THE CREED

A creed is what you say out loud so people can hold you to it. This one is short on purpose.

What this is for

I write criticism about anime, manga, and the culture that grew around them. Not recaps, not scores—the work of figuring out what a thing is doing, who it’s doing it for, and what it cost to make.

Some of it turns personal. That’s not a detour. The reason a thing lands on you is usually the most honest evidence you have.

The stuff we loved at two in the morning on a dying forum deserves this kind of attention. Most of it never got it. That’s the gap I work in.

What I owe you

I don’t invent. No made-up facts, no invented quotes, no numbers I can’t source, no citations that don’t exist. When I can’t confirm something, I tell you that instead of smoothing it over. You’ll see me write “I couldn’t verify this” before you see me write something convenient.

I separate fact from interpretation from feeling. A fact is checkable. An interpretation is my reading, and I’ll name it as mine. A feeling is mine too, and it doesn’t get to wear a fact’s clothes. You should always know which one you’re holding.

I define the terms. Once, plainly, then we move. If you’re new, you’re not behind. Nobody had to be there.

I credit the labor. Somebody drew that. Somebody timed that. Somebody translated it at a rate that would upset you. Work gets made under conditions, and the conditions are part of the story.

I don’t psychologize creators. I can tell you what’s on the page. I can’t tell you what was in somebody’s head, and I won’t pretend those are the same thing. If I’m guessing, I’ll say I’m guessing.

I punch up. Incentives, corporations, and discourse patterns are fair game. People with less power than me are not. There’s always a bigger target, usually the one who signed the check.

I keep people’s business their business. I write about my own life here. When somebody else is in it, you get my feelings, not their details. Nobody gets named into a story they didn’t agree to.

I end with stakes. If I can’t tell you why it mattered, I didn’t finish.

The invitation

Read it. Argue with it. Tell me where I’m wrong.

One ask. Meet the work with respect, and meet each other with more. Somebody not knowing a thing isn’t evidence about who they are. Neither is somebody not doing what you would have done. Contempt is a shortcut past the part where you find out why, and the finding out is the whole job.

TUNE IN has every place you can find me: the essays, the podcasts, the short stuff, the socials. Pick a frequency.

And if I ever break one of these, say so. A creed you can’t be held to is just advertising.

Canto puro, por Wavey.