Manga Mavericks

I have a problem with the way we talk about problematic media. Or, more accurately, the way we don’t talk about problematic media. We’ve had a lot of conversations recently about problematic content in series we like and don’t like, and it’s a topic we’ve seen debated time and again whenever a series or creator does something questionable, uncomfortable, or in some cases, criminal. While it’s difficult to reconcile enjoying something that may be doing something “bad” or was created by a creator who has done something “bad,” I think it’s important to interrogate problematic content in the media we consume to identify the ways in which it may affect real people in harmful or damaging ways, and whether supporting such works emboldens the cultural pervasiveness of this content and their creators. This is a complicated topic that can be approached from many perspectives, so we invited several people who have expertise in holding conversations about problematic media and discussing the ways in which it refl