Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation: Films, Themes, Artistry (Paperback)

But be warned. This is not a "how to draw anime" guide. This is not an in-depth look inside the mind of a master. This will not teach you much you don't already know about Miyazaki based on the kinds of movies he makes -- an obsession with flight and flying machines, the struggle of man against and for nature, the power of dreaming, the adventure of growing up. You don't need a book to recognise all those things straight off the screen.

Instead, this is a very simple introduction, consisting of overviews of each of Miyazaki's movies: their plot, their main characters, and a brief commentary by the author Helen McCarthy. For the most part, the commentaries are of the gushing variety (McCarthy is an obvious fan!) while the plot and character lists are also nothing you can't get from watching the movies.

As for the Japanese video covers, the point of these eludes me, since the Studio Ghibli Collection Japanese DVD covers (the definitive 2-disk versions of the works, far superior in every respect to the American and UK versions) are different to those shown. The book was written in 1999 ("reprinted with revisions 2002" -- like what?) so we're stuck in a VHS timewarp here: the Japanese DVDs contain a host of extras including full storyboards with camera-angle flip between storyboard and finished movie which will teach you all you need to know about Miyazaki's animation. This book simply tells you the plots.

We're also stuck before the release of "Spirited Away". The last movie to be detailed is "Princess Mononoke", but McCarthy is clearly aware that something else is on the way. "The new film will star a ten-year-old girl," she declares breathlessly, "Based on a real child he [Miyazaki] and his staff know well. Based on his body of work to date, we can assume that it will be a warm and humane film that will encourage its young audience to grow, to dare and to wonder at the world around them." So far so obvious. She signs off (literally) with, "Its heroine is Chieko." That film turned out to be "Spirited Away", starring a ten year old girl called Chihiro. So beware: fans of "Spirited Away" might be able to use this book as a good checklist of the six or seven other Miyazaki movies, only a few of which are available to buy in the UK, but they'll miss having the same overview of the new movie as all the others. Plus, this is an American book, with a strong US bias and an equally strong Disney bias.

The biggest problem is the tone. This book is written in a simplistic style which is excruciating to read. Everything is "lovely" and "beautiful". The design of the book is at odds with the contents. It looks like a fairly serious textbook. It reads like a book for adolescents. The language is cutesy girlish, as airy and uninvolved as you'd expect to attract a ten year old with Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service posters on her wall. For everyone else, this is far too simplistic to be of much worth.