Features 776
The Deer King
By Jonathan Clements. Supposedly, life has returned to normal in the lands of Aquafa, but there are still unwelcome echoes of the past. The Empire of Zol maintains garrisons of soldiers on Aquafan territory, and plunders the nation’s riches for its own ends. But a new threat arises, fighting the Zolians on an unexpected front. […]
Books: The Unwanted Undead Adventurer
By Shelley Pallis. The trouble with Rentt Faina is that he isn’t very good at his job. He’s spent ten years wandering the ruins of a haunted dungeon, where, for reasons that defy logical explanation, a menagerie of different creatures lurk in various rooms, guarding treasure. But he’s a pretty mediocre adventurer, ever-ready to cut […]
Books: Orienting
By Jonathan Clements. “My stay here has been so short,” said Rabindranath Tagore to Japanese students in 1916, “that one may think I have not earned my right to speak to you about anything concerning your country.” Pallavi Aiyar chooses to quote him in the final chapter of her Orienting: An Indian in Japan, a […]
Anime-Lympics
By Helen McCarthy. The mascot characters of the Tokyo Olympics are Miraitowa and Someity, selected from over 2000 entries in an open competition over four years ago, and spattered over every conceivable surface, screen and item of merchandise. They even had an animated appearance, showing up in two online shorts, participating in every planned Olympic […]
The Witches of the Orient
by Jeremy Clarke. This sports documentary, just out in UK and Irish cinemas, opens with a scene from the anime short Danemon’s Monster Hunt at Shojiji (Yoshitaro Kataoka, 1935) in which the hero, trying to save the damsel in distress from the web of the evil spider witch, learns too late that the damsel is […]