Book Review: The Man Who Leapt Through Film: The Art of Mamoru Hosoda

A part of Japanese anime history

This book is not just for fans of films directed by Mamoru Hosoda but is also an insightful book for fans of Japanese animation.

There seems to be a 272-page Japanese edition of this book released in July 2022 by Graphic-sha Publishing. I'm not sure if this book I'm reviewing is the official translated English edition but it has the same number of pages and cover art. The publisher is Abrams and the author is Charles Solomon who has written several animation artbooks.

In this book, you'll learn about the challenges and inspiration that went into creating the films, namely:

• The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)
• Summer Wars (2009)
• Wolf Children (2012)
• The Boy and the Beast (2015)
• Mirai (2018)
• Belle (2021)

This book has stories of how Mamoru Hosoda go into animation, how he started working at Studio Ghibli in August 2000 and was fired in April 2002, the jobs he took on later and the films he directed.

There's a lot to read and those who are interested in Japanese animation should not miss out on this book because these animated films are part of Japanese animation history. There's also plenty of beautiful artworks included such as sketches, storyboards, background paintings and film stills. And this book is a large format hardcover with the artworks printed satisfyingly big.

This is a great book that's worth the money.

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This book was borrowed from Basheer Graphic Books for review purposes. You can order the book from them. Check with Basheer on Facebook.

The Man Who Leapt Through Film: The Art of Mamoru Hosoda is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | AU | JP | CN)

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This book was borrowed from Basheer Graphic Books for review purposes. You can order the book from them. Check with Basheer on Facebook.