Hello, all! Kate here.

This month I went on a little journey in Brooklyn for the first time since . . . well you know when. I took a Monday off to explore Japan Village which boasts a food hall, grocery store, Book Off, and Daiso.

This particular Book Off carries anime, manga, and related merchandise only. So while it was considerably smaller than the Manhattan store, it was still an otaku oasis with an entire glass wall stuffed full of figures and row upon row of buttons to decorate ita-bags!

I ate my fill of real ramen (which I can’t remember the last time I had), loaded up on random grocery items (Detective Conan furikake doesn’t buy itself, ya know), and bought half a dozen pastries (melon pan ftw).

I felt really energized from visiting some place new!

Join us on Discord!

-Kate

Hello, all! Kate here.

Lately, I have had the feeling of being perpetually behind in everything whether it is work, anime, manga, reading, TV shows, trying out new recipes, and so on. In February, I tried to make a dent in all the things I’d like to be experiencing. Although it was competing with the winter Olympics, I still feel like I’ve made progress on many fronts!

I baked two cakes from the most excellent (and simple) book, Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi.

I finally started watching Cobra Kai on Netflix (I’m not caught up, but I’m getting there) and I’m obsessed! I know I’m late to the party of this, but really I can’t believe how much I love this show. Miguel is my heart.

I’ve returned to table-top roleplaying after a break since Thanksgiving, and oh how I missed it! I’m currently embroiled in a short World of Darkness campaign.

On the manga and anime side of things, I’m now current with the My Hero Academia manga; I’m watching the Ranking of Kings anime week to week; and I’m proud to have finished Demon Slayer S2 the same day the final episode came out. There still much to go, but I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress!

Join us on Discord! Let us know what’s on your list to catch-up on.

-Kate

Hello, all! Kate here.

2022 starts in an expected place: back to recording podcasts over Discord instead of Al and I meeting up in person. Not exactly what I was hoping for but I’m still feeling optimistic about the coming year!

We closed the book on 2021 in our recent Speakeasy podcast running down our favorite anime, characters, and various other things from the enormous list of 2021 releases.

I asked the Discord crew what some of their favorite non- anime and manga things were from 2022. Here are a few of mine:

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series S2 You don’t have to believe me but I swear to you that is the full title of this show streaming on Disney+. It might be blasphemy to say, but I might like this show more than the original movies. Hints of Glee, a delightfully talented cast, and plenty of heart and music, of course!

Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries #6) by Martha Wells If you haven’t read any stories about this rouge security bot who’d like to spend all day watching TV but inevitably finds itself helping pesky humans, I can’t recommend them enough! I became a fan in 2020 as Murderbot nourished my soul and brought me out of a reading slump.

Critical Role: Campaign 3 I’m so glad to have all these knuckleheads back! This new D&D campaign has started with extreme hijinx and the party has more than a few colorful personalities.

Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Blizzard from Dairy Queen Combines everything I like so I’ve eaten more than my fair share of these in the last year.

Join us on Discord! Let us know your favorite anime, manga, and other things from 2021 and what you’re looking forward to in 2022.

-Kate