While Natakaâs home run from last time surprised Yomi and even the rest of Shin Koshigaya. However, Yoshino seems really upset. Can Shin Koshigaya really make a comeback?
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Tamayomi – Episode 12 (END) – The Surprising Comeback
Reviewing the Anime Streaming Platforms – Which One Is the Best?
A while ago, I shared some thoughts about anime streaming services. Believe it or not, in 2017, I realized that streaming anime is a lot more convenient than messing with torrents. While I dabbed into streaming sometime in 2016 by subscribing to three months of Funimation Now, I never shared my experience using it. Eventually, I cancelled it. A year later, I finally subscribed to Crunchyroll after being a holdout for years. Itâs mostly because I couldnât afford a subscription since was in college at the time.
While I was going to share my experiences with Crunchyroll and my three months using Funimation Now a while back, well it didnât quite happen. Between the period when I lost my job, focusing my time finding another job, finally getting one and moving, this idea went by the wayside.
Since then, a lot has changed in the legal anime streaming landscape. Some players such as Daisuki and a few others have gone under. Of course, there are some new players as well such as Hidive, and the revamped Funimation streaming service.
What really inspire me to finally share my thoughts is Irina sharing her thoughts on streaming platforms. While her review focuses on the state of streaming in Canada, since most of our readers are from the United States, itâs time to focus on the state of streaming here. Of course, I subscribed to all three services. With that, I will share my overall impressions on after using them for a while.
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Tamayomi – Episode 11 – The Unlucky Play
It seems that Shin Koshigaya is struggling to stage a comeback against Ryoyukan. Do things get better from here, or worse?
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What Is on My Mind – June 2020 – Coronavirus Impact on Anime Blogging, Blog Changes, Black Lives Matter and Summer 2020 Preview
Now that itâs finally June, the rather desolate spring season thanks to Covid19 is coming to an end.
After the breakdown I had on Twitter, I want to change things up to perhaps improve the content of this blog. Since I usually do some kind of life updates on season previews, I want to do some kind of monthly summary type of posts.
Back in 2013-2015, I shared some kind of updates in a weekly summary of titles I chose not to cover individually. What I tend to do with these monthly posts is to share not only what I am up to and have planned, but also mini editorials on anime-related topics I find interesting during the month but couldnât write a whole post for. Also, I will also share my picks for this summer, providing that it doesnât get delayed.
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Tamayomi – Episode 10 – The Ryoyukan Challenge
At last, Shin Koshigaya is facing off Ryoyukan. Is Yoshinoâs strategy enough to break through? At a glance, itâs already an uphill battle.
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Pocket Monsters Sword and Shield – Final Review
After taking a break from being frustrated over the state of my blog, I’m finally back! During that time, I have completed two video games, namely Pocket Monsters Sword and Shield. As you would expect, these games are probably the most controversial. It’s not too surprising since Game Freak cut a large number of PokÃĐmon from the games.
Now that I finished the main story, itâs time to share my thoughts. Is the game really that bad people make it out to be?
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Tamayomi – Episode 9 – Shin Koshigaya’s First Big Win
Now that Nakayama lost her cool after Ibuki copied her pitch, it’s now Shin Koshigayaâs chance to win the game.
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Tamayomi – Episode 8 – Tama Meets Her Old Friend and The First Match
The summer girlsâ baseball tournament has finally begun. Tama meets a certain someone from Ryoyukan before Shin Koshigaya High School faces off their first match.
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Dealing with Possible Blogging Burnout – How to Deal With It
Since the time I shared my concerns about the state of the blog, I fell anxious about where my blog is headed. Sure, I have tried making some improvements. However, I still feel the bottom is coming underneath me as the pandemic delayed a lot of titles. I fear that this could be the end of my blog. It’s not too surprising since there would be less content to cover, thus fewer comments and likes. The thing that really upset me today is the lack of comments in my recent posts. This is despite the hours put into writing these reviews and even an editorial nobody bothered to leave a like and/or a comment. I became upset that I complained on twitter in several tweets today. I felt that I can’t let this go on any further.
Believe it or not, at some point, some anime bloggers probably faced these issues. When he or she look at other blogs, they have no problem receiving comments and likes. It does make one feel that the effort one put into creating content is going to waste. Of course, this is not the only problem that can cause a blogger to become frustrated and/or even quit for good. Instead of continuing to vent on Twitter and going nowhere as I did this morning, I want to share my thoughts in a rational manner.
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Impact of Covid-19 on Japanese Animation Studios and the Need to Embrace Digital and Telework
Believe it or not, I have covered the impacts of the Anime Industry due to Covid-19. However, we still didnât know the full impact back then, until now. This just didnât happen overnight. Animation studios faced problems such as poor working conditions, a packed production schedule and noticeable delays in 2019.
As expected, the coronavirus situation made the whole thing worse. Sure, a handful of titles suffered minor delays. Eventually, the coronavirus situation worsened with more than forty titles facing delays. Â As a result, studios had no choice but to delay productions. Eventually Japan declared a state of emergency on April 16, weeks after delaying the Olympics. This does not come at a surprise since the workplace at these studios clamped. As a result, this makes social distancing efforts nearly impossible. With that, I want to focus on some thoughts on the whole situation.
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Hidamari Sketch – Episodes 1-3 – Cuteness Overload
As COVID-19 rages on and affects most anime productions, itâs time to watch more shows that are on my list. Recently, I have compiled a list of shows IÂ plan to cover. I probably wonât be able to finish everything by the time everything starts to go back to the new normal. At least this will give me some things to cover during the next few seasons. After all, the next several months will be pretty barren with all the delays.
With that, we continue the trend of watching all the Manga Time Kirara adaptations I havenât seen yet. This time we head back to 2007. Yes, we are finally watching the timeless schoolgirl slice of life filled with diabetes induced cuteness. That show is Hidamari Sketch. Yes, I orginally intended to review this show last year. However, my big move for a new job kind of distracted me from actually watching the whole first season.
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Tamayomi – Episode 7 – Tournament Picks and The Preparations
Now that Yomi and Tama had their first win, itâs time to focus on the summer tournament. Of course, only Yoshino, Ms. Fuji and Tama went to the ceremony. I wonder, what will their placement will be?
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Sansha Sanyou – Final Review
Now that the spring season is now mostly a barren wasteland thanks to COVID-19, I decided to tackle my backlog. Of course, there are a good number of shows I still have to watch, including some Manga Time Kirara adaptations. While I watched and cover a good number of them each season, there are some that I miss due to lack of time covering them.
Like with GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class, Sansha Sanyou is another one of those shows I wanted to watch after playing one of the events from Kirara Fantasia. Yes, besides Nishikawa Youkoâs rich young lady personality and cute appearance gracing me, I used her a lot in quests besides Koyume, Sharo, Naru, Archive, and Swimsuit Kaoruko. I kind of like her character design and personality. While she is not rich anymore and can only afford eating bread crusts, she still has a lot of charm.
Of course, the only reason I didnât watch it until now since itâs a Funimation exclusive. I didnât start subscribing to it until the start of this year.
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Tamayomi – Episode 6 – The 4th Game Is the Charm
As they say, is the fourth try the charm after losing three games in a row? Maybe.
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Sansha Sanyou â Episodes 7-9 – A New Potential Pairing, The Rival Date and the Scary Cultural Festival
Finally, the unthinkable has finally happened. Yes, Serina and Teru finally goes on a âdate.â I wonder how it turned out.
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Anime Blogging and Hosting – Why You Should Start One On a Virtual Private Server Instead on WordPress.com
Since we are stuck at home due to COVID-19 and have nothing to do, you are probably watching or reading a lot of anime. Yes, itâs probably a great time to start a blog about anime, but you donât know where to begin. Should I just start my anime blog on Wordpress.com?
While Wordpress.com is an easy and free way to start, you are probably limiting your potential to grow your audience. You wonât get very far without getting a domain name. Even with that, the free version is every limited in customization and you need to pay $8, which is expensive when you can do it yourself.
Of course, this guide of some sort is the hard mode in any video game. Yes, Crow from Crowâs World of Anime did several useful guides, but I think using shared hosting is a bad idea due to my past bad experiences. Also, there is a big benefit of doing it of doing it on a virtual private server. Not only your site will run faster, and you will gain some new skills of setting the server yourself, especially if you are trying to get a job in Computer Science, Information Systems, or Information Technology.
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Tamayomi – Episode 5 – Baseball Training Camp From Hell
Since Yomi and her friends lost a practice game, Ms. Fuji wants them to actually be ready for the tournament. You know what this means, right? Yep, a training camp.
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Sansha Sanyou – Episode 4-6 – Cat Photo Taking Rivalries, Maid Bakeries and Fun at the Beach
With that, we delve deeper as Teru and Futaba helps out at Shinoâs bakery. Also, that beach episode finally arrives.
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Sansha Sanyou – Episodes 1-3 – The Poor Princess and the Awesome Maid
As expected, it seems that for the most part, most spring season shows are now being pushed back due to covid-19. Instead of letting the blog go without any content, we are going to start covering some shows from the backlog. As you would expect, there is still a good number of shows that I havenât got the chance to watch.
With how this works is that I will cover three episodes each week for a given series until I complete it and review it. Unlike regular episodic impressions where I cover the episodes overall, I will only touch on the aspects I find interesting and enjoyable. With the first series I will cover in the backlog is the first three episodes of Sansha Sanyou.
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Tamayomi – Episode 4 – Yomiâs and Tamaâs First Baseball Game Together
At last, Yomiâs team finally get a taste of how a real baseball game is like. However, the team they are facing, Yanaukawagoe competed in nationals. Yep, this is going to be a hard game to win, but they are determined.
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Houkago Teibou Nisshi – Episode 3 – Hina’s First Big Catch
At last, Hina finally receives her own fishing rod. Now, the Breakwater Club are going on a fishing trip to fish for some flathead fish. Hina decides to find out what it actually looks like.
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State of the Blog â Part III â More Frustrations, Possible Burnout, and Anxieties, But Still Hopeful
Since I last shared my frustrations, I felt that things were getting a bit better. Sadly, while things got better in terms of comments and such, it didnât last. Things took a turn for the worst since the start of this year.
With Coronavirus outbreaks in Japan delaying some anime productions with more on the day, this does give me a lot of anxieties of the future of this blog. Not only that, the lack of comments on my recent posts, including my editorials from last month, which are hurting my motivation to blog. In addition, the lack of followers are becoming a sticking point too. What troubles me are the few who I follow are unfollowing me, which is a huge betrayal. I donât know exactly what I am doing wrong since I do not post anything controversial.
Instead of keeping my frustrations in, I want to share them. Also I want to receive feedback from the readers on what areas to improve the engagement on this blog before I completely burn myself out. Hear me out.
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Tamayomi – Episode 3 – Tama’s and Yomi’s New Promise
Now that Yomi’s team now has 7 members on her team, with a new advisor, they start training. However, she might have two more members possibly joining.
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Houkago Teibou Nisshi – Episode 2 – Hina’s First Time Casting
Now that Hina reluctantly joins the Breakwater Club, she continues her life in high school
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