The most recommended books about anime

There’s a point in countless anime fight scenes where characters engaged in combat are moving so fast, the background becomes nothing but harsh pencil strokes drawn from one corner of the frame to the other.
Black Gypsies contains many scenes with this level of frenetic energy. A fast, pulpy thrill ride that is equal parts colorful, gritty, and sexy.

This is a book that wears its anime influence on its sleeve quite literally, as the back cover states “for fans of Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Akira, and Cyberpunk 2077.”

For storytellers, this could be used as a bible for grand worldbuilding and epic fight scenes condensed into minimalist, cinematic prose. An insanely fun read that keeps the pedal smashed to the floor beginning to end.

Together with TV anime, the first video games (e.g. Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong) arrived in Italy between 1978 and 1981 and completely changed the way my friends and I spent our free time and pocket money. Ten years later I moved to Japan and, again, spent insanely long hours in dark game arcades playing Virtua Fighter. If, like me, you are a game addict, this book will tell you everything you need to know about game history and the intricacies and main personalities of each genre, from shooting and fighting games to retro and card-based games. It’s a huge saccharine high. Now excuse me but I gotta have my fix. 

My favorite aspect of this book was the concept of a crime coefficient: a numerical measure of how likely a person is to commit a crime. Punishments are meted out preemptively based on this. I found it a fascinating concept, especially in the context of karma, which also explores the idea of violence at a thought level (it does not delve into karma, but it is a personal interest of mine).

Overall, this had some solid and unique themes around ethics and justice—as well as really interesting worldbuilding, centered around this idea of a non-human (and thus ‘unbiased’) system judging humanity for their sins. I should note that this manga came after the anime—so the anime is the original work.

This is an excellent general review of the films from Castle of Cagliostro to Princess Mononoke, including plot outline, character studies, technical notes, and appreciations of the films. She is very insightful about the artistic technique. And there’s an interesting chapter at the end about Miyazaki merchandise. This would be a good starting point for a fan. 

The story takes place within a 12-hour time frame, in which our protagonist—fresh out of prison—must navigate cosmic horrors and old habits on his way to the halfway house.

The whole time, we as the reader are given in-depth historical and cultural insight into the city of Baltimore. The classic “first day out” narrative is given an anime-flavored spin with the inclusion of mech battles, mysterious gimp-suited beings, and eldritch gods. 

This is an excellent, well-designed book for anyone wanting to improve their Anime style of drawing. Many of the young artists I talk to have an intense interest in drawing in this particular style, sometimes referred to as the “Anime” style. This cartoon-style features sharp lines and shapes with stark, colorful graphics. Although this book doesn’t get into much instruction on how to create comics, it does provide the artist with a starting place for drawing in the anime style. From there, the artists can take this knowledge and apply it to the comics that they create. The drawings in the lessons are very well done, and the content covers all the topics that make anime a unique drawing style. I highly recommend this book.

As a cartoonist, the convention scene has always been nostalgic to me, and serves as the perfect backdrop for this slow-burning romance about a guy who cosplays and a girl who writes comics. Manga and anime, love and heartbreak, pocky and ramune, this love story hits all the nerdy notes in just the right way. 

Kenneth Jericho gets sucked into a magical otherworld while rescuing a little girl from human traffickers, and soon learns that his new surroundings have their own problems that he can’t turn away from.

Immediately it turns into a fast-paced adventure that made me nostalgic for the Dungeons and Dragons group I played with as a young man, where the guy running the game was perfectly happy to accept things like a high-powered magical rifle using the same stats as a longbow.

I never got into anime myself, but I still really enjoyed Gun Magus’s isekai vibe and any anime fan would probably appreciate it even more. Gun Magus has action, worldbuilding, big vibrant characters, and a lot of heart. I hope LaPoint has plans to go back and revisit this setting someday.

The medieval fantasy in this book was juxtaposed with band culture for the bard MC early in the book, which gave me a few laughs. I love all of the characters, but even more, I love that I didn’t like them all at first. One character came across too cheery while another was too stuck up, but I ended up loving them all by the end. The world is one I would adore stepping into for a week to live in, so it’s a very good escapist read. The MC’s directive is so simple, since he’s just trying to get into a bard group and prove his family wrong. The fact the scenario twists into so much more but remains so wholesome reminded me of the anime Spice and Wolf.