Forum - View topicREVIEW: The Anime Encyclopedia Third Revised Edition
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BassKuroi
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"Not as useful in an academic setting due to tone and opinion" Yes, this is its biggest flaw, but not only in academic setting. I own first and second edition.
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Dessa
 Posts: 4438 |
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So, do they still list Minekura's Saiyuki and the Alakazam the Great movie in the same entry (titled "Journey to the West", despite Minekura's manga/anime never being released under that title), and use most of the space explaining how Dragonball (which has its own entry) is based off the classic story?
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GWOtaku
 Posts: 678 |
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I don't much like the notion that Anime Encyclopedia is diminished in any way for its "tone" and "opinions" that manifest throughout the book. This reminds me of thin complaints about reviews containing actual judgments. Any decision to analyze an anime in terms of importance or its specific topics or its relevancy to other works, after all, is a subjective judgment call.
If the book's commentaries were substitutions for useful information and relevant context, that might be one thing. But I found that to not be the case at all. There is plenty of that material, as the review acknowledges, which renders the commentary delivered by McCarthy and Clements nothing more or less than an extra selling point of the book. And agree or disagree with their opinions, they are informed and challenge the reader to genuinely engage with the subject. I suppose this thing is insufficiently academic if the expectation is that qualifying means writing that's aggressively neutral or dressed up in superfluous denser language in the manner of journal articles. All I can say is that for me it's a book packed with information accompanied by a vested interest improving an understanding of anime and the industry that creates it for all readers. It meets that goal well, and does it no less so simply because the authors aren't above having a sense of humor. That said, those in search of a thoroughly factual and engaging account should look up Clements' fantastic Anime: A History. A fair amount of the historical context in this comes up in the Encyclopedia, but the book naturally gets far deeper in and is a very good choice for those satisfied by the Encyclopedia's topical entries. |
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CorneredAngel
 Posts: 854 Location: New York, NY |
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In my mind, the two biggest question are: - What will you (a very specific you - casual reader, researcher, librarian) - use this book *for*. and - Is this book worth its price. |
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Utsuro no Hako
Posts: 1052 |
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But reviews exist to express judgement; encyclopedias are supposed to be about factual information. This book sounds more like Leonard Maltin's film guides than the Encyclopedia Britannica. |
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Kimiko_0
 Posts: 1796 Location: Leiden, NL, EU |
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How much does this book add over existing websites like ANN, AniDB/MyAnimeList and Wikipedia? ANN has data and reviews, AniDB/MyAnimeList have some more obscure anime (although less data) and fansub info, Wikipedia has more definitions, episode lists and links. This book has all the info in one place, that's true, but these websites are right here in your browser
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consignia
 Posts: 394 |
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It's completely different to any of those. It's quite light on just pure facts, and I don't think it has many stats either. What it does have is some well considered prose for each and every entry, something all the others lack. They all have their use cases, this encyclopaedia is useful for getting a lot of relevant information quickly about a title. |
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katscradle
Posts: 469 |
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I was so disappointed in The Anime Encyclopedia. I never purchased the previous editions so I was unprepared for how nonacademic the writing is. I wasn't looking for a buying guide or personal viewpoints on quality. I wonder if the new edition really covers up to 2014 too. Factually there will always be errors but, I couldn't find an entry for some shows I know even though they are several years old. Others had no asterisk indicating legal English language release attached that should despite being years (and years) ago too. It's not completely accurate in the definitions either. Claiming certain sexual content can only be of a male gaze (Fan Service) as well as genres (Boys’ Love/Yaoi, Girls’ Love/Yuri) being incorrectly defined as always sexually explicit.
And then there are the comments about certain fans suffering from arrested development. Or, singling out an idea in fiction as dangerous because an example is described as an incitement to copy it in real life. But, no historical context or research is written anywhere in the book to back such comments up that I could find either. I did get a chuckle out of the "should get over themselves" for the fans that insist Japaneses terms be used all the time in translation. (Bet that will upset some people.) I regret purchasing it. 
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 2653 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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Yes, they do, though I think they go into a bit more detail about non-DB titles now.
My point was more that I wouldn't use this in a paper for an academic journal or even for a class - while I might let students get away with some of the more factual or biographical sections, I certainly would not allow them to use it as a source on any of the titles. Therefore as an academic resource, it is flawed. (And like katscradle, I found that disappointing.) |
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Lord Geo
Posts: 2666 Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey |
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While I'm all for this book being continually made & revised, it is a bit of a misnomer to call it an "encyclopedia" simply because there is so much subjectivity & personal feelings from the authors. There's nothing wrong with that, but that makes this more of a "guide", like what Jason Thompson did with Manga: The Complete Guide. At the same time, though, simply calling this "The Anime Guide" wouldn't have the same sense of breadth or completeness as calling it "The Anime Encyclopedia" does.
I'd say as long as you go into this with that mindset, i.e. it's more of a guide than an actual encyclopedia, then it will likely fit the bill nicely. |
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Macron One
 Posts: 151 Location: Netherlands |
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While the amount of opinionated commentary in the anime encyclopedia may detract from its usefulness in an objective sense, i honestly don't mind it personally, as it adds a flavor to the book that makes it interesting to read, even if do find myself disagreeing with the authors on many occasions. They sometimes do seem to have felt the need to comment on anime that they have at most glanced at in passing, however, which can result in some amusing mistakes, such as the Lyrical Nanoha entry claiming that Hayate is the "boy love interest" of Nanoha and Fate in the StrikerS season ( a double error, as Hayate is a girl and Nanoha and Fate are only romantically interested in eachother ).
I've found the book to be very inconsistent in this regard, to be honest. Some unlicensed anime are listed under their Japanese title, while others have been translated into english for no apparant reason (Mayoi Neko Overrun! for example is listed as Stray Cats Overrun! Gegege no Kitaro similarly appears as Spooky Kitaro.). Titles that have an english release in print are sometimes listed under a different title alltogether (Kin-iro Mosaic was released in the US as Kinmoza!/Kin-iro Mosaic, yet the anime encyclopedia shows it as Golden Mosaic. Oniisama E is available on DVD in the US as Dear Brother, but the anime encyclopedia has the series under Brother Dearest.) Several anime appear in the book under old english titles that have long-since faded into obscurity or irrelevance. The Minky Momo franchise is shown under the title Gigi and the fountain of youth, which was the name of a forgotten 1980's US Theatrical/VHS release of an 80-minute Minky Momo OVA. One that annoys me as a fan of the series is Cardcaptor Sakura appearing in the anime encyclopedia under the title Cardcaptors. The series is presently in print in both manga and anime form as Cardcaptor Sakura, so i do not see the point of clinging to the name of Nelvana's commercially unsuccessful attempt at an americanised version of the show, especially considering their license to the series lapsed quite some time ago. |
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jroa
Posts: 548 |
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My main problem with this book is it still has a few factual mistakes in the plot summaries of various series, even very high-profile ones like Dragon Ball, and I imagine this can easily result in a very misleading impression or at least some confusion for the unprepared reader. I don't mind disagreeing with whether they like or dislike a given show, but I do find it distracting to come across such errors from time to time.
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NorbieH
 Posts: 40 |
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As a casual reader I read it for entertainment, it can be amusing in some cases. The price? I'm waiting for the softcover before i buy the physical version, I'm not gonna pay $100 for the hardcover. For now I just have to put up the kindle edition for $10. ================================================
What's the mistake? {Combined a serial post. ~nobahn} |
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jroa
Posts: 548 |
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There are a few. I am not going to spell out every single one of them here, but they make it sound like the fight against Piccolo Daimaoh and the Namek arc are taking place simultaneously. Which would have been more entertaining than what happens in the real story, I guess, but it's not true. |
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Polycell
 Posts: 4623 |
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