About

Anime Herald began as a bit of a dream, founded in 2010 as editor-in-chief Samantha Ferreira was helping to turn the lights off at Anime Dream (RIP). At the time, she was working full-time while going to college for a computer science degree.

With $25 and a WordPress install, though, she was able to launch the Herald on a shared server.

Since then, we’ve grown into a very real player in the market, providing the news on the latest happening in the industry, reviews of titles new and old, and interviews with icons like Naokatsu Tsuda, Lisa Ortiz, and Shoji Kawamori.

We have a lot to offer, and plenty to enjoy. But for now, just sit back, kick your shoes off, and relax.

We’ll talk nerdy to you.

Photograph of a Sakura Shinguji figure

Samantha Ferreira

Editor-in-Chief

Samantha Ferreira is Anime Herald’s founder and editor-in-chief. A Rhode Island native, Samantha has been an anime fan since 1992, and an active member of the anime press since 2002, when she began working as a reviewer for Anime Dream. She launched Anime Herald in 2010, and continues to oversee its operations to this day. Outside of journalism, Samantha actively studies the history of the North American anime fandom and industry, with a particular focus on the 2000s anime boom and bust. She’s a huge fan of all things Sakura Wars, and maintains series fansite Combat Revue Review when she has free time available. When not in the Anime Herald Discord, Samantha can typically be found on Bluesky.

Alex Henderson

Editor

Alex Henderson is a writer and editor at Anime Herald, as well as a managing editor over on Anime Feminist. They completed a doctoral thesis on queer representation in young adult genre fiction in 2023. Their short fiction has been published in anthologies and zines, their scholarly work in journals, and their too-deep thoughts about anime, manga, fantasy novels, and queer geeky stuff on their blog The Afictionado.

Borealis Capps

Columnist

Borealis, AKA the LiteralGrill, is a disabled award-winning writer and poet living in Portland, Oregon. Her love of anime started with Sailor Moon and Outlaw Star before expanding ever outward from there. She is also an expert on timeloop media after watching Groundhog Day once day, every day, for 365 days. She’s most active on Mastodon but can also be found on Bluesky. She occasionally posts videos to YouTube and PeerTube and you can keep up with what she’s watching on AniList. For her more personal ramblings, check our her website.

Trent Cannon

Editor

Trent (he/him) has been writing about anime and video games for a decade. He loves any anime that tries something different, crossing genres, telling a familiar story in a new way, or just not taking itself too seriously.

Photograph of an orange-and-white cat, who is wearing a relaxed expression, their eyes closed as they smile

Seth Burn

Columnist

Seth Burn is a long-time anime fan who still thinks Cowboy Bebop was released “a few years ago.”

He specializes in interviews with creators in various mediums. If not traveling for a convention, he can usually be found in New York with his two semi-feral cats.

Masha Zhdanova

Editor

Masha Zhdanova is a cartoonist, comics critic, writer and editor. In addition to editing articles for The Anime Herald, she is the manga reviews editor at WWAC and contributes reviews to Publisher’s Weekly and Shelfdust. Find her work at mashazart.com or on any social media website @mashazart

Lydia Rivers

Editor-at-large

As Editor-At-Large, Lydia’s interests include working with international contributors and hearing their fandom stories—especially those that originate outside of the English language. She greatly enjoys content analysis and spotting the little tricks that creators use to send their art to the next level. In her time off, she can be found engaging with interpersonal disability advocacy, creative writing, and impulse-buying yarn.

Nicole Mejias

Editor

Hi, I’m Nicole, a proud Boricua bilingual powerhouse who’s worked in both the gaming and anime industry for 5 years and counting! I adore video games, group-watching movies and anime with friends, jamming out to music, building mechanical keyboards, collecting cute and intriguing pop art figures, and reading whenever I have the spare time. As I’m working to understand my depression in my journey to mental wellness, I also want to try and help others in their journeys whenever I’m able, so they too can understand and prosper over their inner demons.