Watching Anime, Reading Manga: 25 Years of Essays and Reviews
Anime’s influence can be found in every corner of American media, from film and television to games and graphic arts. And Fred Patten is largely responsible. He was reading manga and watching anime before most of the current generation of fans was born. In fact, it was his active participation in fan clubs and his prolific magazine writing that helped create a market and build American anime fandom into the vibrant community it is today. Watching Anime, Reading Manga gathers together a quarter-century of Patten’s lucid observations on the business of anime, fandom, artists, Japanese society and the most influential titles. Illustrated with original fanzine covers and archival photos. Foreword by Carl Macek (Robotech).
A compilation of pioneering researcher Patten’s articles for various publications which serves as a cross-section of how the developing plurality of Japanese contents was viewed throughout the 1970s-2000s, primarily from the perspective of their developing fan communities in North America, such as circles like the Cartoon Fantasy Organization.