So here’s what I had to say to Bob on this title (from a recent email):

Hey Bob,
I just got in my review copy of the Anime Encyclopedia from Stone Bridge Press, and it’s a nice volume. So nice, in fact, that I’d be more than willing to pay $30 for it — and so I will — and so if you’d like my free copy to become *your* free copy, let me know and I’ll UPS it your direction just as soon as I get around to writing the review for the site. (don’t hold your breath.) Actually, I’m thinking of doing quite a few ‘regular’ book reviews — you know, ones *without* pictures — just as soon as I find the time to read the damn books. (I’m thinking of tagging them “Snob Lit” or “On Books” — like my one On Anime post. If you can think of a snappier tag, let me know.)

We couldn’t think of a snappier tagline.

(and yes, I use emdashes and parentheses even in personal, casual emails. Apparently, I’m wired that way.)

The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917 (Expanded and Revised Edition)

Published by: Stone Bridge Press
Writers: Jonathan Clements & Helen McCarthy

892 (867) pages.
Original Language: English
Orientation: Left to right
Vintage: November 2006
Book Design & Layout: Linda Ronan

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Premise: I bet you were just thinking, while trying to make sense of the TRSI catalogue or your Netflix’s DVD recs, “Just what is this crap?” Have I got a book for you.

Synopsis:

Hm. How to summarise? How about 755 pages of anime wisdom with an 112 page index? Whether you use it as a spot-check reference, a overall guide, or a checklist, if you are watching anime regularly (even just the basic cable stuff on weekends) then you likely need to own this book. That goes triple for folks who are attempting to rent anime en masse, and some-other-multiple for those diehards who are collecting DVDs.

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Review:

Yes, there are people geekier than you. We keep blogs, with manga reviews. But even geekier than me, there are the brave souls who have compiled the Anime Encyclopedia. This brick of a book will either inspire awe and respect, or perhaps goad a few real otaku out there to send strongly worded e-mails contesting Shizuka’s characterisation as “prissy” in the Doreamon entry. (I hope to several gods that I’m just kidding about that.)

No matter which direction you’d care to attack from, they have built bulwarks of anime knowledge to deflect and distract you. Each listing will lead you to others; either from the same animation studio, or from the same American licensee, or merely those similar in style. The two authors have obviously undertaken a mission to look at everything, though they are not merely impartial observers. While there isn’t a rating system (no stars or marks here) over the course of just a handful of pages even a casual reader will pick up on an overall editorial sensibility: if it’s crap, they’ll let you know. This combination of academic thoroughness and reasonable subjectivity is a refreshing change from typical anime guides — even when I disagree with the authors’ assessment, I find I enjoy seeing their take on the anime titles in question — It is very much like reading the opinion of another fan, only without the whole spam-laden internet forum filter to wade through.

While the anime listings are the meat-and-potatoes of this title, if one were to just read the book from front cover to back then you’d find scattered here and there the real gems of this volume: the entries not of specific anime titles, but of anime concepts — beginning with the one on “Argot and Jargon,” which is not comprehensive but is certainly a good introduction to otaku slang (including the word “otaku” itself), and also topics such as “Music in Anime,” “Overseas Distribution and Piracy,” “Wartime Anime,” and the various studios and creators; from AIC to WOWOW, from ABe Yoshitoshi to Yuyama Kunihiko.

I plan to attack my copy with several shades of highlighters and a whole pack of post-it notes. There is something here for everyone, literally, from the ecchi to the classic to the stuff on weekday afternoon TV. And while a free copy was provided to me to review (soon to be Bob’s copy) as noted, I think enough of this book to pay $30 for it anyway.

Shill: This fine book is available from TRSI

** No, I don’t actually sound like that in an email, at least in my first draft. But you’d be surprised how close I get…