Jonathan Michael Clements (born 9 July 1971) is a British author and scriptwriter. His non-fiction works include biographies of

Confucius Confucius (; pinyin: ; ; ), born Kong Qiu (), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the phil ...

Koxinga Zheng Chenggong (; 27 August 1624 – 23 June 1662), born Zheng Sen () and better known internationally by his honorific title Koxinga (, from Taiwanese: ''kok sèⁿ iâ''), was a Southern Ming general who resisted the Qing conquest of Chin ...

and

Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (, ; February 25912 July 210 BC), born Ying Zheng () or Zhao Zheng (), was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of China. He is widely regarded as the first ever supreme leader of a unitary state, unitary d ...

, as well as monthly opinion columns for '' Neo'' magazine. He is also the co-author of encyclopedias of

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

and

Japanese television drama , also called or J-drama, are television programs that are a staple of Television in Japan, Japanese television and are broadcast daily. Format All major Television networks, TV networks in Japan produce a variety of Drama (genre), drama serie ...

Background

Clements speaks both Chinese and Japanese, and many of his works relate to

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

. He wrote his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

at the

University of Stirling The University of Stirling (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals; ) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by a royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built within the walled Airth ...

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

and

exports, predicting the rise of several trends in the international industry including back-to-front printing, direct American investment in anime, and the proliferation of attempts to substitute non-Japanese products. Subsequently, he translated over 70 anime and manga works for British distributors, and worked as a voice director and actor. He wrote his PhD at the University of Wales on the industrial history of Japanese animation, later published by the British Film Institute as ''Anime: A History''. He served two years at

Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of the British entertainment company Titan Entertainment, which was established as Titan Books in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cine ...

in London as the editor of ''Manga Max'' magazine, an experience he would later fictionalise as the

Judge Dredd Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. He first appeared in the second issue of the British weekly anthology Comic book, comic ''2000 AD (comics), 2000 AD'' (1977). He is the magazi ...

adventure ''Trapped on Titan''. In 2000, he received the Japan Festival Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Understanding of Japanese Culture, specifically for his work on ''Manga Max''.

Broadcast work

Shortly after leaving the editorship of ''Manga Max'' magazine, he became a presenter on the Sci-Fi Channel's Japan-themed magazine show ''Saiko Exciting''. He has been a consultant and talking head on numerous TV shows, including ''New Secrets of the Terracotta Warriors'' (

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

), ''Koxinga: Sailing into History'' (

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

), ''China's Jade Empire'' (Channel 4), and ''Chinese Chariot Revealed'' (

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

). In 2016, he became the presenter of three seasons of '' Route Awakening'' ( National Geographic Asia), a series investigating the origins of several key Chinese cultural icons. In 2019, he appeared on '' Christmas University Challenge'' as a member of the winning Leeds University team, alongside Henry Gee and Timothy Allen, captained by Richard Coles.

Script work

Although Clements has written a couple of novels, much of his fiction work is CD audio drama or radio under the auspices of

Big Finish Productions Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and radio drama, audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on science fiction properties. These include ''Doctor Who'' ...

, including the '' Strontium Dog'' series, starring

Simon Pegg Simon John Pegg (; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom ''Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. He and Wright co-wrote the ...

, and the

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

spin-off ''

Sympathy for the Devil "Sympathy for the Devil" is a song by English rock band the Rolling Stones. The song was written by Mick Jagger and credited to the Jagger–Richards partnership. It is the opening track on the band's 1968 Studio album, album ''Beggars Banquet ...

'', starring David Warner and

David Tennant David John Tennant (; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He is best known for portraying the Tenth Doctor, tenth and Fourteenth Doctor, fourteenth incarnations of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction series ''Docto ...

. * ''Down to Earth'' (London: Big Finish, 2002; web, BBCi, 2005) ( Strontium Dog) * ''Trapped on Titan'' (London: Big Finish, 2002) (

) * ''Unbound: Sympathy for the Devil'' (London: Big Finish, 2003) (

) * ''Fire From Heaven'' (London: Big Finish, 2003 web, BBCi, 2005) (Strontium Dog) * ''99 Code Red'' (London: Big Finish, 2003) (Judge Dredd) * ''Pre-Emptive Revenge'' (London: Big Finish, 2004) (Judge Dredd) * ''Solo'' (London: Big Finish, 2005) (Judge Dredd) * ''Snake Head'' (London: Big Finish, 2005) (Doctor Who: UNIT) * ''Red Devils'' (London: Noise Monster, 2005) ( Space 1889) * ''Immortal Beloved'' (London: Big Finish, 2007; radio, BBC7, 2008) (Doctor Who) * ''Brave New Town'' (London: Big Finish, 2008; radio, BBC7, 2009) (Doctor Who) * ''The Destroyer of Delights'' (London: Big Finish, 2009) (Doctor Who) * ''The Tiger's Tail'' (London: Big Finish, 2009) (

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary noble outlaw, heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions o ...

) * ''The Deer Hunters'' (London: Big Finish, 2009) (Robin Hood) * ''Secret of the Sword'' (London: Big Finish, 2009) ( Highlander) * ''Survival of the Fittest'' (London: Big Finish, 2010; radio,

BBC Radio 4 Extra BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It mostly broadcasts archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes, and is the sister station of Radio 4. It is the pri ...

, 2012) (Doctor Who) * ''The Devil's Playground'' (London: Big Finish, 2010) (Judge Dredd) * ''Year Zero'' (London: Big Finish, 2010) ( Bernice Summerfield) * ''Death Note: die hörspielreihe'' (Cologne: Lübbe Audio, 2018-19) (

Death Note ''Death Note'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. It was serialized in Shueisha's Shōnen manga, manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from December 2003 to ...

, 12-part series released in German and French) Other work includes the script for the comic ''Tastes Like Chicken'' in the ''Judge Dredd Megazine'', as well as assorted short stories both there and in Doctor Who anthologies. His most famous work, ''Schoolgirl Milky Crisis'', was the name for a fictional TV series that Clements often used in his ''

Newtype USA is a monthly magazine originating from Japan covering anime and, to a lesser extent, manga, voice actors, science fiction, , and video games. It was launched by publishing company Kadokawa Shoten on March 8, 1985, and has since been released i ...

'' columns in order to avoid breaking various

non-disclosure agreement A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), also known as a confidentiality agreement (CA), confidential disclosure agreement (CDA), proprietary information agreement (PIA), or secrecy agreement (SA), is a legal contract or part of a contract between at le ...

s regarding real titles that he had worked on as a writer, director or translator. The name was later used as the title to a collection of Clements's articles and speeches.

Books

Clements's many non-fiction publications, on subjects ranging from the history of the

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

to the life of Chairman Mao Tse-tung, serve as research for his fiction. His books have been translated into a dozen languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and Korean. His major works include: * ''The Moon in the Pines'' (2000, reprinted in paperback as ''Zen Haiku'', 2007) * '' The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917'' (1st ed. 2001, 2nd ed. 2006, 3rd ed. 2015, with Helen McCarthy) * ''The Dorama Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese TV Drama Since 1953'' (2003, with Motoko Tamamuro) * ''The Pirate King: Coxinga and the Fall of the Ming Dynasty'' (2004, publ. in paperback as ''Coxinga'', 2005) * ''

: A Biography'' (2004, expanded 2nd ed. 2017) * ''A Brief History of the Vikings'' (2005) * '' The First Emperor of China'' (2006, 2nd ed. 2015) * '' Wu'' (2007, 2nd ed. 2014) * ''

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

: The Biography of a City'' (2008, 2nd ed. as ''An Armchair Traveller's History of Beijing'', 2016; 3rd ed. as ''A Short History of Beijing'', 2022) * '' Mannerheim: President, Soldier, Spy'' (2009) * ''A Brief History of the

Samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

'' (2010) * '' Admiral Togo: Nelson of the East'' (2010) * ''A Brief History of Khubilai Khan'' (2010) * ''Sun Tzu's Art of War: A New Translation'' (2012) * ''An Armchair Traveller's History of the Silk Road'' (2013) * ''Anime: A History'' (2013, 2nd ed. 2023) * ''An Armchair Traveller's History of Finland'' (2014, 2nd ed. as ''A Short History of Finland'', 2022) * ''Christ's Samurai: The True Story of the Shimabara Rebellion'' (2016) * ''A Brief History of the Martial Arts'' (2016) * ''A Brief History of Japan: Samurai, Shōgun and Zen: The Extraordinary Story of the Land of the Rising Sun'' (2017) * ''A Brief History of China: Dynasty, Revolution and Transformation: From the Middle Kingdom to the People's Republic'' (2019) * ''The Emperor's Feast: A History of China in Twelve Meals'' (2021) * ''Japan at War in the Pacific: The Rise and Fall of the Japanese Empire in Asia (1868–1945)'' (2022) * ''Rebel Island: The Incredible History of Taiwan'' (2024) In 2011, he became a contributing editor to ''

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (''SFE'') is an English language reference work on science fiction, first published in 1979. It has won the Hugo Award, Hugo, Locus Award, Locus and BSFA Award, British SF Awards. Two print editions appea ...

'' 3rd edition, with special responsibility for Chinese and Japanese entries.

References

External links

Schoolgirl Milky Crisis blog
��Jonathan Clements' blog of essays and news
Muramasa Industries
��The official web site of Jonathan Clements via the Internet Archive * *
Entry
in ''

''
Keynote address: "Wrong About Anime"
at Anifest 2012, Czech Republic {{DEFAULTSORT:Clements, Jonathan 1971 births Alumni of the University of Leeds Alumni of the University of Stirling Anime and manga critics English biographers English book editors English non-fiction writers English radio writers English science fiction writers Living people English male novelists English male non-fiction writers Alumni of the University of Wales British Japanologists British sinologists British historians British male biographers