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Melissa Sternenberg

Email: mippachan@gmail.com
THEM Message Board Name: Mippa

Hometown: San Antonio, Texas, USA
Education: Trinity University '05, Political Science

A graduate of Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, Melissa (nee Johnson, Mippa for short) currently lives and works in the Austin area, having previously lived in Tokyo.

She originally got into anime as a Sonic the Hedgehog Saturday morning fan who went into withdrawal after that show's cancellation.

Her experience with anime had actually occurred long before that with Tezuka Osamu's Unico, but her anime awareness wasn't realized until 8th grade, when she discovered Sailor Moon via Hitoshi Doi's Sailormoon Encyclopedia. This followed with unhealthy obessions with anime titles Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki, Ranma 1/2, Please Save My Earth, Blue Seed, Ah! My Goddess!, Fushigi Yuugi, Marmalade Boy, and Bubblegum Crisis. After a four-year hiatus through high school, Mippa returned to the anime fandom thanks to the incredible Princess Tutu series and THEM's very own Carlos and Christina.

She actually specializes in the research of the magical girl genre (she wrote her senior thesis on them!), and she has done extensive research into the history of Japanese animation and its rise on the West Coast. Recently her accomplishments include being published in Frames Per Second animation magazine and lecturing at the Society for Animation Studies annual convention on magical girls. She tends to review anime with a hybrid of a scholarly and consumer approach, although she tries to inject some of her understanding of Japanese society into the reviews as well. She writes reviews with these fans in mind: those that don't want to waste their time on B-quality anime, but still want to get the full anime experience. She is therefore rather picky.

Manga she wishes would become televised anime include, but are not limited to: Rainbow Parakeet, MeruPuri, Hot Gimmick, Appare! Jipangu, and Please Save My Earth (as opposed to an OAV).

Mippa also has a large interest in non-Japanese animation, especially titles targeted at girls. Favorite non-anime titles include Totally Spies!, Kim Possible, Winx Club (U.K. Version), Jem and the Holograms, The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest, Gargoyles, Animaniacs, Freakazoid and My Little Pony Tales.

As part of her insanely busy social schedule, she also currently runs the Shoujo Club of Austin, of which Carlos and his wife Kimi are members.

UPDATE:
While Mippa remains a more-or-less active member of the THEM Anime family, she has also branched into the anime industry as a voice actress, mostly in indie and otome games to date. She landed her first anime voice in 2016 as Tiffany Abbott in Rio: Rainbow Gate, and we look forward to following her voice career and cheering her on.

Her ANN voice profile is here.

Status: [ACTIVE]

Favorite Anime: Black Jack, Sugar Sugar Rune, Detective Conan, Hana Yori Dango, Marmalade Boy, Maison Ikkoku, Fruits Basket, Puchi Puri Yucie, Princess Tutu, Digimon Adventure, Super GALS! Kotobuki Ran, Spirited Away, Fushigi Yuugi TV, Daa! Daa! Daa!
Least Favorite Anime: Love Hina, Those Who Hunt Elves, Outlaw Star, Gravitation, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Gundam Wing, Macross II: Lovers Again, Bubblegum Crash, Slayers NEXT
Favorite Genres: Shoujo, romantic comedy, magical girl, historical and period anime, martial arts.
Least Favorite Genres: Overly complicated sci-fi, mecha, most video-game based anime, dating sim anime, overly-cute 'moe' anime.

Review Credits:
 
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