In this important book, Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy present an enormous amount of information about 2,000 series and features, detailing their plots and relationships to other anime properties. In these areas, the book is definitive, and readers can only wish a comparable volume existed for American animation. The authors are less sure about non-Japanese influences (Cowboy Bebop owes more to noir detective films than to Route 66), and they focus more on storylines and the business of anime than on visuals. They don't discuss the influence of American Saturday morning TV on early anime designs (Speed Racer, the component series of Robotech) or the art nouveau styling in Revolutionary Girl Utena. The editorial evaluations are much harsher than McCarthy's The Anime Movie Guide: some of the most popular anime series in America--Tenchi, Evangelion, Ranma 1/2--receive sharp criticism. The result is a book that anime fans will either love or love to argue with. --Charles Solomon
Product Description:
Here is the long-awaited, biggest guide ever, the absolute must-have for every fan, collector, library, and video-store browser. Included are over 2,000 Japanese animation films--from today's Pokemon, Tenchi Muyo, and Sailor Moon to the classic Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy) and little-known artistic gems like the anime life of Mozart--with key personnel, running time, studio, alternate titles, cross references, critical comment, and kid-friendly ratings. The Anime Encyclopedia is the most complete guide of its kind in any language, including Japanese! Illustrated and fully indexed.
February 4th, 2005 10:59 AM
