BILLY TRINGALI’S OFFICE at IU Indianapolis feels more like a Comic-Con booth than an academic’s hidey hole. Posters of saucer-eyed anime and manga heroes cover every vertical surface, and memorabilia line every horizontal one. “It’s like an open-air museum,” Tringali says. “There’s not an inch of wall that’s not covered.”
Tringali is IU’s instruction librarian for undergraduate health sciences, which sounds pretty buttoned up. Until he starts talking about what it entails. “I teach students to hunt things down,” he says. “I do basic AI literacy training. Essentially explaining that you don’t just trust what a chatbot says, because it’s probably lying to you.”
But that’s only part of the story. In addition to his day job, Tringali is also founder and editor of the Journal of Anime and Manga Studies, which makes him arguably one of the world’s leading voices in the scholarly study of the subject.Anime has exploded in the U.S., fueled in part by its omnipresence on streaming services such as Netflix. And manga with titles like My Hero Academia and OnePiece are wildly popular among younger readers. Well, not just younger readers. Plenty of grown-ups read them too.
Advertisement
Tringali says people are attracted to anime and manga for simple reasons: accessibility and variety. There’s decades’ worth of materials to read and watch, with subject matter ranging from horror, to adventure, to esoteric philosophic ramblings—sometimes all three in the same work. “Whatever interests you, it exists in anime, and there is a massive backlog for you to explore,” Tringali says. “Anime and manga can be powerful teaching tools for enhancing cultural understanding and improving language skills.”
In addition to reading and watching pretty much everything in the anime/manga world, he’s also analyzed this corner of the pop culture universe in great detail. His journal is the only open access academic periodical that exclusively publishes works discussing the worlds of anime, manga, cosplay, and their fans. What began as a graduate school project now attracts scholars and aficionados from around the world. Every year, Tringali helps run a standing-room-only academic conference at Anime Expo in Los Angeles. “We pack the house,” he says. “Fans are really, really hungry for academic analysis of popular culture.”
His influence is such that within the community he’s known as the anime apostle. He got hooked on the genre early, spending his childhood sitting on his grandmother’s “horrendously purple” living room rug watching endless episodes of Pokémon. When he realized his local library didn’t offer manga, he established a substantial collection simply by donating books from his own trove. “I watched them all being cataloged and thought, Oh, this is going to be a huge problem for me,” Tringali recalls.
Today, his enthusiasm burns just as hot as it did during his Jigglypuff-besotted youth. He channels his devotion by helping students see not only the academic value in his favorite pop culture genre but also the importance of other subcultures. For instance, he’s developing a student sewing circle for cosplay fans who dress up as characters to learn how to sew their own costumes. For the anime apostle, it’s all about spreading the word.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Citizens Energy Group announced the start of construction on the White River North Water Treatment Plant in Indianapolis, with multiple public information sessions planned.
The Citizens-Lebanon Water Supply Program (CLWSP) is a multi-year initiative designed to enhance water delivery to Lebanon Utilities and improve service across Marion County.
CEG says it will also ensure a reliable water supply even during extreme weather conditions.
According to a release by CEG, The Citizens-Lebanon Water Supply Program will allow for the delivery of up to 25 million gallons of water per day to Lebanon Utilities, strengthening the water system that serves Marion County and eight other communities in Central Indiana.
Advertisement
CEG says construction will not cause interruptions to water service for existing customers and will also involve standard construction activities such as concrete pours and truck traffic during the day.
New public information sessions for the CLWSP will take place at the Indianapolis Public Library’s Pike Branch on Jan. 20, Feb. 3, Feb. 17, March 3 and April 7 to keep citizens informed about the construction.
Some local residents are protesting the build. Just last week, more than two dozen concerned citizens brought attention to the utility’s plan to send water from Eagle Creek Reservoir to the developing LEAP District in Lebanon.
CEFG says the estimated cost for this overall project is $560 million and will be financed without passing costs onto customers, as it is supported by the Indiana Finance Authority funding.
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts are heading home. The team announced Friday that starting in 2027, Training Camp will move from Westfield’s Grand Park to the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center in Indianapolis.
The team has been at Grand Park in Westfield since 2018. By making the switch, the Colts join more than 25 other NFL teams that now prefer to hold camp at their own year-round practice facilities. The team says the move is driven by “growing logistical and technological demands” that are better met at their home base.
“This was a tough decision, because we’ve had a wonderful experience at Grand Park and have valued working so closely with the city of Westfield and Hamilton County over seven summers,” the team said. “We’re grateful to Mayors Scott Willis and Andy Cook and their staffs, Hamilton County’s business, tourism, public safety, and community leaders, and of course the people of Westfield and the hundreds of volunteers who shared their time and energy to make sure camp was safe, smooth, and enjoyable for all.”
Fans of the Grand Park experience don’t have to say goodbye just yet. The Colts confirmed they will return to Westfield for the 2026 training camp before making the permanent move to Indianapolis the following year.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Two people were injured, one critically, in a shooting on the east side of Indianapolis, police said Friday morning.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers responded around 1:20 a.m. to a home on North Colorado Avenue at 33rd Street. That’s a few doors down from where a man was accidentally shot during a card game on Thursday.
IMPD says both victims were “awake and breathing” when taken to a hospital.
Police have not said what led to the shooting and no arrests have been made.
