Selected Book
Anime Explosion! The What? Why? & Wow! of Japanese Animation
- Paperback
- Author: Patrick Drazen
- Publisher: Stone Bridge Press
- Release Date: October 2002
- ISBN-10: 1880656728
- ISBN-13: 9781880656723
- List Price: $18.95
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummarySuddenly anime is . . . exploding. But where did Japanese animation come from, and what does it all mean? Written for fans, culture watchers, and perplexed outsiders, this is an engaging tour of the anime megaverse, from older arts and manga traditions to the works of modern directors like Miyazaki and Otomo. Read about anime standbys like giant robots, samurai, furry beasts, high school heroines, and gay/girl/fanboy love—even war and reincarnation, plus all of anime’s major themes, styles, and conventions. At the end of the book are essays on 15 of fandom’s favorite anime, including Evangelion, Esca-flowne, Sailor Moon, and Patlabor. Patrick Drazen holds a Master of Arts degree and lives in Chicago, Illinois, where he writes and lectures on Japanese pop culture. |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Anime Explosion: Anime in a very larg nutshell
Rating:
This is the most comprehensive and insightful book on anime that I have thus far come across. Drazen's understanding and explanation of the japanese cultural background, the conventions and traditions that make anime what it is, makes this a must read for anyone who wants to understand this medium, both the otaku and the generally curious. Drazen's knowledge of specific texts, both (in)famous and obscure also boasts a wide breadth. In regard to anime, this is a must read text.
Good first book
Rating:
Drazen has written a good, introductory book on anime. As such, it doesn't do a spectacular job on anything, but it covers most of the bases well. In general it treats the movies as art and covers sociology and culture only sparingly.
This book should be read by people who are new to anime and have limited experience with it. For newbies it does a good job of giving them a handle on the genre so they can look an anime with some idea of what's going on. People with a stronger background in the field will probably be bored and likely to nitpick the book to death. In particular some of the generalizations are likely to annoy anyone with a serious background in anime.
Anime Guide
Rating:
Anime has gone mainstream. Or, rather, it has gone everywhere. Ten years ago or so the number of people outside of Japan who even knew what anime was was limited to a small but devoted number of maniacal fans. From Hayao Miyazaki to Osamu Tezuka, today anime is everywhere in the US and Europe, and increasingly popular in China and Asia. But where did Japanese animation come from, and what does it all mean? Cultural commentator Patrick Drazen has written a concise, witty, and lively guide for fans, those with a general interest in Japan, and even for those who have only the vaguest idea of what this omnipresent phenomenon really means and is. Drazen leads the reader through the characters and themes, styles and conventions, in a highly readable style.
Some of the major themes include: warriors, teenage girls, hardcore, the Japanese mother, nature, reincarnation, and more. The text also includes over 100 pictures. Moreover, at the end of the book are essays on 15 classic anime. This book is useful not only as a reference to Anime, but also as an insightful guide to contemporary Japanese culture. Last, there is a brilliant essay on Hayao Miyazaki and his organization. A great read.
An effort, though not necessarily admirable.
Rating:
I ordered this book as a resource for a paper I wrote in school, and I found a number of glaring problems with it. I admire Patrick Drazen in his effort to create an informative book on the subject of anime, but I cannot laud him for it.
1. Much of the information on individual series seems to be incorrect. Perhaps Drazen is offering his interpretation of the events in those series, but overall, it seems that he watched some of them from the corner of his eye while writing the book.
2. There are some major grammatical errors in this book. While not everyone's perfect, it is a seemingly professional publication, and these errors lead me to believe that the author didn't have anyone read over his material to check for errors or inconsistencies, at least not anyone who cared about his book being accurate in any respect.
3. Drazen offers a lot of material, but very rigidly from his own point of view. The book is obviously from a male perspective (which may attribute to his inconsistencies in the descriptions of some of the more girly shoujo titles of anime, but still doesn't account for his errors in the rest); Drazen also sticks to what he likes, giving a sort of authorial sneer to any series mentioned that wasn't in his immediate favorites.
Overall this book is very poor for accurate, unbiased information on the subject of anime. I hate to say so because I don't know of any book that isn't. I think Drazen would have done much better to have collaborated, and certainly to have passed the manuscript around to some of his informed buddies. Did no one catch on to the outstanding errors before this was published?
Better luck next time, authors on anime.
Too much detail and generalziation
Rating:
The book is fair quality. Drazen has a point of view and follows it to the end. Two problems are noted, 1) his history references need to be more varied (keeps quoting one source), 2) oversimplification of some basic facts of Japanese culture/religion. Be prepared for alot of manga reference in addtion to anime material. Also half the book is reviews of Anime.
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