This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.
Here’s Day 7. Day 8 we finally get our chance to compete. Just to clarify, I’m expecting Whiners is gonna win this tourney, so it’d be cool if you helped out. (Yes, yes, I’ll get on the reviews now — Nyalko was delayed due to “issues”.)
Match 25
http://animeanthology.com/
Site type: Quality anime opinions.
First impression: Three posts per page? Why?
Article quality:
http://animeanthology.com/un-go
You disliked Un-go, probably slightly less than I did, but you still didn’t find it all that enjoyable. I liked that you pointed out that it’s a mystery anime without any real mysteries, and that the second half of the season did not match the pace or structure of the first half. Truly, this was Un-go’s biggest problem — it didn’t know what it wanted to be. And yes, the characters are entirely forgettable. All in all, I have to say you pointed out the main flaws I would have. My main criticism is that you need to learn what a paragraph is. Walls-of-text go unread.
http://animeanthology.com/ben-to
Ben-to: 8.7/10
We’re done here. You pass the test. Good job.
Overall rating: Dude’s got good taste.
https://blogs.emory.edu/animec/
Site type: Shitty anime opinions.
First impression: An anime club has its own site? Oh, not really. Looks like it’s just a member who tacked her anime club’s title onto the site.
Article quality:
https://blogs.emory.edu/animec/2012/04/13/first-impressions-tsuritama-01/
Four paragraphs, 100 screenshots. Something’s a bit off here. As for the writing?
One of the things she loves about the show is how random and unique it is. Random as in “lol, the Indian guy hangs out with a duck” and unique as in “Wow, the story is being told from the viewpoint of a transfer student.”
Overall rating: If you’re that new to anime, maybe you shouldn’t be reviewing it.
Match 26
http://kitsunetoneko.blogspot.com/
Site type: Articles about yuri/yaoi.
First impression:
Foxy Lady: They are going to vote for us, right?
Neko: O-of course… why wouldn’t they? With such beautiful appearance and wittiness… (and who would dare to anger a goddess like you, anyways?)
Foxy: Oh, they’ll certainly gonna honor my tail, right readers?
>they’ll certainly gonna honor my tail
Indescribable rage.
Article quality:
http://kitsunetoneko.blogspot.com/2012/04/lingerie-weapons-of-seduction-or.html
An article about lingerie and how it’s used for teasing/foreplay. I mean, I guess you make a point, and ya do tie it in with Panty and Stocking… Maybe I’m just not a super big fan of the subject material.
http://kitsunetoneko.blogspot.com/2012/03/my-hime-on-love.html
A post about Mai Hime and love? And it starts out with Akane/Kazuya? They have like 15 minutes combined airtime in the series.
Well, I mock, but I didn’t really have any notable disagreements with the post. It’s more just a topic that I didn’t really care about.
Overall rating: Good for people who like feminine-styled posts with an emphasis on gay/lesbian pairings.
http://shindeiie.wordpress.com/
Site type: Shitty anime opinions.
First impression: This site is, most probably, an anime blog.
Article quality:
I bet neither Lovecraft nor the reader envisioned Nyarlathotep, the harbinger of madness, loyal servant of Azathoth, to prefer the guise of a silver-haired teenage girl in order to further her own selfish desire of… procuring anime-related goods, I guess. Huh, I guess even the Cthulhu Mythos had to come around to the power of the Japanese animation industry eventually.
Taking the above into consideration, it’s clear that Lovecraft fans will find this to be a rather liberal interpretation
Okay, I actually laughed. Well observed, inushinde.
In general, the blog offers well-paced articles. Good writing isn’t exactly something this tournament is overflowing with, and while I did like other sites for the messages and ideas in their articles, I found myself wanting to read more in spite of what the point of the article was. inushinde is a good writer, and I hope he goes far in this tournament.
Overall rating: Good writing = good site.
Match 27
Site type: Shitty other blog opinions.
First impression: Three pages in and I can’t find a single article I want to read.
Article quality:
http://marinasauce.wordpress.com/2012/02/18/arakis-lessons-on-how-to-lose-fat-in-10-days/
This sounds like it was written in a template. “Introduce reader to issue. Relate issue to self. Go through the motions of talking about the issue. Relate issue back to self again.” It reminds me of newspaper editorials where the writer tosses in a line about something, let’s say “Mr. Jenkins was blinded in both his eyes while driving the school bus, but managed to safely bring the bus to a stop without any injuries to the students.” fo
llowed by something stupid smarmy (usually at the end of the article) like “Let’s be thankful Mr. Jenkins didn’t lose his head.” You know what I mean, right? It’s shit that you learn from a textbook in journalism classes and it’s presented as good writing. Maybe your readers enjoy it, but I didn’t.
http://marinasauce.wordpress.com/2012/03/19/princess-natsume-and-the-moon-splitting-festival/
A flowery episode summary. Look, I get that Natsume Yuujinchou is cool. Indeed, the show is great, even for people who hate slice-of-life. But this article is really nothing but “Hey, let me summarize the episode. I hope the next ones are good.” wrapped in pretty paper. You CAN write; you just choose not to, which is my main problem with this.
I’m not sure what you’re taking cues from, but I don’t think it’s helping in the sense of writing aniblog articles. If this makes any sense, I can’t feel your own style from what I read, which is what I really look for when choosing things I want to read. Unfortunately, I can’t offer you any advice beyond what I observe, and I’m no God of Writing myself. However, there are reasons I didn’t particularly enjoy what I read, and I think that at some level, you could apply a bit of my criticism to your future articles.
Overall rating: ^
http://www.pelleas.net/aniTOP/index.php
Site type: Shitty anime opinions.
First impression: Why the fuck is the right half of the screen entirely gray? I fucking hate you, Anipages.
Article quality:
http://www.pelleas.net/aniTOP/index.php/lupin-iii-fujiko-mine
I tried to find an article about shows NOT from the 80’s, but I failed. I had to settle on a “Lupin the Third remake” post.
…And it’s exactly what I expected it to be: complaints about how the new series is good but doesn’t have the “magic” of the original series. Dude, you’re like 40 years old. The problem isn’t that the new show lacks “magic”; it’s that you’re old and blinded by nostalgia. You don’t have to like the new series, but at least recognize that it’s because you’re old and irrelevant now. Sorry, bro. Get with the times.
Overall rating: Too old.
Match 28
http://trzr23.blogspot.com/
Site type: Metablogging primarily.
First impression: Calvin and Hobbes? Really, dude?
Article quality:
http://trzr23.blogspot.com/2012/04/aniblog-tourney-2012-preview-complete.html
Their “predictions” include 8thsin losing in the first round and me not winning the entire thing. Oh, bloggers, could you be any more clueless?
http://trzr23.blogspot.com/2012/02/trazor-presents-otaku-charmer.html
An article about toothbrushes? This would have been funny if the writing was less shitty and generic. “Oh, let’s make an infomercial parody, but not use any humor. That’ll work!”
Overall rating: Nice try.
http://traveleronrevenge.wordpress.com/
Site type: Shitty anime opinions.
First impression:
Article quality:
http://traveleronrevenge.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/the-stupidity-of-some-sankarea-viewers/
A blog post dedicated to calling people who like to watch Sankarea perverts and pedophiles? That’s nice.
It would be even nicer if you were to put your face in a pan, slit your wrists, then hold your wrists over the pan and drown in your own blood, you fucking vapid, useless shitbag.
Overall rating: I don’t like this site.
tl;dr: Why are there so many shitty sites?:
http://aniblogtourney.wordpress.com/2012/04/21/round-1-matches-25-28/
Anime Anthology vs. Emory Anime Club
the beautiful world vs. Shinde Iie Anime Blog
Anime B&B vs. Anipages
Trzr23 vs. Traveler on Revenge
lol nyarlko issues
I was halfway done with my Ahodomo review until I was asked to wait for a better OP/ED. When groups ask me to delay a specific episode for reasons like that (improvements incoming), I will do so as long as I haven’t published the post yet.
Psh. The only thing you need to know about the Nyarlko songs is (」・ω・)」うー！(／・ω・)／にゃー！
>They have like 15 minutes combined airtime in the series.
They still had more airtime than Akira ;_;.
I had to check who that was on wikia ;_;.
But Akira was the best character ;_;. (I have a habit of liking the characters who end up with basically no screentime. I’m used to it now, but it still hurts.)
I’ll vote for Whiners until you go up against 8thSin. That classy motherfucker deserves to win this tourney without even acknowledging its existence.
I accept your conditions.
“I finally settled on this article and… Wow. Apparently this is part of a “Blog Carnival” kind of thing where authors from different blogs weigh in with their shitty opinions on a subject. I had to stop reading halfway through because it was so bad (With only 9 paragraphs in the article, that says a lot for how much of this shit I can understand.)” -On Anime B&B
Dark_Sage, just out of curiosity, but did you realize that the post you linked to was my summary of the overall carnival experience? You refer to my blog as mostly aniblog circle jerking, and I’m curious if it’s because of all my links in that particular post. My personal opinion on rating was in a completely different article: http://wp.me/p1hrS6-jM.
Regardless, thanks for reading and giving your quick thoughts.
Versatile Blogger Award Nomination
Extended About Me | Ace Railgun’s 50 Questions
Plus all the SaiMoe stuff
all before I got to that article where all I saw was quotes from other bloggers. The only thing your Aniblog post linked to was other sites so I had to go looking through yours for something to give me an impression. I happened upon that.
If I was given an inaccurate view of your site, could you link me to something you feel better represents your blog? I’ll redo that part of this post.
I think you probably did a good enough job looking for topics that you might find interesting. I’m not sure what I could try and show you that you didn’t already breeze over yourself and decide against reading. I was hoping that my Apollon or Tsuritama posts would be good examples of the kinds of topics I like writing; however, they don’t seem to be of particular taste to you. I enjoyed writing my post on Natsume and the Moon-Splitting Festival episode, as well as on Area no Kishi.
http://wp.me/p1hrS6-pN
http://wp.me/p1hrS6-oc
Thanks for the quick reply and feedback.
I avoid Apollon posts because I haven’t seen it yet. I know, I know.
Anyway, I updated your section with those two articles. Apologies for breezing through your site like that.
I really appreciate you giving your thoughts on those two. And yes, I’m still struggling with inserting some personality and voice into my writing, which you aptly note. Thanks for being cool about following through with further explanation instead of just brushing of my desire for feedback.
Good luck on your match.
…and I assume that you will describe my blog as crap.
Welp, that’s what Professional Whiners say.
>.tk
I hope you can overcome this handicap with your writing.
SOON, Sir. SOON.
>Quality anime opinions
>Angel Beats listed as “Must See”
>Shiki listed as “Avoid”
…
Well, at least his opinion is better than most others I have seen.
Haha I’m glad you think so :)
Angel Beats is a great, fun show =[ His anime opinions are pretty good overall. I’m not sure what 5cm/s and GOSICK are doing in “Must See”, but those are pretty much the two biggest offenders.
Thank you so much for the feedback! I really appreciate it. I’ll try to break up my paragraphs a little more for easier reading. I’ll also try to shorten them up a bit so it doesn’t seem so wall-of-text like.
Again thank you so much for the feedback! We at AA area always trying to improve :)
About inushinde… his opinions suck, but his writing style is good?
Or, uh, is “Shitty anime opinions.” just your general copypasta for anime review sites? (That aren’t 8th, rofl)
Well, shit. Now I’m really at a loss… AA didn’t get the copypasta.
Well, fuck it I guess.
Looking forward to see reviews of Whiners tomorrow. :D
Truthfully, it’s my default template option because that’s what most sites are in this tournament. However, it’s deserved for his site because he thinks Tasogare and Medaka Box suck.
Just because someone writes well does not meant that I agree with them. :3
“Just because someone writes well does not meant that I agree with them.”
And on that note, I’d like to nominate SPIRAL for a guest review of Whiners tomorrow.
Well I was surprised that you liked my writing style enough to get past our differing opinions on the likes of Medaka Box and Dusk Maiden. Not that those should’ve been deal breakers, mind, but it’s an appreciated sentiment all the same.
Dark_Sage sucks att approving comments. WELCOME.
So much for toning down your personal attacks to avoid misunderstandings ;)
You can’t apply “pedophile” and “hypocrite” (in a serious manner) to such a wide net of people and expect to emerge without any criticism. Dick move, dick response. He’ll just have to
http://i.imgur.com/fLJAo.jpg
Meh, now you’re attacking again. I feel let-down.
Will you continue with these posts in round 2?
u mad?
No, stop it. Don’t be one of those people. Nobody likes those people. Marow posted a rational, valid concern. Don’t be a fucking troll.
u mad too?
I do plan on avoiding the personal attacks for at least the first round. However, there are circumstances in which I’m going to bring it back up a notch. Circumstances such as saying that people who fapped to Sankarea
“are hypocrites”
“adhere to child pornography”
“freaks”
I think he opened himself up for responses like mine.
TL, DR: How Right have your predictions been?
My tl;dr isn’t for predictions. It’s for which blog I’d choose over the other.
Also: why is Anime Anthology Loosing to an Anime Club?
Haha, well I guess I can’t say much to that. As for the “anime club” part, I’d just like to clarify that there are indeed other writers, they’ve just graduated in recent years. So yea, I’ll openly admit that I’m solo right now, but there *should* be more bloggers later on. Or so I hope >_>;;
Anyways, good luck in this circlejerk of a contest :P
Well, looks like Whiners have already passed the 200 vote mark. And look, even Spiral voted for you! inb4 Dark_Sage is crowned as the messiah…
Ben didn’t just watch Lupin back in the 70s or even in the 90s when it came out; he actually only sat through the old TV series in their entirety recently. I guess you could say that oh, he’s biased towards that kind of content and well, certainly we all have our biases. But I don’t think there’s no merit to what he is saying. The stuff about what ‘fits Lupin’ or whatever is very subjective since there are so many incarnations of Lupin and everyone has their own favorite, but then… he complained about the animation, right? Well, I only started watching anime in 2005 and only got into Lupin in 2007 at like, age 15, and while watching the old TV stuff I was surprised by the sheer amount of dynamic character motion they sometimes managed to pack into such a cheaply made, rushed show. Especially when comparing it to a dumb Hannah Barbera cartoon from that time the difference is obvious.
The new show is really stylish and cool but the characters just don’t move and emote in a way that feels like it has as much thought put into it. It still looks great but ultimately it also still kind of feels like they’re not really doing their complete best given the resources they have. I actually thought this way after watching ep 1 and while I didn’t expect Ben to outright dislike it I was a bit relieved that it wasn’t just me who thought that way about the animation.
And ultimately that’s why I like this blog. He’s a guy looking at anime from a vastly different perspective than most people and I don’t mean that like “at least he’s not a narutard pleb” but opinions that are just very scarce in the fandom even (hell maybe especially) among older fans. This is a guy who will readily admit that, I quote, he “would still rather watch Dokonjo Gaeru than Legend of the Galactic Heroes” and also has a wealth of technical knowledge and staff knowledge to make his writing both insightful and informative.
And I thought I posted a wall of text. Anyway, the criticism wasn’t “his favourite anime is Lupin III, what a fag”, but “there practically isn’t any contemporary anime examined”. Unless the whole point of the blog was to review 80’s anime, it fails at being relevant. Hell, it would fail at that, considering it hardly criticism the old stuff. I don’t care how old you are, heaping praise onto works from solely one time period and dismissing others is ignorant rose-tinted glasses shit.
He covers stuff he finds interesting or worth talking about both old and new. Kyousougiga, the new Lupin, Tsuritama, Rita and Whatsit, Panty and Stocking and Tatami as they aired, Apollon, Kizuna Ichigeki, etc, all pretty recent. I’d rather have him shed light on underrated obscure stuff and tackle elements of ongoing shows that other blogs won’t tackle than just do the usual anime blog stuff (which as far as I’m concerned tends to be too focused on just covering ongoing stuff as quick as possible for extra views instead of offering unique worthwhile insight). He’s hardly some nostalgia fueled John K-type guy and he can appreciate modern stuff just fine.