Jonathan Lack

Jonathan R. Lack (Ph.D., University of Iowa) is a writer, scholar, film critic, and podcast host. He earned his BA and MA summa cum laude with distinction from the University of Colorado Boulder, and specializes in the study of Japanese Film History, Animation Theory, and Transnational Cinema, with a particular focus on Japanese animation. His doctoral dissertation, Newtypes: Digital Technology and the Evolution of the Language of Anime, is an expansive study surveying the 21^st-century landscape of Japanese animation and how both the medium and its fandom have transformed amidst the digital turn. Having written and published on film and media since age 10, Jonathan currently writes film reviews and analysis at the Fade to Lack Substack (www.JonathanLack.com). Alongside Sean Chapman, he hosts the anime history and review podcast Japanimation Station and the monthly variety show Purely Academic, the latter following the 500-episode, 13-year run of The Weekly Stuff Podcast. He has published two books of film criticism, including 2023’s 200 Reviews.