Just recently, I shared my thoughts on why Game Freak should finally revamp the Pokémon Anime. While reading through some of the comments, I thought to myself if Anime is really a gloried infomercial or advertisement for a source material. If that were the case, would Anime necessarily lose creative merit because of this?
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Backlogging Video Games and Visual Novels – Why do we keep buying them without completing?
Last year, I have shared my thoughts about my Anime Backlog. While I haven’t backlogged many shows in the past year, I admit that it’s a bad habit. Besides Anime, this habit also extends to video games since many people like myself want to play the latest games, particularly Japanese RPGs despite not beating a game at least once. This makes me wonder, why do people continue to build up a big backlog of video games by buying new ones despite not making an attempt to finish them?
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Defining Introductory Anime – What shows would you recommend to First Time Viewers?
Like most fans, not everyone gain an interest in Anime overnight. With that, I have been wondering what kind of shows will catch a person’s attention for people who haven’t watched Anime. Of course, people have different tastes, which makes it somewhat difficult to pick what show you should recommend. (Image Source)
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Reminiscing about Anime Forums – Are they on the decline?
Before social networking and Anime blogs existed, Anime forums and message boards were one of the main ways of discussing about a particular interest besides fan sites. For a while now, there is one thread on Animesuki that caught my attention with people noticing a decline in forum activity. With that, I would like to share my past experiences and why Anime forums will still be relevant despite the popularity of social networking and blogging. (Image Source)
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Thoughts about Anime Wallpapers
When I shared my thoughts about collecting Anime Merchandise, I mentioned that my room is messy compared to other fans that are able to display posters, figures and such. Because of this reason, my computer is perhaps one of the only ways to advertise that I am a fan of anime. This is where wallpapers come into play.
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Net Neutrality and Anime – Why you should care?
Back in 2012, many people in the Anime Blogosphere protested against the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP because it would have ended the Internet as we know it. These two bills eventually caused so much backlash that Congress had to shelve it.
In January of this year, the Supreme Court has shot down FCC’s Net Neutrality rules, which would have protected the free Internet. Just a few days ago, the FCC has decided that they are not going to keep it, thus effectively killing Net Neutrality.
I know that most Anime fans won’t care about this for the fact that he or she might not know what all of this means and/or just want to watch Anime and interact with the community. However, ignoring this will eventually lead to a rude awakening as it can adversely affect legal streaming sites, Anime related blogs, etc., which is why I wanted to share my thoughts about the whole issue.
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Thoughts About Collecting Anime Merchandise
Just a few weeks ago, Froggykun shared some interesting thoughts about figures, which got me thinking why many fans tend to buy a lot of merchandise? While one can argue that Anime is being used to market related merchandise besides promoting the source material, people might be wondering what kind of merchandise I’m interested in since there are so many to choose from. Also, is this truly necessary to be a true fan? (Image Source)
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My Unpopular Anime and Gaming Opinions
A few weeks back, Yumeka shared her unpopular Anime opinions which got me thinking, what are my unpopular opinions? Since I don’t necessarily have 10 unpopular Anime opinions to share, I will also cover some video game related stuff too. (Image Source)
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Gamers and Otakus – Should Hobbies get tied to a Label?
After I shared my thoughts about Miyazaki’s remarks on otakus and the Anime Industry’s focus on that demographic, one of the comments caught my attention to write about this topic: Should you call yourself an otaku or even a gamer? (Image Source)
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Thoughts about Otaku and Its Influence in the Industry – Is it a bad thing?
In the past, I tend to avoid the topic on the Otaku for the fact that they are viewed negatively by Japanese society while the west tends to view the word in a more positive manner.
Of course, in a recent interview from the famous Hayao Miyazaki has stirred controversy when he stated that the Anime Industry is “full of Otaku.” While it’s understandable why he would feel this way considering his age, he brings up an interesting point that eventually lead me to share my thoughts about the whole thing. (Image Source)
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ABC Awards – Three Weeks Later!
Yep, it’s that time again! It’s time to focus on another community activity post thanks to a fellow Anime blogger named Moonliasteria.
As seen on other posts, here are the official rules:
- Download the award logo and add it to your acceptance post.
- Nominate a few fellow bloggers and share the award.
- Since the award is ABC, take each letter of the alphabet and use it to tell something about yourself.
With that, let’s start, shall we?
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High Expectations and Hype for Anime, is it a Bad Thing?
Back in Fall of 2013, people became increasingly disappointed to Kyoukai no Kanata as it didn’t live up to expectations. This made me wonder about if hype and having high expectation is a bad thing or not. (Image Source)
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Thoughts on Anime/Japanese Media Criticism – Can there ever be an Objective Criticism?
In the past, I covered several topics relating to criticism such as what Anime is good and what is bad. Now, I want to focus more thoughts on criticism of Anime or media in general as I only touch upon how I reviewed things. I understand that people will have different options, thus a well-balanced or objective one can be difficult to achieve for various reasons.
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Nostalgia Filter and the Anime Fandom
During the summer, I have shared my thoughts about the Anime Fandumb. Of course, I forgot to write about the very thing that also fuels the whole moe debate and the old versus the new, the Nostalgia Filter.
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Anime and Video Games – Finding the Balance
Back in 2012, I shared my thoughts on how I manage to use my free time to do other things besides studying. While graduate years proved to be a bit more time-consuming compared to before, I never touch upon how much attention I put into watching Anime along with other hobbies such as video games. A certain post written by Yumeka from Anime Yume sparked my interest in writing this and expand my thoughts beyond the time management post. (Image Source)
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Perceiving Anime as “Too Old”
In a recent topic that Yumeka focused on an interesting topic on why people feel that Anime made in the early years are considered too old. If we look at modern Anime today and compare it to the one’s in the 90s or early 2000s, we already seen that the medium gone such a long way from being something niche to going the main stream. While I’m not going to go compare the trends from each time period in detail, I want to share my reasons why people perceive some Anime as “too old” and if this feeling is subjective or not? (Image Source)
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Japanese Role Playing Games: Why They aren’t being Localized?
After watching a video about someone’s thoughts about Japanese RPGs and the losing popularity of the genre in the west, it got me wondering why this is the case because Japanese video game developers are becoming more reluctant to localize more releases. I think there are some reasons why they feel this way. (Image Source)
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Evolving Views on Fanservice – Why it’s not so bad after all.
A long time ago, I have been against fanservice in Anime as myself and some people perceive this as a bad thing for Anime. However, I have seen the light after watching and reviewing a lot of shows. Now, I want to share my reason fanservice and ecchi is not necessarily a bad thing as some people make it out to be.
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Anime Fatigue: How I deal with it and Take a Break
Despite watching and blogging about Anime non-stop for over five years, one can eventually get fatigued from watching the same things over again. There are a few notable reasons why some people usually get tired and stop watching, which I will share along with past experience and what I do to prevent fatigue. (Image Source)
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Will You Still Enjoy Anime Several Years from Now?
Last week, Marow of Anime Viking answered an interesting question in his post on whether or not someone will continue to enjoy a hobby such as Anime as time goes on. Here is my take on the question. (Image Source)
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Revisiting the Moe Debate and Defending it – Three Years Later
Back in 2010 in the height of controversy surrounding the first season of Ore no Imouto. I find myself defending moe anime as elitist fans blame it for the reason Anime getting worse. However, I felt that the editorial I wrote felt more like a rant, which is why I want to revisit it since Frog’s editorial on Moe inspired me to do this.
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Light and Dark Moods in Anime – Emotions and its Effect on Watching Anime
When we watch Anime, there is always has a degree of escapism depending on the show and its setting. From creative plots and nice scenery, each show invokes a different feeling. But, how do they evoke different feelings in their stories? Also, how feelings affect the person’s ability to watch certain kinds of show? (Image Source)
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Views and Thoughts on Bad Anime – Is Anime Getting Worse?
Last week, Yumeka and Froggykun discussed of about liking bad anime, which got me thinking: What makes a bad show? Last year, I shared my thoughts on what makes a good Anime. However, the other side of the quality scale is a bit more controversial. (Image Source)
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Attacking the Anime Fandom – The Negative Implications for the Anime Industry
Last week, Nintendo decided to take away monetization of videos such as reviews, Let’s Plays and reviews from their fans. While copyright law is very complex when it comes to fair use and making derivative works, attacking a fandom by taking down Youtube channels, banning fanart and sending cease and deist letters to take down fanmade games can hurt their goodwill and reputation.
While we have seen this with video games with Sega taking down Shining Force videos last year and Husbro putting an end to a fan-made My Little Pony fighting game early this year, what about Anime? Yes, it exists and there are very negative implications that can occur from fan backlash. I will focus on several reasons why companies should not attack the fans for making fan generated content and instead, should support them. (Image Source)
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