2018 has been a good year for me. This year I finally feel like I’ve gotten back in the writing groove, which after a very dark time in my life seemed as though it had maybe disappeared forever. That might seem a little over-dramatic (definitely one of my talents), but there truly were times where I’d sit down at my computer in front of a blank WordPress entry and be completely unable to produce anything. Now, though I go through short spells where writing isn’t my tip-top priority, I always manage to make my way back to blogging. From about March onward I managed to post at least every couple of weeks, and the Summer and Autumn seasons got me back in my first episode reviewing process. So overall things have been on the upswing.
Because I feel like there’s finally enough content to make a post like this, I wanted to toot my own horn a bit and call out some of the writing I’ve done this year that I’m the most proud of. These picks aren’t necessarily my most popular entries (I don’t get a ton of traffic anyway, so there’s not that big a difference between “popular” and “overlooked” here at S1E1), but they’re ones that I still think about from time-to-time and hope you’ll enjoy reading (or re-reading) as well. I’ve tried to provide a little context around what I was thinking when I wrote them. I hope you’ll check them out!
You Don’t Need a Map to Know Where You’re Going – Originally posted on May 11th, 2018.
I wrote this on a whim even though the thought had been bouncing around off and on in my head for quite a while. My reactions to anime tend to be based around how I feel about them more than whether they always make structural sense. I tend not to make assumptions about the story once I’ve decided I kind of like an anime; I’ll let the plot go where it’s going and then see how I feel about it once it’s over. I’ve found that this is considered somewhat irregular, so I wanted to write about that feeling, as well as just the general way I watch anime to give readers a better idea of what to expect. I don’t know how successful of a post it was, but I tried to lay it all out, with even a little history about some of the online harassment I’ve received, without being insulting to different perspectives.
I consider this post a good marker of when I was really starting to get serious about blogging again, so even though it appeared nearly halfway through the year I think it serves as a good starting point.
Mother of the Year – 2018 and Father of the Year – 2018 – Originally posted on May 14th and June 20th, 2018.
Any opportunity to talk about anime and manga I really like is a good one, and these posts took advantage of the American Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day holidays to look at some anime parents from the recent past and what I liked about them.
Talking about parents in anime is a tough task, because there are very few anime where parents serve enough of a role to be notable. There are always a few, so even if I can’t obtain new content from a current year, there are at least some to talk about from a past one. I happened to luck-out this year just based around what I had watched and read. As someone who hopes to become a parent at some point, representation of that role in the media I watch has become more important to me over the years. This was a good way for me to examine some of the traits that I admire in those who mentor and parent young people (and also, hopefully, get some readers interested in The Eccentric Family and My Brother’s Husband!).
Writer’s Pride – Originally posted on May 20th, 2018.
I was prompted by a twitter post I saw from another anime writer I follow who, after I believe suffering some kind of online fallout, decided to post about some of their writing that they were proud of. At that point I didn’t have access to most of my past writing (I still don’t… though much of it from 10 years ago or so can stay gone as it was never that good to begin with), but I wanted to do the same.
There was a point where I wrote for a more professional website doing reviews, including some simulcast reviews and such. It was at that point I was becoming very depressed and suffering deeply from impostor syndrome, so that opportunity was eventually wasted – something I deeply regret. But there were things that I wrote while I was there that I’m still proud of, and I talk about that a bit. I also talk about why I don’t tend to advertise that much; again, online harassment is deeply troubling to me, so I tend to maintain a low profile. In any case, check this post out if you’d like to learn more about me and some of my history.
30 Day Anime Challenge #4: My Favorite Female Anime Character – Originally Posted on September 4th, 2018.
I know full well this particular series of prompts was meant to be completed over the course of 1 month; I’ve instead been using it as a series of writing prompts when I encounter writers’ block. Someday I will finish them all… someday…
Anyway, this one was one of my favorites of the 6 I completed this year. I think anime can be particularly good when it comes to representing girls and women, mostly because there are a high volume of anime series that are actually about women or which feature them in prominent roles with multiple women in the cast. This doesn’t always turn out well and there are lots of examples of sexism, unnecessary fanservice, or even things like sexual assault that are committed against these characters which diminish them in various ways (or just serve to prove what and who the series is actually for and about). Still, I’ve held onto a lot of favorite characters over the years, and this post talks about that.
As a related aside, I know Revolutionary Girl Utena is probably not as well-known as it may have been when I entered into anime fandom hard-core in the early 2K’s, but I still recommend that every anime fan watch it at least once (and possibly more than once, since there’s a lot of material that is richer upon subsequent viewings).
From one Blogger to Another: Some Advice – Originally Posted on August 11th, 2018.
Though it may not be apparent from the content on this blog, I’ve been writing about anime for quite a while. Over the years I’ve come to operate in a certain way due to things I’ve learned in the process of blogging. I don’t tend to make a habit of providing advice, but decided to do so just this once. Upon re-reading the post, I actually still think it’s pretty decent advice if you’re interested in starting an anime blog of your own (or even a blog based around some other hobby).
Anime Book Club: Mononoke – Originally Posted from August through September (still technically ongoing).
Mononoke has been one of my favorite anime series since I first watched it, which has made me completely terrified to talk about it in depth. I think there’s a fear I have that sometimes the things I really love might not hold up under scrutiny; I’ve been through a couple of ordeals where I’ve excitedly recommended anime to others, only to have them tell me very bluntly and without care that they didn’t agree. That’s something that happened long ago with this series, and I can still feel the sting of that persons’s words. I spent many years learning not to talk about Mononoke because of it.
It was finally this year that I gathered up the courage to make a stab at it, and I’m honestly very proud of the writing I’ve done about it thus far. There’s still one story arc left to cover; why I’ve left it alone for so long is honestly a mystery to me other than perhaps I have a sense that, once I close things off, this series of posts will stand as my final words on the matter, and I’m not very good at finality. Still, I hope you’ll check out these posts, and maybe watch the show alongside them, because I think it’s great!
Defining Darkness at the Expense of Others – Originally Posted on October 13th, 2018.
I generally try not to talk much about anime that bothers me past the initial episode 1 impression. Why? Usually what needs to be criticized is present from the first episode onward (though not always), every series has an audience and I’m not really interested in dumping on those people, and it’s just a lot of work that tends to result in internet hate all around. Not really my idea of a good time. In this case, though, I was emotionally affected enough to want to say something about Goblin Slayer, even though by the time I posted it I think the second episode had rolled in and people were onto another controversy.
I didn’t really write this post with the expectation of changing anyone’s opinion on the series itself; by now it’s become one of the most popular series in the world and people are already excited about the potential for a second season. What I hoped to do, though, was to get people to think, to consider some of the implications of the content in the media that they consume. I think that critical thinking is a wonderful skill to have, and it’s easy and free – all it takes is the desire to question “why?” I also think empathy is powerful and necessary, so if nothing else perhaps this post might prompt a little bit more of that.
Anime Review: Revue Starlight – Originally Posted on October 21st, 2018.
I watch a lot of anime, but you wouldn’t know it from the dismal number of series reviews I post. I don’t know what it is, but for some reason I feel ill-equipped to sum up my feelings on entire series sometimes. I think some of it is that I overthink things quite a bit and want to capture all of my feelings in one place; I’ve felt some regret when I feel like I haven’t included things in reviews – if I indulged this feeling all the time I think all my reviews would be at least 4,000 words long and unreadable!
This was one case where I felt passionate about the anime in question and felt like I manged to capture that all in the limited space I allowed myself. I know there were a lot of folks who thought that Revue Starlight didn’t quite live up to its potential, but I wasn’t one of them; I wanted to talk about why I felt that it was a near-perfect anime series and I’m proud of how I managed to possibly, kind of, maybe do that.
Something Nice: Treasure Hunting – Originally Posted on November 20th, 2018.
It’s no secret that I came of age during the era of digital fan-subs. While nowadays I pay to subscribe to pretty much every anime subscription service, the reason why I’m such a passionate anime fan today partly has to do with the access that I had to series through this illegal means.
With this post I wasn’t really attempting to glamorize what is essentially stealing anime, but I do feel some regret that there are series I watched back in those days that aren’t and probably may never be available through some legal channel. These series are little treasures that I hold onto because of how they make up the building blocks of my fandom, and to me that is a nice, though conflicted, thought.
It’s All a Matter of Perspective – Originally Posted on December 16th, 2018.
Some of you may know this, but when I graduated from college I obtained a degree in Japanese language and culture, and while I haven’t done a great job of maintaining my language studies (especially reading Japanese, sorry), I do still enjoy utilizing what knowledge I do have, especially when it relates to anime, and this post was meant to indulge that.
There are a lot of anime fans who have things to say about translations; translation itself is more of an art than a science, and everyone has their preferences. For me, though, I have some background in the language where I tend to notice if things are truly wrong, and that’s what this post talks about. I’m sure there are folks out there who could argue with me about my own interpretations, but I tried to keep the focus on wonky official translations that had drummed up some amount of online controversy. In any case, this was mostly a fun post that I enjoyed writing, so I hope you’ll enjoy it as well!
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Those are some of my favorite pieces of writing from 2018. I’m not normally one to toot my own horn, but sometimes it’s kind of fun to indulge one’s self a bit and get a little self-esteem boost at the same time. I bet if you’re also an anime blogger there are some posts you’re proud of as well! Even if you don’t feel like re-posting them, I suggest re-reading some of your own writing and realizing how valuable your writing and opinions are. You can enter into the new year with your best foot forward!