The Anime Companion: What's Japanese in Japanese Animation [Paperback]

Gilles Poitras (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1999

Anime is from Japan, so it's full of all sorts of cultural details that are downright perplexing . . . unless you're Japanese or unless you've got The Anime Companion. Find out why characters wear belly bands and what nosebleeds really mean. Learn about the Edo Jidai and those games they play at New Year's. Gilles Poitras has taken his popular anime website and created a new print version that's filled with curious details and fresh insights drawn from dozens of the most popular anime. And for students of Japanese, The Anime Companion is a great way to learn about Japan while indulging in your favorite pastime.

"Combining personal passion with an intelligent sense of perspective, this enjoyable book is just right for dipping into, full of amusing and informative snippets which fans will love and even non-fans can enjoy."—Helen McCarthy, author of The Complete Anime Guide

"I've worked on over 20,000 pages of manga over the last ten years, and I still learned quite a bit from this fascinating book. For anyone with more than the most casual interest in anime and manga, The Anime Companion should be on their coffee table right next to the remote control."—Toren Smith, Studio Proteus

"Entire generations of English speakers now receive their first exposure to Japanese culture through anime. But many cultural references can be puzzling. Gilles Poitras's book is like a Rosetta Stone for confused anime fans. Before slipping that next anime video into your VCR, make sure this book's handy!"—Frederik L. Schodt, author of Manga! Manga! and Dreamland Japan

Categories covered:
Building/Structure/Landmark
Clothing
Culture
Entertainment/Game
Food And Drink
General
Geographical Feature/Location
History/Society
Home
Nature
People
Religion/Mythology/Belief
Sports/Activity
Weaponry/War

Sample Entry: AIDORU (IDOL SINGER)
Pop singers. Idol singers are not unique to Japan; every modern country has its clean-cut prefabricated stars known for their short careers. In Japan highly competitive management companies maneuver to get their latest singers in the spotlight for as long as they can before the nex

Editorial Reviews

Review

"For both the seasoned anime fan and the newly-minted otaku alike- it's absolutely oozing with good stuff to know, and comes recommended to the hilt." -Anime Guide, About.com -- Review

From the Publisher

Attention all otakus! Check out other great anime books from Stone Bridge Press, including Fred Schodt's classic DREAMLAND JAPAN: WRITINGS ON MODERN MANGA, Helen McCarthy's HAYAO MIYAZAKI: MASTER OF JAPANESE ANIMATION, Ryan Omega's ANIME TRIVIA QUIZBOOKS, EPISODES 1 & 2, and of course, Gilles Poitras's newest book, ANIME ESSENTIALS: EVERY THING A FAN NEEDS TO KNOW.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Stone Bridge Press; First Printing edition (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880656329
• ISBN-13: 978-1880656327
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #467,570 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars "What's Japanese in Japanese Animation?" uh, huh...garsh, January 7, 2000

By 

Danielle - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Anime Companion: What's Japanese in Japanese Animation (Paperback)

I can't help but feel that the author is either yet another typical self-proclaimed otaku or that they _had_ a good idea but their publisher suggested they dumb it down a little to broaden the audience. The intro "This Ain't No Speed Racer!" is ... oh god I really don't know where to begin. The rest of the book is just an alphabetized collection of abridged info on things found in only a handful of anime. I think a better title for this book would have been "Everything I Know I Learned From Ranma 1/2 and Urusei Yatsura". The anime images are screenshots so they're not very clear. And of course, the book would not be complete without the author's little Rant Sections that fill the empty spaces. If your reason for getting this book is to learn more about Japan through anime or vice versa, then I suggest the books "Japan Edge" which is very well-written and has sections on anime and manga, or "Dreamland Japan" which is on manga, but still very culturally insightful for anime fans.

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good start for those needing more information on anime. ., June 14, 2000

By 

L.C. "l_conover" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Anime Companion: What's Japanese in Japanese Animation (Paperback)

The world of Japanese animation is a very different one than American animation fans are used to - this book helps to take away some of the foreign-ness and provide a basic introduction to manga/anime and Japanese culture.

While the organization (alphabetical) is a poor choice, since many will not know the Japanese vocabulary for looking up a reference. Despite this, the book is a good value. It's best used by a simple flip-through, reading entries at random.

Purists may find the book mildly offensive as it does deal with the blatant sexism often presented in mainstream anime. This is not to say it does anime a disservice, however - it places the animation squarely in the context of the society that has created it. Americans and Japanese people have a very different concept of what crosses the line from stereotype into outright sexism, and I feel this book has done a fairly good job in illustrating some of the commonly seen genres and images within anime exported to the United States.

This book does Japanese animation a great service, as well, by making sure that a new anime fan does not think that all anime is so violent/sexual in nature - it allows the reader to see anime for what it is: a type of film genre with tons of variety, and stories for people of every taste.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This book went wrong from page 1..., August 20, 2005

By 

FFGirl "angie-chan" (Marysville, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Anime Companion: What's Japanese in Japanese Animation (Paperback)

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!