About the Nihon Review
Welcome to to The Nihon Review, an anime review website dedicated to anime commentary and dialogue. United by a love for anime, we cover a range of topics ranging from content analysis to cultural topics to issues of fandom. We’re pretty passionate about what we do, and would love to read your comments or hear from you.
Our collection of over two hundred individual anime reviews ranges from anime released decades ago to the most recent releases in Japan. In addition, we feature editorials and opinion pieces focused on the animation industry in Japan as a whole, including a yearly review article that takes a look back at an entire year of anime.
Why we do what we do
Each one of our writers began as fans of Japanese anime, but soon realized that there was much more to think and understand about the medium. Animation is a powerful medium for storytelling, entertainment, and commentary on contemporary issues in society. The Nihon Review was born out of a desire to understand anime while sharing those findings in a highly critical yet accessible way. We also have a documented history of how we’ve changed over the years here.
Quality, not quantity, is one of the most important factors we consider in our content, meaning that we frequently improve our own methods for watching and discussing anime. We hope to contribute value to the grand discussion and overall understanding of anime as a whole.
A Brief History of the Nihon Review
The first incarnation of the Nihon Review was founded on November 21, 2005 as AMGReviews (where the AMG stood for “Anime, Manga, Games”). The original team was run by Seven and Tamashii and consisted of prominent reviewers including Taleweaver, Kuma, DarkKanti, Genkisakura and, of course, Seven and Tamashii. Seven invited Sorrow-kun to join AMGReviews in September 2005 and shortly thereafter, AMGReviews adopted the name “The Nihon Review” because it was more descriptive and spoke to what the site would be about: Japanese media, particularly anime.
Dheu and Sorrow-kun’s stewardship
In the moment of the name change, the make up of the staff also drastically changed with several members leaving to pursue other opportunities. At the same time, we tried other article formats to distill the best of the best from the sea of anime released, leading to the first Year in Review article. Kurier joined our site in January 2006, and he was followed shortly after by dheu. In March 2006, dheu and Sorrow-kun officially become editors, and took over managing the site from Tamashii, who had become burnt out.
2006 also marked the year of Suzumiya Haruhi‘s released, and when the Nihon Review underwent a redesign, courtesy of Scoot, Haruhi would live on in the site’s design. Before the year closed out, we got a new writer in TypicalIdiotFan while Kuma and Scoot were promoted to editors.
The drive to get new staffers would continue, most notably with Akira, who joined the team in 2007 as did royal crown and Shadowmage (the latter of whom had been resistant to my advances numerous times beforehand) followed in the early days of February. Shadowmage would go on to become one of the most prolific reviewers at the Nihon Review, teaming up with joinee Kavik Ryx to make sure that our coverage of mecha anime was truly complete. Finally, in late 2007, Sorrow-kun would take over sole ownership of The Nihon Review.
Ebbs and flows
To be written
The Dark Ages
To be written
Future beginnings…?
To be determined.
Current Staffers
- zzeroparticle – Site Admin, Editor-in-Chief