Makerspace – This Week in Anime

As adults, it feels like we’re often chasing after that experience (“chasing the nostalgic dragon” as I like to call it) in an attempt to recapture even a little of the joy we felt back when we were children. That chase can lead us to amazing opportunities, our ruin, and perhaps both. Yasumi’s a teen now, but she’s still a kid and still has that wonder in her heart. She wants so bad to read manga and maybe even try her hand at making it. After all, it’s changed her life for the better, making her a more outgoing and considerate person. That was really all thanks to the book she found in that dingy shop all those years ago.

Dear god. I got so emotional while watching these opening episodes; it felt like someone had just opened up the intense feelings valve.

Legends aside, the “almost sobbing” became “real sobbing” when we start getting to know Yasumi’s teacher, Ms. Teshima. She’s introduced as the stick-up-her-behind kind of educator who doesn’t see manga as real literature. But by the last third of the first episode, it’s revealed that she authored the title that made Yasumi fall in love with the medium. Ms. Teshima is brusque as she is for a reason: the industry seemingly chewed her up and spit her out. When you’re filled with so much spite and conflicted emotions over something you used to love, it can be hard to be anything but repulsed when you feel that someone else is about to fall into the same trap. It doesn’t matter if the joy’s there either.

Award-Winning Translator, Jan Mitsuko Cash, Calls on American Manga Industry to Double Their Rates!

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— Anime News Network (@animenewsnetwork.com) August 22, 2026 at 12:22 AM

The technical part of it’s hard to begin with, but the “making a living” part often makes the work way more difficult.

Like for real.

We talked about this a fair bit a few months ago, but I haven’t seen another series that’s been as brutally honest about how much of a slog writing can be. Most days at the desk for me are just sitting there and trying to pound something out, which is often easier said than done. And just like me, Makio’s sitting at that desk almost all the time. Despite my chosen profession, writing is something I’ve had to really work at over the years. While it’s been akin to pulling teeth at times, that’s nothing compared to actually finishing the damn thing and feeling the sense of accomplishment that comes with it.

Especially when you’re feeling crushed by societal expectations to take the same path in life that everyone else seemingly has. It’s like opening a door to a world you’d never even considered before.

Or just drawing boobs because they’re cool, and it worked out for Gō Nagai. Side note, I kind of love that the teacher of this class is like “Hell yeah, man! Paint those boobs!”

Shifting over to another “blue” title, Blue Giant‘s been a pleasant surprise I find myself coming back to every so often. I think I’m a little too far gone to pick up the sax these days, but the electricity you feel in the room while listening to a talented group of Jazz musicians just go for it is like nothing else. It also calls back to the reflective aspect of art you just mentioned, Sylvia. Art doesn’t always have to have a meaning. It could be as simple as folks goofing around with a voice modulator and fart noises, but regardless of what that art specifically is, people will find their own meaning in it.

Also, it bears mentioning that even if a piece of art is seemingly devoid of meaning, it doesn’t mean that it wasn’t an ordeal to create. Art is all about friction, and nothing’s getting made without it.