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4K Restoration of Mamoru Oshii's The Red Spectacles Film Screens in N.Y. on November 21-23

Small Sensations began streaming a trailer on Saturday for its 4K restoration screening of Mamoru Oshii's The Red Spectacles (Akai Megane) live-action film. The film will screen at the Metrograph theater in New York City on November 21 through November 23. The theater will also screen Oshii's Angel's Egg film on November 20.

The new 4K restored version of the film was produced in 2024 through crowdfunding. 2,953 supporters backed the project. The image was scanned in 4K resolution from the original 35mm camera negative, and was then digitally restored and color graded. IMAGICA Entertainment Media Services Inc. digitized the original monaural soundtrack from the 16mm magnetic track. Sony PCL, Inc. remixed the new 5.1 mix. Oshii supervised and approved both the image and sound restorations.

The Red Spectacles is one of the entries in Oshii's Kerberos Saga mixed media story, which he has been developing in various media since the Akai Megane o Machi Tsutsu (While Waiting for The Red Spectacles) radio drama in January 1987. The Red Spectacles film came out only a month after that radio drama in February 1987.

The multimedia story is set in an alternate history where Japan joined the Allies in the Second World War, but where the Allies lost largely due to new technology developed by Nazi Germany. Though Germany de-Nazified after a successful Operation Valkyrie resulted in the assassination of Adolf Hitler, it still occupied a defeated Japan. As extremist elements in both the left and the right emerge in a quickly resurgent Japan, the Japanese police militarizes in response, with the Capitol Police deploying the so-called "Kerberos" corps of armored military policemen, clad in advanced German infantry "protect gears," and authorized to use lethal force against dissident elements. The stories largely center around the actions of the Kerberos corps, the rise of organized insurgencies against the Japanese government, the increasing brutality of the Kerberos, and their eventual purge of the Kerberos corps after increasing unpopularity.

The Red Spectacles focuses on former Kerberos member Koichi Todome, who returns to Japan three years after fleeing the Kerberos uprisings and subsequent purges, and finds a changed city. He attempts to find and reconnect with former comrades.

The live-action film inspired a manga adaptation by Kamui Fujiwara, which launched in Futabasha's Manga Action magazine on December 17.

Perhaps the part of the Kerberos Saga most known to anime fans is Jin-Roh, a 1998 anime film by Oshii's frequent collaborator Hiroyuki Okiura, with a script by Oshii. The film inspired a South Korean live-action remake titled Illang: The Wolf Brigade, which opened in South Korea and Japan in July 2018, and debuted on Netflix overseas in October 2018.

Sources: Email correspondence, Small Sensations' YouTube channel