An Interview with Anime Herald Editor-in-Chief Samantha Ferreira

Date: 2025 June 14 08:28

Posted by Joe

The online publication Anime Herald recently announced a print magazine, which is due out in October 2025.

Launching a print magazine is no small endeavour, but we are looking forward to seeing the end result! There is nothing better than opening up the pages of a fresh magazine and sitting down with a nice drink to read about anime in depth.

Keen to support a fellow anime publication we got in touch with Anime Herald Editor-in-Chief Samantha Ferreira to find out more.

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Can you tell us a bit about Anime Herald?

Anime Herald is an online magazine, which explores the myriad corners of the greater anime and manga landscape. Whether it's a critical analysis of a work like Odd Taxi, a chronicle of the 1990s Ranma ½ fanfiction scene, or a deep dive on the impact of doujin illustrators on Japan's underground music scenes, we really want to explore anime and manga, and really celebrate everything that makes it special.
I first started Anime Herald back in 2010, when I was still writing and editing for the now-defunct Anime Dream. At the time, we were having "the talks" about winding things down among the staff, but I really didn't want to stop. So, I talked with Matt Brown, my editor-in-chief at the time, and discussed my plans to go solo. He was enthusiastic and supportive of the decision, and really helped me to get things rolling in those early days. Over the years, we grew and changed, as did our directions; we started with short-form editorials, then expanded into a news and reviews outlet, before finally shifting to our current direction today.

But I want to stress that this was never a solo effort - it came through the work and effort of so many amazing people, who've left their mark on the publication, and remain valuable friends and contributors to this day. Folks like Seth Burn, Lydia Rivers, Borealis Capps, and so many others that I want to list, but just can't due to space constraints, have helped to make Anime Herald what it is today, and I can't help but appreciate everybody who's worked with us over the years.



Why do you think now is a good time to release Anime Herald Magazine?

It's a combination of factors, really, based around timing, and general financial stability.

Regarding timing, I wanted to do something big for our 15th anniversary; we've done some genuinely cool work over the years, and I wanted to do something to really make this year special for everybody. But beyond that, the greater fandom media landscape has been shifting and contracting over the past few years, as giant conglomerates have basically bought out, and hollowed out trusted and beloved publications.

The idea that someone can survive, let alone thrive as a fandom writer has become more a thing of myth in the greater world, as full-time positions have become ever more rare, and independent outlets have shuttered one after another. This has had a ripple effect, which has pushed the floor down on pay scales, and reduced the number of viable places someone can get paid fairly for their work.

With Anime Herald Magazine, I wanted to do something to help reverse that trend, in some small way. It's a place where we'll be able to publish more articles, which creates more opportunities for folks to be paid fairly for their work.

Regarding financial stability, in addition to my work as Anime Herald's editor-in-chief, I am also a full-time software engineer. I'm currently at a point in that career where I can cover the shortfalls that may arise from the publication's initial cost without having to put us into debt.

Funny enough, we were actually planning to publish a small fanzine for our tenth anniversary in 2020; I had it budgeted, and was beginning talks in the back channel. However, due to COVID, and being suddenly unemployed due to working in the travel industry at the time, I had to put things on ice for a while.

Creating an actual magazine can be a lot of effort.

It is a lot of effort, but it's a good effort. With every step forward, every finished article, it's been kind of a struggle to not jump on Bluesky and just blurt out about each cool thing that's being done. It's exciting, and that has been a huge motivator to keep going.
Funny enough, I actually began planning Anime Herald Magazine's first issue in earnest early 2024. Things really started to kick off in May 2024, talking with folks like Lydia Rivers and Seth Burn about my plans. That circle started growing as I talked with Yatta-Tachi founder and editor-in-chief Katy Castillo, then the wonderful folks who would be working on articles after that... and so on.

We made a brief mention about the project in our annual financial report on Patreon, but didn't really expand upon things at the time; while we pride ourselves in being transparent with our backers, I'm kind of glad I was able to keep the specific details on this close to our chest until the reveal.

Will there also be a digital version?

Yes! We'll be offering a digital version through the Anime Herald (Pop-Up) Store for $12.75 USD. This will be available the day the magazine is released in October.

We're also exploring the possibility of other storefronts for the digital edition, but haven't made final decisions about that yet.

Did you have any trouble picking the eight classic articles?

Yes and no. The first five were immediate "we need to include this" picks for me. They were, first and foremost, pieces by our team that were either genuinely fun reads, special pieces that I wanted to highlight, or in one case, one that was immensely important to one of our editors.

The remaining three were like pulling teeth. We've published so many incredible pieces over the years, and I wish we could publish all of them. However, we only have so many pages to work with, and so many articles we can run, so it's been a process of bringing hundreds down to those remaining three slots.

What kind of things can people expect from the new articles?

I don't want to spoil all of the articles we're publishing, but each piece will be something that couldn't happen if not for the writer behind it. In keeping with our publication's ethos, we offered each full creative freedom on the topic, asking only that they write about something that interested them, personally.

For example, we'll be publishing an interview with Onimai creator Nekotofu from Chiaki, an exploration of Girls Band Cry's co-option of anticapitalist iconography and messaging by Borealis Capps, and a brief history of the anime fandom media by myself.

Our hope is that everyone who picks up the issue will be able to read through and find something that makes them want to explore the anime world even a tiny bit more.

Was it fun recruiting the team of experts to write the articles?

It was both fun and nerve-wracking at the same time! I'm a fairly introverted person, and I hold a lot of respect for everyone I contacted. Folks like Lynzee Loveridge, Red Bard, Erica Friedman, and Daryl Surat are amazing colleagues. But more than that, they're friends I respect greatly, and whose work has been an influence and inspiration to me over the years.

So, I honestly wasn't sure how to best reach out to them, out of the blue, to ask, "Hi, I'm doing a magazine for our anniversary. Do you want to contribute to the first issue?"

I couldn't help but feel overjoyed with everyone who said they wanted to contribute. Each time, I was just stunned and grateful.

Will there be a second edition of the magazine / how often do you intend to release issues?

Yes! We're currently gauging sales of this first issue to see our schedule, but we do intend to publish an annual edition at the bare minimum.

I have some thresholds in my mind that would make it feasible to go, say, every six months or quarterly, but that's not something I'm trying to focus on at the moment. The big priority for me, right now, is creating the best magazine possible, as I want to make this something that everyone - our readers, our team, and our contributors, can be proud of.

Is there any anime / manga you're particularly enjoying at the moment?

I'll admit that I kind of fell off the seasonal bandwagon lately, as I cloistered up on my book project, and didn't have the time to really keep up with the weeklies. Still, I have been sure to set aside time for The Apothecary Diaries and Kowloon Generic Romance each week, and I'm looking forward to finally sitting down with Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX soon.

Outside of that, I've mostly been hitting my backlog. For example, a rewatch of Bubblegum Crisis, episodes of Maze: The Megaburst Space and Symphogear, or random OVAs like Shinesman or Elf Princes Rane... a lot of comfort food that I can put on and enjoy even when I'm working.

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The Anime Herald Magazine is due out in October 2025. You can pre-order it from shop.animeherald.com.

We'd like to thank Samantha Ferreira for taking her time to answer all our questions. This interview was conducted over e-mail.

Source: Otaku News