Watching anime, reading manga: 25 years of Essays and Reviews
Fred Patten was an anime fan before most of this generation of fans were born, back when color television was a novelty and the idea of playing back TV shows on tapes and discs was a science fiction fantasy. Actually, Patten was a big part of the science fiction and fantasy world before he was drawn into anime fandom in the mid-1970′s.
When I decided to buy this book I was looking for something about anime & manga, but nothing in the complicated path that many books out there take, which is debating at infinite the hidden symbolism and the physiological implications of anime or manga. I was attracted to this book because of two things. The cover, which I liked a lot and the magical words ‘’25 years of Essays and Reviews’’.
I had no idea who Fred Patten is. And boy, I was so inspired when I bought the book. A whole hidden world was revealed to me through Fred Patten’s articles. There are so many memorable moments that he shares with us that I can seriously consider this book a historical document about the birth of the anime fandom in USA. While other authors learn from books or from internet how anime, manga and Japanese pop culture spread in US, Fred Patten was there, he experienced all in first person. The birth of the first anime fan clubs, the first fanzines dedicated to anime, the first timid anime conventions, the first anime broadcasted on US TV stations, the start of the first businesses based on anime and I could go on and on. He is also founding member of the first anime fan club from USA, the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization. The meetings with Osamu Tezuka, that Fred Patten had the honor of meeting several times in the 70’s, are being given a special importance, as Tezuka was between the first Japanese artists that visited USA, participated at anime conventions and acknowledged the growing importance of the US market.
In 384 pages, Fred Patten tackles more subjects than you can imagine. A huge and well documented and logic confrontation ‘’Simba versus Kimba’’ in which he analyses the controversy of the origins of inspiration for the animated movie ‘’The Lion King’’ from Disney, is one of the main articles of the book. The article is easy to follow, easy to read to the end, and that’s because Fred Patten’s writing has a natural flow and a clearness that wont stay in the reader’s way. We are also taken deep into the US anime industry, an industry that was beginning to show strong development only after 1990.
Basically, the book is split in five big categories, in which the articles fit the most. ‘’Anime fandom’’, ‘’The business of anime’’, ‘’Artists’’, ‘’Japanese culture in anime” and ‘’Titles’’.
You may find in this book that some facts often repeat themselves. So if you will read about Carl Macek and Robotech for the 5th time, don’t worry. It is the structure of the book, made from articles (covering over 25 years), that is responsible for this. Just read any article in any order you want to. It is essentially a collection of articles and essays, which gives the reader complete liberty in reading them.
A proper article about this book would spread for many pages, but I will leave others to do a more thorough analysis. Get the book, buy the paper version or the e-book and read it. Is a treasure of facts, knowledge and anime fandom and industry.
 Watching Anime, Reading Manga: 25 Years of Essays and Reviews (9781880656921): Fred Patten, Carl Macek: Books
ISBN: 1880656922 |
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