Monday, August 20, 2007

Astro Boy Essays and Anime Encyclopedia in the Japan Times

Stone Bridge Press is all over yesterday's Japan Times: Patrick Macias, co-author, with Tomohiro Machiyama, of Cruising the Anime City (Stone Bridge Press, 2004), and now editor in chief of Otaku USA, reviews The Anime Encyclopedia, Revised and Expanded Edition, by Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy, and Tim Hornyak, author of Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots, takes on The Astro Boy Essays by Frederik L. Schodt.

Macias on The Anime Encyclopedia:
Like its predecessor, it is destined to become the sort of book fans like myself will wind up in a long and drawn-out relationship with....The strength of the
Anime Encyclopedia is a lot like the strength of anime itself--the sheer overwhelming diversity of the subject matter it explores. One way or another, it's all here...
(read the whole review)

Hornyak on The Astro Boy Essays:
Meticulously researched....Using one of Tezuka's most famous characters as a prism to view the man, this is a unique, engaging work that no one else could have written, peppered with anecdotes....Schodt, despite being a fan of Tezuka the philosopher, is remarkably objective in analyzing his work.
(read the whole review)