Anime Class Blog

Puchi Eva: Evangelion@School

Helen — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:09:46 +0000

Do not expect this to make sense, just check it out. 24 episodes of CG set in a high school where Hideaki Anno plays out yet more of his endless variations on Evangelion.

You might also want to have a look at Anno’s statement of intent. Am I alone in detecting a certain dissonance between aims and methods?

Free downloadable guide to Japanese film

Helen — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:56:09 +0000

Anyone interested in the wider context of anime might like to know that the Japanese cinema volume of Intellect’s Directory of World World Cinema series is available to download for free here. Editor John Berra comments: “This was never intended to be a conventional film guide, as the overall aim was always to discuss Japanese cultural life and history as expressed through the medium of film.” Sounds interesting!

Is Manga “Over” In America?

Helen — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 07:13:52 +0000

Interesting piece here from Michael Pinto on Fanboy.com on the North American manga audience. He makes some good points about the insularity of the traditional, male-dominated comic-buying audience and the new influx of women and girls drawn to graphic storytelling by manga.

Advertising and anime

Helen — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:55:16 +0000

A classic example of the way anime is being used in advertising comes in this six-minute-plus soap opera made by Gonzo to advertise Panasonic’s Globarange phone.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Helen — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:51:33 +0000

This says it all! See you in the New Year.

Anime Books of the Year

Helen — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:27:59 +0000

Jonathan Clements’ Schoolgirl Milky Crisis blog offers a list of books that ought to be on every fan’s shelf. A couple of them are his and mine, but that’s more an indictment of the state of the market than any kind of personal bias. There are more good anime books in English than there were ten years ago – but still nowhere near enough.

As English-language anime scholarship increasingly focusses on our own reactions to our own interpretations of the material, rather than the the medium and its makers, we run the risk of being so entranced with our own interiors that we vanish inside them. I know class is over (at least for this year) but you owe it to yourselves to carry on reading intelligent critical writing on anime and its history. Why settle for pointless consumption of pap when you can handle mind-expanding substances?

Crispin Freeman on Anime Mythology

Helen — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:08:38 +0000

Trailer for Crispin’s performance-presentations on YouTube here.

FREE Barbican tickets and memberships

Helen — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:00:13 +0000

If you’re aged 16-25 you can get freebies at the Barbican, home of my Japanimation seasons and hundreds of other arts events. Click here for more information – and please pass this on!

Join Live Japan and win prizes

Helen — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:33:17 +0000

A new campaign to get people living in Japan to entice others to visit has just started on the Japan National Tourist organisation website. Non-residents can enter too, and win prizes including hotel stays and tours in Japan.

Another new Studio Ghibli movie for 2010

Helen — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:25:33 +0000

Thanks to Marc Hairston for the information that the website for Karigurashi no Arriety, due in Summer 2010 from Studio Ghibli, has just opened. Based on Mary Norton’s book The Borrowers, the film will be directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi and supervised by Hayao Miyazaki.

Isao Takahata’s next movie, Taketori Monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter) is based on a traditional folktale, and is also scheduled for a 2010 release although no date has been announced. Takahata’s last movie was released in 1999.