To protect the site from devastation! Meet the team who keeps the articles, podcasts, and reviews running on time.
Managing Editors
While the AniFem team is very much a collaborative effort, this duo handles the majority of the day-to-day tasks. In addition to managing AniFem and helping with contributor edits, you’ll also find their names on articles, podcasts, recommendations, and premiere reviews.
Vrai Kaiser is the content editor and scheduling manager, making sure AniFem sticks to a consistent, weekly publication schedule. A genderqueer, autistic author and pop culture blogger, they’ve fully embraced their lifetime role as a lover of trash. You can read more essays and find out about their fiction at Fashionable Tinfoil Accessories, listen to them podcasting on Soundcloud, support their work via Patreon, or check out their Twitter (@writervrai) for freelance articles and Yu-Gi-Oh! feels.
Alex Henderson is our technical editor, ensuring the site produces consistent, quality content. A writer and fledgling academic, they completed a doctoral thesis about queer representation in fiction in 2023. They have reviewed books for magazines, been published in fiction anthologies, and apply their analytical brain to anime, YA, and other fun pop culture things over on their blog The Afictionado. You can also find them on their website, Bluesky, and Twitter.
Community Manager
Caitlin Moore is AniFem’s community moderator, working to keep AniFem a safe space for marginalized folks while also encouraging thoughtful, nuanced debate and good old-fashioned silliness. She’s also written numerous pieces for AniFem, works with contributors as an editor, and joins the team on podcasts. A Seattle-based preschool teacher, Caitlin is an amateur critic with an academic background in linguistics and Japanese language and culture. She runs the blog I Have a Heroine Problem and can be reached on Twitter @alltsun_nodere.
Payments Manager
Chiaki Hirai ensures payments are sent to contributors and staff members on a timely schedule. She also handles Japanese-English translations and helps out with interviews, seasonal reviews, and recommendations. Her personal accomplishments include: writing an undergraduate thesis on Touhou Project, getting blacklisted by TokyoPop, and interviewing the creator of Sudoku. In her free time, she’s on Twitter either making bad jokes about anime (@AnimatedEmpress) or screaming about her kinks and urban development (@Chiaki747).
Podcast Manager
Peter Fobian edits and schedules our biweekly podcast in addition to helping out with contributor edits and recommendations posts. He’s a professional writer and producer who’s been working in anime, video games, and esports for over a decade. You can follow him on Twitter @peterfobian.
Contributor Liaison
Lizzie Visitante (a.k.a. ThatNerdyBoliviane) is the contributor liaison, connecting writers to editors and keeping everyone informed about publication dates and invoicing instructions. They are currently struggling to survive in this weird-ass world that does not celebrate awesomeness enough. They self-identify as Queer Quechua (Mestize) Bolivian-American and are involved with social justice work of all kinds. Aside from that, they are an avid lover of anime, manga, cartoons, (on rare occasion live-action TV shows if it’s good), and having amazing discussions with other folks about nerdy things. You can visit their blog Home to my Bitter Thoughts or follow them on Twitter @LizzieVisitante.
Editors and Creators
Each member of the editorial team helps with behind-the-scenes site decisions, editing contributor pieces, writing articles, and participating in podcasts, along with any ongoing, ad hoc work to further AniFem’s mission.
Cy Catwell is a JP-EN localization editor, proofreader, and QA, as well as a journalist and pop culture critic and reviewer. Black, Queer, and forevermore a Blerd, Cy is known as the resident idol lover, bringing their keen insight to the wide, wide world of Japan’s idol industry. They’re also a big, big fan of the manga Complex Age, the Etrian Odyssey video game series, the visual novel Raging Loop, and loves the “cute girls doing cute things” sub-genre of iyashikei/healing and slice-of-life anime. You can follow their work as a professional Blerd on their blog Backlit Pixels, get snapshots of their life via Instagram, or keep up with their day to day freelancing antics on Twitter.
Dee has worn many hats at AniFem, including editor-in-chief, contributor liaison, and PR rep. She’s mostly retired now, but she still pops in from time to time to pinch-hit on a piece or podcast. When she isn’t facilitating Team Rocket’s takeover of the website, she spends her free time devouring novels and intersectional history books, watching way too much anime, and cheering very loudly for the Kansas Jayhawks. You can read more of her work at The Josei Next Door or hang out with her on Bluesky @deescribe, Tumblr @joseinextdoor, or (reluctantly) Twitter @joseinextdoor.
Toni Sun Prickett is using their superpower of “being cool with being on camera” to help AniFem finally post video content. They are a queer interdisciplinary artist, educator, and writer based in Brooklyn. Their work synthesizes queer Asian critique with pedagogy, media, and performance studies to enact queer Asian futures in the classroom and in performance art. Their blog can be found at medium.com/@poetpedagogue and their Twitter handle is @poetpedagogue.
Alumni
Let’s show some love for the “retired” staffers who have been instrumental in AniFem’s success!
Lauren Orsini is a Gundam pilot and experienced journalist who we used to call on to ensure our news pieces were written with watertight integrity. Lauren has written about geek culture at Forbes, geek careers at Otaku Journalist, and reviews at Anime News Network. She can be found on Twitter @laureninspace.
Founder
Amelia Cook is the founder of Anime Feminist. She bought the domain name, contacted potential team members, introduced her vision, and set up the website to launch. While she’s no longer involved with the site, she built a foundation for thoughtful progressive analysis and ethical business practices that AniFem continues to build on. You can find her on Twitter @ActuallyAmelia.