Now I have some time, I will begin to review Anime Blogs from Day 1 to 3. This means 12 blogs in total. As mentioned before, I will be reviewing the blogs from these criterias listed in this post.
Before going on, this review Digest will contain screenshots of the actual website and how they look on my machine, so slow connections, beware… I’m basing all content on quality, not the blogger’s overall opinion on issues and stuff.
Day 1
Match 1
Loli Salad
The design of this blog is rather simple and I have imagined that I seen this theme somewhere. Anyways, the problem with Loli Salad is that some or most of the content on the blog aren’t actually related to Anime and the updates seems to be infrequent. However, the content quality seems to be good on the most part, but I think the weakness is the frequency of updates overall.
Calamitous Intent
Although like with Loli Salad, Calamitous Intent seems to post more often in comparison, and I give them credit for that… Theme seems to be very commonly used, but I’ll ignore that since the limitation of WordPress.com with themes… although they could have be a little more creative with their design if possible. Based on productivity, vote goes to Calamitous Intent.
Match 2
The Cart Driver
I’m not going to be biased here because Scamp is obviously one of the organizers of the AniBlog Tourney but here are my thoughts. From my first view, it seems that the theme is rather good and original and easy to navigate and such. The Cart Driver seems to be more of an episodic blog. His post seems to be very good and overall, Scamp seems to post very frequently while keeping consistent post quality.
Sekijitsu
The problem with Sekijitsu is not with the content since the bloggers seems to post rather frequently and have good quality posts, but the problem is with the layout and navigation. The even though the layout seems to be very appealing to the eye, the end result is that the theme is very image heavy, which causes the page to load rather slowly. This can be a problem with slower connections such as DSL and also Mobile Broadband connections like 3G and such. I don’t know if this is a browser issue or not (since I’m using Omniweb, which actually uses the Webkit rendering engine), but the recent posts/comments and also the stuff on the bottom seems to be glitchy… Also, the posts seems to be separated in separate sections, but the problem is the lack of an archive feature so I can check posts back in a specific date or a list of categories relating to separate Anime series… The content quality is equal, but the vote has to go to The Cart Driver because of better layout design and navigation that doesn’t bog down my iPhone if I wanted to view those blogs on the go. It will also help if they provided a mobile version of the site as well.
Day 1 Results
Calamitous Intent and The Cart Driver
Day 2
Match 3
Hanners’ Anime ‘Blog
Hanner’s blog seems to have a good design with good navigation and such (with browsing with categories and dates) and seems to load fast. The overall quality of the posts seems to be very good and Hanner seems to be descriptive on what he has seen and posts often. The only gripe is the big banner that take up most of the screen, which can pose a problem with smartphones and the downgraded 16:9 displays which requires people to do more scrolling than they need to.
wat u say
The theme as always seems to be very common and not much effort was put into it because of WordPress.com limitations. Besides from that, although the posts are good, the problem is that the frequency of posts compared to the latter. Because of this, Hanner’s Anime Blog gets the vote since he seems to put alot more effort by the number of posts he made with a week.
Match 4
I voted for Paper Flower because, well I promised mefloraine, but there is also a reason why. Although not an episodic blog, this blog seems to focus on artwork which is pretty unique… something that haven’t been done in the AniBlogosphere. In addition, this author also operates Paper Dream Newsletter which shares artwork from piviv every day (including Artist’s name and such), so I give her props for that.
Lower Mid-Table has an okay design, but the only problem with the content that it’s rather infrequent and what sports have to do with Anime? Anyways, in consideration, that is my last thoughts about it and the vote is already set in stone, so I can’t do much. :p
Day 2 Results:
Hanner’s Anime Blog and Paper Flower (Sorry about that mistake, the names are so similar that I slipped. :p)
Day 3
Match 5
Open Your Mind
Although some filler post here and there, the quality of the posts are pretty good. Also, the layout design of course is clean and attractive to the eye and 53RG10 seems to post frequently, despite the filler posts. I think this is going to be a tough call… but what is the competitor doing?
Hyper Parfait
Does this look like a meido cafe to you… it does, but I see a problem with the design that makes it a big mess… It’s more like form over function in this cafe since although the design looks cool and all, but how functional is it? The design makes it rather difficult to navigate the site. Although the content is good and both bloggers update frequently, I will have to vote for Open Your Mind since it has a cleaner design and better navigation. The owner of Hyper Parfait should consider cleaning up the layout so that it will be more functional and less messy.
Match 6
Grand Punk Railroad
Same generic layout… I know, WordPress.com doesn’t have a wide variety of customization… but yeah… About the competition?
2-D Teleidoscope
Both blogs are the same content wise in quality and frequency, but 2-D Teleidoscope has an advantage for one reason… No sign of hiatus. How do I know? I type that word in search and BAM, no results… and also, it was a popular choice, so I have decided on this one instead. Although the theme is a little plain, it seems that this one is an attractive choice overall.
Day 3 Results:
Open Your Mind and 2-D Teleidoscope
Well, there you have it… In the next two days, I will be posting another rather long Digest. Once I get home, I will be placing these votes for these blogs (except Match 4 since I already voted).
what sports have to do with Anime?
lolol… blogsuki.com
.-= Ryan A´s last blog ..Spring 2010: Arakawa Under the Bridge =-.