Behind the Scenes: AnimeNation Calls It Quits

Article Title: The End of an Era: AnimeNation Calls It Quits 

Author: Samantha Ferreira

Publication Date: 9/13/2014

Before I begin, I'd like to take a few moments to set the scene, as this piece was written in 2014. For Anime Herald, this was a period in which we weren't quite married to the "daily newsroom" format. Instead, we were focusing more on long-form content. Rather than write up the dailies, we'd publish a single medium-form article a day, usually revolving around the previous day's happenings. 

In the greater subculture, it was a brilliant time for anime fans both in Japan and abroad. Attack on Titan rocked the community with its compelling storytelling, and even broke into the mainstream with a Netflix debut. 

Sailor Moon, meanwhile, was ready to make a grand return. Viz Media made a massive splash at Anime Central with their announcement that they picked up both Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon Crystal. On a quirkier note, Nature Valley sparked a meme among AniTwitter, with their embrace of anime on social media. No. really. This was totally a thing.

Toonami, meanwhile, continued to grow, adding must-see titles like Space Dandy and Dragon Ball Z Kai to their lineup, and ratings continued to climb. Really, it seemed like everything was going great across the industry.

As you'd expect, it really came as a surprise when AnimeNation posted a news on their site that they'd be closing their doors. 

At the time, the reaction was... interesting. John Oppliger's "Ask John" column had come under fire for some blatantly misogynistic comments and, well... let's call it "general accuracy reasons." Meanwhile, the AnimeNation storefront was showing its age against Right Stuf's recent website overhaul, and the growing influence of Amazon, eBay, et al.

Still, I don't think anybody was expecting to see the AnimeNation home page replaced by a "we're closing" notice on September 12, 2014. The reaction was split across the board. Old-timers shared a moment to collectively mourn, while the younger set shrugged their collective shoulders. Looking back today, AnimeNation's demise was just the market at work. The company couldn't keep prices as low as Amazon or Right Stuf, and their infrastructure was ancient - it wasn't uncommon for an item labeled as "in stock" to have its order go unfulfilled for weeks.

 But at the time, though, it felt like an old (and sometimes embarrassing) family member had passed away.  

The old AnimeNation retailer page... note the super classy Hentai ad on the front page. Also note that this was from July 2014.

AnimeNation was an institution in the '90s up to the bubble years. They were one of the first online anime retailers, and an active brick and mortar presence in the Tampa region. They were a force to be reckoned with in the early bubble years, often jockeying for top spot with Right Stuf as the market heated up. In 2002, they were even a publisher, themselves, with their short-lived AN Entertainment licensing company.

Seeing the retailer close its doors marked the very real end of an era. In the course of a day, with a simple notice posting, the anime world's early days had ended. And, well... I have to admit that I was feeling pretty sentimental at the time, myself. AnimeNation was a big part of my early fandom, offering access to thousands of titles beyond Suncoast and Record Town. 

 Sure, the news blog went on for a while, and RentAnime trundled on until streaming made it obsolete, but that initial impact just hurt at the time. To see a giant reduced to rubble in mere moments.

With that in mind, I couldn't just let them fade quietly into the night. Instead, our daily article for September 13 was devoted to a more personal piece. There wasn't a major research process attached to this one, nor was there meant to be. Instead, this specific article was meant to highlight the sheer impact tht AnimeNation had on the anime world. As an old-timer, I wanted to really stress just how important AnimeNation was to the greater fanbase, from their days serving the community in the VHS days, to their AN Entertainment years, to, well... everything else. It was a tale of the broad strokes, and, well... it was a way to hopefully bring some closure to the fans out there who loved the quirky little retailer.

It was an epitah, an obituary for the world, and a way to finally close the doors on this place that introduced so many to a broader world of anime.