It seems that many anime bloggers have jumped on the “50 Questions” bandwagon, which got started by a fellow Anime Blogger AceRailgun. Since I don’t want to keep blogging about Papa Kiki, I may as well do it. (Image Source)
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Anime and the Perception in the West
While I was lurking around the Internet, a particular post at the Project iM@S forums has caught my attention since it has a close relation to the Anime Fandom besides just Japanese games.
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Anime, Blogging and Life – Enjoying and Managing Time
In this week’s editorial, I decided to take up a topic in the blogosphere that is relatively important with any Anime fan: “How does one fits time to watch shows while juggling with college or work?” Given that I have managed to survive three years and made over 830 posts about Anime, you wonder how the hell I manage that when college gives you a lot of work to do. I’ll share my experiences on how I find free time to watch shows and blog while doing well in college. (Image Source)
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Anime and Video Gaming: How they changed everything…
Like Anime, video games had played a big role in my life after I was introduced to it during my childhood. After some thought, I felt the need to share my experiences with video games and how it influenced me to watch Anime since these two mediums are closely related to each other. Not surprisingly, most anime fans are probably gamers as well. (Image Source)
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Brief Thoughts about the US Anime Industry and Anime Collection
By now, this topic got hammered to death in the blogosphere by now, but looking back at my DVD collection back in 2009, it has significantly grown into a sizable stack. Therefore, I feel the need to share my brief thoughts about the current situation with the anime industry in the United States and of course, taking a look at my collection after these years. (Image Source)
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Reflecting on Today’s SOPA/PIPA Strike… (Update)
As most people knew already, today was the SOPA strike and several anime bloggers like myself have joined in by either blacking out their site or spreading awareness by writing a post about it. If you haven’t known already by now, SOPA and PIPA are two extremely dangerous pieces of legislation that will severely harm freedom of speech, innovation, security and the openness of the Internet. Not only that, it will have profound effects on the Anime Blogosphere as we rely heavily on derivative works to share our thoughts about Anime, which protected under fair use. Most bloggers who didn’t participate and Anime Fans have to realize that this law will not affect everyone in the United States, but everyone if they were to get passed. Therefore, I have been proactively reminding others to keep a close eye on this and take action, even if you are in a different country.
Aside from that, I want to share an exhaustive list that participated or mentioned the bill’s existence (perhaps as an excuse to get out of a post):
- Anime Yume
- Baka Laureate
- Beta-Waffle
- Chikorita157’s Anime Blog (this blog)
- Desu ex Machina
- Ephemeral Dreams
- Ganbatte
- G-Empire
- Just as planned
- Kimaguresan’s road to nowhere
- My Sword is Unbelievably Dull
- Organization Anti-Social Geniuses
- METANORN
- NewAnimeThursday
- Shinde Iie Anime Blog
- Subdued Fangirling
- and others I probably have forgotten…
With that, the blackout was a success as it caught everyone’s attention even though some very ignorant SOPA/PIPA supporters like Chris Dodd still paints this as a “dangerous” gimmick and usual mainstream media supporters like CNN still against the opposition. On the other hand, the large-scale protest had convinced three co-sponsors to drop their support for the SOPA bill along with thirteen senators dropping support for PIPA, which is good news. Still, the fight isn’t over yet, so we still need to keep the pressure on Congress and supporters for both bills. Continue to spread the word to everyone in the fandom, not just the blogosphere and contact congress! We need to effectively kill both bills so we can keep continuing what we enjoy most, blogging about Anime.
Update: Just today, the creator of the SOPA bill killed it off for good. Not only that, PIPA got delayed indefinitely. This is good news for everyone in the internet, not just our fellow Anime Bloggers. Even with this huge victory, we must stay vigilant so future bills that are similar to these won’t pass by us without our knowledge like the “Indefinite Detention” clause in the NDAA. Needless to say, I hope congress will get behind the OPEN Act that will attack the source rather than the free, open and innovative internet.
Anyway, let’s thank the tech companies, our fellow Anime Bloggers and everyone else who spread the word about this disastrous bill and saved us from censorship…
Improving Anime Blogs and Writing – 2012 Edition
Yep, it’s that time of year again with the wave of competitive e-drama from 2010 known as the Aniblogosphere Tourney. Since then, the blogosphere landscape has changed significantly with some blogs dying and new ones popping up while others improve. With 2012 being a big year for bloggers, I want to share how people can improve themselves, especially for the newcomers who have yet grasp the joys of blogging and writing good posts. (Image Source)
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Twelve Days of Anime – Prelude
メリークリスマス！ (Merry Christmas!)
It’s that time of year again and thus marks a starting of another Anime Blogger tradition, the 12 Days of Anime Project. In this group effort, Anime Bloggers like myself share twelve Anime related moments on our blogs. It’s an activity that got started by a former blogger named CCY (also known as Canon-chan) 4 years ago whose blog pretty went into a vegetative state recently. Of course, there are many who want to keep it alive. So, I feel that I should share some of the holiday cheer.
Unlike last year where I have stopped half way because I got overwhelmed with too much finals that it drained my motivation to complete the last six, I’m doing things differently this year. Instead of 12 individual posts, I will squeeze it down into two separate posts. Each post will spotlight 6 notable events either from Anime or the Aniblogosphere. Hopefully this time around, I will actually finish it this time! So, check it out this Saturday when I plan to come up and spotlight the first six.
SOPA, The Cancer that will kill the Aniblogosphere… in America.
In the past few years, there are notable and controversial legislations that deemed as the apocalypse of Anime Industry and its fandom. Just last year, I have shared my thoughts on Tokyo passing a very controversial ordinance called “Bill 156” also known as the Nonexistent Youth Bill, which aims to restrict sexual content. Up to this day, the industries’ impact of the bill is still questionable, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. (Image Source)
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The Reason why I Anime Blogging and the Social Experiences
In the past few weeks, there has been some discussion on why fans decide to blog about Anime. It’s true that blogging takes time and dedication, but there are many reasons why people continue to do it.
For me, I have been blogging for nearly 2 years and a half now and I have my own reasons for blog. I decide to do it not for popularity, but to enhance my experience as a fan of Anime. (Image Source)
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On Taste Testing and Dropping Anime: My Anime Viewing Experiences.
Just a few days ago, a blog post at the Behind the Nihon Review had myself thinking about the usefulness of the three-episode test I have been using for the past three seasons and questioning the rationale of dropping Anime. As we all know, fans have different tastes and expectations when it comes to the shows they watch. After I took a look of the three episode taste tests and the number of shows I dropped in the past two years, its quite obvious that dropping Anime is rather difficult for myself and I haven’t found a good reason to do so (Image Source).
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Reflection: 1 Year of AniBlog Tourney… Aniblogosphere’s Death is highly exaggerated.
I can’t believe a whole year has passed by with the Aniblog Tourney happening 1 year ago. If you are new to the Aniblogsphere, the Aniblog Tourney was a competition with 96 blogs being assigned to a specific division in pairs randomly. When the poll for each division opens, people look at both blogs and then vote for the better blog to go on to the next round. While the tournament is mostly a popularity contest towards the end, it allowed for constructive criticism, which was helpful for bloggers to improve their blogs.
The competition between my blog and Anime Princess was a very close one with a few percentages off from losing. Ever since the Aniblog Tourney, I have taken an initiative to improve my writing, the blog design and accessibility. Eventually, I brought a domain name and moved to paid hosting several months later to make a bigger presence in the blogosphere. (Image Source)
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Names You Know in Anime – Pokemon White Nickname Analysis – Part I
Some people in the aniblogosphre nickname the Pokémon after favorite Anime Characters, friends, etc. I have started to nickname some of the Pokémon in Pokémon Platinum, but not on a large scale until HeartGold. Since I have created my preliminary team in Pokemon White, I may as well explain some of the nicknames I picked for some of the Pokémon I use for competitive battling. (Image Source)
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For Fun: Everybody Hates Kyubey™
Oh Kyubey, you look so cute with the never changing cat smile. After Mami’s death, a lot of people including myself started to question Kyubey’s motives. Some people took it a step further and think that Kyubey is the devil, thus creating intensive hate. While I don’t agree with his views on morality, I want to explore some of the possible reasons why Everybody Hates Kyubey™ thus far. (Image Source)
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Thoughts about Bill 156 and Why the Law is Censoring like it’s 1984.
If you have known already, Tokyo pass the very controversial ordinance, Bill 156, which is also known as the “Nonexistant Youth Bill” that have strong support. However, this bill has been called an act of censorship and an apocalypse for the Anime Industry as a whole. While I think the bill is overblown by a certain tabloid blog in the Anime Blogosphere, I still think that this bill is very destructive to the industry and it’s an excuse to promote government-sponsored censorship. (Original Image)
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Nogizaka Haruka and Ore no Imouto… Two different worlds on the Otaku Subculture.
I have always wondered about the themes Ore no Imouto covered since it was a topic that has been done in the past, but not well executed. Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu covered only the surface of the Otaku subculture but only to throw it out of the window in the second season.
While there are some resemblances of the two shows, they are significantly different. The difference between them is what I want to cover. (Original Image)
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Twelve Moments in Anime for 2010 – Update
It’s that time of year again and with the Christmas cheer coming around the corner, there is something I wanted to do to spread the holiday cheer. In the past, there is a Twelve Moments in Anime Project started by canon-chan since December of 2007… It’s an aniblogosphere project that has bloggers to share thoughts about Anime related things during the year. I didn’t participate last years since I didn’t have much to talk about since it was my first year of blogging Anime.
While he hasn’t announced anything for this year, I have decided to do it myself and share my 12 moments of this year. In my opinion, 2010 was a very interesting year ranging from the 2010 Anime, AniBlogosphere Torney and shows I have reviewed this year. So stay tuned to the moments I will share the 15th until Christmas Day.
Update: Official Announcement is here.
The too long, didn’t read In-depth look at myself as an Anime Fan (Updated)
Just recently, Yumeka shared her really large list of questions describing herself as a fan. Others have done it too and it seemed interesting. As a result, I gave it a try. It took several hours to answer all the questions, so hopefully you will enjoy. Also, excuse me if some of the answers have rough grammar, considering that this was petty long. So, I would like to present the whole list of questions and answers so many bloggers and fans can learn about me.
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Moe and an Argument against Genre Elitist – Much more than just Cuteness
After watching Ore no Imouto Episode 7 and the past incidents with a certain commenter on my blog started posting strongly biased comments against the moe genre. Well in reality, most anime fans don’t really care about the moe but care about the characters, story, animation and/or music. Also, the strong elitist hatred towards a genre could be destructive for the whole Anime Fandom.
As demonstrated in the arguments between Kirino and Kuroneko over the kind of shows they watch, it shows the obsessive side of the fandom. Nevertheless, genre elitism is harsher in real life with bashing of titles, making fun of/bullying fans of a genre, have strong feelings of hate and saying that anime is dying because of it. Moe seems to get so much unnecessary blame to the point that I feel the need to defend the genre even though I am completely neutral to the genre.
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Ore no Imouto – Episode 7 – Brief Thoughts
Kirino: Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ Kyousuke: (･_･?) Kuroneko:（￣へ￣）Saori: （￣ー￣）
Well, it’s a good episode, but I don’t want to spoil what I have to say about my upcoming editorial. I’ll give you some hints: it deals with the certain faction of the Anime Fandom/Blogosphere and genre elitist haters.
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Ore no Imouto – Eroge or Why there shouldn’t be a double standard on Violent Games and Eroge
After I watched the third episode, the show gave me some thoughts about the acceptance of eroge games in general. Even though Kyousuke’s father was right about the questionable content in eroge and that minors shouldn’t play it, I support Kyousuke’s argument since it’s unfair to shun eroge while accepting violent video games like Halo 3. I believe the double standard in western society is highly hypocritical since they accept violent games while shunning eroge. Regardless of content, both Eroge and Violent Games could become a bad influence on someone for the questionable content it has. I think this double standard exists as a result of the cultural differences between Eastern Asia (in this instance, Japan) and the West. [1. Image Source]
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Ore No Imouto – Harsh Realities of being an Otaku and Personal Experiences
After I watched the second episode of Ore No Imouto Ga Konna Ni Kawaii Wake Ga Nai, it seems to be a very realistic representation of Otakus in real life. In a way, it relates to some of the aspects presented in the first real life female Otaku meeting. Even though I do not consider myself as an Otaku, there are plenty of issues and experiences I can relate to the show. [1. Image Source]
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Exploring Further: My Activities in the Anime Fandom
As we all know, the fandom is not all about watching anime, but the related activities that goes along with it. After reading the post, I have commented on what I actually do in the fandom. However, telling every exact detail on what I do in the fandom will just leave it in a style that it would be too long to read. That is why I decided to explore even further and in detail on what I actually do besides watching Anime and it could draw some similarities to the activities you participate in the fandom.
I would also like to note that if you just watch and like Anime and not participate in anything else, you are still a fan of Anime. This was something that I haven’t cleared up previously.
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Anime Blog Reading and Improving Anime Blogs
Anime Blogging may have a fun aspect given that you are sharing your thoughts to the world, but in reality it takes a lot of time and dedication. The blogosphere is so vast that you might find thousands of Anime Blogs out there to read. However, it’s the blogs that stands out the most get the most attention.
You may ask, why are you writing an editorial about reading other people’s Anime blogs in the blogosphere? You asked a good question. I’m writing about it because I read a blog post on it. Additionally, I had an idea that reading other people’s blogs gives a blogger an idea on how to improve their own blogs. After all, everyone wants to be successful Anime bloggers and get as many readers out there as possible.
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