I remember the first time I stumbled upon theOtaku.com. It was years and years ago. I was Marketing Manager at Central Park Media, the people responsible for Grave of the Fireflies, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and -- admittedly -- a lot of yaoi. I don't know where or how I found theO, but I knew I liked it. It was slick, it was fun, it had a personality, and it had Spikey. Thinking back, Spikey is what really did it for me. TheOtaku.com's very simple and very spikey mascot set the mood, and I've loved watching theO and Spikey evolve through the years until now.

Now, five or so years later, theOtaku.com has grown and grown up a lot, and I'm proud to offer my congratulations today, the day the newest evolution of theO --Version Vibrant -- launches. I'm pleased to see Spikey's part of the new theO, and I'm very pleased to see he, just like the entire portal, has matured.

If you're new to theO and are reading this without any real clue as to what I'm talking about, theOtaku.com is the definitive internet anime art portal. Built from the ground up to showcase anime art and foster a unique, collaborative, and thriving community, it's an amazing thing to behold. The passions of hundreds of thousands of artists, authors, and creators are poured into this place, and it's all because of the passion of a single man, a nice guy who lives in New York City named Adam.

A few months back, Adam and I met up for lunch at Kinokuniya Bookstore in Manhattan, and over Asian fusion paninis and designer green teas, he revealed to me a draft version of Version Vibrant. I had seen bits and pieces of the new theO ever since Adam unveiled a preview during the New York Anime Festival in December. I loved what I saw and expected great things, but I was totally unprepared by the full size, shape, and scale of theOtaku.com's Version Vibrant.

As he led me through the new site, I saw killer app after killer app after killer app. The engine that powers Version Vibrant offers users a level of customization and creativity that's simply never been done before. Version Vibrant gives its visitors the ability to create, to make, to mold, and to -- honestly -- be themselves. And, more brilliant than any of theO's new features is the way theO sticks them all together so rather than being daunting and overpowering, they're natural. They work in harmony.

I know I'm speaking in a lot of vagaries, and that's because the new theO is something you really have to experience for yourself. I don't want to spoil the site. Instead, I want you to explore and invent here. I want you to discover everything that Adam's crafted.

And I want you to know that Adam's crafted all of this himself. TheOtaku.com is an impressive, impressive thing, and it's all the more awe-inspiring when you realize it's the vision of a single man. Adam and a very small team have given life to theO, and the feats they accomplish every single day are nothing short of monumental.

And through it all, Spikey's remained. While theOtaku has grown and grown up, become more things to more people, and developed a sophisticated substance, look, and feel, it still has the same spirit that started it all, and now, through Version Vibrant, this spirit is more alive than ever.

Well done, Adam. Congratulations!

Peter Tatara
Programming Manager
New York Anime Festival