The Anime Encyclopedia, Revised & Expanded Edition: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917: Amazon.ca: Jonathan Clements, Helen McCarthy: Books

Product Description

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 --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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49 Reviews

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3.8 out of 5 stars (49 customer reviews)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Useful but greatly lacking, Dec 29 2003

By

Esteban Hernandez (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation since 1917 (Paperback)

While it may be the best and more thoroughly thought-out book about anime so far, it is not quite as relevant as one first hopes. I bought it to have a reference guide, and for this it has proven useful. It is a great tool for finding various animes by a specific directors, or, on the flip side, finding out who produced which shows. However, this is almost the extent of its usefulness.

If one is searching for a comprehensive guide to themes in anime (say the theme of reaching maturity or of encountering alien life or of the woes of war), one will be completely disappointed. The only way to search for anime is by title or producer. If one seeks factual information about anime, like which Mangas or comic strips the animes are based on, one will be disappointed. Even basic terms, plot tools, cliches, genres, and so on are completely overlooked. Japanese culture and language are apparently never consulted by the authors. All that matters to the writers is what the title of the anime was, usually the basic plot, and who made it (and in some instances influences). And that is greatly disappointing for something called an "Encyclopedia." Also, if you seek any form of information on a spin-off or a sequel series to any anime, you are at a loss-- the only references to such follow-ups (often more important or popular than the antecedent), if at all existent, are to be found only within the entries to the original released series. As if that wasn't enough, one must also sustain insult while the author shows disdain and disregard for certain animes which may happen to be some of the most popular and loved (Evangelion comes to mind).

Of course, it is a first edition. And it is already very dated, with much important anime being too recent for any real inclusion (for example, the world-shaking Spirited Away is mentioned as an upcoming Hayao Miyazaki film). Therefore, if one seeks a comprehensive guide to what anime has been out there for a while, it is a crucial and necessary book to own, but not if one seeks to understand a particular anime better, or if one has questions about anime in general. "The Anime Reference Guide" is a title better suited for this book. Definitively buy it if such a book is what you seek, but do not expect an encyclopedia.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some good info but suffers from misandric entries, May 31 2007

By

Renegade - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation since 1917 (Paperback)

Overall this book is a decent catalogue of Anime titles. It gives some general information such as the year the show/movie came out and what aliases it may go by. I have 2 issues with the book, however. The first is short and the second is long:

1) The entries range in size from a single, short paragraph to almost a full page. The details that are given out vary as well. For some Anime, all you are given is a quick, one paragraph description; barely enough to help you make a choice, if you were thinking of buying the anime, for example, and wanted more information. Other entries will go on for many columns, yet focus on things like backstories from behind the anime, and trivia *surrounding* the anime, with little detail on the show itself.

2) A few entries (like AD Police Files) really show the author's sexist, anti-male side. The author will point out anime that they consider 'misogynistic' or sexist against *women*, yet I never saw a single entry pointing out sexism against males. Like most modern culture, anime does not seem to have an issue with using male characters as punching bags and featuring violence against males as 'sexist' or stereotyping male characters. Yet the author does not feel the need to point out anti-male sexism. One anime title, Strawberry Eggs, is about a male teacher that can't get a job. The only school hiring will only hire women, so he takes on a female personae in order to get the job. Over the course of 13 episodes, he faces prejudice against males, misandry and all manner of anti-male sexism. Yet the author of this book seems to have completely missed ALL of that and instead points out that the main character is 'in drag' (which itself is an anti-male statement). In Ranma ', the fact that the when the character takes on their female side they can get away with a lot more than they can as their male side, nothing pointed out there about anti-male sexism.

Also, the author, almost *venomously* opposes anime like Ah My Goddess and Tenchi Muyo because they find the idea that a woman with divine abilities or a group of women would fall in love with a man, is ludicrous. Like most modern culture, anime has many titles in which many *male* characters are shown being love with or lusting after a single female character, yet *that* is not pointed out as being stupid.

As another reviewer pointed out: encyclopedia's are supposed to be based on facts and information. This one has *way* too much of the author's OPINION.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Informative but not too interesting, Feb 27 2003

By

Summer Bradshaw (Maine USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation since 1917 (Paperback)

If you have a fairly bad memory like me, you can't remember all the titles of anime you watched. This book was helpful to me most in that respect. I recall only a few key words of the anime title, look it up and the description is there. The descriptions aren't excellently written but they get the job done. I feel the set up could be better and that it cheated at times by summing everything up similar in title in one one big description (Like Gundam for instance).

The two great things about this book is if you find a title of the anime you must own, in the description of the anime it also has the companies name that owns the title. With a little research you could probably contact them or a distributor and recieve a copy of your show for an agreed upon fee.

The other feature is showing the book to the a friend and haughly pointing to the pages upon pages of anime you own or have seen and feel like a true god (or geek) of otaku.

I gave this book a three because it should be in your collection, even just for reference.

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