As athletes prepare for the Paris Olympics, the Japanese men’s volleyball team is enjoying an unprecedented popularity, thanks in part to an animated feature. One of the big hits of 2024, Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle (produced by Production I.G. and airing on Crunchyroll) has helped fuel a surge in interest in volleyball in Japan. Volleyball […]
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INTERVIEW: Makoto Shinkai on “Suzume”
November 27th, 2023 
Charles Solomon Over the last 15 years, Makoto Shinkai has emerged as one of the leaders of a new generation of anime directors who are pushing storytelling in interesting new directions. In Suzume (Suzume no Tojimari—literally, “Suzume’s Closing or Locking,” 2022), the title character begins as a normal high school girl, living with her aunt. Her mother […]
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Interesting Portrayals of Gay Men in Manga/Anime
June 12th, 2023 Charles Solomon EDITOR’S NOTE: This week the Annecy International Animation Festival commences – and in support of their spotlight on Animation, Pride and Diversity, we asked our anime expert Charles Solomon to suggest some recent gay manga (and anime) we should be more aware of. As the recent summit in Hiroshima spotlighted, Japan is the only G7 […]
Charles Solomon’s Animation Year End Review 2022
December 30th, 2022 Charles Solomon Although he wrote them in 1859, Charles Dickens might have been thinking of animation in 2022 when he penned the celebrated lines, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the […]
BOOK REVIEW: “The Shonen Jump Guide to Making Manga”
October 29th, 2022 Charles Solomon As a quick glance at any bookstore or Amazon will confirm, the popularity of manga in the US has produced a flood of how-to books aimed at adolescent/teen-age artists. In addition to the general books, there are specialized volumes focusing on everything from accessories to hair styles to furry characters and mecha. An unscientific sampling […]
MANGA REVIEW: “Real Volume 15”
January 8th, 2022 Charles Solomon After a hiatus of more than six years, Takehiko Inoue has returned to “Real,” his compelling manga about wheelchair basketball players. (At the same time, he’s directing a new feature based on his hit “Slam Dunk.”) The artist picks up the story where he left off in 2014: His three main characters are still wrestling […]
Charles Solomon’s Animation Year End Review 2021
December 28th, 2021 Charles Solomon Although he wrote them in 1859, Charles Dickens might have been thinking of animation in 2021 when he penned the celebrated lines, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the […]
ANIME REVIEW: “Neon Genesis Evangelion”
December 21st, 2021 Charles Solomon Hideaki Anno’s Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995), which ranks among the most popular, influential and controversial series in anime history, is finally appearing on Blu-ray in two multi-disc sets from GKIDS and Shout Factory! featuring a new dub and script. A complex, compelling saga that juxtaposes mecha battles with apocalyptic Christian symbolism, Jewish mysticism and teenage […]
MANGA REVIEW: “My Hero Academia” and “Manga Theater”
December 7th, 2021 Charles Solomon It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and Viz has two new books that will make excellent gifts for the anime and manga fans in the family. Since Kohei Horikoshi’s manga My Hero Academia debuted in 2014, it’s sold more than 50 million books worldwide, and the anime series is one of the break-out […]
Thoughts on Anime: “Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.01: Thrice Upon a Time”
August 17th, 2021 Charles Solomon After twenty-five years of fans debating, discussing, speculating and impatiently waiting, Hideaki Anno finally brings his Evangelion saga to a conclusion in the feature Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.01: Thrice Upon a Time, airing on Amazon Prime. The broadcast series Neon Genesis Evangelion debuted in October, 1995. Eerie female voices exhorted, “Zankoku na tenshi no you […]
MANGA REVIEW: “Blue Flag” Books 1-8
June 14th, 2021 Charles Solomon Although many graphic novels and manga focus on LGBTQ kids, the complex characters and exceptional draftsmanship set Kaito’s “Blue Flag” above the tepid Western fantasies and run-of-the-mill BL (“Boy’s Love”) manga. (It was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize for Graphic Novel.) Sadly, the publication of Volume #8 marks the end of Blue […]
Remembering Marcell Jankovics
June 1st, 2021 Charles Solomon I still remember when I discovered the work of the great Hungarian animator Marcell Jankovics, who died on May 29th at the age of 79. In 1975, I saw Sisyphus in the 10th Annual International Tournée of Animation. The skill with which the artist captured the anatomy of the character, his frustration and the essence […]
ANIME REVIEW: “On-Gaku: Our Sound”
May 19th, 2021 Charles Solomon Kenji Iwaisawa’s offbeat On-Gaku: Our Sound (2019) has attracted a loyal following in the US; it even earned an Annie nomination for Independent feature. Although it’s based on a self-published manga by Hiroyuki Ohashi, Iwaisawa wrote the screenplay, directed the film and animated it almost single-handedly. He simply couldn’t afford professional animators; the film’s shoestring […]
ANIME REVIEWS: “One Punch Man” and “Mob Psycho 100”
May 10th, 2021 Charles Solomon Many recent anime TV programs reflect Japan’s daunting socio-economic problems in the post-Bubble economy: An aging, shrinking population; a bleak financial future that makes many young people undesirable as potential marriage partners; growing economic inequality; the persistent trauma from the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident Westerners call Fukushima—and the government’s ineffectual response to it.
Charles Solomon’s Animation Year End Review 2023
Although he wrote them in 1859, Charles Dickens might have been thinking of animation in 2023 when he penned the celebrated lines, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the […]