Charles Solomon

Editor

Internationally known animation historian and critic, Charles Solomon has written over 15 books books including Enchanted Drawings: The History Of Animation, The Art of Disney’s Frozen, The Making of Peanuts Animation, and Tale as Old as Time: The Art and Making of Disney Beauty and the Beast .

Articles By Charles Solomon

Anime

The parvenu father in Thomas Mann’s short story “The Blood of the Walsungs” tells his future son-in-law that the secret to enjoying life is never to get used to anything, to be constantly surprised. He would have loved anime. No matter how many series or features you watch, there’s always something new and unexpected. And […]

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Anime

Although it aired as a stand-alone broadcast special a week before the opening of the theatrical feature One Piece Film: Gold (2016), the two-hour One Piece: Heart of Gold (2016) is essentially a lengthy introduction to the film. Both adventures were written by Tsuomu Kuriowa and take place shortly after the “Dress Rosa” story arc […]

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Anime

The time travel adventure Steins;Gate began as an Xbox game, which was adapted to a light novel, a manga, a radio play and a board game before it became a popular broadcast series in 2011. Two years later, two of the directors and much of the staff returned to make the theatrical feature Steins;Gate: The […]

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Anime

Although there’s plenty of mecha battles, the 13-part OAV Mobil Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (1996) focuses more on the character relationships than other entries in this long-running franchise. Set in 0079 UC (Universal Century), within the main Gundam continuity, 08th MS Team OAV brings Shiro Amada (Steve Cannon) to Earth to lead a […]

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Anime

Shounen-ai—literally “boy’s love”–is a curious genre of anime and manga that has no American counterpart. It depicts innocent romances between bishonen (beautiful young men), but it’s created by women for female audiences. Some people use the word interchangeably with yaoi. Others maintain yaoi involves sexually explicit scenes, while shounen-ai never does. The characters may kiss […]

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“The Art of The Boy and the Heron” opens with director Hayao Miyazaki’s self-deprecating Project Memo: “Isn’t it proof that you are aging when you imagine you’re still capable, but in fact you have memory loss due to senility? I would say yes.” Audiences who saw the Oscar-winning film would say “no.” The Japanese title […]