Debora Aoki is a Japanese-American manga critic and editor based in Oakland, California. She is known for her articles, reviews and interviews about manga for Publishers Weekly, Comics Beat, K-Comics Beat, and Anime News Network. In addition to co-hosting the podcast Mangasplaining, she is a manga and webtoons editor and publishing consultant, a moderator at comic-related events, author, illustrator, and an adjunct professor of manga history and creation at California College of Arts in San Francisco.

Christopher Woodrow-Butcher is a Canadian living in Taiwan. He is an editor, critic, and podcaster, dealing with all things manga. He is a consultant on the publication and promotion of Japanese manga in English, who has worked with numerous clients including Kodansha, UDON Entertainment, VIZ Media, and Fantagraphics. He co-hosts the podcast Mangasplaining with Debora Aoki, David Brothers, and Chip Zdarsky, and produces English editions of Japanese manga through the company Mangasplaining Extra.

Ed Chavez is an American manga editor, critic, and co-founder of the manga publisher DENPA. He was previously the marketing director at Vertical, Inc., a manga translation publisher, where he worked on titles such as Chi’s Sweet Home and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin. He also worked for the manga publisher Seven Seas, DC Comic’s manga imprint CMX, and Kodansha USA. His translations and publications such as Inside Mari, PEZ, and Gambling Apocalypse: KAIJI have garnered a wide following.

Sagami Women’s University professor Iwashita Hosei is in the Department of Information Studies, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, specializing in the study of manga, popular culture, and culture and representation. He has published numerous books on the expression and history of shojo manga, including in the field of character theory. Some of these works are Shojo manga no hyogen kiko [The Mechanism of Expression in Girl’s Manga] (NTT Shuppan, 2013) and Kyara ga riaru ni naru toki [When Characters Become Real] (Seidosha, 2020) along with contributions to Manga kenkyu 13 ko [Thirteen Lectures on Manga Studies] (Suiseisha, 2016) and Manga shikaku bunka ron [Manga Visual Culture Theory] (Suiseisha, 2017).

Popotame is located in Tokyo. Since opening in 2005, the gallery has exhibited picture books, contemporary art, photographs, held talk shows, and more. The bookstore carries everything from picture books, art, indie culture books and goods, and contemporary Korean books, making it a popular store with a unique selection of works. Obayashi also actively attends overseas book fairs; editing, producing, and publishing English and Korean translations of comics under the Popotame name.

Odagiri Hiroshi is a writer and manga researcher. Since the 90s, he has been writing about a wide range of youth culture in magazines and online. From that time, he has been the main person introducing American comics in Japan. In addition to writing for anime and subculture magazines and online publications, he is involved in the translation of American comics. His publications include Dare mo ga hyogen dekiru jidai no kurieita-tachi [Creators in an Age of Open Expression] (NTT Shuppan, 2003), Senso wa ikani ‘manga’ o kaeru ka [How War Changes ‘Manga’] (NTT Shuppan, 2007), Kyarakuta to wa nanika? [What Is a Character?] (Chikuma Shobo, 2010), and contribution to Amerikan komikkusu saizensen [The Frontier of American Comics] (TransArt, 2003).

Shige “CJ” Suzuki is a researcher and associate professor at Baruch College, City University of New York. He is in the Department of Modern Languages and Comparative Literature, teaching literature, film, and popular culture. His fields of expertise are film, criticism and cultural theory, cultural studies, and manga/comics studies. His main publications are Manga: A Critical Guide (co-authored with Ronald Stewart, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022) and “Gekiga, or Japanese Alternative Comics” in Introducing Japanese Popular Culture (edited by Alisa Freedman, Routledge, 2022). His other works include “The Rise of Comics Studies,” edited by Takeuchi Osamu, Biranzi (no. 50, 2022) and “Resurrecting the Power of 'Narrative'” in Women’s Manga Studies: MANGA Connecting Europe, America, Japan, and Asia (edited by Ogi Fusami, Seikyusha, 2015).