‘THE ANIME ENCYCLOPEDIA’ 3rd Revised Edition’ (review)

Review by Benn Robbins

Once again the dynamic duo of Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy compile one of the most comprehensive and thorough anime resources in the Third Edition of their Anime Encyclopedia.

The first incarnation of this “bible” first appeared in 2001 and authors have done a hell of a job putting this together. At one point, in the past, I owned a copy of the Second Edition in print.

When I was the manager of the Japanese import store Tokyo Kid back in the late ’90’s, this book would have come in so handy.

As it were, there was very little compilations of listings of every anime in existence. This new third edition is pretty amazing. I was swallowed up by the “rabbit hole” of hyperlinks and clickable cross-referencing at my fingertips.

Clements and McCarthy utilize the digital technology perfectly and I think that they have the perfect balance of quick synopsis and in depth description to each entry.

Like it’s predecessors this does not rate or tell you if the anime is an good or terrible. It is a true reference guide with a very straightforward description of the plot of each anime. Where there may be more cultural or popular impact for a specific title, they may spend more time and add whatever the fandom’s impact the animation may have had on the industry itself.

Along with a straight A-Z guide of titles they also have a section in the contents called “Thematic Entries” these varied sections focus on the history, tropes, impact, influence and censorship, to name a few. This section, for me was the most intriguing. They give insight into more than just what the different types of Anime is out there, they really go in depth on the what, what’s and how’s of this pop culture genre.

I spent about three days, off and on for a few hours a day buzzing around in their creation and I have to say that what Clements and McCarthy have put together is a solid and well constructed reference guide that is not only very informative but is very user friendly and simple to navigate.

I utilized both the clickable links, and the search feature and I was not disappointed in how quickly and easy I was able to find the information I was looking for.

If you are an anime fan or just love having reference around for whatever may happen in your world I have to recommend The Anime Encyclopedia. This is definitely something any pop culture and Japanese anime fan should have at their fingertips.