I’m back from Japan, and I had a blast! Look forward to a number of posts this coming month about my trip.

If you’re part of my Patreon (or even not!), feel free to message me or leave comments below. You can ask me anything about my Japan experience this time around. By the way, if you’re wondering what the biggest trend in Japan is right now, it’s Osomatsu-san.

Speaking of, here are this month’s Patreon sponsors:

General:

Johnny Trovato

Ko Ransom

Alex

Diogo Prado

Sasahara Keiko fans:

Kristopher Hostead

Yoshitake Rika fans:

Elliot Page

Hato Kenjirou fans:

Elizabeth

Yajima Mirei fans:

Machi-Kurada

There is something important I need to discuss, which is that some changes in my life (nothing tragic) are happening that might require me to reduce the amount of posting that I do to Ogiue Maniax. I know that sounds kind of strange after declaring that I would up my post rate not so long ago, but that’s just kind of how it is.

The result is that, while I’m definitely going to try, I might not be able to keep up my twice/thrice-weekly posting schedule. I know that part of the appeal of Ogiue Maniax is its consistency and its fairly high output rate, so if any of my patrons want to adjust their pledges accordingly, I totally understand.

I’m hopeful that I can keep up my current rate or something similar, though. I mean, I’ve done it before!

As for this past month’s post highlights:

As always, there’s the requisite Genshiken chapter review. This one got longer than I initially expected, but that’s just because it turns out that there’s a lot to talk about. One notable aspect of this chapter is how it meta-references the anime version. Strangely, there’s no new chapter of Kimi Nakare out yet.

A couple of posts this month were ones I’ve been ruminating on for a while. The first is a look at the fanservice from Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, and the second is a post about how vital Twitch chat is to the Twitch streaming experience. There’s just a lot to unpack in both, and I hope I’ve done a decent job explaining my points.

There’s also this month’s Patreon-sponsored post, where I look at the BlazBlue anime. While I was passingly familiar with BlazBlue as an anime-style fighting game, one thing I didn’t realize was how many imouto characters are in it. This in some ways sets it apart from similar games, which often deal with only or two little sisters.

The last major post is the first of many inspired by my Japan trip. Check out my report and review of Kansai Comitia 48, a doujin event dedicated to original (as in not based on existing works) doujinshi,

Outside of the blog:

Over at Apartment 507 where I’m currently writing, I’ve started a new series of reviews for Japanese-language manga apps. The first is Shogakukan’s MangaOne. Remember, these are only available on the Japanese app stores. I’ve also started a Vine account because making dumb jokes using anime is what I do, and I recently appeared on a mini-episode of the Reverse Thieves’ Speakeasy Podcast to discuss the Hulu Apocalypse.

So anyway, fire away with the Japan questions! I was only there briefly, so I can’t divulge to you its darkest secrets, but I sure can try.