Believe it or not, Anime Jam Session has quite the history.

What Anime Jam Session is currently and what it is to be is the end results of one person who diligently worked behind the scenes with other friends.

Anime Jam Session was originally DJRanmaS.net. The founder of this site DJ Ranma S started going to conventions in 1998, Animazement being his first. He went to that con every year that he could, to take pictures, collect e-mail addresses and keep in touch with people. He also wrote a convention report whenever he could.

By 2001, Ranma expanded out to other local conventions such as Shoujocon and Big Apple Anime Fest. By this time, he formed his first mailing list known as TAIA (Team Anime Internet Alliance). This was from the e-mail addresses he collected to share photos and reports. After meeting a bunch of similar fans at BAAF (Big Apple Anime Fest), another mailing list was created called NYO Cosplay (NYO standing for New York Otaku). This was similar to TAIA, but with more local people. A lot of local events and hang outs came out of this and much fun was had.

By 2003, Ranma began freelancing as press for a few websites, along with his own (djranmas.net).  That didn’t work out to well after a while.  He felt that other websites could not understand his view on convention  reports, so after a few months, he moved all the photos and convention reports back to his own site.

During 2004, something interesting happened.  A friend of his from ICQ asked him to check Orange Lounge Radio, a show about Bemani games at the time.  Ranma became an instant fan of the show.  When they changed their format, he enjoyed it even more.

In 2005, Orange Lounge Radio began podcasting and Skype, where Ranma was a regular contributor.  After two years of listening, along with meeting the hosts of the show, he decided to start his own podcast.

Anime Jam Session was born in 2007.  The site was originally meant to be just podcasting and photos.  A year later, Kuro Usagi joined on as his co-host and it all went downhill… In a good way.

The site began to expand over the years with a few more staffers and hosts like Berry-chan, Ari Rockefeller, Sailor Flare, DJ Synthetik, Yunie, Mako-chan, and Avalon Cosplay. More podcasts were done that went outside of anime news.  The staff covered video games, conventions, and cosplayer interviews on the podcasts.

When Ari came on board as a staff writer in 2010, he began to contributions of convention reports and gaming reviews.  Ranma continued to post photos, but added video as well.  The site flourished.  Anime Jam Session began to be that site for local coverage of anime conventions, news, cosplay, and anything that was connected to it in the New York City tri-state area.

Some expansions began to the site, such as reviews on non-anime conventions such as Steampunk World’s Fair.  Photos of non-anime events such as Nintendo World’s Grand Reopening, Sakura Matsuri, are just a couple of examples of expansion.

In 2012, Anime Jam Session changed it logo to expand more into gaming, tech, and pop culture.  The staff felt that they could continue to talk about the anime culture and lifestyle, along with other topics that is currently related to the community.  A couple of years later, the logo changed, and the staff decided to focus more on anime, conventions, cosplay, and anything else that was related.

Anime Jam Session is currently affiliated with VOG Network (VOG = Voice of Geeks), as their podcast is syndicated on Tuesday nights.  Plans also include contribution of convention reports and photos.

In 2019, following the heels of the VOG Network, Anime Jam Session has now transitioned to twitch.tv, where you can find the podcast, every Tuesday, hosted by DJ Ranma S, Mako-chan, and Ari Rockefeller!

So… Where do we go from here?  As far as we can.  The goal of Anime Jam Session is not just to bring you news on anime, cons, conventions… But to bring you the best each week and thensome!

And so, that is the story of Anime Jam Session.  For those of you that are new, we welcome you and hope you like what we have to offer.  Those longtime friends of ours, now you know a bit more about who we are.

Thanks and see you on the flipside!