Category: Features

February 11, 2018 · 4 comments

By Andrew Osmond. The film Princess Arete is the tale of a little girl growing up in a castle, refusing to resign herself to being married to a hunky Prince Charming. Then a sorcerer, frightened by a prophecy about the girl, effectively buys her from her father and imprisons her in his remote castle… but […]

February 8, 2018 · 0 comments

By Hugh David. The time: 1928. The place: New York. The threat: demons called Sinners. The defence: an exorcist wing of the Catholic Church, the Magdalene Order, sworn to protect the seven ‘apostles’, super-powered humans who have been appearing since the traumatic events of WWI. The only heroes who can save them are a gun-toting […]

February 5, 2018 · 0 comments

By Roxy Simons. The Shinsengumi are one of those groups in history that lend themselves to multiple depictions, especially in anime. With their bloody five-year history, indisputable sword skills, and fierce loyalty to their rulers, it’s no wonder that people want to revisit their story. A group of militia who fought and died protecting the […]

February 2, 2018 · 0 comments

By Jonathan Clements. Staking a claim for Japanese animation as one of the world’s “richest and most interesting artistic forms”, Maria Roberta Novielli’s Floating Worlds: A Short History of Japanese Animation briskly chronicles the last hundred years of the medium, from its first, scrappy screenings in 1917, through its uses in wartime propaganda, post-war artistic […]

January 30, 2018 · 0 comments

By Jasper Sharp. As January brings its usual critics’ polls, award nominations and box-office rankings, the annual statistics review by the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (Eiren) of provides us with our traditional glimpse over the trends and developments of another year. But with no domestic hard-hitters such as Your Name or a new […]