By the way...just thought I'd introduce myself.
Written by Jeremy Snow
Published on 05/09/2007
Originally from Binary Culture / [the-lowdown.net]
http://www.binaryculture.net

Hello people in Binary Culture land. My name is Jeremy Snow and I have recently been appointed to be a the Anime Editor. Before you head off to read my brilliant and life-changing reviews (which will begin to circulate in the coming days and weeks), I just thought you would like to know a little bit about myself and my history with the anime culture. If you really don not care, feel free to skip this whole mess.

My first encounter with anime was fleeting: channel flipping I noticed a girl with long blonde hair had just magically whisked her clothes off to replace them with a very odd looking schoolgirl outfit. Yes, I had just caught a Sailor Moon transformation: my life would never be the same. My mom (like many moms were, and still are) was reluctant to let me dive head first into the "devils animation studio", so, I made do by asking friends to read their manga and catching bits and pieces of anime news here and there. This was around the mid 90s.

In any case, a few years passed and we got cable, and my mom decided to let up on the whole anime thing. I began searching for anime wherever I could find it. Midnight showings of Blue Seed (of course, they would be random, non-chronological episodes, but I didn not care, I was watching ANIME dammit!), renting anime movies from Blockbuster or Hollywood video (I forget, did Hollywood video exist? My brain forgets things), doing everything I could to indoctrinate myself into the anime culture. Finally, 9th grade came, and with it: Toonami. Dragonball Z, Ronin Warriors, Gundam Wing, all of these titles became like new limbs and I was deeply attached to the afternoon block that allowed me to really immerse myself in the shows that had caught my imagination years before. Of course, as any Toonami oldbies can attest to, Dragonball Z was on a constant loop that was restarted whenever a new set of episodes came out. I had almost memorized the entire Vegeta/Nappa saga when Frieza finally came into the picture. Lord knows how long it seemed after that to get the Andorid and Cell sagas, and finally Buu/Kid Buu.

In any case, as I grew older and got the mythical job, I realized that I could now make anime a staple in my life by purchasing it. What a concept! I started out by buying my friend's anime collection off of him. It started out with Slayers, Slayers Next and Rurouni Kenshin seasons 1 and 2. I was on my way. Little by little I acquired more and more and began to read news on the Anime News Network site, looking around anywhere I could to stay on top of the latest and greatest anime news.

Now, as a college student at UCSC, this addiction to Anime has not stopped. I spend ridiculous amounts of money on the stuff (ask my girlfriend) and still enjoy the culture tremendously. I have been to the fabled land twice and to my disappointment, Tokyo Tower is in fine shape.

Now, I will put a disclaimer out there right now: I am not an expert. At this point in time I do not think that it would be wise or fair of me to regard myself as a professional in this field. However, I am someone that wishes very much to get all of the latest and greatest news and present it to my (hopefully) avid readership, as well as present reviews that are not simply derogatory and useless, because it is my belief that a review that does nothing but say how horrible a series is, is not that helpful. I will try to keep my reviews fair and as unbiased as I can. Luckily for you, I am pretty far from the elitist camp, so I approach all movies, series and specials with the same open and optimistic mindset.

If you do not agree with me, if you think I am totally off base, or anything like that, I offer the following solution: I am very much a fan of the second opinion. Hell, I am a fan of the 3rd, 4th and 5th opinions. Therefore, if my review has spurred some deep sense of obligation to give the series a second shot, or if you feel I gave a series too much credit, feel free to send me a 1 page (no more, and not significantly less please), single spaced MS word document containing your name and reasons for your contrary (or even similar) review. I will do my best to accommodate anyone who does this, although how it will play out has yet to be seen.

I have one unique aspect in my reviews, something I call the First Time Grade. We all know people who absolutely HATE anime. They do not understand why you like it, but you are a good friend and you try to show them something. My First Time Grade assesses a series appeal to viewers who are not anime fans. I usually base this on the series reliance on traditional anime conventions (Fanservice, inside jokes and references to old anime) since many non-anime watchers seeing any of those things usually are automatically turned off to the series, at least in my experience.

In any case, I am very happy to be joining the staff here at Binary Culture and I look forward to a happy season with all of you.

Jeremy Snow