Anime Through the Looking Glass Treasures of Japanese Animation by Nathalie Bittinger

The magic and mastery of anime come to life in this stunning celebration of one of the world's most powerful and culturally significant art forms.

Since its inception in the mid-20th century, anime has embraced complex, thought-provoking ideas with a freedom and ambition that few other artistic forms can match — exploring the full breadth of human experience, from the intimate to the epic, the tender to the terrifying, the deeply traditional to the radically visionary.

This dynamic and wide-ranging book explores eighty key themes — from war, natural disasters, and ecology to childhood, magic, dystopias, and fables — through more than one hundred masterpieces of Japanese animation, including Akira, Ghost in the Shell, One Piece, Princess Mononoke, Grave of the Fireflies, and Howl's Moving Castle. It reveals how anime consistently and brilliantly balances tradition with modernity, and highlights the genre's profound influence on other media — from video games and manga to live-action film and contemporary art.

Covering an extraordinary range of talent — from Isao Takahata, Katsuhiro Ōtomo, and Makoto Shinkai to Studio Ghibli and Mamoru Oshii — this is a book that showcases anime's boundless creativity and its unique ability to bring our deepest emotions and wildest dreams to life.

• Author: Nathalie Bittinger
• Publisher: Prestel Publishing
• Format: Hardcover, 175 colour illustrations
• Themes: 80 key themes across the history of Japanese animation
• Featured works: Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Studio Ghibli, One Piece, and more