The Anime Machine: A Media Theory of Animation

Honestly one of the most god-tier books on anime out there. The central argument is crazy. It's definitely not a light read and was 100% written for an audience in academia, but if you can get even 20% of the idea out of this book it's mind-boggling. When people talk about "analysis is lacking" in this or that book, this is the kind of book they're comparing it to. If you have any interest in doing formal research in anime you'll have to read this book at some point in your career, but know that it's not the most accessible to budding readers/researchers.

There aren't many books that deal with animation from the perspective of film theory, much less Japanese animation (anime), which makes Lamarre's book all the more valuable. His approach is based largely on the specific compositional properties of animation, but he delves into issues of gender, technology, and philosophy as well. My primary interest is the work of Hayao Miyazaki and I was pleased to see his films discussed at length. The writing itself is clear and enjoyable, although it may be a little heady for casual anime fans. For those interested in animation as it relates to film studies, however, I would highly recommend it.

Not much to say quite yet about this book other than it covers a lot of material. This is not a casual read. This is a true text book I'm sure some school uses somewhere. I'm sure this is one of many but I stumbled over this so I'm using it. I'll try and edit this comment as I get further into the study of the contents. So far... So good!

LANGUAGE JAPAN CHINA KOREAN ANIME MACHINE ANIMATION MAKER CARTOONS KIDS episode movie app game podcast music releases music videos shop

Book was in perfect condition. I never thought much of anime, but after reading it it's really opened up my mind to how it's made and the psychology behind it's construction

Llegò ràpido

This was a gift for someone who has always loved anime. Interesting, detailed and very enjoyable. Highly recommend! There are lots of books on anime out there, but this is one of the best choices after researching for your anime fan.

Impressive book, I'd have to say that Thomas Lamarre did a pretty impressive job in making this book. And yeah, let's not forget that it's thanks to our sellers that we get the product in India, which is hard to imagine without any of there support. That being said, This is a pretty long-ass book but hey, look on the bright side I honestly belive that everyone who even wanna know what is the very definition of anime should read it thoroughly. :) Amazing book, this might even greatly help me in writing the book of mine.

This is a very ambitious book that just about pulls off what it sets out to do: show how different lineages of anime create different kinds of vision, different aesthetics, and different ways of thinking about the world around us (including about technology and the human-environment relationship). It’s difficult because it assumes a lot of knowledge to really unlock all its levels, but it’s also written in an accessible enough style and with so much animation analysis that it makes it a great read regardless of how familiar with Heidegger you are. Highly highly recommend!

As a person who loves anime, manga and games etc. I thought it would be interesting to see anime from an academic perspective. I had no idea what this book was about really except that it was to do with "media theory". To be honest, as a biochemistry graduate I am more used to reading papers that contain clearly defined jargon and words and follow a unmistakeable logic. It seems to me that this particular paper invented words and threw them around without really explaining the context or providing meaningful examples. Other things were explained to death, such as the "animetic interval", "exploded view" and "force" etc. For the most part, the book waffles on unnecessarily about arbitrary subjects and how "anime thinks technology".. The first half of the book was by far more thought provoking. Lamarre introduces briefly how anime is composed and what materials are needed to actually make it. In contrast to cinema which focuses on camera movement and editing for the moving image, anime relies on the machine "animation stand" as well as human intervention at the drawing and compositing stage. Apparently in traditional film studies, the absolute reliance on the camera as an apparatus made it the driving force of cinema itself. Not so much with anime. Whereas (Hollywood) cinema tends to produce images of 3D movement into depth and high speed ballistic views, anime is able to produce different views by use of sliding layers and effects of gravity/forces on the body of drawn characters (Hayao Miyazaki animations), or an "exploded projection" by assembling multiple images and reference points that the viewer can pick apart (typical of Hideaki Anno anime). While all this is very interesting, Lamarre says that his angle of looking at anime from a technological point of view makes it unsullied by typical social and economic "ruptures" and arguments, such as East vs. West, Modern vs. Postmodern etc. He also spends an awful lot of time admiringly commenting on Miyazaki titles and how those films present "salvation" and all sorts of other nonsense by the specific techniques employed in creating the anime. The grating fan-boyishness makes me wonder how this kind of analysis is any different to what he's trying to avoid by essentially lauding that style. Had the analysis been more concise and studies of a wider variety of series been present in the text, it would have made his theory much more appealing. Instead, Lamarre is very narrow in his choice of examples (Castle in the Sky, Nadia, Chobits) when detailing how the presentation of anime determines its key themes and messages. In the second half, Lamarre criticizes the works of both Hiroki Azuma and Saitō Tamaki but not very convincingly. Both authors' theories relate to consumer culture, psychology and behavior, not necessarily the material aspect of creating anime, so really should not be lumped together with a media theory specifically on animation. It's an approach that makes no sense (especially the talk of irrelevant gibberish that is "asymmetry", if anyone can clarify that point please do so). There is nothing more frustrating than an outsider discussing matters of anime while disregarding the fact that it is aimed at a subculture or niche since its easy to think that anime has become mainstream and popular due to studios like Ghibli. What is the relevance of this you ask? Well although less-so in the present day, anime is a product that is created by its consumers. People who understand the desires and inner workings of the viewer and therefore communicate as insiders. When this is taken into account, the way anime is presented is itself, hardwired to the view of the viewer, and therefore a study based on a raw look at the mechanical succession of the images can undermine metaphysics of anime which in my opinion, is much more important. After reading this, I have taken more notice to how anime is put together while watching, which has increased my appreciation of them. As to how useful this theory is to scholars academically I haven't the slightest clue.

Used for a thesis, very informative.