Nowadays my main job is as a publishing consultant. I work with various publishers and related companies in the US and Japan and help them understand the overseas market, and in some cases, try to find manga that they should publish in English. I currently do this for Scholastic Graphix, one of the biggest publishers of graphic novels for kids.

I’m also the lead advisor for the MINT Project, which is a government-funded initiative to promote new, early-career manga creators who are creating innovative, genre-defying comics works. As part of this project, we brought Itaru Kinoshita, the creator of Dinosaur Sanctuary, to Anime Expo in LA in July. Learn more about MINT Project.

I occasionally write articles about manga and interview manga artists and editors for Publishers Weekly and Comics Beat, and sometimes for the Mangasplaining blog/newsletter.

Another client of mine is Leftfield Media, the showrunners for Anime NYC. They hired me to help manage the American Manga Awards, which is the first US-based awards program voted on by professionals to honor the best manga published in the US/Canada, and recognize the professionals who make it possible to read it in English – the editors, translators, letterers, and book designers.

It was thanks to this work that I was able to invite and help facilitate Takeru Hokazono’s visit to NYC for this show and to receive the “Anime NYC / American Manga Award of Distinction” at the awards ceremony at the Japan Society, as well as help organize the “Art of Kagurabachi” exhibit at the Japan Society booth and at the Japan Society Galleries.

Otherwise, my other freelance work is as an illustrator and design strategy consultant, mostly for technology companies.

3. On Mangasplaining, you dive into very deep discussions about different works. What has been the biggest lesson that project has brought you, both personally and professionally? Was there any title that impacted you the most?

Well, Mangasplaining started thanks to a trip to Japan we took together in 2019. Christopher Woodrow-Butcher, David Brothers, Chip Zdarsky, along with our other friend comics creator Nick Dragotta, went to Tokyo, Sapporo, and Sendai together. One of our stops was to the Shotaro Ishinomori “Mangattan” Museum in Ishinomaki, about an hour west of Sendai, and the Shotaro Ishinomori “Furusato” (hometown) Museum in Tome, about a 45 minute drive away.

Christopher, David and I are huge manga fans – but Chip, who is an award-winning comics creator himself… well, he admittedly hadn’t read much manga before. So taking him to the Ishinomori Museums was kind of… well, kind of perplexing for him. ‘What’s the deal with this insect head super hero?” (Kamen Rider) he’d ask.

We also took him to see an exhibit of original pages from boxing manga Hajime no Ippo, and Chip was blown away at the skill and artistry he saw in those original pages.

Then the pandemic happened, and we were all stuck at home. That’s when Chris and Chip came up with the idea of starting a podcast where we’d introduce Chip to manga, one book at a time, starting with AKIRA.

So that’s the origin story of Mangasplaining – Now, what did we learn from this so far? Well, there's a lot of people out there who love comics who maybe feel intimidated by manga to check it out – but if given the chance, and the right “on ramps” they’d fall in love with it, just like we did.

I’ve been mostly reading manga and webtoons for the past 10-20 years, so hearing David, Christopher and Chip share with me what they know about US comics and comics creators and where it intersects with manga has been interesting for me too.

What title impacted me most? Well, I guess our episode where we read “Journal of My Father” by Jiro Taniguchi was a memorable moment for us, and similarly, our episode on “Vinland Saga” – both gave us an opportunity to talk about family – fathers and sons in particular in a very personal way.

This was meaningful for us, because at that point, it wasn’t a podcast about manga, but a conversation between friends about great stories, how they can touch our hearts, and resonate with our personal experiences.

4. You closely follow both the Japanese and Western markets. What differences stand out to you in the way manga is produced, consumed, and discussed in each place? And what changes have you noticed in recent years regarding manga readers outside of Japan?

Well, that’s a big question – and there are many, many differences between the US, Japan, Franco-Belgian and Korean comics markets – and differences between genres in each one.

What blows people away when they first go to Japan is to see that manga is EVERYWHERE, and that there is SO MUCH of it.

When we took Chip to Mandarake, a big used bookstore/manga shop in Tokyo, he later told us he felt overwhelmed at how much manga that was created, and at a scale that is hard for a US/Canada-comics creator to wrap their brains around.

One thing that makes manga special is how it allows many comics creators of all ages to create original stories and characters that they create from volume 1 to volume whatever – and retain most of the ownership and control of their creations.

This is very different from the US superhero comics model of publishing, which is mostly focused on “work for hire” – stories based on existing characters that are owned by that publishing or entertainment company.

As my friend and colleague Heidi MacDonald put it, this system doesn’t allow young creators the same kind of freedom of expression and opportunity to profit from their work as we see in Japan.

That’s not to say that all manga artists make a lot of money or are guaranteed a long, money-generating career. Many manga artists don’t make a lot of money doing what they do, and only a handful reach that point in their careers where they’re very successful and wealthy thanks to their comics creations.

But that it’s more possible for Japanese comics creators to do this than their US/Canada counterparts is worth paying attention to, I think.

5. You were responsible for planning Hokazono-sensei’s appearance at Anime NYC. How did that process begin, and what were the biggest challenges?

Well, I didn't do ALL of the planning – far from it! The teams at Shueisha Manga Plus and Leftfield Media took care of a lot of things, and Peter Tatara from the Japan Society also helped a lot with the exhibit and booth.

What I did do is plant the seed, I guess. Last year, I introduced Matt Alt to Shuhei Hosono, the editor in chief at Manga Plus, and encouraged Matt to pitch an article about how Shonen Jump makes so many successful series to The New Yorker, a magazine he regularly writes for.

Hosono-san agreed, and helped “embed” Matt with Hokazono-sensei and his editor Imamura-san to see first hand how manga is made. I also encouraged the Shueisha Manga Plus team to consider coming to Anime NYC, to possibly coincide with the New Yorker article, and have the Kagurabachi team see firsthand how popular this manga series is with overseas fans. The folks at Shueisha were receptive to the idea, but told me that it might be difficult, given the weekly schedule for Kagurabachi, and other logistical challenges. We just tried to stay flexible and open to whatever worked out best for all concerned.

It was kind of a long shot – over emails and in-person meetings in Tokyo over several months, we discussed other options, including having only Imamura-san come and have Hokazono do his Q&A via video feed. So I was surprised when Shueisha let us know in mid-May that both Hokazono-sensei and Imamura-san would be coming to NYC in August for Anime NYC.

There were a lot of moving parts to manage, but it was great to see it work out – and to see how thrilled fans were to meet him. I hope Hokazono-sensei enjoyed himself, and will remember this trip fondly for a long time.

6. How did Hokazono-sensei react when he received the invitation? Had he already expressed a desire to meet fans outside of Japan? This was his very first time attending an anime event in person!

Well, that I don’t know! I didn’t get to talk with him personally regarding the invitation – it was all done through my contacts at Shueisha.

I do know that New York City is the setting for many exciting movies that Hokazono-sensei has said he enjoys, so I think the allure of having his first visit to an overseas convention be in this exciting city was probably a factor in our favor.

7. Do you think his presence at Anime NYC could be a key moment in establishing Kagurabachi as an international phenomenon?

Well, that’s hard to say from this point, yes? It’s still a bit early, since the series is maybe only hitting its second year of serialization.

That said, I do think that his visit got a lot of attention, and seeing how excited fans all over the world were about him making an in-person appearance instead of just a video feed surely made more people aware of Kagurabachi, if they weren’t already.

8. From the very first time we talked, you’ve always been so kind and approachable. That’s something rare, and all the bachibros are very grateful for everything you’ve done. You brought Hokazono-sensei to the U.S., made him feel how loved and admired he is, and created a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many fans, something they’ll never forget. Looking back now, a few days later, how do you feel about everything that happened, from the early stages, when it was just an idea, to the end, when everything worked out perfectly?

Well, I do appreciate how gracious and grateful you’ve been about everything. Sometimes event management can be stressful. With so many details to manage, there’s so much that can go wrong, and you have to be flexible and ready to deal with it without freaking out. (haha)

Being a manga artist is often solitary work – often done alone in a studio, hunched over a piece of paper or a tablet screen. They work many hours to meet a deadline, and then when it’s over, they do it all over again for the next week.

One of the main reasons why I think manga artists' visits like this one are SO important is because it seems like they are really transformative, eye-opening, and joyful experiences for manga creators to see their impact on fans outside of Japan. It can really be energizing to see that your work matters to people in a tangible way.

Seeing Hokazono-sensei react to receiving the “Absolute Hokazono” book on stage, and later seeing the rest of the Jump editorial team who were there flip through it backstage and express amazement at it was fun to see. That photo opp with cosplayers after the panel, which was a spontaneous moment, was so delightful to see too. I’m grateful to have been able to be there for all of this. I hope that it plants more seeds for other manga artists to come to Anime NYC in years to come.

9. Many fans of Japanese culture often give up on pursuing careers related to it. What advice would you give to those who dream of working in this field?

Well, just follow your curiosity and your passion, but also be flexible. Sometimes things won’t go exactly as you plan or hope, but no experience is a wasted experience. Every critique, positive or negative, is an opportunity to learn. Say “yes” to things that push you out of your comfort zone. Help others if you can. Sometimes that energy comes back to you when you need help the most. Mostly, keep moving, keep creating, keep learning.

And learn Japanese! It’s my eternal regret that I didn’t study Japanese more diligently when I was in high school and college. Now that I’m older, it’s harder to pick up a new language, especially one that’s as difficult as Japanese. I’m still trying, but I’m far from fluent. That’s very frustrating because I know I could do so much more if I could speak and read business-level Japanese.

But the main thing to remember is, no matter what you do, try or fail, as long as you learn something along the way, it’s all worthwhile. The results might not be apparent immediately, but everything you do along your journey will serve you later in ways that you might not expect.

I recently got to visit the offices of Nakayoshi magazine at Kodansha in Tokyo. I told the editors there, if 8-year old me knew that this would happen someday, she’d be gobsmacked. So yeah. Manga has been very good to me.