Riding the Japanese New Wave: Visionary Anime Auteurs of the Past 35 Years
***This article originally appeared in the 35th Anniversary Issue of Animation Magazine (June-July ’22, No. 321)*** Although few people realized it at the time, 1998 was a banner year that marked a...
View ArticleEarly Miyazaki Series ‘Future Boy Conan’ Reveals Helmer’s Magic Touch
Based loosely on the largely forgotten juvenile science fiction novel The Incredible Tide by Alexander Key (best known as the author of Escape to Witch Mountain), Future Boy Conan (1978) has the...
View ArticleIt’s Time to Redefine What ‘Anime’ Encompasses
“Words… [are] innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get...
View ArticleComplex Anime Heroines Are Blazing New Trails in Animation
***This article originally appeared in the March ’22 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 318)*** In recent years, animators in Japan have created an impressive array of heroines who are layered, unique...
View ArticleSorcerers’ Apprentice: ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ Takes the World by Storm
Gege Akutami’s 2018 manga Jujutsu Kaisen and its animated TV series and feature film adaptation have become quite a global phenomenon. Released at the end of December, Jujutsu Kaisen 0 overtook...
View ArticleHypnotic History: Masaaki Yuasa’s ‘Inu-Oh’ Brings a Rock Opera Note to a...
***This article originally appeared in the August ’22 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 322) *** Based on the novel The Tale of the Heike (Heike Monogatari) translated by contemporary author Hideo...
View ArticleThe Red Ribbon Army Returns! ‘Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO’ Producer on the...
***This article originally appeared in the 35th Anniversary issue of Animation Magazine (June-July ’22, No. 321)*** Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO, directed by Tetsuro Kodama, ranks among the year’s...
View ArticleHow Atsuko Ishizuka Assembled a Beautiful Misfit Adventure in ‘Goodbye, Don...
***This article originally appeared in the Sept./Oct. ’22 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 323)*** “I wanted to create an original story that would be seen by a wider audience,” says Atsuko Ishizuka,...
View Article‘Drifting Home’: Hiroyasu Ishida’s Acclaimed Feature Celebrates the Strange...
***This article originally appeared in the November ’22 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 324)*** “We tear down buildings and construct new ones at a very rapid pace in Japan, so there are many children...
View ArticleAhoy, Luffy! Director Goro Taniguchi Gives Us the Scoop on ‘One Piece Film Red’
***This article originally appeared in the December ’22 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 325)*** Straw Hat Pirates captain Monkey D. Luffy’s rubbery features can’t compete with Tom Cruise’s chiseled...
View Article‘Evangelion’ Creator Hideaki Anno Offers Insights into Its Audacious Conclusion
***This article originally appeared in the January ’23 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 326)*** “When I choose what to work on next, I decide based on what I’m best suited for, what kind of...
View ArticleGateways to Wonder: The Making of Makoto Shinkai’s ‘Suzume’
Makoto Shinkai’s latest movie, Suzume no Tojimari (Suzume: The Closing of the Doors, shortened to Suzume for the English-language release) is one of the most anticipated animated features of 2023. It...
View Article‘Sasaki and Miyano’: A Wistful Romance with a Twist
BL (Boys’ Love) is a curious genre of anime and manga that has no real American counterpart. These wistful romantic fantasies involving beautiful young men are written by women for female audiences....
View ArticleHow Director John Caird Took ‘Spirited Away’ from Cel to Stage
In April and May, U.S. audiences are treated to the filmed version of John Caird’s acclaimed theatrical adaptation of Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. Caird, the Tony Award-winning director of Les...
View ArticleThe Perfect Snap of a Bowstring: KyoAni’s ‘Tsurune’ Is Right on Target
Tsurune is an onomatopoeic rendering of the hum of a bowstring. Based on Kotoko Ayano’s book, the animated TV series titled Tsurune was produced by Kyoto Animation and first aired on NHK in the fall of...
View ArticleKeiichi Hara’s ‘Lonely Castle in the Mirror’ Takes Audiences Through the...
Bullying is a serious problem children face, especially in Japanese schools. According to the Mainichi newspaper, more than 600,000 incidents of bullying were reported to the education ministry in...
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The First Slam Dunk: Big Screen Hoop Dreams for the Underdogs
“We didn’t decide what ‘First’ meant in the title,” says The First Slam Dunk producer Toshiyuki Matsui. “We wanted each audience member to decide that on their own.” Based on Takehiko Inoue’s beloved...
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How ‘Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia’ Directors Julien Chheng and...
They’re back! The plucky little mouse and the slovenly, musical bear who charmed audiences in the feature Ernest & Celestine (2012) have returned to the big screen. An adaptation of Gabrielle...
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The Return of the Master: Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘The Boy and the Heron’
In his 2016 proposal for the film that became The Boy and the Heron, Hayao Miyazaki wrote, “There’s nothing more pathetic than telling the world you’ll retire because of your age, then making yet...
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‘Fullmetal Alchemist 20th Anniversary Book’: Steampunk Brothers Save the Day!
Hiromu Arakawa’s fantasy-adventure Fullmetal Alchemist (2001) remains one of the best-loved manga/anime properties of the first decade of the 21st century. The manga has sold more than 80 million books...
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