Anime Blog Saturation 2

Relevant Links
[http://renegade.animeblogger.net/?p=432->]
[http://animeotaku.animeblogger.net/?p=61->]
[http://that.animeblogger.net/2006/11/13/episode-summaries-bad-my-random-thoughts/->]
[http://azureflame.wordpress.com/2006/11/14/tuesday-rumble-november-14th->]
[http://chrome.ikimashou.net/?p=427->]
[http://huamulan03.blogspot.com/2006/11/its-sunny-side-up-with-digression.html->]
[http://cuteproxy.wordpress.com/2006/11/13/the-nymphs-er-my-reply-to-the-episodic-brouhaha/->]
[http://chibinonothing.blogspot.com/2006/11/op-ed-nothing-better-to-write-about.html->]

This again?

Before I start my rant that, er… probably would get buried along with the pile on our blog aggregators within a day, let me take you back not so long ago when many of us reflected on something in more or less the same way as we do now:
Original article: [Anime Blog Saturation->]

Ahh, fond memories right? The call for change was already ignited half a year ago. And during that time, did we not learn our lessons? I pondered upon this myself, once again, and found the same answers. However, something seems to have changed. Amazing how time passes, because my view on the whole saturation topic is slowly being skewed.

Now I’m inclined to think that we really are saturated. Too many blogs doing the same thing. Same animes, same summaries, even same reactions. As part of this community, I asked myself: “didn’t I try to make a difference?”. I did call for individuality, and more importantly, the basic enjoy anime and enjoy blogging part. Did it not reach enough people? I admit to be at fault for not being a major voice, but when I wrote that article half a year ago, I had a sudden burst of passion. A passion to enjoy anime, and enjoy blogging even more. That was why I proposed to start the [Da Capo II->summer-of-bishoujo], [CCS->sakura], and [Doremi->] projects immediately afterwards. I was hoping to… er… inspire others in my own little way. Such an embarrassing statement.

It’s quite ironic that nowadays that passion is slowly fading due to lack of time. All those blogging projects of mine are now in limbo, and I can’t find time to update my other articles. I don’t even feel that I have the balls to react about this whole blogging thing, because I am not a regular blogger anymore. There it is, the irony of being in Japan. The closer I get, the farther it goes. My readership has gone down evidently because of all this.

And now I’m here just lazing around, admittedly not able to visit most other blogs at Nano, Suki, Antenna, and many more others in the interweb. I don’t watch Asatte, Sumomomo, Geass, Angelune, Proxy, Tokimeki, Happinesu, Otoboku, Negima… heck I don’t even remember the names. In effect, I don’t read blogs which have summaries of those. I apologize for not being too active.

Wait a minute… do I need to apologize? I’m just one hit on your website. You may not need me to read your blog! In the end, we are just a blip in the net radar. Who cares if I’m gone? THIS WHOLE BLOGGING THING IS A CONSPIRACY!!! INBOU DA!!!!!

^Okay, before I start to lose sense of what I’m trying to say, the above thinking is wrong. Yes, viewership seems important to a blogger. It makes us seem… important. Yes, saturation seems like a very bad thing, we may implode ourselves to be redundant. But, again, I feel like a broken record, the most important thing is… okay fine, let another one do the talking:
http://anime.jefflawson.net/2006/11/13/an-editorial/

Basic, very basic. No economics, no psychologies, no graphs. Why do you care if you’re just the 1000th most popular anime blog in the world… and there’s 1000 all-in-all? You get hits right? You get comments right? Hey, look at all the junk generic blogs out there without anyone reading it. Or look at the junk blogs with millions of readers… on bloated MySpace. In the end, anime fans, bloggers, and readers have passion, they communicate with each other on various levels. Whether it’s an episode summary, or review, or articles, or bashing, or proclaiming loli pr0n as the best ever, every single word you say is being heard in one form or another. I’m all for change, the drive to make my blogging better, but I shouldn’t think of it as ego-drive. I won’t blog about something I don’t like to blog about. I won’t try to blog in some way I don’t like to blog. I won’t confirm/conform/convert myself just to get thousands of hits. I stay with what I like, and from there, strive to be better. For instance, suppose I’m good at episode summaries, fine. I’ll try to be better on that. It’s ok to be divergent from time to time, but it must be for the betterment of the craft, not for self-gain.

Am I still making sense? Ok, put it this way:
GOOD: Try your best, and the hits will come.
NOT GOOD: Try to make hits come by faking your best.

If this article didn’t make any sense to you, then that’s my problem. All I can say though, at least I tried my best in conveying it to you. So this is my next solution to Anime Blog Saturation. The first one was:

I enjoy anime, and I enjoy blogging about it.

Now the second solution is:
I’ll try my best to make people enjoy what I enjoy.

Challenge me, the reader. Make me watch (insert anime here). If your opinions conflict with mine, then let’s talk. If your opinions coincide with mine, then let’s party! Or on a larger scale, make me want to blog more, by inspiring me in your own way. Despite my lack of time, if I really enjoy your stuff, I’ll go through all lengths to find time to watch and enjoy anime again. I may have failed to inspire you, but maybe you could inspire me.

Come on, I really want to finish [Doremi->].