Book Reviews 5
Books: The Long Defeat
by Lee Brimmicombe-Wood. When it comes to WW2 war guilt, Germany sets the gold standard. As a nation it has accepted responsibility for the Holocaust, acted to suppress the symbols of the Nazi regime, and has made great efforts to reconcile with its neighbours. Japan seems to stand in contrast to this. Aside from a […]
Anime Studies: Ten Books To Own
By Andrew Osmond. So you love Japanese animation, and want to make yourself an expert. Of course you use Google and Wikipedia to broaden your knowledge, but web sources are reliably unreliable, especially when discussing a medium rather older than the internet. Sometimes there’s no alternative to hitting the books.
Durarara!!: Book Review
By Meghan Ellis. Durarara!! was one of my most fondly-remembered anime of 2010, so when it was announced that the original light novels were being released in English, they were a guaranteed addition to the summer reading list. Despite some mishaps (Amazon delisting it multiple times in a bid to raise fans’ blood pressure, for […]
Chinese Animation: Book Review
By Jonathan Clements. In the 13 years since I curated a season of Chinese animation at the Udine Film Festival (the programme is reprinted in Schoolgirl Milky Crisis), I still occasionally get asked about it. Producers, who fret that the Japanese mother lode has been mined out, want to know if I am sitting on […]
Running Through Beijing
By Jonathan Clements. Fresh out of prison after serving three months for a fake diploma scam, wide-boy Dunhuang falls in with the lonely, sex-starved Xiaorong, a girl who sells pirate DVDs. Unable to trace his old colleagues, off the radar among millions of illegal Beijing residents, he starts selling films on the streets, just another […]