One of the greatest obstacles standing in the way of English-speakers seeking to understand the history of Japanese animation - besides, as Clements notes, the haphazard nature of even those resources available in Japanese - is the language barrier. His academic text Anime: A History begins in the 1910s, 50 years before the airing of Astro Boy, in fact, Astro Boy only appears halfway through the book! Clements is concerned not just with the medium of anime itself, but the cultural traditions, historical events, and individual people that brought it into existence. But this wasn’t enough for Jonathan Clements, a long-time anime and manga scholar who continues to blog on Schoolgirl Milky Crisis. If you’re a curious reader looking for an accessible (and recent!) popular history, I highly recommend this book.įor fans abroad, the history of anime begins with the airing of Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy on Japanese television. The manga-obsessed student radicals of the 1960s, many of whom came to work on later anime projects like Mobile Suit GundamĪuthor Matt Alt’s choice of interviewees and attention to detail marks Pure Invention as one of the best of its kind.How the karaoke machine led directly to idol culture, as music producers sought to produce music that ordinary people could sing.The toy car that inspired top developers at Nintendo.But there are plenty of stories in here that fans of anime and manga might find fascinating: Pure Invention: How Japan's Pop Culture Conquered the World reaches beyond manga and anime to encompass Japanese pop culture post World War II. I’ve also read at least sections of every book on this list, so you have my guarantee of their quality!

Here are some excellent nonfiction books on the manga and anime industry that I’d recommend to just about anybody. But when all else fails, turn to the library. There’s also a good amount of information available online, from animation blogs to translated manga interviews to personal pieces.

Where do you begin? There’s whatever insight you can glean from the work itself, of course. Say you’re a fan of anime and manga who’s looking to learn more about history or craft.

Anime by Jonathan Clements