Features 555
Big Fish and Begonia
By Jonathan Clements. As a rite of passage in her own world, the teenage Chun spends a week on Earth in the form of a red dolphin. A human boy drowns while rescuing her from a net in a storm, leading the guilt-ridden Chun to swap half her lifespan with the Soul Keeper to bring […]
Ronja the Robber’s Daughter
By Andrew Osmond. Recently, I wrote a mildly provocative piece suggesting that Ghibli’s acclaimed, proudly old-fashioned filmmaking might be commercially outmoded by slicker crowd-pleasers like Your Name. In the piece, I touched on Ghibli’s roots in 1970s anime, and mentioned an institution called World Masterpiece Theatre (WMT for short). A new home release, Ronja the […]
Hyouka
By Andrew Osmond. Following the release of the acclaimed A Silent Voice this year, new anime fans may be looking at the backlist of the studio which made it, Kyoto Animation. They may be surprised to find it had a very different reputation before Voice. Its early TV serials often played with “slice of life” […]
Books: Ghost in the Shell
By Jasper Sharp. The Paramount live-action remake of Ghost in the Shell (1995) arrived with much fanfare and more than a little controversy earlier this year. Andrew Osmond’s pocket-guide companion to the anime original was initially intended to arrive in time to capitalise on its success, although for various reasons, the publication was held up […]
Interview: Satoshi Kon
Minor-league pop idol Mima ditches her girl group to become a solo artist and serious actress. When her managers push her towards sleazy “grown-up” roles, one self-styled avid fan exacts deadly retribution for the loss of her schoolgirl image, in a tense drama of suspense and murder. A fierce spotlight turned on the world of […]