Product Description: Japanese animation began as home-grown entertainment. Today it's a red-hot, multimillion-dollar international cult phenomenon poised to enter the American mainstream. Thousands of anime otaku (dedicated fans) attend conventions and screenings around the country. But since anime was born in Japan, it's filled with all sorts of cultural details that are downright perplexing... unless you're Japanese or unless you've got the Anime Companion. With more that 500 glossary-style entries, this book is a complete guide to anime's distictive visual style. Included are illustrations, film citations, and numerous references to the related art of manga(Japanese comics), plus the opinionated author's rants on fandom, food, anime babes, large eyes, and sex and bloody noses.
An encyclopedia for Japanese references that appear in anime ^ This book is an encyclopedia to some of the Japanese references that appear in anime that non-Japanese audiences may not understand or be familiar with. The first actual page of the book shows icons and abbreviations used in the book, and explains what they mean. Entries in the book include buildings, structures, landmarks, clothing, culture, entertainment and games, food and drink, geographical features, history, nature, people, religion and belief, sports, and weaponry and war. Most of the entries in the book have examples from anime or manga (but many times there are examples from both). Sometimes, Poitras includes asides in the text, such as explaining national holidays, anime references in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and other topics that don't fit into the main body of the book. There are also a number of illustrations and still pictures from anime programs to help illustrate some of the entries.
One issue I had was when Poitras would include references from anime and/or manga for things that are rather well-known outside of Japan. For example, the entry for "hashi" explains that this is a word for chopsticks. Most non-Japanese know what chopsticks look like, so they really don't need to be given references in anime or manga. At first, I thought it was simply to keep the entries consistent. However, I found two entries that don't have any anime or manga references listed ("ofuda" and "ume").
My only other real issue with the book was the fact that Poitras tended to rely on a small number of anime titles to use as examples in the book. I lost track of how many times Urusei Yatsura, Maison Ikokku, Ranma 1/2, and Blue Seed were cited.
Overall, I would recommend this book to all anime fans, regardless of whether they are new fans or are long-time otaku. As I read this book, it helped me to better understand some of the Japanese references that appear in various anime properties. And for me, with this understanding came a better appreciation for some of the details that appear in anime. The Anime Companion: What's Japanese in Japanese Animation? is a worthwhile addition to anyone's anime reference library.
Great ^ This is a really great book, lots of fun to read. You'll learn a lot of interesting things about Japanese culture, but it doesn't feel like a text book or a learning book. Highly recommended.
Professionalize, please. ^ The fannish attitude expressed in the book's introduction ("go read a bestseller," you inferior being you) almost made me stop reading, as did the lame illos, "rants" about topics like breast sizes, etcetera. I was also frustrated by certain entries that told me what an item was and what anime it appeared in, but not what its cultural significance might be. (For instance, the shrub in a certain cartoons was a hydrangea. In the first place, duh. In the second place, what does that hydrangea mean? Anything? Nothing? Does this plant carry the cultural baggage of, say, cherry blossoms/sakura, or is it just set dressing?)
All gripes aside, this is a fascinating intro to Japanese culture as well as anime that could benefit from a little professionalizing to take it beyond the fanboy level, since the author obviously knows what he's talking about. I'd definitely supplement this book with Levi's Samurai From Outer Space and/or Napier's Anime: from Akira to Princess Mononoke.
This book went wrong from page 1... ^ I am glad I was not the only person on here who rated this book with less than 3 stars. As I was reading this, I was pretty disgusted, but when I got to Amazon to do my review, I was shocked to see this book had as high as a rating as it did. I did feel a little better after I read some of the reviews that shared the same concerns I had, however.
This book is not for a "veteran" anime fan, not by any means. There are many interesting tidbits of info, but it all comes in the form of a dictionary, and unless you like to sit down with your Webster's and have a good read, I suggest you pass on this book and look elsewhere for your info. All the entries are alphabetical in Japanese, which means you are going to have a hard time finding the info you want if you are indeed looking up something, unless you are pretty fluent in the language. The organization is bad and the sidebar "rants" the author has are annoying. He claims in the first "rant" that he has a right to whine all he wants in his book, but to that I say "No you don't, not when you are attempting to be professional." I'm all for fun in books, but there is a thin line between fun and immaturity, and I'm sure you can guess where this guy is. Some of the things this guy rants about are boobies, guns, boobies, guns, boobies, boobies, boobies. You get my drift? It's VERY insulting to female readers. He even talks about his ex-Asian girlfriend's breasts. Like we care!
Other problems include the author's sources...While he claimed he was limited because of the only 100 or so titles he had available to him at the time, he pretty much refered to the same 6 anime titles when he did his entries, and 90% of those references were Rumiko Takahashi references. I don't like Rumiko Takahashi's art or stories at all, but even her fans are complanining in their reviews that enough is enough and that there are many other talented manga artists and animes this guy could pull references from. If you are not a fan of Takahashi or have never seen her work, how are you supposed to know what these things are or where they came from?
Yet ANOTHER problem are the pictures and artwork for this book...you may have noticed the cover is very ugly, it looks like some bad fanart laminated, the inside illustrations are the same way, and the screencaps that you do get to see are black and white and blurry. Over all, this is terrible design, and I cannot understand how the editor let this pass through his hands without gagging.
This book only further progresses the bad anime fan stereotype. The author talks about how anime fans are loud, like to complain, and obnoxious, among other things. He whines that "dubs suck lol, subs forever!". We know that there aren't a lot of good dubs out there, but if you are writing a reference book about anime and anime in the United States, you can't be a snob and only focus on subtitled shows. I know a lot of fans who appreciate both. He also constantly uses the word "Otaku" to describe himself and other anime fans...this is a very derogatory word used by the Japanese, and any true fan would be nuts to go around calling themselves that. If you have any respect for yourself or your anime hobby, you won't take this book very seriously, or better yet, you won't read it. I wouldn't even read it again if someone handed it to me off the street for free.
Don't buy this book, don't buy the second edition, and don't encourage this guy to write ANYMORE!
Gives translations/blurbs of Japanese language and customs ^ It's not bad for what it is, which is a concise and playful alphabetical listing of Japanese terms and customs that one might come across in Anime. But the blurbs are all very short, so if you're looking for deep essays on Japanese or Anime culture, look elsewhere. In other words, if you want a scholarly analysis of the Anime art style, portrayal of women, attitude toward sex or violence, etc., this book will NOT be of much value. However, it does have informative blurbs on Japanese holidays, foods, cram school, hygiene, school-girl uniforms, etc. (The better Fansubs out there usually provide crucial cultural information when it is needed, but this book can help to fill in the gaps a little further.) It also has some interesting tidbits on the more peculiar aspects of Anime, such as the preoccupation with panties, nosebleeds, and intergenerational romance. But don't expect anything in the way of real analysis or critique. You won't find it.
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