Mamoru Oshii (押井守 Oshii Mamoru; born August 8, 1951 in Tokyo) is a Japanese animation and live-action film director and writer famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling. Presently, Oshii lives in Atami, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan with his dogs – a basset hound named Gabriel (ガブリエル) and a mutt named Daniel (both are featured in Tachiguishi Retsuden).

In terms of directing, Oshii has stated his approach is directly opposite the Hollywood formula. For Mamoru Oshii, the visuals are the most important aspect, then the story and the characters come last.

Source: Wikipedia