Japan 466
Books: Puppets, Gods and Brands
By Jonathan Clements. The latest book in the Asia Pop! Series, Teri Silvio’s Puppets, Gods and Brands, is a surprising, vivacious and convincing anthropology of animation, which places animation ideals and fannish philosophies at the very centre of modern times. For Silvio, the idea of imparting life into inanimate objects – of animating them – […]
The Museum of Poo
By Andrew Osmond. Tokyo already has a Poo Building, unofficially at least. It’s the long-standing nickname for the Asahi Beer Hall at Asakasa, where the big yellow lump on top is meant to represent a frothy head of beer, but people just won’t see it that way. But now there’s a rival to the title, […]
Gundam 00
By Andrew Osmond. The first thing to stress about Gundam 00 is that newbies can most definitely start here. While it’s technically part of the venerable Gundam franchise, it’s also a “new” series, with a new world and characters. Indeed, 00 was perhaps made deliberately to draw in viewers, Japanese and foreign, who hadn’t seen […]
Ten Years of Scotland Loves Anime (Part 2)
By Jonathan Clements. After the first five years of festivals, Scotland Loves Anime opened in 2015 with a screening of Attack on Titan so packed that Glasgow required an overflow cinema. SLA risked becoming so successful that it trampled on one of its own stated aims of introducing anime to the public – so many […]
Ten Years of Scotland Loves Anime (Part 1)
By Jonathan Clements. Choose big eyes. Choose tentacles. Choose vampires. Choose ninja. Choose zombies. Choose cosplay. Choose samurai. Choose not to take whatever Disney doles out. Choose girls with guns and boys before flowers. Choose weird endings and wondering what the hell you just saw. Choose sitting in that cinema, watching the best that Japan […]