Does your mind race with possibilities when watching your favorite anime? Are you curious as to what and who makes great anime great? Then you’re in the right place.

Hi, and welcome to Talking Otaku! My name is Tim Rattray and I’ll be your guide as we dive deep into the anime you love. This column will explore a variety of topics from analyzing themes in anime and explaining the industry’s inner-workings to celebrating the community that embodies our shared passions. My goal is to take concepts that might seem daunting and put them into a digestible and fun format for your reading pleasure.

A bit about myself: I’ve been passionate about Japanese media since my young years, initially being entranced by the Pokemon games and anime. I grew up in a time when anime & manga was just starting to become widely available overseas with the initial publication of Shonen Jump and Spirited Away’s Academy Award win. Yu-Gi-Oh and Beyblade were lighting up schoolyards and Toonami was at its peak. Caught up in this whirlwind of fantasies, Japan’s wonderful artforms had me in their grasp.

As for me as a writer, I got my start in 2009 as an editor for a mobile gaming website. After three years, I left to focus on my college studies. Between my experience with journalism/critique and courses in screenwriting, I came to find that my true passion lay with dissecting how stories are told and why they work. I went on to create my blog Thoughts That Move on which I analyze narrative in anime and beyond, as well as join up with Crunchyroll as a features and video writer. Now, I aim to bring you my analytical-but-approachable style through Talking Otaku here on MANGA.TOKYO.

Talking Otaku isn’t about me, though… it’s about you! If you have a topic you’d like to see explored, feel free to drop me a line on Twitter at @thoughtmotion (my DMs are always open) or in the comments. Further, I want to hear your feedback so I can understand how to best tailor the column to your desires. This is a journey we’re taking together!

Join me next Saturday as I delve into a concept at the core of this column: what it means to be ‘otaku.’ And as always, thanks for reading!