Okay, picture yourself having finished watching an anime title, and immediately jumping on the web to chat it up with your online fan buddies afterwards. You then do a  Google search on the series that you’ve just finished watching, and find tons and tons of fan material on it. (i.e. fan fiction, fan art, cosplay pictures, etc.) Whenever you find out another person likes the series you’ve just watched, you instantly become friends. Everything about the series you’ve watched is awesome; the story, the fandom, the whole nine yards!

Okay, now fast-forward ahead by ten years. Do a Google search of the same series that you’ve watched ten years ago, and see if people are still talking about it online. Head to any fan fiction or fan art site and see if those same stories and artwork from the fans you met back then, are still visible on the site. Notice anything different? The fan fiction stories you’ve once read are not there anymore (or not being posted as often), cosplay pics from the series are scarce, and if you go to an anime convention, only two people out of 40,000+ attendees cosplay as the characters from the series you’ve just watched.

Yep, you’ve realized you’re in a dying fandom.

We’ve all been there, but what do you do about it? Before we answer that question, here’s five ways (or five signs rather) to identify if you’re in a fandom ‘Dead Zone’.

5. When its Original Source Material Disappears

The digital age is more powerful today than it was when it first got started. Many ways anime producers got their product out to the masses (and is still relevant today) was through movie advertisements, commercial promos, and now, social media! It’s so easy to promote anime and share it with the fans in this modern day and time, but what happens when fans can no longer find source material on the title(s) that they’re passionate about? Does it mean that the fandom is dead? Not entirely…

4. Rare Cosplay Sightings

Anime conventions are a part of the otaku lifestyle, and with that comes the ‘usual suspects’ of cosplay. (i.e. Naruto, SAO, DBZ to name a few.) A. Goldman an I were big fans of Negima! Magister Negi Magi when it first came out (before Sentai Filmworks bought the rights from FUNimation), but after ten years of going to cons we’ve only found one or two souls cosplaying as Asuna, Ayaka, or Negi Springfield – out of 40,000+ people.

3. When it’s Infected with Trolls (aka Internet Cockroaches)

Or as we like to call them, ‘Internet Cockroaches’. There are many great fandoms out there who have diehard fans in them, but at the same time you also have to worry about the many cockroaches that crawl around on the dark parts of the chat room. This is very troubling for current fans in the fandom, and makes it easy for them to manipulate new fans to turn against the current ones through lies and deceit. If you want to save your fandom from evil, digital heroes (like OWLS) are only a tweet away…

2. When New Fans question the mental state of Old Fans of said Fandom

There are fandom trolls, and there are ‘fandom asylums’. Nothing will drive a new fan away from a fandom better than a ‘toxic environment’ created by existing fans’ digitally ill-willed actions. The My Little Pony fandom is a prime example of this, as many fans of the show are rather hesitant in identifying themselves as ‘bronies’ because of the negative reputation its been getting.

1. When a fandom loses its Core Values

That is the fandom-killing blow of any fandom! If an anime title is promoting peace and fighting against discrimination of any kind, you would expect that the fans of its fandom would follow the same mantra in their groups, or meetups. Once a fandom forgets the core values of the title from which the values are portrayed, then the fandom is nothing more than a ‘hollow shell of a lost cause’. This means that younger generations of the fandom will know the characters of the fandom’s title, but not the real message behind it. And that is a crying shame.

There are many symptoms that can be spotted and identified when it comes to being in a dying fandom. However, it is difficult for a fandom to actually ‘die’. If there are two or more people still talking about a title, movie, or a show years after its ended, then its fandom is not truly dead. Small fandoms are not dying fandoms just because there’s not a lot of activity going on in them, where as if a big fandom falls, it falls hard. Fast!

Hey there guys! I know that tonight we were supposed to do our bi-weekly D&A Friday’s post, but tonight, I wanna talk about how I first got into anime. For many of us the stories of how we found ourselves trying to get senpai to notice us, can be traced back to the early years of our lives. As for me, that story can be traced back as far as 1995…

1995 – 2000: The Saban Entertainment Era (aka The VHS Era)

Back when I was in the second grade, I watched a lot of cartoons as many of you probably have back in the early/mid 90’s. Back then there was shows like the original X-Men, Spiderman, The Fantastic Four, and so many others. I was also a big Nintendo nerd as well, so when the Super Mario Bros. show would come on every Saturday morning, I was right there with a big bowl of Captain Crunch! (Shout-out to the Captain, and we’re not talkin’ about Ginyu…yet.)

In fact, back then the first time I watched anime was in 1995. My first ever anime title was Samurai Pizza Cats, and even though the plot is kinda vague to me now as a guy in his late 20’s, I still remember the opening theme like it was yesteryear. Between 1997-1999 I found myself watching the DIC/Saban dub of Sailor Moon, and eventually Dragon Ball Z; the true gritty animation version that 2nd Gen Millennials (or post-Millennials) would call “Caveman Dragon Ball”, causing many 1st Gen Millennials (like myself) to go medieval on their Twitter feed. FYI, 1st Gen Millennials are those born between 1985-2003, and 2nd Gen 2004-Present. We also got cable around this time, so this was also the time period where I started watching the first broadcast of Toonami on Cartoon Network.

2000 – 2005: The FUNimation Entertainment Era (Not for you, but for me)

As I mentioned before I found myself watching more anime when Toonami was broadcasted. During this five year period I was watching a mix of both Eastern and Western animation; such as Tenchi Muyo (Original), Sailor Moon, DBZ, Pokemon, Mon Colle Knights, Digimon, Jackie Chan Adventures, Batman: The Animated Series, Freakizoid, and even Speed Racer (and he came out in the 70’s)! In 2002 a new tread would emerge that would rival the DBZ fandom, and that was Naruto.

Honestly, I hated it when it first came out because it wasn’t, well, Dragon Ball Z. Now before you start slamming those fingers on your keypad and try to digitally reprehend me for saying such a thing, just know that I didn’t start getting into it until the Chunin Exams Arc (two seasons later). I was also in Middle School at this time, and this is right around the time I met my best friend of 15+ years; Aaron M. Goldman, the blog’s secondary founder.

2005 – Present: College Years, Anime Conventions, and D&A Anime Blog

The FUNimation Channel was the highlight for many of us who were able to afford DISH satellite, as for me I was still kind of limited to just Cartoon Network and Comcast. In 2008 I went to my first ever anime convention in Baltimore, MD known as Otakon. Back then I had no idea there was even such a thing, but when I went, I was exposed to a world that would be the cornerstone of this anime blog. Aaron didn’t start going with me to Otakon until 2010, and for the next eight years that convention was our annual otaku hangout spot!

In the Summer of 2015 we received word that Otakon was going to have is farewell year next Summer at the Baltimore Convention Center. It was also the same year that D&A Anime Blog came into fruition.

The anime titles I watched during this period expanded well from just DBZ. I was watching titles like Negima!, The Sacred Blacksmith, Sekirei, Corpse Princess, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, Danganronpa, and so many more! Since the blog launched back in January of 2016, I now find myself connecting with the voice actors behind hundreds of my favorite anime characters. It’s been a fun 20+ years as an anime fan, as it has gotten me through some tough times while at the same time, helping me make new friends! 🙂