Anime and manga are beloved worldwide and enjoyed by passionate fans of all walks of life. However, marginalized voices are often not represented or visible in community events, conversations, or the media we enjoy itself. But POC fans and creatives have done so much great and essential work for this fandom, Black fans in particular. Recently there’s been a long-overdue movement in creative and professional circles to amplify and spotlight the voices of Black creatives in fandoms and industries, and I want to use Manga Mavericks to amplify more Black voices in the community and have a critical conversation about representation and inclusivity.

In this spirit, we invited on a group of Black creatives who’ve long advocated for these critical conversations and championed spaces to highlight diverse perspectives to discuss their experiences as Black anime fans. Our guests are the Black Manga Critic, an anime/manga Youtuber who does live-stream read-throughs of series he loves while also doing vlogs discussing broader problems plaguing discourse and the mistreatment of marginalized groups in the community. Eunice Ibama, the founder of BlackGirlsAnime, an organization that promotes the visibility and perspectives of black women through social media, and website publishing reviews and editorials written by black fans – BGA news. Naja Beck, who runs the Otome and BL-focused blog Blerdy Otome, who has also written extensively about the representation of Black characters in media through her Melanin Monday features. And Ash, also known as TheMacabreChap, who runs the mecha-focused podcast Build Casters and is the creator of the Black Anime Podcast directory, which is a resource dedicated to being compiling the extensive list of podcasts hosted by Black Anime fans and promoting their work!

BMC, Eunice, Naja, and Ash share their experiences enjoying anime as kids, close-calls hiding salacious anime from nosy parents, being judged for liking anime or anime of certain kinds, and the various forms of gatekeeping and discrimination they’ve witnessed or experienced themselves as black anime fans, and what we can do to foster better communities and representation for people of color. 

Much thanks to BMC, Eunice, Naja, and Ash for their time and perspectives. I’m proud of how this conversation turned out, and I hope our listeners enjoy and learn from it!


PODCAST BREAKDOWN: 

00:00 – Introducing the Podcast

06:15 – Introducing our Panelists
10:54 – Anime Origin Stories
 11:13 – Ash’s Experiences
 13:06 – Eunice’s Experiences
 18:48 – Naja’s Experiences
 24:48 – Horror Stories of Hiding Anime from Your Parents
 31:26 – BMC’s Experiences
37:56 – Gatekeeping in the Community
59:58 – Black & PoC Representation in Anime
1:23:33 – Importance of Authentic Representation
1:37:23 – Why Black Creators Need to Tell Their Stories
1:52:20 – Do. The. Work.
1:57:30 – Creating More Inclusive Spaces in Fandom

2:06:45 – Guest-Plugs

2:13:42 – Community Shout-Outs:

2:32:25 – Wrap-Up 

Enjoy the show, and follow us on twitter at @manga_mavericks, on tumblr at mangamavericks.tumblr.com, and on Youtube! You can also follow Lum on Twitter at @lumranmayasha. If you’d like to help support the show financially you can pledge to our Patreon and receive some awesome rewards like our Patreon-exclusive Bonus pods! If one-time donations are more your speed you can donate to LumRanmaYasha’s Ko-fi here, and if you want to support LumRanmaYasha’s art and other projects you can follow them @siddartworks on Instagram and Twitter and donate to their personal Patreon. Don’t forget to also like and subscribe to us on Youtube and iTunes and leave us reviews to help us curate the show and create better content!

LINKS:

Black Lives Matter Organizations, Charities, Petitions, & Fundraisers:

Music Featured:

“Showdown” by Marty Grimes and BJRNCK
“Regardless” by Mansa Imani
“I’m a JoeStar” by Open Mike Eagle

About The Author Siddharth Gupta

Siddharth Gupta is an illustrator, animator, and writer based in Minnesota. They graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Animation from the School of Visual Arts, and have worked on projects for the University of Minnesota and the Shreya R. Dixit Foundation. An avid animation and comics fan since childhood, they've turned their passion towards being both a creator and a critic. They credit their love for both mediums to Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball, which has also defined their artistic and comedic sensibilities. A frequent visitor to their local comic book shop, they are an avid reader and collector, particularly fond of manga. Their favorite comics include The Adventures of Tintin by Herge, Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed, and pretty much anything and everything by Rumiko Takahashi.

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