Patrick Drazen Information

Author / Lecturer
Stone Bridge Press
Chicago, IL

Biography:
Author of the 2003 "Anime Explosion: The What? Why? and Wow! of Japanese Animation" and more recently "A Gathering of Spirits: Japan's Ghost Story Tradition" (available in paper and as an e-book), Patrick Drazen has presented at the 2004 Schoolgirls and Mobilesuits, at Yaoi-Con in 2002, at the 2006 Cherry Blossom Festival Anime Marathon at the Freer Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, and for several years at Anime Central in his hometown of Chicago. He's written on anime for Animation magazine and SFX, on manga for Time Out New York, sits on the Editorial Board for Mechademia journal, participated in a panel discussion in 2006 with Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino as part of the Chicago International Film Festival, and is currently working on his third book.

Drazen has an extensive anime collection, from Betamax to DVD, and his presentations have touched on Japanese folklore in modern anime, same-sex relationships, and the fluid nature of heroes and villains in anime. "The best reactions I've gotten," Drazen says, "are to the Sanrio videos--and I DON'T mean 'Hello, Kitty'! In the 70s and 80s they produced some amazing anime, including the two feature films of Osamu Tezuka's 'Unico', and 'Sea Prince and the Fire Child.' These are amazing lost treasures which still have fans in America."