Started teaching Japanese literature, was also interested in fantasy. Saw Akira, thought someone should write a book. So she did.

Her first book was one I picked up in 2002 or so when I was starting to get back into anime, and gave me a number of ideas for things to watch.

First part of talk and book goes over how fascination with Japanese culture goes back to 19th century impressionists, Monet, Van Gogh as early cosplayer.

Second part - fandom. She did a ton of interviews with fans to try to distill experience. For her (and me) Akira was an eye opening moment. For other people it was Totoro and other Miyazaki works, and more "child-oriented" works.

It's interesting to me that the works referenced are ones I was familiar with years ago when I last paid attention and was trying to keep up. Surely there are new interesting series?

It's also interesting and perhaps unsurprising that the audience has that kind of blithe self assurance to interrupt constantly with their own impressions and experiences, breaking down the wall between presenter and audience and turning it into more of a conversation. The downside is that that conversation gas that kind of internal fandom logic that isn't always of interest to the outsider.