Director Mamoru Oshii (left) and Kenji Kawai. Mamoru Oshii, director of the animated film "The Sky Crawlers," and Kenji Kawai, responsible for the music production, attended a DVD and Blu-ray release commemorative event held at HMV Shibuya store in Tokyo on the 13th. During the event, Director Oshii revealed that he is currently working on two new live-action feature films. These works are "281/2" (tentative title), which serves as a spin-off to his self-written and directed stage play "Tetsujin 28-go," and "Assault Girls," a film themed around sex and violence featuring three well-known actresses. Both films are scheduled to be released this autumn. Oshii commented: "Many people have told me that instead of making live-action films, I should focus on animation. However, I've changed my mind. While '281/2' might not be very popular as usual, 'Assault Girls' is an exciting adventure action movie that will surely satisfy everyone."
Additionally, according to Oshii himself, his new animated work, expected to be released in 2011, is already in preparation. He confidently stated: "I've been in this industry for nearly 30 years, but this film will be the biggest adventure so far. It will be something entirely different from what I've done before and definitely worth looking forward to." He further added: "In the future, I will no longer focus on myself or illustrations but consider what others want and try to accommodate their needs as much as possible. As for original works or original stories, I won't even think about them anymore."
Oshii's "The Sky Crawlers," which was selected for the Venice International Film Festival competition last year, grossed 700 million yen at the box office. The DVDs and Blu-rays currently on sale have sold over 60,000 copies. He enthusiastically expressed: "There's no doubt about the quality of the visuals, and we also invested heavily in the packaging box and plastic model production. I hope the sales of the DVDs continue to grow."
(Note: The latter part seems unrelated to the main article about Oshii and appears to promote a design company. If needed, it can be translated separately.)