Helen McCarthy 6
Revolutionary Girl Utena
By Helen McCarthy. From the first episodes of the Revolutionary Girl Utena anime series, director Kunihiko Ikuhara delivers a format packed with new ideas and a number of classic riffs. As a girl, we are told, Utena lost her parents, but remembers being comforted by a gallant prince on a white horse. The impressionable child […]
Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk
By Helen McCarthy. The Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk exhibition is impressive – so impressive that since I left the Victoria and Albert Museum I’ve worn nothing but kimono. I’m writing about it, right now, dressed entirely in kimono. Of course that’s nothing new. My crew-neck knit kimono and my straight leg Levi’s stonewash kimono are […]
Books: Armchair Tokyo
By Helen McCarthy. When you think of Tokyo, you probably think of the Tokyo of the Sunday supplement ads, with a geisha gazing wistfully over a sea of cherry blossom towards distant Fuji. If you’re of a fannish persuasion, you may envision a neon metropolis packed with frenetic activity and shopping opportunities. You’re unlikely to […]
Books: Cooking with Manga
By Helen McCarthy. Many years ago, as editor of Anime UK magazine, I started Ah Oishi!!, a regular A5 recipe card series inside the back cover. Absurdly easy recipes were presented in five or six steps through manga and anime characters, illustrated in full colour. It was one of our most successful features: make it […]
Manga Studies: Ten Books to Own
By Raz Greenberg. Following up on Andrew Osmond’s list of scholarly books on anime, the list in this post is meant to provide readers with a starting point for books about manga. On the understanding that manga does not exist in a vacuum, and that it’s also a part of the larger world of international […]