• An oral history of anime pen-palling. I didn’t know this was a widespread practice until Dawn told me in her Anime Origin Story. Now, with a fellow pen-pal, she’s recorded an hour on the subject for her Anime Nostalgia podcast.
• Anime News Network’s Holiday 2017 Gift Guide. Lynzee has all the best anime gifts on her list, which is still rolling out all this week.
• Meet one of New York’s best professional D&D dungeon masters. Great article but I wanted to point out the byline, too—it’s subculture reporter Brian Raftery whom I’ve admired for years. If you’ve been here a while, maybe you saw our 2010 interview?
• Intrepid journalist Cecilia D’Anastasio went to Anime NYC and asked anime fans what they thought about fan service. Our community is anything but a monolith!
• For Women of Color, the Price of Fandom Can Be Too High. When fans take diverse character portrayals personally, this is who it impacts the most.
• John and I broke up—in a highly immersive rom-com board game, that is. See also: my recent review of Kickstarter success survival game Ravine.
• The Manga Translator’s Tools of The Trade. More than anything this taught me about SFX dictionary The Jaded Network, which is a truly peculiar Internet hole.
• And finally, the greatest Gunpla love story ever told.

Lead image via Land of the Lustrous.