Japan 442
Erased and Re:Rewind
By Tom Smith. Nostalgia can be a beautiful thing. A blast of Tears for Fears, Backstreet Boys or The Undertones can instantly bring back memories of another time and its fashions or pop culture. It can be a big part of setting the scene and drawing in an audience for time travel stories or shows […]
Momotaro, Sacred Sailors
By Jasper Sharp. Momotaro, Sacred Sailors, a bizarre piece of wartime propaganda targeted at children, coming to UK Blu-ray over 70 years since its original theatrical release in April 1945. Sacred Sailors is a monumental work in the evolution of Japanese animation, and a testament to the dark days of modern history, funded by the […]
Wolf’s Rain
By Andrew Osmond. “There’s no such place as Paradise… but why am I so driven to find it?” asks one of four wolves, struggling to survive in a doomed, wintry human world. Despite their suspicions of each other, the four (later five) find themselves travelling together on a journey to open the gates of Paradise.
Manga Mania 1993-2000
by Chris Perkins. Not so long ago on this very blog, we recounted the history of Anime UK/FX –the UK’s first dedicated anime and manga magazine. It was soon joined on British newsstands by a rival named Manga Mania. This scrappy upstart would ultimately outlast its only competitor, and go on to run for some […]
Who is Kenji Kamiyama?
By Andrew Osmond. The name of Kenji Kamiyama, director of Napping Princess, is not as well-known to savvy mainstream critics as Miyazaki, Oshii or Satoshi Kon. One reason is that most of Kamiyama’s important work has been for television rather than cinema. But for anime fans, he’s been a big beast for fifteen years, for […]