
I’ll be giving a talk at McGill University this Monday, November 11, called “Sibling Rivalry: Shōnen and Shōjo Manga in a New Gendered Japan.” Full details are on the event page, and I hope to see you there.

I’ll be giving a talk at McGill University this Monday, November 11, called “Sibling Rivalry: Shōnen and Shōjo Manga in a New Gendered Japan.” Full details are on the event page, and I hope to see you there.
A few months back, Rayna Denison and I appeared on the Cinema Scope podcast to discuss 10 influential anime films from throughout anime’s history with host Andy Nelson. It was a very good conversation, and I’m sorry that book revisions have meant such a delay in my sharing it here. The video is embedded below, and you can find downloads and more info at the podcast page.
I spoke to The World in Boston about Toriyama Akira’s legacy yesterday, after his tragically young death a week ago, at the age of 68, was announced. You can listen to the interview online.
I’m happy to say that I’ll be speaking at the Beyond Academia conference once again! I’ll be on the “Careers for Regional Experts” panel this Friday, February 23, at 2:45pm Pacific. You can find out more info about the conference and register at the Beyond Academia page. Hope to see you there, virtually!

I’m thrilled to announce at long last that I have signed a book contract and MANGA’S FIRST CENTURY: HOW CREATORS AND FANS MADE JAPANESE COMICS, 1905-1989 is now officially under contract to the University of California Press. At present it’s planned to be released in 2025. Stay tuned for more about it as release gets nearer!
Yup, that’s me. A few years back I was quoted in Gita Jackson’s article on Attack on Titan, and apparently the article and my quote in it were plagiarized by a YouTuber. Thanks to hbomberguy for doing all the legwork to figure out what was going on and lay out all the ways creators had their work stolen! If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ve embedded the video below.
I do talk about queer topics in manga in my forthcoming book, Manga’s Global Century. In the meantime, I’m appearing at Casa Con 2023 this Friday, December 15! I’ll be speaking at 4pm PST on “Connections Between Japanese Woodblock Prints, Anime, and Manga, and the Stories We Tell About Them.” You can join the con now at the website (it’s free!), and I hope to see you there!

I gave a talk over Zoom to the World History Seminar of the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s History Department earlier this week. Thanks to James Morton and the organizers for the opportunity; the students asked some great questions and I really enjoyed it. More details on “Manga’s Global Century: Writing Media History Beyond the Archive” are available on the CUHK History Department website.

I’ll be giving a talk at the Mechademia conference in Kyoto at the end of this month, hosted by Kyoto Seika and the Kyoto International Manga Museum. My talk, “Applauding the DJ: Historicizing the Postmodern in 1970s and 1980s Anime and Manga Fan Cultures,” is a very preliminary sketch of where I think I’m going with my next book project. One way you can think of the postmodern is as the aftermath of modernity.
Full conference details can be found on the Manga Museum website. I hope to see you there!
I’m delighted to say that my talk at the Ulrich Museum of Art in Wichita, KS has been rescheduled for Thursday, April 27. The title (too long as usual) is “Yes, No, Maybe So: Connections Between Japanese Prints, Anime, and Manga and the Stories We Tell About Them.” You can read the full talk description on the event page. I hope to see you there!