The groundbreaking Anime Impact book has been published, and it features a Dragon Ball chapter written by yours truly!

Buy Anime Impact at Amazon in Kindle and hardback, at Barnes and Noble, Books a Million, and IndieBound.

Anime Impact: The Movies and Shows That Changed the World of Japanese Animation is a new book by film critic and YouTube star Chris Stuckmann.

Anime Impact expresses the emotional and inspirational influence of anime on its viewers, and in the process validates anime as an art form worthy of critical analysis.

This book stands out from others on anime because it’s not an encyclopedia or ‘Top 100’ list. Instead, it is an anthology of stories from anime experts and lovers who talk about the anime that had the largest impact on their lives, and will in turn, impact yours.

Authors include Ready Player One screenwriter Ernest Cline, anime YouTubers such as Tristan “Arkada” Gallant of Glass Reflection, manga artist Mark Crilley, and critics, anime enthusiasts, and anime scholars such as myself.

To that point, these are people who are experts in expressing themselves. Anime Impact is not intended to be an authoritative treatise on each anime mentioned, with definitive historical accuracy and sourced citations. Rather, it’s a meaningful introduction to anime as a medium to those who are new to it, and a great resource to discover new anime for those who already love it.

There are 118 chapters in the book, spanning from AstroBoy (1963) to Violet Evergarden (2018). If you’d like to see the full list of which anime are explored, you can go to Amazon, click on the cover art, and use the Look Inside feature to view the table of contents.

Chris was inspired to create Anime Impact by the positive influence that anime had on his life, especially during the difficult years of being a teenager when he suffered from depression and loneliness. Anime was a refuge for Chris, and shows like Dragon Ball, Cowboy Bebop, and others on Toonami inspired Chris to become the successful man he is today, with over 1.2 million subscribers who watch his film reviews.

To discover more of the story behind Chris’s inspiration for Anime Impact, listen to his interview with Sloan the Female Otaku:

Chris gives me a nice mention at 17:38 in the video.

As a person who has experienced a similar pain in my youth, I empathize with Chris’s story and love for anime. Chris contacted me in 2017 to ask if I’d like to be a part of the book, and I immediately said yes. That’s because I love the premise behind Anime Impact. Showing the positive influence and inspirational power of anime is a common theme in the articles and books that I write.

All told I contributed 4 chapters to Anime Impact. They are:

Dragon Ball (Franchise)

Mobile Suit Gundam (Franchise)

Outlaw Star

Pokémon (Franchise)

To give you a taste, here are the opening lines to my Dragon Ball chapter:

“Dragon Ball is the world’s #1 anime. Without Dragon Ball, I’d be dead. Both of these statements express Dragon Ball’s power. But before I tell you how Dragon Ball saved my life, let’s explore what Dragon Ball is and why so many fans love to watch it.”

It’s only fitting that ‘The Dao of Dragon Ball’ should write the chapter on Dragon Ball, but in fact, Chris is such a huge Dragon Ball fan that it’s how he met his wife!

If you’d like to hear the story of how, then check out my book Dragon Soul: 30 Years of Dragon Ball Fandom, where Chris shares his ‘Dragon Soul’ alongside other fans.

To see Anime Impact in print, check out Chris’s unboxing video of the hardback edition:

You can also listen to Chris read an excerpt on his channel of the chapter he wrote for the classic Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.

I’m honored to be a part of Anime Impact, and to have written the chapters for Dragon Ball, Mobile Suit Gundam, Outlaw Star, and Pokémon. These anime have changed the lives of millions of people across the world!

Buy Anime Impact at Amazon in Kindle and hardback, at Barnes and Noble, Books a Million, and IndieBound.

And be sure to follow Chris on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, where you can watch his anime and film reviews!