I was doing a Gamma read with my friend just yesterday when they made an interesting observation about The Seventh Kingdom. Bear in mind, they'd read well beyond Volume One (up to Chapter Twenty Six at this point) when I asked them if our series, being a seinen, seemed as dark and heavy as the others, they had an interesting response. As a writer, and creative in general, I think we sometimes pour our hearts into the characters, the world, the situations--and do so with the

It's been a while, hasn't it? I've been neck-deep in the roller coaster of life and, for the first time in a long time, am just now getting a moment of genuine rest. I fell into a contemplative mood tonight as I thought about why only specific anime appealed to me and, more disconcertingly, why most others quickly bore me. Confession: I don't abide by the "three-episode-rule". If an anime series doesn't grip me within the first episode, I switch series and never look back.

"The market is over saturated. Children and teens aren't reading books these days anymore. There aren't any Black main characters in manga. But...you're a film director--why do you want to make manga?" These are all plausible comments that I've received over this first year of preparing, writing, publishing and marketing The Seventh Kingdom. None of which I intend to listen too closely to. Simply put, I created The Seventh Kingdom from a place of reflection--a desire bourn f