The Ghibliotheque Anime Movie Guide: The Essential Guide to Japanese Animated Cinema

by Michael Leader, Michael Leader

Explore the magical world of anime through 30 classic films in this new book from the authors of Ghibliotheque. From box office hits such as Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Your Name to a host of deeper cuts, hidden gems and future classics, this revealing guide lifts the lid on Japanese animated cinema. Join Jake Cunningham and Michael Leader , hosts of the acclaimed Ghilbiotheque podcast, as they review 30 of the best anime movies ever created, explaining why each is a must-see and detailing the intriguing stories behind their creation.  An insight into a unique artform, this stunning book is packed with film stills, movie posters and director portraits, and offers and enchanting, enlightening and meticulously researched guide for newcomers and die-hard fans alike.

Genres: Nonfiction, Film, Collections, Art, Manga, Japanese Literature, History

192 pages, Hardcover

First published December 20, 2022

About the author

Michael Leader is a film writer, curator, and co-creator of the animation-focused podcast series Ghibliotheque. He is co-author of the books Ghibliotheque: The Unofficial Guide to the Movies of Studio Ghibli and the Ghibliotheque Anime Movie Guide. His writing has appeared in the pages of Sight and Sound and Little White Lies magazines, and from 2019 to 2022, he was Series Producer and Commissioning Editor of the BBC iPlayer short-form documentary series Inside Cinema and Inside Games. He lives in Sussex with his partner and a small child.

Reviews

[Zach Leete · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed how the co-authors divided their roles between telling the history of each movie and reviewing them. I breezed through this and actually found some of the most rewarding parts to be those covering movies I had already seen. No real surprises here and it’s not as comprehensive as it could’ve been, but I don’t think that was the point. This is a curated list of anime movies that reads like a podcast series.

[erin ʕ·ᴥ·ʔ · Rating 5 out of 5]

in this book i got to relive some of my favourite anime movies, discover new ones and remind me to watch classics and it’s such a beautiful book

[Karrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The text is too small and too light. Makes it hard to read

[Kieran · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw this sitting on a friend’s bookshelf and thought it looked cool, so I picked up a copy from the local library.

From a design standpoint, the book rocks. There is a reason that it drew me in. Full of colourful photos of famous anime films, the book looks awesome.

I’m a bit more mixed on the content. They feature a wide range of films, with 30 different anime directors and no Ghibli films allowed. But the writing on the films often is little more than a mini bio of their director, providing about as much depth as a detailed Wikipedia article. I found the reviews of each film to be decently written, but ultimately didn’t add much.

Still a solid entry to the world of anime, and a great looking book, but I was hoping for more.

[Sohxpie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really well presented guide to anime films. I liked how the authors only allowed themselves one film per director, it meant that the reader was exposed to so many different directors and films. I thought the set-up was fantastic, a brief bit of information about each director and film, a further watching section, and a review of each film. Just a really well put together book. I will admit, I'm not the biggest anime fan but there are definitely a few films I want to watch because of this book!

[Jessica Walsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great collection of essays about various notable anime films that speak of the history and inventiveness of the medium. There’s a lot of great info here that I loved to read. However the book is bogged down by the reviews of each movie. These reviews are two dense and often compare the comics to Miyazaki’s work, even when there’s no reason to compare the two. The reviews actually kinda require the reader to know all of Studio Ghibli’s work for the content to make sense and that’s a severe detriment when I came here to read about these other movies and their affect on the industry.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely book, with lots of helpful information on the connections between the various people making some of the best anime. The font is so small though as to be practically unreadable! Have never had to hold a book so close to my face before.

[Ambur Taft · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great facts and I found a few movies I have not seen.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic resource

[Joe Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting! It's opened my eyes to the larger variety of anime that's out there!

[Ashley Lambert-Maberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it well enough: it introduced me to films I would otherwise not have heard of, and the balance of text to image didn't lean too hard to one side or the other, which worked for this kind of subject. But while I'm excited about japanese films, I wasn't particularly excited by this book about japanese films, so a lot of my pleasure in it is inherent in the subject ...

Some negatives: very small print, and often in a dark color on a medium color, so nearly impossible to read for the over-50 crowd. Occasionally the writing disappoints (at one point they mentioned that the director of the Cowboy Bebop movie had broad tastes, since he enjoyed Dirty Harry films, Sam Peckinpah films, film noir, etc. That's not a broad taste, that's a very narrow taste, for tough manly male films! So slips like that make me wonder about the veracity of other statements.

(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)