Anime News Network

Anime News Network (ANN) is an anime industry news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, Japanese popular music and other otaku-related culture within North America, Australia and Japan. Additionally, it sometimes features similar happenings throughout the Anglosphere and elsewhere in the world. The website offers reviews and other editorial content, forums where readers can discuss current issues and events, and an encyclopedia that contains a large number of anime and manga with information on Japanese and English staff, theme songs, plot summaries, and user ratings.

Founded in July 1998 by Justin Sevakis, the website claims to be the leading English-language source for news and information about anime and manga on the Internet. The site operates the magazine Protoculture Addicts. The website has separate versions of its news content aimed towards audiences in the United States and Australia.

History
Anime News Network was founded by Justin Sevakis in July 1998. In May 2000, current editor-in-chief Christopher Macdonald joined the website editorial staff, replacing former editor-in-chief Isaac Alexander.

In July 2002, Anime News Network launched its Encyclopedia, a collaborative database of anime and manga titles also including information about the staff, cast, and companies involved in the production or localization of those titles.

In the fall of 2004, the editorial staff at ANN became formally involved with the anime magazine Protoculture Addicts; the magazine began publishing under ANN's editorial control in January 2005.

On September 7, 2004, the Sci Fi Channel online newsletter Sci Fi Weekly named the site the Web Site of the Week.

In January 2007, the site launched a separate version for Australian audiences. Later, in October of that year, Macdonald was scheduled to be a panelist for the ICV2 Conference on Anime and Manga in New York City, held there in December 2007.

In February 2008, Anime News Network ranked second in the 2007 Top 25 list of best anime web sites by the website Active Anime.

On July 4, 2008, ANN launched its video platform with a library of anime trailers as well as its own news show named ANNtv.

Features
Anime News Network publishes news stories related to anime and manga that are researched by the ANN staff. Other contributors, under staff discretion, also contribute news articles. The website maintains a listing of anime and manga titles, as well as people and companies involved in the production of those titles, which it dubs an "encyclopedia". The site hosts several regular columns, including a question-and-answer column "Hey Answerman", a review column entitled "Shelf Life", a column on old and forgotten media called "Buried Treasure" written by Sevakis, and a listing of claimed differences between edited and original versions of anime series titled "The Edit List". Staff members of ANN also publish their own blogs hosted on the site.

The site also hosts forums, and includes threads to accompany each news item for purposes of discussion. Anime News Network hosts an IRC channel on the WorldIRC network, #animenewsnetwork.

Site Blocking
Although the site is a specialized news network in the latest anime, it has recently been blocked in Saudi Arabia where it is believed to contain pornographic material.