Underplayed Gems

StrayDog: Kerberos Panzer Cops (1991)

StrayDog: Kerberos Panzer Cops poster
Original title
ケルベロス 地獄の番犬
Directed by
Mamoru Oshii
Genre
drama film, action film, science fiction film, thriller film
Country
Japan
Runtime
1h 39m
Rating
6.4 of 10 from 24 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A former member of an elite police unit is paroled from prison after a failed rebellion. He travels to Taiwan to find a fellow squad member who fled Japan.

bleakmelancholicslow-burntensevisually sparsecontemplativenoirishgritty

What happens

StrayDog: Kerberos Panzer Cops (ケルベロス 地獄の番犬, Keruberosu: Jigoku no Banken; lit. 'Kerberos: Watchdog of Hell') is a 1991 Japanese science fiction film written and directed by Mamoru Oshii and starring Shigeru Chiba and Yoshikatsu Fujiki. The second film in the Kerberos Saga and a prequel to 1987's The Red Spectacles, the film follows Inui, a former member of the elite Special Armed Garrison "Kerberos" police tactical unit who, after being arrested following a failed rebellion by his unit, is paroled three years later and travels to Taiwan to search for Koichi Todome, an elite Kerberos member who left Japan. Unlike The Red Spectacles, StrayDog adopts the setting and theming of Oshii's manga Kerberos Panzer Cop, which established some of the Kerberos Saga's setting and background; however, as the manga was not finished by StrayDog's release, some aspects of the film, such as its time period and details surrounding Kerberos, differ from the events established in the manga by its conclusion in 2000. StrayDog was released on March 23, 1991 in Japan. An anime film serving as a prequel, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, was released in 1999, further establishing details about Kerberos and the saga's established setting. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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