• Looks like Montreal is going to become the first city in North America to open up a Tokyo-style cat café. Well, if they can fund it. (Crowdfunding page in French).

• How do you cosplay Hetalia respectfully when your favorite character is literally a stereotype of a country? Tamara thoughtfully addresses the topic on the latest installment of her podcast, Anime Brains Culture.

• Mike Toole writes about the lack of animation quality control that leads to sometimes laughably poorly drawn faces in even the highest budget anime.

• An academically backed argument that fanservice is an essential and irreplaceable element of anime. I’m impressed, but I’m not convinced.

• Chuunibyou is both the name of a currently airing anime and the term for “middle school syndrome,” the embarrassing awkward mannerisms we take up as young teens. I loved redball’s editorial: Anime is my Chuunibyou.

• Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki: The problem with the anime industry is that there are too many anime fans. Oh Miyazaki, you can’t have it both ways!

(Illustration by Tto Chan.)