• Funimation and Crunchyroll have teamed up to bring more subs to Crunchyroll, more dubs and DVD releases to Funimation and generally more anime, the way you want to consume it, for everyone. I think this is great news! I already pay for both services so I guess I’ll be seeing the results of the partnership pretty soon.

• It’s rare that a single interview changes the way I review anime, but this Yatta-Tachi interview with Shingo Natsume & Chikashi Kubota of One Punch Man fame did just that. After the following comment, you can bet I won’t be referring to sloppy looking episodes as ones that “ran out of budget”:

“A lot of people have this common misconception that the quality of the actual animation is based on the production’s budget. But in Japan, the TV production world, especially when it comes to anime, generally they all have the same budget. There are really rare situations where some have a little less and some tend to have a little bit more, but nothing that is very drastic. So, in reality, it is based on the staff.”

• My friend Amelia wrote an articulate, provocative article on how moé shows can infantilize and sexualize characters at the same time. I love moé because it is often unintentionally subversive (the way New Game! portrays a successful all-woman game studio and Yowamushi Pedal shows that moé main character Onoda can be both tough and into princess anime). But it’s important to remember the construct our fantasies are built on. I touched on this once when talking about another one of my favorite moé shows: You are the only male character in “Love Live.”

• What if all the planeswalkers from Magic: The Gathering lived in a house together? That premise sounds like fanfiction, but it’s actually an official—and very absorbing—piece of canon storytelling.

• Really cool: master translator @80sanime translated a 1998 interview with Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino, in which he thanked his female fans for first making Gundam popular. As a female fan, I feel validated!

• This was a great week for anime industry interview pieces. The flawless Deb Aoki interviewed Nami Sano, the author of Haven’t you heard? I’m Sakamoto. I was surprised to learn Sakamoto didn’t start out as a gag manga at all!

• And another! All about how animator Miyo Sato conceived and executed the oil-paint-on-glass ending sequence of Mob Psycho 100. More effort than I expected was put into making Reigen look sexy, it turns out.

• How an American can work in the Japanese anime industry. Colette is killing it with mainstream coverage for English-speaking anime fans over at the Daily Dot.

• And finally, What Does It Mean to Have a “Favorite Anime”? Isaac, who recently updated his list of his 25 favorite anime, explores what it is that elevates a show from cinematically and editorially good to something that touches us personally.

Screenshot via New Game!