Editorials

What Is on My Mind – July 2020 – Blogging Motivation, Japanese Animator Salary Woes, Magia Record English Anniversary and More

June 28, 2020 by chikorita157 2 Comments

Now that the month is coming to the end now that summer officially begun, it’s time to share what I have on my mind. Also, I also will share some thoughts on posts and anime-related news that I find interesting throughout the month.

Yes, I know that this post is early, but I will be away during 4^th July weekend to visit my parents after being stuck mostly at home for months.
[Read more…] about What Is on My Mind – July 2020 – Blogging Motivation, Japanese Animator Salary Woes, Magia Record English Anniversary and More

Reviewing the Anime Streaming Platforms – Which One Is the Best?

June 14, 2020 by chikorita157 4 Comments

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. It’s mostly because I couldn’t 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 didn’t 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, it’s 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.
[Read more…] about Reviewing the Anime Streaming Platforms – Which One Is the Best?

What Is on My Mind – June 2020 – Coronavirus Impact on Anime Blogging, Blog Changes, Black Lives Matter and Summer 2020 Preview

June 7, 2020 by chikorita157 1 Comment

Now that it’s 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 couldn’t write a whole post for. Also, I will also share my picks for this summer, providing that it doesn’t get delayed.

Dealing with Possible Blogging Burnout – How to Deal With It

May 17, 2020 by chikorita157 10 Comments

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.
[Read more…] about Dealing with Possible Blogging Burnout – How to Deal With It

Impact of Covid-19 on Japanese Animation Studios and the Need to Embrace Digital and Telework

May 16, 2020 by chikorita157 3 Comments

Believe it or not, I have covered the impacts of the Anime Industry due to Covid-19. However, we still didn’t know the full impact back then, until now. This just didn’t 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. 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.
[Read more…] about Impact of Covid-19 on Japanese Animation Studios and the Need to Embrace Digital and Telework

Anime Blogging and Hosting – Why You Should Start One On a Virtual Private Server Instead on WordPress.com

May 3, 2020 by chikorita157 4 Comments

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, it’s probably a great time to start a blog about anime, but you don’t 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 won’t 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 Crow’s 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.
[Read more…] about Anime Blogging and Hosting – Why You Should Start One On a Virtual Private Server Instead on WordPress.com

State of the Blog – Part III – More Frustrations, Possible Burnout, and Anxieties, But Still Hopeful

April 17, 2020 by chikorita157 5 Comments

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 didn’t 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 don’t 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.
[Read more…] about State of the Blog – Part III – More Frustrations, Possible Burnout, and Anxieties, But Still Hopeful

The SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak – The Impacts on the Anime Industry and Everyone’s Lives

March 22, 2020 by chikorita157 4 Comments

While Eripiyo doesn’t have Coronavirus, but the flu, this scene is relatable to this situation.

As expected, it seems that the Novel Coronavirus has started to affect everyone’s lives. For an anime fan, it definitely had an impact. Not only anime productions are getting delayed, but also events and even anime conventions. Even the Tokyo Olympics that is happening later this year is in jeopardy and will most likely see a delay.

Not only that, various anime productions faced delays as a result. Some are very noticeable with Koisuru Asteroid, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T, A3, and others. It doesn’t end there. Some spring anime, most notably Re Zero Second Season along with a bunch of films pushed back until the summer. Moreover, Amazon is prioritizing shipping of certain goods to deal with the virus. This causes things like anime DVD/Blu-rays, merchandise, video games, etc to face shipping delays. With that, we are living with a new reality and life as we know it is changed forever.

You might be wondering, what is the Novel Coronavirus (aka Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2/SARS-CoV-2/nCov-19/Covid-19) and what affect it is happening on the anime industry. Most of you should have heard about this virus on the news and social media. As expected, it’s having a huge effect on people’s everyday lives. I will share some of my thoughts on how this situation is affecting me personally.
[Read more…] about The SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak – The Impacts on the Anime Industry and Everyone’s Lives

Pitfalls of Anime Streaming, Competition and Subscription Fatigue – Is It Becoming Too Fragmented?

March 16, 2020 by chikorita157 1 Comment

It’s obvious that the Novel Coronavirus has caused a lot of public events to become cancelled along with schools. Aside from people who have a job, but can’t telework, most will be at home. In other words, some or most of you would binge watch on anime while being stuck at home.

This of course brings the topic of anime streaming. In recent years, anime has become more accessible legally through legal streaming services like Crunchyroll, Funimation, and others. Not only that, you don’t have to spend $50-250 to buy the whole series on DVD or Blu-ray to watch it. Of course, we started to see Crunchyroll losing the lion share of the anime streaming as competition heated up.

If you recall, Amazon tried to jump in the fray with Anime Strike and Netflix doing its own thing. While competition is good as it doesn’t cause a service to become complacent. During that time, Crunchyroll became a bit lazy by not updating their video player and with poor video quality.

Once competition took hold, they eventually added an HTML5 player. It’s not without consequence. They lost a good amount of their catalog once Funnimation pulled out of the deal.

As expected, exclusive simulcasting is becoming an issue as people have to subscribe to the multiple services to watch the content they enjoy. Otherwise, he or she will miss out unless they subscribe. As they say, each subscription adds up in the end. This phenomenon is called subscription fatigue. While some bloggers have covered this concern, it’s time to go more in depth in it.
[Read more…] about Pitfalls of Anime Streaming, Competition and Subscription Fatigue – Is It Becoming Too Fragmented?

The Reasons Why You Should (Probably) Not Pirate Anime

February 13, 2020 by chikorita157 Leave a Comment

Since 2017, I started the shift towards streaming mostly because it’s convenient and it’s probably the cheapest way to support the industry. From the monthly subscription fees, royalties are paid from the shows you watch, which eventually goes back to the studios and the industry.

Given the problem that studios are facing with low pay and poor working conditions, if more switched to legal alternatives, it would help the industry. After all, revenue generated overseas will become more important given the change in demographics in Japan.

While streaming is not the ideal solution mostly because of region restrictions, it’s not a problem if you live in North America. Of course, exclusivity of titles and fragmentation is another issue. Certain titles will only be available on Crunchyroll, HIDIVE, Amazon, Netflix or Funimation. In other words, this will require subscribing to multiple services.

If you take these drawbacks from the picture, it’s a better way to watch anime as it’s convenient. One doesn’t have to mess around with Bittorrent, worry about what video players to use, and having enough disk space. You just watch whatever you want.

However, people who live in regions where legal options are readily available and can afford it still choose to pirate. People have to realize that not only this is selfish and immoral given the poor state of the animation industry, you are also putting your information security at risk. Not to mention, piracy or rather the correct term, copyright infringement is illegal. I will explain why you should probably stop pirating anime and consider legal options if available.

(Note: Pardon the lack of images, they are coming in a few days)
[Read more…] about The Reasons Why You Should (Probably) Not Pirate Anime