''Kerberos Panzer Jäger'' (ケルベロス鋼鉄の猟犬, ''Keruberosu kōtetsu no ryōken'', lit. ''Kerberos

Hound A hound is a type of hunting dog used by hunters to track or chase prey. Description Hounds can be contrasted with gun dogs that assist hunters by identifying prey and/or recovering shot quarry. The hound breeds were the first hunting dogs. T ...

of Steel'') is a 2006

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

series written by Japanese filmmaker and novelist

Mamoru Oshii is a Japanese filmmaker, television director and writer. Famous for his philosophy-oriented storytelling, Oshii has directed a number of acclaimed anime films, including ''Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer'' (1984), ''Angel's Egg'' (1985), ...

. It first aired in

Nippon Cultural Broadcasting is a Japanese radio station in Tokyo which broadcasts to the Kanto area. It is one of the two flagship radio stations of National Radio Network (NRN) (the other station is ) and is a member of the Fujisankei Communications Group. History The ...

Story

Background information

''Kerberos Panzer Jager'' is part of the ''Kerberos Saga'' multimedia franchise. While most of the saga's installments concern the downfall of the Tokyo police's armored Kerberos Unit, ''Kerberos Panzer Jager'' is a prequel set during an

alternate Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In this timeline, the United States remained

isolationist Isolationism is a political philosophy advocating a national foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality and opposes entangl ...

, refusing to enter the war, while the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...

allied itself with

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

against

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. In this alternate timeline, Hitler has been successfully

assassinated Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...

Claus von Stauffenberg Colonel Claus Philipp Maria Justinian Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (; 15 November 1907 – 21 July 1944) was a German army officer best known for his failed attempt on 20 July 1944 to assassinate Adolf Hitler at the Wolf's Lair. Despite ...

, leading to a purge of Nazi elements from the government. Advanced suits of

powered armor A powered exoskeleton, also known as power armor, powered armor, powered suit, cybernetic suit, cybernetic armor, exosuit, hardsuit, exoframe or augmented mobility, is a mobile machine that is wearable over all or part of the human body, provi ...

, called 'Protect Gear', allow the Germans to win the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later re ...

. The term '' Panzer Jäger'' in the title refers not to tank-hunter units, as in real life, but to these armored infantry units, whose equipment goes on to form the basis for the Kerberos Unit's armor in later installments.

Plot

In September 1942, Captain Maki Stauffenberg, in command of the 808th '' Propagandakompanie'', leaves

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

station on an armored train to start her long journey into Soviet territory. A filmmaker originally affiliated with

UFA GmBH UFA GmbH, shortened to UFA (), is a film and television production company that unites all production activities of the media conglomerate Bertelsmann in Germany. Its name derives from Universum-Film Aktiengesellschaft (normally abbreviated as ...

, she has been tasked with creating a propaganda film about the exploits of the 101st Panzer Jäger Battalion. Tainted by association with the displaced Nazi regime, the 101st has been committed to bloody frontline battles against the Soviets without respite, achieving stunning combat results in the process. However, Maki Stauffenberg, the half-Japanese niece of Hitler's killer, has taken on the mission for her own reasons.

Characters

*Captain Maki Stauffenberg *Sergeant Major Hollerbach *Corporal Lauth *Captain Deisler *Major Klose *Sergeant Beinlich *Sergeant Kahn

Chapters

Interview program

*2006.04.26: ''Interview Part.1: Radio drama's appeal'' :(ラジオドラマの魅力を探る) *2006.04.26: ''Interview Part.2: Listeners questions about Kerberos Panzer Jäger'' :(ケルベロス鋼鉄の猟犬)を語る *2006.04.26: ''Kenji Kawai & Mamoru Oshii'' :(川井憲次×押井守)

Drama program

Act I: Armoured Train

(装甲列車編, ''Sōkō ressha hen'') *2006.04.31: ''Vol.1: Propagandakompanie'' (Propaganda Company) : (宣伝中隊, ''Senden chūtai'') *2006.06.28: ''Vol.2:

Kursk Kursk ( rus, Курск, p=ˈkursk) is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym rivers. The area around Kursk was the site of a turning point in the Soviet–German stru ...

'' : (クルスク, ''Kurusuku'') *2006.07.26: ''Vol.3: Kriegspferd'' (Charger) : (軍馬, ''Gunba'')

Act II: Panzer Jäger

(装甲猟兵, ''Sōkō ryoū hei'') *2006.08.30: ''Vol.1: Die Langen Kerle Potsdam'' ( Potsdam Giant Guards) : (ポツダムの巨人兵, ''Potsudamu no kyojin hei'') *2006.09.27: ''Vol.2: Die Dritte Armee'' (The Third Army) : (第三の軍隊, ''Daisan no gunntai'')

Act III: Blitzkrieg

(電撃戦, ''Dengeki sen'') *2006.11.10: ''Vol.1: Blumenkrieg'' (Flower War) : (花の戦争, ''Hana no sennsou'') *2006.11.24: ''Vol.2: Westaufklärung'' (Study of the West) : (西方研究, ''Seihō kenkyu'')

Act IV: Barbarossa

(バルバロッサ, ''barubarossa'') *2007.01.12: ''Vol.1: Säuberung'' (Purge) : (粛清, ''Syukusei'')

Licensed products

Books

* 2007.04: ''Kerberos Panzer Jäger Official Guide Book'' (official guide book) :Japanese text, Mamoru Oshii, Barque, 32p.

Production

Cast

Yoshiko Sakakibara is a Japanese actress, voice actress and narrator. Career In 1981, she made her voice actor debut as Flore in ''Six God Combination Godmars''. She also narrates many news programs, especially as a main narrator for TV Asahi News Station for ov ...

: Cpt. Maki Stauffenberg (マキ・シュタウフェンヴェルク大尉) *

Michihiro Ikemizu is a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Kanagawa Prefecture and a graduate of Waseda University who works for Aoni Production. Among his other roles, he has performed the characters Hot Springs Emblem (''Urusei Yatsura''), Isao Ohta ...

: Sgt. Major Hollerbach (ホラーバッハ曹長) * Yuya Uchida: Cpl. Lauth (ラウト伍長) *

Masashi Ebara , better known as , is a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Kanagawa Prefecture. He is affiliated with Aoni Production. He had roles in the '' Initial D'' series (as Jōshima Toshiya "God Hand"), ''Naruto'' (as Might Guy), ''Eat-Man'' ...

: Cpt. Deisler (ダイスラー大尉) *

Ikuya Sawaki , better known by his stage name , is a Japanese voice actor who is affiliated with Arts Vision. Filmography Anime television series *''Dirty Pair'' (1985) (Goolley) *''Kyatto Ninden Teyandee'' (1990) (Kitsunezuka Ko'on-no-Kami) *'' Berserk'' (1 ...

: Mjr. Klose (クローゼ少佐) * Tetsuo Goto: Sgt. Beinlich (バインリヒ軍曹) *

Otoya Kawano is a Japanese voice actor who was born in Taketa, Ōita. Notable voice roles *Seishiro Sakurazuka in X/1999 the series *Gain Bijo in Overman King Gainer *Bougan man in Samurai 7 *Ikazuchi no Takamaru in Onmyou Taisenki *Ryūjirō Sasaki in Sam ...

Sgt. Kahn (カーン軍曹)

Production staff

*Original story / Scenario / Director: Mamoru Oshii *Music:

Kenji Kawai is a Japanese music composer and arranger. Known as one of the biggest names in the soundtrack world, he has worked on a wide range of mixed media productions, including anime, TV shows, films and video games. Among his credits are Toei's Kame ...

*Sound director: Kazuhiro Wakabayashi *Recording: 宮澤二郎 *Effects: 伊藤道広 (Soundring) *音楽制作: 安田玲子 /　仲野智子　/ 奥澤麻由美 /　大久保絵美 (Aube Inc.) *音響制作担当: 好永伸恵 *音響制作: フォニシア *録音Studio: Tokyo TV Center *Supervisor: 小泉聰

Recording staff

*Recording Engineer: Kitagawa Teruaki /　Kyouhei Fukushiro *Strings: 内田輝 Group　 *A.Piano: Tohru Shigemi *Keyboards: Kenji Kawai *Recording studio: 一口坂 Studio /　Aube Studio /　i@ Recording Studio *Assistant Engineer: 山本篤士 /　中田武士 /　菊地和孝 (一口坂 Studio) / 長谷部智子 (Aube Studio) / 見留由紀 (i@ Recording Studio)

Musical theme

*''Die Antwort'' ("the answer"): :Composer:　Paolo Bozzola :Arrangement:　Kenji Kawai :Vocal:　Akane Kawabe

Notes

The surnames of the German soldiers seem to be taken from professional soccer players

Bernd Hollerbach Bernd Hollerbach (born 8 December 1969) is a German football coach and a former player who manages Sint-Truiden. From 2007 to 2012 he worked as an assistant coach to his former Hamburger SV boss Felix Magath. Career statistics Honours Hambur ...

Benjamin Lauth Benjamin Lauth (born 4 August 1981) is a German former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is most commonly known for his two spells at TSV 1860 Munich. At international level, he represented Germany at under-18 and under-21 y ...

Sebastian Deisler Sebastian Toni Deisler (; born 5 January 1980) is a German former professional footballer who played as a right midfielder and attacking midfielder. A Borussia Mönchengladbach youth product, he played one season with the club during which it ...

Miroslav Klose Miroslav Josef Klose (, pl, Mirosław Józef Klose; born 9 June 1978 as Mirosław Marian Klose) is a German professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of Austrian Footb ...

Stefan Beinlich Stefan "Paule" Beinlich (born 13 January 1972) is a German former professional footballer, who played as a central midfielder. His main asset was a powerful long-range shot, and he often scored from free kicks; he was one of the first players f ...

and

Oliver Kahn Oliver Rolf Kahn (; born 15 June 1969) is a German football executive and former professional player who played as a goalkeeper. He started his career in the Karlsruher SC Junior team in 1975. Twelve years later, Kahn made his debut match in t ...

. On late May 2006, Mamoru Oshi announced plans to direct an

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

adaptation of ''Kerberos Panzer Jäger'', to be produced in 2009 with the use of 3DCG. However, there has been no recent news regarding this project.
source: WatchImpress
'' ''Images of the Last Battalion'', a short CGI fan film produced in 2005 featuring German power armor suits in a WW2 setting, was screened at the Kerberos saga radio drama series launch party as a trailer.

Sources

(''Japanese'')

(''Japanese'')

(''Japanese'')
Mamoru Oshii's official website
(''Japanese'')
Kenji Kawai's official website
(''Japanese/English'')
JOQR Radio
(''Japanese'')

(''Japanese'')
DCAJ Digital Contents Association of Japan
(''Japanese/English'')

(''Japanese'')
Axis Animation
(''English'')

(''Japanese'')

External links

(''Japanese'')
Kerberos saga official website
(''Japanese'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Kerberos Panzer Jager Japanese radio dramas Kerberos saga Military science fiction World War II alternate histories