When things we don’t like become popular

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Art by ちてたんお仕事募集中 on pixiv

In a past post, I talked about how hype can sometimes ruin our enjoyment of an anime we may have otherwise liked. Whether an anime has staff pedigree or a reputable source material, these things are what make fans build high expectations for these titles before they even see them, which may inadvertently cause them to be disappointed had they not been so hyped. But while that topic was about hype ruining an anime before-hand, today I wanted to look at “post-hype”; how lasting popularity can cause us to hate something we may have just been neutral about, or even liked, otherwise…

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Structuring an anime review

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Art by nyoro on pixiv

Although my blog is mostly focused on editorial posts about anime and related topics, the other kind of post I enjoy writing is full series reviews of anime I complete each season. If you’ve read other anime reviews, you know that reviewers tend to have their own styles for reviewing anime, whether it’s more on the structured side or the “anything goes” side…

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Why the Pokemon anime hasn’t “evolved”

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Art by 密原诺诺 on pixiv

It never ceases to amaze me how practically everyone I’ve encountered from my generation who’s into anime, video games, or other branches of so-called “nerd” culture have, or at least did at one point, an affinity for Pokemon. It usually wasn’t just the Game Boy games that were a part of their childhood, but the Pokemon anime as well. A lot of them have played all the main series Pokemon games that have come out over the years, perhaps missing one or two due to temporary waning interest, but the Pokemon games have a way of bringing people back with new updates and features they add to each generation of games. But unfortunately the same cannot be said for the Pokemon anime series. Unlike the games that get more innovative while maintaining the same beloved premise, the Pokemon anime has stagnated over the years with the same unchanging characters, the same episodic style, and the same formulaic stories. While it has gotten a bit better recently, it still pales in comparison to other long-running kids anime in terms of storytelling quality. So why has the Pokemon anime remained so resistant to change, which has infuriated adult Pokemon players who want a decent show to go along with the games they love? Today I want to examine the reasons behind this…

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Fandom and the death of adulthood

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Some months ago The New York Times published an article that I found quite intriguing and surprisingly applicable to anime fandom despite being seemingly unrelated to it. It’s called “The Death of Adulthood in American Culture” and it involves a film critic for The Times discussing how American society has changed over the decades in terms of what it means to be an adult; he cites popular TV shows, movies, and books that reflect how the old view of adulthood – being part of an authority-following, gender role-centered society – has been losing popularity in favor of a freer and more rebellious idea of adulthood, most notably one that embraces childhood and supposedly childish things rather than cast them off…that sounds like anime fandom to me!…

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My top 10 tips for anime blogging

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Having been around the anime blogsphere for over eight years now, this is a topic I’ve been constantly thinking about – what can one do to make their anime blog successful, or at least attract a decent number of readers? As I’ve said before in other posts, I believe it’s important to blog first and foremost because you enjoy it, and not solely because you want lots of readers. Of course, having fun expressing yourself and having readers is ideal XD I certainly don’t have the most successful blog in town, but I do have a somewhat decent readership, which is what most anibloggers strive for at the least. So what are the strategies I’ve learned over the years for getting readers?…

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What’s the overall message of anime openings?

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I love anime openings. When I was new to the fandom I used to collect video files of all the anime openings I liked (this was before YouTube) and would often spend a couple of hours at a time just watching one after the other. But anyone who’s seen a fair amount of anime knows that anime OPs tend to follow certain patterns and contain similar scenes, even if the anime series themselves are vastly different…

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Belated 8-year anniversary post…and why blogging still matters

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Mainichi Anime Yume turned 8 years old a little over a month ago, and as usual, I forgot all about it until this week. But better late than never! (especially since I failed to make an anniversary post last year) Although my blogging has seen some changes this year, I still intend to keep it up for as long as I can, despite the fact that blogging itself may be fading away…

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Happy Halloween – horror anime, games, and overcoming my fears

Kaneki

I’ve always had an ambivalent relationship with the macabre – even as a kid, scary stories and creepy urban legends fascinated me, but come bedtime, they would haunt my mind and make sleep impossible. Not much changed when I grew up, as I still am both insatiably curious about, and have an aversion to, any kind of nightmare-fuel. But over the past few months, I’ve been working on getting over my fears, and it’s been successful =D So this Halloween, I wanted to delve into the horror anime, scary games, creepy stories, and other things I’ve come across on my journey to conquer my fears!…

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Does the anime we like reveal what kind of person we are?

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I’ve touched on this topic in bits and pieces in other posts, but I don’t believe I’ve actually delved into it fully. It’s an idea that permeates anime fandom, or really, all communities of media fandoms where people tend to judge one another based on the game or show they like, and people who take such criticisms of their hobbies as personal insults. But is there any merit in either?…

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How to watch anime on a healthy schedule

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I’m sure we’ve all heard the lament before, whether from others or from ourselves, that goes “I don’t have time for all the anime I want to watch!” or “I keep falling behind on my weekly anime!” As someone who very rarely falls behind on anime and usually finds time to watch the shows I want to watch, today I felt like offering advice and tips I go by for keeping up on all my anime amidst limited free time while still maintaining a healthy lifestyle…

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