Top 10 Anime News Network News Articles of 2011

2011 was an interesting year at Anime News Network; out of the biggest tragedy we've ever covered came the single most read article ever posted on Anime News Network. Typically, our season preview guides are the most popular feature on ANN, but this one article was read more times, and by more people than any preview guide (which is a collection of several articles).

While the article about the survivors of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami may have been the most read article ever posted on ANN, we certainly all agree that we never want to write a similar article again. Special recognition should be given to intern Sarah Nelkin, and editors Gia Manry and Egan Loo for the hundreds of updates they made to the article, working late into the night for several nights in a row.

One big story of 2011, but not covered in any one news story, is the continued "decline" of the North American anime industry. Here at ANN though, we don't see the industry as being truly in decline, but rather in a state of evolution. There are several reasons we don't feel the industry is in decline, and we'll be addressing this in a feature article soon, but the most important, and most basic reason is quite simple. There are more anime fans today than ever before. 2011 has brought many new readers to ANN; many of you haven't been around for the whole year. So for the benefit of our new readers, as well as the reminiscence of our long-time readers, we've decided to put together a list of the top-10 news articles of 2011.

This list is in no way reflective of what we feel are the most important stories of 2011 (although there is certainly plenty of overlap), but rather it represents the 10 news articles that were read more than any others.

1. Anime/Manga/Game Industry Members Check in After Quake
2. New Rurouni Kenshin Anime Green-Lit
3. Anime/Manga/Game Events Cancelled After March 11 Quake
4. Anime/Manga Releases Delayed, Cancelled After Quake
5. Berserk to Get Theatrical Anime Film in 2011
6. Top 50 Manga Creators by Sales Since 2010
7. Ouran High School Host Club Gets Live-Action Show
8. Tokyopop to Close North American Publishing Division
9. Rurouni Kenshin Manga Gets Live-Action Film in 2012
10. Evangelion Inspires Real Operation Yashima After Quake

Check back tomorrow for the Top-10 Interest Articles of 2011, and the Top-10 Reviews of 2011 on Tuesday.

In the meantime, let us know what 2011 news article or event you most remember.