Photograph courtesy Kendall Ross
Kendall and Jaleesa Ross have lived and breathed manga and anime from the time they were kids. Jaleesa still remembers rushing to the television every summer night when she was nine years old to turn on Dragon Ball Z. There was something captivating in the storytelling—something deeper than she experienced in American cartoons.
“It’s art to [Asian cultures],” Kendall says. “They don’t view it as, ‘This is just something to entertain kids.’”
The Rosses are putting their love for anime and manga into action in August when they open CinSei, an anime and manga pop-up shop on Pleasant Street in Over-the-Rhine. Visitors can sip on freshly made matcha and nibble on pastries while perusing shelves of manga and crates of vinyl records to a hip hop music soundtrack and images from anime shows and movies projected onto the walls. The opening weekend celebration—August 2 & 3—will feature food trucks, a cosplay contest, and live performances by local rap artists Casey Jones, Swooty Mac, and Turich Benjy. Sooner than that, though, Kendall and Jaleesa will rent out Kenwood Theatre on July 17 and invite the community to join them at 7 p.m. for the premiere of Jujutsu Kaisen: Hidden Inventory / Premature Death.
The couple’s goal is to bring out an underground anime-loving community in Cincinnati, which they believe is larger than most people think. The success of CinSei’s first social media post confirmed this for them. Roughly 48 hours after Kendall posted a promotional video on the café’s new Facebook and Instagram accounts, it received more than 10,000 views, more than 600 likes, and 240 shares. “The love has been real,” he says.
The name of the shop captures the heart behind the business—a cross between “Cincinnati” and the Japanese word, “sensei,” meaning “leader.” Kendall and Jaleesa say they aspire to be leaders and advocates for their peers by establishing a safe space where people can feel comfortable being themselves. “We wish we had this when we were kids,” Jaleesa says.
The husband-and-wife duo are both Northern Kentucky University graduates, so Cincinnati holds a special place in their hearts. As the parents of two, they are passionate about increasing the family-focused day life of a city known for its night life. They created CinSei as a third place for people—a destination outside of their homes and workplaces where they could come for relaxation and community.
While the two are building a community for manga and anime fans, they also hope to promote Black literacy through storytelling. “The emotion [in manga] is so real that you can feel it,” Kendall says, of stories that touch on deeply relatable themes including courage, loss, self-esteem, perseverance, and what it means to be human.
They believe their individual talents and interests will also help CinSei succeed. Kendall is a seasoned graphic designer and currently freelances, helping companies develop websites and branding. Jaleesa is an intensive care nurse, who can always be found with a book in hand on slow nights. She says reading is her primary pastime and calls herself “the CinSei librarian.”
The couple wants the shop to be a place where people can go to learn about anime and manga as well. “We’ll teach you,” Jaleesa says. There will be pamphlets available explaining how to read or watch it, and Kendall and Jaleesa will be around to work with customers and even special-order books based on customers’ interests.
“If we break even and we don’t make a dollar but everybody had a good time, we would be happy,” Kendall says. “We would do this for free if we could.”
The pop-up closes for the season at the end of October, but Kendall and Jaleesa hope that it will continue to grow in the seasons ahead—maybe enough to open a permanent location and move into a larger space. “There is no stereotype; it’s for everybody,” Jaleesa says. “If you’re interested, you can come in.”
1542 Pleasant St., Over-the-Rhine, (513) 331-2875
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