Anime News Network

Anime News Network has never really been a great site in general. Since it's inception it's had it's fair share of biases and controversies. However in recent years the already mediocre quality of the site has somehow gotten worse. Fake news stories, clickbait headlines, "discussion" moderation so aggressive they censor anything they find remotely "offensive" to them personally and God forbid you question a moderator, they will ban you in a heartbeat, and an already toxic community that somehow makes Reddit look tame.

To me ANN is really just a phase you go through and eventually outgrow. There are much better sites out there with more factual information than what you find on ANN. Save yourself time and toxicity.

Anime News Network doesn't show links to their Press Release source except to one. With their YouTube page they can do whatever they want illegally by abusing their rights with the community guidelines where they can bully people anime fans who have mental health issues. There are some inaccuracies that haven't been fixed like a voice actors birthdate.

Think of the most disingenuous self-professed liberal you've ever argued with in college then give them unlimited power in a virtual community where nobody can vary in any political position (even with cited sources) if that opinion does not line up with John Money-inspired gender studies. Articles aside, the actual community and forums are a dystopian nightmare that make high security prisons look positively inviting and free speech oriented by comparison.

They might break a headline here or there. And some writers of weekly reviews might be funny. But if you dare begin to interact with the staff you learn how much of a tightly-knit fiefdom the place is. If you misquote something off the top of your head or they misconstrue anything on your behalf they'll wipe out your forum account. I reiterate, if you need to catch a quick headline ANN is an okay source. If you work for them, talk to the staff, or generally come into contact with them only tangentially, you'll wind up banned or a hostage going through depression. Banning people for doing nothing wrong is probably merciful on their part.

I have been using their website for years now and have enjoyed and appreciated what they do. They offer news and other tidbits related to anime, manga, video games, the anime industry, voice actors, creators and etc on a consistent basis. A way to track what anime you have watched, an encyclopedia of anime, manga, voice actors and creators, a forum to converse with other fans and some other related things. Not everything they cover or offer will float your boat, but for the most part, the information they supply you is good. They are my top choice for keeping up with all information related to anime and Japanese pop culture. It is a convenient "all in one" place for such content.

This site is nothing but a virtue signalling, left wing propaganda machine. They slander any show with either fan-service, a guy with more than one love interest, under the guise of anime critics. Any show under the "harem", "ecchi" etc rarely gets more than a 3 star review.
The mods are absolute tyrants who not only control what you write, but delete anything criticising them "even if they are wrong"
Their worst offense was defaming vic mignogna and ruining his life. Avoid.

Site has moderators that control everything, based on what they decide is fair or accurate.
Recently data showing the truth about covid 19 was supplied in their forums, they activately delete and remove anything that doesn't fit with their liberal agenda. Do not post, click or support their website or community in anyway.

Recently they had an article titled "NEWS: Anime Expo to Require Proof of COVID-19 Vaccination or Negative Test"

They refuse to put the CDC notes on their forums. Instead they are allowing people to spread misinformation about who is spreading Covid-19, endangering the lives of everyone.

Cliché but I would give them less than 1 star if possible. I almost miss on The Rising of the Shield Hero thanks to their inaccurate overpolitized reviews.

ANN or Animation Newspaper Networking used to be a good site. The problem is they hired horribly broken and biased folks from the failed Channel Awesome venture that have serious mental issues, and zero ethics.

Either way...

They made the decision about a year ago to try to monetize their failing website with attack stories to get page clicks and more advertising dollars. Since ANN has A LOT of people from the failed Channel Awesome venture, when one of the failures from the failed Channel Awesome named "Marzgurl" launched a troll attack against Vic Mignogna, who has been frequently attacked for simply believing in a God like most of us, by the atheist fringe in the California anime community, another ex Channel Awesome person named Linda that works for ANN pretended her fake story was real, then ANN published it as fact, and ended up having to edit it over five times because "evidence" in their own story ended up being fabricated. Now, any smart publication would have stopped at this point. They'd have figured out they got played by Marzgurl. Got turned into her personal army.

Not ANN. They doubled down. They silently removed the fabricated "evidence" from their story, and rewrote it as many times as possible to perpetuate the fantasy.

This has lead to most Japanese Media (You know, the place where the Anime actually comes from) to attack and denounce ANN for being partisan charlatans.

Simply put, ANN is the last place you want to get your Anime news now. They are what we call "fake woke". As in, they'll say anything if it will make you think they are cool. They are that sad. You can find your Anime news from a much better source in 2 minutes without searching very long.

I'd avoid these losers.