Well, it’s finally the last day of 2023, so I will share what I plan to watch in 2024, my thoughts on 2023 and my goals for next year.
What I Plan to Watch in Winter 2024
As expected, Winter 2024 seems to be the subdued season. While Sasayaku you ni Koi wo Utau was supposed to air this winter, it got pushed back a season due to production delays. So, we have three shows to watch: Mahou Shoujo ni Akogarete, Metallic Rogue, and Pon no Michi. I will not share why I am watching them since the Winter season is about to start in a few days. If you want to read why I plan to watch these three shows, perhaps check out OG-Man’s Winter 2024 Anime Preview.
You can share what you plan to watch in the comments.
2023 Year in Review and Plans for 2024
While 2023 went by quickly, it was a busy year, and I accomplished a lot. I have finally finished WaniKani, as it took about 1 and a half years to get to Level 60, and I can read Japanese media better. However, my reading abilities need more improvement. I didn’t focus too much on listening until I started watching JDrama.
When I took the JLPT N2, I was not confident as I hadn’t done enough immersion, especially the listening. I can only understand parts or half of what they are saying. That said, 2023 will be spent primarily on native Japanese content and creating stuff using Japanese to keep what I have learned fresh in my mind. I finished 26 manga volumes this year, and most of the reading is done during commutes. Maybe in 2024, I will focus more on immersion with some JLPT prep, retake the JLPT, and hopefully pass since I know the format now.
Of course, a good chunk of the time is spent managing Sakurajima. While I published the year in review for Sakurajima last week, a lot of work was put into creating a safe and fun Japanese media fandom that took some time away, especially when we started. I hope more will come from the dying Twitter/X and come over to our server at our Mastodon or Misskey server (the Mastodon alternative popular in Japan). Also, don’t join the big Mastodon Social. It’s not a great experience with poor moderation because of how big it is. I recommend moving to our server, but the choice is yours.
Obviously, I plan to run Sakurajima for the long term as the future will shift back to decentralized and federated social networks, forums, blogs, and websites, not big social platforms run by big corporations.
I felt engagement was not what I expected in the second half, as it dropped a bit. Part of it is because I covered very few shows during the Summer. Also, I got a bit lazy putting links to other people’s blog posts in my post, which I have been doing since I left Twitter forever. Yes, this is what The Crow does on his blog. The idea is to give readers other posts they might not know about.
This will become more important as everything shifts back from big platforms, the monster we have been feeding for years that was only possible due to cheap money. While Twitter or X didn’t collapse as I predicted, it’s almost there as advertisers leave Twitter for good and regulatory forces like the European Union begin to examine Twitter’s poor moderation, allowing hate speech and misinformation to proliferate. With other social platforms facing enshittification and others embracing ActivityPub, the protocol that powers Mastodon and Misskey, it’s obvious where everything is heading, social networking-wise.
As for attending conventions and stuff like that, we’ll see.
With that, I hope everyone had a nice 2023. Although it went by quickly, I hope for a good 2024. Feel free to share your plans and what you will watch in the upcoming season in the comments.
