Author, editor, podcaster, and cultural critic and observer Patrick Macias talks about manga, anime, and the general state of pop culture in Japan.

Topics include:

• Manga's reputation in the past vs. today
• Differences between manga made in Japan vs. those produce in the US
• The future of anime and AI
• The evolution of pop culture in Japan
• The Japanese attitude toward rebellion and how it has changed over time.
• Writing and moderns perspectives on the Gaijin Memoir
• Patrick's recommended reading

Patrick Macias is the editor-in-chief of Otaku USA magazine, the founding editor of Crunchyroll News, and the author of numerous books about Japanese pop culture including Mondo Tokyo: Dispatches from a Secret Japan, published in 2024, and (with Tomohiro Machiyama) Cruising the Anime City, published by Stone Bridge Press in 2004.

Patrick also wrote the original story for the anime series URAHARA that was simulcast globally in 2017.

Patrick was born and raised in Sacramento, California, and now lives in Tokyo.

Books by Patrick Macias include:

• Mondo Tokyo: Dispatches from a Secret Japan
• The Essential Anime Guide
• A Kid’s Guide to Anime and Manga

Patrick's recommended books on the podcast are

• Pure Invention by Matt Alt
• Watching Anime, Reading Manga by Fred Patten

Patrick is also cohost, with Matt Alt, of the podcast Pure Tokyoscope.

For a complete list of Stone Bridge Press books, visit www.stonebridge.com.