and master Mamoru Oshii is developing a animated samurai film for Japanese animation powerhouse Production I.G.

This new film, slated for a Summer 2009 bow, will be based on the life of Japan’s most celebrated Samuarai, Musashi Miyamoto. This new film will be called Miyamoto Musashi: Sōken ni Haseru Yume (Musashi Miyamoto: The Dream of Riding with Two Swords). Musashi created and perfected a two-sword kenjutsu technique called niten’ichi ("two heavens as one") or nitōichi ("two swords as one"). He was also the author of The Book of Five Rings, a book that is still studied today. Word is it rivals Sun Tzu’s Art of War in regards to strategy and tactics.

Should be interesting. Oshii is gathering quite the talent together for this project. Mizuho Nishikubo, an...