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Mamoru Oshii Film Festival 2015, a joint project between Ikebukuro’s Shin Bungeiza rivival house and anime magazine Anime Style, will begin in next month. “Night 1: Mobile Police Patlabor” will be an all-night screening event held on Saturday, Dec. 13. Director Mamoru Oshii and director Kenji Kamiyama, a protegee of Oshii’s, will appear on stage as guests for the talk show segment. This will be director Oshii’s first time attending a “Shin Bungeiza × Anime Style Selection” event. Of course, there will be not-to-be-missed discussion on the screened works.
Mamoru Oshii Film Festival 2015 is an ongoing project for screening director Oshii’s most notable anime and live-action films. The project also looks back on the career of director Oshii, who has more blockbusters on the horizon, including the full-length film The Next Generation: Patlabor to release countrywide in Japan in 2015 and Garm Wars: The Last Druid, which was a special screening at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival. The works to be screened at the forthcoming event were selected based on director Oshii’s intention of wanting audiences to be familiar with a variety of his works as a beginner, so the dense lineup will be enjoyable to long-time fans as well.
The event will open with the 1985 OVA Angel’s Egg. Among director Oshii’s works, Angel’s Egg is known as the most difficult to understand. It’s a story set in a ruined world about a girl who cares for an egg and a boy she happens to meet.
The OVA makes frequent use of fish, girls, tanks and other common motifs often seen in director Oshii’s works and is said to be a work that highlights his creative style more than any other. Even from the fact that Angel’s Egg was placed first in the screening lineup, you can likely feel the earnestness being put into Mamoru Oshii Film Festival 2015.
Continuing on, 5.1-channel audio versions of Mobile Police Patlabor: The Movie and Mobile Police Patlabor 2: The Movie will be screened on Blu-ray. This will be the first time the 1998 remastered audio version of these films will be screened in a theater in Japan. One apparent change is the voice actors of the minor characters, which gives the film a different air from the original version to enjoy. Another unmissable point is the performance by Jinpachi Nezu, a voice actor who also plays a pivotal role in Angel’s Egg.
A third Patlabor work, the short film MiniPato, will round out the screenings. In a complete change of pace, audiences will be able to enjoy director Oshii’s forte: gag comedy. Characters from the Patlabor series talking rapid-fire and showing their vast knowledge is a must-see. Look forward to finding out what kind of discussion will spring forth at the talk show regarding this work, which is also Kamiyama’s first directorial work.
Advance tickets to “Mamoru Oshii Film Festival 2015: Night 1: Mobile Police Patlabor” began on Nov. 12 at Shin Bungeiza and on Ticket Pia. Advance tickets cost 2,800 JPY, and tickets at the door cost 3,000 JPY (Both prices include tax.).
Shin Bungeiza
Shin Bungeiza × Anime Style Selection Vol. 62
Mamoru Oshii Film Festival 2015: Night 1: Mobile Police Patlabor
Date and Time: Dec. 13, 2014 (Sat.) | Doors open: 22:15 | Show start: 22:30 (End time: 5:40)
Venue: Shin Bungeiza (Maruhan Ikebukuro Building 3F, 1-43-5 Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima-ku, Tokyo-to) Tel.: 03-3971-9422
Pricing: General tickets at the door: 3,00 JPY | Advance tickets: 2,800 JPY
Guests: Mamoru Oshii (director), Kenji Kamiyama (director), Yuichiro Oguro (Anime Style), Ryuichi Kuwajima (planner & writer)
Screenings:
*Angel’s Egg* (1985 | 71 minutes)
*Mobile Police Patlabor the Movie [5.1ch Edition]* (1989, 1998 / 98 minutes)
*Mobile Police Patlabor 2 the Movie [5.1ch Edition]* (1993, 1998 / 113 minutes)
*MiniPato* (All three episodes / 2002 / 38 minutes)
^*^ Angel’s Egg and MiniPato will be screened in 35-millimeter film, the Patlabor movies will be screened on Blu-ray.
Source: animeanime
Source article written by Katsunori Takahashi
