''Anime Explosion! The What? Why? & Wow! Of Japanese Animation'' is a book of essays about

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

written by Patrick Drazen. It was published on January 1, 2002 by Stone Bridge Press. The first half of the book defines "what

is, what it is not, and more important, how it differs from American cartoons in general and TV-based American entertainment in particular." The second half looks into "individual “films and directors.”" The book is used as a text in the "History and Art of Animation" course at

Clarkson University Clarkson University is a private research university with its main campus in Potsdam, New York, and additional graduate program and research facilities in the New York Capital Region and Beacon, New York. It was founded in 1896 and has an enr ...

, in the "Japanese Animation: Still Pictures, Moving Minds" course at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

and in the "Animation: History and Criticism" course at

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

Reviews

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...

's Mikhail Koulikov commends the book for being "packed with information" and having "valid points, and intelligent opinions". However, he criticises the book for its "little overall cohesiveness; more a collection of articles in book form than a book". John F. Barber commends the book as a "timely and fascinating guide to the world of anime". Animefringe's Ridwan Khan criticises the book for its "glaring omission" of anime history as "70s and 80s nimeare either overlooked or mentioned in passing". Khan also criticises the book's cover for looking "too busy, too comic book, and too cheap pop". He commends Drazen for creating "a concrete basis in Japanese culture with just a dash of intellectual daring to explain anime in a fashion that makes the book extremely interesting".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anime Explosion! The What? Why? and Wow! Of Japanese Animation 2002 non-fiction books Books about anime Books about manga Stone Bridge Press books