Helen McCarthy (born 27 February 1951) is the British author of such

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 ...

reference book A reference work is a work, such as a paper, book or periodical (or their electronic equivalents), to which one can refer for information. The information is intended to be found quickly when needed. Such works are usually ''referred'' to f ...

s as ''500 Manga Heroes and Villains'', ''Anime!'', ''The Anime Movie Guide'' and ''

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...

: Master of Japanese Animation''. She is the co-author of ''The Erotic Anime Movie Guide'' and the exhaustive ''

The Anime Encyclopedia ''The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917'' is a 2001 encyclopedia written by Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy. It was published in 2001 by Stone Bridge Press in the United States, and a "revised and expanded" edition ...

'' with

Jonathan Clements Jonathan Michael Clements (born 9 July 1971) is a British author and scriptwriter. His non-fiction works include biographies of Confucius, Koxinga and Qin Shi Huang, as well as monthly opinion columns for ''Neo'' magazine. He is also the co-auth ...

. She also designs needlework and textile art.

Background

McCarthy was the first English-speaking author to write a book about anime, in addition to being "the first person in the United Kingdom to run an anime programme at a convention, start a dedicated anime newsletter, and edit a dedicated anime magazine." In 1991, she founded ''

Anime UK ''Anime UK'' was a British magazine founded in 1991 dedicated to Japanese animation and published for six years before ceasing publication in 1996. Peter Goll, Steve Kyte, Helen McCarthy, and Wil Overton founded the magazine in London. Published ...

'' magazine, and in 1992 became one of the principal contributors to ''

Super Play ''Super Play'' was a British Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) magazine which ran from 1 October 1992 to September 1996. Overview ''Super Play'' covered in great detail the role-playing video game genre. Many of these games were ne ...

'', an SNES title with a heavy anime and manga bias. ''Anime UK'' became ''Anime FX'' after a change of backer and closed at the end of 1996. Andy Frain of

Manga Entertainment Manga Entertainment was a producer, licensee, and distributor of anime in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally founded in the UK in 1987, the UK branch became Funimation UK and Ireland in 2021, also currently known as Crunchyr ...

, then the most influential anime distributor in Britain, took issue with the magazine's editorial policy and later with its involvement in the campaign against the trademarking of the word "manga", but this did not affect either McCarthy's position or the magazine's publication. She also contributed to ''Manga Mania'' magazine, and after ''Anime UK'' closed she edited it from 1997 to 1998. She has also written on anime and manga for British magazines and newspapers including the ''Daily Telegraph, NEO, SFX'' and ''ImagineFX''. McCarthy was able to apply her convention-running knowledge gained in SF and media

fandom A fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significant ...

when ''Anime UK'' ran the successful one-day convention ''AUKcon'', which attracted attendees from all over Europe in 1994. She has written numerous articles and essays and is a frequent convention guest, as well as speaking at film festivals and academic gatherings in Europe, America and Japan. She has curated and delivered four successful seasons of lectures and screenings at the Barbican Cinema in London. In September 2008 she curated and presented a week-long film season and exhibition to mark the 80th anniversary of the birth of

Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu''; – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such ...

, also at the Barbican. The season featured London's first professional Japanese

kamishibai is a form of Japanese street theater and storytelling that was popular during the Great Depression of the 1930s and the post-war period in Japan until the advent of television during the mid-20th century. were performed by a (" narrator") w ...

performance. Her relationship with the Barbican continues with a further anime film season, ''Anime's Human Machines'', to be presented in September 2019 as part of the ''Life Rewired'' project. She has also been a guest speaker at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

, and at

Akita International University , or AIU, is a public university located in Akita City, Akita Prefecture, Japan. Established in 2004 and modeled on American liberal arts colleges, AIU is one of the few universities in Japan offering all of its courses in English. It has curre ...

. She is a founder member of the Fandom and NeoMedia Studies Association (FANS), gave the keynote address at their inaugural conference, and spoke at their first Japanese symposium at Yamanushi Gakuin in 2017. McCarthy is interested in the many crossing points and influences between anime, manga and other arts. ''Manga Cross-Stitch'', a guide to using the visual grammar of anime and manga to create original

needlework Needlework is decorative sewing and textile arts handicrafts. Anything that uses a needle for construction can be called needlework. Needlework may include related textile crafts such as crochet, worked with a hook, or tatting, worked with a ...

designs, appeared in 2009. Artist Steve Kyte provided many of the designs in the book, the rest being created by McCarthy. She has since expanded her needlework activities with workshops for the Japan Foundation and at conventions. Her interest in the history and artistic potential of textiles led to contributions to the ''Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion'' exhibition at the Barbican, including a catalogue essay, and to presentations on the history of

cosplay Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture, ...

. She worked with choreographer

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (born 1976) is a Belgian dancer and choreographer and director. He has made over 50 choreographic pieces and received two Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production, three Ballet Tanz awards for best choreographe ...

and his team on ''TeZuKa'' at Sadler's Wells in 2011, and on ''

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...

'' at the Barbican in 2017 and in European City of Culture

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; fy, Ljouwert, longname=yes /; Town Frisian: ''Liwwadden''; Leeuwarder dialect: ''Leewarden'') is a city and municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 123,107 (2019). It is the provincial capital and seat of the ...

in 2018. Also in 2018, she presented on 2.5D Theatre at the Daiwa Japan Foundation alongside Alexandra Rutter of Whole Hog Theatre. A firm believer that artistic and creative talent can be developed and enjoyed by everyone, she has edited two how-to-draw manuals for Flame Tree Press. Provoked by copyright infringement of her work in 2010, she has spoken and blogged about the impact of

intellectual property theft An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...

on authors, and on creators' rights to decide how, when and where their work will be published. She supports legitimate sharing through

Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...

Awards

* 2010: winner of a

Harvey Award The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be the successor to the Kirby Awards that were ...

for ''The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga''. * 2010: nominated for an

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

for ''The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga''. * 2008: Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation/Authors' Foundation award for research into Japanese animation and comics. * 2006: IMAF Award for Outstanding Achievement in Anime and Manga, sponsored by the International Manga and Anime Foundation. * 1997: Japan Festival Award for work in promoting understanding of Japanese culture in Britain, from the Japan Foundation.

Publications

* ''Manga Manga Manga, A Celebration of Japanese Animation at the ICA'' pub Island World Communications (London) 1992. * ''Anime! A Beginners Guide To Japanese Animation'' pub. Titan (London) 1993. * ''The Anime Movie Guide: Japanese Animation since 1983'' pub. Titan (London) 1996 * ''The Erotic Anime Movie Guide'' (with

) pub Titan (London) 1998 * ''Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation'' pub

Stone Bridge Press Stone Bridge Press, Inc. is a publishing company distributed by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution and founded in 1989. Authors published include Donald Richie and Frederik L. Schodt. Stone Bridge publishes books related to Japan, having pu ...

(Berkeley, CA) 1999 * '' The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917'' (with

) pub Stone Bridge Press (Berkeley, CA) 2001 ; 2nd edition 2006, * ''500 Manga Heroes and Villains'' pub Collins & Brown (London) 2006 , Barron's Educational (USA) * ''500 Essential Anime You Must Own'' pub Ilex (Lewes) 2008, , Collins Design (USA) 2009, * ''Manga Cross-Stitch: Make Your Own Graphic Art Needlework'', pub Ilex (Lewes) 2009, , Andrews McMeel (USA) 2009, * ''The Art of Osamu Tezuka: God of Manga'' pub Ilex (Lewes) 2009, Abrams ComicArts (USA) 2009, * ''Manga Impact: The World of Japanese Animation'' pub Phaidon Press (New York, NY) 2010, * ''A Brief History of Manga'' pub Ilex (Lewes) 2014, * ''How to Draw Manga Made Easy'' pub Flame Tree (London) 2015, * ''Drawing Basics Made Easy'' pub Flame Tree (London) 2015,

References

External links

Animefringe: June 2005 – Reviews – ''Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation''

Helen McCarthy's blog
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{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Helen 1951 births Anime and manga critics British journalists Living people British women journalists British media critics British women non-fiction writers British textile artists British women artists Women textile artists Embroidery designers 20th-century British non-fiction writers 21st-century British non-fiction writers 20th-century British women writers 21st-century British women writers Harvey Award winners