Anime Books

Finding decent reviews of older anime with a current (2007) understanding of the art is hard to do. This book covers 100 of the better anime of the entire genre.
The guide to some of the older anime is excellent for filling in ones understanding of anime history. The older choices are excellent examples and can lead to new viewing discoveries. Highly recommended. Lacks five stars just because it is limited to only 100!

Anime Intersections is the newest of a number of academic texts which examine the social and cultural aspects of Japanese animation. A wide variety of material is analyzed and discussed, and the conclusions reached by the author are apt and thought provoking. The works discussed in the book are exclusively chosen from the post-Evangelion period, are all by well known directors (Oshii, Kon, Anno, Miyazaki), and are all readily available in international releases.

I have given the book a four star rating instead of five because there is not a sentence in the book whose length is not inflated by at least two words beyond what is needed, and the clarity of the exposition suffers as a result.

SSU3 is a nice conclusion to this series though the mangka does have a postscript, which says there might be more to the series with different main characters. Sigh, no more Hajisume (sp changes in all the volumes) or Misonoi. There are several explicit scenes with them. We do get to see a little more emotion in Hajisume, not just a "come on lets do it" mantra. Which there's nothing wrong with that, it is smut after all. Over all I do recommend getting this manga and I look forward to this author's future works.

This isn't some kind of forever going in-depth kind of story. It's a quick one-shot book, that's an easy read, and somewhat entertaining story.
Koromo-chan is a high school student, but when the dress-code rules are uplifted, she's free to wear what her heart desires, from the traditional maid costume(she claims is her "regular" clothes) to those "can-can bunny" costumes that don't exactly say a lot about your character, Koromo-chan's got it all. Of course, it helps that her best friend loves to make the costumes for Koromo, and that another student loves to take pictures of Koromo doing her cosplay thing.
That's basically it. There's not THAT much plot, and it doesn't make your brain hurt from the intricate detailing of the story. This is more of those one-shot, "I feel like reading a book that's short." things. It's rated 13+ for some swimsuit pictures, hot springs pictures in the table of contents, and some language.

Pros: Short and sweet; Doesn't go on forever; Koromo-chan and the other characters are somewhat likeable; Cosplayers will get a kick out of this.

Cons: Perhaps a bit too short; Some people not like the total "Plot? What plot?" environment that this manga thrives in.

Overall, if you like shoujo manga that has very little plot to it, and you just want a quick read, pick up "Cosplay Koromo-chan!"

GURPS is well known for its flexible and seemingly limitless possibilities for plots and adventures. GURPS Mecha is a refreshing alternative to the standard "party in a dungeon fighting monsters" RPG setting. If you're a fan of Starship Troopers, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, or such anime as Robotech, Mobile Suit Gundam, or Neon Genesis Evanglion, you will enjoy this genre of play. Be battlesuit-wearing warriors or control 200,000 pound mechs to crush your enemies. If you are a beginner, this book is easy to understand and takes you through the process of constructing your mechs and characters step by step. If you are a more advanced player, it shouldn't take you long to pick up the pace. The book covers some very innovative and fascinating character backgrounds, plot ideas, and extras (read the Bonded Mecha advantage and you will see what I mean). The potential for roleplay is great as well. You can play your characters in a classic anime style, or in a dramatic Hollywood manner. Okay, here's the bad part. First of all, you need to have the GURPS Basic Set. You knew that, right? Well, to fully enjoy your roleplaying experience I recommend getting GURPS Compendium I, GURPS Vehicles, and GURPS Ultra Tech/Ultra Tech 2. GURPS Compendium I allows for characters more suited for your campaign, and it is practically a staple for GURPS campaigns (you may have it already). GURPS Vehicles lets you have more elaborate Mecha designs, and GURPS Ultra Tech gives you a large variety of weaponry and technology. Basically, if you are looking for a refreshing change of pace in you role playing experience, I recommend picking up GURPS Mecha.

It's not my new favorite. and it took me a while to get into it but once i did i really enjoyed it. It's basically a difficult romance but having been in love with an older man it's a story i can relate too. Actually, i too was in love with one of my teachers and i married someone 7 years older than me. so it's actually pretty realistic.

And it's not that the plot is anything new..but it's the excecution that makes it worth while. And though i don't find the main character to be cute or even kind of attractive i like her personality as well the male lead.

I can sense all the impending drama and misunderstandings to follow and i can't wait!!!

When you hear about someone "coming out of the closet", if you're like me, you're automatically thinking about Tom Cruise. But maybe that's just me. 18-year-old high schooler Enatsu Sota is a closet Otaku and he's always afraid of someone at school finding out about his secret obsession with the dog eared little girl anime character Papico. You see, Sota is the opposite of the stereotyped otaku we all know and love. He's not fat and smelly or bespectacled. Sota is popular at school, athletic, and he even has a girlfriend named Eri! And no, even she doesn't know his secret. His closely guarded secret life begins to unravel when he visits a store in Akihabara named Otakudo Headquarters, whose slogan is "A store where only TRUE otaku are allowed to shop." Unfortunately for Sota, its owner, Mano Takuro, has appointed himself president of imaginary organization called the Closet Otaku Extermination Committee and right off the bat he has a problem with Sota because after purchasing some merchandise, Sota tries to put the shop bag into a normal brown bag so noone will know where he was shopping. Mano proceeds to close all the safety doors in the shop and plans to hold Sota prisoner until he admits that he is an otaku. When Sota finally does, he is tricked into yelling it very loudly.....right in front of his girlfriend Eri!

I, Otaku was an enjoyable read but after reading and watching the anime and manga versions of Comic Party and Genshiken and reading the manga series Maniac Road and its sequel Pretty Maniacs, my enjoyment of a series about otaku tends to be a bit muted. For my money Genshiken and Maniac Road did better with the comedy and the educational side of introducing new manga readers to the world of anime and manga fandom in Japan. While I, Otaku did a pretty good job with its comedy bits, I didn't feel drawn into the world of Akihabara with a sense of wonder like I did with some of the other series. The characters didn't have much emotional connect either. I do think that Suzuki's art was very pretty and never became cluttered even during the zaniest moments. This book is better suited to readers that are new to the otaku concept and will not be as enjoyable to those who have read similar works before. Includes two color pages.

The only reason I gave this 4 stars was due to the low quality of the Ghost Rider and Punisher books. They really had nothing to do with anything and we dumb. As for everything else, the are was great and the stories were outstanding.

From the back cover:

RandomAnime, the definitive anime role-playing game, is the new standard for anime role-playing. RandomAnime's unbelievably fast, frightfully simple, and amazingly complete universal role-playing game system lets you create and play in any world--anime or live-action--you've ever seen or imagined. RandomAnime is a true universal role-playing system. Use it to run anime games, Hong Kong action games, fantasy games, science fiction games, giant robot games, comedy games, horror games... you name it, and RandomAnime runs it flawlessly. Choose the Anime Realm to create characters for Shojo, Shonen, or Sentai games and play at the power level you want. Select one of seven Anime Levels for your game to make it either gritty and realistic or cartoony to the extreme.

Use RandomAnime's over 100 anime-inspired gimmicks to let your characters do those cool things that only anime characters can do like throw fireballs, leap dozens of yards, run along power lines, summon powerful monsters, form blazing swords, and much, much more.

In RandomAnime, cinematic style is king. The Style Point advancement system allows you to increase your character's powers by doing stylish things. The more over-the-top your role-playing, the quicker your character will power-up.

RandomAnime: Taking the world by storm, one otaku at a time...

I can't really type much about this book that i didn't put in the first review. this book pretty much just finishes explaining all of the main characters and there relations two eachother.