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Literature about anime




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#901801



Joined: 30 Oct 2019
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 4:41 am Reply with quote
Hi people, excuse my bad english...

Im searching for some good books about history and theory of anime. Im working on a large text about Satoshi Kon for school. So anything about him would be also very usefull.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thank you very much for any help you can offer.
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Errinundra
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Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 6524
Location: Melbourne, Oz
PostPosted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 5:08 am Reply with quote
Satoshi Kon, the Illusionist, Andrew Osmond, Stone Bridge Press - would be very useful for your project

Anime: A History, Jonathon Clements, Palgrave MacMillan - most interesting when it deals with the earlier history of anime.

These three on anime theory I liked even if they didn't cover Satoshi Kon much, if at all:
Anime: A Critical Introduction, Rayna Denison, Bloomsbury Academic
Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle, Susan Napier, St Martin's Griffin
Beautiful Fighting Girl, Tamaki Saito, trans J Keith Vincent and Dawn Lawson, University of Minnesota Press
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Actar



Joined: 21 Nov 2010
Posts: 1074
Location: Singapore
PostPosted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 12:50 pm Reply with quote
Errinundra wrote:
Beautiful Fighting Girl, Tamaki Saito, trans J Keith Vincent and Dawn Lawson, University of Minnesota Press


Unless you have some background in psychology, Saito Tamaki might be a little too difficult. I highly recommend reading the summarized version that's slightly easier to digest:

Saitō, Tamaki. 2007. “Otaku sexuality.” In Robot ghosts and wired dreams: Japanese science fiction from origins to anime, ed. Christopher Bolten, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay Jr., and Takayuki Tatsumi, 222-249. University of Minnesota Press.

For academic literature that focuses on anime that you don't need to be an academic to understand, I highly recommend the Mechademia series. They are essentially journals/anthologies that feature works by many different authors in the field and should prove useful regardless of your topic.
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Jose Cruz



Joined: 20 Nov 2012
Posts: 1773
Location: South America
PostPosted: Sun Nov 03, 2019 11:31 am Reply with quote
When thinking about "anime" the first thing one should understand is that what westerners perceive as "anime" IS basically TV adaptations of manga. So to understand "anime" and it's cultural significance one has to read books on manga and not on "anime".

There is this classic book from 1983 which is the first Western book on manga culture, I think it is still is the best book in English on the whole manga/anime culture, although it is dated since it reflects how it was in the early 80s:

https://www.amazon.com/Manga-World-Japanese-Comics/dp/1568364768

Schodt's 1996 book gives a nice overview of the manga industry in the mid-1990s:

https://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-Japan-Writings-Modern-Manga-ebook/dp/B00CW0P6DC/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=schodt+manga&qid=1572799808&s=books&sr=1-6

There is also books regarding anime from the master himself, Miyazaki, this one is my favorite one:

https://www.amazon.com/Turning-Point-1997-2008-Hayao-Miyazaki/dp/1421560909/ref=sr_1_3?crid=390U2YNR97J86&keywords=miyazaki+hayao&qid=1572799927&s=books&sprefix=miyazaki%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C296&sr=1-3

By the way, western books on "anime" tend to be written by people who do not know anything about manga. As a result, they tend to be very superficial and tend to describe anime as some sort of genre of Japanese film with some characteristics, when in fact it is a much broader thing than that.

Manga is comparable in terms of scope and variety to Western Literature (and it is broader than film). Anime tends to be restricted to adaptations of the most popular manga that is aimed at younger audiences. Popular manga aimed at older audiences usually tends to be adapted into live-action which is why there are not that many anime aimed at the "mature adult" demographic.

Tamaki Saito's book is very good but it has some issues regarding its treatment of "anime". His book is about a specific small group of people which he refers to as "otaku" which are people whose sexual attraction intersects with animation/manga. His definition of otaku is different from the mainstream use of the term (which refers to any strong interest outside of work) and he does not talk that much about anime/manga in general.
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AkumaChef



Joined: 10 Jan 2019
Posts: 821
PostPosted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 10:59 am Reply with quote
Jose Cruz wrote:
When thinking about "anime" the first thing one should understand is that what westerners perceive as "anime" IS basically TV adaptations of manga. So to understand "anime" and it's cultural significance one has to read books on manga and not on "anime".


Very good point. And to add to this: if you want to study both manga and anime then you really need to study Osamu Tezuka. Not only was he hugely influential with respect to manga, but he also invented a lot of the animation techniques for anime which are still in use today. It also wouldn't be a bad idea to study Disney either, as Tezuka was known to have gotten a lot of influence from Walt Disney.
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Actar



Joined: 21 Nov 2010
Posts: 1074
Location: Singapore
PostPosted: Mon Nov 04, 2019 11:59 am Reply with quote
Okay, if you want to learn more about manga, how manga influenced the creation of anime and Osamu Tezuka, you cannot miss out on this seminal book by Marc Steinberg:

Steinberg, Marc. 2012. Anime's media mix: Franchising toys and characters in Japan. University of Minnesota Press.
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