Created in 1987, the Kerberos Saga spans several installments and works, including live action and anime feature films, manga, novels, radio dramas, soundtrack albums, and monographs, as well as diverse merchandise ranging from garage kit model figures to clothing to even Kerberos-branded bottles of wine.
A defining feature of the saga is its dystopian dieselpunk aesthetic and the "Protect Gears", Wehrmacht-inspired powered exoskeletons worn by members of the Special Armed Garrison, which were designed by Izubuchi.
The saga can be divided into two "story arcs": the "Kerberos arc", the main story that follows the Special Armed Garrison and the organizational politics and interservice rivalries that affect it, as well as the unit's downfall and the aftermath of the few surviving members; and the "Tachiguishi arc", a spin-off largely set in the same universe that follow the tachiguishi ("fast food grifters"), con artists associated with tachigui (立ち食い, "eating while standing up"), a type of Japanese fast-food restaurant or style of eating where patrons stand as opposed to sitting that, in the saga's universe, have been made illegal.
These advances allow Germany to defeat the Allies, most prominently the Soviet Union by using the Protect Gears during the Battle of Stalingrad, and Japan through the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
However, the 20 July plot, when Claus von Stauffenberg attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a bomb during a meeting in 1944 (a failure in real life), succeeds, leading to a complete purge of Nazism from the German Reich and the restoration of the Weimar Republic, though authoritarianism remains dominant.
The Metropolitan Police and Kerberos succeed in countering and defeating Japan's anti-government terrorist groups, forcing them to merge under a single movement called "the Sect".
Most works in the saga follow members of the Metropolitan Police and the Special Armed Garrison, major protagonists from these factions including Koichi Todome, Washio Midori, Soichiro Toribe, Toru Inui, and Kazuki Fuse.
Characters from Oshii's other works make occasional guest appearances and cameos, such as tachiguishi or Detective Takahiro Matsui from the Patlabor franchise.
Junkyards are also recurring locations in the final scenes of works such as Kerberos Panzer Cop and Jin-Roh, commonly associated with death or the end of some sort of era.
In 2006, to celebrate the Kerberos Saga's 20th anniversary (the production of The Red Spectacles and While Waiting for the Red Spectacles began in 1986):[4] In 2010, to celebrate approximately 20 years since the release of the Kerberos Panzer Cop Original Edition volume compilation in 1990, publisher Gakken released a collector boxset titled Kerberos Panzer Cop a Revision: 20th edition (犬狼伝説 20周年エディション), a digitally refined and corrected reissue of the entire manga re-illustrated by original manga illustrator Kamui Fujiwara, alongside a special pamphlet and a Revoltech Protect Gear model figure.
A manga series adaptation, Kerberos Panzer Cop (Kenrou densetsu) started the following year and was compiled as a single volume (Acts 1~4) in 1990.
The following year was released StrayDog: Kerberos Panzer Cops (ケルベロス 地獄の番犬, Keruberosu jigoku no banken), the first theatrical adaptation of the manga.
Tachigui: The Amazing Lives of the Fast Food Grifters (立喰師外伝, Tachiguishi retsuden), an animation feature spin-off, was released in theaters and DVD in 2006.
The following year, the video was edited and projected as an official trailer at Mamoru Oshii's Kerberos Panzer Jäger launch party and Kishita joined Production I.G's 3DCG team.