Anime and the people we used to be
My little sister recognized Death Note’s Misa instantly from my Netflix queue. “That’s the girl you used to draw all the time!” she exclaimed and darned if she wasn’t right.…
Otaku Links: Everybody take five
I wrote about my experience at Crunchyroll Expo—along with several other Anime Feminist editors. My pal Tony was there as well, and wrote a great reflection on the future of…
Taking Inventory
On a cold November day eight years ago, I pressed publish for the first time on Otaku Journalist. It was a terrifying moment, but also an exhilarating one. From then…
Super Otaku Links
It’s been a while. And in that time I’ve gone to two conventions on opposite sides of the country. I’ve also done a lot of grieving and private journaling. Now…
How Otakon made me feel OK again
On the first morning of Otakon, I took out my makeup case for the first time in a month. Before that, there’d been no point to wearing makeup if I…
Midyear checkpoint: How I’m spending the rest of 2017
It wasn’t until I got my Anime News Network weekly streaming assignments that I realized summer—and 2017—are both half over. How has the first half of your year gone? This…
Otaku Links: A sign of the times
“They’re young. We’re dead. So it’s ‘cosplay.'” Wendy Ross Kaufman has been creating her own costumes for conventions since the ’70s. Here’s why this professional costumer is finally at peace with…
The importance of telling uncomfortable stories
Before I married into a blue collar West Virginia family, I was a bit of a snob. Chalk it up to growing up in the second richest county in the…
Otaku Links: Manga break
Cecilia D’Anastasio is the reason I still read Kotaku. Her latest, “Manga Pirates Are Having Trouble Going Legit,” is a great look at the complexities around scanlations. What Does Anime…