· 7 min read
No Cuts. Eleven Years. Then the Oscar.
Hayao Miyazaki spent eleven years locked out of the American market rather than let anyone touch his films. Then the Oscar came.
Anime Arc
Anime Arc
Mangaka, studios, and creators who built worlds under impossible pressure.
6 posts
· 7 min read
When Netflix Stopped Trying to Make Anime and Actually Made Anime
Netflix burned $70M on Cowboy Bebop and got laughed out of the industry. Then they made Edgerunners. What changed wasn't the budget.
· 6 min read
Tatsuki Fujimoto Killed the Character Everyone Loved. That's Why Chainsaw Man Works.
Every other mangaka would have kept Aki alive. Fujimoto's instinct to follow through is the lesson most PMs never learn.
· 6 min read
Tatsuya Endo Built a Fake Family. Then It Became Real.
Spy x Family isn't a spy story. It's about a creator who spent 18 years failing, built a facade to get his real idea past the gatekeepers and accidentally made something true.
· 6 min read
Hideaki Anno Shipped Evangelion Unfinished. Then He Rebuilt It. Twice.
The story of Evangelion isn't about giant robots. It's about a depressed creator who ran out of money, shipped anyway, faced death threats and spent 26 years iterating on the same product.
· 3 min read
From Demon Slayer to Jujutsu Kaisen: Crafting Product Journeys with Heart and Intent
Why great PMs must be great creators — lessons from Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen on building products people obsess over.