Let's start
(Disclaimer: Information may not be 100% finished, due to the fact that I only joined the community since 2014 and I may not be up-to-date with some of the current information. If you want to make some corrections, please use my email that is on the sumbission page.)
Beginning Point (I think?)
The starting point of fanime is rather nebulous, since while the term existed on sites like YouTube, there have been anime styled animation that existed before YouTube was even conceived. However, for the sake of simplicity (and the webmaster's sanity), we'll only talk about the YouTube side of it all.
As mentioned in the front page, the term fanime has started in 2006/2007, as a way for folks to make animated fan-fictions of their favorite magical girl anime. Many have sited Tokyo Crystal Mew as the very first fanime. Rather or not there were fanime that existed before TCM is unknown but it is a safe bet that it is, indeed, the first.
During the early days, there were fanimes that are animated fanfictions like Elemental Goddess by diamant88 (A Sailor Moon Fanime) and Care Bear Stars by JCStars5 (You can probably guess what pre-extisting series this for). That said, the most common of these fan animes are for Tokyo Mew Mew, since Tokyo Crystal Mew is what (allegedly) started it all. There were also sprinkles of some fanimes with orignal storylines like Eternal by Melodyfan12, Magic Heart and the Magical Warriors by MagicMe123, and Yin Yang by animestrawberrykitty.
There were also sites for fanime creators to discover one another, as at the time, YouTube is was more interested in popular creators like Fred and it would be harder for creators for community members to find one another (which is sadly a problem that kinda became worse overtime; thanks a bloody lot, YouTube..). The two sites were Fanime World (not to be confused with something I'll mention later on) and FanimeTube.
Of course, not everything is sunshine and rainbows as certain users from certain sites (I will not name for mine and other's safety) tried their best to rag on these creators for not being skilled enough with their animation (even tho they were just starting out and had very limited software at the time). This will be the seed to a phanomana that will be discussed later.
While there were some start up parody fanimes that existed before (Tokyo Moay Mew and Twinkle Girls), there is one fanime that will lead to many folks discovering the genre. The fanime is Nyan Neko Sugar Girls. Now, due to the uncertainty at the time, no one was exactly sure if SoapOpera46 was taking it 100% seriously or not. Even the folks who would do Let's Watches at the time aren't 100% sure if NNSG was a troll or not. This lead to a very successful case of a Troll fanime.
....Oh shit, right. I guess I should talk about the Let's Watches now, huh?
Let's Watches
So, while let's watches for some fanime existed before, with Retsupurae's riff on Elemental Goddess being the prime example of it, the phanomana of Let's Watches became super prominent. While it was common for folks to riff on Nyan Neko Sugar Girls, some let's watches lead to going for lesser know fanime and other internet animation that they were deem as "bad". The two most prominnt of the groups doing let's watches were BoringTrousers and Fanime Family Fun Night (I forgot the username, my apologies to the archivests.).
As far as we're aware, it seems that let's watches like this stopped being a thing from 2016 an onwards, with all the Fanime Family Fun Night stuff being unlisted.
These Let's Watches were sort of a mixed bag because while it was riffing on people's works and that in itself is kinda bad, it also lead to some folks being more curious about fanime, with some even making their own fanimes soly to exist for the let's watchers to riff on. Some folks even joined the community because those let's watches. However, again, these let's watches also had a negative impact on some creators as well. Some even quit doing fanime because they felt bad about what was said during these types of videos.
Personally, if we were to bring back the idea of "Recording Ourselves watching fanime", it be way less of a "Hey, let's make fun of this cringy thing" to a "Hey, let's discover, shall we?" (I.E., getting rid of the Cringe Culture bullshit)
Anyways, I've been on my soapbox about the Let's Watches
Back to the rest of fanime
So yeah, there were some fanime content being made. The most prominant were Tokyo Magic Star, Magical Nyoto Chan and My Jungle Book, Your Year. The latter definately made rounds, especially within Tumblr in the 2010s. Another fanime that also made rounds within Tumblr later is Nelipot. That has gotten people to be more into fanime.
Then in 2014... we have the big one
"Hi, I'm Evan and this is Fanime Update."
2014 and 2015... the starting years for some like me (the webmaster, hi).
It's no secret that Fanime Update is, for sure, a thing that is what helped people get into fanime. The fact that there was a weekly news channel for fanime is what got a lot of people interested. creators like Dravason, Funnybunnyjay, Otaku Krap, Sch Ribbit, FriedSoup, MissLadyMirange, and so much more. Though there were still a fair amount of troll fanimes (much to some folks' annoyance), there was also a fair amount of works that had at least some heart to them. There were also the case of timely challenges (2 hour, 12 hour, and 48 hours come to mind), all of which were either hosted on Creative Studio Forum or the Fanime Rehab Skype Group.
Sadly, around mid-late 2015, there was a drama that split the entire community apart. Obviously, I am not gonna get into it out of respect of all sides involved but it obviously effected the growth of the community and upset everyone all around.
But it didn't fully killed fanime.
Because later on that year, Evan hosted the 2015 Fanime Weekly Challenge, which lead to so many fanime series that had episodes being made and hosted on a weekly basis, such as Van Galaxis, Planetary Creation, Predecessor of a New World, and Sour Candy Filled Donuts.
Spoiler Alert, this won't be the last time there is a weekly challenge, I promise you this
2016-2019, Let's Goooooooo????
I am lumping all of these years together since they all have their fast and slow peroids, don't @ me.
Anyways
2016 was for sure a bit of a quiet year. Like there were some fanime coming out (some even reaching their finales), but it's not as grand as it was back. (Likely due to the fact that some of us were in roleplay hell at the time)
With that said, the creator of Nelipot hosted the 2016 Weekly Challenge, which lead to the creation of Terror Girls and Dungeon Tale.
2017 through 2018 were hazy years.
The highlights for the former year hand things like The Fanimation Forums, Fanime Zone, and the Fanime World discord starting up quickly. Granted, they were months apart so I can't say there is no time in between their formation. But still it was under a year, which one may look as either insane, impressive, or both.
FZ had a variety of videos, such as tutorials, interviews, and some challenges like the Valentines Challenge and Horror Trailer Challenge. Sadly, those videos had recently became private, as it seems that the admin for the channel wanted to move on from fanime. It's probably best to take my word (and the only video I archived on that channel) for it.
There was also the fact that funnybunnyjay made an RPG Maker Game called Fanime Quest.
The highlights for the latter year, outside of the aformentioned Valentines challenge, might have less to say. The only thing I can say is there were a huge amount of timely challenges and Nemomia the Chaotic Hero was a thing.
2019 is where things started to change a bit.
Because there were more challenges.
Another Valentine's Challenge was made (though, it was hosted by someone who hosted the now defunct UnitFanime Discord)
There was the 2019 Fanime Weekly Challenge (hosted by your truely), which lead to creations like Ocean Kiss, Bunny and Caramel, Excitential Chris, and Seven Guidnaces to Wishful Safety. It was also the first Weekly Challenge that the host was able to create and finished their fanime.
There was also the Drunk Fanime Challenge..... we don't talk about that one. :'D
At the time, it looked like a bit of a bleak for fanime stuff.... then came 2020
Covided fucked it up.
Yeah, it's no surprised that this was also a bleak year. Not just for fanime but for the entire fucking world.
There were... some fanime episodes but in terms of events, there were very few.
The positive I can say is that the Fanime Castle Discord Server became a thing!
I also tried my hand hosting a new type of challenge, which is the Bi-Weekly Challenge..... it did not go as well I as hoped, since no one joined, due to dealing with the trauma that was the pandemic.
Honestly, there is not much else for me to say here..
2021 to current
2021 was less bleak than 2020 but we were all still in the middle of pandemic. Fanime stuff were still coming out though.
There are two notible moments though. Firstly, there is an on-going devolopment for the another fanime RPG Maker Game called "Fanime Castle" made by owner of the discord of the same name. Secondly, Fanime World hosted an Summer Fanime Contest which lasted over the summer.
2022, while still stuck in the pandemic stage during the beginning of the year, had more notible moments.
Fanime MTV existed and folks can submit their on music videos for fanimes they enjoyed to the channel!! On top of that, Fanime Station also start up, filling in the place that Fanime Update left!!
Fanime Castle hosted few more events that was shared to the public, such as the Valetines Fanime Trailer Challenge and the Troll Fanime OP Challenge.
Tyangerine hosted the fourth Fanime Weekly Challenge, lasted from 2022 to 2023, as while things were slow during the beginning, there were a good amount of entires near the end such as Mellorism, Paprika's Not-So Sugoi Job, and Moon Mansion Solitary.
Aaaaaand. Staring in the 2024 Area, there was the "Fake Fanime OP Challenge". It's similar to the Troll Fanime OP Challenge, except those who participated had to put at least put more effort into the opening rather than making it seem like a troll fanime. Rather folks would make something out of their Fake Fanime openings heavily depends entirely on the creator.
All the while these events were happening, there were still a fair amount of fanime being made, more so in this area of time compared to 2020 and even 2021.
As of now, while it's hard to find one another due to a YouTube's BS with its search engine, fanime is still going strongly. Maybe not as strong as it was half of a decade before this point but it's still going!
Aaaaaaaaaand that's all so far, folks! Hope this is enlightening at the very least!