Author: Jonathan Clements

October 24, 2017 · 0 comments

By Jonathan Clements. When the first edition of The Anime Encyclopedia was published in 2001, the early days of Japanese animation were murky and ill-defined, a matter largely of hearsay and rumour. In the years since, the ongoing digital ingestion of archival materials has thrown increasing amounts of light on the period, and Frederick Litten’s […]

October 23, 2017 · 0 comments

By Roxy Simons. The Sakurada family aren’t exactly what you’d call a typical royal family. Blessed with supernatural abilities, the nine children are determined to live normal lives, well… as normal as you can expect it when they’re constantly on camera or campaigning to win the throne through a public election. It’s not easy to […]

October 20, 2017 · 1 comment

By Roxy Simons. In the ruthless city of Ergastulum chaos reigns, violence and money are the only languages that its inhabitants speak, and an underlying tension between “Normals” and enhanced beings known as “Twilights” bubbles under the surface. Alex Benedetto, a prostitute who’s being abused by her pimp, is our eyes and ears in this […]

October 17, 2017 · 0 comments

by Jeremy Clarke. Getting Any? (1995) is Takeshi Kitano’s sex comedy, made around the time he was being feted in the UK as the maker of hardboiled yakuza and more lyrical arthouse movies. It didn’t fit the perception of him at the time and never got a UK theatrical release. However, it remains a fascinating […]

October 14, 2017 · 0 comments

By Jonathan Clements. Alexander Zahlten’s new book begins with an entertainingly awkward scene at the Tokyo premiere of Akira Kurosawa’s Kagemusha, when a photo opportunity went horribly wrong. Big-name producer Haruki Kadokawa came over to shake Kurosawa’s hand, but the superstar director turned away and refused to speak to him. Kadokawa had transformed Japanese cinema, […]