Department of Alchemy » DoAAA

Department of Alchemy Audio Archive – Episode 6: Anime in Academia (NYAF)

Alex Leavitt — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 22:57:57 +0000

On Friday 8 October, I moderated the Anime in Academia panel at the 2010 New York Anime Festival.

The panel featured:

Casey Brienza (PhD student, Sociology, University of Cambridge)
Mikhail Koulikov (Online Bibliography of Anime & Manga Research)
Jennifer Fu (undergrad, Comparative Media Studies, MIT)

You can download the episode or listen to it below:

Department of Alchemy Audio Archive – Episode 5: Keith Vincent on Otaku Sexuality

Alex Leavitt — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 23:29:30 +0000

On Monday 12 April 2010, my former undergraduate advisor, Keith Vincent, gave a lecture on otaku sexuality, drawing from Saito Tamaki‘s work on otaku in his book, 戦闘美少女の精神分析 (A Psychoanalysis of the Beautiful Fighting Girl; 2000), as part of a colloquium called Carnal Knowledge.

I am happy to say that Keith will be translating Saito’s book into English with a publication set sometime in Spring 2011.

Cover art by Murakami Takashi.

Listen below, or use the direct download here (22 minutes 13 seconds).

Department of Alchemy Audio Archive – Episode 4: Manga Mania Panel @ Anime Boston 2010

Alex Leavitt — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:40:11 +0000

In an effort to initiate a US branch of the ZeroAka Dojo, Vertical Inc. has collected a brain trust of the brightest and most respected manga bloggers and journalists on the East Coast to discuss manga culture. But there is a catch! This is not your average panel. This is a moderated discussion covering a wide range of manga topics from politics and ethics to the industry and its fans. This is not a democratic, everyone gets equal time, panel. This is a public forum where the best voices of manga share their knowledge and views honestly and openly.

Has manga criticism reached new heights? Or are our manga literati still in the dark ages? Join journalists, podcasters, bloggers, industry insiders and manga academics as they reveal why manga your fandom originates and always comes back to manga!

Last weekend at Anime Boston 2010, Ed Chavez (of Verical, Inc.) held a panel with some popular Internet writers and reviewers of manga to ask them critical questions about the manga industry, manga criticism, and manga fandom. The panelists included Brigid Alverson (MangaBlog), Michael Toole (Anime Jump), Scott Green (Ain’t It Cool Anime), Clarissa Graffeo (Anime World Order), Erin Finnegan (Ninja Consultants), and Ko Ransom (welcome datacomp).

Erin also recently uploaded a recording of her own, which has slightly higher audio quality (she recorded from the stage; I recorded from the audience), but also cuts off a bit of the end. You can reference her recording here, but catch the end of the panel by listening to the DoAAA podcast.

Listen below, or use the direct download here (55 minutes 59 seconds).

Department of Alchemy Audio Archive – Episode 3: Ian Condry @ Harvard

Alex Leavitt — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:27:08 +0000

After half a year, another episode is finally uploaded!

This third episode of the Department of Alchemy Audio Archive features a lecture by Ian Condry given at Harvard University on 13 November 2009. His talk is entitled “The Soul of Anime: Collaborative Creativity & Japan’s Media Success Story.”

Listen below, or use the direct download here (1 hour 19 minutes 15 seconds).

Department of Alchemy Audio Archive – Episode 2: Anime Boston “Industry Panel”

Alex Leavitt — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:23:18 +0000

How we all vicariously feel about the anime industry.

Honestly, I just want to get this second episode online, because it’s taken more than a few months to do so already, so… bullet point time!

- The podcast has been officially named: DoAAA, or the Department of Alchemy Audio Archive. Fitting, since I’m probably always going to upload audio I record at conventions.
- Episode 2 features Chris Beverage from his Anime on DVD panel at Anime Boston 2009. Since there was no real industry panel on Sunday at the convention, Chris’s panel represents the pinnacle of industry discussion that happened inside the Hynes last May.
- I’m sick this week, so I didn’t want my crappy voice getting in the way of the equally-awful panel audio. Thus, I just use my laptop’s voice to host this episode.

Listen below, or use the direct download here.

Department of Alchemy Podcast: Panels from Anime Boston 2009

Alex Leavitt — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:03:45 +0000

I’ve decided to flavor the blog with audio under the moniker Department of Alchemy Podcast. Occasionally, I’ll post audio from panels or discussions here, but don’t think of it as a regular podcast, à la Anime World Order.

This past weekend, I took my new audio recorder to Anime Boston 2009, and while I tried to record a number of panels, I had a few mishaps and some of them didn’t save. However, I did pick up a handful of them, so I’ll try to repair the audio a bit and upload them here.

First up is one of the five panels that I spoke at: Akiba Empire: The Otaku Influence. The convention’s booklet reads: “Otaku spending pumps over 4 billion dollars annually into Japan’s economy. Discover how nerdy anime fans went from basement dewllers to a powerful cultural, economic, and political force.” Please listen! Or download here.

More panels from AB will be posted shortly!