| Two devices made modern anime fandom possible in the U.S. One device was the home videocassette recorder, which let fans view anime series otherwise unavailable outside Japan. The other device - more a system - was the modem-equipped personal computer and the networks that linked those computers. It started with online services such as Compuserve and The Source, expanded to personal bulletin board systems, and evolved into the Internet. Engineer Enrique Conty, long a figure on the rec.arts.anime Usenet hierarchy, said Anime Central is an example of how the Net drives fandom. "The entire concept started on rec.arts.anime because one of the people in chicago, after he went to Anime Expo, said `Why don't we have one of these in Chicago?'" |  |
| The rise of Usenet newsgroups was followed by the growth of the World Wide-Web, which has come from an engineers' curiosity to a mainstream phenomenon in five years. Jai Harvey has created one of the top fan web sites in the Anime Web Turnpike, a clearinghouse for anime web sites that has its own domain and mirror sites on two continents. |  |
| Another top site is the EX online magazine, a ten-times-yearly inside look at the anime and manga industry and fandom. Site designer Tom Larson is proud of balancing the page's deep content with short load times, accomplished by using relatively small graphics. Panel members criticized graphics-heavy sites that take too long to load (could they have been thinking about some of the 20-picture pages on this site?). |  |
| Jeanne Hedge crosses the boundaries of three forms of anime fandom. She serves as a sysop on the Compuserve Anime Forum, one of the last bastions of character-based online fandom that survives unchanged from its early-80's roots. She also has her own web site and writes fan fiction, another issue discussed at Anime Central. Online distribution of fan fiction, such as Hedge's stories based in the Bubble Gum Crisis universe, has given new life to this specialized form of fan appreciation. |  |
| "I think fan fiction writing allows an author to express an idea," said Richard Lawson, known for his Ranma 1/2 stories. "We have a greater pool of talent. I think the purpose of writing fan fiction hasn't changed, but its exposure has." Why create stories based on anime characters when so many are available from the artists who originated those characters? Some fanfic authors do it because they think they can do a better job, others for titillation - especially with the "lemon" stories - but all agreed that fanfic writing for them is fun. |  |
| "We have fanfics that get better as fans try to outdo each other," said Ryan Matthews, one of the first people to post fanfic on rec.arts.anime. "Each generation of fanfic is inspired by the previous generation." Now, most Usenet fanfic ends up in a moderated@ newsgroup. Matthews advises budding authors whose submisions aren't posted to try again - in case the news feed burped - or to check with fanfic FAQ to make sure they didn't miss a step in the submission process. |  |
Anime Central Day One |
Anime Central Day Two |
 |