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Column by Scott Green
Anime News Network reports that Production I.G Vice-President Maki Terashima-Furuta has acknowledged a comment made at Production I.G's Anime Expo convention panel, stating "somebody has the live-action rights, and somebody was planning to make a live-action Jin-Roh, but at the moment, I have no comment." Written by Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell movies, Sky Crawlers), but directed by Hiroyuki Okiura, the anime film is set within Oshii's Kerberos saga, an alternate history of a totalitarian Japan moving from the 1940's to the 21st century, centered around armored anti-riot, anti-revolutionary police. From the provocative entry in The Japanamerican Devil Jin Roh n: A brilliant film about what might happen if Japan lost World War II. Actually, Japan did lose World War II. So this film is about what would happen if Japan lost World War II to Japan's friends - the Germans. It's horrible and beautiful in equal doses. And it makes you think: maybe Japan did lose the war to its friends - the Americans - and they took over everything. Set in the 1950's, Jin-Roh follows Kerberos Panzer Cops member Kazuki Fuse, who is assigned to be retrained after failing to shoot a bomber known as a Little Red Riding Hood. The anime was released on DVD and Blu-ray (good luck finding the latter) in North America by Bandai Entertainment and VIZ Media. Speaking of Production I.G at Anime Expo, according to ANN, the company rep responded to questions about the possibility of more Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex anime saying they expect the project to happen, but that the director is currently tied up in other projects. Stand Alone Complex director Kenji Kamiyama has recently been working on "fantapolitical thriller" Eden of The East. An 11 episode anime TV series has completed and two movies are on the way.
