Anime Fans Online

You may have had some trouble accessing AnimeFansOnline the last few days. I certainly have. That’s why I missed making a post Thursday. I’m very sorry about that.

I’m not alone though, a lot of 451 press blogs have had trouble the last few days. According to official 451 resources the reason for all the trouble is the following.

We have had it confirmed that a major ATT Fiber Line was cut yesterday, causing routing issues for all of the Southeast. Since our servers are in Atlanta - we are part of the group experiencing problems. We have been assured that it is currently being resolved but even once it is officially resolved, we will still see some issues as the backlog of traffic starts coming through.

On to the good news. Things seem to be working now, or at least working better. So I’ll get to back to work.

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I’ve been doing this blog for a couple of months now. In an anime that would mean it’s time for a clip show. So that’s what I’m going to do. Stick around, you might find a cool post you missed.

• Otaku Lessons.

When I started writing this blog I wasn’t sure what I’d do. I figured I’d write reviews, give my opinions and that’d be it. Then I had the idea for the Otaku Lessons category. I’m glad I did. Those have been fun to write. I get to help new anime fans and I get to take a look at what it means to be Otaku. Here are a couple of my favorites from that category.

1. What is Cosplay?

I really liked writing this one. Not only did I get a chance to introduce cosplay to people who might not have heard of it, I found some good photos thanks to Flickr’s Creative Commons search.

2. What is kaiju?

This one was fun. I got a chance to talk about one of fandoms that overlaps with anime and manga. Who doesn’t love giant monster movies?

• Reviews.

Can’t have an anime blog without reviews right? Nope, didn’t think so. This is a great category for me, because it makes me look for more anime. Here are a couple I might have missed without this category.

1. Anime Review: Claymore.

A good old fashioned demon slaying show. Plenty of blood and action.

2. You must be my Lucky Star

I’m not the only one that fell in love with this one. It’s hugely popular in Japan. It’s even broken records.

• YouTube videos.

This one is fun for obvious reasons. We all get to see some cool videos. It’s usually combined with another category, like Reviews or News. Not many people can pull off a pure YouTube blog post.

1. Made to hit in America.

I had to include this video in the review. I love this song. I’m gonna have to look for the soundtrack to Beck.

2. Hikaru Utada to sing theme for new Rebuild of Evangelion.

This news item let me post 3 different versions of the best song ever in a game. Simple and Clean.

• Opinion.

Opinions are what blogs are all about. So I had to include something from this catagory.

1. Anime Poll: What is your favorite type of anime?

It’s not just my opinions in this catagory, yours are included to. Pick your favorite type of anime and I might write up more posts about it. Don’t see your favorite? Post a comment. Think of it as a write in vote.

Thank you for reading Anime Fans Online.

Check out some of the older posts, there are some good ones there. Leave a comment if there was a post you liked that wasn’t included here. I’d also be very happy to hear any thoughts on how I’ve done so far.

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The first contest prize has been sent. Since the first winner didn’t respond to validate their e-mail address I had to select someone else. The second drawing worked much better. I received a response and have just now, as I’m writing this, sent off the $50 prize from J-Box.

That lucky person is Keith. The winning comment is here.

I have to say, I’ve learned quite a bit about contests. In the future I will set a definite deadline for responding. It will be posted with the rules when the contest is announced. Other than that, I think the contest went pretty well.

Make sure to keep reading Anime Fans Online for a chance to win in our next contest.

We have a winner. Lissete was randomly selected to receive a $50 gift certificate to J-Box. Now Lissete’s daughter can shop for lucky cats on J-Box. Fifty bucks should buy a few. I’ve sent an e-mail to confirm the e-mail address. As soon as I get a response I’ll e-mail the gift certificate.

Congratulations Lissete.


If I don’t receive a response before the next post, I will select a different entry.

Update: I’ve received no response at the e-mail address given. I will be drawing a different name.

I hope this will be the first of many contests run by Anime Fans Online. If you have any ideas for future contests please let me know. I appreciate any input I can get.

Here is the list of entries for the $50 J-Box gift certificate. I’ll be using a random number generator to select the winner. Check back tomorrow to find out who won.

Thanks to everyone that entered.

• amber
• Jo
• Whapoo
• kailani
• Lissete
• Edman Chavez (loud music on site, check your volume before clicking >.< )
• rose
• Linsey Knerl (Parked site, just ads right now)
• Linda
• Keith
• Genjuu Mugon
• rechelle

I’m running a contest. To win all you have to do is leave comments on the blog. The prize is a $50 gift certificate to J-Box.

J-Box has a huge assortment of items from Japan including bento boxes, school uniforms, traditional items and things that are just plain strange. I’d suggest spending a little of your winnings on the snacks. Miyazaki fans might want to check out Sakuma Drops Candy seen in Grave of the Fireflies or Kompeito ~ Five Colors seen in Spirited Away.

Here are the details.

• Contest will run from June 18th to June 30th.
• All comments posted during that time, with a valid e-mail address are eligible. Please try to make the comments relevant to the post.
• Drawing will be random.
• Winner will be announced July 2nd.
• I will try to verify the winner’s e-mail address before sending the gift certificate. If they do not respond I will draw another name.
• If you leave a comment, please check your mail on July 1st. If you’ve won, please try to respond as soon as possible so I can send you your prize.

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If you’ve been reading the blog you may have noticed a new category, Otaku Lessons. Since I wrote the article about fansubs I’ve been thinking. Some people may lose interest in anime if things get too confusing. I hope to help people get past the initial learning period as painlessly as possible.

I’ve decided to write some articles that may help people just getting into anime and manga. It’s meant to help people learn the things we all pick up after a while. That’s why I created the category. I also wrote the hentai/ecchi article with that in mind. I hope to write many more articles like those. The only problem is figuring out what a new fan needs to know.

I’ll need your help. If you can think of something that would help someone new to this wonderful world, please suggest it. Can you remember when you learned something about anime that made it all make sense? What was it? Did you see an anime that really hooked you, something that made you want to see more anime? Which one?

Are you new to anime or manga? Is there something you don’t quite understand? Just curious about something? Please tell me what you’d like to know. Someone else may need the same info. This way you can learn and we can both help others.

If you can think of anything that can help new fans, please leave a comment or use the contact form to e-mail me.

If there are more fans of anime, then more anime will be made. I think we all want that.

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