Special Announcement from Chris Beveridge

[Chris Beveridge]

For any reader of this site, the last couple of years have been interesting to be sure. We’ve seen long time studios disappear and new companies crop up only to fail as well. All of this has come about at a very interesting time within my own life as well. During the summer of 2006, my doctor informed me that unless I made radical changes to my life, I’d likely be dead within a few years. I took this very much to heart and have since made those radical changes to my life. For those that have heard me talk about it here in the forums of AnimeOnDVD and other venues, as well as in person, those changes have all been for the better. It’s also changed my outlook on life and how to approach it and how to enjoy it.

Last month, AnimeOnDVD celebrated its tenth anniversary. We started this site in the early days of DVD to provide a voice for consumers who wanted quality presentations of bilingual anime DVD releases the way “we” wanted it to be. During those years, everyone who has been a part of this site both as reader and as staff has been an instrumental part in helping to shape the way DVDs have been released. This site has been something that I’m incredibly proud of and has been a true labor of love and joy in my life. Back in 2004, I left a very well paying job at Fidelity Investments in order to pursue this site full time in order to give it my all. In the time since, as my wife will surely attest, I spend upwards of ten hours or more a day watching shows, writing about shows, researching things and interacting with the amazing and wonderful community that has sprung up around it.

The challenges of the last year on the personal front have been well dealt with which has left me to deal with the business issues that have come up. With the anime market changing as drastically as it has, I’ve been looking for ways to take this site to something more than it is. AnimeOnDVD is very much a community effort and I have a fantastic staff of volunteers who plug away at all manner of reviews and work within the forums. But at the end of the day, it comes down to what I can do with it. And I want to do a lot more with it which is why I decided to sell the site to the folks at Mania.com who I’ve known for several years now. Working with them, I and the entire staff will be taking this site into their larger platform where we’ll be heading up their anime and manga platform.

I’m incredibly excited about this and what it will bring to the table as we ramp things up and move forward in the coming weeks and months. While there will be changes to be sure, such as our move to the Vbulletin software last week, the main important point that I want to stress is that it’ll be business as usual just with a different look and a lot more support and infrastructure behind it. We’re expanding into covering new areas within the anime and manga release model such as digital distribution and our community will be pretty much as you see it today, if not with a bit more expansion to cover more anime and manga related aspects.

AnimeOnDVD has been a group effort for a long time but it has also been my vision and my voice that has guided it. That isn’t changing. I’m heavily involved in this and am looking forward to doing this job for many years to come because it’s a job that I enjoy. That enjoyment is something that I hope shows through to you, the reader that I talk with on a daily basis. The last eighteen months in my personal life has shown more growth and change than any other time in my adult life. I view this phase as the next part of the life of the site and I cannot wait to see how it will grow and change like I have. And I look forward to all of you being there for it with me and the staff of AnimeOnDVD.com

[The Great Bear]

Well, that was a bit unexpected, but then again, not totally unexpected

Chris, you've done a great job all these years (I haven't been here for all 10, but I've been around as a lurker and then a poster for at least 5 or so). It's amazing that you managed it all as a one man operation for so long.

So long as they are willing to keep you at the helm, I'm not going to be worried for the future of this site.

[LordGeo]

You kind of snuck the Mania.com anouncement into the message, but aside from that it's cool to see that AnimeOnDVD.com will only become larger and larger.

And I'm sure everyone else here will be interested to see what comes from it.

[joelgundam01]

Originally Posted by LordGeo

You kind of snuck the Mania.com announcement into the message, but aside from that it's cool to see that AnimeOnDVD.com will only become larger and larger.

Yeah, that was kind of unexpected, but it sure explains why we don't have any site sponsors and are getting some crazy (non-anime) banner ads lately.

[ADC]

Cool. This is the only online community I've really participated in, so I'm glad to see you and the staff are sticking around.

[Chris Beveridge]

Originally Posted by ADC

Cool. This is the only online community I've really participated in, so I'm glad to see you and the staff are sticking around.

And that's sort of the crux of it in my mind. We're still doing what we've been doing (I'm working on a Zeta review right now!) but we'll end up with a different wrapper in a few weeks where it's all contained. The core important piece both I and the Mania folks are working to ensure is that the community isn't lost because this is a sizeable one. While we'll be intergrated, I believe the plan is to have our forums "separate" since we cover such a wide range of subjects that wouldn't blend well.

[stfram]

Originally Posted by Chris Beveridge

I took this very much to heart and have since made those radical changes to my life. For those that have heard me talk about it here in the forums of AnimeOnDVD and other venues, as well as in person, those changes have all been for the better.

While there will be changes to be sure, such as our move to the Vbulletin software last week, the main important point that I want to stress is that it’ll be business as usual just with a different look and a lot more support and infrastructure behind it.

AnimeOnDVD has been a group effort for a long time but it has also been my vision and my voice that has guided it. That isn’t changing. I’m heavily involved in this and am looking forward to doing this job for many years to come because it’s a job that I enjoy.

If anyone needs to take anything away from this announcement, I feel it's what I've quoted.

Glad to hear you're gonna be OK, and you've got enthusiasm for the future of this site, Chris!

[u_nick]

I too, while not a regular, am a fan of the site. I wish you and the site the best of luck. I look forward to more good things in the future.

[mibuwolf]

I was a bit shaken before I read the announcement, but it's good to find that the effort is expanding. What I've got to have are the title reviews by Chris. I picked up the 800+ R1 domestic DVD titles that I have over a span of the last 8 years of my life. The majority of titles that I've picked up or avoided had been largely influenced by Chris's highly detailed and well articulated reviews. I rarely buy something that Chris doesn't grade with at least a B- in Content. AnimeOnDVD.com is my browser's homepage at home on my Mac and my PS3 and at work on my PC. It's the first place I visit whenever I connect online.

[Ty]

Originally Posted by Chris Beveridge

And that's sort of the crux of it in my mind. We're still doing what we've been doing (I'm working on a Zeta review right now!) but we'll end up with a different wrapper in a few weeks where it's all contained. The core important piece both I and the Mania folks are working to ensure is that the community isn't lost because this is a sizeable one. While we'll be intergrated, I believe the plan is to have our forums "separate" since we cover such a wide range of subjects that wouldn't blend well.

That's good to hear. The only fear that cropped into my mind after reading the announcement was if we were going to get assimilated as a community into something larger at Mania some point down the read. So long as the forums remain it's own entity I'm nothing but excited to see where you plan to take this ship and how it will grow.

I think I speak for everybody here when I say we're glad to be along for the ride. Congratulations on your successes up to this point Chris.