Whenever I’m asked about my favorite books, movies, anime, or video games, I hesitate to answer. For me, comparing my love of Haruki Murakami to J. R. R. Tolkien, for example, is like comparing apples to oranges or choosing between chocolate and vanilla. Murakami and Tolkien, apples and oranges, and chocolate and vanilla are all…
Sad Metal Losers: Date Night With WWAC
If I’m going to spend Valentines apart from my sweetie, there has to be a reason for it. So let’s begin to weave this alternate reality. Spring 2015: WWAC launches Patreon campaign (spoiler: this is our reality, so get your wallet ready). Late 2015: WWAC explodes into cash-richness. Early 2016: I must travel to Japan,…
The Local: Freaks and Geeks, the “YMCA for nerds”
You know when you just meet some people and your geeky sense just goes all tingly? That’s how I felt meeting the owners, Beth Baalman and Alec Featherstone, of Denton’s newest geek haven Freaks and Geeks. Seriously, I live in the best town, y’all. I mean if you can get past the redness and…hubris of…
Thought Bubble Cosplay
This weekend just past, Kelly Kanayama and I were both in Leeds, at Thought Bubble: the UK’s premier comics convention? I can’t promise that’s a fact, but hot damn, it’s a great con. Much content coming on that subject! But that’s for later. Thought Bubble does not have a very heavy cosplay focus; it’s the sparsest UK…
Con Diary: Nan Desu Kan 2014. Anime! J-Dramas! Cosplay! Academics!
It had been two years since I’ve attended an anime convention. Unfortunately, my last con experience was awkward and disappointing. The con—which must-not-be-named—had transformed from a fan-centered experience one year to an industry-centered experience the next, and, sadly, it discouraged me from attending any new cons in the future. Despite my reservations about anime con…
Fighting Leakage by Moonlight: Sailor Senshi Sanitary Protection
Holy shit! Yes! Sailor Scout-themed pads that promise to keep you “ultra-safe until morning.” They’re on limited issue, it seems, which is a terrible shame. Sailor Moon and her girls wear white leotards under miniskirts every day of the month: these products have made one heck of a period promise. Frolicking on the beach? Running through…
Darrien Hunt: Shot Whilst Cosplaying?
A cosplayer with a trick sword is walking to a noodle place, he’s just been at the con. He’s shot in the back six times. Hey, says the cop — how was I to know it wasn’t a real sword? A kid with a trick sword is walking down the street, on the way to…
Ghost in the Shell: The Major’s Body (8)
The Major, or Motoko Kusanagi, is the protagonist of each incarnation of the Ghost in the Shell manga-anime-merchadise franchise. If you care to google, “Motoko Kusanagi is“ autocompletes to “a man” and “is hot,” then “in bed with a boy” and “in bed.” For a science-fiction philosophy character named for her military position, we (the audience — although I…
Ghost in the Shell the Live: Our Fancasting
I hate the idea of a liveaction Ghost in the Shell! It has no business being live or using human actors; it’s about augmented bodies of the future. They don’t exist yet, so they can’t be filmed — and if they did the concept art would have to push things further. It’s science fiction. Centre of…
From Scouts to Superheroes: My Manga Journey
Our middle school years are ones we either look back on fondly, cringe away from, or hold with some combination of both. For me, the blurry memories of prepubescence are a mix of both, but they also marked my initiation into the world of manga.
“Oh Japan”: Let’s Talk About Criminalising Anime
ITS DEAD NASTY BUT ITS LEGAL, DO YOU GET IT??? When I’d read Chobits in the Upper Sixth common room, my friends would call it “your porno”. I was like “uuh, NO”, because I was committed to being more beatnik than thou and knowing that, scoff, obviously not all (or even most or even nearly most or…
Ghost in the Shell: The Major’s Body (5)
The Major, or Motoko Kusanagi, is the protagonist of each incarnation of the Ghost in the Shell manga-anime-merchadise franchise. If you care to google, Motoko Kusanagi is autocompletes to “a man” and “is hot,” then “in bed with a boy” and “in bed.” For a science-fiction philosophy character named for her military position, we (the audience — although I don’t…