Pricey anime followers, good night.
Earlier than we start, I believe it’s time to drop the entire “presidential voice” factor – we’re fourteen years previous at present, and actually, I don’t must brag after such a very long time. Particularly after we final printed an anniversary replace like this in 2021, to have fun our eleventh birthday. Regardless that it wasn’t that way back, the world was vastly completely different from the one we stay in now. COVID-19 was nonetheless on the forefront of many individuals’s minds, because the infectious Delta variant tore his approach throughout america and folks did their greatest to remain protected whereas clinging to no matter happiness they might discover.
There was a cautious optimism within the air within the anime world as Otakon returned in grand fashion. That 12 months’s occasion, which known as itself “The Con At The Finish of the Rainbow,” noticed a return to some semblance of normalcy as panels and cosplay had been staged in grand fashion. Likewise, composer Eric Roth and OPENWORLD transported followers to a world of whimsicality with a grand efficiency.
It is unbelievable to assume what has occurred since then and the way a lot the anime panorama has modified. In three brief years we have seen Funimation Purchase Crunchyrollwhereas Proper Stuff was acquired by that merged entity a 12 months later. In 2022, publishing big Kadokawa Anime Information Community Acquiredand this 12 months, Justin Sevakis’ MediaOCD Historic anime firm AnimEigo acquired.
Hurry up, we someway stay in a world the place Goku is on cereal containers and Luffy is within the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day ParadeAnime motion pictures have earned field workplace awardsand Netflix has discovered a phenomenon with its live-action One piece modification.
And someway, all of it nonetheless feels surprisingly acquainted. Anime Information Community continues to publish the identical caliber of protection as in earlier years, and Crunchyroll stays a dominant vacation spot for thousands and thousands of anime followers. AnimEigo, in the meantime, has shortly gained a foothold underneath Sevakis’ management.
It’s on this world that Anime Herald celebrates its fourteenth anniversary. I can’t assist however really feel emotional as I write this, as a result of after we first began, we had been only a small publication, run by one individual. Our inaugural message was two paragraphs lengthy, and our first articles struggled to discover a voice as we tried to make sense of the anime world whereas reckoning with the affect of a crash that had rocked the American trade.
Simply because the anime world has grown and developed, we’ve additionally been privileged to seek out our place on this vibrant neighborhood. We’ve grown from a scrappy, one-man operation to a full-fledged publication with ten unbelievable crew members and a joyful mission to raise the voices of anime followers all over the place. It’s a journey we stroll with numerous buddies, colleagues, and comrades, all of whom have given us the purpose of giving our greatest each single day.
On the identical time, we’re really grateful that we will pay truthful charges to each our crew and the writers we work with as we discover each nook of the anime panorama. Whether or not we’re masking the American Manga Awards, the significance of working as Measurement 100or chronicling the historical past of the primary anime publications, we’re proud to have been capable of convey you one thing that can make our readers snort, assume, or wish to study extra about this glorious medium.
In 2012, I first stated that with out you, there could be no Anime Herald. To today, I nonetheless cherish these phrases, as a result of with out your vitality, encouragement, and keenness, we might be little greater than a voice within the void. Your friendship and assist give us numerous causes to maintain going, and as we glance towards the long run, towards our fifteenth anniversary, I can’t wait to point out you what we’ve bought cooking.
Whereas I can’t predict the long run, I wish to proceed making Anime Herald a publication that you could watch, get pleasure from, and belief, so long as I can hold writing. Whether or not the trade soars to new heights or morphs into one thing fully completely different, I need us to be right here for you, as you’ve gotten been for us all these years.
I’m eternally grateful to your assist and hope you look ahead to what we now have in retailer for 2025!
Greetings,
Samantha Ferreira
Editor-in-Chief, Anime Herald
