It feels like yesterday since I started blogging back in 2009 during my freshman year of college. Since then, the overall anime blogosphere landscape changed a lot since then. I saw some bloggers quitting/going on an endless hiatus along with others starting new blogs replacing the dead ones. Also during these years, I got to know a good number of bloggers in the blogosphere and fans. For that, I feel that this is a good time to look back and comment on it. (Image Source)
When I started blogging about anime back in February 17, 2009, I didn’t really have a specific goal. I just blog what came into my mind or what I have seen. If you take a look back at the posts I made back then, it doesn’t look like something of quality. Slowly, I addressed these issues by focusing on impressions/analysis for episodic posts opposed to synopsis, paying close attention to my grammar/spelling, and writing more editorials/reviews. Eventually, I got better at it despite leaving few errors in my post once in a while.
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Secondly, my blog’s appearance had evolved as time went on. Although the theme wasn’t as important compared to the content, it had to look professional at a minimum to stand out. The first theme I used (as pictured above) had a lot of bloat, lacked threaded comments, and bugs. Overall, it doesn’t look great. Therefore, I overhauled the appearance by making my own theme before the first Aniblogosphere Tourney started. Since then, I have made many refinements following the theme. Eventually, I shifted from using Thematic to Genesis so I can provide a better experience and have a constantly updated theme framework. Even so, it looks a lot better than what I had in the beginning.
In addition of improving my writing and improving on the appearance, anime blogging had a huge impact in my life. Initially, I have been really picky of what I should watch since I was afraid to watch things out of my small comfort zone. Gradually, my tastes expand as I tried out new anime and I started to enjoy it a lot more. Eventually, it convinced me to learn Japanese so I can play games related to the series and of course, the ability to play Pokémon in Japanese. Still, the social experience is the most important thing throughout my three years of blogging. It allowed me to become more open and I got to know more anime bloggers/fans that shared the same interest of enjoying Anime and such. Not only that, I started commenting and reading other people’s blogs. In turn, it sometimes generated ideas for editorials, which is a win-win on both fronts.
Either way you look at it, I enjoy anime blogging and I don’t expect to stop in the near future. Although getting my masters and getting a job might reduce my free time available, I expect to manage my time so I can continue what I enjoy. So, with that, I’m happy that my blog has passed the passing of time and hopefully I will trudge along to the 4th year.
Raw Statistics at the writing of this post: 827 posts, 1769 comments, 41 completed series, 167365 visitors, 297910 pageviews (since June 15, 2010 when Piwik got installed)
Congrats on the three years. Way better than I am to balance college work with blogging. Even learned a little bit from watching the content you posted. ^^
I wish you well and many more years in the future (or for however long you decide to continue).
Of course, it’s not without challenge. When I used to be an accounting major, my time for blogging decreased since Intermediate Accounting I and II was a difficult and time consuming course with all that homework. Now, my new major isn’t as intensive and addition to that, I usually get my homework done while I’m at school. After that, it leaves time for me to watch and blog about stuff.
Congratulations, Chikorita. It takes dedication to keep updating regularly for multiple years, and I quite like how organized your blog is. The various elements of the sidebar are rather interesting, and the ability for commentators to link to their latest blog posts is something I haven’t seen anywhere else.
When it comes to quality of posts, I feel the same way with my blog. It seems that everyone just gets better with practice.
The comment thing is a plugin that can be installed as long you own a self hosted blog. Either way, making the theme look good and easy to navigate took a lot of time. Since I know my way around CSS and Photoshop, I can be a bit creative opposed to just using what the theme gives you… In most cases with WordPress.com blogs, this is a sad reality since custom design costs extra…
Congratulations and keep at it! One day you will be writing your 33 years anniversary post!
That’s if there is still anime for me in the distant future… Even so, I hope to continue onwards although I don’t know what the future holds.
It’s true, your writing has improved over the past few years. Keep up the good work!
Thank you. While you haven’t faced horrible English teachers in high school, I was unfortunate since my writing got screwed up early in my life for reasons I don’t want to go into. With that, having good writing skills is important in college and I need to fix it. Starting an anime blog to practice it was one of the reasons behind it, which I didn’t mention in the post.
Congrats on three years! And thank you for always helping me out with my blog, too ^_^
You’re welcome… and I wish you well. 🙂
Congratz! I just found out about your blog today. 3 years, that is really something.
I’ll be sure to stick around 🙂
Three years may look like a long time, but it goes by really quickly… anyways, thanks!
Congratulations on your 3rd year, here’s to more in the future :3
I think it was feal87 who came up with the “3-year wall” statistic on when aniblogs die off, so I think it’s more than amazing that you’ve come this far.
Can’t wait until I can break that wall as well, and I only hope I can become as good and involved writer as you are now :3 (I’m learning Japanese right now, and I’m slowly becoming able to rely less and less, and even find small errors, on subs for anime. Never thought about playing pokemon in japanese, gonna have to try that sometime :3)
Of course the Anime Blog lasting 3 years isn’t something new in the blogosphere as it has been mentioned by others in the blogosphere and of course when I reflected on the Aniblog Tourney last year. Still, it takes motivation, time management and money (if you host it yourself).
Ahh yes, Pokemon is great for vocabulary, especially you can switch from using Kana and Kanji… but no furigana, but some of their other games have it. As long you know the basic grammar, you will understand it.
The magical 3 year mark – congratulations! Hope you keep writing and having fun! 🙂
Thank you and I thank anyone else who congratulate me afterwards…
Congratulations!
A bit late, but congratulations! 🙂