A flowing collection of poetry that is also a guide for life.
#1708502 in eBooks 2004-09-01 2004-09-01File Name: B004ZGZBDG
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Dated but still worthwhileBy jmchale1959Interesting. Its difficult to not give this collection of essays at least four stars. simply because theres so muchmaterial presented. It is. however. like many other books of this type. dated. Also. Patten is dealing withanime and manga in general. so specific titles/series are not dealt with except where needed to illustratethe point being made. I guess you could label this as a history text. of sorts. dealing with the mediumduring a certain time period. by way of the observations of one individual who was in a position to do so.If you are interested in that sort of perspective. its worthwhile.20 of 26 people found the following review helpful. Its a shame more anime and manga fans dont buy this book!By Courtland J. CarpenterTo be honest with my title. had I seen this in a bookstore. I probably would have passed. Essays and collected reviews from one person too often give you a slanted point of view. and often not much real information. I like history. and that was the big selling point on this book for me. Too often we buy whats popular. what we know (are exposed to). or from listening to the suggestions of our friends. Im not speaking of this book purchase now. but of the act of collection. reading. and watching of anime. Its really nice to know the history behind it.By rights. maybe this book should be four stars instead of five. but I couldnt resist because it filled in a point of interest for me Ive wondered about for years. I wrote an review a few years ago on the anime classic. Spirited Away. In the review I compared the movie to a life changing animated film I had seen as a boy. Ive never been able to recall the name. and because of the era. I thought it American or perhaps a Chinese production. Ive always looked for it to show up on TV. or in video. hoping Id recognize the title or the plot. I knew little more than the type of film. plot. and name of the main character.My dad took me to the film. and I thought it must have been because he was interested in its philosophy. My dad had visited China. and India during WWII as a Cryptographer. After the war. he brought home some items from China. and a good deal of Eastern Philosophy. What I didnt realize is that the movie he took me too. was in reality one of the earliest anime shown in the United States. It was a dubbed film called Magic Boy. that was shown in a limited release in Fort Wayne. Indiana. in June of 1961. Strangely enough. it was another limited release anime. Princess Mononoke. that sparked me to begin collecting anime and manga in 1999. Little did I know that my childhood had been influenced greatly by the earliest film of the anime genre to hit the US. Perhaps I was destined to become an anime lover!My point here is that this book helped me find out that fact. When I read in the book about the early anime films. I suddenly realized they were from the era when I saw that film. There were three titles. released in the US about then. I looked up the pictures. plots from the web. and got a dead-on match with the film. Magic Boy! As Ive read further in this book I find more things I knew little about. milestones that brought about the popularity of anime and manga. As a kind of a time-line. (based on the dates of the articles collected in the book) you can see the growth of anime and manga in the US. You can see as well why there is still a great deal of resistance to its becoming mainstream. even today.Just to speak to that issue. inject a little of my own philosophy to a theme expressed in many of the books articles. The answer I speak of is that viewing anime. and reading manga. is justified by the main reason many avoid it. Its new. and its different! While many anime and manga are generic SciFi or Fantasy. often they contain elements of the Japanese culture. If youve watched one too many episodes of some reality show. the same rehashed episode of a sitcom for the 50th time .you know you too long for something new. Despite cultural differences. most anime stories are easy enough to relate to. were all humans and many of our goals are the same regardless of culture.One more thing on the book. this is a good read to put somewhere (you know where I mean) to read in small bursts. periodically. Since its a collection of anime reviews and small articles. you can read one or two at a time. and pick it back up later. Its not a book you have to read in long sittings.3 of 7 people found the following review helpful. A must for anime followersBy Midwest Book ReviewFred Pattens Watching Anime. Reading Managa: 25 Years Of Essays And Reviews reports on the anime culture in America. gathering articles on Japanese animation and comics and examining both its fan world and the business of its production. Chapters cover everything from individual anime artists to overall licensing and theatrical issues and features. anime pornography. Japanese anime and manga culture. and more. The range of issues and considerations come from an active participant in fan clubs and writings over the years and will prove a must for anime followers.
