Okazu is not a globally influential news site, so we’re not in the habit of reporting deaths. We’ve lost a few friends over the years, however. Today we’re joining thousands of others as we say goodbye to ANN Editor-in-Chief, Zac Bertschy.
I knew Zac from back in the day, but over the last decade or so, we’d grown a little closer. He was kind enough to have me on ANNCast from time to time. I always had so much fun talking with him about whatever. I’ll regret the rest of my life that I never actually got to meet Zac in person. It always seemed like we’d have time. He wasn’t able to make it NYCC last year and we just soft-promised to catch up this year.
What I will remember about him, is the way his voice cracked just a little as he and I talked about Revolutionary Girl Utena and how much it meant to us on ANNCast. He was opening himself to me and to all of our listeners and it was a lovely, vulnerable moment. Thanks, Zac, for letting me come on the show and talking about the things we love together.
Here are links to the shows I did with Zac. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Revolutionary Girl Erica – ANNCast
Zac was a massive influence on thousands of folks every day in the anime community. He has left us a legacy and I hope all of us can continue his work, spreading love of visual media and pop culture.I know. I’ll continue to do my best.
RIP, Zac.
My condolences. I didn’t know Zac, but I lost my father a few years ago, so I understand how hard it can be for his close people.
Thank you. Yesterday was rather hard on the people around me. Three people close to people I knew died on Thursday. The ripples of pain spread so widely.
I had known a little about Zac and his creative efforts for a long time through following Jacob Chapman, but with the tributes and the “in memoriam” on ANN it is now apparent what a huge role he played in western anime fandom and particularly in ANN’s existence. I remember reading the original Answerman but the mists of time had completely blanked me that he wrote it. I guess I have been reading things he wrote, edited, or influenced for decades now… damn. For all I know I met him at some rando con back then. More than that he sounds like just a genuinely earnest, fun, and caring dude. Why do the good ones go early, but the evil gremlins seem to cling on poisoning the world for years on end?
The tweets and news articles have been vague about what happened, which makes me scared that it was suicide knowing his openly-acknowledged mental health issues. But with the news today that one of the Japanese female pro-wrestling stars just committed suicide… please people, take care of yourselves, reach out to someone, anyone, get help if you’re in a bad place. It is of course not my place to require an answer to this, but naturally people are stunned when someone so young and talented dies suddenly and feel like they need to understand why. I “hope” it was something else, but ultimately he left this world too soon regardless.
Again, reading the tributes just brought so many deja-vu resonances to me, all the times the motley band of misfits I glommed onto during my darkest years saved me, all the hours spent dissecting the finer points of every obscure anime or game we could find, all the growing up and growing together weird, the idea that people who didn’t fit elsewhere could fit together. That’s the big thing I am feeling about Zac – that he represented the best ideal of the “anime misfit” idea. Not the incel otaku creeping on women and drooling over macho bullshit, but someone who tried to bring everyone together and advocated for everyone’s place under the umbrella, and for the idea that art and media could bridge rather than divide us. We need more Zacs. RIP.
He’s a person whose loss will be felt far and wide. ANN is doing a memorial service for people who are interested.
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/site-news/2020-05-23/zac-bertschy-memorial-service-call-for-speakers/.159852