This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.
Starting off with the editorial blogs was probably a bad idea on my part. But whatever, let’s celebrate that bad idea with some similarly bad writing from the bloggers featured.
Editorial Bracket
Yes, I will be providing commentary. Bloggers, feel free to press me for further details in the comment section; I read a lot more articles from your shitty sites than you think I did.
As for the polls… vote away. In Round 1 you’re allowed to cheat the polls all you want. Yes, anibloggers, you may vote with proxies, hire botnets, and beg everyone you know on Facebook to vote on your behalf. Do what you feel you must. I know how much these contests matter to you all. Prove me right.
Two will move on from each match, and only two. Results will be posted when the polls end. Which is whenever I want them to.
Round 1 – Match 1
Nil – http://nilblogs.wordpress.com/
Nil often meanders from his technically competent writing with stupid “look at me”s like,
“So yes, I will now be dipping my hands in fanfiction. It seems strangely alluring in the same way you catch a whiff of that grotesque-looking man loitering on the sidewalk, clothes in tatters and eyes in delirium, and you can’t help but take a gander and wonder what life would be like as him. Or maybe I’m just a depraved individual from associating with hobos in Berkeley; getting high with one of them has still got to be a top 10 moment of my life.”
As an expert at being up my own ass, I can tell Nil’s had quite a few experiences of his own. Take his article about opportunity cost as an example. Here we go. The main point appears to be “opportunity cost means making decisions about how to spend your time and nobody else gets this but me, god I’m so fucking smart.” Way to show us plebs.
If writing is masturbation, then this is the kind I’d regret afterwards.
Atelier Emily – http://formeinfullbloom.wordpress.com/
This is a diary. Or rather, it wants to be one. The author certainly has a throbbing clit for anything from an anime series she can relate her life to in any way at all.
But I can’t say I have a problem with that.
Now, I’m not gonna say these diary entries are omgdeep, but they can be (somewhat) insightful. And anyone who manages to talk about Utena without making me want to shove a sewing needle up their urethra is all right in my book.
Roving Thoughts – https://cks.mef.org/space/rtblog/
I have to give Chris credit; the blog really is populated solely by meandering brainslips. I failed to find a single article that I felt was actually worth the time I put into reading it.
Here’s an example: https://cks.mef.org/space/rtblog/anime/ValvraveS1TwoBits. Tell me if you got something out of it other than nothing.
All he’s doing is posting things. Things that don’t matter. And the only problem with that is they don’t matter.
I fail to see why the site exists, or even why Chris does.
Medieval Otaku – http://medievalotaku.wordpress.com/
I struggle to find the value proposition in this blog.
Half the posts are tumblr reblogs, the other half are about how Jesus has such a huge dick, and when an actual thought from the author squeezes its way through the cracks, you find yourself wishing it hadn’t. Take this example of writing from an article titled “Top Ten Screwball Anime Characters”:
“10. Alice Malvin of Pumpkin Scissors
I practically fell in love with Alice after she shouted “Aku Soku Zan” at the start of the first episode. She’s very fiery and zealous in regard to those suffering due to the effects of the war, and she tries to impress her zeal onto her subordinates. All those showing a lack of enthusiasm soon feel her annoyance!”
That is the entirety of medievalotaku’s reasoning for why Alice Malvin is a “top ten screwball”. How the fuck is being zealous “screwball”-like? What puts her in the top-ten other than the author’s declared one-sided love? I mean, fuck. I’m almost impressed someone could write so poorly without intending it to be a parody.
Here’s the entire article if you have a tendency toward self-harm: http://medievalotaku.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/top-ten-screwball-anime-characters/
Sekijitsu – http://sekijitsu.com/
Sekijitsu wants to be popular so badly.
And to be popular, they’ve assembled a crack team of bloggers to write for them. So, let’s see how a select sampling fare (I’m not writing about every goddamn person who wrote something in the past year):
MindTap: http://sekijitsu.com/2014/01/02/witch-craft-works-first-impressions/
“I honestly didn’t have much expectation going into Witch Craft Works; I basically bracing myself for some crazy amount of fanservice, and surprisingly got none of that. Witch Craft Works ended up being more action than anything — probably front loading the more intense animation to bring people into the series. Either way we have some kind of tactic used to drive viewership.”
If you don’t speak English, why would you write for an English-language blog? Come on.
Kako: http://sekijitsu.com/2013/12/29/anime-2013-a-retrospective/
(On Amnesia) “Another one, I really wanted to like. It looked so colorful and the two leads should have been interesting, but once you throw in the secret organization, Circus, and a convoluted and confusing first episode, you’ve turned me off for good.”
Yes, that is the entirety of the retrospective for Amnesia. I put more thought into how to format the quote than the author put into that entire shitty article.
Yippy (episodic blogger): http://sekijitsu.com/2013/12/08/nagi-no-asukara-10-hibernation-tension/
One of the biggest problems with Yiffy is he writes from a “you saw exactly what I saw and you just saw it right now” perspective. And that’s super-great if you’re livestreaming something. But you’re not. You’re blogging.
Cloudy: http://sekijitsu.com/2014/01/03/fanart-fanatic-autumn-2013/
Cloudy finds fanart and posts it and… that’s it. Within the context of Sekijitsu’s goal to be a mega-blog, that’s not such a bad idea though.
Currently, they’re trying a scattershot approach to content. And I think it will eventually work out for them.
The only problem is that eventually isn’t right now.
Round 1 – Match 2
The Land of Obscusion – http://landofobscusion.blogspot.ca/
I don’t know what audience George is trying to reach with his blog, but it certainly ain’t me. I went through through the entirety of his 2013 output and could only find one post that I was moderately interested in finishing once I had started reading it: “Mars of Destruction: Can ‘Bad’ Be Overrated?”
So let me tackle that article, starting off with a quote of his, “Sure, it’s not a good anime by any measure, but rather than being “bad” it’s simply boring & bland, which is kind of sad considering the potential the idea behind it has.”
Replace “anime” with “post” and you hit the nail on the head.
While I agree with his post’s conclusion, it fails to impress anything upon me as a reader. If the goal of the article is to counter an argument (in this case, that Mars of Destruction is the worst anime ever), refute the shit out of it. You wanna talk about the plot? Say while it’s salvageable and then point out why it’s not the worst plot ever with examples of worse plots. Do the same for the animation, and the story, and whatever else you want to talk about.
Give me a goddamn takeaway worth keeping. Please.
Standing on my Neck – http://flawfinder.wordpress.com/
If you have seen Zebraman and remember the plot, I do suggest reading through this man’s attempt at explaining it:
Whether by sheer inability to digest media, or a deliberate lie about having actually seen the movie, Flawfinder gets it completely and utterly wrong. On top of that, Flawfinder manages to fuck up his own self-defined canon.
“Since my only exposure to super sentai was through Power Rangers and a Thai copy of the Kamen Rider PS1 game (in that it was one of those cheap bootleg discs that only worked on a modded PS1), I wasn’t too familiar with the actual Japanese super sentai formula.”
<describes a made-up version of what happens in Zebraman>
“And that’s pretty much the sentai formula in Japan in a nutshell. Now I haven’t seen Kamen Rider or any of those other Japanese sentai shows, but according to what I’ve heard, it kind of does the same thing.”
“As a guy who grew up on superhero and sentai stuff, I “sort of” support what Flamenco is doing now.”
Sense where?
The worst part is Flawfinder is creating posts with topics I’m interested in seeing opinions on. It’s like the complete opposite of my experience with Land of Obscusion. But the godawful writing (sadly, post inaccuracies aren’t the only problems) pervading this blog means it is a waste of time.
If you need evidence of that, check: http://flawfinder.wordpress.com/2013/12/18/twelve-days-of-anime-8-good-miss-monochromes-motive/
“PS: BTW, the latest episode has Miss Monochrome meeting with her reincarnated friend for the first time, as well seeing that brat who stole 19.3 billion yen from her. It was pretty funny.”
PS: BTW kill yourself, Flawfinder.
Loli Salad – http://loli.animeblogger.net/
Whether by design or not, there’s not really much to Loli Salad. You have reaction posts like this Saimoe one: http://loli.animeblogger.net/?p=6475 and then you have music posts such as this: http://loli.animeblogger.net/?p=6227. But the posts with actual “thought” are mostly just ways to pass the time until the next “here’s some music I’m listening to” notice.
It seems the way to get the most out of this blog is to make sure your taste in music matches up to the author’s and then take her suggestions for what they are. But I’m you’re going to give Fang-tan enough credit for bothering to blog about something unique-ish in the aniblogosphere to push her into the next round.
Cuz that sounds better than “you get a pass mostly because the previous two contenders made Dark_Sage try to burn his ethernet cable.”
The Geek Clinic – http://thegeekclinic.wordpress.com/
What a shitty name for a blog. TGC (fuck, even the acronym sucks) has a wide array of post content varying from reviews to circlejerking, cringey bullshit to music spotlights.
The last one boils down to posts of Youtube videos. While I can get behind that, it can’t exactly carry a blog.
Silvachief (presumably) understands this, and so bets on the aforementioned reviews and cringe.
Reviews: http://thegeekclinic.wordpress.com/2013/08/04/visual-novel-review-saya-no-uta/
I found the reviews worth reading even when I disagreed with the final verdict. That’s all I need to fucking say about that.
Editorials: “Hey, have you ever thought about being deep?”, Silva asks. “Please don’t talk to me,” you reply.
Oh, and fuck centered text.
Round 1 – Match 3
Nigorimasen! – http://www.nigorimasen.com/
Back when I first checked out Nigorimasen for this contest, Tom was starting out with something called Anime Baseball. It was an interesting idea, but I can’t comment on the result since he abandoned that project like it was his pregnant girlfriend.
So I thought of checking out his Favorite AMV Fridays content. Only two posts on that in 2013? For some reason, I thought there were more Fridays in that year.
Beyond two-paragraph throwaways, it seems Major Tom has issues with creating content on the blog. Other than an okay review and the solid-in-concept-but-lacking-in-delivery anime magazine posts, I can’t say there’s much reason to check on this blog on any regular basis. After all, I can just grab an old copy of Newtype and get dat nostalgia feel whenever I want.
Gagging on Sexism – http://gaggingonsexism.wordpress.com/
Unlike the social justice warriors that have attempted to take over the video game scene, Erin takes a measured approach in her blog of “Just because I find something problematic doesn’t mean it needs to be banned, and it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily bad.” While that is the standard viewpoint of pretty much everyone with a ticking brain, a blog titled “Gagging on Sexism” requires that bit of clarification.
Beyond the author’s philosophy, the writing is rather solid. While I disagree with Erin’s view that having breasts is racist or something (I’ll never understand the tumblr crowd), what she points out is backed up with evidence and framed in a smooth-flowing manner.
http://gaggingonsexism.wordpress.com/2013/11/30/contradictions-and-questions-in-kill-la-kill/
All in all, it’s good writing.
Mainichi Anime Yume – http://animeyume.com/blog/
When I think of an anime blog focused around standard editorial writing, blogs like this one are exactly what I’m thinking of.
The ages of anime characters – http://animeyume.com/blog/2013/11/15/the-ages-of-anime-characters/
When is an anime “too old” for us – http://animeyume.com/blog/2013/09/11/when-is-an-anime-too-old-for-us/
The site doesn’t tread any new ground, but it doesn’t give the impression it needs to.
Ideas Without End – http://ideaswithoutend.wordpress.com/
If I wanted to read a book, I wouldn’t be on a blog. r042 seems to bet on the opposite, as evidenced by his long-winded posts with very little room for the reader themselves to breathe.
Have an example post. Just try to get through it without forcing breaks upon yourself or skimming past words: http://ideaswithoutend.wordpress.com/2013/09/01/sound-of-the-sky-aria-and-the-regression-of-society/
Paragraphs and images, please, IWE. Because as-is, I could not read a single one of the articles to the end. Though maybe that’s the point.
Rayout – http://rayoutblog.wordpress.com/
Rayout has a crisis of identity; it doesn’t know whether it’s a good blog or a bad blog.
On the good end, we have posts like http://rayoutblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/an-alternative-use-for-review-scores/ and http://rayoutblog.wordpress.com/2013/12/28/the-otaku-memory-box-sharing-her-secret-sharing-herself/ which provide honest thoughts worth reading.
But then we see what happens when TheSubtleDoctor tries to write intellectually: http://rayoutblog.wordpress.com/2013/08/04/the-otaku-memory-box-seizon-senryaku/ and http://rayoutblog.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/zetsuen-no-tempest-episode-18-the-greatest-lie-yoshino-ever-told/
I can’t really provide any quotes here, since the writing is worst when it’s complete. But if you aren’t gonna waste your time on a shitty blog, just know that if the author tried any harder he could be mistaken for a fansubber.
Round 1 – Match 4
Milkcananime – http://www.milkcananime.com/
Hey MCA-kun-tachi, have you never fucking heard of the More function? There’s a reason why most blogs have that: because not everyone who visits your site wants to read everything you write every time they visit.
Mix that with poor English and content-less articles that can only be described as “Singaporean girls fangasming over boring things” and this blog isn’t much worth a visit.
About the only reason I’d point anyone to this blog is if they were really interested in the Singaporean fandom. But I imagine there are quite a few better places to take a look at what’s going on in the Kingdom of PAP.
Behind the Nihon Review – http://behind-the.nihonreview.com/
BtN is another mega anime blog, with 11 individual contributors in 2013. It also only had 26 total posts.
Combine the utter lack of meaningful activity with an aesthetic that wouldn’t even have been acceptable a decade ago, and I’m not seeing why anyone would waste a bookmark slot on this.
And that’s too bad, since some posts were actually interesting. Just not interesting enough to wait a year for.
Anime Viking – http://animeviking.com/
“Please talk to me” punctuates the end of every article on this site. Marow is really fixated on growing conversation in the comments section, and for good reason — community is far more ego-boosting than structuring a site around Google’s page-ranking algorithms for hits from people who didn’t actually want to end up there. And no, I’m not throwing jabs at TheCartDriver.
Of course, it’s a balancing act to make sure a blog is seen as a blog rather than just a shitty forum. And while Marow generally hits this balance with articles born from meaningful thought (http://animeviking.com/2013/11/16/do-you-drop-anime/), at other times it feels like the posts are just commentbait that could have consisted solely of the title (http://animeviking.com/2013/12/09/digital-or-physical-anime-which-do-you-prefer/).
Geekorner-Geekulture – http://geekorner.wordpress.com/
G-G is a blog about coming to terms with having unapologetically casual taste. “Accel World is great! SAO is great! Anyone who disagrees is being a jerk!”
I found myself reaching for a screwdriver while reading every post, only to lament that I hadn’t the author’s head handy to jam it into.
Honestly, I wouldn’t have so much of a problem with this site if it was written by someone who actually spoke English.
“A month ago I’ve began watching Fairy Tail, and over two and a half weeks I’ve watched all of it (minus the filler episodes), aside from how silly the first episode was – which actually filled me with concern that I won’t like the show, it was just too silly and random – I’ve really enjoyed this show.”
The writing is bad, the opinions are bad, and QC is lacking:
Guy, if you ever want an audience outside of the subreddit you refuse to shut up about, I’d suggest trying to put more thought into your posts than “okay gotta vomit up enough information to make me seem smart”. It shouldn’t take you the 2800 words it took in your Accel World article to write a description of a show.
Someone needs to keep me away from sharp objects. I have a feeling this tourney is only going to get worse.
10/10 would vote again
I changed themes a month or so back, and while my old theme automatically shrank images that are too large for the theme, this one just lets them expand. I thought I got them all, but every so often I see one I’ve missed and fix it.
I’m impressed with the amount of work you’ve done for this. It’s fun to be included but i’m a little worried about what else you’ll have to say about me.
At least I didn’t feel as much hate radiating from my section as some of the others.
Looks like you made it through the first stage at least.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy about that XD
Wait, what made you decide to my site in this bracket in the first place? The site is organized closer to Metanorn then anyone.
Nothing much to the decision. Just when I was going through your site originally the editorials/non-review posts popped out to me more than the reviews/impressions did.
I think of Sekijitsu more as a mega-aniblog than a mega-episodic blog, and this is the bracket where I think those blogs would go.
Beyond that, a few of the slottings were somewhat arbitrary. Let’s say a blog is 50/50 editorials and reviews… where would I put it? At some point it just comes down to a coin toss.
Okay that makes some sense. I’m not quite sure I agree, but as you have so clearly stated this isn’t exactly an inclusive competition. Still it is making me think about how someone would even ideally bracket such a contest assuming they were trying to do so impartially. It’s just that even episodic sites often times are too different from each other to compare.
A few of our writers weren’t too pleased with us getting smacked talk. I cant imagine why. I mean you said other sites make you want to kill yourself. The worst you had to dish on us is that we have the potential to become large. I’m sort of disappointed with you. You’re the arch-troll of blogging. You didn’t say we’re “meaningless attention hounds who will never be one third the size they want to be,” or “samey losers who act pretentious and can’t come up with a new idea to save their lives.” I was looking forward to this. Come on.
The goal here isn’t really to be mean so much as it is to be honest.
You guys strike me as a blog desperate to get hits in any way you can, and that’s the primary thought I had while going through the site and the articles.
I think your desperation (protip: game AnimeShinbun harder for maximum views from their bots) combined with your scattershot approach to content (the more you can put out, the better, amirite?) will do you well in hitting your goal, and I think you’ll be in a solid position a few seasons down the road.
I just don’t think the content you create is any less throw-away than the bloggers themselves, so I wasn’t going to focus on it any more than needed. (Really, tell me if dropping Kako or Yippy will cause Sekijitsu to shut down.)
So yeah, that’s what I commented on. I suppose it’s easier to think of it as me trolling you than giving you an honest opinion though. Much nicer for the ego.
Okay. That was much better. :) Thanks.
On the road to Victory Road~~~
>Not voting for tumblrites for trolling purposes
lol
Thanks for hating on Flawfinder. That fedora wearing faggot deserves it.
0/10, Flaw-kun. And I rarely give out zeroes.
While I am a little surprised at what you wrote about my respective aniblog, I can’t help but agree. I was part of it while it was flourishing but right now we seem to be at a standstill and the quality of writers has certainly gone down.
Which is exactly why I went on hiatus. Thank you for agreeing with me.
Another post that seems like it’ll be a troll article, but it ends up being oddly informative while still being amusing. Yeah, I think this stuff is right in your wheelhouse, D_S.
Also, I like the polls. Would vote again.
Will be anxiously waiting for the blogger defense corps to bust in when you talk about them and call you THE AXIS OF EVIL <3
You’d need multiple aniblog tourney organizers to have an axis. Right now he’s more like the apex of evil.
that’d just be the pot calling the kettle black
(or less racist, the cracker calling the rice white)
Hi there, Dark Sage. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment on my post on Sekijitsu. It stings, but I guess I don’t see as much frank feedback as I’d like.
Anyway, I’d like to ask for more of your opinion on my writing. How exactly can I improve my blogging? To me, a review is the writer expressing his opinion on the material. Although I agree that my writing was (and can be) too much of a synopsis, I think I did express my opinions in that post.
Looking forward to your response. Cheers. =)
Definitely. But let me just set you up with a warning that I despise standard episodic blogging. Okay, warning over. Let’s go.
Taking your Outbreak Company reviews as one example, you lack comprehension. Going off your 04 impressions, you complained that the drama from the series was dropped in favor of comedy. While that certainly would have been the biggest tone shift of the season, you have to realize that suddenly going grimdark on us would have been a complete fucking troll, ala Shadow Star Narutaru. Outbreak Company is a comedy anime with a ridiculous amount of parody elements and irreverence that nobody could honestly view it as anything other than what it presents itself as. So while you spend an entire review thinking “Oh man, this anime’s just being silly what the fuck”, you are missing the entire fucking point.
But let’s pretend for a second that understand everything. Moving onto your Nagi no Asukara posts, there are various issues with the formatting. You say you’re expressing your opinion? Let’s analyze that.
http://sekijitsu.com/2013/12/02/nagi-no-asukara-09-the-hug-after-tomorrow/
I was getting worried the romance and family drama might drag on too much! <- This is indeed a reaction. I expected something more apocalyptic than an anime version of The Day After Tomorrow (haven’ t watched it though) <- Why would you reference something you don't know anything about? Still, something tells me that a drop in mercury isn’t the only thing that will happen. Here’s hoping there’ll be a spectacle to behold. <- So you expect the plot to progress? Great insight. I really loved how they turned up the suspense dial by slowly giving us a sense of unease before the explanation next week. <- What does this do for me as a reader? Finally, when they miss school, Hikari and the audience gets a gut punch of despair. <- Putting words in our mouths. Don't assume you know everything about your audience. Kinda bummed they never explored the father angle more though, as it looked more a plot device than anything major. <- What are you even saying? Sadly though [...] {this entire paragraph} <- This is the first legitimate opinion I saw in the article and it's hardly full-fledged. But forget about all that. Seriously, fuck it. Throw it out of your mind. The only thing you need to care about is this: What makes someone intentionally navigate to Sekijitsu just for your content? What impetus does someone have to check the site daily for more posts from Yippy? Why would they come to you versus any other episodic blogger that summarizes what happened in a show, line item by line item, with easy-mode'd thoughts? Breaking that down even more: What is it you can offer that others can't, and why would that make people interested in what you have to say? If you made your own site, what would drive people there? This is the difference between sink and swim in this cutthroat aniblog world (we laugh, but there isn't nearly as much "success" as there is "failure" anymore). As it stands, I can give you patchwork advice toward becoming solidly mediocre, but if you really want to make a worthwhile mark, and force me to eat my own words until I have to vomit them all over myself, I ask that you seriously consider the questions I posed to you.
Yippy — please, for the love of God, seriously consider the questions he posed to you.
You take that back about Narutaru! That series made me wig out so bad from the very first episode. Though I did watch it in a dark room and that soundtrack was positively spine-tingling.
Though yeah, I guess the “change” in tone was a bit of a sucker punch, but then, the mangaka who created it does that a lot – see the first episode of Bokurano if you don’t believe me. That ending came out of nowhere when you first watch it :o
The Narutaru anime sucked. It doesn’t help that the studio clearly wasn’t brave (or stupid) enough to animate what came after they cut off. Probably for the best. The dub was hilariously atrocious as well. Now the manga, while not great, was a roller-coaster ride of feels that went to some dark and squicky places.
Bokurano suffers similarly; the studio not animating the nastier bits of the manga, but it holds up much better than Narutaru.
Both only really exist for the sake of pure shock value but sometimes that’s all you’re looking for.
I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I actually liked Narutaru even though I acknowledge my fond memories are mostly due to nostalgia, after having read the manga.
The “wait, what the fuck is going on?” moment a few episodes in was pretty awesome, and I’m always on the lookout for another series that can seriously fuck with my expectations like that.
I wish they’d adapt some more of Mohiro Kitoh’s material, though admittedly his body of work isn’t as large as other mangaka.
I’ve always viewed Narutaru as a chilling reflection on series like Pokemon and Digimon, and I think that’s why it’s left a longer-lasting impression on me, because like you say, it fucks with your expectations. Bokurano does something similar as a foil to Gundam. I don’t think it’s just shock value – there is a underlying message about these shows that we view as harmless and what the reality of the situation would actually be.
Though, yes, the pacing in Narutaru is all wrong, and a lot of the characterisation is way out of whack, but as a concept, it’s right up there. They did better with Bokurano but that came from having more eps to play with (though the ending was a bit lame).
Fingers crossed that Kitoh makes a good series one of these days, cuz while I enjoyed Boku and Narutaru, I can’t say they were awesomesauce.
Love the shit outta the guy though. Not many other people are tackling what he does.
Thanks for the quick reply, Dark Sage. Had to sleep on your reply before I could answer properly, but here it is:
>So while you spend an entire review thinking “Oh man, this anime’s just being silly what the fuck”, you are missing the entire fucking point.
Honestly, I did have my doubts about those reviews being too schizophrenic. On a gut level, I did sense that they were at odds with each other but I guess I’m still too green and short-sighted to look at the big picture in a review, let alone make them consistent.
>I expected something more apocalyptic than an anime version of The Day After Tomorrow (haven’ t watched it though) Still, something tells me that a drop in mercury isn’t the only thing that will happen. Here’s hoping there’ll be a spectacle to behold. I really loved how they turned up the suspense dial by slowly giving us a sense of unease before the explanation next week. Finally, when they miss school, Hikari and the audience gets a gut punch of despair. Kinda bummed they never explored the father angle more though, as it looked more a plot device than anything major. Sadly though […] {this entire paragraph} What makes someone intentionally navigate to Sekijitsu just for your content? What impetus does someone have to check the site daily for more posts from Yippy? Why would they come to you versus any other episodic blogger that summarizes what happened in a show, line item by line item, with easy-mode’d thoughts?
>Breaking that down even more: What is it you can offer that others can’t, and why would that make people interested in what you have to say? If you made your own site, what would drive people there?…
Good questions. I do have some ideas on some unique stuff that I’d like to do for Sekijitsu, but I’ve yet to act on them out of apathy and force of habit. Although I can’t answer these questions properly as of now, I hope I’ll be able to do that in the future.
>As it stands, I can give you patchwork advice toward becoming solidly mediocre, but if you really want to make a worthwhile mark, and force me to eat my own words until I have to vomit them all over myself, I ask that you seriously consider the questions I posed to you.
I wouldn’t want to foot your hospital bills (though I’d love to return your words), but your analysis and questions have definitely been on my mind ever since I read your comment.
Hopefully, I’ll take your advice to heart in my writing, but I’ll read your comment daily just to smack some sense into me once more like you did before. Again, thanks for taking the time to write up this detailed and useful piece.
Btw, what makes episodic blogging unique as opposed to “standard”? I’d like your opinion on this too, if you don’t mind.
Sorry, I did check before posting, but something broke in my reply to your Nagi no Asukara analysis. The rest is pretty much intact though. I’ll just post those broken replies here:
“I was getting worried the romance and family drama might drag on too much! <- This is indeed a reaction."
I shouldn't have stated the obvious, eh?
"I expected something more apocalyptic than an anime version of The Day After Tomorrow (haven’ t watched it though) <- Why would you reference something you don’t know anything about?"
Valid point, though I did read up on the movie's plot before writing.
"Still, something tells me that a drop in mercury isn’t the only thing that will happen. Here’s hoping there’ll be a spectacle to behold. <- So you expect the plot to progress? Great insight."
I was expecting something grand and flashy to happen, but on hindsight, the wording and first sentence is pretty idiotic.
"I really loved how they turned up the suspense dial by slowly giving us a sense of unease before the explanation next week. <- What does this do for me as a reader?"
It gives you my opinion?
"Finally, when they miss school, Hikari and the audience gets a gut punch of despair. <- Putting words in our mouths. Don’t assume you know everything about your audience."
Good call, I'll avoid that in the future.
"Kinda bummed they never explored the father angle more though, as it looked more a plot device than anything major. <- What are you even saying?"
Guess I should've tried to make sense instead of using pointless jargon.
"Sadly though […] {this entire paragraph} <- This is the first legitimate opinion I saw in the article and it’s hardly full-fledged."
You're right, I wasted my (and the reader's) time on stating the obvious. Should've elaborated on my opinion more.
Well, there’s voice, which can be a good or bad thing. The best way I can describe that is if someone reads a few posts of yours, and then you post elsewhere, will they be able to recognize it’s you? It’s the idea of linking yourself to your writing, and it’s pretty important in terms of creating an individual brand for yourself.
You can also innovate in terms of formatting or content covered, though that’s sort a blog-related thing. Think Baka-Raptor or something like that where it’s just so :different: from the norm that it sticks in your memory.
I wish I had a perfect answer for you, but this one’s really all on you. And I should also warn you that your goal shouldn’t be to please me. It should be to please whatever audience you’re aiming for. But — and this is of utmost importance — make sure that audience includes you. If you read your own work and you hate it, you’re doing it wrong.
Writing style and blog formatting, eh? That’s sound advice there, I’ll take them to heart.
>I wish I had a perfect answer for you, but this one’s really all on you.
Understood, writing’s a subjective art after all. Although, I think a few pointers and critiques from others can help. My idea was to gradually get better the more I write, but without feedback on my work, it’s been slow going.
>And I should also warn you that your goal shouldn’t be to please me. It should be to please whatever audience you’re aiming for. But — and this is of utmost importance — make sure that audience includes you. If you read your own work and you hate it, you’re doing it wrong.
Thanks for the warning and humility there. I think I’ve neglected a crucial point of blogging-the audience-for too long. Will have to rethink how I write from now on.
Thanks a lot for the advice on episodic blogging! I really appreciate them.
jesus christ how horrifying
Hold me
dakishimete
lewd
It feels like you’re warming up to shit on fansubs. I like it
>implying he isn’t reading shit sites like these to procrastinate reviews
Just look at how many did he manage to finish last season.
I promise to finish at least three reviews this season.
Promises are meant to be broken. Its not like we are expecting ‘more’ but something ‘delicious’.
“Cause Real Life sucks” – people.
Will read Figures & VNs tomorrow; gonna sleep. Thanks for making this happen.
How often do you think we’ll be seeing these tourney rounds?
Every 1-2 days. I want this shit done and over with ASAP. Dragging things out for too long does not work well with my attention spa–
I really didn’t expect finding two nice new blogs to follow when I opened this post, so thanks Dark_Sage.
Atelier Emily reminds me a little bit of Ogiue Maniax in that it focuses on something specific in an anime rather than just writing overall impressions. It’s pleasant to read.
And Gagging on Sexism – any blog that has a post on how much Please Save My Earth sucked on the first page deserves to be stalked and loved.
np. It’s good knowing that the blog slog paid off. Keeps morale up for every subsequent trek into the internet wilderness.