About

Akihabara Renditions Online is the premier blog for news commentary about the North American Anime Industry and classic Japanese animation from the Bubble Economy. In addition to fandom articles, we also operate a podcast component featuring reviews of classic Japanese animation, fandom interviews and the occasional ‘crap’.

Who Are Akihabara Renditions?

Drew Sutton: Fan of Japanese animation for the past fifteen years who cut his teeth on mid-nineties dubs, tape trading and the horrors of a world with Apollo Smile. Thanks to these delightful cartoons, he began learning that magical moon-speak of theirs and has been active in providing quick translations to various news groups. He started Akihabara Renditions as a traditional blog back in 2006, which actually was the fourth incarnation of the same space since 2004. He is the author of The Sports Pages and co-writer of Mecha Monday weekly features on Gaijinside.

Marc Smazik: The younger in fan terms of the crew, who became interested in Japanese animation during the early millenium boom. He brings a fresh face to our group as much of what we review isn’t tainted by feelings or images of nostalgia.

Richard Hoelsher: Became a fan just after running from the school bus to watch the abomination that was Robotech. After attending several meetings for the metro Atlanta anime club, Anime X, he went to Anime Weekend Atlanta and volunteered for staff the following year. He usually reserves himself for titles mostly featuring robots and science fiction. He is the better writer of Mecha Monday, weekly at Gaijinside.

AkibaRen Alumni

Jason Brown: He’s been a fan of Japanese animation for right around a decade and has been active in local anime clubs and attended numerous Anime Weekend Atlanta conventions.