Customer Reviews

The Anime Encyclopedia, Revised & Expanded Edition: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Firstly and most importantly, this book did not have information on many anime that are pretty popular in otaku culture, one of the most prominent examples I can recall offhand being Hellsing. There also could have been more information on the type of art used. On the other hand, the plot descriptions got a lot in little space. The evaluations of works compared to other works by the same director or comic book creator were very interesting. Unfortunately, Spirited Away had an extremely minute mention, as this book came out before it won the Oscar. Still, I feel it should have had a much larger mention, as it was another work by Miyazaki, and therefore an instant classic and record breaker in Japan. Also, this book is very controversial in the anime world, as the authors' opinions bias the reader throughout the entire book. Fortunately, these opinions are kept in separate paragraphs from the plot descriptions. This book, despite all of it's faults, is still a must-have for any otaku, as it is the most complete literary reference material in the anime world as of yet, with over 2000 entries.

This is the only one of my college text books that I hung onto last year when it was all over. Why? Because i love it so much. It has something contentious or fascinating to say about most of the anime in the world, and it draws the most incredible links; the authors really know their film, TV and popular culture references, which is a refreshing change from certain other authorities, who have either watched no anime at all, or nothing *but* anime. Either way Clements and McCarthy beat them all. Before this book, anime was a wasteland.

How did this one pass me by for so long? I'm used to tiny thin books on anime that call themselves "The Complete..." or "The Series Bible of..." or "The Encyclopedia of..." even though they only have a few dozen pages. But the Anime Encyclopedia is truly, truly massive, and packed with information. I was lost in it for hours, first looking up the stuff I already knew, and then wandering through the cross-references. With 2000 entries that link everything from kabuki to pandas, it is truly encyclopedic. A must-have for the shelf of any serious anime fan.

A great job in information on anime shows, but it does give the author's opinions on the shows (like when a movie critic gives their opinion on a movie, they are not always to a person's liking). Which helps sometimes, but when you have already seen the show, it may conflict with your own thoughts. Also with it being from 2001, times have changed and some of the information is not up to date. It does help to know what happened to some of the shows you liked, but did not get finished. The small pictures included on some shows are also a nice touch.

I do belive that the other reviews of this book only looked through it a little bit, it took me a few months but i read every single entry. and as far as giving a far synapsis of everything it does a good job. also it often tells of a history of the show, such as Robotech, or why its hard to see all of lupin the 3rd. the book is up-to-date as far as early 2001, including "Metropolis" entires and a little about "spirited away". it is also well cross-referanced if u want to see what other works ur fav series and movie creators have. if u want a quick overview (relitive to actually watching all this), or just a referance for something ur thinking about watching, definatly a good buy for the devoted anime fan.

This is the book I've been waiting for. It's more than just an encyclopaedia of Japanese animation, because it links Japanese animation to films, books and comics, demonstrating how anime is such a central and vital part of the entertainment world in the Far East. It's great fun to browse, and has bilingual indices so looking stuff up by Japanese or English title is completely foolproof. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in anime, animation or Japan, and with over 2000 entries, it will take you literally years to get through all it has to offer.

Opinions are often sadly lacking in an anime fandom reared on the saccharine hype of feckless distributors, and the toothless puffery of Newtype and Animerica. It is thus with great relief that I found the Anime Encyclopedia: a book that is not shy in sifting the good anime from the bad, though it does rattle the cages of those fans who like to believe that all anime are perfect. A mandatory purchase for any school library seeking to keep abreast of the times and liable to create some healthy playground debates on the nature of quality. I note with interest the authors' willingness not only to receive corrections from readers, but also to make alterations -- copies on the market now seem to be second printings with several corrections, now that's what I call aftercare.