Back in February of this year, I had shared my thoughts about why I continue to watch Anime. However, there are reasons why people lose passion for it and it’s not usually clear. Also, I will share some personal experiences.
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The Art of Reviewing and Scoring Anime
Before we end off the season, I wanted to share my thoughts about reviewing Anime and grading since they are highly subjective. In general, people will have different opinions based on personal experiences and tastes. While people on Social Networking and Anime Forums tends to share a few thoughts on what they saw, Anime Bloggers are different as we tend to be more critical on what we see. This is because we take the time to share our thoughts to make a more detailed review and for the fact that opinions aren’t necessarily the same. Because of this, I like to share how I write reviews and go into a few scoring systems Anime bloggers use. (Image Source)
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Chikorita Cast – Episode 3 – Google killed Google Reader! How dare they!
Sadly, the black smoke has come. Google decided to say “Sayanora” to Google Reader, a web application that allows people to subscribe and read people’s blogs through RSS feeds in one place. I think the decision is very idiotic and just will make people hate Google more, especially the crap they pulled with Google Images taking 60-80% of the traffic away from blogger’s websites.
Because I felt strongly about this issue, I decided to make another video podcast showing people how to use other applications to follow Anime Blogs. These solutions are Wordpess.com Reader, Feedly, Vienna (for Mac users) and RSS Bandit (for Windows users). I didn’t mention other clients since they cost money, but if you are using Reeder, they plan to make it Google Reader independent in the next update, so check out for that. So enjoy and feel free suggest other topics I should focus on in future podcasts. (Image Source)
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Chikorita Cast – Episode 2 – State of the AniBlogosphere (AniBlog Tourney Edition)
It has been a while since I did a podcast, but it’s finally alive, for now at least. Since I don’t feel like writing about this subject in written form again, I’m doing it in video podcast form. Also, I got a new microphone, which is another reason I want to record one. However, I’m not perfect because I don’t make podcasts on a frequent basis.
In this episode, I will analyze some data I gathered about the state of blogging in the Aniblogosphere. The contains all the blogs participated in the first round with a few dead ones in the second round. So enjoy and feel free suggest other topics I should focus on in future podcasts.
Also, all the data that I compiled is here in PDF form. (Image Source)
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The Many Reasons Why I Keep Watching Anime
Although I shared my reasons why I blog about Anime almost two years ago, I never wrote about why I still watch Anime. Since Kai shared his thoughts about why he continues to watch Anime, I became interested in writing about it since it’s a rather diverse medium. (Image Source)
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Thoughts on Violence in Anime and Video Games
Since the Aurora Theater Shooting, there has been some discussion about violence in general from two notable Anime bloggers. While I had some thoughts about it, I decided not to share them since it’s a controversial issue. With the Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting that took place last month, I felt the need to share my thoughts about violence in media as some politicians and NRA’s Wayne LaPierre decided to make media the scapegoat instead of addressing the issue. There are many reasons why I don’t think media like Anime necessarily cause someone to become violent. (Image Source)
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Challenges of Localization: The Never-Ending Debate
While I have talked a bit about the subtitles and dubbing debate early in my anime blogging career briefly, there is something that caught my attention regarding localization. Just this week, there has been news that Tecmo Koei won’t be having dual audio to the English version of Atelier Ayesha. As you would expect, the whole fandom blew up in rage just like that and advocating boycotts. However, there have been recent instances in Anime where licensing companies such as Sentai Filmworks excluded the Japanese Audio from Blu-rays, most notably the Persona 4 The Animation to make the release unattractive for reverse importation. Of course, that too had repercussions.
In general, localization and the whole sub vs. dub debate is a never-ending controversy for many reasons that I will explain. (Image Source)
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Reflecting Back Another Year of Anime Blogging for 2012
As 2012 comes to an end, I would like to reflect on what happened in 2012 related to Anime Blogging and other stuff since it was a pretty eventful year. (Image Source)
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12 Days of Anime – Day 7 – Little Busters JC Staff Rage
Sadly, not all announcements were good news as VisualArts gave an announcement that caused some Key fans to go ballistic. Yep, it’s JC Staff doing the animation for Little Busters. (Image Source)
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12 Days of Anime – Day 6 – 2nd Anime Blog Tourney
You know it’s coming! Yes, I’m mentioning the Anime Blog Tourney. (Image Source)
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12 Days of Anime – Day 3 – Saving the Blogosphere from SOPA/PIPA
For the third day of Anime, we remember the strike that saved the Internet.
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Status of the Aniblogosphere in 2012 – Haitus = Dead Blog?!
Just recently, the current state of the Anime Blogosphere doesn’t look great with a good number of blogs dying. In the last three months, We Remember Love, Kaminarianime, and Otaku Life: Anime Review hanged up their hats and call it quits (Moe Fundamentalism decided to go on hiatus before the author reversed the decision quite recently). Judging from my blogroll, there are 6 blogs that haven’t updated since October.
From the look of things, did the Mayans predict that December 21, 2012 is the end of Anime Blogging as we know it? Maybe, or probably we are overreacting. In a recent twitter conversation between Marow, Marth and myself concerning how long blogs last after Morrow mentioned a blog that only lasted two months (full conversation here), It gave me some thoughts where the blogosphere is heading. Early this year, I have covered quite a lot on blog longevity and the reason why blogs die. However, I would like to go over the current trends since there is a good number of blogs spontaneously dropping dead from the sky, which currently gives us this disturbing trend. (Image Source)
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Discovering New Anime and Personal Experiences
Just over a year ago, I shared my viewing experiences and taste testing shows. People might be wondering how do I discover new shows. It’s a good question since I’m picky and I don’t have time to watch everything. Therefore, I use several means in choosing what shows to watch at any given time, which I will share. (Image Source)
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Anime Adaptations and Why Good Ones are “Difficult” to Produce
When we review Anime, one of the common factors is how well a studio adapts the source material. This can range from Manga, Light Novels, Visual Novels, and Video Games since the whole industry rides on it to sell related merchandise. Since production committees have different approaches to achieve this, expectations will never be the same since printed media doesn’t have any voice actors to begin with. This is why I wanted to share my thoughts about adaptations since it has always been a hot topic. (Image Source)
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Kokoro Connect – Episode 9 and Thoughts about the Biggest Public Relations Disaster in Anime History
After putting it off for several days, I wanted to let the drama settle before diving into the 9th episode. Since Dog Days aren’t out yet, I’m going to share brief thoughts for this episode and the bullying incident that everyone talked about in great lengths for the past week (Image Source).
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The Anime Blogger Interrogation Game (Updated)
Since I’m still taking a short vacation in Boston, I decided to entertain some people with five questions I came up for a game by Iso. Thankfully, I haven’t been tagged for any questions yet, so I won’t be listing any unless somebody decides to.
If you are wondering about the rules, here they are.
- Each person is supposed to follow the rule of fives.You are allowed to ask 5 questions, after which you can tag up to 5 bloggers by hyper-linking to their blog; 5 questions because it’s not too many to flood another blogger and occupy too much of his/her time, but yet a large enough number to ask your most important questions, and 5 bloggers to avoid spamming. Hence, prioritize your questions, and who you wish to ask!
- Those tagged are obliged to answer the questions in a blog post, and after which, they are entitled to create their own 5 questions and tag 5 other bloggers, so on and so fourth. You are allowed to tag the person that tagged you in the first place. Also, copy and paste this section on your blog so others can understand how the game goes.
- In the case where a blogger strongly refuses to answer a question, he/she must instead post a nice anime image, wallpaper or cosplay picture, et cetera in response to that question.
- To make things interesting, a blogger can include wildcards in his/her 5 questions by placing an asterisk, (*), after which those tagged are obliged to reveal something interesting about themselves that others did not previously know. There is no limit to the number of asterisks one can place (which means there can be up to 5 wildcard questions).
- Anyone can feel free to start the game; you don’t necessarily need someone to tag you. Just create your 5 questions and tag your 5 people of choice. However, the catch is that you must answer your own 5 questions as well.
- To potentially prevent an endless game, this round of games will end on the 8th September 2012, 12pm JST (GMT +9). After which, no more bloggers can tag others to answer their questions.
So let the games begin. (Image Source)
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My Answers to Yumeka’s Questions
Since I’m still enjoying my vacation, I decided to go a bit off track. Remember the 50 questions I have answered back in March? Well, I’m going to entertain you with some answers to questions Yumeka came up with. So, enjoy and feel free to share your thoughts on what I have said. (Image Source)
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Blog Carnival: Going Further with views on Animanga Blogs
Just a month ago, I shared my opinions about the never-ending debate regarding Episodic vs Editorial blogs in a recent editorial. Since then, a fellow blogger named Foxy Lady Ayame started a project for bloggers to share their thoughts about a specific topic in the Anime Fandom. For this one, it’s focused on reflections on Animanga blogs. Since it’s closely related to what I have talked about a month ago, it shouldn’t hurt to talk about it from a different perspective. (Image Source)
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Editorial vs Episodic Blogs – Why it Shouldn’t Matter
In the recent months, there is something nasty that has spouted out from the Aniblog Tournament, although this debate has been going on in the blogosphere for a long time. It’s the battle between editorial vs. episodic blogs to decide which one is better. For me, I feel that the debate is pointless since it shouldn’t matter for reasons I will explain below. (Image Source)
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Competition and Anime Blogging, is it Harmful?
Given the various posts floating in the blogosphere about the Aniblog Tourney and competition that came after the first round, I like to share some of my thoughts about the negative externalities of competition and why it’s not necessarily a good thing. (Image Source)
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Chikorita Cast – Episode 1 – Aniblogosphere Tourney Recap
Well, this marks the first episode of my new podcast, which will focus on various topics regarding to Anime and the fandom. For now, it will work on an infrequent basis since it takes time to edit and record (future episodes will be audio only).If anyone is interested in joining for one of the episodes, I’ll be happy to do so. Just contact me.
In this episode, I will talk about my results from the Anime Blog Tourney while I record myself through the camera. Of course, the results surprised many, including myself, but not a big deal.
Since most people mistaken me as a male tsundere, I decided to introduce myself a bit more. I explain my background and such. So, I hope you enjoy and feel free to talk about it! Also, I wish good luck to the other participants in the tourney. I should have the other critiques for the Green Bracket by the end of this week.
Excuse my coarse voice… I just came home. (Image Source)
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Little Busters and JC Staff: The Changes of Time
Just recently, Key announced that JC Staff would produce the Little Busters anime. Unfortunately, this was not well received by the fans. It stirred a lot of harsh criticism since they expect Kyoto Animation to make it. From what I have seen, this makes me wonder if the rage is justifiable or the fans are too entitled?
In the past two days, I read three opinion pieces regarding the whole matter. Therefore, I felt the need to share my own thoughts on why their decision isn’t as bad or rather, marks a transition to the New Key. (Image Source)
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What Makes a “Good” Anime?
In a perfect world, most fans would enjoy all the anime that gets produced. Sadly, this isn’t the case since we do not know what the show will give us until we watch it. This leaves us with the usual remark, “It gets better, I swear” which is frequently used as a defense. I’m a firm believer of that because any show can have a potential of becoming good. This leaves us with the question, what exactly makes a good anime? I will explain just that along with my experiences.
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Anime Blogging and Longevity – The Challenges Ahead
I want share some thoughts about Anime Blogosphere’s longevity since this post sparked my interest. Ever since the first Aniblog Tourney finished in 2010, good amount of blogs have died at the 1 to 2-year mark while new ones pop up. Only a handful ever passed the three years and beyond mark. There are many factors I have explained such as time management issues. However, there are other aspects that I haven’t covered, which I like to share. (Image Source)
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