Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Anime Encyclopedia A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917 by Jonathan Clements The Anime Encyclopedia A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917. This long-awaited, fully detailed and updated guide to Japanese animation since 1917 is required reading for every fan, collector and moviegoer! Covering more than 80 years of anime history and over 3,000 titles, the authors show how the anime universe has influenced creative cultures far beyond its native Japanese shores. The anime scene has exploded into pop culture throughout the West, coming out of the peripheral world of comic-conventions and “otaku” obsession to become a mainstream phenomenon. All you ever wanted to know, The Anime Encyclopedia is the definitive, up-to-the- minute guide for Anime and Manga fans and the absolute authority on anime! Specifications. 27 April 2007 (UK) 228mm x 178mm (UK) Copyright © 2021 Text © 2007 Muramasa Industries Ltd. and Helen McCarthy. Original illustrations © 2007 Steve Kyte. Cover image: Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atom) © Tezuka Productions Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved.; used by permission. Pages 386, 539: Artwork from the series Macross and Robotech courtesy of Harmony Gold USA, Inc., © 1985 Harmony Gold USA, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Book design by Linda Ronan. All Rights Reserved. The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917 by Jonathan Clements. Animefringe Reviews: The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917 By Ridwan Khan. Creating an encyclopedia for something as vast as Japanese animation seems, at best, an exercise in obsession. Japan is the world's largest creator of animation, with lineage tracing back, according to the text, as far as 1917. Thus, Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy embark on a never- ending journey, with The Anime Encyclopedia . The Anime Encyclopedia should have been have been given the more accurate (though less grand) title of The Anime Buyer's Guide ; the text is mostly geared towards the Western anime scene, in choice selection and in presentation. In addition, the text makes a lot of value judgments within its entries. In presentation, The Anime Encyclopedia lists titles by their most common Western release name (i.e., Tonari no Totoro is listed under My Neighbor Totoro ). This can be confusing for those of us familiar with Japanese titles (I couldn't find Laputa: Castle in the Sky looking under Laputa, or Raputa. I ended up stumbling across it as Castle in the Sky ). Perhaps unreasonable in the print medium, the book would have benefited from cross-references (Finding under the entry for Tonari no Totoro "See My Neighbor Totoro ). The book also uses the initially disconcerting "alphabetize-by-word" system of order. Despite this, it is relatively easy to find entries. (For me, Laputa was the most difficult entry). The book's back cover blurb purports that the text boasts over 2,000 titles. I don't doubt this one bit. The book is exhaustive, especially with "modern" anime (defined as those titles released from 1979 forward). For the most part, earlier anime is covered in two large entries, "Early Anime" and "War-time Anime." With modern anime, the only title that I know of that I could see missing from the text was the early 90s Yu Yu Hakusho recently broadcast on The Cartoon Network. In fact, the book covers a number of anime released in the U.S. during the 80s and 90s (which I, when I was a kid, assumed were American, including The Nozzles and the delicious Manxmouse ). After reading a few entries it is easy to spot a bias; in this text, that covers such diverse titles as The Rapeman and Hello Kitty , it is apparent that the authors sincerely dislike hentai anime; it seems that the pornographic titles are included for completeness's sake (or, additionally, as a warning). Not that I don't agree with the authors - much of the disgust McCarthy and Clements exhibit is probably more reflective of hentai itself. This text could have taken two paths; one of a straight compendium of anime, without personal bias, or this, much more useful opinionated text. The largest entries in the book tend to go to the fan favorites; Gundam , Urusei Yatsura , Ranma 1/2 , and Macross , for example. The length of the particular series (longer TV series tend to get longer entries) and the impact of the series tend to dictate how much coverage a series gets; though seemingly important details of some series' histories get the axe, presumably in the name of succinctness. The official cut off date for entries was 2000, many series from 2001 are added (usually with just a vague plot summary). The entries themselves consist of lists titles, important creators, and whether there is a legal English release. The entries summarize the plot, offer an opinion, and often discuss points of interest, including similar anime or historical roots. Icons indicating the presence of bad language, nudity, and violence follow each entry. For many, including librarians, parents, and club leaders, this is potentially a very useful at-a-glance feature. For a fan of anime, The Anime Encyclopedia is hard to put down. It's great for just flipping through, or jumping from entry to entry. I ended up reading most of the book in going from one entry to another, seeing what the authors had thought of my favorite series. The book would benefit from a few changes. The entries for Early and Wartime Anime would be better presented as a preface to the dictionary. Though the book has many pictured sidebars, it could stand far more pictures. For any anime fan, The Anime Encyclopedia is a solid investment. Even when you're done reading through the text, it is extremely useful for finding out about other series. As I mentioned before, anyone involved in showing anime to others (club leaders, librarians, and parents) needs to have a copy of this book. McCarthy and Clements have created a great text in this book, and the second edition can only be better. The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917 by Jonathan Clements. The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917 is a book by Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy. The book was originally published in 2001, and a "Revised & Expanded Edition" was released in 2006. This review focuses on the "Revised & Expanded Edition." The book claims to have over 3,000 entries for shows, studios, creators, and anime history. It also claims the book is aimed at both "newcomers and battle-hardened otaku." By the time I finished reading this book, however, I wasn't truly convinced that this book is either for newcomers or "battle-hardened otaku." The biggest issue I had was the number of mistakes I found in this book for the properties that I'm familiar with. While I don't expect a book of this nature to be 100% accurate, I was astonished by just how many errors I found. Considering I know only a small number of properties that are included in the book, this is actually a rather high error ratio. And if this error ratio were to remain constant throughout the whole text, then that would mean there are a lot of errors in this book. The worst error I found was the entry for the Fruits Basket anime series. For one thing, the Chinese Zodiac curse is never mentioned at all in the writeup; in fact, the authors of the book claim the Sohmas are "sorcerers and shape shifters" in order to explain how the characters can change into animals. This made me wonder if the authors actually watched some of the show, and if they did, how much attention did they pay to it? Another big error is in the entry for Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem , where the authors incorrectly state that the Crescendolls are rescued by a female pilot (when, in the anime, the pilot character is very obviously male). If I'm finding these kinds of blatant errors in properties I'm familiar with, then how many other major errors are included in the book? Another issue I had with the book is that the authors insisted on using the titles that the properties were released under in the United States, rather than English translations of the Japanese titles. As a couple of examples, you can only find Space Battleship Yamato under Star Blazers , and you can only find Yu Yu Hakusho under Poltergeist Report . Also, when writing the descriptions for the properties, the authors tended to talk about the American version first, and then explain the differences between the English and the Japanese versions. As this is supposed to be a guide for Japanese animation, the authors definitely show more of a bias toward the English versions. I also had problems with how inconsistently the authors handled some things. The biggest gripe I had with inconsistency comes with how they treated shows that were popular in the United States that were comprised of more than one show. In the book, you can find separate entries for Robotech , Macross , Southern Cross , and Mospeada . However, for Voltron , there are not separate entries for Beast King GoLion or Dairugger XV . This encyclopedia is also filled with quite a few snarky comments. The worst case of the snarkiness is the entry for Pure Love , where the entire description of the property is a snarky comment. While the snarky comments can be amusing at times, I felt they were overused by the authors. When reading the book, it felt as if the authors tried early on to be level-handed, but as they got further into the book, they started showing their biases more and more, which is illustrated by the fact that the amount of snarky comments goes up as the book progresses. Sometimes with their snarky comments, the authors came across with a kind of elitist attitude. Overall, the authors did a decent job with the historical aspects of anime. However, I do have to complain that in the section about "Censorship and Localization," they never mentioned the editing of innocuous Japanese references from properties that was rather prevalent in the 1980s (such as calling rice balls other kinds of food if they appear in a shot, and cutting away from Japanese text as quickly as possible). While I may have a number of issues with The Anime Encyclopedia , I have to say that its most redeeming value is that it provides titles for various anime shows and how they inter-relate. However, I'm not sure that this book in and of itself is worth the money it takes to purchase it. In this day and age of the Internet, you are more likely to find more information (not to mention more accurate information) on the fanpages for the various anime properties included in this book. Before putting down any money to purchase The Anime Encyclopedia , try to locate a copy through your local library first and sample it that way. In order to write this review, I checked out a copy of this book through the King County Library System. Content copyright © 2021 by Lesley Aeschliman. All rights reserved. This content was written by Lesley Aeschliman. If you wish to use this content in any manner, you need written permission. Contact BellaOnline Administration for details. The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide To Japanese Animation Since 1917 by Jonathan Clements and Helem McCarthy. The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide To Japanese Animation Since 1917 by Jonathan Clements and Helem McCarthy. Vandemar. The Anime Encyclopedia sets a lofty goal: chronicling everything in Japanese animation since 1917 (obviously). Those who pick it up expecting a narrative, though, are going to be disappointed. Just like the name implies, this is a reference work. It’s an alphabetical listing of just about everything you can think of in anime between 1917 and 2001 (the last edition, sadly). While it is in need of a major update to chronicle the explosion of the last four years, this book is invaluable to anyone getting into the genre. It’s not a pretty or flashy book by any means. There are screencaps from some of the series chronicled, pushed in little sidebars as a half-hearted sop to the “pictures=reading” crowd, but they’re in black and white and a Google Image Search will find you better ones in a second. Where this encyclopedia excels is in the text. Page after page of glorious text, with everything you could want to know about everything. It’s mind boggling when you consider the effort they went through to develop this. Not only can you find just about everything, there’s a good- sized paragraph under most entries giving a summary of the plot and some interesting tidbits, enough to decide whether or not you want to see the series or movie. It’s an insane arrangement of trivia, one that inspires visions of the creators locked away in a dark tower, going through lost tomes and studying the artifacts of ancient anime civilizations. While the book isn’t shiny and full of pictures, the Anime Encyclopedia is insanely readable. It’s one of those rare gems where you can pick it up, flip it to any given page, and find something worth reading. While I wouldn’t attempt a head-on straight readthrough, it is a volume that will live on my desk, so I can pick it up and find what I want to watch. The studio index in the back will prove useful to those otaku who follow particular groups and those of us who like to browse will find plenty of points of interest. Ultimately, I wouldn’t hand this to someone new to the genre, lest their head explode from information overload. As a desk reference for the experienced fan, or as a cheat for the budding otaku determined to make obscure references with the best of them, or just for those with a strong interest in anime, this is as perfectly portable a desk reference as you’re going to get outside of a CD ROM. It is in dire need of an update, but even as it stands, it is a collection of useful information from anime’s past. The Anime Encyclopedia, Revised & Expanded Edition : A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917. Bigger and better! Our first edition rocked the anime world with its in-depth entries on anime famous and obscure and its superb index/film finder. Now this fantastic book is 40 percent larger—with all-new entries on hundreds of anime released after 2001, updates on older entries, and over fifty thousand words on anime creators (like Tezuka and Otomo) and genres (“Early Anime,” “Science Fiction and Robots,” etc.). An absolute must-have for every anime shelf! "If I only had space on my overcrowded shelf for one book on anime, this would be it. If I had no space on my shelf I'd select two books at random and drop them into the bin, just to make room-- it's that indispensable."-- Paul Jacques, Anime on DVD. "While you may not agree with their opinons on a given anime, they are informative and entertaining, especially when skewering a really bad anime." -- Frames Per Second.