On January 18th in the year 2000, Anime Dream published its first article as the anime offshoot of RPGFan.com. To start our 11th year, we've opted for a quiet celebration — a series of personal messages from staff and former staff (those we could get ahold of) to you, about their experiences at the site, and whatever else they wanted to say, really. We're both lucky and appreciative to have been around this long. From the bottom of my heart, and in my capacity as Editor in Chief of Anime Dream, I want to thank those who contributed to the site in the past, those who continue to do so, and above all, our readers. It's been a wild ride, and I can't wait to see what the next ten years will bring!

A Gamer's Transformation

In early 2000, I was into everything and anything [video] RPGs. I still have plenty of games from that time period in my unconquerable backlog, and that was even before I got a Real Job (TM). I can't say exactly how I stumbled upon RPGFan at the time, but there weren't a whole lot of sites with similar coverage. A friend of mine played episodes of Dragon Ball Z at the college lounge I hung out at, but I didn't have any clue what it was. Why should I be interested in something like that, anyway? It wasn't even in English.

The same friend approached me and a few others about helping run videos for a convention that UCF's anime club was starting, called Jacon. Despite having a Jacon 2000 staff shirt, when I walked into the anime classics video room that Friday, I still had zero interest in what I would be responsible for showing. The first show was called City Hunter, under the ADV Fansubs label. It was mildly interesting! Anyone who's seen City Hunter knows that the first five episodes are a cut above the rest — not a bad way to start one's anime experience.

I caught a few more screenings at Jacon, one of which was the X/1999 movie, which isn't very good. Around that time I also viewed Ninja Scroll and my friend's subbed VHS copy of Vision of Escaflowne. If any one work is responsible for hooking me on anime in general, it's Escaflowne. Some time in 2000, I also befriended RPGFan's public face and founder of Anime Dream, Nicole. She brought me on in mid to late 2001 to take care of AD's technical needs — a job I've been doing ever since. Eventually, I took on some writing responsibilities and later, responsibility for the site itself. Eight years isn't a very long time, but then I think: Jacon officially ceased to be in 2009, but Anime Dream is still here, and I'm a part of it. It's a big deal.

Super Robots and their Exploding Dentures

When I got into anime, most everything available was from the nineties or earlier. It was actually possible to keep up with every interesting release, before the market went hog wild. I kind of miss that, but on balance, the fact that so many anime are, or have been, made available in the States is a Good Thing.

Even now, my tastes in anime are pretty simple. If a show has great music, I'll probably like it. (See: Brain Powerd, as a notable exception.) Failing that, it better have acceptable music and decent storytelling. Failing that, it better be chock-filled with B-movie quality cult awesomeness. In virtually every review I've ever written, my opinion boils down to some expression of these rules.

I write about Eastern works, but for Western audiences — and I think it's important to maintain this perspective, because for one thing, I'll never be Japanese, no matter how interested I am in their culture. Even our methods of showing that we love anime differ from our Eastern counterparts, as well as our reasons for liking the shows, the associations we make while watching, and so on.

12 Frames per Second

Why keep something like this going for ten years? Any measure of popularity or half-competent PR work puts an unbelievable strain on a site, both in terms of staff time and costs. On the later score we've been fortunate. Several times during my tenure, I've wondered why I'm still doing this. Life does intrude, at at times it has to take priority. At times, writing about anime seemed to be the least important and least meaningful use of my free time. More than once I've come close to hanging it all up, but in the end, it didn't happen.

Looking back, I think that part of the reason why is the friends and acquaintances I've made over the years. Just like any other job, the people you meet and work with help to keep it fresh and expand your horizons, and the longer you're at it, the stronger the attachment. Some of the people I talk to every day are anime fans who write about anime. With all its frustrations, this is an active community full of interesting people. I'm proud to be a part of it, and to contribute to it via Anime Dream.

At this point, I've gone on about myself long enough. Several of the other valuable contributors to the site have words to share, and I'll be posting those as they come in, until the end of the month. I'd just like to say again, thank you for reading us, and here's to another ten years!