Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Hiroyuki Okiura
Written by	Mamoru Oshii
Based on	Characters created; by Mamoru Oshii
Produced by	Tsutomu Sugita; Hidekazu Terakawa;
Starring	Yoshikatsu Fujiki; Sumi Mutoh; Hiroyuki Kinoshita;
Cinematography	Hisao Shirai
Edited by	Shūichi Kakesu
Music by	Hajime Mizoguchi
Production; company	Production I.G/ING
Distributed by	Bandai Visual
Release dates	November 17, 1999 (France); June 3, 2000 (Japan);
Running time	102 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Jin-Roh (Japanese: 人狼, Hepburn: Jinrō, lit. 'Werewolf'), also known as Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade in its American release, is a 1999 Japanese animated action political thriller^[1] film directed by Hiroyuki Okiura (in his directorial debut) and written by Mamoru Oshii. Based on the first chapter of volume 1 of Oshii's manga Kerberos Panzer Cop, it is the third film (first chronologically) in the Kerberos Saga after 1987's The Red Spectacles and 1991's StrayDog: Kerberos Panzer Cops, and is the only fully-animated film in the saga.

Jin-Roh is set in an authoritarian postwar Japan in the saga's alternate history where Nazi Germany won World War II, occupied Japan (a member of the Allies in this timeline), and eventually denazified back into the Weimar Republic. Germany attempts to globalize and modernize Japan with a new government, but it increases poverty and class stratification that leads to civil unrest and the rise of the Sect, an anti-government left-wing terrorist group. With regular police unable to handle spiking terrorist activity, the Japanese government forms the Capital Police paramilitary law enforcement agency and their Special Armed Garrison Kerberos, an elite heavily-armed counterterrorist police tactical unit equipped with powered exoskeletons called Protect Gears. Jin-Roh follows Kerberos member Kazuki Fuse who, after witnessing a young terrorist he was ordered to execute kill herself in a suicide bombing, meets Kei Amemiya, who claims to be the girl's sister; their relationship develops in the midst of a violent interservice rivalry between Kerberos and the Public Security Division, the Capital Police's intelligence unit.

The film premiered on November 17, 1999, in France and June 3, 2000, in Japan. Bandai Entertainment and Viz Media licensed the film for an English-language release in North America and Europe in 2000. It has been relicensed in North America by Discotek Media, with a DVD released on April 29, 2014, followed by a Blu-ray on January 27, 2015.^[2]^[3] A live action Korean remake, Illang: The Wolf Brigade, was released in 2018, featuring a different setting and renamed characters but largely the same premise and plot.

^ Chapman, Paul Thomas (February 11, 2015). "[Review] Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (Blu-ray)". Otaku USA. Archived from the original on July 13, 2018. Retrieved January 6, 2020. Jin-Roh is one part political thriller, one part allegory, and one part action movie.
^ Discotek Media Archived 2020-01-24 at the Wayback Machine. Facebook. Retrieved on 2014-05-12.
^ Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade Blu-ray Archived 2020-10-30 at the Wayback Machine Discotek Media. Retrieved on 2021-5-01.

[1] Chapman, Paul Thomas (February 11, 2015). "[Review] Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (Blu-ray)". Otaku USA. Archived from the original on July 13, 2018. Retrieved January 6, 2020. Jin-Roh is one part political thriller, one part allegory, and one part action movie.

[2] Discotek Media Archived 2020-01-24 at the Wayback Machine. Facebook. Retrieved on 2014-05-12.

[3] Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade Blu-ray Archived 2020-10-30 at the Wayback Machine Discotek Media. Retrieved on 2021-5-01.

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