Even if one convinces one's self that their interest in the more lascivious forms of Japanese anime one expects a certain amount of voyeuristic enjoyment of a study of that genre. At least, one would expect to walk away from the book with a deeper understanding of what Japanese eroticism is and how it expresses itself. Unfortunately, McCarthy and Clements book falls far short of being a successful mix of scholorship and entertainment.
While the Erotic Anime Movie Guide provides detailed coverage of much of the dark side of anime and hentai, it is marred by very lackluster writing and a real dearth of illustration. The writers shift back and forth from a form of dry academic philosophizing which borders on an apology for Japanese tastes, to an equally dry reporting of film contents.
This should be a fascinating subject. The Japanese have a very different scale of what is appropriate and what is not and have focused considerable writing, illustrative and musical talent on erotic anime, often hittin very high production standards. This strange little book seems to want to downplay all of that as if uncomfortable with the subject matter.
Hopefully there will be other efforts in the study of this genre that manage to be as compelling as is their subject matter.