It’s almost been a full year since I last wrote my article, “Don’t Panic!” about FUNimation’s Sakura-Con 2008 presentation for the then upcoming year. Last year as things started to look their worst, we had this sudden ray of hope that the anime industry really wasn’t as crippled as we were all been told to believe. Yes, it was most definitely hurting but no more than any other industry in our current period of recession. Yes, fansubs continued to be a heated debate topic between those who blame all their misfortunes upon them and those who will defend to the death their allowance for having them. It’s a curious time for us, and we’ll get to say that we were here when it all happened.

The industry might not be in horrible shape, but it’s far from being in healthy expansion either.

Let me tell you a story…

…You know those people you know who have dreams and aspirations to get into the anime industry as voice actors and stuff like that? Those people who maybe don’t realize just how hard it really would be to break into the industry? The people who aim for the stars, realize that the course is long and narrow and near-impossible to stay on?

Yeah, I was one of them.