In the past two years, I’ve made 278 posts. You’ve made 3,942 comments.
That’s a lot of blackmail material.
Monthly Archive for January, 2008
This post at Ogiue Maniax kind of threw me for a loop. Despite the fact I’m so deeply engrossed in Japanese animation, I have little interest in animation in general. I couldn’t even tell you what’s going on in the world of animation outside Japan today. Nor do I care to know.
Honestly, it’s not my style to so elitist about such things. My taste in music, for example, is pretty diverse. But, for some reason, I came to appreciate Japanese animation in a way I never appreciated, or even considered appreciating, Western animation. My standard explanation is that, having been interested in Japanese culture prior to truly discovering anime, and anime being one of Japan’s most visible cultural exports, it’s only natural that things turned out the way they did. And this explanation seems all the more plausible when you take my love for slice of life anime into consideration, seeing as it’s some of the most “Japanese” anime that anime has to offer.
Except, I could have just as well gotten hooked on Japanese film, or Japanese television, or Japanese literature, or Japanese video games, or whatever. And, while I have some level of interest in all of these things, none excite me quite so much as anime.
So, why anime, over all other things Japanese? And, why anime, over all other forms of animation? I don’t know. However, it’s worth noting that, growing up watching cartoons as a child, it was the localizations of Japanese anime that I loved most. Perhaps there’s just something about anime that appeals to me on a very basic level.
In the middle of a root canal yesterday, a thought occurred to me: I’m just as guilty as anyone else in describing shows like Aria, Maria-sama ga Miteru and Hidamari Sketch as having “limited appeal”, and yet, these shows keep getting multiple seasons. Meanwhile, a lot of seemingly popular shows get one season and nothing more.
I’d be curious to know what the story is behind this. Is it because these sorts of show often cater to a core group of dedicated fans, whereas most everything else is left to fight over a bunch of fans who couldn’t care less what they’re watching from one season to the next? Perhaps there are lucrative merchandising tie-ins at work? I know the Aria manga has long been a hot seller in Japan. Same with the Marimite novels. No idea about Hidamari Sketch.
Of course, these titles most likely appeal to mainstream, non-otaku audiences with a lot of yen to spend. Perhaps it just highlights how difficult it is to gauge what’s truly popular in the world of anime and manga from the inside looking out. It’s easy to get so wrapped up in the trivialities of the subculture that you forget there are millions of “normal” people out there who dig this stuff, too.
As for why this all came to mind while a guy shoved metal files up my tooth, all I can say is that I had to keep myself entertained somehow.
I don’t want to dig too deep into this episodic blogging vs. editorial blogging debate, but since I’m often held up as an example of a blogger who transitioned from one approach to another, I do want to offer a few thoughts.
For what it’s worth, I rarely read episodic or summary posts on anime blogs, with a few exceptions. And when I do, I typically skip straight to the personal opinion portion of the post (should it exist), as that’s where my interests truly lie. Of course, if the personal opinion portion of the post consists of little more than, “This was a good episode,” I probably won’t be bookmarking the blog or visiting all that often in the future.
Yet, if I take a look at the posts I wrote when I first started anime blogging back in the dark ages, most consist of little more than, “This was a good episode,” at least in distilled form. There’s a world of difference between what I was doing then and what I’m doing now, and while I get a lot more personal enjoyment out of my current approach to anime blogging, the old approach was plenty enjoyable in its own right.
However, it required that I be pathologically diligent in keeping up with shows, taking screenshots, and making new posts, and eventually morphed into a part time job that sucked up a lot more of my time and energy than there was time and energy to be had. It was a high cost, low benefit sort of thing, and it was so negatively impacting my anime viewing experience that I had to stop. Had I kept up for much longer, I fear I would have flamed out entirely, and I wouldn’t be sitting here writing this today.
But, there are anime bloggers out there who are still putting the time and effort into summary and episodic blogging. And I can only assume they still enjoy what they’re doing and will continue to enjoy what they’re doing for a long time to come. When I look at the anime blogging landscape, I see a lot of summary and episodic blogs. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing. In fact, I’d like to see more anime blogs come online, editorial and episodic both, as it would inevitably make for a more robust and more diverse anime blogging community. That’s a good thing.
Every blogger has their own reasons for walking the path they’ve chosen, and even if you decide not join them on their journey because you have a different route or destination in mind, it doesn’t mean they’re lost. I like discovering new anime blogs, especially when they’re written by interesting people who have interesting things to say. If someone can say something interesting in four screenshots and a couple of sentences, more power to them.
Fundamentally, it’s not the format that matters. It’s the content.
You know, as much as I love both Nino and Makino Yui’s work on Aria, I’m glad they tapped Arai Akino for the ED this time around, because she sounds absolutely incredible. What a great song.
By the way, has anyone else noticed that Ai sounds a bit older in her replies to Akari at the end of each episode? I wonder if that’s intentional…