We already did an overview podcast of Mechademia which included the third volume but we didn’t get to every little thing that we found interesting. Since this collection included the first Gundam essay so far, we thought we would pull it out for discussion (plus there is no way we couldn’t take a minute to say how creepy that sculpture is). It features a translated essay, Gundam and the Future of Japanoid Art by Takayuki Tatsumi, and then a response from the translator, Christopher Bolton.
When we were on the Manga Out Loud podcast Ed Sizmore discussed the idea that in academia the progress and exchange of ideas is facilitated by follow ups on establish papers. In the spirit of promoting an academic mindset in the anime and manga communities we decided to take a stab at writing out own response to one of the articles instead of just doing a review of the third book. Gundam and the Future of Japanoid Art discusses how the novel Starship Troopers influenced Gundam and in turn influenced the way authors view the relationship between man and machine in fiction. The translator then wrote a response in which he talks about his recollection of the Gundam Generating Futures exhibit where Tatsumi’s article originally appeared in the catalog for.
As someone who writes for a blog that updates at least twice a week, it is extremely obvious that I have a passion about anime and manga. This lends itself to me taking an interest in books that examines anime as well. So when Narutaki was able to get 
When I hear you say that, it makes me think about the people who are buying this book. How many of them are people who have a casual interest in anime and want to understand it better and how many are just bloggers, etc. who grabbed it to see if they find it sufficient. And of course every guide of every thing ever will have people divided on just how good it is and if they writer knows enough to call themselves an authority. But as luck would have it, 
We continue our scholarly pursuits by reading book two of the 
We are always trying to broaden our horizons here on Reverse Thieves. One of the quickest ways is to really sit down and read a bunch of essays that you only half understand! Okay, so Mechademia isn’t that impossible to understand, but it certainly makes you take a closer examination of series or parts of fandom that you might not have before. There is a wealth of knowledge in this new volume!
