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Meet the Memphian who’s preserving handmade anime history

By , Daily Memphian Updated: March 29, 2026 4:00 AM CT | Published: March 29, 2026 4:00 AM CT

There are two sides to Jonathan Walker.

By day, he’s a polished, clean-cut regulatory and technical affairs manager for Riviana Foods, which runs a nutrition label certification program.

It’s rigid work. As he put it: “You’ve got to do it by the books, or the FDA comes knocking at your door.”

By night, however, Walker takes on a more colorful, creative role. He is an anime enthusiast and collector who has acquired about 6,000 original production sketches, storyboards and cels from the anime series “Nazca,” which ran for 12 episodes in 1998 and is about the reincarnated souls of ancient Inca warriors in modern-day Japan.

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Memphis hobby collections cartoons art anime Subscriber Only

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John Klyce

John Klyce

John Klyce is an enterprise reporter with The Daily Memphian who writes a wide range of in-depth features, as well as profiles about local leaders, scientists, musicians, artists, entrepreneurs, and anyone else doing exciting and important work in this city. He previously spent four years with the Memphis Business Journal, where he covered public companies, startups, and innovation, and a fifth year with The Commercial Appeal, where he covered education, and chronicled how gun violence and poverty were affecting Memphis youth and their families. He has also been a fellow with the Institute for Citizens and Scholars. John has a B.A. in journalism from the University of Memphis and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Boston University.


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