• The fall season has begun, and with it my new shows! I will be reviewing Gundam Build Fighters TRY, Yowamushi Pedal: Grande Road, and Denki-Gai for Anime News Network. Denki-Gai is the first of the three to go live.

• I think you know how I feel about “otaku.” But many people choose to distance themselves from the identity due to its troubled history. Here’s a translated transcript of a Japanese scholarly discussion on otaku—scroll down to page 132, or the 51st mention of “otaku” if you find and replace.

• Steve of Otaku Network connected me to the previous link. (I guess you can tell how he feels about the word, too.) His latest post is about his struggle to connect with otaku in Japan about how they feel about the label.

• I was on college radio with Naomi, a student at Pasadena City College. She interviewed me about otaku journalism and we somehow also ended up talking about hentai somehow, so check it out.

• This has nothing to do with fandom, but everything to do with telling true stories effectively: my friend Rachael works with elderly people suffering from dementia, and her blog shares their experiences in a very humanizing way.

• I thought I’d seen every Bearguy model there is, including this chrome-pink Louis Vuitton custom model, but I did not see Bearguy Family. The baby fits behind like a backpack!

• For some reason everyone is Photoshopping pregnancy tests onto anime screenshots and the results are pretty entertaining. This one is my favorite.

Photo via Gundam Guy (not my husband!)