JIN-ROH

Now Playing

©1998 Mamoru Oshii/Bandai Visual/Production I.G. All rights reserved

JIN-ROH is a new feature film that Production I.G. has produced and was released in Japan in the summer of 2000.  This film is perhaps the last "full-analog" animation feature of the 20th Century, due to the fact that the majority of the productions are steadily becoming digitized.  This beautiful film was written by Mamoru Oshii, and directed by one of his favorite disciples, Hiroyuki Okiura, who is probably known internationally as the character designer of the movie "Ghost in the Shell."  Okiura has never directed a film before, and he wanted it to be the most intriguing piece of artwork.  As a result, he had used more than 80,000 animation cels to complete this 98-minute film.  Every little movements were done mostly by hands and hardly relied on computers.

The film is based on a manga concept by Mamoru Oshii.  He has produced two live action films,The Scarlet Spectacles (Akai Megane) and Stray Dogs, with stories set in the same universe.   The manga was translated into English by Studio Proteus and published with the title Hellhounds by Dark Horse Comics.  The international release title has not yet been decided, but it would most likely be "JIN-ROH" with a subtitle, "The Wolf Brigade."