Lawrence Eng Information

Otaku Studies Scholar / Founder / Webmaster
Anime and Manga Research Circle
San Diego, CA, USA

Biography:
Lawrence holds a PhD from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he studied and wrote about otaku culture in the US. A die hard anime fan since he first saw Space Battleship Yamato on TV over 30 years ago, he turned his love of the medium into a multi-year academic project studying anime and manga fandom in America. Currently working in the IT industry, Lawrence continues to pursue his otaku studies in his spare time.

Lawrence has presented his work on otaku culture in fan, professional, and academic settings, such as the Japan Society in New York City, and has been cited and quoted in numerous publications. Some of his own writings have been published in Contemporary Youth Culture: An International Encyclopedia, the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Success Stories: Japan, Ga-Netchu! Das Manga Anime Syndrom, and (most recently) Fandom Unbound: Otaku Culture in a Connected World.

Since 1998, Lawrence has maintained a personal website containing many of his essays and articles. One of his most well-known sites is 'thought experiments lain', a 'serial experiments lain' information site. He also founded the Anime and Manga Research Circle in 2002, an informal organization of scholars from around the world who study anime, manga, and their associated fandoms.