Everybody needs a thrill, and we all got a space to fill… on our manga shelf! We’re excited to spotlight one of the new rising stars of the indie manga publishing world determined to pluck some overlooked manga ripe for the licensing picking, Star Fruit Books! We interview Star Fruits’ founder Matt Haasch about the origins of the publisher, their mission statement, and how they’ve worked with independent creators to share their stories with a wider audience!

What’s more, we’re also discussing one of the fruits of their labor, talking about a series that’ll put a pop in your step and really puts the “pop” in pop art – Pop Life by Minami Qta! We had the time of our lives reading this wonderful series focusing on two mothers raising their children together in a shared household, grappling with feelings of loneliness and community, growing up and growing apart, and many more compelling themes about making the most out of your life!

If you enjoy our discussion of Pop Life and become eager for a chance to read it, you’re in luck! We’re teaming up with Star Fruit Books to run a special contest to give our listeners a chance to win free copies of both volumes of Pop Life! All you have to do is follow us and Star Fruit Books on twitter and retweet the tweet promoting our Pop Life Episode, which will be our pinned tweet for you to easily recognize and access. You can follow Manga Mavericks on Twitter @manga_mavericks and Star Fruits Books at @starfruitbooks.  The contest will be open for about a week after this podcast goes live, ending by the end of the day of Friday, May 21st! We’ll then randomly select a winner from all those who participated and DM them so that Matt Haasch of Star Fruit Books can send you your downloadable copies. Once again, this survey will be live through Friday, May 21st, so don’t miss this chance to read this series that will really make your life pop, and enter our giveaway before we stop! 

So listen up and learn why, on the list of manga publishers to look out for, Star Fruit Books should be on top, and why life ain’t real funky unless it’s got that pop! Dig it!


Download Episode Here!!


PODCAST BREAKDOWN:

00:22 – Intro
05:20 – Matt Haasch Interview
40:25 – Pop Life Discussion
1:19:59 – Q&A: “Thoughts on Anima Gear?”
1:22:03 – Matt’s Plugs
1:24:42 – Community Shout-Outs 

1:35:22 – Ad-Swap: The Law of Equivalent Exchange

1:36:40 – 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 the hosts on Twitter at @sniperking323 and @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 Colton’s Ko-fi here and 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:

Music Featured:

“Pop Life” by Prince
“Rouge no Dengon” by Arai Yumi & Masataka Matsutoya

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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