Beneath the Tangles has turned 16 years old. Can you believe that?
16 years of loving anime fans.
16 years of geeking out about manga and light novels.
16 years of blogging.
16 years of connecting with you.
When BtT began, I had no idea what God would do with this little anime blog. But after all this time—through the “death” of blogging, the rise of social media, the transformation of anime from a niche interest to a wider one, and changes in the church—we’re still here. And as we look toward the future, I believe God is calling us not simply to continue what we’ve been doing, but to go deeper and do it even better.
As we begin our 16th year, we’re introducing a revised mission and vision for Beneath the Tangles.
Our new mission is:
Beneath the Tangles shares the gospel of Jesus Christ with anime fans through thoughtful, well-crafted, and biblically faithful content while cultivating a loving, genuine, faith-centered community where people encounter Christ and grow in faith.
Our mission statement used to be longer, but together with our leadership team, I’ve changed it—not simply to shorten it, but to make it more accurate as to what we do well and what we want to do well, and to connect it to our vision. And that vision is both grand and simple:
Our vision is to see every anime fan encounter the life-giving hope of Jesus Christ.
We want to share Christ with every anime fan. That’s not always going to be in an explicit way in community, but we can do so through our analysis of anime on the blog, or by being Jesus’ hands and feet in our interactions, or by modeling authentic relationship (an important starting point for meeting Christ) in our video content.
Ultimately, though, these changes do push us toward what BtT has always emphasized, but that which I haven’t truly focused enough on: community. We don’t want to simply create content that people consume. We want to build a place where people know one another, encourage one another, encounter Christ, and grow together.
To help us live out that mission, we’re thinking about BtT through four key roles:
- Creating
- Modeling and discipling
- Connecting and reaching
- Encouraging and equipping.
These encompass both the work we already do and some of the ways we hope to grow—through our writing, videos, social media, Discord community, relationships with other Christians doing anime ministry, and more.
And yes, that means some changes are coming. Over the coming months, we’ll be looking at our platforms and programs and asking how each can better serve our mission. Some changes will be small; others may be more substantial. We’ll be taking our time, listening, experimenting, and praying as we go.
Most importantly, I want BtT to become a deeper community. Our Discord server is at the heart of that effort, providing a place where anime fans can gather, have fun, talk about life and faith, and grow together. If you haven’t joined us yet, we’d love to have you!
Join the Beneath the Tangles Discord community
There’s a lot more ahead, and I’m genuinely excited about it. Thank you to everyone who has read, shared, written, drawn, watched, prayed, served, encouraged, debated, laughed, and hung out with us over these sixteen years.
Happy 16th anniversary, Beneath the Tangles. Here’s to the next chapter!
