Alena Van Arendonk
From Dragon Ball to Saiyuki, there’s no shortage of adaptations, retellings, and wholesale lifts of one of the world’s most popular tales. But most of the western world enjoying these retellings knows little of the original novel, and even less of the stories it itself combined and retold. Let’s look at the historical and cultural […]
Want to cosplay or craft, but don’t know how to sew? Learn to select and read a pattern, choose fabric, cut, pin, stitch, press, & more in this novice-friendly presentation. Bring your questions!
As the oldest monarchy in the world, Japan’s had plenty of time to have some amazing moments in history. Hear a few of the most important, most famous, or most fun—from the Genpei War to the Meiji Revolution, from girl power to magical red cows, from archery contests to smallpox—with illustrations, photos, ties to your […]
How did Edgar Allen Poe influence Sailor Moon? What do Norse gods, Joan of Arc, and Lupin III have in common? Who was the real-life Moriarty? Learn the origin of the kaitou, Japan’s archetypal thief, from his birth in Gilded Age literature to his high-tech 21st century incarnations. Follow this truly international antihero’s development through […]