[the_ad_placement id="top-mobile"] [the_ad_placement id="top-mobile-2"]
[the_ad_placement id="billboard-home-page"] [the_ad_placement id="billboard"] [the_ad_placement id="billboard-preview"]
[the_ad_placement id="billboard"] [the_ad_placement id="billboard-preview"]

Charles Solomon

Ready, Set, Animate! ‘100 Meters’ Director Kenji Iwaisawa Puts Us Through the Paces of His Sprint Racing Drama

  “There were almost no film works in Japan themed around the 100-meter dash, a short-distance event, so the idea of taking on something no...

Director Kenji Iwaisawa Details the Creative Challenges and Exciting Sprints of His Feature ‘100 Meters’

In 2019, Kenji Iwaisawa released his outrageous On-Gaku: Our Sound, a highly personal, low-budget feature about three unprepossessing high school students who form a...

Life in Dystopia: ‘Gachiakuta’ Director Fumihiko Suganuma Offers Insights into the Popular Apocalyptic Anime

  One of the biggest shows of the summer on Crunchyroll, Gachiakuta is a dark, violent fantasy-adventure set in a dystopic city rigidly divided along...

Return to Prince Edward Island: ‘Anne Shirley’ Views the L.M. Montgomery Classic thru a New Anime Lens

Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables books have enjoyed a special place in the hearts of Japanese audiences for almost 75 years. The...

‘Lazarus’ Creator Shinichiro Watanabe Discusses the Daredevil Action of His New Adult Swim Anime

Lazarus, which debuts April 5th on Adult Swim, is director Shinichiro Watanabe’s first TV series since Carole & Tuesday (2019). It’s good to have...

Of Magical Temples and Dream Houses: A Preview of the New ‘Studio Ghibli and Architecture in Animation” Book

***This article was written for the March '25 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 348)*** Audiences associate the films of Studio Ghibli with their evocative depictions of...

Director Masaki Watanabe Discusses Bringing the Retired Hitman Manga, ‘Sakamoto Days,’ to Animated Life

By Charles Solomon Japan may well be the safest country in the world. Tokyo, the largest city on Earth with a population of over 37...

‘Ranma 1/2’ Reboot Delivers a Martial Arts Comedy with a Big Twist

***This article was written for the January '25 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 346)*** ‘More than 35 years after Ranma Saotome first transformed from “boy-type” to “girl-type,”...

Visual Empathy: ‘The Colors Within’ Director Naoko Yamada Illustrates the Aura of Her Acclaimed Movie

The nuns at the Catholic girls’ school in Nagasaki, Japan that Totsuko Higurashi attends in Naoko Yamada’s feature The Colors Within might well sing,...

‘The Concierge’ Director Yoshimi Itazu Welcomes Us to His Creature Consumers’ Paradise

Yoshimi Itazu’s The Concierge (2023) blends seemingly incompatible elements into a gentle, touching story. It’s a light comedy about a young woman growing into...

How ‘Dan Da Dan’ Director Fuga Yamashiro Conjured a Rom-Com/Horror Anime Hybrid

Dan Da Dan, a quirky new series from the Science SARU studio, crosses so many genres, it’s actually quite difficult to categorize. Based on...

The ‘Kaiju No. 8’ Team Discuss Their Monster-Sized Hit

Production I.G’s riveting Kaiju No. 8 was one of the most anticipated anime series of 2024 —and is now a hit on both sides...

‘The Imaginary’ Producer Yoshiaki Nishimura & Director Yoshiyuki Momose Introduce Ponoc’s Magical Childhood Friends

“In today’s increasingly disconnected world, we must pay attention to what we are ignoring, what we are not seeing — always with moderation, respect...

Lessons in Love: Crunchyroll’s New ‘Cherry Magic!’ Series Preserves the Manga’s Charms

The new anime series Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! (2024, streaming on Crunchyroll) offers insights into the curious...

Our Critic Picks His Favorite Animated Movies of 2023

For animators and animation lovers, 2023 was a year of surprises that ranged from record-breaking successes in the U.S. and Japan to disappointments and...

Time Passages: Tomohisa Taguchi Guides Us Through ‘The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes’

Writer-director Tomohisa Taguchi’s The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes, which won the Paul Grimault Award this year at Annecy, is a striking...

‘Fullmetal Alchemist 20th Anniversary Book’: Steampunk Brothers Save the Day!

Hiromu Arakawa’s fantasy-adventure Fullmetal Alchemist (2001) remains one of the best-loved manga/anime properties of the first decade of the 21st century. The manga has...

The Return of the Master: Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘The Boy and the Heron’

In his 2016 proposal for the film that became The Boy and the Heron, Hayao Miyazaki wrote, “There’s nothing more pathetic than telling the...

How ‘Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia’ Directors Julien Chheng and Jean-Christophe Roger Orchestrated the Charming Duo’s Return

They’re back! The plucky little mouse and the slovenly, musical bear who charmed audiences in the feature Ernest & Celestine (2012) have returned to the...

The First Slam Dunk: Big Screen Hoop Dreams for the Underdogs

“We didn’t decide what 'First' meant in the title,” says The First Slam Dunk producer Toshiyuki Matsui. “We wanted each audience member to decide...
ADVERTISEMENT
[the_ad_placement id="sidebar"] [the_ad_placement id="sidebar-preview"]

CONTEST

[the_ad id=”3269751″]

NEWSLETTER

Most Recent

ADVERTISEMENT
[the_ad_placement id="sidebar"] [the_ad_placement id="sidebar-preview"]
ADVERTISEMENT
[the_ad_placement id="billboard"] [the_ad_placement id="billboard-preview"]
[the_ad id="3268579"]