Jonathan Clements

Jonathan Clements (born 9 July 1971) is a British author and scriptwriter. His non-fiction works include biographies of Confucius, Koxinga and Qin Shi Huangdi (the First Emperor of China), as well as monthly opinion columns for Neo magazine. He is also the co-author of encyclopedias of anime and Japanese television dramas.

Clements speaks both Chinese and Japanese, and many of his works relate to East Asia. He wrote his Master's degree at the University of Stirling on manga and anime 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 in London as the editor of Manga Max magazine, an experience he would later fictionalise as the Judge Dredd 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 magazine.

He left to work as a scriptwriter on an abortive Astro Boy movie project, and wrote several episodes of Halcyon Sun for Kuju Entertainment, before serving as a writer or translator on TV programs, including Japanorama (BBC Three), Saiko Exciting (Sci-Fi Channel) and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (BBC Two). He was also an interviewee and consultant on the documentary Koxinga: A Hero's Legacy (National Geographic Channel), which drew heavily on his book Pirate King. Much of his fiction work is CD audio drama or radio under the auspices of Big Finish Productions, including the Strontium Dog series, starring Simon Pegg, and the Doctor Who spin-off Sympathy for the Devil, starring David Warner and David Tennant.

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