At this point, I'll admit I was starting to lose interest in anime. More things anime-related interested me than the actual act of watching anime itself. The discussions here on /r/TrueAnime had become increasingly topical, reacting to the actual events of shows - describing things as simply not cool or not fun, evaluating characters without being cognizant of their role as a character, and not very impressive. People were no longer looking for the meanings of things or the reasons why directors would make certain choices. It became all value-judgement.
Here's the thing: I don't care about how you feel about any particular thing - but I do care about the reasons why you care for it and what concessions you have made in order to reach those conclusions. Have you looked at the work holistically or insularly? But I have no doubt I played a role in causing this change and I'm sure many of the users who left previous left for those reasons. It's just not as interesting.
By the way, do you remember those per-episode discussion threads above, for Kyousougiga? How do they compare to discussion threads on /r/anime now? Are they the same? Are they different?
Here's an interesting post I wrote about the pronunciation and romanization of another show I love.
I'll eventually return to finish this series, but from what I saw, I didn't like it very much.
One of the hobbies I picked up across the anime community was finding information. I'm particularly proud of this instance. I was able to find some small-time student project from Nagoya University through the powers of the internet (and two hours worth of time). I had to expend nearly every resource I had at my disposal and follow a whole slew of dead ends - on /a/, /b/, Google Images, Pixiv, and across the many image search engines across the internet. There was so much misinformation spread online about the source of the images, from Guro artists to fan games on DLSite to DVD specials of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. But I found it alright.
Another thing this particular instance introduced me to was independent animation in Japan, which goes surprisingly under the radar. In fact, I have a post somewhat prepared for next week talking about a few independent animation projects I haven't seen being passed around the Western anime community yet.
...for some things that can be found starting near the end of the second to last paragraph and until the end.
Although I haven't really been looking very hard. Or really much at all. I've been a little busy over the last year.
Some miscellaneous posts I decided to slap on here that I really do remember enjoying writing.
But it is admittedly pretty long. And pretty controversial. I'm a little picky when it comes to composing incidental music, so I don't particularly care for anime OST all that much. Or the Japanese music industry for that matter. Or Japan.
Just for the record. I'm pleased with my research for this one.
This is also one of my favorite posts I've written across both subreddits. It's a combination of many things- witty remarks, attacking core criticism in a succinct manner, maintaining a certain level of comedy, using nearly perfect images to capture the essence of the statement. It's one of my greats, although I'll graciously accept the fact that it'll likely never be a popular opinion. In fact, this is the only review I've written that I feel would truly deserve being in its own blog. I think it's that good.
I really did. It was everything I didn't want it to be.
/u/PrecisionEsports revived this thread series for a short about nine months ago and I'm fairly satisfied with what I got out of it. The .webm files are no longer available though, and I can't be bothered to cut them out again.
How I pursued information about the industry has grown and developed over the past three years. At first, it was just friends. Then /r/anime. Then /r/animesuggest. Then /r/trueanime. Then /a/. Then late night discussion on /a/ with people who've actually watched a significant amount of anime. Then to Japanese websites, twitter accounts, published reports, economic journals, reviews, random forum posts. Information about the industry can play a little hard to get, making it all the more rewarding to discover. And it's not like I dedicate an absurd amount of time to it - just a couple hours when I have a moment to spare and the inspiration to search, as all the resources are often just a couple clicks and queries away. It's just a matter of experiment and finding the right combination.
One thing I learned is that despite visiting twice, I don't like Japan as a country all that much. In fact, I have almost no interest in learning the language, although I've Google Translated almost line by line 40 page economic reports about the animation industry. But it's these reasons why I don't like the country all the much that makes it so incredibly interesting.
And I keep track of studios, CVs, and directors. It's an interesting, albeit incredibly tight-lipped industry.
Play Ib (freeware indie horror rpg), watch Giovanni no Shima (anime film), read Hinamatsuri (manga). That's all I ask.
And I'm pretty sure it's not just me. Although I won't deny that a shift in my own attitudes plays a role.
I'm sick of writing these now, and I've basically caught up to today. So just read the post if it's something you think you might find interesting.
I'm kind of regretting it now. I'm a little tired. I'll probably edit this and change around the ending to be a little more... inspirational? after I sleep and conscious more yes?