What blog posts do you most regret writing?

Credit to linked pixiv user

It’s natural for our opinions to change over time as we acquire new knowledge and experiences, for us to realize we may have been hasty with our ideas, or that we just plain made a mistake. So it is with blogging as it is with other aspects of life; for those of us who have been blogging a long time, I’m sure we can all cite past posts where we wrote things we later regretted. Perhaps we wrote a post criticizing a particular anime only to find out after a second viewing some time later that it isn’t as bad as we first thought. Or maybe we wrote a post about a certain aspect of anime fandom that, as time went on and we became a more mature, well-versed fan, we realized we should have expressed our feelings differently. Today I thought I’d do some self-reflecting in that area and pick out posts that I’ve written over the years that I regret in some way now, and I would also like to invite my fellow anime bloggers to do the same…

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My 10 most unforgettable anime tunes

Even though art and storytelling quality is what brings us to anime, there’s no denying that anime is full of music too, some tunes being solid and memorable, others being average and forgettable. While we all have our favorite anime openings, endings, BGM, and other songs, I thought I’d go beyond those today and think of the anime music that’s most “unforgettable” to me – not necessarily favorites of mine, but tunes that are so unique and catchy to my ears that I won’t forget them even if I haven’t watched their respective anime in years…

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Liking “bad” anime

Credit to linked pixiv user

Even though my tastes in anime tend to gravitate to the popular and mostly well received titles, there are still quite a few I like that the majority of the fandom thinks are bad, in other words, their flaws far outweigh anything good about them. Froggykun on Fantastic Memes wrote a great post on this issue that inspired me to offer my opinion – why flawed anime are worthwhile and why we shouldn’t feel ashamed to like them…

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When attachment to anime characters goes too far

Credit to linked pixiv user

It’s no secret that one of anime’s biggest appeals is how it can make viewers very attached to its characters, thanks to a great emphasis on character development, attractive character designs, and employing beloved character archetypes that fans enjoy seeing. But is it possible for fans to take their love of a character too far, so far that it blinds them to the overall quality of the anime the character hails from? I’m not talking about the stereotypical otaku who’s so obsessed with a particular character that he carries around dakimakuras of her or even acts like he’s married her. I’m talking about fans who are more in touch with reality, but still may be going a bit overboard…

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Equestria LA – Pony cons vs anime cons

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About a week ago I spent a day at my very first convention that was not centered around anime – Equestria LA, a fairly large My Little Pony convention here in SoCal. Not only was it my first time going to any kind of group gathering for MLP after I got into the show several months ago, but it was also the first big event I went to that was not about a Japanese franchise. So I honestly didn’t know what to expect. Would meeting bronies in real life weird me out? Would I find the kinds of events there too childish? Well, after going to the con, I’m happy to report that I had an awesome time and didn’t find it much different from an anime convention…

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Anime blogging and evolving as a writer

Having been dedicated to writing about anime online for over a decade now, it’s no surprise that my style as a writer has evolved over the course of those years. Kai on deluscar wrote a post last month about how he’s also evolved as a writer thanks to a passion for writing about anime, which inspired me to share my experiences in writing and how my anime hobby has helped shaped me as a writer…

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Haruhi Hyakka review

This week a brand new artbook for the Haruhi Suzumiya series was released called Haruhi Hyakka/ハルヒ百花(“hyakka” meaning “many kinds of flowers”). It features all of the recent artwork by the series’ character designer, Noizi Itou, as well as a new short story written by the novel author, Nagaru Tanigawa. Being the major Haruhi fan that I am, I of course had to get a copy and felt like sharing a brief review of it…

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Mixing slice-of-life with plot in anime

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A few posts ago I wrote about anime that mix comedy into their otherwise dramatic stories. Today I’ll be writing about a similar concept of anime that have a number of stand-alone “slice-of-life” stories despite having an established plot they could be progressing instead…

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First impressions of the spring ’13 anime I’m watching

After a disappointing winter season, I’m happy to report that so far I’m pleased with the spring anime I’ve seen…

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Top 10 Pokemon conspiracy theories

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It’s been a while since I’ve done a Pokemon post XD With the newest generation of Pokemon games scheduled to come out later this year, and news of new pokemon and other features slowly trickling in, I’ve surprisingly been feeling nostalgic about the old Pokemon days of Red/Blue and Gold/Silver. As much as I continue to love every new game that comes out, I must admit that there was a unique charm to the years of the old generations when the Internet, as well as the Pokemon franchise itself, were much younger…as were we. And while I was idly browsing the web a few days ago, I found that quite a number of conspiracy theories came out of that younger generation that will surprisingly leave you pondering…

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