Features 591
Monkey Punch (1937-2019)
Kazuhiko Kato, who died on 11th April, always had the air about him of a man who had won the lottery. Born in Hokkaido in 1937, his knack for cartooning soon caused him to drop out of electrical engineering college and move to Tokyo, where he moonlighted as an artist, at first in the below-the-line […]
Illang: The Wolf Brigade
By Andrew Osmond. Now streaming on Netflix, Illang: The Wolf Brigade is the new cinema live-action remake of the 1999 anime Jin-roh: The Wolf Brigade. The original will be released shortly by Anime Limited, and there’s a certain neatness to a remake appearing now. The anime Jin-roh was a successor to Ghost in the Shell, […]
Books: Shojo Across Media
By Jonathan Clements. Jaqueline Berndt, Kazumi Nagaike and Fusami Ogi’s new edited collection, Shojo Across Media: Exploring ‘Girl’ Practices in Contemporary Japan is another welcome addition to the expanding shelf of books specifically about Japanese popular culture aimed at female consumers. Among the high points, Akiko Sugawa-Shimada looks at girls in anime, specifically magical girls, […]
Castlevania
By Andrew Osmond. Shock news at full moon! Warren Ellis, the comics titan who scripted the acclaimed animated version of Castlevania, has never played a Castlevania game. But before you grab your stakes and pitchforks, here’s some more news: the adult cartoon’s producer and showrunner, Adi Shankar, is a massive fan of the games. Shankar […]
K: Missing Kings
By Meghan Ellis. You might remember K Project as the best skateboarding anime that’s not actually about skateboarding. Or for its gratuitous use of stained glass backgrounds and chromatic phenomena. But since the series and its associated projects are an exploration of how to tell a story in colour, this indulgence is something we can […]