Funny Animals and More

Giant robots. Cat girls. Teenagers from outer space. Sexually charged (and sometimes naked) warrior women vying with over-the-top villains for control of the planet. Not the usual Disney or Hanna-Barbera fare found on Saturday morning TV. But for a niche of fans, these odd characters were the future of animation, even if they all spoke Japanese and called this peculiar style of animation "anime".

It's hard to imagine today a world in which instant communication and instant downloads did not exist. At the dawn of anime, Fred Patten and his fellow anime enthusiasts were limited to VHS tapes acquired by trade from their counterparts in the Japanese-American communities of Los Angeles and other large U.S. cities. But Fred, in particular, kept at it, and he also began to write about these uniquely Japanese cartoons.

In Funny Animals, Fred Patten shares the history of anime in America, from the primitive VHS tapes to the blockbuster movies, as he experienced it, and often as he made it happen. You'll read about the major anime series, the talented (and often eccentric) artists who created them, and their success-or failure- in America. Fred also looks at the anime industries in other countries, such as India.

But Funny Animals is not just about anime. As an animation historian, Fred's interests are far-ranging, and he devotes chapters to Walt Disney (and the poisonous myths that plague Walt's legacy to this day), the big money to be made from Olympic mascots, how Japan coped with nuclear war through anime, the relative merits of animated rats, and the things that animators should be animating-but aren't.

Read about:

  The spectacular history of anime in America

  Giant robots, cat girls, and teenagers from outer space

  The politics of animating and merchandising Olympic mascots

  Why Mickey Rat would have been a better pal than Mickey Mouse

  Animation myths that won't die: Walt Disney and Adolf Hitler?

  How the Japanese company Sanrio tried to become "bigger than Disney"

And many more stories, anecdotes, and historical vignettes from the front lines of Japanese anime, American animation, and beyond. Even if you've never watched a moment of anime in your life, or have no idea what "funny animals" are all about, you'll enjoy Fred's charming, wide-ranging tales of animation past, present, and future.

Ready to put some funny animals in your life?