Jan
26
What the hell am I doing, writing an anime blog?
January 26, 2007 |
We want to put ourselves on the map. Personally, I don’t see the point in hiding our ambition, our desire to be respected writers on anime and other facets of Japanese culture and establish a reputation for our site among fans of anime and Japanese culture as a reputable source for information and recommendations. It requires good writing, good taste and a positive culture and attitude to get a review site like ours to be recognized. That goes without saying and, in my opinion we have that. But, it also requires something more… a given amount of flexibility and willingness to adapt to the current climate of the internet which is constantly growing and evolving, as well as a readiness to trial new things. That’s what I’ve tried to put on the table during my time at The Nihon Review and it’s lead to ideas like the Live Action section, the Imageboard and several other small changes around the place (a lot of which is still too far in its infancy to call a success or failure, although some recent plot twists are giving me reason to be optimistic that those decisions were the correct ones). (By the way, I’m not claiming credit for all these ideas… eg, the Live Action section was DarkKanti’s idea from memory).
It was Tamashii that asked the question and it was Kuma that answered it. The question (slightly paraphrased for convenience): What can we do to make ourselves more useful? The answer: Write our own blogs. Sure, it might seem like a counter-productive distraction, but I’ve been of the opinion for a little while now that blogs have a greater freedom than anime reviews (in the format we maintain, anyway), which will inevitably lead to a greater insight into the minds of our staff: our opinions, our inherent biases, our pet hates, our fanboy/girl-isms. This post introduces the premise, as well as the flavour of my particular blog. Many of my articles will attempt to allow my readers an insight into the inner workings of The Nihon Review from the point of view of this self-proclaimed manager of the site (as well as, on the flipside, an outlet for me to vent… not that I need to vent often, since we have a great staff and I very rarely have to play politics with them). The other type of article (and, very possibly, more interesting to you) will be topical (topical = whatever Answerman is talking about at the moment), opinionated op-ed pieces on aspects of anime (and, obviously, other aspects of Japanese culture, though admittedly, primarily anime) that I feel strongly about… and probably lots of genre commentary. What you won’t see on my blog: episode reviews. I’ll be following the mold set by anime|otaku (an outstanding anime blog, which is slowly getting the credit and respect it deserves) and other similar blogs and steering away from episode reviews simply because there’s enough of them out there already and, at the pace and magnitude they are written at, I couldn’t keep up and expect to make an impact.
So, that’s it. My blog’s intention in a nutshell. I do intend to update weekly, but I lead a very hectic life so if that happens will be a case of ‘wait-and-see’. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy.
Comments are always welcome. They’re the only way I know that people are actually reading my work.
Comments
5 Comments so far
Just wanted to say I already love your blog. Yes, I read it.
My thoughts are the same as Pachinko’s. Ganbatte~~
I got praised! Thanks! Wheee~
Oh so reviews aren’t enough for you, you just had to make a blog. Better be worth it >:0
Just you on the blogroll of mine, FYI. Welcome to the anime blogosphere (sorry if this seemed late) ^^;;