Reviews:
 December
2004 - Choice: Current Reviews for Academic
Libraries
October
2004 - Destroy
All Monsters
September
2004 - Midnight
Eye
June
2004 - Anime
News Network
Advance Reviews:
"A
fine introduction to one of Japanese animation's few true
auteurs, Stray Dog examines Oshii's films from both
sides of the camera. Brian Ruh's work is scholarly but readable,
and affirmative but critical -- an education for academics
and fans alike. Welcome to Class Real."
--Jonathan Clements, co-author, The Anime
Encyclopedia
"Brian
Ruh's new book Stray Dog of Anime: The Films of Mamoru
Oshii is the first comprehensive treatment in English
on a Japanese director who is by turns familiar, alien, grim,
funny, evasive, brutal, ethereal, and deeply human. Readers
will begin to understand why the imagination of Mamoru Oshii
inspires The Matrix's Wachowski brothers and Titanic's James
Cameron. Stray Dog will be of interest not only to
those who want to get to know Mamoru Oshii, but those who
presumed they already knew him well. For those new to Mamoru
Oshii, Stray Dog of Anime is the viewer's companion
to have. For those already fans, Stray Dog is likely
to provoke at least half-a-dozen new questions."
--Carl Gustav Horn, co-author, Japan
Edge: The Insider's Guide to Japanese Pop Subculture
"Brian
Ruh's Stray Dog of Anime is a wonderfully accessible
introduction to Mamoru Oshii, one of the most brilliant and
challenging anime directors working today. Stray Dog
provides a fine overview of the spiritual, aesthetic and political
issues that weave through Oshii's work. This book is an excellent
resource on a major director, still too little studied in
the States. Fans of Oshii and fans of anime in general will
find it both stimulating and enlightening."
--Susan Napier, author of Anime: from
Akira to Princess Mononoke
"Ruh
deserves attention simply for stepping up to the mat as one
of the few writers building a framework for the mature appreciation
of anime as a creative form by British and American viewers,
but he's also provided an overview of one of the medium's
most interesting figures. His synthesis of the available material
is accompanied by a passionately argued statement of Oshii's
importance as director and auteur. There's plenty to interest
students of film as well as anime buffs, and Ruh's thoughts
will generate argument in fan circles throughout the English-speaking
world."
--Helen McCarthy, author of Hayao Miyazaki:
Master of Japanese Animation
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