Anime Explosion!: The What? Why? and Wow! of Japanese Animation, Revised and Updated Edition

I read this as part of the research for my own book in progress about anime. I found this book particularly valuable for the author's ability to connect a wide variety of anime to each other, as well as to history, culture, religion, literature, music, and so on. Knowledge of the Japanese language also comes through in Drazen's ability to explain puns and jokes that would otherwise be missed by an English-only audience. I found a great deal that could help inform my own book. I recommend it strongly to anyone looking to learn more about anime.

I could not stop reading this! It was so much fun and so interesting. I hope to read more of Patrick Drazen's works and learn even more about anime.

Nothing really here that is surprising or different. I suppose it is good information to somebody with no knowledge of the medium.

Which I guess can be said about many of the general works available on anime, most of which seem to date from more or less the year 2000, back when the medium was still a "phenomenon". As another Amazon customer reviewing a similar work has noted, much of this information is available online. Still, if you're new to Japanimation, this is a fairly well-done work with a wealth of basic facts. Bear in mind that , as you would suspect, the insights given are based on the author's own perspective. So such notions as, for instance, anime just wouldn't be anime if you removed the oft-present T&A content are debatable (Studio Ghibli seems to be unaware of the need for "fan service", and yet they are very much the 800 pound gorilla of the US anime market). Again, worthwhile as a work on where anime has come from, not as useful for ideas as to where the medium is going.

A wonderful, easy to read introduction to a popular artform. I use it I my class and the students love it.

Great read. Had to buy for an online class.

Thank you! I love this book. It came in great condition.

It was for school.

das buch behandelt themengeleitet animespezifische phänomene einerseits und konkrete serien und filme andererseits. die themen sind sehr unterschiedlich und reichen von der spiritualität, religion, wiedergeburt bis zur nackheit, sexualität und der rolle der japanischen mutter im anime. neben den epen 'escaflowne' und 'evangelion' werden die kommerziell sehr erfolgreichen serien 'sailor moon' und 'pokemon', sowie studio- bzw. regisseurbezogene produktionen von ghibli/hayao miyazaki oder masamune shirow erläutert. sehr lesenswert für interessierte laien, aber auch für wissenschaftliche recherchen geeignet.