The second half looks into "individual “films and directors.”"[2] The book is used as a text in the "History and Art of Animation" course at Clarkson University,[3] in the "Japanese Animation: Still Pictures, Moving Minds" course at Massachusetts Institute of Technology[4] and in the "Animation: History and Criticism" course at Emory University.

[5] Anime News Network's Mikhail Koulikov commends the book for being "packed with information" and having "valid points, and intelligent opinions".

[2] John F. Barber commends the book as a "timely and fascinating guide to the world of anime".

[6] Animefringe's Ridwan Khan criticises the book for its "glaring omission" of anime history as "70s and 80s [anime] are either overlooked or mentioned in passing".

He commends Drazen for creating "a concrete basis in Japanese culture with just a dash of intellectual daring to explain anime in a fashion that makes the book extremely interesting".