Welcome back to Waiting on the Trade, a monthly comics book club for people who don’t have time for monthly comics!

In this episode, guest host Bryce Manning joins us for a discussion of the print-based entertainment culture, as we talk about Fujita’s Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku Vol. 1.

This episode’s explanations, observations, and links of note include:

• I almost missed linking y’all to a quick definition of otaku, which seems pretty relevant.
• Here are a couple links in case you want to follow up on yaoi (boys’ love comics) and bara (men’s love comics).
• The Golden Age of Hangout Comics might be coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find and catch up on these series now.
• This is the Batman poster I have above my computer; it is great.
• Please don’t kick our asses, Sailor Moon fans. We know what Sailor Moon R is (or at least, Bryce does).
• Here are some of those publication and awards stats that Bryce mentioned for Wotakoi.
• I found the opening song for the Wotakoi anime, and it IS super cute.
• If you want to hit up the manga shop Bryce found in Fukuoka, I tracked it down.
• Here’s a link to the opening of the Haikyuu stage play, which is actually pretty impressive.
• And finally, Bryce sent us this “Batman Vs. Spider-Man” YouTube video immediately after we stopped recording, which I think shows our otaku bonafides.

Follow-Up Recommendations

If you liked Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku Vol. 1 , we think you might also like:

• Nana
• The World’s Greatest First Love
• My Love Story!! (and then listen to our episode about Vol. 1)
• Giant Days
• Shirobako

If you enjoyed Bryce’s time on the podcast, be sure to get matched up against him on League of Legends (where his screen name is DuoMaxwelll). And be sure to join us here next month, when we discuss Batman/Superman: Supergirl with guest host Mike Drew (who, of course, pulled an audible on us – it’s what he does).

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New to the show? Waiting on the Trade is a monthly comics podcast, run by two gents who don’t have time for monthly comics. If you’d like to get in touch with us, you can email us at WaitingOnTheTrade@gmail.com.

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As always, thanks for listening!