Steven Den Beste made an interesting comment last week in response to our choice of Lucky Star for OP of the Year in our Best of 2007 Anime Awards, and it really set me thinking. I know which OPs I like and don’t like, of course, but I had never really stopped to consider what criteria I use to judge that.

Steven’s comment help illustrate that while we hold most of the same criteria on what makes a good OP, we disagree on how important each of those criteria are. From his comment:

“I suspect a lot of the difference of opinion is in what we view the purpose of an OP to be.

For a lot of people, it should be an AMV. That’s what the Lucky Star OP is. Myself, I think it should be an advertisement for the series. It needs to be fun to watch, and to have catchy music, but more important than those things is that it needs to introduce me to most of the major characters and give me some idea of what they’re like, and what their relationships are like. (But it shouldn’t give away spoilers, of course.)”

…

The Potemayo OP does show us those kinds of things, too. For instance, it shows Mikan trying to get close to Sunao and being chased away by Potemayo. It shows Guchuko bouncing on top of Potemayo, and Potemayo getting mad. We get to see Guchuko’s laser beams. Lots of relevant stuff packed into there.

The Lucky Star OP doesn’t do any of that. You can’t tell from it that Konata is an otaku, that Tsukasa is a wimp, and Kagami is strong and sane.

(Emphasis mine)

For the most part I agree with his criteria; the key difference between us is where we prioritize them. For Steven, the most important objective of the opening is to introduce the show, to give the viewer a quick montage-style synopsis of the characters, their relationships, and the setting.

For me, however, the music itself is the most important aspect by far. If I don’t like the song, I won’t like the OP / ED either and will probably skip it every time, end of story. I look for a song that’s interesting and catchy and will get me excited about the show, as well as something that I can listen to and enjoy on its own merits. That’s one reason why, despite being a great opening animation sequence overall, Potemayo’s OP didn’t make our list of “the best” – the song itself was somewhat irritating (in our opinion). While it complemented the opening montage nicely, it’s not the sort of thing I would ever listen to by itself.

While introducing the plot can be interesting, I think the music itself is far more important than trying to establish the story, characters, setting, etc. If the song is bothersome, regardless of how well it exposits the story, I’m not going to sit through it 26 times. Whereas with Lucky Star, I could quite easily enjoy the opening one episode after another.

Additionally, I don’t feel an OP really needs to serve as an advertisement device for a given series. There are a multitude of other methods by which to advertise a series. Personally, I watch most new anime series based on the recommendations of others, or because one of my preferred animation studios, directors, or animators is handling it. The OP of a show does very little to inspire my interest in it. Chances are, if I’m watching the OP my curiosity in the show is already piqued.

After music, the entertainment value of the montage is the next most important thing on my list. While I certainly do like it when an OP concisely introduces the cast and setting, it’s not really necessary, in my opinion, and in some cases can be detrimental (spoiler openings).

In fact, I’m actually quite fond of “cool” OPs that have little to do with the show, but are fun to watch as more or less self-contained music videos. For example, one of my favorite OPs of all time is legendary for having almost nothing in common with the rest of the show, other than the characters themselves – the Magipoka opening:

Another favorite of mine, Mushishi’s OP featured an awesome song… and floating green textures. While the song is wonderfully fitting for the show, it certainly didn’t do much in the way of introducing it, but I love it nevertheless. The opening of American animation Aqua Teen Hunger Force is another great example of an OP that had nothing to do with anything (fighting space aliens, etc), but which was hilarious and memorable.

On the other hand, I do think that the montage of an OP should be somewhat thematically consistent with the narrative of the show. Cowboy Bebop is an excellent example; the bebop jazz anthem Tank! not only matches flawlessly on the musical scale of things but also gives us glimpses of each character and their personalities.

I definitely agree on Mushishi, but that’s a given. Mushishi’s OP features a beautiful ballad sung by Ally Kerr, and though neither Ginko nor the mushi are featured in the opening, the themes of the series are captured perfectly. The lyrics speak of wandering distant lands, and the shapes of green forested landscapes capture the mythical vibe of the story. Honestly, the whole soundtrack for Mushishi is nothing short of brilliant.

Now, all that’s not to say that I totally disagree with Steven’s position, but I have strong misgivings about shows that try to tell the story in miniature through the opening. An OP that illustrates the cast and characters can be a great way to set the tone for the rest of the show, no doubt. Nothing is worse, however, than the dreaded “spoiler opening”, which goes so far in depicting aspects of the characters and plot that it gives away important details.

For lightweight slice-of-life or comedy shows, that kind of opening is generally fine, capturing the spirit of the show. For more dramatic shows, however, it can really ruin the pacing of the narrative. Stories are carefully crafted to introduce each character in a specific way and at a specific time, and to unveil the progression of the plot in a painstakingly planning manner (well OK not Sunrise, but you get the point). As much as I love Gurren Lagann’s Sora Iro Days, I don’t care for it as an OP because it gives away the direction the plot will take right from the very beginning.

Now Haruhi’s Bouken Deshou Deshou opening, on the other hand, is a perfect example of an OP done right. It introduces all the major characters and portrays key elements of their personality, but does it without giving away any of the plot. There’s lots of symbolism that becomes apparent after viewing the series, but to someone watching for the first time, it won’t be obvious.

For example, in the Haruhi OP, at 44 seconds there’s a shot of a knife, followed by another shot of a book hitting the ground. To someone who hasn’t seen the series, this won’t mean much of anything and won’t give anything away. Those who have watched the show, however, will immediately recognize the knife as Ryoko’s, with the falling book implying Nagato sensing the danger and rushing to rescue Kyon.

Ideally, a solid OP should be comprised of engaging music, good cinematography, succinct character representation, and perhaps an inkling of the overall story. Samurai Champloo’s Battlecry is another example of an opening that hits all the right notes. The music matches the renegade ronin personality of the narrative, and the montage illustrates both the setting and the main characters sublimely while not giving any key elements about the plot.

For me, the bottom line for a good OP is this: it captures the spirit of the story. It resonates with you the same way looking at a good photograph makes you remember an experience. As far as I’m concerned, an OP should conjure up fondness for a series, whether it’s ongoing or complete; a small musical movement in the greater opus of the series.

So essentially, our consensus on what makes a good OP seem to be as follows:

1. It needs to have an awesome song, one that can stand on its own merits.

2. It should look cool and be fun to watch.

3. In plot-driven series, it should show as little as possible of as yet unrevealed characters or plot points.

4. If possible, it should highlight the characters and setting, but preferably not at the cost of any of the above points.

What are your criteria for liking or disliking certain types of OPs?

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Amidst all the furor over Japan’s newly implemented policy of fingerprinting every foreigner entering or leaving the country, as I was reading through the various comments on different blogs and news sites there was one particular type of reaction that stood out to me.

Many people were making comments like “That’s too bad, I was thinking of taking a vacation to Japan, but now with all these things I’m hearing, maybe I should stay away.”

Now certainly, Japan is not the magical land of rainbows and ponies and gumdrop smiles that your average weeaboo imagines it to be. In fact, sometimes it looks pretty bad. But at the same time, it’s also not all doom and gloom, racism and xenophobia, which is the impression that many people seem to be getting from all of the recent negative press.

So let me just reiterate a very important point:

Japan is still a wonderful place to visit.

Japan is a beautiful country with a rich culture and heritage and some of the kindest, most hospitable people I have ever met. It has some of the most breathtaking sights, most delicious cuisine, and best entertainment anywhere. It is also arguably the safest countries in the world to travel in.

Matsumoto Castle

Yes, if you are not Japanese you will generally be treated differently. This doesn’t necessarily mean in a derogatory way, however. On the contrary, the Japanese generally go to extraordinary lengths to be accommodating to guests in their country.

In my own travels around Japan I have frequently had complete strangers go out of their way to help me, even when it wasn’t necessary. A few times I’ve even been shocked by people I just randomly struck up a conversation with buying me expensive gifts as a gesture of goodwill and welcome. These are not people in the service or tourist industries, but just regular folks. Honestly, I have never experienced the same level of hospitality anywhere else I have traveled, including my own country.

Sure, these new fingerprinting policies will mean more hassle for you in the airport, but as a temporary visitor you’ll probably never see any of the more unpleasant aspects of the gaijin experience. Even if you were to spend a year or two in Japan it’s unlikely that you’ll face much in the way of real serious racism during your time there. For the most part, only permanent resident foreigners ever really have to deal with the uglier aspects of Japan’s xenophobic policies.

There are plenty of people in Japan who are not racist.

Sure, you may experience cases of sabetsu (discrimination) from some people, and certainly from the government, but there are a great many Japanese who do not think that way. It’s deceptively easy to making sweeping generalizations about the Japanese because they have such a high degree of groupthink and cultural homogenization, so it’s important to remember that they are still individuals with their own beliefs and opinions.

I have met racist people and been discriminated against in Japan, but that was the exception, not the rule. While there are definitely xenophobic and nationalist attitudes in Japan that bother me, and while I won’t hesitate to stand up and denounce those attitudes when I see them, I don’t want you to be fooled into thinking that all of Japan is like that.

I’ve met many wonderful people and made some great friends in Japan.

So basically all of this to say, if you’re thinking of taking a trip to see Japan, or if you were considering working there for a year or two on a temporary visa – go for it! Japan is amazing. I would hate to see anyone turn away from the wonderful experiences and opportunities it affords just because of a few xenophobic policies.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m just as incensed about this whole fiasco as every other gaijin resident. Yes, I hate these new policies and the attitudes behind them. Yes, I hate cops who stop anyone foreign looking to question them. Yes, I hate landlords who outright refuse to rent to anyone who is not ethnic Japanese. More than all that, however, I still love Japan, and I hope you can learn to love it, too.

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It can quickly turn fatal if left untreated, and thus should be taken extremely seriously. If you or someone you know may be suffering from Hiatus Disease, don’t wait. Seek professional help immediately.

Fortunately, Hiatus Disease is almost always treatable if diagnosed in time, and the long term impairment effects are usually minimal. Even if you have not contracted Hiatus Disease, you may still be at risk. Learn about the symptoms and take the short quiz below to find out whether you should be concerned.

This young girl is currently battling against the ravages of Hiatus Disease. Don’t let yourself end up like this.

Symptoms

Known symptoms of Hiatus Disease include:

• Reduced frequency of updates
• Irregular or arrhythmic posting
• Lack of creativity
• Increasing reliance on over-the-counter gimmick posts
• Frequent excuses for the above
• Loss of enthusiasm and enjoyment in blogging
• A decrease in blogging stamina, and an inability to achieve and maintain solid reader interest

This is not an exhaustive list, as the symptoms of Hiatus Disease are varied and elusive, but these can serve as an early warning sign for the condition.

Known Causes

Waning interest in the blog’s subject matter of choice, frequently referred to in other medical texts as “moving on in life” or “burning out”, is the leading cause of Hiatus Disease among bloggers today. The acquisition of a boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse is also known to trigger the condition. This strain is particularly tenacious and left untreated can quickly become life-threatening.

Job pressures, IRL drama, and other family related issues are also known to contribute to development of HD. In addition, many younger bloggers are at risk, as school final exam periods are a frequent cause. Entering or leaving university, and the accompanying lifestyle changes, can also trigger the disease.

The presence of other medical conditions can dramatically increase the risk of contracting Hiatus Disease, as well as worsening the severity of an existing case.

Don’t let Hiatus Disease catch you unaware! Know your risk factor!

Are You At Risk of Contracting Hiatus Disease?

Take the following quiz to find out whether you should be concerned about Hiatus Disease:

For each question, simply choose the appropriate answer, and then add the corresponding number of points to your total.

#1. On average, how many times per week do you post?

A. Fewer than once per week – 5 points
B. Once or twice – 2 points
C. 3 to 10 times – 1 point
D. More than 10 times – 3 points

#2. How long is your average blog entry?

A. Fewer than 200 words – 5 points
B. 200 to 1000 words – 2 points
C. 1000 to 3000 words – 1 point
D. Over 9000 More than 3000 words (Holy cow!) – 3 points

#3. On average, how many comments do your entries receive?

A. 0 comments – 5 points :’(
B. 1 to 5 comments – 3 points
C. 5 to 25 comments – 2 points
D. Over 25 comments – 1 point

#4. How long have you been blogging?

A. Less than 3 months – 5 points
B. 3 months to 1 year – 2 points
C. 1 to 3 years – 3 points
D. More than 3 years – 1 point

#5. Have you or anyone in your immediate family previously contracted Hiatus Disease?

A. No – 1 point
B. Yes – 5 points

#6. How often do you feel stressed?

A. Never – 1 point
B. Occasionally – 2 points
C. Frequently – 3 points
D. OMG ALL THE TIME!! – 5 points

#7. Are you married? (closely related to the previous question)

A. No – 1 point
B. Yes – 5 points

#8. How old are you?

A. Under 18 – 5 points
B. 18 to 24 – 3 points
C. 25 to 35 – 2 points
D. 35+ – 1 point

#9. What is your name?

A. Cory Doctorow – minus 10 points
B. Anything else – 0 points

#10. What is your quest?

A. To have fun! – 0 points
B. To save the world! – 2 points
C. To become an internet supastar~! – 1 point
D. To make ridiculously large sums of cash money! – 5 points

8 – 14 points = Low risk. Your blog is extremely healthy. Keep on truckin’!

15 – 23 points = Normal risk. Continue to maintain a healthy blogging lifestyle and you should be fine.

24 – 32 points = Elevated risk. Consider implementing some of the suggestions from the “Prevention Steps” section below to improve your blog’s lifespan.

33 – 45 points = Extreme risk. Seek medical attention immediately! If your blog hasn’t already dropped dead, it’s likely on life support. At this point, you should be open to the possibility of euthanasia as the most humane option for your suffering companion, since what you wrote was probably extremely boring and emo to begin with.

Want to learn more about what behaviors may be putting you at risk? The following is a brief explanation of each question in the quiz:

#1. Maintaining a regular posting schedule is critical for every blog. More posts = more readers. Don’t get carried away, however. Some hardened bloggers are able to manage consistently posting more than once every day, but these individuals are few and far between. Many an over-exuberant blogger has burned out by posting too much, too fast.

#2. Short gimmicky posts or excuses won’t sustain a blog for long when faced with a content drought. For the same reason as #1, however, don’t get carried away writing too much all at once. This is also known to lead to the development of a highly contagious reader condition known as TL;DR Disorder.

#3. Comments have often been described as the lifeblood of a blog. Bloggers who never get any are at highly increased risk of HD.

#4. New blogs are as short-lived as mayflies, but if they make it more than 3 to 6 months, there’s a decent chance they’re here to stay. Interestingly, according to some statistics, blogs in the 1 to 3 year age range are more likely to contract HD, as life changes and other hobbies crowd out blogging. Once a blog has survived past the 3 or 4 year mark, however, it’s likely to still be around for a long, long time.

#5. Even if a blogger comes back from hiatus, the site may have lost a significant portion of its traffic in the interim. This can lead to a vicious cycle of HD, eventually leading to the death of the blog.

#6. Regardless of what your goal is, blogging should be fun. Bloggers who have a lot of stress in their lives are among the first to fall to Hiatus Disease.

#7. Blogging is a fairly high maintenance hobby, and people with spouses and children generally have a very hard time prioritizing blog over family.

#8. The younger you are, the more likely you are to go through significant changes in lifestyle, hobbies, and preferences. Older bloggers have generally figured out what the heck they’re doing in life and settled into a routine, ironically making them less likely to succumb to the disease than their junior counterparts.

#9. http://xkcd.com/239/

#10. Self explanatory, I hope. If you get the reference you can probably take off another point for the nerd factor, as well.

If left unchecked, HD can snowball into a vicious cycle of hiatus after hiatus.

Prevention Steps

If you have Hiatus Disease, or are at risk of contracting Hiatus Disease, don’t worry! There are still plenty of ways to combat it.

The easiest prevention method is to branch out and cover other topics that you don’t normally blog about. Establishing a good niche is important for every blog, but getting out of it from time to time is equally important. Mix it up and write about something different from time to time to help keep things fresh for both you and your audience.

Another closely related method is to get out of your own blog more frequently. Check out other sites and see what’s going on. They don’t even have to be in the same genre as your blog. The internet is a big place; there’s lots out there to see.

Not only will visiting and commenting on other sites help raise the visibility of your own blog, it will also aid you in finding interesting things to write about. In fact, interaction with the online community is one of the best known methods of preventing Hiatus Disease.

Finally, when in doubt, get yourself a co-blogger or two to help pick up the slack. Or, if you aren’t able to con recruit dedicated bloggers of your own, try collaborating with another existing blogger on a joint topic. Bouncing ideas off another writer and having different perspectives not only makes it more fun when writing, it’s also more enjoyable for readers, and can result in lots of beneficial cross-pollination traffic.

Remember, don’t be afraid of Hiatus Disease! It’s at least as scared of you as you are of it. Or wait…maybe that’s for bears. Well anyway, now you know the HD warning signs, and what to look out for.

Forewarned is forearmed, and that’s half an octopus!

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DarkMirage’s recent criticism of Nyoro~n’s Gundam 00 translations sparked a flurry of criticism, mostly petty ad hominems telling him to get out of his parent’s basement, but also a few reasonable arguments defending Nyoro~n. After checking out Nyoro~n’s releases myself, I feel compelled to offer some defense of my own, on DarkMirage’s side of things.

Although I don’t usually watch fansubbed versions, I decided to download a few of these Nyoro~n subs to check out whether this was for real. I almost couldn’t believe that these so-called “translations” could actually be that bad until I saw it for myself.

At first I thought maybe it was just an isolated incident, or perhaps due to the extensive technical jargon that Gundam 00 employs. To double check, I decided to take a look at Nyoro~n’s subs for Gurren Lagann, a show which is much easier to understand and translate.

To my dismay, however, it’s just as bad! I feel sorry for the people who watched this thinking they were getting the real Gurren Lagann!

Take a look at the following comparisons:

They’re between Black-Order subs (top) and Nyoro~n (bottom):

Not only does the Nyoro~n translator fail to realize that it’s all one sentence, he completely botches the second half of it. Now stop and think about that for just a second. It doesn’t even make any sense. Wouldn’t you start to wonder if maybe you had made a mistake?

Admittedly, it’s based on a fairly minor error in listening comprehension, but even assuming the Japanese text he shows is correct, it still doesn’t make any sense!

WTF?! Does he even stop to think whether this makes any sense?

Here even the Japanese is pretty nonsensical.

Once again, doesn’t make a single iota of sense. I have no clue how he even got that out of his interpretation of the Japanese lyrics.

And what the heck is “itertara”? Even a total beginner would know that that can’t be a real Japanese word.

LOL!

wagamama = selfishness or pride, not mother

But at least he’s man enough to admit when he’s not sure! And as ugly and clunky as the translation is, it’s still about 80% accurate, which is a lot better than certain other groups I’ve seen.

…

After seeing this travesty of translation that Nyoro~n is putting out, it seems pretty clear that there is legitimate reason for concern here.

Let me start by saying that, regardless of whether you agree with the way he stated his opinions or not, DarkMirage is providing a very valuable service. Without someone willing to provide independent, public analysis like he has done, most fans would have no way to gauge whether the subs they read are accurate. People deserve to know whether the translation they are watching is true to the story or not.

Now I don’t agree with the pointless juvenile bashing of fansubbers that often goes on; we already have way too many jerks who complain because there’s no karaoke, or the font is ugly, or for any number of other trivial reasons.

What is legitimately lacking, however, is honest, informed evaluation of a group’s translation. The translation is the heart of a fansub. Without it there is no fansub. Yet the vast majority of fans simply have no way of judging the quality of a translation. They’re relegated to blindly picking a group and hoping that it’s right.

In that respect, I think DarkMirage offers some much needed advice, pointing fans toward higher quality translations that will better represent the shows they love.

Now, you might say, “But why all the hating? Fansubbers do this in their own free time, providing a free service to those of us who otherwise would have no way to watch anime. Can’t you just leave them be?”

The problem with this kind of thinking is that what Nyoro~n and similar groups are doing is, in my opinion, worse than not subbing the show at all. It would be one thing if they did a partial translation and openly admitted when they were unsure; that I could respect. But to be so confidently, blatantly wrong about a translation, to the point that they’re essentially making things up and changing major plot points, is misleading and a disservice to both the fans and the show itself.

When you watch Nyoro~n’s translation of Gundam 00, you’re not really watching Gundam 00 as told by Sunrise & Co. You’re watching Gundam 00 as told by Nyoro~n, who just happens to be borrowing Sunrise’s pretty pictures and music.

Every week thousands of fans eagerly await the latest episode of their favorite show, and most of them quickly snatch it up from whatever group releases first, having no way of knowing that the story they are being told may be completely different from the real one. To release translations that are severely sub par is a huge disservice to the loyal fans who put their faith in someone to bring them the story.

Clunky dialogue and poor grammar is one thing; that I can live with. To simply be horribly, horribly wrong, though, is not acceptable. You can’t really call that translation at all.

DISCLAIMER:

While I don’t think people should download Nyoro~n’s subs and expect to get the real story, I also don’t condone treating them disrespectfully.

It seems that a number of people have gone on their site and made some very rude comments, which is a lot more harmful for the anime community than anything they might be doing wrong.

Not downloading Nyoro~n’s releases is fine. Calling them names and being a jerk to them is not.

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After reading this article, I was inspired to see if I could find anything cool regarding anime related search terms. Rather than performing more generalized comparisons, however, I decided to look up specific shows to see if I could learn anything interesting about them. Read on for the results.

In keeping with Google’s tradition of hiding specific details about their search information, the graphs produced by Google Trends have no y-axis, and there’s no way of know exactly how many searches for a given term are performed. Rather, what the tool is useful for is comparing two or more search queries to see which is more popular, as well as observing general trends for a single search over time.

For example, above is a simple search for Darker than Black. The search term popped onto the radar shortly before the show began airing in Spring ‘07, with an initial peak of interest at the beginning which quickly subsided, and then gradually grew toward a second peak at the finale of the series.

Overlaying Lucky Star onto the chart shows a similar trend, although since that search term is more generic it also has some non-anime related traffic.

Adding School Days into the mix demonstrates very clearly the show’s strong internet popularity, with a huge spike at the end for the last episodes.

OK, so maybe you’re thinking, “Well that’s great, 0rion, but obviously not all of those searches are anime related. How do you know that sudden surge in queries wasn’t caused by something else?”

Not to worry, the cause of that sudden spike is quite easily explained if you just take a look at the next graph:

…

No further explanation needed.

…

So which was the most popular new show of this year? According to Google Trends, CLAYMORE is head and shoulders above the rest of competition, surpassing even the whole Nice Boat fiasco.

This is hardly surprising, however, as the shonen market is by far the biggest anime demographic, and CLAYMORE is admittely one of the more interesting new offerings to come out of that genre.

Gurren Lagann, somewhat surprisingly, was pretty low in the Google Power Rankings. Since it’s a pretty easy to mispell name, I also tried combining together all the possible variations and spellings to get a more accurate composite total, but even that showed a fairly minimal increase.

The graph for Haruhi also presents a few unusual details.

As we’ve seen, a show’s searches will generally peak when the final episode airs (mid 2006 here), and then gradually decline over time. Haruhi, however, shows continuing strong popularity all the way to the present.

The secret behind this trend is revealed when we overlay Lucky Star onto the graph. Take a look at the close correlation between the two shows. Finally the shocking proof of what we’ve suspected all along:

Lucky Star == Haruhi!

Seems like all those Haruhivertisements in Lucky Star really paid off for KyoAni.

Speaking of popularity spikes, this one is just comical. The number of searches for Code Geass increases steadily as the series grows in popularity and WTF factor…and then abruptly drops as the show goes on hiatus for three months, followed by a sudden XBOX sized spike as the final cliffhanger episodes air.

If you’re wondering just which anime is the hottest thing on the internet right now…well, I’m afraid it’s not Haruhi.

The big name Shonen Jump series pretty much dominate the search rankings; a show like Haruhi is barely even a blip by comparison.

Naruto is an absolute juggernaut, and after extensive testing and comparison I was unable to find any other anime that can even come close to its disgustingly huge level of popularity. Note the particularly large increase in early 2007 as the Shippuden arc of the show begins.

Forget other anime, Naruto has surpassed the number of searches for ESPN and even for the supremely popular U.S. television drama 24!

Anyway, this is just a random sampling of interesting search data I stumbled across while messing with Google Trace. Obviously none of this is designed to really be statistically sound research; it’s mostly just for kicks.

So what other interesting anime or otaku related information do you think can be gleaned from search comparison? If you find something cool, be sure to let me know.

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Yes, even Epic Win is not immune to that greatest of cliches, that bane of bloggers everywhere – metablogging.

If you’re a regular, you’ve most likely noticed that our usual routine of posting every 1 – 2 days has slowed over the last week to, well…none. Guff got KO’d by a nasty flu, and I’ve been busy with work, so things here at EW have been pretty quiet. Honestly though, none of the new anime that have aired so far have gotten me really interested yet, so I haven’t exactly been burning with the desire to pen long-winded diatribes on the merits (or lack thereof) of a given show.

The above images are purely for illustrative purposes. Any resemblance to real bloggers, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Instead, I thought I’d take a moment share some thoughts about blogging in general. Despite my earlier disparaging remarks about metablogging, I do often find it interesting to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes at some of my favorite sites. Really, metablogging only becomes a problem when it starts taking the place of real blogging. Of course, by talking about metablogging, I’ve fallen to an even lower level… meta-meta-blogging.

Anyway, so here we are, two months and 25k pageviews into this whole blogging thing. We’ve learned a few things, but still have a long way to go to achieve “serious business” blog status. Thus, rather than the usual routine of the grizzled veteran blogger sharing wisdom gained from many years in the trenches, I thought it might be interesting to offer my perspective as the fresh-faced new blogger, still enthusiastic and naïve.

Here’s a nice random picture that’s only very loosely related
to what I’m talking about. I’m supposed to put these in
periodically to break up the wall of text, or something.

So a few thoughts:

1. Comments

OK, so I knew there were lots of people who read but never posted, but Holy Pop Culture Reference, Batman…it’s like 1 comment for every 250 pageviews! I kind of feel bad that I didn’t comment more on the blogs I read until recently, now that I’m realizing how important that feedback and dialogue is to bloggers.

Now certainly many people just skim over the article, go “meh”, and then close the browser. On the other hand, however, for many regular readers who enjoy the blogs they follow, it just never occurs to them to leave a quick comment saying something like, “Hey, good post! I really liked (joke x).”

I think a lot of people feel like they have to have something substantive and intelligent to say before they can leave a comment. That was certainly my mindset before I started blogging; I just felt like I didn’t really have anything to add.

These days if I read a good article, I try to always leave a positive comment or mention a point I thought was interesting, just something so that the writer knows I appreciated what he/she had to say.

2. It’s hard to be funny every day.

I’m not really much of a writer, nor do I have much experience with this sort of thing, so perhaps to some of you this is kind of a “Well duh!” statement. When you’re writing at length on the same topic every single day it’s hard not to fall into the rut of saying the same things and going through the same motions until your blogging just becomes one huge pile of stale copypasta.

I definitely appreciated it before, but now I have a lot more respect for long-running bloggers who have been going for years without a break and still manage to write stuff that’s consistently informative and fun to read. Hopefully a year or two from now we’ll still be around, and will still be able to find unique and interesting stuff to talk about.

3. #animeblogger is a very scary place.

Even by IRC standards. O_o

4. People on the internet search for some weird shit.

A few search engine stats:

By now we’ve pretty well secured the top rankings for the term “epic win“, and it’s our number one search result by far. “Washinomiya” is our second biggest search term; apparently lots of people are interested in making a pilgrimage to the Lucky Star shrine to pay their respects.

Also highly popular are searches for “Gotouza-sama”, as well as “Darker than Black final” and “Darker than Black 25″, which is interesting, since we only posted about that just last week. And for some reason we’ve become the first search result for “yaki dango” and “an dango”. After that it’s just a flood of hundreds of different variations on Lucky Star related queries.

Some other searches people have found us with that made me laugh, in no particular order: “congratulations you broke the internet”, “stabby”, “shiraishi minoru a man’s way of life”, “gar minoru”, and “kurogane anime blog malaysia” (lolwut?)

I’ve noticed a somewhat disturbing trend as well, which is that recently we’ve started getting a lot of hits from search terms like “dfc delicious flat chest”, “lucky star yuri doujinshi”, “konata x kagami doujinshi”, etc. Now, I understand that the great waterwheel that powers the internet is driven by an endless stream of smut…but seriously, what the hell do they expect to find by coming here? Screencaps??

And of course, by mentioning it, I’m only going to increase the traffic. Brilliant.

/me facepalm

Note: If you came to this site from one of the search terms listed above, since I would feel bad about advertising falsely, for what it’s worth, here’s a reward for you…show

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Some of them, anyway.

After watching the recent OVA and reading through some of the manga, I have revised my opinion of Kojika somewhat.

I was wrong to call it a pedo anime. It’s not just non-stop fanservice; it has a legitimate and interesting plot. To borrow a phrase from a certain very wise man…it is also a pedo anime.

Temakizushi is serious business, as far as Rin’s concerned.

The characters are all very believable, and the dialogue and varied interactions amongst the cast also seems natural and unforced – to a point anyway. I feel like I have to qualify every statement I make about the show, because of this one glaring aspect that stands out like a sore thumb…

The loli fanservice. Most of the time it feels jarringly tacked on and gratuitous. It’s like they played up Rin’s and Kuro’s characters to the point of ridiculousness because they needed something to make the books/shows sell.

It’s kind of annoying when they do it in Hollywood films, throwing in gratuitous R-rated scenes that have little or no relation to the plot, but at least in those cases they’re all adults. Kojika tries to do the same thing but with grade schoolers, and it comes off as the worst kind of pandering.

That said, it’s my sincere hope that for the televised release they’ll be forced to tone down the questionable content considerably to meet broadcast standards. If they do, I can definitely see myself enjoying the show. The animation and character designs are great, and they seem to have lined up a top notch seiyuu cast for this production. Kuro-chan especially.

I had never heard of the girl who’s been cast for her voice, Shindou Kei, and it seems that she’s a relative newcomer to the industry, but her voice acting is superb. Great voice work, and very distinctive. Plus I’m a sucker for fang characters, as you know if you’re a regular reader.

They just would cast Sugita Tomokazu to play Reiji. Kind of funny, since he totally looks like an Itsuki clone.

The trio’s zany antics are entertaining, and the serious life issues the cast is forced to deal with as they grow up (really, the adults in the show need to grow up almost as much as the kids do) come off as very realistic and challenging in many ways.

As someone who taught in Japan for a little while, I can certainly resonate with the setting and the issues that come up. There are definitely those kids that make you feel like putting your head through a window, or who are too smart for their own damn good, but those same children are often the most rewarding to invest time in.

Even the issue of underage students hitting on their teachers is something I don’t necessarily have an inherent problem with. It is something that happens in real life (although hardly to the extreme that Kojika portrays), and there are many teachers who have funny anecdotes about some of the more shocking things they’ve had happen…Azrael of Outpost Nine fame being a prime example.

Really, what it boils down to is that Kodomo no Jikan seems like a brilliant and engaging story, but it’s buried underneath a veritable landslide of underage fanservice. And I’m willing to bet that a good 50% of the viewers/readers are only following it for the latter reason. Not that I should be surprised, of course. I mean, we are talking about the same country that invented the Shakugan no dakimakura.

Is dat sum pedobear in the OP?

Kojika is a diamond in the rough, all right…but to get to the diamond you have to sift through a pile of used heroin needles. Do not want enjoy your aids lol.

To reiterate, though, if they cut back on the stupid gratuitous stuff, I’d be more than happy to watch the show. Those of you who left me comments and messages were absolutely right; it does seem to have a strong core plot to it.

Now if only I can enjoy that plot without worrying that Chris Hansen is gonna come knocking…

/me facepalm

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