2017 in the Rear View Mirror & Holiday Giveaway Winner!

First of all, my apologies for the lateness of this post.  A lot of stuff came my way at the end of the year: family get-togethers, a wicked 1-2 punch of a head cold and tonsilitis, and the addition of two small, furry, squirrelly members to our household who are currently dividing their time between zooming around my house and sleeping sweetly on the couch.

First things first, it's time to announce this year's Holiday Giveaway Winner!  We had plenty of good comments, but according to the random number generator our winner is...Usamimi!

That's so hard!! I'd say the Rakugo Shinju manga just because I love the series so much & I'm so glad we're getting it in English.

Goodness knows I won't argue with that assessment.  Congratulations to our winner, and I'll be getting in touch with her soon to deliver her prize.

That said, this year was...interesting for The Manga Test Drive.  It's certainly the busiest I've been outside of the site.  I wrote a couple of articles for Anime Feminist, presented a couple of panels at last year's AnimeFest in Dallas, started a new feature on Infinite Rainy Day,and  got pull-quoted by Dark Horse for both the latest volume of Berserk and the upcoming guide book.  I was also chosen to be one of the judges for Manga of the Year for Crunchyroll's annual Anime Awards, something which continues to blow my mind considering that many of the other judges are writers and reviewers whose works I followed for years and (in some cases) inspired me to create this very site.

I also entered the world of crowdfunding when I started a Patreon campaign back in March.  To my surprise and delight, it managed to make more than a handful of change right from the start! Some even increased their donations during Patreon's brief, misguided fit of greed in December.  I can't overstate how much that support means to me and the site and I hope that many more regular readers join them.

That being said, the kerfuffle over Patreon last month helped me realize that I needed to diversify my crowdfunding options to help stave off concerns about corporate freakouts like that and to give my readers more ways to help support the site.  That's why I'm proud to announce that The Manga Test Drive now has a Ko-Fi account!



Now in addition to supporting the site on a regular, monthly basis through Patreon, you can support us anytime for any reason through Ko-Fi.  This will not be the last addition, though.  In the coming months, I plan on opening up a Paypal tip jar (along with the possibility of commission for future non-Test Drive reviews and features).  I will also be looking into other crowdfunding sites such as Drip as they go public.  Of course, I will keep you all informed as any changes come and The Manga Test Drive enters its sixth year.