Rating: 
Summary: Great anime reference tool.
Review: A great job in information on anime shows, but it does give the author's opinions on the shows (like when a movie critic gives their opinion on a movie, they are not always to a person's liking). Which helps sometimes, but when you have already seen the show, it may conflict with your own thoughts. Also with it being from 2001, times have changed and some of the information is not up to date. It does help to know what happened to some of the shows you liked, but did not get finished. The small pictures included on some shows are also a nice touch.
Rating: 
Summary: almost 100 years of anime
Review: At last, this is the book I've been waiting for. One that treats anime as if it is just one more part of the world film industry. ... One that rates shows good and bad without fear or favor, and assembles literally hundreds of thousands of facts in peerless order. Simply wonderful -- anime finally has a book that shows the world just what it can achieve. Anyone with an interest in anime simply has to have this book. It separates the wheat from the chaff, in more ways than one.
Rating:
Summary: An incredible work of scholarship!
Review: Clements and McCarthy are clearly fans of the Brooks and Marsh "Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and TV Shows", keeping closely to the style of the landmark US TV book in their groundbreaking anime study. Like Brooks and Marsh, they demonstrate unparalleled knowledge of both plot and insider information, as well as a comprehensive breakdown of entire story arcs. Unlike Brooks and Marsh, they foreground the achievements of writers, directors and designers in the creative process, revealing entire careers behind the scenes. Thanks to the Anime Encyclopedia, it is now easier to follow the career of an obscure anime writer like Masaki Tsuji, than it is to track, for example, the life of Steve Bochco in comparable American volumes. The Anime Encyclopedia sets a level of excellence that other resource guides will find hard to match, and it does it for a foreign language subject, a remarkable achievement. Though it focusses on TV shows, it also includes film and video releases, as well as innumerable references to source material -- for example, there are more *manga* discussed in this book than in Frederick L. Schodt's "Dreamland Japan".
Rating:
Summary: An incredible work of scholarship!
Review: Clements and McCarthy are clearly fans of the Brooks and Marsh "Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and TV Shows", keeping closely to the style of the landmark US TV book in their groundbreaking anime study. Like Brooks and Marsh, they demonstrate unparalleled knowledge of both plot and insider information, as well as a comprehensive breakdown of entire story arcs. Unlike Brooks and Marsh, they foreground the achievements of writers, directors and designers in the creative process, revealing entire careers behind the scenes. Thanks to the Anime Encyclopedia, it is now easier to follow the career of an obscure anime writer like Masaki Tsuji, than it is to track, for example, the life of Steve Bochco in comparable American volumes. The Anime Encyclopedia sets a level of excellence that other resource guides will find hard to match, and it does it for a foreign language subject, a remarkable achievement. Though it focusses on TV shows, it also includes film and video releases, as well as innumerable references to source material -- for example, there are more *manga* discussed in this book than in Frederick L. Schodt's "Dreamland Japan".
Rating:
Summary: The Britannica of Anime
Review: Does it pass the Golgo 13 test? Yes it does. Not only does the Anime Encyclopedia warn you off buying a terrible movie like Golgo 13, it gives you many reasons why. This book will save you money by guiding you away from some of the worst anime ever made. It will also change your life by pointing you at some of the best.
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible
Review: Encylopedias are supposed to be impartial in their information. This book is just full of the author's oppinions.
Rating:
Summary: A very good book, but not without flaws...
Review: First, I must say that I am very glad I bought this book. (It) is a great deal. It lists many shows, even fairly obscure ones, and provides some gems of information that would be difficult to find otherwise.However, I do want to say that the book is not perfect either. There are a pretty good amount of factual errors scattered throughout the book. In particular be very skeptical of things written about year 2000 shows and especially the short paragraphs for 2001 shows. Many of these were not watched by the authors and it shows, with sometimes gross errors that are the total opposite of reality. The majority of things in the book are dead on, but don't take anything as gospel either! There are also quite a bit of spoilers in the descriptions. Very important events are sometimes mentioned in an off-handed way, even the outcome of characters at the very end of the show. For shows you are thinking of watching already, you may want to look for reviews from another source if you don't want anything revealed. Sometimes the spoilers are helpful for discussing things, but other times they really should have been left out. Also, the editorial comments can go both ways. It tends to be a fun read if you are agreeing with what they say, but some of the comments I very much disagree with (and for some of the 2001 shows, there are some very negative comments made on them while the factual errors in the plot shows that they made the critism without having watched it!). While the almost controversial style of comments can sometimes be refreshing, I think it may have been better for them to take a more professional tone... So, you definately should buy this book, but keep in mind that errors exist, and everyone is different so one person's trash is another's treasure. There is no doubt that Ghibli's films are some of the best ever made, but they had a relatively positive review of Amazing Nurse Nanako which IMHO is total trash and very very derogatory. They also had a pretty scathing review of Crest of the Stars, which I've really enjoyed (even my Mom loves it!), which I think may stem from them having read the novels it was based on and not liking how it may have been changed (Lafiel is far from a bimbo in this series!). Also, there is an e-mail address listed at the front of the book, so if you have corrections or just want to say they did a good job, give an e-mail (but please don't be rude!). I think when the next version of this book is released most factual errors will be gone because of feedback from people. Then it will likely get 5 stars from me, even if I still don't agree with everything they say. =)
Rating: 
Summary: A Must-Have, but not up to par
Review: Firstly and most importantly, this book did not have information on many anime that are pretty popular in otaku culture, one of the most prominent examples I can recall offhand being Hellsing. There also could have been more information on the type of art used. On the other hand, the plot descriptions got a lot in little space. The evaluations of works compared to other works by the same director or comic book creator were very interesting. Unfortunately, Spirited Away had an extremely minute mention, as this book came out before it won the Oscar. Still, I feel it should have had a much larger mention, as it was another work by Miyazaki, and therefore an instant classic and record breaker in Japan. Also, this book is very controversial in the anime world, as the authors' opinions bias the reader throughout the entire book. Fortunately, these opinions are kept in separate paragraphs from the plot descriptions. This book, despite all of it's faults, is still a must-have for any otaku, as it is the most complete literary reference material in the anime world as of yet, with over 2000 entries.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Anime Reference on the Planet!!!
Review: Helen McCarthy's Anime Movie Guide was excellent, full of very useful information on a variety of anime titles in very short quick-read pieces. Her book on Hayao Miyazaki was even better, diving deep into the career and most popular works of the master of Japanese animation. The Anime Encyclopedia surpasses even these two masterpieces on Japanese animation. The detail of McCarthy's work on Miyazaki is combined with the information of her Anime Movie Guide, then expanded a thousandfold to include far more anime titles dating back to 1917. The cross-listing is extensive and highly informative, allowing the reader to discover the connections between the many anime titles and their creators. Co-authored with Jonathan Clements, The Anime Encyclopedia is a definite MUST-HAVE for diehard anime fans, ranking with Frederik L. Schodt's Manga! Manga! and McCarthy's own Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation as a definite must-have book.
Rating:
Summary: Massive
Review: How did this one pass me by for so long? I'm used to tiny thin books on anime that call themselves "The Complete..." or "The Series Bible of..." or "The Encyclopedia of..." even though they only have a few dozen pages. But the Anime Encyclopedia is truly, truly massive, and packed with information. I was lost in it for hours, first looking up the stuff I already knew, and then wandering through the cross-references. With 2000 entries that link everything from kabuki to pandas, it is truly encyclopedic. A must-have for the shelf of any serious anime fan.
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