OrphanN64's Full Review: Antonia Levi - Samurai from Outer Space: Understan...
Common situation: a person walks into a video store, sees an animated video they have heard about, watches it, is hooked on anime! Yet, even if you have watched thousands of titles or have just casually watched a few Dragon Ball Z videos, you don't get full understanding. Most American otakus need a lot of background information. And Samurai From Outer Space is the huge serving of knowledge about anime and Japanese culture that they have been looking for.
Ms. Levi does a wonderful job of slowly giving you samples of various information that will open your eyes to some minor parts (such as why Girl Ranma in Ranma 1/2's hair is red). Then, she gives a description of Japanese religion and how it is shown in anime that goes deep into the subject. After that, the rest of the chapters go even more deep in other subjects such as heroes, women, mecha, etc. These chapters are very deep and show a wide variety of examples in anime of the subject.
The only actual problem with the book is Ms. Levi has her own opinions of some subjects and that are clearly shown in the book. Some of her ideas of the way the Japanese respond to such issues as homosexuality, the way the Japanese think of other countries, and others of the sort are really just opinions that she backs up very well. For this reason many people have called her a snob, but I just think she doesn't act a indifferent as most authors should.
The appendixes are a rather minor problem in the book. Each of them are much too short and aren't too interesting. The best one is the "How To Become An Otaku" and while the others are helpful to some, they wouldn't be to most of the people that other people that would buy this book. Also, they all have a hurried feel to them that makes you believe that Ms. Levi just thought her book was too short and stuck them in for length.
Overall, Samurai From Outer Space is a wonderful book for both major and minor anime fans. It also would be a very helpful source to someone interested or doing a report on Japanese culture. Again, this is very delightful book that will give satisfaction to almost anybody!
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