Anime

As a concise, introductory guide to anime - or perhaps as a handy pocket-book style guide to the essentials of the medium, this book has its benefits. Divided into three sections (an intro to/history of anime, bios of key directions, and lastly a lengthy review section of must-see titles), it's easy to dip into and come away with a list of titles to add to your wish-list; and for the most part, the writers come across as knowledgeable, with plenty of recommendations to hand. It must be said, there's a satisfaction to be had in seeing many of your favourite titles included here and mentally 'checking off' all the ones you've watched so far.But unfortunately that's as far as the positives go for this guide. Concise and accessible it may be, but it's let down by some of the poorest writing I've ever seen in a published work. The majority of it feels like the kind of stuff you'd read in a student paper review-section, littered with cliches, tenuous puns and many critical verdicts boiling down to little more than some vague quip about strong characterization.Those looking for more serious, essay-level dissection of anime as a medium will come away sorely disappointed - most of the reviews here barely scratch the surface in terms of the themes and significance behind titles such as Ghost In The Shell and Akira. There's also a frustrating predisposition to writing directors' names in the Japanese ordering (ie. Kon Satoshi as opposed to Satoshi Kon) which goes against the conventions of pretty much every other bit of English language discourse on anime.For six quid or so, this isn't a bad buy to flick through over the course of a week on the commute if you're looking to expand your anime catalogue and wondering what to get. But really, this could have been so much better - every review feeling like it lacks the depth to convey even a little of the true majesty of the great works recommended in the book.