The Anime Encyclopedia is designed for all readers; laymen and experts (fans and academicians) alike. It is meant to be the first reference book to which anyone who has any questions about anime should turn. It succeeds in this goal excellently.

The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917, Revised and Expanded, by Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press, 2006. 867 pages. ISBN-13 978-1-933330-10-5; ISBN-10 1-933330-10-4. ($29.95)

Fred Patten has written on anime for fan and professional magazines since the late 1970s. A collection of his writings, Watching Anime, Reading Manga: 25 Years of Essays and Reviews, was published by Stone Bridge Press in 2004. He wrote the entries on Japanese and Chinese animation for Animation Art: From Pencil to Pixel, the World of Cartoon, Anime and CGI, edited by Jerry Beck (Collins Design, 2004). Donations can be made to a fund to help Fred Patten during the recovery of his stroke.