@petedockktor.bsky.social
Because hes the creator, director at MAPPA and you're just a consumer. When you get to his level,get Mappa to make an anime with you & get the anime nominated for an NAACP Image Award, the first anime of its kind for a Black Oscar, you can make "12 Years a SLAVE" The Anime. Y'all are insufferable!😂
December 13, 2025 at 2:32 AM
Because hes the creator, director at MAPPA and you're just a consumer. When you get to his level,get Mappa to make an anime with you & get the anime nominated for an NAACP Image Award, the first anime of its kind for a Black Oscar, you can make "12 Years a SLAVE" The Anime. Y'all are insufferable!😂
Can’t wait for Japan Foundation to upload the actual interviews on their YouTube channel. We need the actual context which was the Making of Lazarus in discussion with LeSean Thomas. Not “about AI.” A remarkable convo that’s being butchered for clicks. Sad.
December 12, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Can’t wait for Japan Foundation to upload the actual interviews on their YouTube channel. We need the actual context which was the Making of Lazarus in discussion with LeSean Thomas. Not “about AI.” A remarkable convo that’s being butchered for clicks. Sad.
Reposted
My respect to LeSean Thomas for orchestrating this event and to Watanabe for coming to share some wisdom on the influence black music traditions has on his body of works, honored to be in the audience that day.
November 29, 2025 at 8:11 PM
My respect to LeSean Thomas for orchestrating this event and to Watanabe for coming to share some wisdom on the influence black music traditions has on his body of works, honored to be in the audience that day.
Absolutely. It’s 2025 and LeSean Thomas is currently the only black American to create, produce & direct original TV-MA drama anime starring black leads w/top anime studios (Yapiko/Satelight/Mappa)actually released on global mainstream platforms (CR/Netflix). No one else. It’s crazy honestly.
December 10, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Absolutely. It’s 2025 and LeSean Thomas is currently the only black American to create, produce & direct original TV-MA drama anime starring black leads w/top anime studios (Yapiko/Satelight/Mappa)actually released on global mainstream platforms (CR/Netflix). No one else. It’s crazy honestly.
Afro dropped in 2007 on FX during Web 1.5 era. Twitter was brand new & nobody came together for it back then like they would now, and if released today Black Americans/Whites woulda praised it cause they GLAZE Japan. But a Black American made Yasuke & fans demanded Roots/12 Years a Slave. It’s sad.
December 9, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Afro dropped in 2007 on FX during Web 1.5 era. Twitter was brand new & nobody came together for it back then like they would now, and if released today Black Americans/Whites woulda praised it cause they GLAZE Japan. But a Black American made Yasuke & fans demanded Roots/12 Years a Slave. It’s sad.
Reposted
I know I’m exaggerating for comedy. I just hate that this is what always seems to happen to black art. Someone finds a way to limit it in some way. The face of “black anime” in the strictest sense has been Afro Samurai for like 15 years. Yasuke should have been able to be the new one.
December 9, 2025 at 8:05 PM
I know I’m exaggerating for comedy. I just hate that this is what always seems to happen to black art. Someone finds a way to limit it in some way. The face of “black anime” in the strictest sense has been Afro Samurai for like 15 years. Yasuke should have been able to be the new one.
They havent made as many IPs as LT & none of them are produced at top anime studios like CB/Yasuke (Satelight/Mappa). Black anime-inspired isnt actual anime production sadly. OMG/IFG/IYANU (African, not Black American) are comedies/children’s shows: A tired USA standard. LT is adult/Non-Comedy imo.
December 9, 2025 at 8:45 PM
They havent made as many IPs as LT & none of them are produced at top anime studios like CB/Yasuke (Satelight/Mappa). Black anime-inspired isnt actual anime production sadly. OMG/IFG/IYANU (African, not Black American) are comedies/children’s shows: A tired USA standard. LT is adult/Non-Comedy imo.
Reposted
And then you’ve got stuff like Iyanu, Invicible Fight Girl, Oh My God Yes. You can see people trying, fighting for it and it feels like people are always moving the goal post I guess. Idk
December 9, 2025 at 8:10 PM
And then you’ve got stuff like Iyanu, Invicible Fight Girl, Oh My God Yes. You can see people trying, fighting for it and it feels like people are always moving the goal post I guess. Idk
The face of black anime in product? Maybe to you, Afro samurai. But Bob Okazaki is a fanboy of black american culture. He’s not black. Doesn’t live here and can’t even speak our language. To me he and Lesean are kindred spirits, but Afro is fake, Yasuke was actual Japanese history.
December 9, 2025 at 8:17 PM
The face of black anime in product? Maybe to you, Afro samurai. But Bob Okazaki is a fanboy of black american culture. He’s not black. Doesn’t live here and can’t even speak our language. To me he and Lesean are kindred spirits, but Afro is fake, Yasuke was actual Japanese history.
Dude is the only one holding down authentic anime production originals in action/fantasy scifi TV-MA with brown leads. It makes sense Watanabe would fly all the way to NYC to LeSean’s Founded event to talk black culture and anime. Also both Lazarus and Yasuke were created & directed at Mappa by them
December 9, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Dude is the only one holding down authentic anime production originals in action/fantasy scifi TV-MA with brown leads. It makes sense Watanabe would fly all the way to NYC to LeSean’s Founded event to talk black culture and anime. Also both Lazarus and Yasuke were created & directed at Mappa by them
All 3 of those guys went on the create their own shows, LeSean Thomas, notably, is the only black American to create and direct original anime in Japan (Satelight/Mappa) starring black lead characters. He’s a pioneer and I hope he has more coming, Japanese or Korean-produced.
December 9, 2025 at 7:48 PM
All 3 of those guys went on the create their own shows, LeSean Thomas, notably, is the only black American to create and direct original anime in Japan (Satelight/Mappa) starring black lead characters. He’s a pioneer and I hope he has more coming, Japanese or Korean-produced.
Yasuke was polarizing because most anime audiences (not critics) are wildly closet racists (just look at how fandom tortured black fandom/cosplay over decades). It was critically acclaimed as groundbreaking & nominated for an naacp image award (Black Oscars), the first anime to ever to do so.
December 9, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Yasuke was polarizing because most anime audiences (not critics) are wildly closet racists (just look at how fandom tortured black fandom/cosplay over decades). It was critically acclaimed as groundbreaking & nominated for an naacp image award (Black Oscars), the first anime to ever to do so.
It wasn't a panel. Those are at cons with tables inside convention centers promoting fandom. This was a craft salon via cultural diplomacy at The Japan Society Museum, a 110 year old cultural institution hosting serious dialog between MAPPA anime creators (Yasuke/Lazarus). That won't happen at AX.
December 1, 2025 at 2:14 AM
It wasn't a panel. Those are at cons with tables inside convention centers promoting fandom. This was a craft salon via cultural diplomacy at The Japan Society Museum, a 110 year old cultural institution hosting serious dialog between MAPPA anime creators (Yasuke/Lazarus). That won't happen at AX.
yeah, it was his comic book series first, came out the same year as The Boondocks season 1. he turned it into an anime series at Satelight years later.
November 8, 2025 at 7:35 PM
yeah, it was his comic book series first, came out the same year as The Boondocks season 1. he turned it into an anime series at Satelight years later.
He's back again this year with his cross-cultural platform, and he's bringing the GOAT with him! bsky.app/profile/theo...
Shinichiro Watanabe And LeSean Thomas Bring Anime Events To New York City Next Month #AnimeAnimationNews #anime
Shinichiro Watanabe And LeSean Thomas Bring Anime Events To New York City Next Month
Shinichiro Watanabe and LeSean Thomas are teaming up to bring a weekend full of anime to New York City in November. Watanabe is the legendary director of Cowboy Bebop and Lazarus, while LeSean Thomas left his mark with Canon Busters and Yasuke. The two are taking part in a special series called Foreign Exchange 2025 [...]
The post Shinichiro Watanabe And LeSean Thomas Bring Anime Events To New York City Next Month first appeared on The Outerhaven.
dlvr.it
November 8, 2025 at 7:20 PM
He's back again this year with his cross-cultural platform, and he's bringing the GOAT with him! bsky.app/profile/theo...
He downplayed successful projects based on Japanese nomenclature (didn’t have to) that he’d actually die to have a fraction of their success and audience reaction today, based on the projects he proudly touted his name on in the last 4yrs. Pretty sure he didn’t think he’d have to leave Twitter then.
May 10, 2025 at 5:02 AM
He downplayed successful projects based on Japanese nomenclature (didn’t have to) that he’d actually die to have a fraction of their success and audience reaction today, based on the projects he proudly touted his name on in the last 4yrs. Pretty sure he didn’t think he’d have to leave Twitter then.
what's awful about it?
May 5, 2025 at 10:51 PM
what's awful about it?
A kid's show is not going to draw attention any more within a crowded market dominated by far more mature programming in the streaming era. Linear cable channels can't force everyone to only watch 6-11 cartoons anymore, so this is facing an uphill battle. Kids want Mandalorian/Anime maturity now.
May 5, 2025 at 10:50 PM
A kid's show is not going to draw attention any more within a crowded market dominated by far more mature programming in the streaming era. Linear cable channels can't force everyone to only watch 6-11 cartoons anymore, so this is facing an uphill battle. Kids want Mandalorian/Anime maturity now.
Gotta take your own advice bro. A rising tide lifts all boats, Including African Immigrants trying to make waves in foreign country's animation media outlets. Cory is an influencer who watches videos. He & LeSean couldn't be further apart other than they black (one makes animes the other hopes to).
April 22, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Gotta take your own advice bro. A rising tide lifts all boats, Including African Immigrants trying to make waves in foreign country's animation media outlets. Cory is an influencer who watches videos. He & LeSean couldn't be further apart other than they black (one makes animes the other hopes to).
Also Lazarus feels like Watanabe had to make something AS wanted (which was bebop-esque) b/c Space dandy simulcast flopped. Jason stated himself that he was surprised that Watanabe said it was a flop, b/c AS had no idea how SD did in Japan. I get the business side of AS not wanting another SD though
April 22, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Also Lazarus feels like Watanabe had to make something AS wanted (which was bebop-esque) b/c Space dandy simulcast flopped. Jason stated himself that he was surprised that Watanabe said it was a flop, b/c AS had no idea how SD did in Japan. I get the business side of AS not wanting another SD though
Bones Inc.,Bandai Visual Co.( contributed significantly to the production) and BS Fuji were repsonsible.
AS paid for the rights to simulcast first, and they paid $$ for the license, sure. That's partially funding, but AS grabbed rights. not dictate what to make. Lazarus is completely different.
AS paid for the rights to simulcast first, and they paid $$ for the license, sure. That's partially funding, but AS grabbed rights. not dictate what to make. Lazarus is completely different.
April 22, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Bones Inc.,Bandai Visual Co.( contributed significantly to the production) and BS Fuji were repsonsible.
AS paid for the rights to simulcast first, and they paid $$ for the license, sure. That's partially funding, but AS grabbed rights. not dictate what to make. Lazarus is completely different.
AS paid for the rights to simulcast first, and they paid $$ for the license, sure. That's partially funding, but AS grabbed rights. not dictate what to make. Lazarus is completely different.