Before streaming, before forums, before you could watch anything you wanted at 2am — there was Animerica. Launched by Viz in July 1992, it was one of the first US magazines devoted entirely to anime and manga.

It mixed reviews, industry news, interviews, episode guides, and serialized manga, and for over a decade (it ran into 2005) it was how you found out things: what was getting licensed, what was coming to VHS and then DVD, what the fandom was excited about.

Flipping through an issue now is a time capsule — the ads alone map the entire arc of anime crossing into the American mainstream. My collection starts at Vol. 1, No. 1, and reading them in order is like watching a subculture grow up month by month.