Although I officially joined Twitter on Christmas Day last year, it was 2012 when I discovered the bustling, chatty and sociable anime community there and began to frequent the service on a regular basis.  In my entire first year of blogging, I failed to capitalize on the dynamic resource that was Twitter which supports a lively community of numerous anime- and manga-fans.  Most other anime bloggers have accounts and use the media platform as a means to communicate with each other.  So throughout 2012, I began to use the service to connect with other anime- and manga-fans which had an unfathomable affect and influence on how I watch and appreciate anime.

Over the course of the year, various moments and opportunities arose for which the anime community on Twitter had some positive affect on my anime and manga experiences.  Perhaps the most notable is how various people influenced me to pick up an anime I never gave a chance to before and watch it and its sequel this year (the subject of a post later on in this series).  Not only that but other anime I had zero- to little-interest in, I found myself curious and drawn into it purely through other excitement and speculation.  This is obviously the greatest influence that this social anime community has had on me, helping me find anime that I had missed previously or would’ve missed and motivating me to watch them and enjoy them like any other.  And if the impact were merely this alone, it would’ve made the 12 Days list due to that alone.  However, the online anime community was able to do much more than just that.

Other instances of how the online anime community influenced my anime experience over the year largely revolve around the conversational aspect of Twitter.  This includes holding conversations about lesser-known or underappreciated anime this year, like Acchi Kocchi, Sengoku Collection, and most recently with Kamisama Kiss, and being able to recognize fans who share the same appreciation for these anime as I do.  The opposite is also true, especially for anime where it was more entertaining to make fun of them than to watch them seriously.  What these people were able to do here were enhance the anime and turn it into something meaningful and worthwhile.  Even if it meant a few more laughs or smiles or whatever, the online anime community helped improve the anime I already watch and has even guided me into watching new shows.  Additionally, finding out about certain news articles or other discussion points helped enhance or hurt a few anime this year, too.

Furthermore, throughout the year, I was able to connect with many other bloggers in ways I never possibly imagined.  Previously, I had merely resorted to commenting on various blogs which restricted conversations somewhat in terms of conversation and subject.  However, with the use of Twitter as a means of holding public conversations, one in which anyone is free to join or listen, I found myself conversing with many people I had followed before and was able to connect to many new people and their blogs.  Through this, I found myself becoming more and more a part of another anime community that separates itself from the animeblogosphere and into one more dynamic, instantaneous and lively.  Although this seems to be merely an extension of the blogosphere, just under the format of a social media website, it allowed me to branch out and explore various other anime and manga blogs and meet the people and fans that power the online anime community.

Of course, with such a general and narrow explanation of how the online anime community has impacted my anime experience over the year, there are some details omitted and influences not mentioned.  Likewise, I am unable to determine what effect it has had on other tidbits, too, such as browsing Tumblr and Pixiv for images and artwork, understanding more about certain niche communities within the anime fandom, and so on and so forth.  However, the impression that the anime community on Twitter has had for me is unquestionably positive and certainly one of the greatest, most unforgettable influences of the year on how I watch, experience, and appreciate anime and manga.

In April of 2012, I attended my first anime convention, Sakura-Con, the premier anime convention in the Pacific Northwest.  Although I’ve had numerous opportunities to attend the convention since its inception in 1998 and even made legitimate plans to go while in high school, this year was the first that I actually went to.  For three days, I witnessed and participated in a paradise created by and intended for anime fans such as myself and my experience has provided a permanent impression on how I watch, understand and appreciate anime.

To me, Sakura-Con can be broken up into three specific categories with each having a specific impact on my anime life.  The three categories are the Convention, the Panels, and my Friends.  Although each category technically could fit under the umbrella term “the Convention”, this category refers to the entirety of the convention that every fan experienced whereas the others are tailored toward my specific interests and the people I saw while at the convention.

My experience of the convention itself, outside the panels and social aspect, mainly consisted of wandered aimlessly through the Exhibitors’ Hall and Artist Alley, looking in and watching a few of the Anime Theaters, and playing a few games in some of the gaming rooms.  The Exhibitors’ Hall quickly became my favorite due to its extensive size of merchandise and other oddities.  And while I did not really intend to blow my wallet here, I did end up buying several art books that I couldn’t take my eyes away from.  Of note were three art books of Aria, a Spice and Wolf art book, and one of various works by Makoto Shinkai.  These were the first and are the only art books that I own in the realm of anime/manga.  Additionally, a few DVDs, posters, and amateur drawings were purchased, too.  Over the course of the three days, this is easily the most I’ve ever spent on anime/manga merchandise, something that indicates how truly spectacular and powerful an anime convention can be to an easily-inspired fan.

The panels I attended were perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the convention, putting me in the same room with lectures and Q&A and information sessions with prominent figures in the anime industry, like Gen Urobuchi, Atsuhiro Iwakami, Michihiko Suwa, Steve Blum, and many more.  Each session was unique and inspiring with topics ranging from Q&A on Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Fate/Zero, to how the voice actresses were selected for Rinne no Lagrange, to how anime is promoted and advertised in Japan, to the production and directing of anime dubbing in the United States.  Every panel I attended was fascinating and informative which is truly meaningful to me, helping me understand various diverse aspects of the anime industry from the very people who operate it and provide us with the anime they create.  The only panel that wasn’t informative was perhaps my favorite, the comedy panel late at night, which left me smiling and laughing long after the panel had ended.  Looking back on it now, I wish I had attended more panels but, with a year of experience, I figure I will have an easier time paneling out my schedule so that way I can attend every panel I want to.

The last major impact that Sakura-Con had on me was meeting up with various friends over the course of the three day experience.  Among this cohort, I saw groups of friends from high school, college, and from the online anime community totaling 20 people even.  Every person I met helped me enjoy the convention since I hardly ever talk to them about anime and for most, this was the first time I’ve ever done it with them face-to-face.  Not only was it fun to have a friend with me while I walked around the Exhibitors’ Hall or with me while I attended a panel, but it showed me some sides or details about them that I probably would not have known about otherwise.  Not only that, but it helped me realize a few things about myself, too.  I can only hope that I had the same lasting experience for everyone else that I saw, seeing how positive an effect it had on me.  And when I look forward to Sakura-Con in 2013, seeing the people is literally the one I am looking forward to the most.

When combining all these categories together, it’s easy to see how and why Sakura-Con is one of the 12 greatest moments of the year in terms of anime and manga for me.  The experience I had at my first anime convention truly inspired me in many ways, helping me purchase various amounts of merchandise (that I may or may not have needed), educating me about the anime industry from respected and famous professionals, and letting me share in this experience with friends.  With this in mind, I am already looking forward to visiting Sakura-Con again in 2013.  And with a year of experience already gained, I expect my next trip to the convention will be even bigger, brighter and better than before.

As you may already know, I am an avid, enthusiastic follower of the Needless manga and have been since soon after I began watching the anime.  Unfortunately for me, Needless is published monthly in Ultra Jump, a manga magazine that is sold in Japan and not available overseas.  However, after various situations and circumstances, I decided to research my options and learned of way to order a subscription to Ultra Jump despite living outside of Japan.  The outcome of this subscription to a manga magazine has unquestionably influenced how I read and enjoy manga and has allowed me to discover numerous new manga that I now find myself interested in.

The main reason I initially ordered a subscription was that I wanted to receive Needless on a regular basis and I wanted to support my favorite manga in whatever way I could.  Since I began my subscription back in February of this year, I have received a monthly copy of Ultra Jump soon after it has been released in Japan, except during my trip to Japan in March.  Prior to this subscription, the only manga I have ever owned were the volumes of the Needless manga.  However, there are some differences between the two that have impacted how I experience manga.

For one, the size of the magazine and volumes are quite dissimilar: the magazine is rather large and thick, full of several other manga all updated monthly whereas the volume is just seven chapters of Needless with a few bonus pages spread throughout.  This means the pages are larger, so the images and text are larger, but it doesn’t have the crisp, clean appearance that the volumes have.  It might be because the paper is of a different quality and texture, since the pages do feel different between the two.  Not only that but the issues of Ultra Jump always contain new manga whereas every volume I order is something I’ve already seen and read.  In this regard, grabbing a new issue of Ultra Jump generates some excitement since it always has something new in it for me.  In a sense, I think I feel more excited to get a new issue of Ultra Jump than I do a new issue of Needless, but, to be fair, the enthusiasm is a bit different.  So in this regard, the subscription to Ultra Jump has influences how I read and enjoy Needless.  Not only that but these copies of Ultra Jump have allowed me to see various other manga that are either new to me or have generated some interest in me.

Of particular note, Ultra Jump runs a number of other manga that I have found myself interested in.  Besides Needless, Ultra Jump has a Steins;Gate manga (told through the perspective of Kurisu following the events of episode 24), a Robotics;Notes manga (told through the perspective of Frau, different than the anime), the 8^th installment of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, JoJolion.  Not only that, but a number of other manga have fascinating art styles or amusing characters which I am starting to find myself more and more interested in (however, all have started years before my subscription began, so I am in the middle of these stories).  And though I only know a limited amount of Japanese, I do spend time looking over and trying to read these manga as best I can.  It is worth noting I have not begun looking for these manga scanlations online yet, but I figure it may eventually lead to that someday.

So while my reasons for subscribing to Ultra Jump were to help support Needless and to obtain the manga on a regular basis, I have found the lasting effect to be much more.  Beyond satisfying my two original intentions, the subscriptions to Ultra Jump have changed how I enjoy reading manga.  The physical copies of the manga do have a different impression than reading copies online or out of a bound volume.  Furthermore, it has exposed me to a number of other manga that I never would have considered before, which may eventually lead to me to begin reading these manga or searching out others.  In regards to this, the impact of Ultra Jump still continues to this day and will continue on into next year.  In a sense, it’s influence over me has not ended yet as my subscription to Ultra Jump will continue well into next year and perhaps beyond.

December 20, 2012 marks the second anniversary of Avvesione’s Anime Blog.  Over the course of these two years, I have done more than just write about anime here; rather, it’s a clumsy combination of critiquing, evaluating, and reflecting upon various aspects of various anime presented in the form of words accompanied by unrelated but cute or amusing screenshots.  As a result of this blogging experience, I have learned an exceptional amount about how to properly articulate my assessment and perception of anime as I discover what it is about these shows that I like and dislike.  It has been a tremendous experience in improving my understanding and appreciation for anime.  However, not every aspect of blogging is marvelous or even significant.  Sometimes it’s frustrating or taxing, inconvenient or annoying.  But learning to deal with these negativities is one area where I felt myself grow as an anime blogger in 2012.

Of the number of problems that occur with blogging, perhaps my most challenging or the most apparent is the issue of timing and time management.  As the year has progressed, posts have been progressively arriving later and later, with episodic posts coming out sometimes a week after an episode has aired or seasonal reviews being placed in the middle of the following season.  Although there are several contributing reasons and it is depending upon other schedules, it is a trend I aimed to correct only to see it steadily decline as the year rolled along.  It’s embarrassing.  However, one aspect of dealing with this problem is learning to accept it and to do what I can when I can.  Knowing that there might always be a timing issue is something I’ve grown to accept but not something that I have to live with or something that cannot improve. There are a few ideas for which I can implement and experiment with in order to address this problem and see if it improves the timing of posts (though I don’t imagine that it will disappear completely).  It’s something worth trying and, if it helps, I might consider applying it to a majority of posts in the future.  Still, the issue with timing and time management in regards to watching and writing (and reading!) about anime is still annoying and a challenge for everyone.

Another negative characteristic associated with blogging is wanting to write something meaningful or valuable but struggling to develop the ideas or communicate it effectively.  The purpose of my blog is to cover a diverse variety of aspects and elements of each anime every week, either by focusing on overlooked or underappreciated themes, elaborating on subjects or characters, justifying significance in regards to the mechanics, or highlighting questions or observations that are either bemusing or amusing.  I wanted every post to be something interesting, to be something worth reading, to be something that’d make people come to my blog rather than all the other better blogs out there, which is why I’ve tried to stay away from opinionated posts and episodic reviews (there are many other blogs out there that do that much, much better than I could ever possibly hope for).  Still, by restricting myself to such a theme for my blog has been challenging time and time again, especially when I find myself disinterested in the anime or if I feel like I’m echoing previous posts without providing any insight or interest in the topic.  One method to deal with this problem has been to take more time with each post, which obviously plays into the first point, but it allows my mind to wander and to select the topic that I feel is the most interesting or intriguing to write about.  Another approach to this problem will be to understand how other people formulate their ideas and their posts which is a project I want to assume following these 12 Days posts and the holiday season.  Perhaps this will help provide answers to these two problems I am facing with my blog today.  If not, there’s always time to work these out over the following year, too.

And although the subject of this anniversary post is geared toward the issues that developed over 2012 in regards to running this anime blog, I still love it and enjoy what I do.  These problems are a reflection more of how much time and energy I want to put into this blog to make it improve rather than issues with running the blog itself.  I imagine that everyone who loves their anime blogs faces the same or similar issues themselves and are looking for ways to address or solve these issues.  I will attempt to coordinate a project to help anime bloggers and other writers with this issue soon, so expect a follow-up to this post in the next month or so.  As for now, I suppose all I can do is continue to watch, write, and enjoy anime for another year!

Unbeknownst to most, if not all, I am a passionate and fervent sports fan.  All throughout my life, sports has had a fundamental and irreplaceable role.  Even today, I spend more time watching, following, and discussing sports than all my time spent on anime, manga and this blog combined.  You figure it’d only be natural for me to be a fan of sports anime seeing how enthusiastic I am about sports.  Well, for whatever reasons, I never found myself interested or excited about any sports anime, save for Battle Athletes Victory back in the 2000.  In fact, I believe that was the last true sports anime I’ve watched (shows like Softenni do not count).  Then, in Autumn of 2011, I started Chihayafuru, an anime revolving around one girl’s love of competitive karuta.  It wasn’t until well into the second half before I realized I was watching a genuine sports anime.  Not only that, but I was loving it, too!

Although I probably recognized early on that Chihayafuru is indeed a sports anime, I never really acknowledged that it was a sports anime until the latter episodes when the karuta tournaments began and the matches became pivotal storylines that dominated the episodes.  Before, I figured Chihayfuru was along the lines of a club anime with subtle romantic undertones.  Well, maybe the first half was, but the Chihayafuru of 2012 featured sensational, intense karuta matches that really solidified the anime as a favorite for me.  What Chihayfuru was able to do was turn what seems to be a simple card game into so much more.  It turned karuta into what I want to see from a sports anime.

Chihayafuru was able to showcase a number of elements that revealed itself to be a sports anime and it excelled in these areas to make it a compelling and passionate anime.  One of the first hints is that the anime steadily became more and more scientific with karuta, dissecting movements and motions and strategies into technical components that were explained smoothly to the audience.  It really focused on the mental aspects of karuta which is something I find essential for a sports anime to be good or even tolerable.  No, this doesn’t mean I want to see the characters thinking during matches or whatever, but to see it in the preparation aspect where the true mental aspects of sports are highlighted.  Chihayafuru was able to do that and acknowledged that the characters needed to grow throughout the anime outside the matches than through blind luck during the matches.  Additionally, Chihayafuru was able to generate sincere interest in every match towards the end, thanks to heartfelt investments in emotions and in the opponents the characters faced.  Not only were the tournament matches valuable for the characters to win, but the anime spent time to humanize every opponent and show what made them formidable or difficult to play against.  This paid immediate dividends in that it felt like the characters were facing a challenge in each match and that every victory would be rewarding and that every loss would be defeating.  Chihayfuru was masterful at manipulating the drama throughout the matches to make each one stimulating and enjoyable to watch.  And perhaps the most important aspect of all is that Chihayafuru felt realistic.  There were no godly players with superhuman abilities or Deus ex machina sequences that would’ve destroyed the authenticity of the matches or the anime.  It remained down-to-Earth the entire time and this really impacted how I enjoyed and appreciated this anime.  As a result, I found myself falling in love with the sports genre in Chihayafuru, a rekindling of my interest in sports anime that has been ignored for 12 years now.  Just think about that for a moment.

Since the end of Chihayafuru, I’ve found myself becoming more interested and open to future sports anime.  Although there have been few that have aired since, I realize there are a number of anime that I have ignored or dismissed over these several years that might be worth looking into again, especially with my newfound interest in sports anime after this wonderful exposure to what a sports anime can really be.  Of course, each show will need to be evaluated since certain shows follow the tired, shounen sports tropes that steered me away from the genre in the first place.  And even if I decide not to go back and watch some of these older, forgotten sports anime, I still feel like Chihayafuru was able to do something memorable and influential.  To me, what Chihayafuru was able to do was shatter this perception and misconception of the sports genre and show me how interesting and worthwhile they actually can be.  So even if I never pick up another sports anime again, for whatever reason, I’ll always remember that Chihayafuru is a sports anime that did sports justice and proved to me that sports can be done properly in an anime.

As I’ve made an emphasis about the anime community throughout these Twelve Days posts, I figure it’s about time for one of the greatest, most memorable and wholly entertaining events of the year: The Second Anime Blog Tournament or Aniblog Tourney.  With the first one occurring in 2010, before I discovered and read anime blogs, this was the first such event where a majority of the aniblogger community gathered together to share and explore bits and pieces of the community that may have gone unnoticed previously.  Seizing the opportunity, this blog was accepted into the tournament.  However, the act of putting my blog in the Aniblog Tourney is not the reason for it making the Twelve Days list.  Rather, it was the social aspects of the Aniblog Tourney which were the most influential and enduring.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of the Aniblog Tourney is how it opened the entire Anime blogging community to me, exposing me to a diverse variety of types and styles and focuses and niches that I never knew existed before.  I made an effort to visit every blog entered in the tournament and to read at least 1 post (a real post, not the intro say hi, welcome, check things out sorta posts).  As a result, I found myself bookmarking quite a few blogs and nearly tripling the amount of blogs I followed before (~20 to ~60).  Not only that but I began to eventually connect with these bloggers via Twitter and this fostered the beginning of a number of friendships.  As a result of the tournament, I’ve begun to feel more a part of the community online than I ever did before.

Another impactful characteristic of the tournament was campaigning for my favorite blogs throughout the tournament.  I have many fond memories of trying my best to promote several blogs including chaostangent, The Untold Story of Altair and Vega, and Lemmas and Submodalities.  Although most of these voting campaigns fell short, it was amusing to see people respond, often joining in themselves to promote these blogs or otherwise showing their support in one way or another.  Yes, what probably will be remembered the most about the voting were the unethical aspects of it, largely the drama and cheating and having to wait for the new polling system, but I will remember doing my best to have people support my favorites, and new favorites, throughout the tournament.

In regards to my blog, one absolutely unforgettable aspect was the coordinated posts and podcast I was able to participate in thanks to some clever organization by our group, Group Five of the Red Bracket, which is probably the one singular event I’ll cherish the most.  I’m not sure entirely of how the whole podcast was received by others aside from the lengthy and amusing comments section on Metanorn, but I had a wonderful experience conversing with other bloggers about the tournament and anime in general.  And although my blog saw an early but admirable defeat in that round, losing against the eventual winner in Metanorn and the beloved Baka-Raptor, and sharing the same fate as Ambivalence , or is it ambiguity?, I found that my position in the group to be more worthwhile than advancing further in the tournament.  Don’t get me wrong, I would’ve loved to see my blog continue in the tournament, but to have this experience in my final stage is something I want to appreciate.  Sure, the loss did leave a bit of a sting, but the whole experience in Group Five made it all worthwhile.

Unfortunately for the tournament as a whole, there was quite a bit of drama among the bloggers and an immense amount of stress placed on the organizers.  In the end, I found the tournament to be a huge success, especially when considering the lasting influences of the tournament and how it truly opened myself up to the blogging community as a whole rather than fragmented pieces that I found across the internet.  I hope that everyone involved took a moment to thank Scamp from The Cart Driver for what he and the other organizers (couldn’t find a list, sorry to everyone else who worked on the tournament) were able to do for the community with this tournament and thank them for the time and effort they put into running this event.  Even to this day, I believe the Tournament played an invaluable and irreversible role for me and my blog and I hope everyone had a positive experience from it, maybe not to the same degree as I did, but to a significant extent.

One of the most fundamental and essential concepts present throughout all of Magi is the romance of adventure.  The romance of adventure is not an idea that unifies the romance between two characters with the genre of adventure (although one could argue that a powerful bond existed between Aladdin and Alibaba), but one that quantifies the stylization and presentation of adventure that is largely romantic and idealistic.  Whether it was questing through treacherous dungeons, relying on the help of mystic, majestic djinns and their phantasmal magic, fending off monsters and assassins alike or hunting for treasures of unimaginable wealth, the image and feeling of adventure in Magi was portrayed as glamorous, glorious, rewarding and extremely passionate.  Magi wanted to show these elements of adventures through this distinctive perspective which then helped enthuse and entertain the audience.  As you can imagine, this concept had a significant and permanent impression in Magi.

Before beginning, it’s worth nothing that almost all adventure stories are romanticized to some degree.  Whether in the form of ancient temples teeming with ferocious monsters and tormenting booby traps or evil villains and wicked wizards seeing control or domination or any form of magic that either helps or hinders, all adventure stories contain some amount of idealistic imagination to aid in its storytelling and entertainment.  Even adventure stories that are based on examples from real life are likely to be embellished or dramatized to a certain extent, especially those passed on by hearsay or distorted by time, or built up to make it so that the story is worth telling.  Of course, Magi is no exception with its story.  For example, you can take various elements of Magi, say the dungeons or the djinn, and replace them with real world counterparts to further illustrate how romanticized this anime is.  The action and adventure in Magi is essentially romantic, being used to represent its challenges and its rewards, its struggles and its triumphs in such a way to make everything seem more spectacular, more remarkable and above all, much more enjoyable.

The romance of adventure in Magi had an impact well beyond that of just the dungeons and magic.  The themes of searching for lost friends, rescuing slaves, preventing war and even saving a kingdom are all storylines that were portrayed as romantic idealizations in Magi.  And this is expected, especially considering that these ideas are what the story of Magi wanted to be.  Considering the presence and degree to which these stories are told and these adventurous elements were employed, its clear that Magi wanted to be a grand tale that catered to our desires, of a story that both intrigued and fascinated us.  Just as the stories of One Thousand and One Arabian Nights delighted audiences for centuries with its classic tales of might and magic, Magi too develops its story in a romantic manner that plays tribute to the work that inspired it.

To me, this post means more to me than the last individual anime post in the foreseeable future.  To me, this post symbolizes two characteristic of blogging an anime that pushed me in this direction, one being the perturbing lateness with my posts and the frustration that stems from it.  You see, I had the idea and theme for this post since midway through the very first episode of Magi.  However, instead of writing on this subject for the very first episode, I decided to save the topic for a later episode, one that’d be more appropriate and for one that’d be on time.  As the episodes rolled on, I began to juggle more on my schedule and subsequently, I began to struggle finding time to watch anime, let alone write about it.  Trying to watch over a dozen anime each season and write about them, even something as simple as a paragraph or two proved to be more challenging now than it was last year or even a few months ago.  And when I did find the time, I often found I was neither in the mood to watch or write about anime.  It had arrived at the point where I began to rationalize that I didn’t have the time in me to write individual posts like these anymore without sacrificing quality or value.  I do wish I could return to this format and style of blogging since it allows me to do develop ideas much better than my weekly posts, especially when exploring themes, explaining my opinions, and grasping certain practices and styles of anime and storytelling in general.  If you look back at the two-and-a-quarter years of which I have done these individual posts, you’ll see how my understanding, my writing, my voice and my appreciation for anime has evolved over these years from just this blog and these shows alone.  But it also represents a period of which I had more free-time than I do now which is why these posts are going to halt for now.  So when I think back to this post and this topic on ‘the romance of adventure in Magi’, I’ll always think of it more as the post that symbolizes what I want to do with blogging and the reality that I just can’t do it right now.  But rather than end this with something sentimental or emotional, here’s a picture of Morgiana to make you feel better.  I hope you enjoyed!

Sakura-Con, being one of my most cherished and treasured memories of 2012, earns a spot again as the first day of my 12 Days of Anime, the annual tradition among anime bloggers recounting their 12 fondest memories of the calendar year.  Although I attended Sakura-Con in the previous year, the first time I have ever been to an anime convention, my trip this past March proved to be an even greater experience than my first visit.  While I attended fewer panels, spent less money and even spent less time at the convention hall altogether, I certainly earned more from my trip this year, largely in part due to all the people in the anime community I meet.  Thanks to them and thanks to the wonderful anime convention that was Sakura-Con 2013, this special three-day weekend in Seattle earns the opening spot in my 12 Days of Anime.

With this being my second trip to Sakura-Con, I knew what to expect.  I knew where I wanted to go, what I wanted to, what I wanted to see and was able to plan my trip accordingly.  However, most of these specifics weren’t found on any schedules or were tied to any panels or even set up for any predetermined times.  No, a major reason for my visit was to see various members of the anime community in person.  And while I only saw a handful in 2012, I went out of my way to see as many people as possible during Sakura-Con.  By the time Sakura-Con had concluded on that warm Sunday at the end of March, I had visited with no fewer than twenty-two people including fellow personalities like: 8C, Marina, Shinmaru, Inushinde, Morzas, Geassed, ToastCrust, Canon-chan, Angie, Kefit and many more (apologies if I forgot to mention anyone that wanted to be mentioned).  Seeing these people, along with a sizable group of real life friends, made the experience an unforgettable one.  Thanks to them, I was able to enjoy more of the panels I attended, but especially the time I spent outside the panels, either eating dinner or getting drunk after midnight.  Because of these people, and everyone else I spent time with at the convention center, Sakura-Con easily became one of my favorite experiences of 2013.

Beyond that, of course, is the actual anime and material from the convention.  Although it pales in comparison to the social aspects of Sakura-Con, I did find myself attending numerous panels, including ones from the directors of Psycho-Pass (Katsuyuki Motohiro and Naoyoshi Shiotani), a couple hosted by Anime News Network’s Mike Toole (Dubs that Time Forgot and Anime Cult Classics), the Architecture of Anime, a couple of comedy ones and the now-notorious Influence of Early 90’s West Coast Rap on Modern Anime panel.  Each were enjoyable or entertaining or valuable in their own unique ways thanks in part to a wide diversity of topics I found myself interested in and the interesting people leading these panels.  Outside of the panels, there wasn’t much else.  I was fortunate enough to see my favorite anime character naked projected on a huge screen, though (how many of you can say that?), and I purchased some goods that highlight my bizarre taste in anime, from Makoto Shinkai to Last Exile to Senran Kagura.

Overall, the experience is easily one of my favorite from the entire calendar year.  Not only was it an excellent event in augmenting and enhancing my enjoyment of anime, but the wonderful social aspect really emphasized how important the online anime community is to me and how it has had a positive influence on me.  As a result, I’m already looking forward to next year’s convention and am even planning on attending other ones, too.

To reiterate just how influential and significant the social aspects of Sakura-Con 2013 were on me this year, Day 11 of my 12 Days of Anime is reserved for a continuation on this theme but on a much broader and open scale.  Following the massive social event that was Sakura-Con, several local bloggers and internet personalities decided to form a cohort, of sorts, and meet at various times in Seattle as a means of maintaining our camaraderie.  What resulted was more than simple get-togethers with food and friends but a new medium of exchanging ideas on anime and getting to know people and their opinions that would otherwise be impossible on the internet alone.  What resulted were not only numerous enjoyable experiences but some of the best memories of 2013 in regards to anime.

Besides Sakura-Con, there were four instances where I met with other bloggers or internet personalities this year.  The events largely revolved around meeting at a restaurant, having a meal and then lingering at a place or wandering around.  So while these events don’t necessarily sound all that special, it was the content and conversations of these meetings that had a lasting impact on me.  No, it wasn’t that we talked about our opinions on various anime or some of our favorite moments or shared unknown, unheralded anime with each other.  Although those were major factors in making these events memorable, it was the style of the forum.  Rather, it was talking about anime in an intimate setting with people that ultimately stood out for me.  It was the emotions and expressions of people that added a whole new level to discussing anime that made these experiences one of the most treasured of 2013.

It isn’t that this is a means to usurp the role of the internet or Twitter or Skype when discussing various features and events in anime but a means to supplement it in a format unobtainable from the internet.  There’s just something special about seeing and hearing people laugh or get excited or become irritate when talking about various anime.  Furthermore, there’s something special about learning more about people and their tastes in anime when hearing them speak about than just reading some black and white text.  There isn’t a lengthy delays between communications either nor is there a chance for someone to pause, back up and rewrite what they’re thinking or feeling.  It’s a format of discussing anime that is largely foreign to me since the main outlet I have is this blog.  I could count on my thumbs the number of people I could discuss with anime before this, but now this number has expanded greatly.  This year has been special to me in how it’s augmented and expanded my social networks with other anime bloggers and internet personalities.  And thanks to these little get-togethers, I now have several fond anime memories of 2013.

Although I have watched anime away from home prior to this experience, it was always a momentary event.  Whether it was watching an episode of Kare Kano in Italy in 2002 or bits and pieces of Nichijou while in Tokyo in 2012, I’ve experienced watching anime away from my computer or my TV.  However, prior to this year, it had always been just an episode or parts of an episode.  I also was not taking screenshots or blogging my thoughts on these episodes either.  So when presented with the challenge of moving away from home for 3 months, from August to October, I wondered how my habits of watching anime and blogging anime would be impacted.

Rather than bore you with the details or living through that experience, I’ll just summarize what I learned from this time.  To be quite honest, there was not a significant impact like I had envisioned.  The main difference was switching from two large monitors at home to watching episodes on half of a laptop’s screen.  The difference in size was rather substantial, watching anime in about a quarter or a fifth of the space I’d usually watch them in.  Of course, it made it easier to read the subtitles and watch the action on the screen at the same time, but it’s impossible to discern and appreciate the level of detail in the art and animation.  Since I’ve moved back home, I’ve tried this a couple of times with a few episodes of anime, and I certainly appreciate the full-screen versions than the tinier ones.  Of course, both styles are certainly watchable, but watching anime in this format reinforced my thankfulness in my current anime situation.

However, one advantage to using a laptop is that I was able to experiment watching anime in various areas beyond the computer desk.  I had always watched anime on a desktop computer or television, so watching anime from a computer chair or sofa.  Now, with the luxury of a laptop being portable, I was able to try watching anime in bed, outside or anywhere really.  However, I often found myself watching anime the way I always do, which is sitting at a computer desk.  I’ve found that I do enjoy marathoning anime while lying in bed but the positioning can be a bit awkward.  And though I was blessed with gorgeous weather on several of my occasion of watching anime outside, I found myself distracted by various nuisances, like the glaring sun, barking dogs and overly-friendly bees.  The lesson here, I suppose, is that anime is intended to be watched indoors or, at the very least, in quiet places with minimal distractions.

The one aspect in regards to blogging that differed from my experience is that I knew I’d have less time and fewer opportunities to write.  I rationalized that this would meet fewer posts or different styles of posts or something new altogether, but it never had a significant impact on how I blog.  Taking into account that I’m always late in my Weekly Anime posts, I suppose you could say there was really no difference in how I blogged.  Still, I realized that my timing of these posts was much later than normal, including a few that were over a week late, though that depends more on how many shows I’m watching and how I feel when it’s time to write than just location alone.  I still enjoyed blogging while I was away from home, so it wasn’t like I was forcing myself to keep this up or anything along those lines.

To be honest, moving away from home for 3 months did not really have a significant impact on me, and you must be wondering why it earned a day during my 12 Days of Anime.  Although I try to tailor these posts to various episodes or scenes or events that have impacted me positively or negatively during this year, these three months took up a sizable amount of my anime and blogging experience.  In fact, I’m rather happy it did not have an impact on how I watch anime or blog.  I think going through this experience and keeping the same or similar habits is probably the best thing that could have happened to me.  And since this event was a considerable amount of my time, totaling the equivalent of an entire anime season, I figured it’d be inappropriate of me to forget this experience.  I suppose you could say the main lesson is that I have a newfound appreciation for doing what I’m doing right now, which is sitting at home, in front of my computer, watching and writing about anime.

To think, on December 20, 2010, Avvesione’s Anime Blog was nothing more than a wild idea derived from my passion for anime and my desire to express it.  It may have been 0 days old and have 0 posts, but I knew this idea would grow into something special.  Today, on December 20, 2013, my anime blog has triumphed through 3 long years and amassed a total of 499 posts.  With this post commemorating the 3 Year Anniversary for Avvesione’s Anime Blog, it also marks a great, new milestone, being my 500^th post.  This is truly an exceptional moment for me and my anime blog.  Just trying to fathom all the time and anime and thinking and writing that occurred between these two time points is nothing short of remarkable.  Never did I imagine that my anime blog would ever make it this far.  And now, I wonder, where will it go from here.

As I’ve done with my two previous anniversary posts, I am using this opportunity to consolidate it with my 12 Days of Anime and review any significant lessons, mistakes or achievements that occurred during the year.  However, since this is an anniversary post and my 500^th post, I want to look back at something that has been with me since the beginning of this blog and is still a majority of the posts here.  And perhaps nothing is more notable than the disappearance of the individual anime episode posts that began with this blog.

What began as the only format of content on my blog, the individual posts were a staple and the only avenue I utilized in expressing my thoughts, reviews, opinions and critiques on the various anime I watched.  I would use these posts as a means of exploring a thought, an observation or belief that I assumed would be original or novel to readers, thus making my posts engaging or stimulating. The idea here was that each post would highlight something obscure or that would assist the reading in exploring an anime further.  Of course, this proved to be challenging to write after every episode of whatever anime I was blogging, but it became an exercise in testing my understanding and perception of these shows.  I enjoyed trying to find little details about the setting or the characters or the stories that I could extrapolate further or develop upon until it became a completed post.

However, I quickly began to yearn to write about more shows since there were a number of topics and subjects and ideas I had to forego since I was not blogging those shows.  It was then that I realized I could make do a format where I cover every show I’m watching weekly with a brief mention or idea or quip that I could document to fulfill this aspiration.  As the seasons progressed, my time became more restricted and the number of individual anime I could follow were steadily reduced.  It even came to the point where some episodes were several days late, a week late or even skipped.

I began to realize I was not lucky enough to do both formats of writing and was faced with a decision to make: continue the individual posts and scale back on the weekly posts or to marry the two together and expand the weekly posts and write in greater detail.  Based on the amount of time these posts took and the amount of views that these posts received, I decided on the latter.  It was a difficult decision but one that needed to be made.  Although I’d like to go back and do the individual posts again, I realize I do not have the necessary time to steadily write these posts at the quality and length I hold myself by.  And because of such, the individual anime posts disappeared.

The last individual anime post I made (for the time being) was the finale of the first season of Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic.  The last paragraph is a very sentimental section to me and mirrors what I’ve written in this post.

To me, this post means more to me than the last individual anime post in the foreseeable future.  To me, this post symbolizes two characteristic of blogging an anime that pushed me in this direction, one being the perturbing lateness with my posts and the frustration that stems from it.  You see, I had the idea and theme for this post since midway through the very first episode of Magi.  However, instead of writing on this subject for the very first episode, I decided to save the topic for a later episode, one that’d be more appropriate and for one that’d be on time.  As the episodes rolled on, I began to juggle more on my schedule and subsequently, I began to struggle finding time to watch anime, let alone write about it.  Trying to watch over a dozen anime each season and write about them, even something as simple as a paragraph or two proved to be more challenging now than it was last year or even a few months ago.  And when I did find the time, I often found I was neither in the mood to watch or write about anime.  It had arrived at the point where I began to rationalize that I didn’t have the time in me to write individual posts like these anymore without sacrificing quality or value.  I do wish I could return to this format and style of blogging since it allows me to do develop ideas much better than my weekly posts, especially when exploring themes, explaining my opinions, and grasping certain practices and styles of anime and storytelling in general.  If you look back at the two-and-a-quarter years of which I have done these individual posts, you’ll see how my understanding, my writing, my voice and my appreciation for anime has evolved over these years from just this blog and these shows alone.  But it also represents a period of which I had more free-time than I do now which is why these posts are going to halt for now.  So when I think back to this post and this topic on ‘the romance of adventure in Magi’, I’ll always think of it more as the post that symbolizes what I want to do with blogging and the reality that I just can’t do it right now.

I did make an exception to this when I wrote about the final chapter of the Needless manga (spoilers), but that was it.  These two were the last two individual posts I’ve written and it seems like I won’t be able to write in this format again for the foreseeable future.  I do hope to return to this style again one day.  I also want to explore new formats and new style of content, too, in order to provide some diversity to this blog beyond the weekly posts.  Since this is an anniversary post, maybe I will look back here from December 20, 2014 and appreciate what I was able to do in this next calendar year.

In January of this year, Google Image Search (GIS) changed its structure and format to better accommodate its users in how they search and access images across the internet.  The most noticeable feature of this adjustment was that images would now expand within the window rather than opening the website and loading the page with the image on it.  This improvement was a welcome change among users, allowing them to access more previews quicker, completing searches faster and all without requiring pages to load on multiple websites.  However, as a direct result of this change, my blog and many other anime blogs saw a sharp decline in views due to the reduction in searches leading to page loads.  So while this moment of 2013 is not necessarily related to anime, this change in searches has had an unquestioned effect on this anime blog, perhaps the most significant change in its short history.

Although there are certain to be differences and variations within the anime blog community, I expect all blogs were hit by this change.  For me, I had always employed a variety of images to enhance my blog posts, to provide pleasing and relevant visuals to accompany my writing.  I’ve found their colors and details to be eye-catching and I want them to stand out in my blog, a reason why the theme outside of these images is largely black and white.  And I structured my blog to have a variety of images since I know more anime fans search for anime images than anime opinions or anime blog posts.  As a result, my blog reached a wide variety of anime fans from across the globe and my view count grew steadily over the years.  I always knew, based on the search terms that people used to find my blog, that the images were how I attracted people with the hopes that people would scroll through the posts, read it and become interested in the writing.  However, I knew most people were searching for an image and wouldn’t bother reading a single word I had written.  Because of that, I always wondered how many people read my posts versus the people hunting and searching for certain images.  Well, in January, Google decided to help simply my question by dramatically reducing the amount of visits purely from searches alone.  And I was well aware of the change when it happened.

As you can see, the drop in monthly views is quite apparent.  But I realize I am not alone with this profound change in views as I have spoken to other anime bloggers who have also noticed a similar change in views when Google altered its image search.  Although different blogs may have seen different effects, I realized that this would change how I’d attract readers and how I’d promote my blog.  However, I also realize that the views I receive now are more accurate than the image search inflated numbers prior to the GIS change.  Now, I believe the views reflect a number closer to the real number of reads, though I do realize it’s nowhere near perfect.  It does provide me with a better sense of how much traffic I receive on this blog and how to better tailor my posts to my audience.  It also provides me with a better understanding of how many people actually visit my blog versus people looking for an image or two and then moving on.  So while I may be nowhere near the number of views from last year, I understand that my readership continues to grow without the data to verify it.

This moment doesn’t really fit along with the lines of the other 12 Days of Anime posts, but it’s easily one of the 12 most significant moments of the year for this anime blog.  It really helps me understand more of the anime community, what anime fans are really after and what other anime bloggers are doing with their blogs.  Although people may be disappointed with the decline in numbers, it does reflect a better percentage of readers visiting the blogs and can be used to show what changes will increase readership versus people searching for images.  I suppose then, with this new data and information, anime fans and anime blogs may alter their habits or change their behaviors to better connect and communicate as a community.  So while this moment may not have been incredibly significant for me or even relate to an anime at all, it deserves its day in the 12 Days of Anime for helping improve my anime blog.

On May 19, 2013, the June issue of Ultra Jump debuted as any normal issue of a mangazine would.  However, this particular issue was noticeably different with an announcement following the 113rd chapter of Needless stating that next month’s chapter would be the final one.  Without any preparation or any proper warning, the sudden and abrupt ending was only a month away.  The announcement began to explain the accelerated pace of the last few chapters and the conclusions of many loose ends, but with so much more remaining and the peculiar developments of late, especially some of the absolutely shocking events in 113, you wondered just how the manga could end with an unfortunate amount of unanswered questions.  But one month later, Needless 114 debuted and so ended the serialization of my favorite manga.

But rather than recap Needless 114 (spoilers), my impressions and thoughts moving forward, which are all properly documented in my final post on the manga, I wanted to take a moment to remember just how important and significant the anime and manga were to me.

Needless was really the first anime that really got me into anime.  Prior to Summer 2009, I would only watch a handful of anime each season, maybe 2-3 depending on what my friends would recommend.  Back then, I wouldn’t even really watch PVs, search forums or blogs or even research shows.  And rightfully so, most of the shows I watched were rather lame or mediocre or not all that exciting.  In fact, I even passed over Needless (and Bakemonogatari and Spice and Wolf II) for Summer 2009.  It wasn’t until a few weeks into the season that I was desperately bored and wondering if any other anime were worth picking up.  Turns out that the Needless ED (yes, the incredibly ecchi one) was making quite a commotion online.  After watching it once, I figured that watching a fanservicey anime about three girls wouldn’t be so bad, but I wondered if I picked up the wrong anime when the OP and other preview images were about muscular, shirtless men and the three sexy girls almost nowhere to be seen.  But I tried the anime and was interested in it, only to slowly fall in love with it as the season continued.

It caused me to drastically reevaluate how I research and watch anime.  With the Autumn 2009 approaching, I began to search around for more information on anime and reconsider what shows I should watch and which ones I enjoy.  Although I started the Summer 2009 season with only 4 shows, I began Autumn 2009 with 13 new ones, in addition to the handful that continued over from Summer.  The change was night-and-day for me and I began to enjoy anime at a whole new level.  And since then, I’ve always watched around a dozen or more anime each season, thanks to my newfound appreciation for research and the amount of time I have available to watch anime.  You could say that Needless really sparked an anime revolution for me considering I never really paid too much attention to anime before it.

You could also say that it even caused a revolution in how I understood the anime community, too.  In order to perform this research, it required me to expand my horizons and see what people were saying about the new upcoming anime.  But before that, I began searching around to see what people were saying about my new favorite anime, Needless.  This proved to be difficult considering that the anime was relatively unpopular, especially compared to some of the other choice anime airing these seasons, but I did stumble across two blogs that basically introduced me to anime blogging, chaostangent and The Cart Driver (though Scamp was writing for Bokutachi no Blog at the time).  Although neither blogger had anything positive to say about Needless, the bastards…, I did become interested in their presentation, their style and the ideas they were able to pitch about the anime they watched.  It was wildly different than anything I had seen or read before and I became slowly addicted.  From there, I began to branch out and read other blogs and began to enjoy the anime of reading several anime blogs.  As I continued to expand my taste for anime, I began to discover more and more anime blogs and began to learn more and think more about all the anime I was watching.  In fact, after a year of this continual growth, I decided to form my own anime blog, the one you’re currently reading, about a year after this discovery.  I recently celebrated my 3 Year Anniversary, a testament to how much I love and enjoy the anime I’m watching and how much I appreciate and value blogging and other anime bloggers.

Taking a step back, before watching the Needless anime, when I was barely watching any anime, I was never reading any manga.  Although I had tried a handful of manga prior to Summer 2009, I was never really hooked and always preferred to watch the flashy, colorful anime alternative than the static, black-and-white manga version.  But when watching the Needless anime, I became slowly addicted to the story and the characters and I quickly wanted more.  At the time, I never really considered reading the manga, but while searching for blogs to see what people were saying, I did notice a few scans of the manga from more recent chapters.  Perhaps the most shocking one was seeing Cruz dressed as a female, wearing the Shoujo Butai school uniform.

I was immediately curious about how such a strange development could’ve happened, especially since I just learned that the three girls were antagonists in the anime (this was only 6 or so episodes into the anime).  I began to poke my nose around the manga but my efforts were largely fruitless since only 10 chapters were translated at that time.  I did discover a small but new community of fans of the anime who were trying to access the manga and eventually joined their tiny society when the manga was available.  At that time, there were only 70 chapters out, but I read through each one and spoiled the entire anime for myself.  But by then, I really didn’t care.  I just wanted more Needless.  Unfortunately for me, I didn’t realize that the manga was only monthly, but this was the first manga I truly read and I knew I’d be waiting for it every month until its finale.

And here I am today, or rather, there I was in June, reading the final chapter of my favorite manga.  Needless really sparked a revolution inside me that completely changed who I am today and where I am within the anime community.  Not only is it directly responsible for me watching more anime, reading anime blogs and starting my blog and becoming interested in the medium of manga but it provided me with the most enjoyable experience of any anime/manga that I’ve watched or read.

The story of Needless is far from perfect and is even frustrating at times, but nothing else comes close to it in my opinion.  There’s that charm, that captivation, that thrill of excitement and delight with every moment that makes Needless so wonderfully enjoyable.  But beyond that, and beneath all the ecchi fanservice and brutish fights, is a very cerebral aspect to the manga that is among the best.  You wouldn’t think of a manga with such frequent pantyshots and absurd gags to be very intellectual, but Needless has had the best example of character development I have ever witnessed, the subject reserved for Day 1 of my 12 Days of Anime for 2012.  And while on that subject, just to reiterate how important this manga is to me, it also won Day 1 of 2011 when Setsuna reappeared after a lengthy hiatus.

As so, here we are, at the end of Needless.  After recounting just how much of an impact it has had on me, it’s somewhat sad to see the manga go, especially with such an abrupt ending.  And though it is sad, I do feel blessed to have had such a wonderful and memorable experience, all thanks to one anime/manga.  I realize how fortunate I am to have had this epiphany, something I feel is rather exclusive to me and is rare among other anime fans.  I don’t want to take this lightly, for that fact.  But beyond that, I should feel truly blessed that Needless is not over… the mangaka for Needless, Imai Kami, had always planned a second half to the series, Needless 2, which is connected by the story Needless 1.5 which actually debuted in Ultra Jump back in 2001, two years before the Needless manga was serialized.  However, with Imai Kami taking a break, we aren’t quite sure where or when Needless 2 will start, but we can always hope that it will be sooner rather than later considering that Needless ran for 10 years, from 2003 to 2013.

So with that, I wanted to reserve the end to my favorite manga for Day 1 of my 12 Days of Anime.  Without a doubt, this is the single most-important event of the year for me considering what Needless has done for me in my life.  Without it, I wouldn’t be where I am today and I wouldn’t have enjoyed anime or manga as much as I do with it.  Although I don’t expect anyone to love the series as much as I do, or even to enjoy it or tolerate it (it does have a high amount of ecchi fanservice), I do hope you take a moment to respect it for its profound and unquestioned effect on me.  And so with that, this concludes my 12 Days of Anime for 2013 and I hope you all had as wonderful a year as I did.  I can’t wait to see what 2014 has in store for me and everyone else… especially if that includes Needless 2.

Today is this blog’s fourth birthday, and the traditional way I’ve chosen to celebrate this anniversary has been to reflect upon a valuable lesson that I’ve learned since the last December 20th. Of course, these posts are always a cover for me to needlessly post pictures of Setsuna everywhere, but the topic of this post relates to a previous post in this year’s 12 Days of Anime series as well as a couple of future posts that will appear later on. The theme between these posts is on the challenges and difficulties inherent in following anime within a dense, tight schedule, and the focus of this post is learning how to manage these obstacles and accept certain complications.

My ideal anime week would be one where I watch the most recent episode of every airing anime, am able to complete a weekly anime post on time, and am able to chip away at my backlog. However, I’ve never had an ideal anime week in at least a year. As I continue to grow older and assume new responsibilities, the time I have available to watch and blog anime grows less and less, leaving me with difficulties every week. Each obstacle then forces a decision, about when I will be able to watch an anime or write about an anime or even if I’m able to watch an anime or continue with a series. At times, this has led to episodes being delayed by weeks and posts delayed even longer. At time, I realize that I can no longer keep up with an anime and needing to delay watching it until another time… that is, whenever I can find the time. And though this happened occasionally through these past 4 years, I was always able to find a solution, and things usually worked out in the end.

This year, however, has posed quite a bit more in terms of obstacles to my anime life, and has led to a number of situations where there was no easy solution. For example, I’ve needed to drop more shows than any year previously, including a number of shows that I was enjoying at the time I stopped watching them. Perhaps the most noticeable, at least from the perspective of readers of this blog, is that I had to give up on writing my weekly posts for Autumn 2014 despite desperately wanting to talk about every airing episode of Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, Mushishi Zoku Shou 2, Shirobako, and Yama no Susume Second Season among others. It has been frustrating this year. It has lead me to even wonder about the feasibility of this blog and how well I’ll be able to continue this lifestyle into the future. But, after dealing with these situations and considering the various outcomes, I’ve come to a valuable conclusion that will help me manage both this blog and my anime lifestyle in the future. And the solution is actually quite simple: learning to accept the obstacles.

What this means is that I need to be aware of the random challenges and difficulties that will occur in each and every season of anime and that I will need to deal with them in individual ways. Yes, this means that I will need to skip a week or so of anime. Yes, this means I will need to skip a post or two or whatever. Yes, it means I’ll need to drop an anime with the intention of finishing it later. It means to understand that these situations will happen, and to not let it frustrate me. Of course, each of these situations will be disappointing, but they’ll be necessary for me to continue this lifestyle in the future. Yes, cutting down on blogging for a season and accepting that will help out the blog in the long-term. Yes, skipping a few episodes of an anime that really isn’t that great will allow me to keep up on another show that I like or one that I’m watching with friends. Yes, maybe I was watching too many anime and need to cut back for a bit until I have more time. These are the things that I never really appreciated until this year when I began to encounter them more and more and began to experience irritation and annoyance with these predicaments.

So while this isn’t the happiest lesson that I’ve learned while blogging about anime, I feel that it is one of the most important. It’s another lesson in budgeting my time, between real life, watching anime and writing for this blog. And as my real life continues to take on more responsibly and requires more of my attention, I will need to accept the reduction in time left to watching anime and blogging, and I will need to adapt to those new circumstances as fits. What I was able to do in the past might no longer be feasible right now, but I need to understand that, accept that and find a solution that works. That lesson stands alone as the most valuable of the year for me, and why I wanted to share it with you as part of the four year anniversary of this blog.

Today is this blog’s fourth birthday, and the traditional way I’ve chosen to celebrate this anniversary has been to reflect upon a valuable lesson that I’ve learned since the last December 20th. Of course, these posts are always a cover for me to needlessly post pictures of Setsuna everywhere, but the topic of this post relates to a previous post in this year’s 12 Days of Anime series as well as a couple of future posts that will appear later on. The theme between these posts is on the challenges and difficulties inherent in following anime within a dense, tight schedule, and the focus of this post is learning how to manage these obstacles and accept certain complications.

My ideal anime week would be one where I watch the most recent episode of every airing anime, am able to complete a weekly anime post on time, and am able to chip away at my backlog. However, I’ve never had an ideal anime week in at least a year. As I continue to grow older and assume new responsibilities, the time I have available to watch and blog anime grows less and less, leaving me with difficulties every week. Each obstacle then forces a decision, about when I will be able to watch an anime or write about an anime or even if I’m able to watch an anime or continue with a series. At times, this has led to episodes being delayed by weeks and posts delayed even longer. At time, I realize that I can no longer keep up with an anime and needing to delay watching it until another time… that is, whenever I can find the time. And though this happened occasionally through these past 4 years, I was always able to find a solution, and things usually worked out in the end.

This year, however, has posed quite a bit more in terms of obstacles to my anime life, and has led to a number of situations where there was no easy solution. For example, I’ve needed to drop more shows than any year previously, including a number of shows that I was enjoying at the time I stopped watching them. Perhaps the most noticeable, at least from the perspective of readers of this blog, is that I had to give up on writing my weekly posts for Autumn 2014 despite desperately wanting to talk about every airing episode of Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, Mushishi Zoku Shou 2, Shirobako, and Yama no Susume Second Season among others. It has been frustrating this year. It has lead me to even wonder about the feasibility of this blog and how well I’ll be able to continue this lifestyle into the future. But, after dealing with these situations and considering the various outcomes, I’ve come to a valuable conclusion that will help me manage both this blog and my anime lifestyle in the future. And the solution is actually quite simple: learning to accept the obstacles.

What this means is that I need to be aware of the random challenges and difficulties that will occur in each and every season of anime and that I will need to deal with them in individual ways. Yes, this means that I will need to skip a week or so of anime. Yes, this means I will need to skip a post or two or whatever. Yes, it means I’ll need to drop an anime with the intention of finishing it later. It means to understand that these situations will happen, and to not let it frustrate me. Of course, each of these situations will be disappointing, but they’ll be necessary for me to continue this lifestyle in the future. Yes, cutting down on blogging for a season and accepting that will help out the blog in the long-term. Yes, skipping a few episodes of an anime that really isn’t that great will allow me to keep up on another show that I like or one that I’m watching with friends. Yes, maybe I was watching too many anime and need to cut back for a bit until I have more time. These are the things that I never really appreciated until this year when I began to encounter them more and more and began to experience irritation and annoyance with these predicaments.

So while this isn’t the happiest lesson that I’ve learned while blogging about anime, I feel that it is one of the most important. It’s another lesson in budgeting my time, between real life, watching anime and writing for this blog. And as my real life continues to take on more responsibly and requires more of my attention, I will need to accept the reduction in time left to watching anime and blogging, and I will need to adapt to those new circumstances as fits. What I was able to do in the past might no longer be feasible right now, but I need to understand that, accept that and find a solution that works. That lesson stands alone as the most valuable of the year for me, and why I wanted to share it with you as part of the four year anniversary of this blog.

Today is this blog’s fourth birthday, and the traditional way I’ve chosen to celebrate this anniversary has been to reflect upon a valuable lesson that I’ve learned since the last December 20th. Of course, these posts are always a cover for me to needlessly post pictures of Setsuna everywhere, but the topic of this post relates to a previous post in this year’s 12 Days of Anime series as well as a couple of future posts that will appear later on. The theme between these posts is on the challenges and difficulties inherent in following anime within a dense, tight schedule, and the focus of this post is learning how to manage these obstacles and accept certain complications.

My ideal anime week would be one where I watch the most recent episode of every airing anime, am able to complete a weekly anime post on time, and am able to chip away at my backlog. However, I’ve never had an ideal anime week in at least a year. As I continue to grow older and assume new responsibilities, the time I have available to watch and blog anime grows less and less, leaving me with difficulties every week. Each obstacle then forces a decision, about when I will be able to watch an anime or write about an anime or even if I’m able to watch an anime or continue with a series. At times, this has led to episodes being delayed by weeks and posts delayed even longer. At time, I realize that I can no longer keep up with an anime and needing to delay watching it until another time… that is, whenever I can find the time. And though this happened occasionally through these past 4 years, I was always able to find a solution, and things usually worked out in the end.

This year, however, has posed quite a bit more in terms of obstacles to my anime life, and has led to a number of situations where there was no easy solution. For example, I’ve needed to drop more shows than any year previously, including a number of shows that I was enjoying at the time I stopped watching them. Perhaps the most noticeable, at least from the perspective of readers of this blog, is that I had to give up on writing my weekly posts for Autumn 2014 despite desperately wanting to talk about every airing episode of Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, Mushishi Zoku Shou 2, Shirobako, and Yama no Susume Second Season among others. It has been frustrating this year. It has lead me to even wonder about the feasibility of this blog and how well I’ll be able to continue this lifestyle into the future. But, after dealing with these situations and considering the various outcomes, I’ve come to a valuable conclusion that will help me manage both this blog and my anime lifestyle in the future. And the solution is actually quite simple: learning to accept the obstacles.

What this means is that I need to be aware of the random challenges and difficulties that will occur in each and every season of anime and that I will need to deal with them in individual ways. Yes, this means that I will need to skip a week or so of anime. Yes, this means I will need to skip a post or two or whatever. Yes, it means I’ll need to drop an anime with the intention of finishing it later. It means to understand that these situations will happen, and to not let it frustrate me. Of course, each of these situations will be disappointing, but they’ll be necessary for me to continue this lifestyle in the future. Yes, cutting down on blogging for a season and accepting that will help out the blog in the long-term. Yes, skipping a few episodes of an anime that really isn’t that great will allow me to keep up on another show that I like or one that I’m watching with friends. Yes, maybe I was watching too many anime and need to cut back for a bit until I have more time. These are the things that I never really appreciated until this year when I began to encounter them more and more and began to experience irritation and annoyance with these predicaments.

So while this isn’t the happiest lesson that I’ve learned while blogging about anime, I feel that it is one of the most important. It’s another lesson in budgeting my time, between real life, watching anime and writing for this blog. And as my real life continues to take on more responsibly and requires more of my attention, I will need to accept the reduction in time left to watching anime and blogging, and I will need to adapt to those new circumstances as fits. What I was able to do in the past might no longer be feasible right now, but I need to understand that, accept that and find a solution that works. That lesson stands alone as the most valuable of the year for me, and why I wanted to share it with you as part of the four year anniversary of this blog.

This might seem like an odd topic for a 12 Days of Anime post, but it’s a topic worth discussing given how it continues to grow on me every year and with every new anime. In fact, it’s routine for me now, something constant and universal that occurs every time I watch an anime. And it’s a subject that can be entrusted quite easily by the number 123,714. So, what exactly does 123,714 mean?

Why, quite simply, 123,714 is the number of screenshots of anime I’ve taken since January 1st, 2015. In the 347 since then (as of December 14 when I wrote this post), I have averaged 357 screenshots a day… or a screenshot of anime every 4 minutes… and that even includes all the days I am not watching anime (which, unfortunately, is quite often now). I’ll agree, it’s an astronomical number, especially since the number of screenshots per year has quadrupled since 2013. It’s quite remarkable, really, to think about how much anime I’ve watched and how many times I felt the need to capture the image for use later. And what began as a fun, little way to enhance the visuals and appeal of my blog (including the primary way I obtained viewership), has become the only way I watch anime now.

Again, it’s a weird topic, but it’s something that fascinates me given how this year has gone and how many screenshots I’m taking of anime now. And while this first began as a means of adding screenshots to my posts to break-up the paragraphs, it has become a method for me to archive all the anime I’ve watched that I no longer have easy access to. Remember that Tuba-kun costume scene in Hibike! Euphonium? Or the big reveal in the first episode of Gakkou Gurashi!? Yeah, you’d probably find images or video of that online in a second or two. You don’t need over 120,000 screenshots for that…

But what about a specific cute face, but you can’t remember the time, from Yuru Yuri Nachuyachumi!? Or a cute face in Utawarerumono: Itsuwari no Kamen? Or maybe one of the scenic landscapes a cute face in Non Non Biyori Repeat? Or what if you want to relive an episode of Shirobako or Rolling Girls or Anime de Wakaru Shinryounaika but only have 30 seconds? These screenshots have become so much more for me than just images to post on my blog. And as a result, I’m taking more and more screenshots with every new anime I watch. What began as maybe 10-12 back in 2011 (when all but a few would make it in a blog post), quickly became 20-30, and from there to 40-50, and, as it evolved, reached up to 250-300 screenshots per episode. Now, maybe 1-2% of the screenshots I take per anime end up being used on my blog… but that’s not to say I’ve seen my use of these screenshots evolve as I’ve taken more. For example, these screenshots have even percolated into how I communicate with my friends and others online. Almost every conversation, when possible, is aided by one of these screenshots or the thousands (almost 10,000) already on my blog. Want to reference a funny joke? Screenshot. What about questions on the story? Screenshot? What about a cute face? Probably 8 screenshots in a row? It’s quite fascinating, to see just how an afterthought back in 2010 became such a dominant aspect of my life in 2015.

So, yeah, even though this isn’t something that originated this year or even is exclusive to 2015, it is something that needed to be addressed for my 12 Days of Anime for 2015. It really is one of the more remarkable aspects of the year and is ubiquitous throughout all of anime, or at least when I have the chance. It has become an essential part of the anime-watching experience for me, so now seems like an appropriate time to mention my addiction to anime screenshots.

Day 8 of my 12 Days of Anime has traditionally been reserved for recalling an experience in which I watch an anime that I normally wouldn’t watch. For reference, the four previous versions of my Day 8 posts have been:

• Giving a Bad Anime a Chance (Softenni, 2011)
• Giving a Forgotten Anime a Chance (Yuru Yuri, 2012)
• Giving a Disappointing Anime a Second Chance (Tamayura ~more aggressive~, 2013)
• Giving a Renowned Anime a Chance (Mushishi, 2014)

The posts all share a common theme in which I watch and enjoy an anime that usually would otherwise be rejected or dismissed due to my exclusion criteria for anime. Sometimes, I don’t watch an anime because it looks bad or because I forgot about. Other times, I don’t watch an anime because the first season was disappointing or I never got around to watching one of those anime classics. This year, I’m going to remember an experience where I watched the second season to an anime franchise without watching the first series or the movie in between TV broadcasts. Yes, I’ve never really done that before, jumping into a franchise in the middle of its run, but without the time or energy to catch up on the originals, this was my really my only chance to stay current with the anime while it aired. And in case you didn’t figure it out yet, either from the context of the post or the screenshot above, the anime is Soukyuu no Fafner – Dead Aggressor: Exodus.

Soukyuu no Fafner – Dead Aggressor originally aired as a 25 episode anime in 2004, three OVAs between 2005 and 2006, and followed-up with a 90-minute movie in 2010. The franchise returned again this year with a new TV anime, a sequel to the movie, after a 10-year hiatus from TV. At this point, I would normally pass on the anime considering the sheer amount of material necessary to catch up. However, after being captivated by the PV and considering the length between the original TV series and this new one, I figured that the anime wouldn’t require too much knowledge and was more a way to welcome new fans to the franchise. And, as soon as the first episode was over, my bet paid off.  In January, I wrote:

Soukyuu no Fafner – Dead Aggressor: Exodus

Perhaps the most crucial, most valuable lesson learned from this first episode of Soukyuu no Fafner – Dead Aggressor: Exodus, at least from my perspective, is that you don’t need to sit through the originals to watch and enjoy this anime. Without having watched the TV anime from 2004 or the movie from 2010, I was able to understand and appreciate the background, the setting, and the characters. That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a number of references and other tidbits that hinted back to the original series that I completely missed, but I’m fine with watching Soukyuu no Fafner without it. However, I will admit that this first episode was a bit underwhelming. If I were to give this episode a review in a single word, I wouldn’t have any qualms with saying, ‘mediocre’. But this mediocre isn’t bad… it’s not mediocre in the overall field of anime, just mediocre in my personal field… which means it’s actually pretty good. In fact, I think I enjoy just about every aspect of this anime from its art, to its action, to its characters, to its story, its setting, its everything. But what gives it that mediocre tag is that nothing blew me away. It was underwhelming in that nothing stood out to me about this anime to make it exceptional or memorable. Fafner is an enjoyable anime, one that I will likely enjoy watching each week, but there’s nothing special about this anime… yet.

Well, it didn’t take long for me to find something special about Fafner. Almost every chance I had to write posts about Fafner, I celebrated the series with praise and approval. For example, at the end of the first season, I wrote:

Soukyuu no Fafner – Dead Aggressor: Exodus (Episode 12)

The contrast between the older generation of Fafner pilots and the young prodigies that are replacing them is remarkable in Soukyuu no Fafner. The anime has done an outstanding job articulated the differences in the mentalities and behaviors between the cautious and resilient experienced pilots and the passionate and unsophisticated crew of teenagers back on Tatsumiyajima. Hell, it even goes down to the subtle details, like the difference in the bands on the fingers of the experienced pilots and the untainted fingers of the new crew. Furthermore, it helps that the two sides are fighting different campaigns and that we’re able to see the two fight independently of each other, thus leaving each group intact and allowing us to see the personalities of the two groups separately. Perhaps no aspect is more dissimilar than how they respect the power of assimilation and how they fear it or do not fear it. This point has been made especially clear with the emphatic turn-of-events recently with the teenagers now experiencing adverse and horrific symptoms associated with assimilation. You wonder if they’re developing these problems because of how they act, especially since the other pilots in Asia have been largely unaffected by assimilation. It also makes you wonder how these teenagers will change in order to overcome these obstacles… or if they’ll ever be able to overcome them. Soukyuu no Fafner has done a marvelous job with these two groups of pilots and the contrasts in their personalities, and with another season of Fafner ahead, I’ll be curious to see what they do with these two groups, how they’ll grow, and what they’ll do when they come together again.

Of course, that was all just with the first season. The second half of Fafner premired this fall, and the series became even better. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find the time to keep up with the anime as their air, let alone write, but Fafner has quickly evolved from being an uncertain gamble in January to one of the best anime of the year in December. Really, it’s quite remarkable to think that an anime I’d normally pass on, and almost did pass on, turned out to be one of the very best shows I watched all year. And what’s crazy to think is everything that I’m missing considering my lack of knowledge from all its previous work.

Yes, the one negative for me is that I realize I’m missing out on a lot of content and references and understanding given me skipping the first 805 minutes. To no one’s surprise, Fafner Exodus did build off the original Fafner story, utilizing many of the same characters, locations, and mechs. As a result, I knew there were scenes where I missed the context or importance or weight of the moment… such as when character reunited or appeared in the series. And because of that, I do feel weary about watching sequels before watching the originals because I know I am missing out on important moments that can play with the emotions and memories of devote fans. It’s the one regret I have with Fafner, and the one thing that keeps me from leaping head-first into sequels to anime in the future.

Nevertheless, this experience was eye-opening in that one of the best anime of 2015 was a show that I normally would forego. It also helps me understand the importance of watching the original, too, given that I felt incomplete watching certain scenes that were callbacks and tributes to the original. Of course, if I have the time, I’d go back and watch the original for every show with a sequel that entices me… but that isn’t reality. One has to really weight the benefits and risks of starting an anime in the middle of its run, just as if I were to pick up any 12-episode TV anime at episode 7.  Still, the lesson here is that my gamble paid off and rewarded me with an unforgettable anime, and that there may be times in the future where it’s best to consider starting a franchise at an inappropriate starting point.

Today, December 20th, marks the 5 Year Anniversary of Avvesione’s Anime Blog. As I’ve done with every anniversary post, I reflect upon the previous year and provide my input on the most valuable lesson I learned in terms of watching anime and writing for this blog. This year has been quite turbulent and chaotic, with countless new transitions, obstacles, responsibilities, and challenges – easily the busiest year of my entire life to date. As a result, I’ve had very little time to watch anime and even less dedicated to this blog. It pains me that I haven’t had as much time or energy this year to keep up with currently airing anime or write my weekly or seasonal posts, but it has helped me realize a valuable lesson, one that I may have overlooked since I started writing for this blog back in 2010. So, with that in mind, I’d like to share with you the most important lesson I learned in 2015 which is to make sure you’re having fun with anime.

For me, 2015 has been tremendous and rewarding, yet demanding and stressful. Almost every major aspect of my life has changed since the first sunrise on New Year’s Day, and consequently, I’ve had much less time for anime and this blog than in previous years. In order to make everything work, I’ve had to budget my time appropriately which meant sacrificing “anime time” for less fun but more important alternatives. However, anime and this blog have always been a source of enjoyment, entertainment, and intellectual experiments. One of the reasons why I started this blog 60 months ago is that I wanted to challenge myself as a writer, to see if I could defend my thoughts and opinions on anime in a public space. I felt that if I could develop arguments and critiques that I would better understand myself as an anime fan and my love for these shows. And once my blog took off, I began to explore other ways to improve my writing, to inform other fans about particular quirks or oddities in anime, or for me to just post pictures of cute girls a dozen times every week. Whatever the reason, this blog had always been a place for me to better understand myself and the anime I watch. But as I’ve had to scale back this year, I’ve felt that this aspect of me has faded.

However, as I’ve had to adjust, so too have I found a way to compensate for this aspect of me… and that is to enjoy the anime as I am watching it. Now, that’s not to say I wasn’t enjoying anime when I was watching it before, but I’ve lost the freedom to go back and review screenshots or scenes again as I’m writing posts. In a sense, it was like I always had the ability to go back and relive bits and pieces of an episode whenever I was writing about it… able to catch new things that I missed the first time around, or go back and really appreciate the animation or writing in a scene. However, I don’t really have that opportunity now, unless I want to fall even further behind on the anime I’m currently watching each season. To me, I’ve had to adapt and learn to better enjoy the anime in the moment. It isn’t to say that I can’t go back and enjoy these shows over again, but I can’t afford to go back and relive these other anime at the expense of not watching, and not enjoying, new anime. And if the situation is confusing to read about, that’s probably because it’s confusing to me to think about. It isn’t something that’s defined or scientific… rather, it’s quite the opposite, given that I don’t know how much I would enjoy an anime until I watch it versus going back and looking at screenshots and thinking about what I’d write about. In fact, you could say it’s very chaotic and uncertain… much like 2015 has been to me overall.

Nevertheless, I’ve learned a useful lesson in terms of watching anime and my blog in 2015. That is to say, when I have the time, it’s good to go back and enjoy reliving these anime as I look at screenshots and write about my impressions, opinions, and observations… and when I don’t have the time, to enjoy the anime as much as I can in the moment and try to watch as much anime as I can in order to maximize my enjoyment… but even that is hard. And that brings me to one other important lesson that’s always true for everyone no matter whom and no matter the situation… to have fun with anime. Because, after all, isn’t that why we watch and read about anime? So let’s sit back, relax, and enjoy another fulfilling and satisfying year of anime.

Hiromi Katou is a gifted and experienced talent, having a successful career in the anime industry through a variety of roles. Among his notable accomplishments, he was the character designs for Guilty Crown, Kobato., and Hakkenden, the animation directors for Beck, Gunslinger Stratos, and Fantasia Doll, and a key animator for Death Note, Azumanga Daioh, Shingeki no Kyojin, and many more. However, his most distinguished achievement, to me at least, is that he was the character design for Needless, which you might guess from previous posts is my favorite anime. I was extremely fortunate that Hiromi Katou was invited as a guest for Sakuracon this year and made sure to visit his Q&A panel, so that I could ask him some questions regarding Needless. So, for Day 2 of my 12 Days of Anime, I’ll recall my time with Hiromi Katou and the answers he provided about his experience with Needless.

First, some background before we get to the panel. The image above, taken from Imai Kami’s website, shows Hiromi Katou’s character designs for Kuchinashi, Setsuna, Mio, Eve, Cruz, and Disk side-by-side with Imai Kami’s sketches. As you can see, the character designs really do capture Imai Kami’s distinctive style, but also retain some of Hiromi Katou’s qualities that you can see from his original character designs, like Guilty Crown. I am very happy with the character designs for Needless since it retained the spirit and style of Kami’s designs but were adapted to fit in with the flow and movement and color of the anime. For example, if you go through the Needless manga, you’ll notice that the art style evolved over the years and that the colors change over time (especially eye color, hair color, and clothing accessories), so Katou provided consistency there. You’d also notice that some of the colors are different between the manga and the anime, such as Kuchinashi’s, Setsuna’s and Mio’s panties being changed to yellow, blue, and pink to match their hair color. So, with that in mind, I found Katou’s updates to Kami’s characters to be positives for the anime.

Anyway, with that in mind, I developed some questions for Katou based off my previous observations between the anime and manga. When the Q&A panel began, I stood up and asked Katou about his experiences adapting manga characters. Specifically, I asked him how he goes about selecting character designs for a manga when the art style changes, as it did for Needless from 2003 to 2009, when it was produced. Katou started off by saying it was an excellent question (which made me happy), and answered it by saying they typically take the most recent versions as so they can match the current manga. The example he brought up was his work as the character design and animation director for CLAMP in Wonderland 2, which featured CLAMP characters from manga between 1995 to 2006. Because CLAMP’s style had changed and many of the characters were in manga that finished in the 90s, he had to update a number of characters to match the more recent designs, such as those seen in xxxHOLiC and Kobato. With that in mind, it answered my question about the designs used in Needless, such as details about Blade’s and Setsuna’s hair, Cruz’s eye color, and other details that changed over time.

My last question was more general but more directed about Needless, asking him about his experiences working on that anime. His answer, quite frankly, surprised me. He said that he was originally working on another anime (at the time, he was working at Madhouse, so most likely Kobato.) but was pulled onto the project because the original character design was struggling. Katou never said who the other character design was, but said that he was stressed because he was working on two anime instead of one, which is what he was expecting. Still, he said he enjoyed it and later, during another question, expressed that he would like to go back and rework the designs, if he were able. To me, this shocked me because I found the character designs to be exceptional, especially in how he was able to retain Kami’s style in an anime form. I’ll admit I am even more impressed with his work here considering that he did all that in an emergency situation and while working on another anime.

At the end of the panel, I made my way up to the front to thank him for his time and for his work on Needless. Through a translator, I expressed my gratitude for his accomplishments and also told him that he designed my favorite anime character. Katou had a quick laugh and the news brought a warm smile to his face. I can’t tell for sure since I don’t know how much he cared for Needless, but I think hearing that made him thrilled. I certainly hope he was delighted to hear that fact, and was lucky enough to earn his signature on the back of my Sakuracon badge, which is sitting on my bookshelf by other anime products and souvenirs.

And that was it. That’s all I was able to obtain from Katou. Of course, many of the other attendees in the audience were asking questions about a host of other topics and subjects and anime, but hearing about his experience on Needless was truly special to me. I never really thought I’d get to meet someone who worked on Needless, let alone ask them questions about adapting the manga style or how they came about to work on this project, so this experience was truly tremendous and unforgettable. I am thankful that I was able to attend such an extraordinary panel and take away this invaluable information and an autograph to remember it by. I’ll never forget these memories, and thought it would be an outstanding experience to share as Day 2 of my 12 Days of Anime.