Dear History Log,
Date: December 2004
The year is now 2004, two years after I have written the first part of the history. Dark Wind begged me to update it so now I am doing just that. I actually never thought of updating the history page, because I thought that I have mentioned everything already. I could not be anymore wrong. During these past two years Animesou.com has undergone a tremendous growth. Our features have gone from a few to a lot. The most important part to these features is that they are not pointless. They mean something and are not a waste of your time to read them. That is the philosophy we use around here. We know you do not have much time, so we do not want you to read a four page review on how something sucks. Heck if I was allowed to wrap up some reviews with one word, I will. But that is not the case here. We write what is enough to get our point across.
The anime industry and world has changed a lot in two years. In 2003 we were still digging for anime on the DVD shelves. Now, in 2004, you can almost find a new release daily. Rapid licensing has slowed down the fansubbers, but has yet to terminate it. Okay let us get back on track.
Animesou has expanded and will continue to expand. My only regret about the site is that our message board community consists of only a few active members. I would like for a well discussed forum, but as long as I (meaning the whole Sou staff) do my job, I can live with the small forum. Most of the times, large forums are large because of the experience they give to fans. I can easily make an active community by resorting to fansubbing and/or bootlegging, but that goes against my ethical values. I want to succeed by being ethical. Hopefully everyone will understand how this page functions and hopefully you guys will start being a part of the Animesou.com community. :)
Staff, heh. The Animesou staff started fairly large, but has been narrowed down to the best of the best. There were staffs who rode the Sou train for two to three weeks and hopped off. There were staff members who rode it for a year. I miss none of them. If I cannot remember them, they do not mean or contributed much to the site anyways. Therefore, they do not deserve any appreciation from me or the rest of the Animesou staff. My most awkward experience with staff members is how they will turn against you all of a sudden. I mean, as I discuss on the message board, they post things like they are 100% correct. I am by no means ‘perfect’ and so are they, but them hating me for minding my business and doing my job as the webmaster is quite astonishing and strange. Oh wells, I guess my open personality has gotten them to think that they can just diss anyone and get away from it. Well, one little fact, ‘You cannot outsmart a smart ass.’ And I can be a smartass when I want to :P.
Well let us change the topic; talking about other people is not my thing. Animesou.com is still and will always be nonprofit. We no longer have the advertising program (although I did not delete the page yet) and the affiliates do not provide enough to pay the site. I pay for my own site, I do not need to beg or rely on some affiliation program money. Another reason advertising is not a good thing is that it limits to what you can say. Let us say I got sponsored by Company A, and Company A deserves to be blasted for something bad they did. If I depended on their money and blasted them, most likely they will terminate their sponsorship. Hence, not committing to advertising is a very beneficial thing to do, not to mention having advertising also means pissing off a lot of people for the added load times and annoying ads.
As I conclude this history piece, I would like to give a notable mention to the support Urban Vision, Central Park Media and AnimEigo has given Animesou.com for the past two years and counting. I would also like to give ADV Films a mention for recently supporting Animesou. I must thank all of the marketing managers I have been dealing with for being so kind and helpful. I look forward to continue working with them, and creating new opportunities with other companies as well. I will update this section every one to two years, depending on the activities of the year. I hope you will be riding on the Sou train for a long time, because big things will be happening here. ^_^ Ja ne.
-Alpha- 2004
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Dear History Log,
Date: December 2002
In the beginning, Animesou was named Anime Otaku, which was waaay back in the year 2000. An ex-staff member named Ray and I wanted to start an Anime club at our school. Which came up to be Anime Otaku. It was unsuccessful because of Ray constantly leaving all the updates to me. It was more like my page than our’s. The whole work load was left for me and only me (Alpha). After a half a year, I gave up on my beloved site…Anime Otaku.
Just about the time I thought there was not anymore good anime out. My friend got me interested in Love Hina. That was when I felt I saw the light (hehe).
While I was getting information about Love Hina, I met a good Internet friend named Snrub (Daniel Tebow, we started to get to know each other better and I asked if he wanted to make an anime site. He said, “What kind? One all about Love Hina? Or just Anime in general?” I told him, “Anime in general.” We both agreed. And he told me to come up with a name for the site.
It took me a while, but I wanted a name that would just roll off the tongue. I thought and thought, and the little light bulb flashed above my head (A really bright one, lol). Since Love Hina was still on my mind. I combined Anime with the Japanese word SOU, meaning Inn. Just like Hinata-sou in Love Hina.
After a week, I totally lost contact with Snrub and still I can’t contact him till this day. (Hope he’s OK). Then, yet again, Animesou was left there at Topcities to rot.
Now it was the year 2001. It was looking good for anime. I got to watch a few new titles and broadened my horizons. I felt I was ready to test my luck and start Animesou again. So I went and got some web space at Tripod. In my mind, I was like “Oh well, I’ll do this page myself if I have to, but I must accomplish something and not leave it collecting dust.” I was doing okay for about 3 weeks then again I tried my luck on the anime message boards at IGN.com. It was kind of a staff hire topic.
I got responses from NiGHTS, Hornet and then Stikz. (”ummm…you mean that superstar that I see on TV all the time Stikz? That awesome guy who does everything from Web design to editing Stikz? Wow that guy is great! Everyone on Animesou is my idol!!! Woooo Whooo!!!”) (Ed. - calms screaming fanatic down and gives him a signed Animesou DVD. Man some people can’t get enough. - Stikz)
As of 2002 I’ve gotten ourselves a domain name and a real web host (Aplus.Net). What a way to start off the new year!!! We couldn’t be here with out you. Thanks so much.
About what we do and how you can help us:
We are striving for your support and we are your average Anime fans, doing everything we can to get you news, reviews, and just about anything about Anime. Hopefully people will enjoy our site and visit often so they can see the time and hard work we put into Animesou every week. At times I might feel we’re not making a clear statement for you Anime fanatics out there, but I’ve gone through a lot for Animesou. And we will not leave it to rot ever again. Animesou is part of my life, my heart and soul, it’s my thoughts straight to yours. I’m sure my staff has the same feelings as me. (Ed. - We do! We’ve only just begun!- Animesou)
No matter what, we are here for you and we will do anything for you (Anime related of course.) We do have a request column in our message boards if you want us to hear your thoughts).
Please support us by:
(1) Registering in our Message Boards.
(2) Tell your friends, and save us in your favorites or bookmark us.
(3) Link to us if you have an Anime page, we will do the favor back.
(4) Email us or write to us in the message boards if you want answers to your questions about Anime.
Finally, I would like to thank you for your time and until next time. Have a nice day filled with Anime!!!!
From: ~Alpha~ (Ed- and the staff) - 2002
