Big eyes, small Mouth

Published by Guardians of Order
Written by Mark C. Mackinnon
$13.95 US ($15.95 Canadian)

When you think of Japanese animation, you think instantly of Big Robots. No, wait, you think of supernatural forces. Or high school angst. Or martial arts. Or wacky humor. Or swords and sorcery. Or future biker gangs. Just pinning down the range of anime is a tricky business, much less producing a single role-playing system that lets you game in any sub-genre. But Big Eyes, Small Mouth succeeds, with fun and style. It really is the anime game to get.

Anime being a visual medium, it's no surprise that this book is drop-dead gorgeous. The illustrations are top-notch throughout. From the cute little figures by each page number to the "dozen faces of anime" color cover, the art is sprinkled liberally and enthusiastically through the book. Naturally, the artwork often pays homage to the 'big eyes, small mouth' artist style so prevalent in anime. As a nice touch, a bibliography of useful movies and series to see rounds out the book, along with a glossary and a few select web links.

This digest-sized book lets you enjoy a game set in any time, with moods ranging from comic to serious, and plots that can be horrific or technological, and everything in between. The important aspect is the feel - capturing the pacing and the atmosphere of the animations it is derived from. It's a highly character-based game, with ultra-realism and advanced calculation discarded in favor of . . .

This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.



Article publication date: May 22, 1998

Copyright © 1998 by Steve Jackson Games. All rights reserved. Pyramid subscribers are permitted to read this article online, or download it and print out a single hardcopy for personal use. Copying this text to any other online system or BBS, or making more than one hardcopy, is strictly prohibited. So please don't. And if you encounter copies of this article elsewhere on the web, please report it to webmaster@sjgames.com.