Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man

Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man

Author: Steve Alpert

Publisher: Stone Bridge Press, Inc.

Published: 2020-06-16

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 1611729416

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A unique behind-the-scenes look at Japanese business and how the animated films of Hayao Miyazaki were introduced to the world. This highly entertaining business memoir describes what it was like to work for Japan’s premiere animation studio, Studio Ghibli, and its reigning genius Hayao Miyazaki. Steve Alpert, a Japanese-speaking American, was the “resident foreigner” in the offices of Ghibli and its parent Tokuma Shoten and played a central role when Miyazaki’s films were starting to take off in international markets. Alpert describes hauling heavy film canisters of Princess Mononoke to Russia and California, experiencing a screaming Harvey Weinstein, dealing with Disney marketers, and then triumphantly attending glittering galas celebrating the Oscar-winning Spirited Away. His one-of-a-kind portraits of Miyazaki and long-time producer Toshio Suzuki, and of sly, gruff, and brilliant businessman Yasuyoshi Tokuma, capture the hard work and artistry that have made Ghibli films synonymous with cinematic excellence. And as the lone gaijin in a demanding company run by some of the most famous and influential people in modern Japan, Steve Alpert tackles his own challenges of language and culture. No one else could have written this book.


The Sense of an Ending

The Sense of an Ending

Author: Julian Barnes

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2011-10-05

Total Pages: 158

ISBN-13: 0307957330

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BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A novel that follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he never much thought about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting, The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning achievement in Julian Barnes's oeuvre. Tony Webster thought he left his past behind as he built a life for himself, and his career has provided him with a secure retirement and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, who now has a family of her own. But when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.


The House of Broken Angels

The House of Broken Angels

Author: Luis Alberto Urrea

Publisher: Little, Brown

Published: 2018-03-06

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 0316516252

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In this "raucous, moving, and necessary" story by a Pulitzer Prize finalist (San Francisco Chronicle), the De La Cruzes, a family on the Mexican-American border, celebrate two of their most beloved relatives during a joyous and bittersweet weekend. "All we do, mija, is love. Love is the answer. Nothing stops it. Not borders. Not death." In his final days, beloved and ailing patriarch Miguel Angel de La Cruz, affectionately called Big Angel, has summoned his entire clan for one last legendary birthday party. But as the party approaches, his mother, nearly one hundred, dies, transforming the weekend into a farewell doubleheader. Among the guests is Big Angel's half brother, known as Little Angel, who must reckon with the truth that although he shares a father with his siblings, he has not, as a half gringo, shared a life. Across two bittersweet days in their San Diego neighborhood, the revelers mingle among the palm trees and cacti, celebrating the lives of Big Angel and his mother, and recounting the many inspiring tales that have passed into family lore, the acts both ordinary and heroic that brought these citizens to a fraught and sublime country and allowed them to flourish in the land they have come to call home. Teeming with brilliance and humor, authentic at every turn, The House of Broken Angels is Luis Alberto Urrea at his best, and cements his reputation as a storyteller of the first rank. "Epic . . . Rambunctious . . . Highly entertaining." -- New York Times Book Review"Intimate and touching . . . the stuff of legend." -- San Francisco Chronicle"An immensely charming and moving tale." -- Boston GlobeNational Bestseller and National Book Critics Circle Award finalistA New York Times Notable BookOne of the Best Books of the Year from National Public Radio, American Library Association, San Francisco Chronicle, BookPage, Newsday, BuzzFeed, Kirkus, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Literary Hub


Anime

Anime

Author: Jonathan Clements

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2023-08-24

Total Pages: 457

ISBN-13: 1839025131

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Japanese animation is at the nexus of an international multimedia industry worth over $23.6 billion a year, linked to everything from manga to computer games, Pokémon and plushies. In this comprehensive guide, Jonathan Clements chronicles the production and reception history of the entire medium, from a handful of hobbyists in the 1910s to the Oscar-winning Spirited Away and beyond. Exploring the cultural and technological developments of the past century, Clements addresses how anime's history has been written by Japanese scholars, and covers previously neglected topics such as wartime instructional animation and work-for-hire for American clients. Founded on the testimonies of industry professionals, and drawing on a myriad of Japanese-language documents, memoirs and books, Anime: A History illuminates the anime business from the inside – investigating its innovators, its unsung heroes and its controversies. This new edition has been updated and revised throughout, with full colour illustrations and three new chapters on anime's fortunes among Chinese audiences and subcontractors, 21st century trends in 'otaku economics', and the huge transformations brought about by the rise of global streaming technology.


Ghibliotheque

Ghibliotheque

Author: Jake Cunningham

Publisher: Welbeck

Published: 2024-06-06

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 1802797475

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Revised and updated - includes Miyazaki's new masterpiece, The Boy and the Heron. Explore the films of magical Japanese animation masters Studio Ghibli in this film-by-film celebration for newcomers and long-time fans alike. Ghibliotheque reviews each Studio Ghibli movie in turn, in the voice of expert and newcomer. The lively text delves into production details, themes, key scenes and general reviews, as well as Ghibli-specific information. It's beautifully illustrated with stills and posters from each movie. Written by the hosts of the acclaimed Ghibliotheque podcast, this is the first and last word on the films of Studio Ghibli.


Emanon Volume 4: Emanon Wanderer Part Three

Emanon Volume 4: Emanon Wanderer Part Three

Author: Shinji Kajio

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Published: 2023-09-19

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 1506733832

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Emanon is strange even for an immortal—a person with a mind over three billion years old, her consciousness endlessly migrating from new body to new body over the entire history of life’s evolution on Earth. Emanon Volume 4 tells the story of her existence in that odd decade called the 1980s, as Emanon’s latest incarnation grows from a grade schooler who seeks to conceal her intelligence, to a teen trying to avoid a relationship with the superhuman classmate pursuing her, to a young adult facing the death from old age of her best friend Hikari—a mortal time-jumper whose own life has crossed that of Emanon many times in the past, and will do so again many times in the future…but who dies at last in the here and now.


Introducing Japanese Popular Culture

Introducing Japanese Popular Culture

Author: Alisa Freedman

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-04-18

Total Pages: 440

ISBN-13: 1000864170

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Specifically designed for use in a range of undergraduate and graduate courses, while reaching specialists and general readers, this second edition of Introducing Japanese Popular Culture is a comprehensive textbook offering an up-to-date overview of a wide variety of media forms. It uses particular case studies as a way into examining the broader themes in Japanese culture and provides a thorough analysis of the historical and contemporary trends that have shaped artistic production, as well as politics, society, and economics. As a result, more than being a time capsule of influential trends, this book teaches enduring lessons about how popular culture reflects the societies that produce and consume it. With contributions from an international team of scholars, representing a range of disciplines from history and anthropology to art history and media studies, the book covers: Characters Television Videogames Fan media and technology Music Popular cinema Anime Manga Spectacles and competitions Sites of popular culture Fashion Contemporary art. Written in an accessible style with ample description and analysis, this textbook is essential reading for students of Japanese culture and society, Asian media and popular culture, globalization, and Asian Studies in general. It is a go-to handbook for interested readers and a compendium for scholars.


Studio Ghibli

Studio Ghibli

Author: Rayna Denison

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-02-21

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 3031168445

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Studio Ghibli: An Industrial History takes us deep into the production world of the animation studio co-founded by Oscar-winning director Hayao Miyazaki. It investigates the production culture at Studio Ghibli and considers how the studio has become one of the world’s most famous animation houses. The book breaks with the usual methods for studying Miyazaki and Ghibli’s films, going beyond textual analysis to unpack the myths that have grown up around the studio during its long history. It looks back at over 35 years of filmmaking by Miyazaki and other Ghibli directors, reconsidering the studio’s reputation for egalitarianism and feminism, re-examining its relationship to the art of cel and CG animation, investigating Studio Ghibli’s work outside of feature filmmaking from advertising to videogames and tackling the studio’s difficulties in finding new generations of directors to follow in the footsteps of Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. By reconstructing the history of Studio Ghibli through its own records, promotional documents and staff interviews, Studio Ghibli: An Industrial History offers a new perspective not just on Ghibli, but on the industrial history of Japanese animation.


Miyazaki and the Hero's Journey

Miyazaki and the Hero's Journey

Author: Deborah Scally

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2022-04-06

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 147664604X

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This book explores anime auteur Hayao Miyazaki's films through the lens of the monomyth of the Heroic Quest Cycle. According to Joseph Campbell and other mythology researchers, the Quest is for boys and men, with women acting as either the Hero's mother or the Prize at the end of the journey. Miyazaki nearly exclusively portrays girls and young women as heroes, arguing that we must reassess Campbell's archetype. The text begins with a brief history of animation and anime, followed by Miyazaki's background and rise to prominence. The following chapters look at each of Miyazaki's films from the perspective of the Heroic Quest Cycle, with the last section outlining where Miyazaki and other animators can lead the archetype of the Hero in the future.


Kyoto Stories

Kyoto Stories

Author: Steve Alpert

Publisher: Stone Bridge Press, Inc.

Published: 2022-07-05

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 1611729556

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An American student in 1970s Kyoto rambles among the city's beauties and traditions, learning as he goes. Don Ascher is a young American living in Kyoto in the 1970s. He is a student of Japanese. He also teaches English, works at a shabu-shabu restaurant, and hangs out in the company of gangsters, hostesses, housewives, tea teachers, and fellow foreigners. Set amidst the timeless beauty of the ancient capital and its garish modern entertainments, this collection of fanciful episodes from Don’s life is a window into Japanese culture and a chronicle of romance and human connections.