This is somewhat off-topic, but I’m curious if anyone reading has experience with this television, especially with regard to how it handles anime. I know it’s not 1080p, but at 32″, the extra resolution is kind of useless. Plus, I’ll be watching SD content for many years to come.
Any thoughts? I don’t know if I’m in the market or not, but I’m giving it serious consideration.
That looks inviting. Anyway, you know the drill by now…
Clannad - Having waited for the 16:9 version to begin airing, I’ve only watched the first couple of episodes. The brisk pace immediately reminded me of Air, but the direction is tight enough this time around that the show doesn’t feel like a runaway freight train. As I’ve mentioned in the past, Clannad is the one Key game I know very little about, so I don’t have any particular expectations for the adaptation going in. It’s off to a great start, at least.
Kimikiss Pure Rouge - A few people have already compared this show to Boys Be, which I suspect very few of you have watched, much less heard of. I’ve always been especially fond of that show, however, and I think the comparison is spot on. The most notable difference, really, is that Kimikiss is a little less male-oriented. And that’s a good thing. Anyway, it’s a remarkably enjoyable show, especially considering that it consists almost entirely of people walking to and from school.
Mokke - This show continues to fly under the radar, but from a content standpoint, I think it’s one of the most interesting of the season. The stories appear simple on the surface, but the more I watch, the more depth I discover in the writing. There’s sort of an old school vibe to the show; not just with the obviously dated character designs, but the overall atmosphere and presentation. It’s very comforting.
Minami-ke - Perhaps it’s just me, but there’s a lot of underlying sexual tension in this show. However, it’s nothing like the mangaka’s previous work, Kyou no Go no Ni. The funny thing is, the characters in Kyou no Go no Ni are much younger on average than the characters in Minami-ke. Interesting. Anyway, the humor in Minami-ke is occasionally hit-or-miss, but the more I watch, the better it gets. The teruterubozu sequence in last week’s episode had me laughing so hard I cried.
Genshiken 2 - Letting a porn studio handle the production for this season of Genshiken was a wonderful idea. Not only is the animation quality more consistent than before, but the the smut is extremely well done. And there’s a lot of smut this time around. I’m starting to understand why the manga has so many fans.
Hayate no Gotoku - I’m amazed by how consistently enjoyable and funny this show continues to be. And it’s only half way through its run! I’ve heard a lot of talk about how the show lost its balance over the Summer, and while I generally agreed with that assessment at the time, I’m starting to think it was more a matter of the show finding its groove and sticking to it. Whatever the case may be, I know I still look forward to new episodes each week - moreso than any other show I’m watching, really - and I think that’s pretty darn impressive for a series that’s been on the air for seven months.
Bamboo Blade - This show has really exceeded my expectations. It almost feels like an accident; was it supposed to be this enjoyable? Beats me.
You’re Under Arrest - Full Throttle - Were these episodes left on the cutting room floor during the first two seasons or something? Even for a show as corny as You’re Under Arrest, this season has been especially silly thus far. I don’t mind, really - otherwise, I wouldn’t be such a big fan of the franchise - but it does seem like the show has finally run out of story ideas.
Sketchbook ~ Full Colors ~ - I can live with the tildes, but I refuse to acknowledge the improper punctuation. Just a note. Oh, and best show of the season.
I watched Millennium Actress for the first time in ages this evening. I can’t remember when I last watched it, to be honest. As incredible a film that as it may be, it rarely calls out to me when I’m scanning my DVD collection, looking for something to watch. Nor is it the most entertaining of Satoshi Kon’s films; I’d give Tokyo Godfathers the nod in that respect. However, I think it’s his most interesting film, at least from a conceptual standpoint. It’s funny how it practically teeters on the edge of collapse for an hour and a half. Perhaps that’s why I go so long between viewings. It’s as frustrating as it is wonderful.
Once the end credits rolled, however, I got to thinking about theatrical anime. Or the lack thereof. If you ask me to list the most influential anime films of the past year, only Byousoku 5 Centimeter comes to mind. The previous year, only Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo and Tales from Earthsea. It seems that, in any given year, you can count the number of major anime theatrical features on one hand. Yet, in the same time period, somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred new TV series will debut.
I suppose there’s not much of a market for anime films. Only major releases from Studio Ghibli and movies associated with popular TV shows seem to perform well at the box office. However, Studio Ghibli can only release a new film every couple of years. And even though Naruto and Pokeman movies are a dime a dozen, I don’t think anyone cares all that much with the exception of the children of Japan. Every few years, something unique will come along and capture the public’s attention - the aforementioned Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo, for example - but it almost seems as if animated theatrical features are more an oddity in Japan than they are here in the United States. Funny, ain’t it?
And just as anime films have become rare, so have direct to video OAV releases. The OAV format was fairly popular as late as the 90s - I suspect it had something to do with Laserdiscs being well-suited to OAV length episodes - but it almost seems as if the age of the OAV has since come and gone. Yes, you still see some single episode releases and follow-on TV series specials, but true, multi-episode, standalone OAV series have become a rare sight indeed.
It’s a shame, really. TV series have long been the bread and butter of the anime industry, of course, but a lot of stories are better suited to film or OAV format. After all, how many times have you finished a twelve episode TV series and thought to yourself, “that would have worked better as a six episode OAV?”
A lot of times, I’d imagine.
I don’t pay much attention to the amount of visitor traffic I receive here at Hop Step Jump. It’s a fair amount, I suppose, but it’s only about 1/10 of what Nowhere Anime Blog received. If I truly cared about reaching as many people as possible, I’d still be posting screenshots and writing one paragraph episode reviews - not wasting time on this editorial shtick.
However, I do pay attention to trends, and when I notice significant shifts in the number of people visiting, I start looking for the reasons as to why. In the end, it always boils down to the simplest of explanations: the more often I post, the more often people visit. Links from other blogs and sites typically only have a brief impact on the amount of traffic I receive. It’s so brief, in fact, that’s it’s lost in the noise in the long run. For example, Jason recently buried a link to Hop Step Jump in this post, resulting in a noticeable spike in traffic for a two or three day period. That’s since evaporated, however, and all I’m left with is curiosity about how much traffic Jason receives in the first place. It was an awfully big spike for such an inconsequential link.
But, anyway, returning to the matter of posting frequency and its impact on traffic, you might notice that I posted more in October than I did in the previous few months. You can probably guess why. In the period between June and September, traffic tanked, bottoming out a level I hadn’t seen since the blog’s earliest days. And it came at a time when I was tired, worn out, and seriously considering exit strategies (for the blog, that is… I wasn’t planning on jumping off a bridge), so I was clearly disheartened by the numbers I was seeing. So, I told myself, “you gotta post more,” and started making an effort to do just that.
Thankfully, it worked. My only goal, really, was to increase traffic from September levels. And as bad as September looked, I figured that was an easily attainable goal. However, when all was said and done, my October traffic was of a similar level as back in June - right around the time everything started going to shit in the first place - so I feel confident I managed to turn things around. And if last year’s numbers are any indication of what’s to come, I should continue to see increased traffic through the end of the year. The Year in Review got a lot of attention.
I have to keep posting, though. In October, I averaged one post for every two and a half days. That’s always been my target post rate, so if I can keep it up, I figure I’ll be fine. There will be good months and bad months, I’m sure, but if I can maintain my current posting rate in the long term, I’ll be satisfied. And I figure you guys will be satisfied, too.
And, yes, I just wasted a post on a bunch of oh-so-interesting meta-blogging.
See you again in two and a half days. Sorry.
