In 2010, Twwk founded Beneath the Tangles to explore the connections between anime/manga and Christian spirituality. But he hasn’t been the only contributor to the blog—far from it. During the course of 2011, over a dozen other writers contributed guest posts, and soon afterwards, several co-bloggers joined the team, to which another five were added in January 2015. In 2016, Charles moved on to focus on family and ministry, and a leadership team under Japesland took the lead, before Twwk returned the following year. Today, the following members make Beneath the Tangles possible:
claire – Writer
Claire is passionate about story in all its forms, especially visual. She loves to uncover where and how God is revealing himself in culture—across time and space. She’s a historian by trade, specialising in cinema. Claire is fairly new to anime, and so is enjoying catching up on decades worth of rich “archival material”. Though actually it turns out she’d watched anime as a kid, only without knowing it. (For years, she thought there was a class of transformer that were big cats, thanks to the original Voltron. If only she still had that complete mecha toy set, she could retire!)
Cecillia – Director of Development
Cecillia is a bubble tea addict who does Accounting to provide for her two lovely cats, “forever puppy” dog, and man-child medical student husband. She loves kpop, anime, webtoons, tennis, Chick-fil-A, and Lake Tahoe. Her favorite discussion topic is Haruka Nanase’s character development throughout the Free! series.
Gaheret – Writer
The eldest of ten siblings who are all avid readers, Gaheret is a is a Catholic lawyer from Spain, too tall for Robin already but not yet serious enough for Batman. Interested in heroism, wonder, hope. and Christ, he looks for them from the realms of Philosophy and Theology to the Arthurian cycle, Dostoyevski, and comics. He discovered anime after University much to his joy, mostly through Beneath the Tangles
Japesland – Director (Retired)
JP is an aspiring businessman and linguist in the land of Japan. His tastes are always in a state of flux, but he enjoys anything with an emphasis on characters. His obsession with Japan carries into most of his interests, from books to television to video games and more. In his free time he likes to pose with bunny ears for caricatures.
Jeskai Angel – Writer, Light Novel Club
With his fondness for books, video games, and trading card games, Jonathan has always been pretty nerdy, but he only became an otaku in 2016, falling in love first with anime, and later with light novels. Despite physical and mental health issues, Jonathan somehow became a historian of the American Civil War, and he has a 500-page doctoral dissertation he still needs to get published. He’s been doing freelance QA work for J-Novel Club since 2019.
Joseph – Social Media Team, Podcaster
Joseph just graduated undergrad and is now attending medical school. He hopes to one day serve God’s kingdom as a medical missionary. After being forced to watch Code Geass by a friend in middle school, he realized anime wasn’t as cringy as he had thought, and has been watching it since. He’s also played volleyball for a while and claims to be better than Nishinoya. Aside from anime, his favorite video game series is The Legend of Zelda and loves to study philosophy.
Judy – Social Media Team
With a passion for plushes and all things kawaii, Judy’s first taste of anime came when she saw Battle Of The Planets as a child and she delved further during the Pokemon, after which her love of anime kept growing (and she’s never looked back). She has a knack for taking secular songs and coming up with religious connotations to them, and loves Japan/Japanese culture, the color blue, and laughing! When she’s not watching anime or reading manga, Judy is working out at the local YMCA, drinking Pure Leaf raspberry iced tea, blasting Stryper’s music throughout her house, rooting for the Boston Bruins or shelling out her love of one of her favorite animals, the turtle!!
Kelsey – Women’s Ministry
Kelsey’s first introduction to anime was when her husband made her watch Mobile Suit Gundam Wing in college—and she has been watching anime ever since. She now is a huge fan of anime, manga, and Japanese culture in general. Inuyasha will forever be her favorite anime, but she will watch basically anything in the anime realm. Happily married and a mother of 2 littles, she enjoys reading, painting, drinking all of the coffee, and playing FFXIV in her spare time. Being a part of a community that connects faith with all things otaku has been an amazing experience!
KhakiBlueSocks – Social Media Team, Writer
Also known as the Cajun Samurai, KhakiBlueSocks is a Christian, a southern gentlemen, an “angry black man,” a commentator, and a blogger on life and anime, A virgin until married and avid New Orleans Saints fan, he’s written quite a few things, and looks forward to writing a few more!
Laura A. Grace – Writer
Growing up, Laura A. Grace dreamed of being a Sailor Scout fighting alongside Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars. As an adult, she now dreams of being a volleyball player on the Karasuno volleyball team, a fellow pirate in the Straw Hat Crew, and matchmaker for a certain “couple” in Cells at Work. To indulge her daydreams, she often gets fanart commissioned with her favorite fictional characters and collects as many anime inspired enamel pins her husband will allow. She happily gushes about her latest manga reads (and anime memes) to her husband and three children, who may or may not like battling her with plastic lightsabers.
Lenlenkai – Women’s Ministry
Introduced to Spirited Away at 12, Lindsay has enjoyed wandering around the world of anime, from following the Straw Hats to secretly dreaming of being a water bender. Since graduating college, she has been a missionary in Asia, horse trainer, soccer coach, entrepreneur, and even voice recorder for children’s English books. She is praying God will one day send her to Japan, but currently teaches English online and is pursuing a master’s degree in Christian Counseling. Her greatest joy is in teaching others about God‘s heart for the nations. In her spare time you can find her listening to anything by Joe Hisaishi, sipping Jasmine tea, reading, or working out.
Mecahawk – Social Media Team
A Christian and anime fan since his youth, Tyler has sought religious enlightenment through scripture and cultural enlightenment through anime. Much of his time is also spent gaming with a wide variety of tastes centered around strategy. He is happily married to his wife, and he uses his knowledge of political science and Humint as a moderator of the Beneath the Tangles Discord server.
MDMRN – Columnist, Social Media Team
Matt is a Level 12 Dad of 4. He’s also an environmancer, One Piece/Animal Crossing fanatic, 2006 TIME Person of the Year, and all around geeky guy. MDMRN has a regular column and is part of the Twitter / Discord team. When he’s not chasing his kids or working, he’s probably wandering his island in Animal Crossing or asleep.
NegativePrimes – Writer
Dr. Steve, aka NegativePrimes, was introduced to anime while working on his Ph.D. in literary studies, when the local anime club showed Naruto’s fight against Zabuza and Haku on an auditorium big screen. His favorite anime series include FMA: Brotherhood, Erased, Snow White with Red Hair, and Gate, and he also enjoys computer programming, gaming, and technology. Where he finds the time for these, after prayer, work, and raising several children, remains something of a mystery.
Nyan – Video Team
From getting up early on weekends to catch the latest episode of Pokémon or Sonic X, to sneaking onto the family PC late at night for some Naruto or Zatch Bell! action, to studying Evangelion instead of for AP Psychology, Ryan has been watching anime since before “anime” even entered his lexicon. Perhaps it is what led him to eventually pursue a career in the film industry. When he isn’t busting his tail on a movie, you’ll find him catching up on anime/manga, grinding away at his ever-growing backlog of JRPGs, serving at church, experimenting in the kitchen, messing around on the piano/drums, playing with any new tech he can get his hands on, exercising, and sleeping (on the rare occasion).
R86 – Sensei
R86 is a chemistry professor, which is the sort of job that probably made you stop reading already. He teaches organic chemistry at Texas A&M University. In his spare time, he enjoys music (flute/saxophone/clarinet and MIDI/Vocaloid synthesis), watching anime, and travelling to Japan as cheaply as possible.
Samuru – Writer, Social Media Team
Michael (Samuru) is a school teacher, husband, lifelong gamer, avid anime fan and follower of Christ. Video games have been his delight, as have books, writing, traveling and a slight obsession with music via Spotify. If he’s not teaching, you’ll find him conquering digital worlds on his PS4 or on Steam.
sleepminusminus – Writer
sleepminusminus lurks mysteriously in the dark corners of the anime world, occasionally peeking out to retweet something cute or clever. Online, he spends copious hours smashing keys in osu!mania and binging old slice-of-life shows. Offline, he ponders theology, mathematics, and everything in between.
Stardf29 – Light Novel Club Prez, Writer
Frank is known as “stardf29” on various parts of the Internet; it stands for “Star Defender 29”, which is something he came up with during his chuunibyou years. Now, when he’s not doing things for the Navy or indefinitely delaying his writing projects, he likes engaging in anime, especially of the slice-of-life sort.
Thathilomgirl – Social Media Team, Writer
Having just finished her undergraduate degree recently, Michelle is continuing her stay in Melbourne as she learns to navigate her way through adult life (permanently, she hopes). When she’s not holing herself up in her room with anime and manga, she’s either roaming the city for ramen and milk tea or thinking intensely about her current favorite series.
TWWK – Director
A little Speed Racer here, some Transformers there, and without even realizing it, TWWK’s childhood had dotted with anime. But it was the later discovery of Digimon, Toonami, and Princess Mononoke that entrenched him in the world of anime, while Evangelion sealed the deal. Today, you can find him hanging out with his family, serving at church, and of course, watching anime.