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Mamoru Oshii on Vladlove: "Let's Make an Anime that Can Also Serve as a Strong Medicine"

Mamoru Oshii's new anime series Vladlove held an advance screening of the completed series on Monday. Executive director Oshii and his long-time collaborator Junji Nishimura, who served as director on the project, attended the screening and gave their commentary.

According to reporting by Daily, Oshii said that he ignored recent anime trends when creating Vladlove. "It's been a long time since I last did something I wanted to do more of," he said. "We did what we wanted to do. I think that was the right thing."

Nishimura also said that he had an enjoyable time creating the anime. "It was very tough to give a form to Oshii's vision. I had a lot of fun pouring my all into creating it."

Regarding modern anime, Oshii said bluntly, "It is neat and tidy, and can by watched by everyone. It is bland and harmless, neither poison nor medicine." He also shared the reasoning behind starting this production: "It started with the feeling of 'Let's show what would happen if you piss off an old man.' Let's make an anime that can also serve as a strong medicine."

Vladlove's official website describes the anime:

Mitsugu Bamba is a high school girl who is crazy about donating her blood, to the point that she feels compelled to visit a local blood bank despite the unfriendly nurse. One day, Mitsugu encounters a beautiful girl there who looks like she has come from overseas. The girl is so pale that she appears ready to faint. Instead, she suddenly starts trashing the blood bank. The girl then loses consciousness and so Mitsugu takes her home...

The anime will debut online on February 14 on ABEMA and Amazon Prime Video in Japan, alongside other subscription and rental streaming services in Japan.

The official YouTube channel for the anime had streamed a "special version" of the show's first episode on December 18. The video featured English subtitles.

Source: Daily