Adolescent Entertainment

How ACT Helped Kill Adolescent Entertainment

What are kids watching these days? Gen Y's nostalgic myopia for Saturday morning cartoons and PG-13 horror flicks can leave them blinkered when it comes to how their now-adolescent children are entertaining themselves. This piece, wherein Variety indulges in handwringing over teens rejecting smut in movies and TV shows, seems…
November 18, 202425 Comments
How JRPGs Made Anime Mainstream in the West

How JRPGs Made Anime Mainstream in the West

Japanese roleplaying games and anime share a symbiotic relationship. And that symbiosis transformed global entertainment. While anime gave Japanese media the potential to capture international audiences, JRPGs provided the crucial delivery system for popularizing anime aesthetics and storytelling conventions in the West. Together, they established a cross-cultural phenomenon that continues…
November 15, 20249 Comments
Anime Manga Style by Year

The Rise and Fall of the Western Anime Scene

If you are reading this, it's a near certainty you've encountered Japanese animation, or anime. It's also a good bet that your introduction to the mediuam came through the Pokémon craze of the 90s, Toonami's afternoon lineup, or a Studio Ghibli film. It's hard to conceive of now, but anime…
November 14, 20248 Comments
ConsumeProduct

Millennial Snot and the Pop Cult: Worship in a Soulless Age

A lengthy post on X by Dudley Newright has brought an ancient truth about human nature back into the spotlight: Everyone worships something. Newright points out that today, this primal need doesn’t always lead us to a higher purpose. Instead, a growing segment of Western society has diverted its energies…
November 5, 202416 Comments
Preaching to the Choir

Why Preaching to the Choir Isn’t the Solution

In his response to my recent post about the limitations of Christian Fiction™ A.H. Lloyd raises points on the importance of reinforcing Christian themes via content made for Christian audiences, essentially preaching to the choir. While I understand Lloyd’s concerns, his response ultimately misinterprets my critique of the Christian fiction…
November 4, 202411 Comments
Catholic Horror

The Christian Origins of Western Horror

Halloween is the perfect time to reflect on how Westen horror fiction stands apart from other fiction genres. Whereas other storytelling forms have veered away from their spiritual and moral foundations, only horror has retained a clear link to its Christian roots. From medieval Europe’s tales of demonic possession to…
October 31, 202425 Comments
Luce 4

Why Luce Is the Right Way to Make Culturally Relevant Christian Content

With the launch of the 2025 Jubilee, the Vatican introduced Luce, an anime-inspired mascot designed to capture the attention of younger generations. The decision to develop a character with a fresh anime aesthetic might seem unusual to some, but it reflects a smart, current approach to cultural content creation. And…
October 30, 202434 Comments
Comic Book Crash

The Real Cause of the Comic Book Crash

The American comic book industry, once a cultural powerhouse, has been struggling for survival in recent decades. Here is a story from last year about Marvel and DC cutting artists' pay by 90%. Fast forward to this week, and we now have fresh reports of convention attendees groaning at a…
October 24, 202416 Comments
World of Nintendo

How Nintendo Changed Retail Shopping Forever

Everybody credits Nintendo with reviving–and reshaping–the video game industry. But the Big N's impact extends far beyond games. Over the years, Nintendo has transformed the retail sector, influencing how businesses manage inventory and how consumers interact with the marketplace. And the revolution has been so thorough, you probably never stop…
October 23, 20244 Comments