In hind-sight of the recently completed 2nd Aniblog Tourney, chikorita157 wrote a post regarding the ever common argument that arises when talking about anime blogs – which is better, episodic blogs that post reviews of episodes of whatever seasonal series the blogger is watching, or editorial blogs that post about anime topics in general…
After giving at least a short glance to all the blogs that participated in the tourney, I would say that episodic blogs seem to be the most common of the two, and it’s not hard to see why. Blogging episodically means that you’ll always have something to write about, since new anime are always airing. This saves the blogger the trouble of having to constantly think of blog topics. Another advantage is that these posts can follow a consistent format that doesn’t need to be very long, since each post is typically only talking about one episode. So a few screencaps, a paragraph or two for a quick synopsis of the episode (not always necessary), and a paragraph or two for the bloggers thoughts is pretty much all that’s needed.
Editorial blogs on the other hand require something different. I don’t want to say they require more originality or more work than episodic blogging, since someone can certainly put a lot of work into episodic posts, like taking a bunch of good screencaps for example, and they can present their episodic posts in an original way. But while how one writes can be comparable for both kinds of blogs, more refreshing, unique topics in terms of what one writes about can be found in editorial posts. For episodic blogging, your topic is already given to you (write a post about episode _ of _ anime) so half the work is already done right there. But with editorial blogging, you have to come up with both a post topic and what you want to say about it. This isn’t as big a problem for editorial bloggers who only write a post when they have an idea and thus don’t mind if they go weeks without a new post. But for editorial bloggers who like to keep up a consistent schedule of one or more posts a week, coming up with topics can be just as hard as writing them.
Episodic blogs as a whole are bashed quite a bit in the tourney. While I don’t have anything against them or their bloggers, I can understand the gripes against them. People complain that they’re basically the same thing over and over – who wants to read a hundred people’s thoughts on episode 2 of Natsuyuki Rendezvous? With blog after blog posting about the same thing – the blogger’s thoughts on 22 minutes of anime footage from the same anime at the same time (within a day or two of that episode airing) – it’s understandable that blog readers would get exasperated and seek out blogs that do something different. It can be overwhelming too. Out of all those blogs, how do you know which person’s take on that episode you’d like reading the best unless you check out every single one? Such a task seems daunting, so readers are more opt to find a few episodic blogs they like and stick with those, making it harder for new episodic blogs to get the hits they want.
I’m among the people who don’t have any interest in reading episodic posts, for the reasons I mentioned above. I also don’t have an interest in writing them for a few reasons. One is that I hate having deadlines, so the pressure of having my post for episode X of anime Y up before too much time passes and people stop caring, is not appealing to me. This also means I’d have to dedicate more than one post every 3-4 days as I’ve been doing, and I don’t want to change that schedule of mine either. But mostly, I just plain lack the motivation. Since anime episodes are like small pieces of an encompassing story, my thoughts on one episode may completely change or become invalid when I watch a later episode, and that makes episodic posts more dispensable and transient to me than a review post of an entire series or an editorial post on a universal anime topic. The only time I’d consider episodic blogging is if it’s a series I already know I’m gonna love, which as of now has only been the 2009 Haruhi episodes (and I’ll most likely episodic blog a third season whenever that happens).
But my lack of interest in episodic blogs doesn’t mean I think they all suck or that anyone who writes them couldn’t possibly be worth reading. Blogging should be a hobby one enjoys, not an obligation, so if someone enjoys writing episodically just as I enjoy writing editorial posts, they should go for it. I mentioned the perks of episodic blogging, so that’s probably why they’re more popular than editorial blogging. Of course, some people do episodic blogging because that’s the “popular” and easy way to go, but they’ll fizzle out quickly if they don’t have the passion. If someone’s goal for blogging is to just get their thoughts about new anime episodes out there, they shouldn’t be put down for unoriginality just because that’s what most other bloggers like to write about too. It takes a lot of brain-strain to always think of good editorial topics to write about (I know, I’ve been wracking my brain for six years now), so I can understand how episodic blogging is more appealing to many.
And if one wants to follow the episodic blogging trend but still do something original, that not impossible. Despite being an episodic blog, the winner of the 2nd Aniblog Tourney, Metanorn, does great work giving their screencaps and other images hilarious captions, and that’s what makes them stand out to me amongst other episodic blogs. Likewise, Random Curiosity stands out to me for their good selection of screecaps for nearly every seasonal anime that airs. Another thing is that one can still have an anime review blog that doesn’t only review episodes. Adzui consistently reviews full series and movies and zzeroparticle reviews anime soundtracks for example. And plenty of blogs do a combination of episodic posts and editorial posts.
In the end, I think one should blog in whatever way gives them the most pleasure. If you don’t like the prominence of episodic blogging, don’t read them. There are all kinds of possibilities for blogs, not just strictly episodic or strictly editorial, and all kinds of unique ways one can present their topics.
I like reading episodic posts, when I really like a series, or an episode, I sometimes google it’s title on animenano, and read a dozen different posts just to get more of it.
But I couldn’t ever get into writing them. I actually found it harder to write them, because I never have that much review-ish thoughts, not even about a whole series, let alone about single episodes.
Editorials come easier, because I constantly encounter interesting problems brought up in the fan community. The problem is only that it leads to a bit too much metablogging (a phrase with here means ranting about other posters being wrong on the Internet).
A benefit of editorials is that they are more permanent. I keep finding insightful editorials on old, often abandoned blogs, but someone’s freshest impressions of Madoka’s 3rd episode and speculations of what will happen next, are already old news.
Yeah, I do sometimes look at episodic posts for series I like, but usually I have to really like them in order to have that interest.
I also have trouble thinking of things to say about specific episodes, which doesn’t make it fun when I’m sitting there trying to think of more than two things to say about an episode. Editorials tend to be the opposite, where I end up making posts longer than I want XD But you’re definitely right about the permanence of editorial posts versus episodic ones, which is another important reason I prefer writing/reading them.
I’ve tried my hand at episodic blogging. It’s great because you’re at least guaranteed you’ll have something to write about each week, but a terror when you eventually feel obligated to update. That and simply writing about 4 or 5 series each week wears on the mind since now you’re not enjoying the anime as it is, but trying to come up with ways to present the show in a good or bad manner. That’s one of the reasons why I’m only doing two at the moment (the other is a weekly chapter review).
Really, the only reason to get on episodic blogs (despite how many there are, which is another thing in a sense) is if the writing is bad. I think the tourney (both tourneys actually) showed that there’s a lot of episodic blogs that not only follow the format you said, but the writing is filled with grammatical mistakes, run-on sentences, etc. Of course that’s due to most bloggers not having an English background, but for the reader, that makes for suffering, especially if it’s really long. They do have their merits in the grand scheme of things, especially for those who like summaries or other details they might have missed in a show, and also as you said, most people who get an anime blog just want to write about it and don’t really care what others think. But hey, most want to read something good :D
What you said in your first paragraph is another great point about a disadvantage in episodic blogging that I forgot to mention – when you watch episodes, the wheels in your head are turning about what you could possibly say about it in a post, and that could take away the enjoyment of it (not for everyone I suppose). But yeah, that stress of having to get your episodic post out before it becomes old news and people stop caring, is the main issue I have with episodic blogging.
I can tolerate some spelling/grammar errors, especially if English isn’t the blogger’s native language and whatever they’re saying is interesting enough anyway. But if there’s too many, I tend to stop reading in the middle, even for editorial posts.
I think the biggest complaint that might just go unsaid is the need for an author having a unique voice and perspective since that’s what more or less drives readership. In my case, I can certainly get by because my blog has a (still fairly) unique topic, but for others who don’t have that advantage, the main need is to develop a personality that will bring users back, regardless of whether the writing is geared towards more episodic posts or editorial posts.
Excellent point. Since I read mostly editorial posts, I’ve gotten to know which bloggers’ unique voices and perspective are most appealing to me, thus I’m more inclined to read their posts. But that’s been done mostly through me picking post topics on Anime Nano I find interesting and discovering the bloggers that way. For episodic posts, every post is named “episode X of anime Y” so I wouldn’t know where to start in terms of whose to read. I guess the only way one can discover the unique voices and perspectives for episodic blogs is to simply take the time to experiment and read a bunch of them.
Interesting. I did check out other blogs during the contest as well, and I remember the one on your 2nd round. It was episodic, it was pretty well written, and neutral, but I did not like it. So I thought about it as well, and I remembered something that happened to be before.
Long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I was searching for info about an anime I wanted to watch, and found one of those blogs. I thought it was a good idea to read it to get a general view of what the anime was about, and I did. But it also happened to be one of the bad episodes in a series, so it just gave me a bad impression over all, and decided not to watch that anime… I don’t remember which one it was now, but it was a really good one I watched later.
So episodic reviews can be really misleading. All anime have some good and bad episodes. I still remember the 3rd from Hanasaku Iroha (ugh…), Hyoka has had some weaker episodes, so did Haruhi… Heck, I think every single anime does (beach/pool fan service episode in almost every single anime title? yeah…).
So I decided never again to read those kind of blogs, it just does not give the full picture, and prefer blogs like yours where the a series is looked upon as a whole. It can give a better overall picture and idea into a series, or subject. So I prefer the macro view. Everything can be as good/bad as the sum of it’s parts, and should not be reviewed as a single part I guess.
Because anime series tend to have a continuing, developing story and characters, judging a single episode without knowing the rest of the story can be misleading to readers who haven’t watched it. Like you said, going by what one person says about one episode of an anime can be a mistake. So if I wanted to know the general thoughts of what series anime fans are liking this season, I would check out episodic posts from many bloggers, not just one. Also, I would try and get to know who has similar tastes as me and read their episodic posts over others ;) Or, if the series has already finished airing, look for full series reviews instead.
I have little to no interest in reading episodic blogging. Episode summaries, impressions, speculation on what’s gonna happen next… it’s usually the same entry over and over again, with screencaps piled on in place of insightful content. That’s not to say that it’s never done well. I do enjoy Digimon: System Restore (digimon.firstagent.net), but then again I think there’s more inherent worth in a project like that than in the ratrace to become the first of dozens (hundreds?) of blogs to review current episodes, perhaps mere hours after they’ve aired in Japan. I don’t know. I just don’t get the feeling like most people in that game really have much to say.
That said, I’ve come to the conclusion that most bloggers in the anime blogosphere don’t feel the same way I do about this, and that they probably DO enjoy reading this stuff, so I’ve tried my hand at it a little bit, not with current episodes but just with older episodes from a rather random selection of series, and I’ve found that it can make for decent blogging material. In other words, I should probably drop my anti-episodic attitude and get with the program, because that’s the wavelength that everyone else is operating on and I’d actually like to be part of the conversation rather than an eternal outsider constantly ranting against the system.
Editorial blogging is very difficult and I think you’ve got to be a really well-watched writer if you want to do a good job of it. I’ve got 34 days of anime under my belt (at least according to my stats at MAL), but I think you’ve got to have at least twice that much before you can start speaking as an authority on subjects. Then again, enthusiasm, curiosity and a strong background in English or literary theory (which I always love to see show up in blog entries) go a long way, too, even if you haven’t seen as many shows as everyone else out there.
Now that you mention it, I actually think that episodic blogging of an old series that both the writer and reader have seen before (like Digimon for example) makes for a more interesting read. Since the writer already knows what’s going to happen, they can judge the episode by how it relates to the overall story and not have to speculate. There’s also a nice tinge of nostalgia for both writer and reader if it’s an older series. Another plus is that you don’t have the time stress of having to get the episode review out before it becomes old news, since it’s already a completed anime. I’ve been episodic guest blogging in that manner for the Haruhi episodes on Ultimatemegax’s blog and I’m having fun with it ;)
But I suppose in our day and age of being able to access the latest episodes and other buzz on anime within hours or even minutes of it being released in Japan, people have come to enjoy the thrill of getting their thoughts on the latest episode out quickly, being part of what everyone’s talking about at the moment, and having fun with speculation on what’s to come. And I can totally understand that appeal. But for me, when it comes to using my spare time to read anime blogs, I’d rather read unique, general anime topics that make me think about the fandom as a whole and not random people’s thoughts and speculations on episode X of anime Y.
Incidentally, according to MAL I’ve spent over 190 days watching anime (but I do make note my rewatches as best I can, which I know a lot of people don’t, so that could be why it’s so high). Even so, I try not to paint myself as an anime expert (I know many who have seen more titles than me), just a passionate fan who has things to say about anime fandom in general =)
It’s true that I make a lot of episodic posts, but I have a share of editorial posts. Although it’s easy for people to share one’s experience, focusing on a single topic can be difficult. Although I don’t cover many series to make episodic blogging unfeasible, it becomes very difficult if one is writing about many series. It might also lead to lack of creativity as people have to stick to a deadline.
On the other hand, a blog’s success is highly dependent on the personality and writing quality. Poor grammar and spelling mistakes can turn many people off. Most importantly, blogs probably need to think about the box and try new activities. Perhaps podcasts, Let’s plays, etc can add content outside of the traditional content as long they aren’t those people who are sharing pictures/new and call themselves Anime Blogs. Still, it’s an uphill battle to win readership.
Yeah, the fact that you have editorial posts amongst your episodic ones is great. You also don’t seem to rush to get your episodic posts out as quickly as possible, and that gives me the impression that you write them because you truly enjoy them and you don’t do it just to get attention as one of the first episodic posts on that episode.
I also agree that other unique types of posts like podcasts, Let’s Plays, or post series like what I did with my Fundamentals of Japanese, are good ways to give readers something “outside the box” once in a while, as long as you don’t stray too far away from the anime theme.
I think that both can be good. I kind of like Astronerdboy’s episodic reviews. The editorial do provide some interesting backstory to things, but episodic blogging helps other people find what episode they left off on. I reviewed Another on my blog episode by episode, in order to help me remember where I left off. However, I mostly review series as a whole.
I use MAL to figure out where I left off in an anime, or I just glance at the latest episodes on Twitter or Anime Nano that people are talking about. But I can see how episodically blogging a series would help you remember not only where you left off, but what happened in the last episode. Watching a lot of series at once makes it difficult for me to always remember what happened in the previous episode when it’s time to watch the newest episode. When I need a refresher, I just read the episode summary on Wikipedia…but reading an episodic blog is another way to jog the memory too ;)
I’ve got an account on MAL too, but I generally review anime that I purchase, so it does not do me that much good. Plus, with a local copy of my blog on my computer, it’s just so much faster for me to episodically blog.
It seems like you have the same problem with anime that I get with books because even though bookmarks are useful, it just does not tell you exactly what paragraph you left off on last time.
I vaguely remember commenting on one of your previous posts on this topic, and frankly not much has changed since then. Once upon a time my friend and I had considered writing an episodic anime blog together but due to the fact that we’d have to keep it up every week, we ended up not doing it. I’d also entertained the notion of writing an editorial blog like yours, but I’d have run out of ideas much faster!
Personally I think a mix of editorial + episodic is best, especially if the episodic posts cover older, perhaps less known series as well as currently airing anime. It feels like recently everyone’s gotten on board with the new anime each season (including me) so no doubt there would be a lot of overlap between episodic bloggers. But as people above me have said, the blogger’s own flavor is probably the most important thing. I’d read anything written by a blogger I like, either because a) I know the content will be thoughtful and interesting, like your blog, or b) I know that the blogger will make even the most boring topic witty and amusing just because of their style.
I decided to do editorial blogging right from the get-go, which is good because if I had started with episodic blogging, I probably would have burned out fast and may have never lasted as long as I have XD
I agree that a mix of episodic and editorial is good – you can appeal to both kinds of readers and fall back on episodics when you can’t think of editorial topics. I also agree that the blogger’s writing style and personality are probably the most important factor.
Episodics are bad when it’s regurgitation of the episode rather than honest thoughts. It’s like killing a dead horse, burying it, digging it up, and killing it again. It’s just too much. The less they mentioned what happened in the episode the better. Then it’s like talking about an episode with your friend which is far more appealing, rather than a robotic play by play. It isn’t as though we forgot what happened. And then this supplemented with well thought out and interesting editorials does make for a healthy and enjoyable tandem. But of course, If you enjoy it, it doesn’t matter.
I think the reason most episodic bloggers provide summaries of the episode is because many readers use episodic posts to find out what happened in that episode because they’re not watching that series themselves but still want to know what happened. Usually it’s for people who are unsure if they want to watch that show or not, or they’ve fallen behind on/dropped it and just want to use episodic post summaries to know what happened. But I agree it’s a lot more interesting if there’s more thoughts and speculation in the post than summary. After all, anyone can look up an episode summary on Wikipedia, but everyone can have unique thoughts about an episode that only their blog provides.
I’m kind of on the boat with the people who say they like a healthy mix of episodic and editorial blogs, as both a read and a blogger.
As it has been said before, with a healthy mix, there’s a low chance you’d detect an obvious burnout within the writer’s posts (grasping for a good topic, etc). Also, with episodic posts, there are a bunch of ways to fall back. Speaking from experience, with newer anime episodes, you either lose interest or just get caught up in real life issues and you never get to finish up the newer seasons on time. I much prefer reading blogs/writing posts about older anime series I adore, as they’re guaranteed to be series I’ve thoroughly enjoyed and their “level of interest” doesn’t expire within two weeks because they’re classics.
But I do find editorial posts such as the ones on your blog much more entertaining to read than episodic posts. :) Blogs that can keep up with sticking to one style should totally continue what they do, especially if they’re an editorial blog, since these posts tend to be much more worthwhile to read. Even on my blog, I find that my post about Hollywood’s muck-up of live-action anime adaptations or my post about the anime-drawing style in relation to races makes for a lot more interestingand thought-provoking read than my thoughts on the current episode of Hyouka that millions of other people have already talked about.
That said, blog that explore other stuff like figures, collections, etc. also tend to be worth a read since they’re much more scarce than both episodic and editorial blogs combined.
Yeah, episodic blogging of an old is a cool idea that I don’t see very often. I think the reason for that is not because people don’t like those series, but because they feel they won’t get any readers unless they’re talking about what’s currently hip – in other words, currently airing anime. But I have seen some blogs that post episodically for older anime, obviously not caring about hits, so kudos to them =)
Thanks, I’m glad you enjoy my editorial posts ^^,,, Like I’ve said in some previous comments, the universal and general anime topics that editorial posts comprise have a lot more “immortality” than someone’s thoughts about an anime episode that may become irrelevant in a week as soon as the next episode airs.
I haven’t posted yet, but I found your blog a months ago through the aniblog tourney and have been reading since. Nice to meet you. ^_^
Anyway, I think we can agree that reading or writing episodic blogs will get old after 3-4 different sites talking about the same thing, but there are some blogs I read for the writer’s opinion and the comments. You mentioned Metanorn, which I recently started reading, and Random Curiosity, where I’ve been a regular for the past couple years. And I’ve added one of the RC writers, Enzo, do my blogroll because I love his writing style and analysis accuracy.
But beyond these few blogs, it’s hard to read opinions on other sites because I’ve mostly already read everything that could be said; it’s to editorial blogs like yours that really provide fresh insight instead of analyzing a weekly episode.
And on another note, after seeing all the new bloggers around the anime blogosphere recently, I might consider blogging myself. Editorial with a touch of episodic is the way to go, eh?
Thanks so much for checking out my blog ^_^ I’m glad you’re finding it to your liking.
Yeah, finding a few episodic writers that you enjoy reading is great, but I can imagine it gets tiring reading about the same topic over and over, even if the writers are different. With editorial blogs, the topics are more various, and even if writers are talking about the same thing, they can focus on different aspects of a topic and there’s more you can say about such topics compared to a 22 minute episode.
That sounds like a good way to start off blogging. You can always change up your style if you find you like episodic or editorial blogging better, or keep up a mix of both. It took me a while to figure out what kind of blogging I like to do ;)
I read both episodic and editorial blogs, but for different reasons. Episodic blogs for me are more a source of information when I’m doing research into a series or can’t remember which episode a certain event happened. It’s easy to just go to a blog that I know covered that series and do a quick search. On the other hand, I read editorial blogs to get a general idea of what people feel about a series.
I remember trying out episodic blogging when I first started my blog. My first series was Toradora, but I quickly found that trying to keep up with every episode was just too daunting and sometimes there wasn’t anything to say. I switched over to editorial blogging after that.
I love your blog so much! I just stumbled across it a few days ago when I was searching for anime stuff and I’m absolutely amazed with all these unique ideas. It seems like most blogs I visit have just the latest news, but nothing really like this where you’re really going in depth with one idea/thought and talking about it the way you are! I just love reading it and there’s so much for me to comment on/go through, so I’ll do that slowly over time. I just wanted to say i hope you keep writing these awesome, amazing posts because I REALLY love reading unique stuff! :D
I was just ravaging through your “editorials and ramblings” tag, and stumbled here. Interesting perspective on this subject. I agree 100% with you that one is not necessarily better than the other, and that bloggers should do whatever is comfortable for them. I think in terms of “originality” or uniqueness, it is important to establish your character/writing style as a blogger. One does that by simply being themselves, especially if you intend to start an episodic blog because they’re so common. I personally do editorial posts (at otaku elite), which to me is easier because, just like you, I don’t have much interest in episodic blogging (at least not on a regular basis). And I could sum up how I feel about the episode in one sentence. In either type of blogs, what is important is interesting content, and passion (from the blogger).