Here you get to know a bit about us. Me (Chuck Gaffney) and Danielle.

Our Pictures

History

Chuck's Anime Shrine was started back in March of 2002 in my 12th grade web design class project. The original version I completely hard coded in HTML and had a few links and such.

Then in 2003 I updated the site to version 2.0 which was the time this site became very popular due to the AMVs and our submissions on Newgrounds.com.

In late 2004, I lost a bit of time here as people might have known. I was too busy as a manager at Friendly's Ice Cream Parlor while going to school in Stony Brook and at the same time starting my network marketing company CDG International/ Gaffney Enterprises. From late 2004 to the beginning of 2006, much this site was left dormant with very few updates.

In the beginning of 2007 my time was finally freed by a number of events. First I eventually got a job as a web programmer for Berger-Bros Camera after the whole evil Friendly's debacle that left me very ill. Second, my network marketing company began to grow where I don't have to work as many hours in my 9-5 job and will soon never be owned by any job or boss and will be able to travel back and forth to Japan and other places.

In March of 2007 I turned Chuck's Anime Shrine into a registered business and in June of 2007 I added the Anime store to the site.

In August of 2007 I upgraded Chuck's Anime Shrine's look to version 3.0 and added new features like podcasts, contests, anime news and an overall cleaner, faster site.

In late October of 2008, with the success of the anime store, blog and the need to bring this site into the lime-light a new update to the site had to be done. Version 4.0 looks much more like I imagined the site to be. A even better look and smooth, simplified flow to the site was added. Features like instant picture submission by both me and the users thanks to Apple's MobileMe was used to replace the old series and "non-series" art. Fan art submissions can now be added on the fly and hopefully that would make this site more usable and not just a static anime fan-site. There is always more touch-ups to do here but many fans will noticed the improved look.

2009 turned out to be a great year for the anime store part of the site. It kept going strong despite the economy being in a terrible recession. Though I attempted to, I wasn't able just yet to leave a regular day job to be a full time anime retailer and fan.

March of 2010: Got to do some anime, videogame and commercial dubbing classes with Bang! Zoom! Studios (reponsible for the dubbing behind great anime like Gurren Lagann). Was very informative, fun and yet another way to break free from the dulldrums of the 9-5 status-quo lifestyle. What great thing it would be if I could end up as the voice of an anime and video game character.

July 2010: To bring back the mascots Danielle and I created (Fumi and Lily), Daneille decided to add Yumi to the list; a shrine maiden who'd represent the anime store section of the site. We held a contest for artists for artists to help up in the much overdue branding of the site. After some amazing submissions, we agreed to dubb artist Kenneos as the winner. Not going to rule out a return for the other great artists though ^^.

Early 2011: Sales from the anime store reached an all time high at $148,000. It's been a busy time, so busy that I didn't get to put the banner artists page that I promised back after July of 2010 ^^;; (should be up shortly) The past 6 months people have been noticing the main store of my site as oppose to just the ebay and amazon.com branches. This thanks to happy customers who posted wonderful reviews on Danny Choo's figure.fm. In February the store got upgraded to have a 258 bit SSL security for the future use of direct CC payment and to assure an extra level of saftey in lue of the growing traffic. In case you are wondering about the voice acting gig, I'll be going back to a final thrid class with Bang! Zoom! and this time I hope to get a demo done (to some degree) and then it's just auditioning for parts...and who knows; you might be hearing me on the next anime you watch.

Old Versions of the Site:

Version 2.0 (2003-2007)

Version 3.0 (2007-2008)

Version 4.0 (2008- )

Any more info about us you can check my facebook account (or even at my old myspace account). Add us as your friend, message us, etc.