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Hello I've just began attempting to review anime shows and movies in my own leisure and for my course and while I do have a reasonably seasoned knowledge of anime (albeit slightly dated since I haven't followed the trends of the last 2 years or so) I still feel alot of what I gain is at face value and usually from casual discussions with friends. I do follow a great slew of journalists and critics that specialize in fields outside of anime ( and a few from ANN in fact) however beyond that I still feel my technique has something left to be desired.

basically, what I would like is perhaps to attain professional secondary texts on anime in general, encyclopedias and things of that would solidify my comments on the work I criticize, that give a overview on the history of anime, some of the cultural references in anime that might be opaque to people outside of japan, and perhaps even a collection of reviews by professionals that show a level acuity in their analogies. (rather than having to stare at reviews online a computer screen for hours while my retina slowly melts off)

Now I have looked up online a few books on amazon and the like, HOWEVER alot of these encyclopedias, collection of reviews, ect, seem to have polarized opinions on the content written, and from the responses on places such as amazon, I am not quite sure which publications are of genuine quality or which are just simple summaries for people who are not familiar with anime.

not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I really would like a second opinion and advice from any one who read such texts and possibly opinions from seasoned reviewers who have a broadened and well researched knowledge of anime. what books are worth getting and what should I avoid ( bare in mind anime even with burgeoning popularity as we speak is still a some what underground medium, so its hard to find a professional compendium of knowledge on the subject). I heard people like jonathan clements are worth following up on but then again even when looking at their collection of texts, some people have complained that their books do not contain much information for "veteran anime fans" . any idea where to start? ( was thinking perhaps The Anime Companion but some reviewer said that it contains quite a lot of superfluous ranting irrelevant to the text)

I'm not a seasoned reviewer by any stretch of the imagination, but I am a college student that has to give good, solid sources whenever I write about anime and manga for schoolwork, and I haven't found any sources better than Helen McCarthy's work. I haven't had a chance to read everything by her yet, but I've used her Miyzaki and Tezuka books several times in projects and they're both really engaging to read and really informative. (And actually, now that I'm looking at this list I see several that I really, really want to read.)

I also remember that when I was first taking a serious look at anime in high school reading Anime Explosion! The What? Why? & Wow! Of Japanese Animation and really enjoying it. I don't know if it's quite as scholarly as you're looking for, and I think at this point it's probably a little dated, but it was still helpful for me as a newer fan of anime.