Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #485047 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 592 pages

From Amazon.com
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

From Library Journal

From the first examples in 1917 to today's feature-length animated masterpieces like Princess Mononoke, Japanese animation (or anime) has drawn a devoted international fan base. For quite some time, these enthusiasts have needed an all-encompassing, detail-oriented reference work. Fortunately, Clements and McCarthy, who coedited The Erotic Anime Movie Guide and have an outstanding history in anime indexing, translation, and criticism, are just the folks to carry it off. Choosing the best examples from a field that was about twice the final number of entries, the authors review and detail more than 2000 anime films and TV series. Each entry includes a short synopsis, commentary, details about key creative personnel, and evaluation of the work's significance. Over 100 illustrations representing major releases are sprinkled throughout. Other notable features include a selective bibliography, a name/studio index, and a title index that makes it easy to go right to the vital information about a particular example. The end product is a huge, exhaustive, timely, and authoritative compendium of information that will be appreciated by anime experts and neophytes alike. Recommended for all libraries and essential for film and media collections. David M. Lisa, Wayne P.L., NJ

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The most comprehensive guide to Japanese anime film now has more than 3,000 entries. Most cover titles, studios, and creators, but there are also 28 entries for themes such as Fantasy and fairy tales and Puppetry and stop-motion. Title entries include information on English-language releases, formats and running times, and "as many crew members as space allowed" in addition to plot outline and critical commentary. A rating system warns parents of films they may not wish their children to see. The fact that there are only around 150 black-and-white illustrations may disappoint some fans.

Mary Ellen Quinn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved