Staff List

Christopher Macdonald, CEO & Publisher

A former network engineer and administrator by trade, Christopher Macdonald lives in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His first real exposure to anime (or japanimation as he knew it then) was Bubblegum Crisis which he saw in the summer of 1989. In 2000 he submitted a guest editorial to Anime News Network, and soon became co-editor-in-chief, along with George Phillips. Originally the site was a hobby for both of them, however in 2003 Macdonald left his networking job in order to focus exclusively on ANN and in 2004 Phillips stepped down from his position as co-editor-in-chief. For several years, Macdonald wrote all of ANN's news and personally edited every article on ANN, however as the site and its staff grew he had to focus on "managing" the site and now leaves most of the editorial work in the capable hands of ANN's editors and contributors. Reflecting his shifting responsibilities, Macdonald stepped down from the editor-in-chief position in late 2010. As publisher, his editorial involvement is mostly limited to planing the editorial "direction" of the website.

Aside from anime, he has many other interests, for which he has little time. Those that he does make some time for include motorsport, traveling, skiing and cycling.

(a.k.a. Dan42), Webmaster & Chief Encyclopedist

Dan's first exposure to anime was through Saturday morning cartoons at an early age. Years later he was reintroduced to the medium when his mind was blown to smithereens by Perfect Blue. His gradual otakufication was accelerated by other masterpieces such as Jin-Roh and Millennium Actress. In 2001 he started helping ANN by making a content management system for the reviews. One thing led to another, culminating in the creation of the Encyclopedia. After moving to Tokyo for a 2-year stint in the Japanese mobile internet industry, Daniel came back to ANN in 2006.

Egan Loo, Senior Editor (Newsroom)

Egan Loo has been a veteran of the industry for over a decade, with contributions to Anime Insider, Anime UK, EX, Otaku USA and Newtype USA magazines. In addition to contributing feature articles, he served as the news editor of Animerica magazine. He also translated or assisted in the English adaptation of the Escaflowne television series and film, the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, the Ghost Hunt manga, the Macross television series, and the Wolf's Rain manga.

, Executive Editor

Zac Bertschy has been a professional anime journalist since 1998, and came on with Anime News Network in 1999 writing reviews and the Answerman column, which lead to a freelance career writing for anime magazines. In 2004 he became the Associate Editor of Anime Insider magazine, and returned to ANN a couple of years later, where his duties include managing the editorial team responsible for reviews, interviews, columns, features, the Anime Preview Guide, convention coverage and more.

, Managing Editor

Bamboo (yes, it's her real name) holds a PhD from University of California - Irvine in Biochemistry, and an Sc.B. in Biomedical Engineering from Brown University. This displaced Coloradoan was first drawn to anime from the fluffy world of shoujo, but now also enjoys shows that are laced in blood and violence. Her other hobbies include playing the piano, violin, and guitar, and rooting for Colorado sports teams. In between schoolwork and writing Shelf Life, Bamboo enjoys snowboarding and playing ice hockey, ultimate frisbee, and squash. She adores the idea of TV on DVD, and is not ashamed to admit that she cosplays.

Crystalyn Hodgkins, Managing Editor (Newsroom)

, Editor at Large, Columnist

Highly active in the Anime community for many years, Justin Sevakis founded Anime News Network in 1998 and operated the website until late 1999 when he passed it on to Isaac Alexander. After leaving Anime News Network Justin wrote the the "Digital Otaku" column on DVDfile.com and then went on to work at Central Park Media for several years. He spent nearly four years at ImaginAsianTV, developing the fledgling network's technical infrastructure, anime programming and home video divisions. He was overjoyed to return to ANN in fall 2007.

Chih-Chieh Chang (a.k.a. dormcat), Senior Encyclopedia Editor

Chih-Chieh (known by most of his Westerner friends who can't pronounce his first name properly as "Albert") was born and raised in Taiwan and started watching anime since 2 and reading manga since 5. However those two forms of entertainment were not yet parts of his life before his sophomore year in college, when a manga rental opened within his campus. He started graduate studies in the US after finishing his undergraduate studies and mandatory military service. To his surprise, the North American anime and manga market has increased multiple times since his last visit four years ago, enabling him to pick up this hobby he once thought having to kiss goodbye. Chih-Chieh started working for ANN full-time from August 2011.

Lynzee Lamb, Interest Editor, Columnist

Lynzee is a fan of alliteration, cats, and coffee living in the most beautiful place in the U.S.; Washington State. She gained experience working in a traditional newsroom before moving on to online publishing at Anime News Network in 2010. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Mass Communications and maintains an active interest in fashion, cheese, forensic science, and magical girls.

She's still patiently waiting for an alien cat to give her a transformation brooch.

, UK editor

Andrew Osmond lives in 'Royal' Ascot - yes, the one with the racecourse - but commutes to London daily. He was one of the 'Akira generation' of anime fans, though he loved Battle of the Planets and Ulysses 31 as a kid. He's also a fan of animation in general, especially classic Disney and Britain's Cosgrove Hall (Dangermouse et al). He's written three books: a 'BFI Classics' guide to Spirited Away, Satoshi Kon: The Illusionist and 100 Animated Feature Films (in which Akira is next to Disney's Aladdin, and Ninja Scroll nestles beside One Hundred and One Dalmatians).

Andrew has visited some of Tokyo's anime studios, and interviewed Satoshi Kon, Goro Miyazaki and Kenji Kamiyama. In his journalist's hat, he wrote for Animerica and Manga Max; he now contributes to Neo. He also writes for Empire, Sight and Sound and SFX (including SFX's Total Anime specials), and is a film columnist on Judge Dredd Megazine.

Hope Chapman (a.k.a. JesuOtaku), Reviewer, Assistant Editor

Hope is a scatterbrained college student with a deep love for anime and animation on the whole, as well as live-action film. She is currently studying Broadcasting at Western Kentucky University with a focus in Production. She manages an informal, silly video review show on her website with several other video reviewers, along with reviewing new releases in text on ANN. She has a big mouth and for better or worse, it never really stops moving. She's at her happiest when she can make people laugh.

Jennifer Sherman, Associate Editor (Newsroom)

Jon Hayward (a.k.a. sonictail), AU editor

Jon has been associated with anime for quite a number of years, from producing a little fanzine called JAMWAF to sitting on his local anime club's core, helping to start and organize a anime convention and generally trying to give a hand around his local anime scene. Oh and attending interstate anime conventions, that's how he got here! Jon spends the majority of his spare time running Ann.au but if he's not, you can bet he'll have his nose stuck in a manga or gundam kit, or knee deep in video game code.

Likes: Scott Pilgrim, One Piece, Zoids, Transformers, Kekkaishi, Inis, anything by Shinichiro Watanabe and most stuff from BONES.
Dislikes: Fads and Bandwagons, the MCB, most Fanfiction, Geology.

Karen Ressler, Associate Editor (Newsroom)

Rafael Antonio Pineda - Jr. Associate Editor (South East Asia Newsroom)

Sarah Nelkin, Associate Editor (Newsroom)

Sarah is currently on the news staff, lives in Tokyo, and writes a lot of transcripts for videos. Her favorite manga and anime are Zettai Karen Children, Hatenkō Yūgi, Erementar Gerad, and Itsuwaribito Utsuho. She is forever waiting for sequels to Boku to Maoh (Okage: Shadow King) and Dark Chronicle (Dark Cloud 2), and is constantly proselytizing about Tales of Rebirth being the greatest game in the series. She is also always adoring her poodle, Aurica, whose name has been approved by Gust representatives.

Carl Kimlinger, Reviewer

Carl lives in the Willamette Valley, where any socialist tendencies he contracted while in college are promptly crushed underfoot by the stampeding consumerism engendered by an incurable anime habit.

Rebecca Silverman, Reviewer

Rebecca has been tormenting students with obscure literary texts that they hopefully cannot find internet cheats for since 2007. She lives by the sea with what is in no way too many books or pets, no matter what you might have heard.

Theron Martin (a.k.a. Key), Reviewer

Theron is a mid-30s high school math teacher living in Indianapolis. He first discovered anime as "anime" (Battle of the Planets in the early '80s doesn't really count, does it?) upon seeing Akira at a convention around 1990. After several years of being a casual fan, he graduated to being a serious one in the late '90s when he began his ever-expanding library of anime DVDs, with his own crude anime website eventually to follow. Primary hobbies outside of anime include comic books, fantasy football, board games, and role-playing games. In addition to writing reviews for this site and Protoculture Addicts, he has also authored several Classic and Living campaign scenarios for the Role Playing Gamers Association, most recently scenarios for the RPGA's Living Greyhawk system.

It should also be stated, for the record, that Theron is primarily a "dub" person, though he does watch subs, too.

Todd Ciolek, Columnist

Todd writes the weekly column The X Button.

Brandon Graves (a.k.a. EmperorBrandon), Encyclopedia Editor

Jeremy Lapus (a.k.a. areaseven), Encyclopedia Editor

Originally from the Philippines, Jeremy has grown up with anime during his entire life. However, it wasn't until 1993 that he became a serious otaku when he first watched Akira. His all-time favorites include Macross Plus (where he got his username from), Cowboy Bebop, Gunbuster, RahXephon, Heat Guy J, Azumanga Daioh and Figure 17. Aside from anime, A7 collects DVD movies and diecast model cars.

John C. Watson (a.k.a. doc-watson42), Encyclopedia Editor

A longtime fan of SF/F, Mr. Watson was infected with the anime and manga bug in the early 1990s, and remains a virulent carrier of all three.

Paul Schmidt (a.k.a. DokoMadeMo), Encyclopedia Editor.

Currently an MA student studying Spanish literature, Paul was first exposed to anime on Cartoon Network's Toonami block starting with Dragon Ball Z. Since then, he has watched and enjoyed many other series on Adult Swim and on online streaming websites. An avid learner of languages, Paul speaks Spanish, German, Japanese, Portuguese, and French to varying degrees of fluency, having studied languages extensively at college (BA Spanish + BA German Studies with a Japanese minor), and is always trying to pick up on new languages whenever he can. Paul is also a fan of video games, with SEGA's "Sonic the Hedgehog" series being his all-time favorite. Also a big movie buff, Paul is always trying to keep up with the latest and greatest (and sometimes not so great) films, and as such, he always is open to new movie suggestions. In addition, Paul enjoys playing and watching basketball (particularly NBA), ultimate frisbee, volleyball, and various other sports.

Simon Browning (a.k.a. Shiroi Hane), Encyclopedia Editor

A Welsh physics dropout and telephone technical support engineer. Grew up on anime without really realizing it (Battle of the Planets, Ulysses 31 and The Mysterious Cities of Gold), fell in love with Laputa when it was shown on UK television in the 80s, but was too young to watch Akira when it aired there. Got seriously into anime as an adult, ironically, through catching odd episodes of Digimon, Cardcaptors and Sailor Moon on children's TV and never looked back. As well as being a Sci-Fi fan and alpha geek, has a background in music having learnt to play piano, trumpet and guitar; while no longer studying music still plays piano regularly in church.

Tony Brightman (a.k.a. darkhunger), Encyclopedia Editor

Paul Fargo (a.k.a. Nagisa), Forum Moderator

Paul is a student of the Art Institute of Atlanta, where he currently majors in Media Arts & Animation. His first exposure to anime came when he was about twelve or thirteen, and happened to catch the first Galaxy Express 999 movie on Sci-Fi Channel in the wee hours of the morning. After a brief dry spell (during which time he reluctantly admits to being a DBZ fan), he branched out to other titles like Evangelion and Gunsmith Cats, and it all snowballed from there. He currently enjoys a wide variety of anime, favorites including Full Metal Panic!, Haibane Renmei, Boogiepop Phantom, Azumanga Daioh, Gundam SEED, and Maria-sama ga Miteru. Other hobbies are gaming, hanging around a few regular online haunts, various musical fancies, South Park (among other American animated programs), and some other lesser hobbies that are too numerous and boring to mention.

Peter Ravn Rasmussen (a.k.a. abunai), Forum Moderator

Danish historian and father of three. Living proof that older does not equal wiser.

Tony Khamvongsouk (a.k.a. Tony K.), Forum Moderator

Born in 1983 in Tifton, Georgia and of Lao descent, Tony grew up in Irving, Texas (since the age of 3 months) and became an anime fan around the age of 10 watching the likes of Akira and Vampire Hunter D.

Eventually, he became a big follower of the shounen genre in the mid 90s with the North American introduction of Dragonball Z. He is a particularly avid fan of the Rurouni Kenshin franchise, and enjoys shounen series for their seemingly simplistic and straightforward characters/plotlines.

As a kid, he often watched classic American cartoons and is still a fan of titles such as Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, and the occassional Disney movie.

In addition, Tony is also a fan of the Star Trek franchise (post-Shatner) and reveres Star Trek: First Contact as his favorite, all-time movie. He also enjoys various live-action movies from both Hollywood and Asia.

On days he doesn't immerse himself in anime, Tony also likes to watch pro sports (Football, Basketball, and Baseball, in that order) or anything on ESPN. He also likes to play the occassional video game and likes to think he is particularly adept at Capcom vs. SNK 2 on PS2...

Tony enjoys manga as well, but usually prefers anime with the exception of filler-plagued titles.

Currently, Tony is attending the University of North Texas and majoring in Marketing (with a minor in Psychology).

Former Staff

, Former Editor-in-Chief

Jonathan Mays, Encyclopedia Editor, Associate Editor, News Editor

Lavinia Cham (a.k.a. j1m0ne), Encyclopedia Editor

Mikhail Koulikov, Events Correspondent

Rebecca Bundy, Columnist

Rob Chase, Electronic Gaming Reviewer and Reporter.

Samantha Reinert (a.k.a. Michi), Encyclopedia Editor

Samuel Wolfs (a.k.a. woelfie), Encyclopedia Editor

Scott Riley (a.k.a. PantsGoblin), Encyclopedia Editor