In June, the Penguin Group released The Rough Guide to Anime by Simon Richmond. The book establishes a canon of 50 must-see films and TV anime series, as well as reviews of 150 notable titles, and a brief history of anime.
Richmond is a travel writer for Rough Guides and Lonely Planet (his travel book, The Rough Guide to Japan is currently in its 4th edition with plans to release a 5th edition). The otherwise travel-oriented Rough Guides series also features a line of reference books, which includes film guides to Westerns and Film Noir, and lifestyle topics like Men’s Health. In September, Rough Guides will release The Rough Guide to Manga (Richmond also contributed to the Manga guide and The Rough Guide to Anime includes a chapter about manga).
PWCW chatted with Richmond at Anime Boston 2009. Before writing the book, Richmond was not a fan of anime. He noticed Japanese cartoons were gaining popularity in Australia and pitched the idea for the book to Rough Guides. After getting the green light, Richmond spent six months watching anime non-stop. He returned to Japan in 2008 to visit the Tokyo Anime Fair and several anime tourist locations, which are described in later chapters of the book.
“I spoke to everybody who’s a major anime scholar,” Richmond said of choosing his anime canon. He specifically mentioned Frederick Schodt (The Astro Boy Essays), Helen McCarthy (500 Essential Anime Movies), Roland Kelts (Japanamerica), and Justin Sevakis (founder of animenewsnetwork.com), as well as thanking dozens of other notable anime researchers in the preface.
Richmond’s anime canon includes feature films alongside television series, but it is heavily biased towards cinema. More money is spent on feature length movies in Japan, Richmond said, so the quality of the animation is higher and the scripts are better.
The newbie-friendly book includes a chapter on decoding anime, for those who are still trying to figure out “what the hell is going on.” Richmond has tried to avoid spoilers as much as possible in his reviews, which are framed as a critical guide to why certain titles are significant.
Although Richmond does not list age ratings for the anime titles he writes about, he claims the reviews are thorough enough to determine whether the titles are appropriate for children or not. Because the book is primarily a guide to evocative, thought-provoking films or historically import works (such as Barefoot Gen), it’s an indispensable reference for librarians and parents whose children are getting into anime for the first time.
“It’ll [also] appeal to the fan,” Richmond says, though he admits that hardcore fans will already be familiar with many of the canon’s titles.
The book includes a long informative section on the history of anime, as well as a chapter on the impact of anime outside of Japan. Richmond spotlights different eras, studios, genres and notable directors, drawing examples from each.
Hayao Miyazaki’s movies take up 10 spots in the canon, all five of Satoshi Kon’s (Paprika) works are included, and fan favorites like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell, and Cowboy Bebop make the list. The canon includes films as recent as Sky Crawlers (2008) along with older films such as Puss ‘n Boots (1969).
Richmond tried to skew towards titles that are legally available on DVD, but some recommended anime, such as Revolutionary Girl Utena are out-of-print. (Utena’s distributor was the now defunct Central Park Media.) Very old selections like Panda and the Magic Serpent (1958) may be even harder to find. Richmond includes information on the changing landscape of how fans access anime as the market moves away from DVDs and towards legally available digital downloads.
Richmond got his start in the financial world before becoming a travel writer. Since then, he has contributed to dozens of guidebooks about a variety of countries and cities, and his articles have been published in newspapers and magazines worldwide. An avid world traveler, Richmond was born in Blackpool, England and currently spends most of his time in Boston.
The Rough Guide to Anime is available internationally.
