Thanks, you guys, for sticking around with us here at Japanator. And for all you new people who are discovering our site, whether through Danny Choo, MangaBlog, Destructoid, Tomopop, or by searching for "Angol Fear cosplay" or "lolicon gallery," I welcome you here to Japanator.com.
We've been here a little over two years now (hint: our birthday was November 3rd!), and we've changed quite a bit. We started off as a fanatical anime blog, but as time went by, we learned more about Japan and expanded our interests, highlighting music, news, culture, and oddities from the Land of the Rising Sun. And we've done a few podcasts, too.
So now that we're going into our third year, with some new staff onboard (Chelsea and Rio, if you hadn't noticed), I'd like to know just what you, the reader wants from Japanator. Is there anything you've felt is missing from the site? Anything that pisses you off? Stuff that you want more of? Let us know. We really want to do all we can to make this site the best it can be.
I'd like to just have a few more words after the jump.
We're always looking to try and provide you with a better and more complete otaku experience. So in the next year, we're aiming to increase our reach for con coverage. In the past year, we managed to attend Otakon, New York Anime Fest, Anime Expo, Anime Matsuri, ACEN, AWA, San Japan, and AnimeNEXT. We'll try better in the upcoming year. If there's a con that we really need to check out, let us know. We're always up for checking out events, so just drop us a line and we'll try to pencil it into our schedule if you think it's worthwhile.
As for the site itself, we're going to be going through a total revamp, and you'll notice that we'll begin to look a lot more like sister site Destructoid. That means the site will look a hell of a lot sexier, and yes, there will be community blogs. It'll be a step towards getting all three sites (Dtoid, Jtor, and Tomopop) to work together as a single living, breathing organism. We'll probably be stuck being the tentacles. But that's OK. In the future, we're also looking to build our own database of anime, manga, and more. So, if you ever need info about a show or who voice acted in what, you'll be able to do that right from Japanator!
On the front page, we're going to be making a more dedicated push to features and original content. We're not content with just the weekly columns and reviews that we run. We want to do something more. We want to have plenty of serious business discussion, but put that right alongside reasons why Dale wishes he owned a Japanese convenience store.
And that brings me to what is most important to Dale, myself, and the rest of the Japanator staff: we want to be a major voice in the otaku community. We want to foment discussion amongst our readers, and be a place for serious debate and exchange of ideas, as well as talking about why Kyon-ko is awesome. I want each and every reader here to feel like they belong. Whether Gurren Lagann is your first or fiftieth anime, we'll be here to share the excitement with.
So thanks for sticking around with Japanator for all this time, and I hope you'll stay for a while longer. I promise it'll be worth your while.
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