You guys might have been wondering what exactly a "schoolgirl milky crisis" would be. Well, it's what Jonathan Clements used as a cover name for whatever project he was working on. And so that's what this book entails: Jonathan's adventure into the world of anime production, culture, and fandom.
So, let's get into the milky adventure on its way!
Schoolgirl Milky Crisis
By Jonathan Clements
Published by Titan Books
Originally released Februrary 2009
This isn't a tell-all book or anything as nasty as Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential -- it's a collection of Jonathan Clement's works, many of which were published in places like the SciFi Channel's UK website, Newtype USA, and Judge Dredd magazine, or are transcripts from seminars or other talks he's done.
So, with this wide variety of content at hand, what does it look like? When I first started with the book, I encountered articles previously printed in magazines, running a little over a page -- my guess would be 500-word articles. They provided an introduction into many of the behind the scenes work in producing an anime.
While the articles were nice, they only provided an intro. I was hankering for something with a bit more meat. The interview with Mamoru Oshii is nice, but I wanted something that felt more like a book chapter. That's where Clement's speeches came into play. These transcriptions were on topics like the life of a translator, or a talk on pornography. These topics really get into things much more heavily -- not to the point of academia, but they provide a good perspective on the topic. I didn't really know much about Tezuka's Cleopatra, but the pornography talk gave me a bit of insight into its marketing within the US.
While most of the articles focus on anime production, and the industry surrounding it, Clements does make some forays into other areas such as Korean film and the general public's view of anime -- like his discontent over anime being stuffed into the Best Animated Film category at the Oscars. There are even obituaries that Clements has tucked away at the end. It's not the most cheery subject to be reading when you finish up the book, but it's something that I thought was important to read. You feel for the people in Clement's obits.
The book isn't one that is going to give you all the insight you'll ever need into the anime industry, but it does provide a great jumping point into the world, highlighting things here or there that you wouldn't have thought about, and giving you reason to explore more into those topics. By the end of the book, you'll certainly feel more enlightened about the industry -- for better or for worse.
live comments!
