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Comics and the Origins of Manga: A Revisionist History
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By Jonathan Clements. Released as part of a Routledge series of translations of Chinese scholarship, Sun Lijun’s two-volume History of Chinese Animation is the largest work yet published…
Moving Heaven and Earth – A look back at Castle in the Sky
While Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind may be the first original film project cited in Miyazaki’s canon, the honor of being the first true Studio Ghibi…
Chinese Dramas and Rambles
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Urusei Yatsura – 33 – Heaven Is a Date on Earth with You
With the possible futures mini-arc concluded, Urusei is back to self-contained segments, both of which have to do with the supernatural. First up, Mendou is out of school…
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Episode 60) – Eye of Heaven, Gateway of Earth
Father has the five sacrifices where he wants them and is just biding time until the eclipse occurs. This might be their last chance to stop him… if…
Small History and Big History
History has two different and related types: small and big. Big history is what you learn in school. It’s the major events of the past: the American Revolution,…
From Astro Boy to Pluto: The History of “The Greatest Robot on Earth”
Learn how “The Greatest Robot on Earth” chapter of Astro Boy would so greatly affect Naoki Urasawa that it led to Pluto nearly 40 years later.
Books: Chinese Animation and Socialism
By Jonathan Clements. Daisy Yan Du’s newly published collection Chinese Animation and Socialism: From Animators’ Perspectives focuses on the rise and fall of the Shanghai Animation Film Studio…
The Origins of Weeaboo
I’ve never had much first hand contact with the term “weeaboo”. I learned it from an anime loving friend who used it more like a term of endearment.…
The Origins of Bara
Like with all kinds of mediums, Bara has a history of its own. And it comes with its own prejudice. History for some reason won’t always tell the…
The Joan Birch Society
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The FUNNIEST Chinese Anime...
The Daily Life of the Immortal king is achinese anime or donghua that's on crunchyroll and netflix. A goofier version of The Misfit of Demon King Academy combined…
Ragna Crimson, The Apothecary Diaries, Undead Unluck, Nichijou - My Ordinary Life: Episode 0, Nichijou - My Ordinary Life
Gyarados: The Chinese Dragon?
On right: Flag of the Qing dynasty Gyarados is a Water/Flying type in the Pokemon video games, yet it is often thought of as a dragon-like Pokemon. This…
Books on Japanese Culture and Society
This past semester I taught a class on Japanese science fiction and fantasy, and I was surprised by how interested my students were in learning more about the…
The Story of Animerama: Origins
In the 1960s, one of the first studios to make anime for television was Mushi Productions. Towards the end of that decade, their desire to ...
The Origins of Visual Novels
Last year I wrote a blog post about the origins of visual novels and how I believe the term is often misused in the West to classify games…
House of Earth and Blood
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Steins;Gate and Heaven part 2
I had my attention drawn back to a post I made about how Steins;Gate has some relations to how we should look at heaven and spreading the good news. Specifically with…
Reblog: Twwk Talks Frieren and Heaven
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Hanjo at the Japan Society
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Ju-on: Origins
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Toei Animation has been making magical girl anime since Sally the Witch in 1966 – and TV Asahi (previously known as Nihon Educational Television, or NET) has been…
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Vox Machina Origins
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[Cyberpunk://0420] – Cyberpunk Society and Its Future
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Review: Third Shift Society & Lost and Found
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Turn A Gundam Volume 4, Chapter 23 – “The Earth-Shattering Dark History” [Vol. 4 END]
Here it is! The final chapter of volume 4, which reveals to the reader the Dark History. It’s quite a different approach than the anime. This manga is…
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By Jonathan Clements. The approach of the year 2000 was fraught with a sense of commemoration and closure. Various media tried to put a cap on Japan’s last…
Middle Earth: The Anime?
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The Avant-Garde Origins of 'Gumby'
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Magikarp And The Dragons Gate: It’s Connection With Chinese And Japanese Mythology.
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Baoh The Visitor: The Origins of Jojo
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THE TWO CYCLE ENGINE SAAB AND SAVING THE PLANET EARTH
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The Legend of Black Heaven and The Power of Midlife Crisis
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The Lantern and the Night Moths: Five Modern and Contemporary Chinese Poets in Translation
The Lantern and the Night Moths: Five Modern and Contemporary Chinese Poets in Translation is an outstanding read. For reasons that are discussed in the book itself, translator…
The Ancient Magus’ Bride Episode 10: Mysterious Origins and Lindel’s Master
The Ancient Magus' Bride episode 10: Chise accepts Lindel's invitation to visit the Land of the Dragons -- but she's to come alone with Ruth.
The Man That Globalized Chinese Anime
I recently had the opportunity to sit down and interview Haolin, the director of Link Click and To Be Hero X. Haolin: https://x.com/haolin24870943?lang=en To Be Hero X: https://tbhx.net/en/ Edited by:…
The Chinese Cartoon That Beat the Censors
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Episode 350 - Pokémon Origins
This week, Shaun felt that since we were still in February it would only be appropriate to visit a property that both Shaun & Rem love with Pokémon…
Versus Earth
A manga where humanity is battling against deadly pillars who threaten to exterminate them appear from the ground. Teenager Haruto Teragane is dragged into this battle after becoming…
Earth Liner
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Review: GAKUEN HEAVEN
It's back-to-school time here at the Manga Test Drive, which in the manga world means attending anything but your ordinary Japanese high sc...
Review: GAKUEN HEAVEN
It's back-to-school time here at the Manga Test Drive, which in the manga world means attending anything but your ordinary Japanese high sc...
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Let’s take a look at the humble beginnings of one of the most well known blocks in all of USA anime, Toonami.
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Japanese Rock and Pop music has, through the 21st century, become an undoubtedly global phenomenon with genres like J-Pop, J-Rock reaching