An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses various reports published within the issue including one by Miyamoto Hirohito tracing the dynamics of contemporary manga characters back to a specific set of relations between manga readers and characters that emerged in the 1920s, another by Kumiko Saito on 'amateur artists,' especially on boys' love manga written by women, and one by James Welker on fan commentary, particularly at how readers understand and use stories.