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The Anime Companion is designed to help fans of Japanese animation decipher the mysterious artifacts and puzzling behaviors in their favorite stories. But there is no need to fear: the book works just as well as an introduction to Japanese culture for the general reader with no knowledge of anime culture.

Poitras uses a set of fourteen icons, such as "Building/Structure/Landmark" or "Weaponry/War," to classify the alphabetical listings, each of which is followed by a reference to a specific anime episode or an occasional manga where the item can be found. A casual glance through the pages finds this entry for haze (goby): "A type of fish used in tempura and sliced thin for sashimi. There are many species. The Tokyo Bay species is the ma-haze, which grows to a length of 8 inches."

If you find this offering on a level of learning several plateaus below your own, then the short side articles on common motifs and techniques in anime may prove more edifying. Take this little gem: "...the bloody nose in manga and anime is associated almost exclusively with men looking at scantily clad and undressed women." The only sections that appeal solely to the confirmed anime otaku are quizzes like the one that asks the reader to match anime theme songs with their respective composers.