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SF: The Japanese Science Fiction Film Encyclopedia
Informed by its disaster-prone history, Japan's science fiction cinema is distinctive. SF covers a wide variety of these films across six decades; from the aftermath of Hiroshima to the COVID-19 pandemic. Included are monster classics like GODZILLA, MOTHRA and GAMERA, apocalyptic epics like SUBMERSION OF JAPAN and VIRUS and offbeat works like THE FACE OF ANOTHER and THE IRON MAN. This book features eye-opening analyses of dozens of Japanese sci-fi films along with insightful capsule reviews for many more. SF will appeal to casual fans looking to learn more and obsessed initiates alike. This book also contains informative articles by Carrozza and others including Patrick Galvan, Kevin Derendorf and John LeMay. Read insider information on the filmmakers who brought the films to life. Find out about amazing luminaries of the genre such as lshiro Honda, Eiji Tsuburaya, Kobo Abe, Sakyo Komatsu, Kinji Fukasaku, Hideaki Anno and many others. Discover the artisan techniques of the old school Japanese film industry. Learn about everything from home video releases to English dubbing to the genre's influence on other East Asian countries. THE JAPANESE SCIENCE FICTION FILM ENCYCLOPEDIA promises to enlighten you on an underappreciated genre from a culture that has tasted the apocalypse and lived to tell about it.
629 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 18, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 30, 2021
Maybe three and a half stars, but I like to round up.
I will be writing a longer review later for Toho Kingdom, but my initial thoughts are that this is an impressive collection with a valuable perspective on the genre, albeit also with some of the usual issues that self-published works tend to have.
The book covers a lot of movies, and I was glad to see that Carrozza covers a lot of more uncommon SF films--including some which I was mostly unaware of. He still spends a great deal of time on the most famous ones--the Godzilla series, the Kaneko Gamera trilogy--but there are a ton of other movies covered, too. I like that he is coming from the perspective of someone who has experience making his own films (he has some of his short films online), which gives him different insights from the scholars with a journalistic background who have often covered the films in the past. His entries cover both the Showa and Heisei periods with some level of zeal, though I think maybe he prefers the Showa films. Also I really liked that he has mini biographies of many SF luminaries from Japan, as well as guest essays which offer additional perspectives and writing styles which add a lot to the book.
On the other hand, there are still quite a few amateurish errors in the text. Carrozza has a tendency to write incoherent paragraphs without clear topics sometimes. It isn't very clear why he has included some movies and excluded others. Many of his essays just tend to end, without a satisfying conclusion--and I would say that is true of the book as a whole as well. Some readers might find the book rather idiosyncratic in what it covers in the reviews. The name "encyclopedia" seems to indicate the book will attempt an objective tone, but it is actually structured more like a book of reviews with a selection of films rather than providing sweeping coverage of all Japanese SF films.
Still, I really enjoyed my reading. Recommended.
I will be writing a longer review later for Toho Kingdom, but my initial thoughts are that this is an impressive collection with a valuable perspective on the genre, albeit also with some of the usual issues that self-published works tend to have.
The book covers a lot of movies, and I was glad to see that Carrozza covers a lot of more uncommon SF films--including some which I was mostly unaware of. He still spends a great deal of time on the most famous ones--the Godzilla series, the Kaneko Gamera trilogy--but there are a ton of other movies covered, too. I like that he is coming from the perspective of someone who has experience making his own films (he has some of his short films online), which gives him different insights from the scholars with a journalistic background who have often covered the films in the past. His entries cover both the Showa and Heisei periods with some level of zeal, though I think maybe he prefers the Showa films. Also I really liked that he has mini biographies of many SF luminaries from Japan, as well as guest essays which offer additional perspectives and writing styles which add a lot to the book.
On the other hand, there are still quite a few amateurish errors in the text. Carrozza has a tendency to write incoherent paragraphs without clear topics sometimes. It isn't very clear why he has included some movies and excluded others. Many of his essays just tend to end, without a satisfying conclusion--and I would say that is true of the book as a whole as well. Some readers might find the book rather idiosyncratic in what it covers in the reviews. The name "encyclopedia" seems to indicate the book will attempt an objective tone, but it is actually structured more like a book of reviews with a selection of films rather than providing sweeping coverage of all Japanese SF films.
Still, I really enjoyed my reading. Recommended.
March 26, 2023
Just OK
This book would have gotten a better reading if not for it's inconsistent approach. Some films gets pages of information, others barely any information - so why are they included? Along with this, the author has zero pictures in a book with a grand title that the information within doesn't hold hold up to. I also wonder if he watched the same 90s Godzilla films as the fans did.
This book would have gotten a better reading if not for it's inconsistent approach. Some films gets pages of information, others barely any information - so why are they included? Along with this, the author has zero pictures in a book with a grand title that the information within doesn't hold hold up to. I also wonder if he watched the same 90s Godzilla films as the fans did.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews