Today is a very special day at Anime Herald. Exactly five years ago today, we opened our doors to the world. No matter how many times I say that, I’m still in disbelief.

Looking back, we came into a very different world than we live in today.

It was a time of change, as the United States was pulling out of its greatest financial disaster since the Great Depression. Unemployment was high, and hopes were in the gutter. The dreams of the country seemed to fade away, giving way to weariness and desperation that was exacerbated by the military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

When we launched, the anime industry was also in a different place. Manga sales were declining, as the industry struggled to find a foothold. Long-standing companies, from Bandai to TOKYOPOP, were shuttering their doors. Digital distribution was barely taking root in the industry, and physical media sales were dropping sharply.

How things have changed, since then!

In the years that followed, we saw fans come together in ways unseen previously. We saw the industry not only accept, but openly embrace digital streaming to truly evolve how we consume anime as a medium. And, most important, we saw how the fan and the industry could come together in ways that few could have imagined in 2010.

When we opened our doors, we had a simple mission: to inform and entertain as we brought fans together. It’s been a part of our DNA, driving our actions and our content as we grew over the years. We connected fans with promising Kickstarter campaigns in KickColle Profiles, and turned horrible anime into a party experience with Your Bad Anime Night Needs. We’ve highlighted promising creators with AniWeekly, and opened our homes to our readers through the Nerdy Talk podcast.

It’s been a lot of work, but it’s something that I feel everybody can be proud of. That includes our amazing team, our partners in the industry, and (most important) you, dear readers. You have all been nothing short of incredible throughout our five-year existence.

So, I’d like to take some time to say thank you, readers. Thank you for five years of support, for standing with us when we were finding ourselves, and encouraging us at every turn. You are all incredibly amazing, and it’s been a pleasure meeting those of you who’s stepped up to greet us.

You rock, and I hope you continue to enjoy our work going forward.

Special Thanks

I’d like to take a moment to offer some special thanks to various folks we’ve had the pleasure of working with through the years. You’ve all been nothing short of amazing, and I wish you all the very best.

Our Team Members, Past And Present

Anthony Simpson
Dorian Chadwick
Brian Auxier
Benjamin Fennell
Seth Burn
Erin Dale

The Nerdy Talk Podcast Crew

Matt Brown
Anthony Simpson
Dorian Chadwick

There are way too many to mention, but really, I thank each and every one of you! You’re all fantastic!

Fun Stuff

To date, we’ve been able to publish the following:

2,068 Articles (414 a year)
78 Reviews (15 a year)
878 Press Releases (176 a year)
23 Interviews (4 a year)
35 Podcast Episodes

A few of our most popular articles include the following:

And, because I don’t want to leave you with just walls of text, here’s an entry from Sakura-Con 2010’s AMV contest in the comedy category!

Thanks for five amazing years, everybody. Here’s to five more!

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