Introduction[]
The appeal of animating one's own animated series has always been prevalent. As such, fanime, although only recently dubbed this, has been around seemingly forever. However, the first homemade animations began appearing in late 2006. Although fanime's initial creation is often acredited to Melodyfan12 and her series "~*Eternal*~, other animators were around during her hayday and must be acredited also. Diamant88, Rounzei, JCStars5 and mojocrystaltokyo were others to sign up on Youtube in 2006 and all soon after uploaded videos and animations.
The protagonists of Melodyfan12's "~*Eternal*~".
The Fanimators[]
MelodyFan12 is sometimes called the "Queen of Animation" and is credited with popularizing fanimation and the magical girl genre with her animations. When she began to upload her transformations or "henshin" for her characters Yuka, Phee and Celina, her audience was caught and held.
If Melodyfan12 is the "Queen of Animation", then Diamant88 is the king. His magical girl series, "Elemental Goddess" is one of the most well loved animations on Youtube, with an incredible two full 20-minute episodes and numerous shorts, which is an extreme achievement. Inspired by Sailor Moon, "Elemental Goddess" plays off of its inspiration a lot, but still manages to be enjoyable.
Rounzei began as a magical girl creator but quickly branched out to animate fanime's most well known action series. Her original series, "ELFS", is still popular, with its own webcomic.
Jessica, the main character of diamant88's "Elemental Goddess".
JCStars5 separated himself from the pack by branching out with his fanime, utilising a famous children's show as inspiration and giving his male characters powers as well as his females. His "Care Bear Stars" has a full length 30-minute episode released, and used a different "game play" style for its later episodes and updates. It has since been cancelled, and the creator admitted that, in the end, he was just trolling.
Mojocrystaltokyo is infamous on Youtube and off for her classic "Tokyo Crystal Mew" fanime. Based on the magical girl series, "Tokyo Mew Mew", "Tokyo Crystal Mew" follows the next generation of mews on their own quest to defeat the villains, the Seekon Anima. Now hosted on the Japanese site Nico Nico Douga as well as a number of other video streaming sites, "Tokyo Crystal Mew" has reached a fame no other series has.
EliteParanoia, now known as EliteParanoid, created the comedic fanime "Take It Sevenfold" in 2006-2007. Influenced by "Azumanga Daioh" and "Lucky Star", it had 26 episodes that ranged from 5-7 minutes, with different elements including comedy, romance, drama, and thriller. It was very unpopular compared to the magical girl fanimes, so the series was cancelled and deleted. However, she is currently remaking them.