Anime Books

I am a huge fan of Escaflowne the anime series. This manga, unfortunately, has very little to do with the series, but it's still great! It goes in a completely different direction than the anime, which I think makes following both of them a bit confusing at times but overall a lot of fun. The art on Escaflowne and the other mechs is brilliant, although this is one of my first mangas so I must admit I'm not a particularly experienced reader. Still, it was very good and impressed me greatly!

Volume two of Yakitate follows Azuma and company as they prove themselves not only to the eccentric store manager of the South Tokyo Branch of Pantasia, but also the company's chief meister (who bears a striking resemblance to certian Gundam heros/villains).

The first little story finishes where we left off in volume one, trying to create the most appealing loaf of French Bread, such that even a horse will eat it. The arc finishes predictably and a new challenger arises in the form of a rival bakery across the street who offers a televised breadmaking competition in flamboyant fashion.

It's right about here that the story begins to become more ridiculous than ever... at least before there was some semblance of believability. In volume two, that's all thrown out (save for in baking facts and recipes) as more unbelievable characters are introduced and strange contests abound.

The art is consistent over the volumes (with Azuma's sister's cameo sexing her up a bit, rowr) and the pacing is the typical high point/low point/cliffhanger of shonen series.

Pick it up if you like over the top, oddly themed comedies.

I, myself, don't know much about drawing. I purchased this book as a gift for my stepdaughter and she loves it.

The entire experience was amazing. Shipped earlier then expected, in pristine condition, no hassles no worry.

The product itself is great. The guide truly helps with the basic structure of drawing characters anatonomically correct. It's always better to learn how to draw something right first and then learn how to break the rules later.

the artsyle on the cover is Extremely Missleading~!
It Will only show how to draw "realistic" style manga anatomy. The women model is also rather man-ish looking.
So its not what i expected at all and i'm kind of Dissapointed. There is also a very Weird p2 page spread of up-crotch shots that i can only imagine are there for H-manga refrences.

First off, I have to say I was very impressed at the beginning of this book. The starting chapters, covering some perspective and posing, detailed skeletal and later muscular structures were very well done. The skull, hand and feet sections were in depth and very helpful and detailed.

However- when they started into full body poses I was remotely annoyed. Most of the poses and references they gave for men were in action. Throwing something, or starting to run- pictures that neatly expressed the male body in motion. That's all very nice and well, but I would have enjoyed seeing more relaxed forms as well. Not all my work and other people's work with men is drawn in motion! Quite a bit is still.

And when we move into the woman, there's no action at all. Mainly references draw for woman who are stretching, or reclining and a lot of these poses are from 'suggestive' views. It's also slightly annoying to find 10 different views from which to draw a female crotch and the male subjects mysteriously elude this area. While we're at it, not all female's breasts are aroused 24/7. It's not truly necessary to draw nipples on every figure.

This whole extra fascination with the female body is perhaps more annoying to me then others since I originally got this book hoping for help on male anatomy- since if I truly need a reference for a female form I can simply go into the bathroom.

It would have also been nice to see more variations in the male/female models. In general a nice reference book, though it could have covered a lot more in some areas and a lot less in others.

I've collected many anatomy books, but what makes this one unique is that it shows both the simple (shapes) and finished drawing in several camera viewpoints, and illustrates muscle changes (like when raising an arm), again both in simple (rough animation) and finished work. This is perfect for animation so we can study how the body shifts in a clean illustrative format. I particulary like how they illustrate the diffrences in gender proportionately. Made my life much simpler. Once you know how to draw the anatomy correctly yet cleanly, it's easier to adapt it to more complex or more cartoony forms. A must have!

I actually had a college lit class that used anime text as the basis of the class. This book was the reference work that pointed out the literary merit of anime. Not only was I impressed that there was anime of literary merit, I was surprised by the depth of the popular works that she covered.

Each chapter uses a popular Manga as the focus to explain a concept, bringing in additional references as needed. The book as actually very easy to read considering that the book really is about literary analysis.

I learned a lot from this book, but it is not what I originally thought. When I first picked up the book, I would not have expected a literary analysis textbook. Make sure thats what you expect if you pick up the book because the title might seem more "fun" that it actually is.

I bought this book for a friend that is very interested in anime.
He tells me that it is very interesting and informative. He has been taking it to work to read during breaks so I guess he really likes it.

This book takes a fairly scholarly approach to anime and is probably not for the casual reader or the hyper fan. In particular the author looks at the sociological subtexts of anime in fairly grood detail. While this is only one approach to the subject she generally does a fairly good, and interesting, job. I will say that if she used the word "priviledged" one more time I would scream.

This would not be my choice for a first book on the subject, for which I would recommend "Anime Explosion". If you're interested in the cultural references, including the Japanese and Buddhist mythology underlying many of the stories, check of "Samurai from Outer Space", a much better book that the title implies.

Save yourself the money on this book. The author seems to read some anime reviews, "The Anime Companion", and some cultural anime books, and slop them together as though she's got original information. Some of which she STILL gets wrong. Incorrect pictures for some of the anime, too, only futher lowering the quality of this book...which is hard to do with pictures, you'd think.

I am a huge fan of anime and also of the Japanese culture and history. I figured that this book would be interesting. I heard good things about it and bad things about it but wanted to judge it myself.
First - it was first published in 2000 which means that the anime scene has already changed greatly. In fact, many of the points made in the book would have been outdated by the time it was printed.
Second - she seems to focus a lot of sex. Now that may be because much of her information, and the anime she selected to view, came from University students or stores who supplied students. The idea that pornography is a _major current_ within the world of anime is a interesting but flawed statement. Erotic anime makes up a small corner of the anime produced in Japan and it has greater sales abroad than in its homeland. In fact, I would go as far as to say that Non-Japanese would be the main target for this type of anime - which means trying to understand the Japanese male-female relationship via adult anime is also flawed. But it might tell us alot about American and European college students.
She has tons of interesting points to make but the foundations she builds to hold them up seem weak and shaky. For example, she talks about men's insecurity and their need for Mecha using sci-fi shows where most of the pilots are female. She uses sources about American Superheros to talk about Japanese characters.
Also, while she did mention a Tenchi movie, she seems to skip the Tenchi Muyo! TV shows. What about Dominion Tank Police, Gall Force, Martian Successor Nadesico, Wings of Honneamise, any of the Gundam shows or even Dirty Pair? I don't think she even once writes about CLAMP!
In other words, while she does get into detail about a few areas of anime, she is far from covering it all. So buyer beware and buy it used.
I would also suggest _The Erotic Anime Movie Guide_ by Helen McCarthy and Jonathan Clements for the history and true understanding of erotic anime. For understanding mainstream anime I would suggest _Anime Explosion_ by Patrick Drazen, _Samurai From Outer Space_ by Antonia Levi and _The Anime Companion_ by Gulles Poitras. ^_^

Over-ethical bounty hunting can be hard work.


In a diaspora situation the police have little of coping with the crime situation over such a large area, so bounty hunters are quite popular. The ones that aren't too fussy about dead or alive tend to make more money, which leaves the Bebop crew struggling.

Supergenius crimelord doubles, computer brained dogs and annoying alien girls don't really help.

Okay,so there's been a lot of griping about the "Shooting Star" manga series,when the truth is it's not such a bad series.Of course anyone who is interested in getting into the Bebop franchise, shouldn't go to "Shooting Star" first.In fact this is probably the last Bebop thing you should explore.

With all the said,I think the only flaw with the series are some of the personality changes,but they are slight,and I'll let it go, since this just a "What if?" alternate reality/universe-type situation.The characters designs are also quite different,but I think it fits the whole alternate-universe feel of the manga series.

So if you've watched the series,the movie, read other manga series then check this series out.You may be in for a pleasant surprise(or not)

It was a refreshing twist to the Bebop universe. Spike's style was made a little, um, too pushy. He cared too much for his ship. Ed is still Ed, but has a more animeish (is that a word?)look to her (him? not sure about it this time around.)Jet hasn't changed with the new artist, but Faye has turned into a snobby brat. The art is hectic in the fight scenes, but is okay as is. Is worth a look for hardcore Bebop fans, but not for newcomers. See you space cowboy.

This series is a retelling of Cowboy Bebop supposedly, except for some reason Cain Kuga destroyed the characterization of everyone. Spike is now much lazier than the original, and lacks the laid back yet serious stature he has in the anime, Ed is now a whiny little brat, and Faye is nothing but a brainless (...) The artwork is ugly to look at... no, the character designs are okay, but the action is drawn so odd that it is impossible to tell what is going on. And the stories themselves are very lacking, they do not have the Bebop feeling that the anime does, and devoid of any characterization. Listen to this review: DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY LIKE I DID! I've goofed up so none of you will make the same mistake like me!

The good thing is Cain Kuga provides great art for this series. The bad thing is Kuga, as the writer, never grasped the personality or appeal of each character. The subtlety of the anime and the balance of the various personalities aboard the Bobop is lost. The most infuriating is Spike has taken on a whole new personality of stupidity. Instead of a cleverness hidden behind his nonchalant attitude, he has become Bebop's grunt, driven by hunger and little else. There's a reason the manga is being canceled after issue 2.

i like the serie and the writer and i like t see soon a new part of the serie ending by marriage of hitomi and van .i hope the writer read that.

Okay, I'v watched the anime The Vision of Escaflowne (Tenkuu no Escaflowne) and this manga is a very good choice for fans of the anime (it's maybe more enjoyable if you haven't seen the anime though). But be warned: character disigns are not the same! The plot is deferent! And to all Dilandau fans (myself inclued) his character disign is VERY deferent from the anime! So all Dilly-lovers (like me) should brace for impact on that one! But all that a side this is a very good manga! I, personaly, think that the anime is better as fare as plot, characters etc. but none the less this is a good manga! And also, be sure to check out the shojo version of this manga done by I think it's Yuzuru Yashiro but don't quote me on that.

I got the first one as a gift. I had previously seen all of the amnime and loved it and expected the same from the manga. I was extatic to see totaly different characters and plot, don't get me wrong, I loved the anime ones, it's just I was never able to get attached to them like I was in the manga.

Well, if you are expecting to see the Escaflowne television show retold, you are out of luck. I enjoyed the manga, but a lot of that was because I knew what to expect -- I knew this version of the manga is the shounen version: it is geared towards boys, so have more violence and mecha. Hitomi is a weaker character, but she still has her moments. Van and Allen are charming, though somewhat different from their TV selves, and Dilandau (who takes on both TV Folken and TV Dilandau's roles) is fascinating as always -- though more as I want to know how he will turn out as compared to the show. Even if you haven't seen the anime, I would recommend this book. Heck, as long as you do not expect a retelling of the anime, I would say you would enjoy this.

If you're considering buying this book because you liked the anime, DON'T! The story is, in my opinion, massacred in this manga. The characters are childish and they seem to be trying way too hard to be "cool". The overuse of slang is laughable, and the artwork isn't nearly as well drawn as in the series. Don't waste your money.

This is an extremely in-depth look at the history of anime and the role of eroticism in shaping it. It also covers the views that have shaped how anime is perceived. It has a guide to individual movies which takes up about a third of the book, but only half of those are erotic films. A must for increasing your understanding of anime, but it is not really a film guide.

This one's a bit of a mixed bag. Part of the problem is that the same author's later Anime Encyclopedia makes the latter half of it (a list of Erotic anime), completely redundant. However, the first half, comprising learned essays on anime topics, remain very intriguing. In particular, this book contains a fascinating study of the media's reaction to anime, and the first account of the shonen ai genre to go into any reasonable depth. Very important for anyone who takes anime seriously, but bear in mind that only part of the book is still relevant today.

I agree that this book is only a rant against the BBFC, which the author may have found justified to put in print, but I simply want to correct the correction to what Mr Wenat qualifies as "poor knowledge of Japan" on the part of the author which, again, may be true, but his correction isn't quite accurate either.

As the Japanese school system is divided into primary school, junior high school, high school, and university levels and that, in fact, primary, junior high, and high school students DO ABSOLUTELY have to wear a uniform. I do not exactly recall if McCarthy used "junior college" or not in the text, but in some parts of the English-speaking world, as far as I remember, it refers to high school students. Japanese students enter high school at age 16 and graduate at 18. Whether the age of consent is 13 in Nagoya and Tokyo is irrelevent, because the universal age of majority in Japan is 20. Thus anything below that is underage sex.

As for enjo kosai, this is not usually somehting present in anime (although I've seen some), but that is not a phenomenon only present amongst high school girl, but also amongst housewives, office ladies, university students and freeters, thus can be considered prostitution with all it implies. However, its ommission from the McCarthy text does put somewhat of a hole in their argumentation about school uniforms, but is not entirely relevent from the discussion either.

As for all anime not being ero-anime cannot be effectively shown or understood through this guide, since the flow of nonero-anime to the west is still at a trickle. The number of OVA is decreasing because of late-night TV airings, and a simple search on Amazon.co.jp through DVD and video demonstrates this fairly quickly.

The fact remains that the erotic undertones of anime are strong, but when one thinks about who they REALLY aim, which is mostly pre-teens, teens, and young adults (sex notwithstanding), anime simply attempts to capitalise on what boys want (big breasted characters and mecha) and the girls with idealised love stories, beautiful men and women characters, and cute stuff, something they yearn for and try to achieve themselves. But then, if anyone has recently seen a film from the United States without any erotic undertones, you are welcome to drop me a line.

Besides, this book was written in 1999... This is getting aged.

191 pages of a serious study of the anime's history in Japan and impact of ... anime in the western world. The book deals with its roots, how much of it is made in Japan (when compared to other categories), the many types (..., horror, ..., so on), the characters, anime games and even how translations, from Japanese to English, sometimes made a normal anime into a ... version that will increase its selling power in the English and American market BUT destroy the story line. It also deals with the media's reactions to anime and how marketing strategies make a cartoon worse than it started out with. For example, ... boys are more likely to buy a cartoon with a adult rating than one for family viewing. Also the book shows how most ... anime is bought up by mainstream video/DVD viewers NOT anime fans (who are more likely going to want the Japanese, and therefore pre-eroticized, version of the story).
Contains adult material, so only for 18 years or older AND only for the serious reader.

Anime fans frequently praise this book as an explanation of the sexuality in anime. This is a COMPLETE AND TOTAL misunderstanding of what this book is. In truth, this book is a work of apologetics against the "sex and tentacles" reputation that anime has in Great Britain-- the residence of the authors.
The key to understanding this book is the chapter on the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) which must rate and evaluate every movie that is released in the UK. If the film contains content that is deemed too explicit, the film must either accept cuts or be banned from being shown in the UK. Anime, particularly the adult titles that came out in the early days of the anime explosion, tended to require frequent cuts (Johnathan Clements translated some anime titles for the UK, which the BBFC cut or banned. This may explain his venom in the chapters he wrote).
All the other chapters center around the fact that anime has a bad reputation in the UK. This history (which gets some facts wrong) is meant to say to the British reader: The Japanese are not a nation of sexual perverts. The discussion of certain series (notably Urutsukidoji) are meant to inform the British reader what actually happened in the stories as opposed to the distorted rumors that were going around the country. The movie section gives a selection of titles (which is NOT intended by them to be exhaustive) meant to show the British reader that not all anime is porn.
The book has problems. First, is their ludicrous attempt to explain away the fact that some anime sexualizes minors. They claim that these people wearing school uniforms are actually junior college students and all females that are sexual objects are adults. This is a statement that is irresponsibly false. If they knew it, it is a complete lie. if not, it reflects poorly on their knowledge of Japan. College students don't wear uniforms, and in Japan, up until 1999 (after the time the book was written) the age of consent in Nagoya and Tokyo was 13 and girls could get married at 16. Moreover, the concept of enjo kosai (compensated dating-- a sort of informal prostitution by high school girls) was a factor at the time of their writing, but it goes unmentioned by the authors-- a point that puts a big hole in their argument and hence omitted.
The second major problem is this book was written by some angry people. In fairness, I would not care to live under the BBFC determining what I can watch. However, with anger, clarity and rationality suffers. The book seems vitrolic and frequently fails to come to a point. There are distortions (They imply that two episodes of "Crying Freeman" had so much censored by the BBFC, that the distributor had to put them together on one tape. In actuality, less than one minute was cut from both episodes combined. As a result, their credibility suffers. Also, they seem to operate under a belief that a high quality story that is sexually explicit ought not to be put in the same category as a sleazy porn story. So they classify anime as being mainstream, erotic or porn. The problem is this makes everything relative: Only stuff I *don't* like can be considered porn.
So essentially, the book does not deliver as a rational discussion of erotic anime. It comes off looking more like a 191 page rant against the BBFC.

This book was a very enjoyable, easy read. It gave plenty of great information, and I would recommend it to anybody wanting to start their own!!

It reads like a very practical guide for would-be pornographers. That is both a plus and a minus, because it doesn't take much to see that it is probably an uphill climb to make any sort of decent income this way. Lots of work, lots of challenges, and you are not at all likely to do this secretly or on the side.

This book offers no real information or practical steps to actually start your business. It mentions all items in passing (usually no more than a paragraph on any subject, some of whihc ar eimportant). Definetly not going to get you get started. And there is absolutely ZERO useful information on finding models.

This book is a very thin description of how to get into the Internet content provider world. The problem is that as far as the real useful information, it could have been done with even fewer pages. Maybe 10 would have been good. The content is meant for a photographer not a videographer. The most useful information is in the smaller print sidebars liberally placed in each chapter. A page on how much to pay models is probably the most useful and that information can be gotten from the World Modeling website or Luke Ford. Not much on how to sell your work, all very general information. Too little information for the price.

This book appears promising yet falls woefully short on delivery. Most of the info in the book you already know or can learn from a myriad of other books or sources. It promises to show you how to become an internet pornographer yet tells you little or nothing about how to set up a website, find hosting, payment options or any of the other nuts and bolts needed to be succesful. The info on where to find models is no mystery, just common sense. What to pay models was a bit interesting but the advice to pay by check is accounting 101. All in all I give it 2 stars which is a shame, a colaberation with someone wed-savvy may have made this a winner.

I was maybe expecting more in-depth or explicit explanation of the process the artists used. It's not really as bad as I might be portraying it but I was hoping for more.

Certainly a good selection of artists and methods. It's still neat to see the process from start to finish.

14 young talented artists showcase a brief selection of their works in different mediums. The books features mainly the anime/manga style, of which character design and/or fantasy theme is the key inspiration.

If you are planning to purchase this book 'cuz the title declares 'Draw anime & manga like Japan's hottest artists', and you are a beginner artist or step-by-step learner or plain want to copy the form exactly, be prepared for disappointment. This book may offer some insight to the artists working processes, but very general tutorials are given, it takes seasoned artists to be able to somewhat mimick the steps. Good for reference or if you wanna poke your nose about the 'how-to's... seriously which artist/designer will so willingly offer their trade secrets to the public? Of which, the glossary sometimes baffles me because the entries are either redundant or don't carry much interest.

However, I like this book, its a good reference for inspiration, especially for the various ways to experiment with the anime genre; as well as full colored graphics on glossy pages. Sadly there are no descriptions for the artworks done but oh well it is reasonable for the $16 price tag amazon.com offers I guess.

An avid Manga and Anime fan, I'd do anything to be able to create beautiful Manga characters, or even practice the technique used to eventually create a more personal character style. I had hoped this book would sort of "take-me-by-the-hand" and teach me how to start sketching manga characters before anthing else. But, it's more or less copying rendering and coloring techniques.

the artwork published is neverthless impressive.

this has some beautiful art in it. it also has some ugly art.... if thats what you can call it. but it does show you each artist's technic if not how they did each peice. so if you like anima and photoshop look into it. oh, thats what you are doing? well i gave it 4 stars didnt i. maybe three.... but i have had a good day.

This is great for the artist who already has a working knowledge of their own style, but needs a little help and inspiration to get their coloring and composition techniques down. Instead of trying to shove formulaic anime style down my throat, it exposed me to fourteen distinct styles and let me see the process of these artists, instead of urging me to draw and color exactly like them. It's only flaw is it assumes the reader already has a working knowledge of artist tools and programs - but it was probably aimed towards a serious student of art, not people that need help learning how big to make their anime-eyes, or how their cat girls should look. Oh, and another plus-side: No cat girls. Thank you!

This is a review for the 1st volume of the Samurai Champloo manga. It's starts out quite similar to the anime, but branches off from there.

The stories are okay; they may seem too silly and outrageous. The complaint I have is the art. The art looks like it had been done either lazily or in a hurry. Most of the time the artist didn't care to use a straight edge to draw buildings, giving it a sloppy look.

Also, the anime could incorporate music during the amazing fight scenes. The manga can just have numerous samurai getting their heads lopped off or getting cut in half.

If you're a Champloo fan, you might want to pick it up, but if you don't you're not missing much. I'd stick with the anime.

The first volume was a very enjoyable read, dispite the slight differences in story and characterization. But hey, who wants to read a story that's exactly the same as the anime? Unfortunately the second book has a very rushed and confusing feel to it, explaining why the title was discontinued in Japan. Rather a shame, but it was probably just too much of a good thing.

This manga is everything the Samurai Champloo television series is not: sketchy, cliched, predictable, cheap, poorly written, poorly illustrated, boring pop-pulp trash.
I can't express how utterly terrible this manga is, especially since its based on Shinichiro Watanabe's equisite series.
The cover is nice, and thats about all it has going for it. The artwork within the story is in ridiculously sketchy cartoon anime style, with NONE of the stylishness, depth, or a dynamic motion of the series. Simply put, its bad. Thirteen-year-old-back-of-the-school-book bad.
The writing is even worse, based about a couple of new storylines. Initially I was very pleased to hear that thered be some new stories being added to the travelling trio, but the ones contained in this manga are just pathetic imitations of some of the ideas from the series itself. They contain none of the flair which Watanabe's writing staff brought to the episodes. Its not worth going in to details of plot here, since theres not much to it.
I have not read the first volume of this manga, and now do not care to.
Newcomers will be put off Samurai Champloo, and fans of the series will hate it even more since we know just how much potential was squandered with this crummy book.
Don't waste your time or your money.

The Samurai Champloo manga is ok. All the senseless killing turned me off, however. Mugen is a violent person who devours a hapless frog alive in the first three panels. Then Mugen slaughters a large number of people just because "they are stronger." Is that a reason to kill someone? There is nothing likeable about this guy, until the last few pages of the manga.

Fuu and Jin are more compelling characters. Jin is a handsome, old-fashioned samurai who is very skilled, but seeks a reason to fight. Fuu's quest is a simple but intriguing mystery: she seeks a samurai who smells of sunflowers.

I will keep reading this manga, but the story and characters are average.

Very exciting! If you are a fan of the Anime series that airs on [Adult Swim], A fan of Edo Japan & Samurais, Or you are into a good book with a unique style of art- You are in for a real treat!

Samurai Champloo Volume 1 is a wonderful grab. Confronted with three characters- Jin [pronounced gene] who is a quiet and reserved samurai, Fuu [Foo] who is a waitress in a tea house thats not the brightest or most resourceful thing on the planet, and Mugen [Moo-gen]a samurai with no certain rythem or rhyme to his fighting techniques who can be called merciless and a womanizer at times-You are thrown into a freestylin', out of wack, crazy society, better known as the Edo Japan era -Just not the one you hear about in books..

The Manga starts out the same as the anime, where Fuu rescues the two samurai from execution in order to get them to help her on her quest for the mysterious Sunflower-Scented Samurai. All though it braches out from the anime and doesn't follow it to a tee -it gives you a quicker ensight into Fuu's background aswell as the same intence action. It also still gives you the same anxious rivalry & want on both Mugen and Jin's part to beat the other in a battle!

So Join this misfit gang on their journey for the Sunflower Samurai as they run into fights, trouble, danger, and...other peculiar incidences along the way. You'll enjoy this Killer sweet and satisifying Champloo spin on Edo Japan and the people in it with your soon to be favorite trio!

-Winry