What the anime blogsphere has taught me

As I tally up the amount of hours a week I spend either writing my own blog posts or reading the posts of others, I sometimes feel that such immersion in the “anime blogshere” is perhaps not the best thing to revolve my daily schedule around – instead of spending so much time expressing and exchanging my thoughts online, I should go out into reality and experience real human contact rather than just online. Not only would it give my already terribly near-sighted eyes a break from the computer screen, I could also learn to better express myself verbally instead of just through typing all the time. But while it does have its downs, anime blogging has also helped me in a number of profound ways…

One of the first things anime blogging taught me back when I started my blog in late ’06 was how wide across the world the ‘sphere, and thus anime fandom itself, has spread. I’ll admit that I’ve lived a rather sheltered life, living in the same house for almost my entire life in a dinky little valley tucked away in a corner of southern California. Besides my two trips to Japan, I’ve never really traveled anywhere, even within CA itself. Back in my early years of fandom, I thought that there were just Japanese anime fans and American anime fans. But once I got into the blogsphere and started discovering other blogs, I realized that anime has spread all over the world and has left fans everywhere. I now know that there are plenty of fans in places such as Singapore and New Zealand, places I’d never given a second thought about before. I also came to realize how, despite fans coming from all different countries and walks of life, many of us share common ideas about, and passions for, anime. Yet, despite our differences, we’re all united in this blogsphere. It’s been very interesting reading posts and comments by fans from other countries and taking note of the differences and similarities in their feelings about anime.

Probably the most major thing that the anime blogsphere has taught me is how to enhance my thinking and writing skills. Blogs such as Fuzakenna!, 2-D Teleidoscope, Oguie Maniax, and others have shown me how to not only be passionate about anime, but to have the ability to develop an “outsider’s” perspective of it and examine it in a more objective philosophical, psychological, and sociological way. When I was a young, newbie fan, all I mostly did on my old fan site was “fangirl” about anime – pour out my emotions about how cool, cute, or well developed this anime series/character was. But once I got into the blogsphere, I realized that one could discuss so much more about anime than just that. Thanks to influence from the critical thinking and eloquent reflections of fellow bloggers, I’ve been able to write more logic-based and less fangirl-based posts such as “Animism and ‘non-human’ characters in anime,” “Anime – a product of commercialism or art?,” and “The meaning behind the otaku“. Before blogging, I had never sat down and tried to reason about things such as the moe fad and how Japanese culture is reflected in anime. The blogshere has not only enhanced my writing and thinking about anime, but I’m now able to think more clearly and critically about other things as well.

And lastly, the anime blogsphere has done wonders to make me more social (on the Internet at least). Throughout my childhood I was always shy and quiet. Even when I got my first computer, I only e-mailed or IMed fellow fans if I especially liked their web site, and I would never leave public comments on forums or anywhere else. And even when I did start blogging, for a long time I simply lurked and was too shy to leave comments. I hardly even replied to comments on my own blog. But now, as I’ve gotten familiar with the blogsphere and have gotten to know other bloggers, I’ve come out of lurking so to speak, and I now leave comments all the time, not just on my favorite blogs, but on other interesting posts I come across on Anime Nano and such. And I now feel obligated to reply to comments on my blog, too. Also thanks to fellow bloggers, I’ve opened myself up on Twitter and MyAnimeList, even posting on forums from time to time. I probably wouldn’t have become so social online were it not for the feeling of unity and passionate thoughts floating around the ‘sphere. With my blog as my main representative, and things such as Twitter, Facebook, MyAnimeList, and other social networks as additives, these things can come together and create a unique online identity for yourself, at times more satisfying than your real life identity.

And now I feel it’s an appropriate time for some preliminary campaigning for Mainichi Anime Yume in the first Aniblog Tourney. I’ll be making my main campaigning post sometime next month when my match comes up in round 2 (being an older blog, MAY didn’t have to go through the currently ongoing first round and was placed in the second round). But for now, just thought I’d mention it in case you haven’t heard about the tournament and want to vote for me when the time comes.

The anime blogsphere may have its bad points, but it’s certainly one of the most influential and passion-inducing groups I’ve been a part of. I’m sure it will continue to teach me things about life and anime for years to come.

No Comments… read them or add your own.

  1. lelangir says:

    Writing long difficult posts helped my writing skills. It made me appreciate brief, concise writing. It also gave me practice in analyzing and all that stuff, so taking an into to lit class was a breeze (it was just like writing a bunch of blog posts lol).

  2. Hypernova says:

    I think it’s true in any community. You feel comfortable to be in a group of people who share the same passion. Seem like I’m stating the obvious, but I think it’s fortunate for people who can find a place like that for themselves.

    What you said was the former you sounds a lot like the current me. I tends to leave comment only on the blog I generally like, and stoping myself from posting on any “big” forum (e.g. Animesuki, etc.) Half the reason is what you described, but the other half is I want to make sure I spend enough time for my passion in “real” life.

    I would say don’t do too much of “outsider’s perspective” though.

    Keep up the good work on your blog!

  3. Koji Oe says:

    Personally, I hate the blogsphere. It’s such a popularity contest, and people making a bunch of cartoons out to be what they aren’t. I always have tried to maintain a I’d rather be outside it, but I’m in it so deal with it mindset.

    Probably stems from my early blogging period of 2002 to 2007 where I virtually just wrote for my own enjoyment. Which is still what I do but apparently people visit my blog now. Ultimately, I don’t let other dictate what I would want to write about.

    In a nutshell, I basically feel the exact opposite of everything you wrote. Don’t know why.

  4. Yumeka says:

    @ lelangir

    Yeah, I felt that blog work helped me a lot in some of my college literature classes. My flaws in writing have always been that I have trouble organizing my thoughts and that I tend to make long sentences with a lot of unnecessary words. I know I haven’t yet completely gotten over these flaws, but writing a lot of posts, and examining the writing style of others, has definitely helped me improve my writing, both for blog and school work.

    @ Hypernova

    Heh, don’t worry, even though I sometimes write “outsider’s perspective” analytical posts, I still write just as many “fangirl” posts. But I’ve been trying to keep my passionate posts intelligible and give reasons for my passion.

    @ Koji Oe

    When I say that the blogsphere has helped me and been influential, I definitely didn’t mean that it dictates what I write. Reading other blogs has exposed me to different writing styles and perspectives which has made me a more knowledgeable fan, but I always write about what I want. That’s why my blog doesn’t have a set structure and has a variety of posts – ramblings, reviews, games, news – I just write what I feel like and put my own personal feelings and opinions into it. Sometimes another blog may give me a good idea to write about, but it’ll always be my interpretation. I try to stay away from making blatant claims like an anime is or isn’t something – I just focus on my own opinion of it and why I did or didn’t like it.

    As for the popularity thing, I know that many blogs let a yearning for popularity control them. I’m not one of them and I hope I don’t give that impression.

  5. Canne says:

    Opposite to you. My job/real life obligation forced me to expose myself to many people. I am expect to behave the way I should. I am governed by code. Real life requires a lot from me and I can’t live a sheltered life. So blogging is my shelter :)

  6. 2DT says:

    “And now I feel it’s an appropriate time for some preliminary campaigning for Mainichi Anime Yume in the first Aniblog Tourney.”

    This made me laugh out loud. Finally, truth will out, eh?

    “these things can come together and create a unique online identity for yourself, at times more satisfying than your real life identity.”

    This, however, can be sometimes scary to think about. I like to think that I’d be just as friendly in real life as I try to be online, but the truth of the matter is that I get tired, I get irritable, I lose my patience and I say awkward things. That’s who I really am; you know it pretty well. But because of who I am as 2DT, I find that part of me more and more unsatisfactory. So what is that? Inspiration to be a better person, or incentive to slip further into my fantasy-self?

  7. Fabrice says:

    Your post are so lonnnnng…. D:
    Yes Singapore sure have a lots of fans =)
    Well another reason is that There is a big Japanese Community here ^^
    So its not suprising that there are a lot of Singaporeans that like anime.

    Its true that you discover new things within wach blogs. Its simply fun to share each others thoughts and opinions about our same hobby = anime.
    ….but dont spend to much time on the computer! XD
    Social life/ RL is also important. XD

    =)

  8. Prooof says:

    I have just recently started trying my hand at blogging, and I can definitely say that blogging will help improve my writing.
    As for spending too much time online, I think making a backlog of posts, then releasing them on a schedule, maybe once or twice a week. Time sensitive info won’t work, but if your normal blog load is fairly consistent, it’s viable. Of course, it’s up to you and what your own style is; I personally prefer a fixed time for releases, so I know when to check for a new post.
    As for blogs striving to become more popular, I haven’t noticed this among the several blogs I’ve read. Any idea what the “symptoms” are?

  9. Scamp says:

    “And even when I did start blogging, for a long time I simply lurked and was too shy to leave comments”

    Oh god, this was me for a good year or so! I was a comment wimp. Looking back, I wonder why I wanted to start blogging but not comment? Surely blogging is much scarier than commenting.

    At heart, I don’t really know what the blogsphere has taught me that I can actually put to use outside the internet in general. It’s like I’m living a double life

  10. digital boy says:

    I can’t tell you how glad I am to know that I’m seen as an intelligent influence lol. Until 2009 I would never have been called something like that! I’m very proud that I might have inspired something in a blogger that is really good as you are.

  11. As a “guest’ on Cartoon Leap, I’ve just started my own hand at blogging, so I’m still getting my own feel of writing for fun as well as easy to read. I enjoy reading yours, 2-DT’s, and relentlessflame’s blogs due to the similar style of deeper analysis about shows and the culture. I think it’s safe to say that’s definitely influenced me to have confidence writing about things that aren’t necessarily “fangasming” over something and to objectively review something in a different light than what I’ve seen. It’s always more fun to realize there’s more to a story than when you first realized.

    My own toughest challenge is to reduce my long paragraphs into easy to read segments. I also find myself very verbose (my analysis posts can attest to that) and as such I’ve always struggled with making myself clarified and concise since I started writing. Just this one comment alone has taken about 30 minutes and I’ll only submit 1/3rd of what I wanted to say.

    I also agree with 2-DT that I feel no disconnect between who I am online and who I am offline. Most of my posts and thoughts on Haruhi have come from discussions with my friend (who never blogs on anime) and so that’s just carried over online. I too lurked at forums until I realized “hey, I’m finding out this information before anyone’s posting it…..why don’t I do it?” and that carried over and now I’m a blogger (though I consider myself more an analysis blogger than news now that Haruhi’s not pumping out news as much).

  12. Rakuen says:

    @2DT I think it depends on the strength of your character. It’s very easy to live a double life, one on the Internet and one in real life. It’s up to each person to decide if they’re the same life or different. For myself, I think about whether or not someone who met me on the Internet would have ever wanted to meet me in real life, if they had passed me on the street for instance. I am largely the same in both areas, except I’m generally quieter in person. So it really is up to you. Do you want to put in the effort to become a better person in the “real world,” or do you stand behind the status quo?

    I suppose the people who are really jarring to me are those who are perfectly nice in real life, but act like arrogant asses on the Internet.

    Now to actually answer the post. When I first started out, and really for the next year and a half, I didn’t comment on any blogs. Not because I was shy, but because I couldn’t be bothered to read them. Now that I’ve started to read other blogs, it’s made me think a lot harder about what I watch and write. Since then, I like to think my writing has slowly improved over time, but it’s still a work in process. I’ve always been better at relating other people’s ideas than at relating my own.

  13. Yumeka says:

    @ Canne

    Ah, I see. I got my first job in late ’06, so I still have a lot to learn when it comes to experience and socializing in the work force. But I think my socialization in blogging has helped me socialize at least a little better in real life, and vice versa.

    @ 2DT

    Hah, well I figured since the tourney is well underway and this post is also related to the blogsphere, why not? =P But a day or so before my match, I will make a post like yours, promoting some of my better posts.

    Hmm, that is a good question. I feel that I’m basically the same person in real life as online, at least when it comes to opinions, morals, likes and dislikes, etc,. But, while you can know a lot about someone’s feelings and thoughts just by knowing them online, it’s very hard to tell someone’s real personality that way. Talking to them once in a while online and hanging out with them in real life can be pretty different because things like little peeves and pettinesses don’t usually show themselves online. But in your case, I actually feel that you’re the same guy in both cases (not sure what you think of me though =P)

    Like you, I sometimes prefer my online self because I can express myself better through writing than speaking, and also because I can surround myself only with people who share the same interest as me, while I can’t do that daily in real life. But I feel that my experience in the online community has inspired me to be more open in real life and I’m trying not to let the distinction between my real self and my online self grow too large.

    @ Fabrice

    If you think this post is long, you should see some of my older ones. Like I said, blogging has helped me get better as a writer and condense my thoughts. Lately I’ve been trying to stay below 1,000 words per post but it doesn’t always work.

    I do spend too much time on the comp for two reasons – it comprises my main hobbies (watching anime and blogging) and I can’t afford to go out and do a lot of other things. But once I get a full-time job, I know that will all change, so I’m trying to enjoy it while I can.

    @ Prooof

    I’m not sure what the symptoms are either but they might consist of posts about the same thing as other blogs, i.e., episodic and news posts in which the author doesn’t add anything that hasn’t already been said by others.

    @ Scamp

    I think commenting was scarier for me because I was expressing myself in “unknown territory” – namely, someone else’s blog or forum, whereas my own blog posts were safe because I knew few people would read them (my blog was practically ignored for its first year of life).

    @ digital boy

    What I like about your blog is that you write passionate posts, where we can tell how much you love the anime/characters you’re talking about, but you can also write analytical, logic-based posts as well. You’ve got a good balance of fanboying and philosophizing.

    @ ultimatemegax

    I hear you about writing too much and still not being able to say exactly what you want. That’s why I admire 2DT so much, being able to say so much in concise little paragraphs. Don’t know how he does it =P

    The reason I feel you should get your own site is because your posts are so different from Toon Leap’s – while he does short news posts, you write longer analytical posts. You have so much information to offer, for Haruhi and other things. But if you’re content with just being a “guest” blogger for now, then that’s fine too =)

    @ Rakuen

    I’ve gotten to be a pretty good skimmer – if a post is tl;dr, I just look at a few key sentences and paragraphs. I always try to leave a comment on all posts I read because I figure, if I took the time to read it, I might as well go all the way and leave a comment, even if all I have to say is “nice post!” or something. Take a minute to let the author know that I felt the post was worth my while.

  14. Jan Suzukawa says:

    I think becoming conscious that perhaps one is spending too much time on the computer is the beginning of doing something about it (like: doing something else for a change ;), so that’s all to the good… I try to be aware of when my world appears to be shrinking down to what I’m doing on my computer, and get out of the house when that happens.

  15. Yumeka says:

    @ Jan

    Heh, well I spend at least a few hours a day out of the house for work, but yes, the rest of my time is basically spent at the computer. Other than that, I play video games, which isn’t much better I suppose. But I like to read books and study Japanese from time to time. I can’t really afford to have other hobbies or to go out and do fun things a lot. The Internet is simply the cheapest way for me to easily indulge in what I love.

  16. MacGuy says:

    Cool, we’re pretty alike here. I live in Souther California and am also shy in real life, especially around girls that are around my age. I just can’t find something to discuss with people besides the casual “how are you?”. When I was younger, I’d be even more shy to the point that I would hardly talk at all but over time I have tried to overcome it with some success.

    Anyway, I’m also a blogger and it has helped improved my grammar tremendously. Unfortunately my biggest stumbling block is laziness and blogging has not removed that XD Do you often find that you’re more expressive on the internet (or by writing) than you would be IRL? Even if I am excited about the topic, I can’t seem to express it nearly as well as I could in writing. Maybe it’s just me though…

  17. Yumeka says:

    @ MacGuy

    Always nice to know another SoCal anime fan =)

    I definitely feel I’m more expressive on the Internet than in real life. First of all I’m much more articulate in writing than in speaking. Second, I find it easier to express myself in writing because, unlike speaking where you have to think of how to say things on the spot, with writing, you can take your time, reread what you wrote, and add to it and fix it to make it sound better. Often after I’ve had a conversation with someone (in real life), I think “I should have mentioned this” or “I should have said it like this.” I don’t have that problem with writing.

Leave a Comment

*