Emo-fest: Your win… Not.
A couple years ago, the anime blogosphere has been a small friendly community. Fast forward, present day. Grrr. Argh.
Now, it is littered with jerks whose noses are high up in the air, pretending to be better than the masses. Okay, maybe one or two noses. But still, puh-lease. Give me a break. If you disrespect someone else’s opinion, how can I respect yours.
Jason Miao of Blogsuki fame recently posted an article regarding overhype, underrated, overrated series of spring ‘06, particularly on Haruhi (the melancholy one), killer loli (not referring to Lucy), and Nana (the uber-soap). His verbose and delightful editorial fuels a heated discussion. While I do not agree with most of his points - in addition to my cluelessness of NBA references –, I find some of his arguments intelligent and almost convincing (but not quite). Although I do think the post is mostly about semantics and a matter of taste, anyway. For the record, I don’t care for Haruhi, nor Nana. Give me Black Lagoon or SaiMono instead. ’nuff said.
Anyhow, my ire comes down to a couple commenters who seems to delight in bashing and cursing. One mocks some of Omni’s readers, which I can easily ignore. But another dude, T_T|||, irritates me. He says, and I quote:
Haha! I see tonnes of morons! If you like a show, then go ahead and like it. If you hate a show, you can jolly well don’t give a flying fuck about it.
If people are going to change the way the enjoy their shows just to be in line with the opinions of the public and dumb blogs, THEY ARE FUCKING MORONS!
And stop arguing over definitions kudasai. Preferences? Ratings? Killer hentai karmen loli? Fuck these shit. NO ONE CAN TRULY JUDGE AN ANIME’S WORTH. I CAN SAY NARUTO ANIME’S A PIECE OF SHIT WITH STUPID PLOTS AND FILLERS BUT OTHERS CAN SAY IT’S A GEM OF ALL ANIMES TO HAVE A NINJA ON A JOURNEY COUNSELLING RETARDS LIKE HIM. So what are oyu going to judge an anime based on? The animation quality? The story? FUCK. Noein has the best animation FTWWTFBBQ. Disagree? You suck.
If you don’t get what I’m saying, you suck more.
Okay, yes. Such a wonderful response. I want to beg him to marry me now. Yes, because cursing and looking down at others makes him so manly and macho. Troll, anyone?
I single this person out, since this dude is the same one who started calling those who blog per episodes “stupid”. In his mind, only editorials and fig reviews deserve to be hailed as worthy. Um, uh, okay… But we call it an anime blog because what again? Oh yes, because we can talk about things about anime. And I digress. Heck, I’m bitter.
Anyhow, I must reiterate what I’ve stated before. I love the anime blogosphere, but there is one too many bad apples. Anime watching, manga reading, anime blogging are hobbies supposed to be fun. It should enable you to relax and enjoy reviews and debates. But if you start a path of insults, bad blood appears. And so do flame wars of death.
Slightly OT. Hah, I would like to hear Jason’s response to all this hoopla. He has a knack for creating mind-numbing discussions. No offense intended. Uh, maybe a little. Oh, and I want to read Jeff’s comments on this too. His sardonic prose is a constant delight to readers everywhere, this blogger included. I think. It’s a shame I’m not on his reading list. I guess I’m not witty. Oh, I meant worthy. Hee.
No links to the said post because, one, I am a wuss. Two, I don’t want a trackback leading to this post. Three, I don’t want a flame war (even though I’m partly at fault for writing this). Four, I hate confrontations. And have I mentioned that I’m a wuss? ;p
June 5th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
I actually don’t want to get into a pissing match with people over this particular topic.
And I still read your blog, Ten. I’ll be honest, though, and say that I don’t hit the episode-by-episode blogs on my reading list as often as the commentary blogs. It’s always been that way, though… even when I was doing episode-by-episode blogging myself.
June 5th, 2006 at 8:51 pm
I know it’s pathetic but the dude pisses me off. This might backfire on me though, that’s why I try to keep entries like this out of the anime blog.
Actually, I only read a few select ep-by-ep blogs myself, mostly about series that I’ve watched already. Sorry, I didn’t intend for the quip to sound oafish though. I have an odd sense of humor.
June 5th, 2006 at 9:08 pm
Don’t worry… I’m actually kind of sensitive to the fact my blogroll at Hop Step Jump! is much smaller than what I had at Nowhere. I want to keep things streamlined, but I’m aware of the fact some people get the shaft as a result. With so many blogs linking to each other now (not to mention Blogsuki and, now, AnimeNano), I try to convince myself it’s not all that big a deal whether I link to someone or not.
June 6th, 2006 at 7:29 pm
I got death threats for my post about Jackie Chan’s The Myth because I said that the Korean princess spoke horrible Mandarin, so there’s not much that bothers me anymore. Gotta have a thick skin.
As for blogging, I went the other way. The funny thing is that HSJ was AoMM two years ago. I realized two things: the first is that it’s important to build up credibility. (I have none. Jeff has plenty, so he’s a special case.) With a lot of cookie cutter blogs out there, what is going to make yours special is you. The best way is just to be yourself and honest about a series, and I noticed people come back over and will follow you as you blog about a certain series. Who is going to remember who had what opinion about Mimai Sakamoto’s anti-otaku rant three months from now? But you will remember which blogger started calling Mai Hime “Himelander.”
The second is that it’s hard to come up with commentary posts that are fresh and don’t rehash what’s been done a billion times before. It’s very hard to come up with new angles without sounding like Rush Limbaugh or Anna Benson after a while. I think commentary blogs are more flash-in-the-pan… longevity-wise, I think that’s why episode blogs like nowhere, RC, and Memento are so well-loved even after a few years.
June 7th, 2006 at 2:55 pm
I had a lot of fun with Nowhere, but realized early on that it would eventually be a pain to maintain. Yet, HSJ isn’t something I planned for… I may have given serious thought to the commentary model at times, but I never planned to go through with it. It’s just that, once Nowhere was gone, I wanted a place to write about anime without cluttering up my personal blog. I never planned for HSJ to be all that popular. Given the popularity of Nowhere, however, I should’ve expected it.
That said, it IS difficult to come up with fresh topics at times. Usually, when I’m in a slump, I say to myself, “You know what? It’s no big deal. Just write something.” At the end of the day, it’s just a blog. I’m not being paid for my output, nor am I vying for a Pulitzer. If I’m enjoying myself and I have a steady audience… well, what more could I ask for?
Oh, and I find it funny that other bloggers often refer to my writing as “sardonic” or “incisive”. Sure, I see it myself, but it’s amusing in that it’s really not a reflection of my true personality.
June 7th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
>>Jason: To survive those harsh words from the mini-controversy a month ago and react in calm and reasonable manner, I’d say you’re a one cool customer.
Every one has a unique voice in each of their blogs. Funny thing, though, the more the blogger tries to be unique, the more the site reads to be unstimulating.
As far as the beloved ep blogs, it all boils down to the blogger himself. Omni’s awesomeness could be tied in to his alien powers. Garten’s epic reviews consitently brings fresh insight. (I really would like him to father my child.) As for Jeff, I think it’s his boyish good looks and his purty voice that sold Nowhere. Think J-idol.
>>Jeff: Maybe HSJ surprised a lot of people. I was. Apart from the format, it had a noticeably diffent voice from Nowhere. It’s like the fetching little kid growing up to be a slightly jaded adult, with humor and wit intact.
I work hard, I play hard. Blogging is more like a stress-reliever for me, my semi-creative outlet. I equate blogging with relaxation. that’s why it irks me so when I encounter some troll in this community.
June 7th, 2006 at 7:26 pm
>> I had a lot of fun with Nowhere, but realized early on that it would eventually be a pain to maintain.
Isn’t nowhere just four screenshots and 100 words per post? That can’t be that difficult. ;)
>> If I’m enjoying myself and I have a steady audience… well, what more could I ask for?
Sage words. I have always maintained that I will quit if I stopped having fun.
Aside from that, Jeff and I have completely and utterly opposite tastes in anime. I’m still reeling from the Amaenaideyo post.
>> Every one has a unique voice in each of their blogs. Funny thing, though, the more the blogger tries to be unique, the more the site reads to be unstimulating.
I don’t think being unique for the sake of being unique is the right way to go. I think one should just be oneself. I’m always making weird ass analogies in real life, like how I compared my company’s current product portfolio to the LA Clippers, and everyone just looked at me. In that spirit, Garten and Mentar work well because they remind me a lot of Chris Berman and Tom Jackson on NFL Primetime… just two football geeks doing what they do best. No filler. No hoopla. Just business. In fact, I think I’ll start calling them Chris and Tom…
June 7th, 2006 at 8:42 pm
>> I’m still reeling from the Amaenaideyo post.
You and me both. :)
With Nowhere, the problem was balancing my viewing schedule with the need to keep the blog updated. For example, this You’re Under Arrest binge I’ve been on lately is just that: an honest to goodness BINGE. I haven’t watched any current shows for a couple of weeks now, I think. It’ll probably be next week before I start catching up. Back in the Nowhere days, this would’ve meant no posts at all for a couple of weeks. When I was in Japan, I had no choice BUT to place Nowhere on hiatus… with Hop Step Jump, however, as long as I can find the time to blog every couple of days, I’m in good shape.
July 9th, 2006 at 9:39 pm
[…] My favorite community (read: anime blogging) is starting to get watered down and, honestly, boring. The focus and attention is not anime anymore. Anime, now, plays second fiddle to the drama and flaming. Unless you haven’t guessed from my previous posts on the subject, I’ll reiterate my sentiments. IT’S FUCKING IRRITATING. […]