It’s been quite a while indeed since my last post here, hasn’t it? To be honest, I had more or less given up on this whole blogging thing and considered closing up shop, leaving only the archives for the occasional Google visitor to peruse.

Fortunately, I decided not to throw in the towel just yet, and instead have cooked up several new and (hopefully) interesting posts that will be going up in the near future. Before I go any farther, I would be remiss if I didn’t give a big shout out to my friend ghostlightning, whose continual pestering and seemingly boundless creative energy was in large part what motivated me to start writing for Epic Win again. In between yelling in all caps about the outcome of the latest UFC event, or waxing eloquent about Rafael Nadal, he managed to infect me with his enthusiasm for blogging, and anime in general.

Also, for all of you who e-mailed asking about the blog, thank you so much for taking the time to contact me, and I apologize I wasn’t able to respond to all of you. I was genuinely surprised at the number of people who apparently enjoyed reading the content on this site and were willing to write up an e-mail asking us to come back.

To be fair, things have been pretty hectic this year with quite a few major transitions for me, and a few of them are worth mentioning.

First and foremost, I’d like to congratulate my erstwhile co-blogger Guff for receiving his TEFL credentials and having been accepted  into the JET program as a teacher. In a few weeks he’ll be shipping out to Tokyo for orientation, before moving on to his new residence in Hokkaido, where he’ll be teaching at a number of different schools in the region. Speaking as someone who previously taught English in Japan, I’m incredibly excited for him, as this is will no doubt be a very enriching and challenging once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Second, although I previously posted about taking the JLPT level 2 exam this last December, I never got around to posting about the follow up results. I’m happy to say I passed with flying colors, doing especially well on the grammar and listening comprehension sections, so now all that remains is the final examination level – the daunting JLPT1. I’m under no illusions that I’ll be able to pass the level 1 test this coming December, but I am continuing to study when time allows, and hopefully can make a good attempt at it next year.

Finally, I had the chance to take another sightseeing trip in Japan this spring during the height of the sakura bloom, and I was able to visit some really interesting off-the-beaten-path locales that I’d love to post about when time allows. Most notably, I spent 3 days on Yakushima, a nearly uninhabited island several hours off the southern coast of Japan, which boasts some of the world’s most ancient and unspoiled cedar forests. As a photographer it was a dream come true, and once I finish sifting through the roughly 80 gigabytes of photos I took during my time there, I’ll definitely have one or more posts up recounting my experiences on the island.

(click for slightly larger version)

Well, if you’re still here reading this, thank you very much for hanging around and still visiting this site even after so long. It really means a lot to me, and I hope I can return the favor by bringing you guys some good new content in the coming weeks. Thanks again to the many readers who wrote me and to ghostlightning for the encouragement and much needed kick in the pants.

…and yes, I realize the second Matrix film was a disappointment. Hopefully referencing it in the title of this post won’t jinx me.

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And this is my theme music as I roll out to face the enemy. Here’s hoping this year is an epic win!

I’m taking the level 2 again after just barely missing the cutoff last year. This time I’m actually feeling pretty confident about it, as last year my familiarity with a lot of the kanji was pretty suspect and I still came close. After a full year of reading manga almost exclusively in Japanese, I think I’m much better prepared, although there’s still always those horrible trick questions with really ambiguous contexts to confuse you.

Once this is over Epic Win will officially be off hiatus, assuming the test and/or Los Angeles traffic doesn’t kill me, so check back later this week for some new postage. I still have a lot of catching up to do for this season of anime, but I have a couple interesting posts cooked up in the meantime.

Ugh, I’d almost forgotten what a pain in the butt it is to cram for exams. Well, good luck my fellow examinees! And, uh…posthumous good luck to those overseas who already took it, I guess.

/salute

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First, I should clarify that I have nothing against Pete Zaitcev; I like him and the stuff he writes. I just can never resist the opportunity to heckle him about his backwater “no comments” policy, especially when his excuse for not allowing them seems to be “well it’s just too much work”.

Of course it’s just my personal preference and I can’t reasonably force that on him, but I find it incredibly frustrating when I can’t just leave a comment on someone’s post to provide feedback. It also eliminates the interesting group conversation that helps enrich a good post and fosters online community.

This issue has already been beat to death, and I very much doubt that Zaitcev will change his ways, so I suppose I’ll have to content myself instead with gnashing my teeth in frustration and hassling him at every opportunity.

OK, so about Google PageRank. In my previous post I mentioned that one reason I removed my normal blogroll was because it’s damaging to the site’s ranking.

Pete responded to my comment with the following:

“UPDATE: Blogrolls do not “damage” PageRank. For one thing it’s impossible to “hemorrage” to begin with. We know that Google applies certain modifiers to the calculated PageRank postfactum, and some of them discourage link farms. However, there are also ad-hoc modifiers for dealing with blogs.”

I don’t know on what basis he is so confident of this opinion that it is “impossible”. Google is naturally very secretive about how their algorithms for searching, sort, and ranking actually work, so of course we can’t know for certain the exact mechanisms that are work here.

There are a couple key things we know, however, that I believe support my conclusions about the PageRank system:

1. PageRank across the internet is a zero sum game at its core. For one site’s PageRank to rise, it necessarily comes at the expense of another.

2. Although no one knows for certain the inner workings of Google’s indexing and ranking algorithms, we do at least know for a fact that the system worked this way in the past. Obviously they have made significant changes over the years, but I don’t see how this could be fundamentally different given #1. They also have received several related patents that seem to indicate this is still a part of how the system works today.

The bottom line: is it harmful to your site to have a traditional blogroll? Truthfully, it’s probably not that big of a deal, especially given the small scale of the traffic on most anime blogs. This is especially the case if Pete’s claim that Google modifies its weighting specifically for blogs is true.

However, to say that it has no detrimental effect to your rank at all is, I believe, pretty obviously false. By the very zero sum nature of the system, outgoing links will always have the effect of giving away some of your “link juice”. It may be negligible, especially considering the way links are weighted based on the relevance of the site that’s being linked to, and the relative ranks between the sites.

But the fact remains that it always by nature has at least some minor negative effect. A few links here and there is nothing, but when you’ve got 50 or more outbound links on every single page of your entire website, the effect can add up. Even more so when many of the sites have a much lower rank than your own, or (if you’re lazy and don’t update your blogroll) are simply dead links.

There’s also evidence that if the majority of the links pointing to your site from others are “site-wide” links, as is the case with traditional blogrolls, it can actually be detrimental to your rank. This would seem to indicate that new bloggers who go around trying to get listed on the blogroll of every site they can find are actually hurting their own cause.

Again, there isn’t a way to prove all this Q.E.D., unless you happen to be in the personal confidence of Larry Page and Sergey Brin, but there’s a significant amount of evidence supporting these ideas. Honestly, I was a bit surprised at Pete’s reaction, since in my experience in the industry this understanding of PageRank and linking in SEO is very common.

If I’m completely misinformed, and this is “bogus” as Pete claims, I certainly welcome him or other informed readers to correct me. I don’t believe that to be the case, of course.

In any case, either way I’m much happier with my new blogroll, as I feel it better helps highlight my favorite related blogs while also giving readers more information about the sites I recommend.

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For a long time now I’ve been dissatisfied with my  current blogroll, and indeed I’ve never been particularly keen on the concept for traditional blogrolls to begin with. The standard “list of links on the sidebar” doesn’t give much useful information, hardly ever generates any clicks, and also damages your Google pagerank.

Thus, I’m very pleased to present a much more detailed blogroll listing that I feel properly gives credit to the sites that I enjoy the most and which recommend to you, my readers, as being Worth Your Time. This page will be added onto my top menu shortly, so you can always refer back to it if you’re bored and want a good anime blog recommendation.

If these guys recommend it, it’s probably worth checking out.

Mono no aware 物の哀
http://mononoaware.concretebadger.net/

Martin’s blog  is the first of my “trinity”.

“Mono no aware” is a Japanese concept that refers to the pathos and transient beauty of life, and Martin’s writing captures that idea perfectly. Although sometimes a bit heavy intellectually, his posts do a great job of helping me remember why I love anime and Japanese cinema, as he highlights thematic concepts and shares his unique insights in a very personable and down to earth manner.

The fact that he loves Mushishi and a good Guinness Stout doesn’t hurt, either. Also check out the archives of his now-retired blog The End of the World.

The Animanachronism
http://animanachronism.wordpress.com/

Although he doesn’t write as often these days, Daniel’s posts are always incredibly insightful. He does an excellent job of taking high-falutin’ social or academic literary concepts, breaking them down in ways I can understand, and then applying them to anime series both old and new.

Although it may sound like an odd way to approach what are otherwise fairly serious business concepts, his unique perspective and presentation helps to both make the ideas he’s discussing palatable to the average reader, and to give a greater appreciation of the anime which he uses to frame his discussion.

We Remember Love
http://ghostlightning.wordpress.com/

The Not-So-Holy-Ghostlightning rounds out my blogger trinity with electric and incisive writing about the latest new anime series. I hesitate to call his posts “episode reviews”, because they are so much more than that. He’s a very “honest” writer who shoots from the hip and shares his thoughts and reactions without pulling any punches.

I honestly have no idea how he manages to keep such a frenetic blogging schedule while also demonstrating such excellent insight and creative analysis. Add in a dash of comedic brilliance, and the fact that he regularly links to excellent posts on other blogs, and you have a 1-stop shop for tapping into the anime fandom collective.

This is one site where you can expect both quantity and quality.

Sea Slugs! Anime Blog
http://www.seaslugteam.com/

This memorably named site is one of first anime blogs I discovered, and to this day it is without question the best “episode summary” blog you’ll find. A must read.

Featuring lots of witty repartee and tongue-in-cheek coverage of the latest anime series, as well as a star-studded cast of slaves co-bloggers, SSAB is where the party is at. Instead of simply recapping scene-for-scene an episode you just watched, Kabitzin inserts his offbeat humor into his summaries, producing a hilarious retelling of the story. Coupled with a strong core audience of good commenters, Sea Slugs is a great place to find some lulz and enjoy a more easygoing kind of anime appreciation.

Kabitzin runs a pretty tight ship, so you can expect lots of regular updates for newly airing anime from all across the spectrum.

Kurogane’s Anime Blog
http://kurogane.animeblogger.net/

Kurogane’s posts are the best “reaction immediately after watching an episode” you’ll find. Short, sweet, and to the point, Kurogane highlights key hilarious or significant moments along with lots of screenshots and the kind of reaction commentary that makes you feel like you were right there watching the episode with him.

This is another blog that I’ve been reading for years and which has always consistently delivered. With posts being generally lightweight and brief, Kurogane’s Anime Blog makes for easy reading and is worth a feedreader subscribe for even the most time pressured reader.

blog好き
http://blogsuki.com/

I can’t keep up with the constant name changing, so I’ll just refer to it as “The Blog Formerly Known As Anime on My Mind”. Run by the reclusive Jason Miao, this was the very first anime blog I read, one that I’ve been following for over 6 years now.

Claiming that “there’s very few things in pop culture, life, or anime that cannot be explained with sports,” Jason’s writing is peppered with clever sports analogies. Coupled with his frequent techie jokes, giant images of moe characters, and penchant for making lists and rankings out of everything, his blogging style is right up my alley.

The commenters on the site tend to leave something to be desired, but the posts themselves are generally hilarious and well written, and can be fun to go back and read even years later.

2-D Teleidoscope
http://2dteleidoscope.wordpress.com/

A relative newcomer to the anime blogging scene, 2DT has quickly made a name for himself with a consistent posting schedule that has him exploring a variety of anime genres and the underlying concepts and themes they explore.

This site is a great way to deepen your appreciation of series both old and new, and to gain greater insight into Japanese culture and mythology.

The Scrumptious Anime Blog
http://scrumptious.animeblogger.net/

The tastiest anime blog ever. Seriously, even the favicon looks delicious.

Run by a self-professed crazy fangirl, this Scrumptious Anime Chef is always cooking up great posts about a wide variety of anime and manga related topics. Not only is usagijen’s writing eloquent and intelligent, she blogs wearing her heart on her sleeve, which gives her posts a very personal tone that makes them stand out from the crowd.

She’s also a fellow JLPT veteran, so every December we can commiserate together when the annual day of punishment arrives.

hontou ni
http://hontouni.com/zan/

This unholy blogger gattai of tanuki and zaku has produced a sort of raccoon cyborg blogging machine that alternates between episodic anime summaries and goth-loli-siscon fetishism.

In addition to the regular schedule of witty anime commentary, there are plenty of artbook reviews and bishoujo related posts.

hashihime 橋姫
http://hashihime.blogspot.com/

Although he doesn’t post as often as most blogs, hashi makes up for post count with the sheer size of his entries. Featuring a strong focus on seiyuu and the Japanese anime scene, hashihime fills a unique niche in the blogging ecosystem.

Without a doubt, this is one of the best sites to check out if you are interested in learning more about the Japanese vocal talent that goes into producing anime.

Bateszi Anime Blog
http://bateszi.animeuknews.net/

Another awesome U.K. blogger! Paul is another writer who does a great job of highlighting great anime and the great stories that emerge from them. His fairly conversational tone belies the profundity of his words, and he excels at reviewing a series in a concise and entertaining way, so check out his review category for a good selection of recommendations.

That’s Not Kanon
http://tnk.hidoshi.com/

Back from Hiatusland, hopefully for a long time this time, Hidoshi is always full of off-the-wall unexpected ideas that germinate into fun posts with unique perspectives.

Hige vs. Otaku
http://higevsotaku.com/

Hige is just pure genius. I always end up wanting to watch whatever he’s writing about, because he makes everything sound fun and entertaining. This is another writer who you shouldn’t take off your subcription list just because he doesn’t post often – when he does post it’s sheer brilliance.

Ramblings of DarkMirage
http://www.darkmirage.com/

Rambling it may be, but DarkMirage never fails to educate and entertain, whether he’s bashing horrible fansubbers or liveblogging his latest Comiket misadventures. His posts often tend toward the rant end of the spectrum, but that only makes them more fun to read, as his writing is crisp and intelligent. He also speaks fluent Japanese and has a good understanding of the culture, so his linguistic and cultural insights are always worth reading.

I also hear he’s secretly a superhero IRL.

Tenka Seiha 天下制覇
http://blog.seiha.org/

The “World Domination” blog is another episode summary blog, but like Sea Slugs it’s less about recap and more about wit, cynicism, and snarky commentary. Aroduc’s posts feature lots of screenshots, so if you’re pressing for time and don’t really feel like watching an episode, you can just look at the posts here and call it a day.

Ani-Nouto アニ・ノート
http://ani-nouto.animeblogger.net/

Author is a troll and a lurker who claims he doesn’t allow comments because he can’t “justify the expense of maintaining [them]“.

That said, he has a very successful sort of meta-blogging site in which he highlights various interesting posts and discussions from around the anime blogosphere. His commentary is usually quite interesting, as are the articles he links, even if the blatant lack of an easy feedback mechanism is endlessly frustrating.

Cruel Angel Theses
http://omaemo.dasaku.net/

Another troll, except this one writes way too much, rather than too little. That said, Owen tends to generally exhibit good insight, and while he hasn’t posted recently, his archives make for fun rainy day reading, especially his series of Darker than Black posts.

Riuva
http://www.riuva.com/

Although tj_han is a troll, too, he’s a much higher class of criminal. Indeed, there are plenty of times when I begin to think that his incredibly dry, sarcastic wit should be illegal. A self-described “avatar of uninhibited Asian nerd desire”, he consistently writes the harsh, invective posts that everyone else was thinking but didn’t want to say.

[ halcyon realms ]
http://halcyonrealms.com/

An industry insider, yonghow frequently shares great photos and stories from Japan. In addition to fun tales from the anime industry, this site features some great art from a wide range of Japanese artists.

H.C.Staff
http://www.houseofsixten.com/hcstaff/

Because cute makes right. Sixten is an artist in every sense of the term, and his site showcases many of his artistic works, whether in drawing, composing, or just writing.

Go on, what are you waiting for, a cookie?

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Unfortunately I’ve started developing some symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome in my left hand, so I’m currently wearing a brace and trying to take it easy as much as possible.

It’s actually rather frustrating, not only because it affects my ability to perform my job, but also because I had a bunch of really cool posts I was working on and had hoped to share with you guys this week. I still plan to post a couple of things this weekend, but unfortunately I’ll have to back off my original blogging schedule a bit to make sure that I’m allowing myself to recuperate properly.

I dealt with RSI in my other hand some years back, so fortunately I know how to recognize the symptoms early and how to properly treat myself. It shouldn’t be a big deal, so no need to worry about me. I mainly wanted to let you guys know the reason why I’ll be reducing the post count for a while.

In other news, Guff finished his summer Japanese study program and is in Hokkaido now. He also still has not sent me any pictures or other blog post material, the lazy bum. Hopefully he’ll have some good stories for us once he actually settles down and comes back to the U.S.

Also Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 and Canaan are both incredibly awesome. Hopefully I’ll actually be able to put together some good posts about them in the near future.

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みんなメリークリスマス! Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope Santa Claus brought you all lots of rare figures and doujinshi and moe goodness this yuletide season. Alas, I didn’t get any of those, even though I went so far as to leave a tray of mochi and a box of Pocky out by the fireplace for him. Damn, what could’ve gone wrong? I thought that would work for sure…

Although we weren’t able to post nearly as much as we would have liked this year, we want to continue our annual tradition by taking a moment to remember all you guys who have read and commented on Epic Win over the last year. I feel bad because I haven’t been very good about responding to comments recently (something I hope to do better on in future), but both Guff and I do read and appreciate each and every comment on this site.

Yes, even the ones that disagree with us. After all, even we need a good slap upside the head every once in a while.

To us, it’s an encouragement to keep on blogging, and to always try to put together the best posts we can. It’s a reminder that people appreciate the work we put into blogging. And most importantly, it’s a way to connect with other like-minded people around the globe, to exchange thoughts and ideas, to learn about new things or understand a different perspective.

President Aria says “Bwai-nyaa~”, which is probably President Aria speak for “Merry Christmas!”

Seasonal salutations and bountiful melon pan be unto you all!

Well, as Orion said it’s been a somewhat tumultuous year for the both of us. However, we fully intend to continue writing about anime and all things Japanese. On a personal note, grad school has really given me the opportunity to write about anime in an academic discipline, and I mean it sincerely when I say that the contributions, comments, and encouragement from you, all of our faithful readers, was hugely helpful in my continued interest in writing about anime. I’m not much for senseless sentimentality but when I look through comments left by readers to see that they have discovered a new series or even revisited an old one, it makes everything we do here worthwhile.

It’s quite enthralling to know that we can engage in this dialogue about anime with such a great group of people who love animation and Japanese culture in general as much as we do. We really appreciate your continued readership and insightful feedback; it’s all part of what makes Epic Win, well…epic. A most heartfelt thanks and a happy holidays to everyone!

Thus, to everyone listed below, all of you who have taken time out of your day to not only read, but also share a few thoughts of your own, thank you. We really appreciate it, and hope to keep on bringing the Epic Win for as long as we can…

/lol/
-uN.Kagami
A Transfer
Adun
ahbonk
albert_2mb
Amethyst
andrea
Andy
AnimeExtreme
Anon
Anonymous
Anonymous Anon
artmonkey
AS
Ashley
Asperger’s Anime Blogger
Avatar
Avitty
aya valentine
Beowulf Lee
berkles
Beth Loggins
Big D
blauereiter
blissmo
blue
boatswain
bob
Cafechan
Caitlin
Cal
CalAggie
Calawain
CanCan
CCY
chris
coburn
Corey
Concerned
Confabulation
Curbside
Curuniel
Damhill
Dark otakutimes.com
DeathToZippermouth
Dendscie
Dennis
Deranged
Derek
DEXTER
Dio Bravo
DmonHiro
double
Drew
DS
Dustin
Echonov
elezend
Ennui
Eric
Eugene
Eyestrain
Fanboy
fener
FortMan
frog212
Gameboon
Gevulde Kex
Hangmen
Heather
heidi
Hidoshi
Hige
Hinano
Hiyuu
hungaricum
Hyunk
iaaapsmo
Ian K
IcyStorm
iiop
IKnight
Impz
Individuo
Insertname
intro
issa-sa
Izumi-chan
J
Jayme
Jaroslav
Jess
Jesus159159159
Jim Burdo
Jizzy
Josh
jpmeyer
Junkie-kun
Jupebox
kaato
Kabitzin
Kaioshin Sama
Kairu Ishimaru
Kamina
Karura
Katy
KesenaiTsumi
Kidalanna
Kiku Kenshiro
Korina
korosora
kucigaromeo
Kurogane
lanie-emon
lbrevis
LDC
LG
lh_sabre
Link
lolikitsune
Lona
Lupus
Lustrous Realm
Maii
Martin
me
Melonman
Michael
Mike
Mikoto
Miku-Chan
MK
moha
muhootsaver
Name
natsuneko
Nazarielle
NegativeZero
Nekonron
NightFoxXIII
NomNom
nunka
nutcase23
ogma
Omisyth
oOgA
outlawwolf
Owaranai Destiny
Owen S
OwlDepot
PQQ
Prince~kun
Prufrock
psgels
Ra
Revan
RevolutionJoe
Riko
rosachinensis
Rose Koneko
royalty
Saceria
Sagacious C
Saroko-nii
Servbot
Setsuna-san
SH
shirokiryuu
shogun22
Sigue
Sixten
smintx
Steven Den Beste
super rats
Sylon
T.K.
Tadakichi
Taiyaki
Teresa
TheBigN
The Sojourner
The Worlds Welshest Weeaboo
tj han
Totali
totoum
Trev
usagijen
USB500
Vallerie
venus
Vinicius
wazawaza
Weils
westbluef
Will
Windspirit
xenosagafreak
XiaNaphryz
Yogurti~!
Zanathan
Zehos
Zeke
Zeroblade
Zyl

I just couldn’t resist re-using this gif again this year. =P

To everyone, thanks for reading and commenting!

And to all you long-time readers, thanks so much for sticking with us over the course of the last year. Look forward to us getting back into our old groove with our 2008 Anime Awards, starting tomorrow.  :D

And yes, I haven’t forgotten Zyl that we still owe you a post for being the 1000th commenter from way back in January, right before we went on hiatus. We’ll look to rectify that within the next couple weeks here, hopefully. Sorry! OTL

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Sheesh, I leave for a couple months and all the anime bloggers start dying off faster than the cast of a Key game. Or perhaps Higurashi would be a more appropriate metaphor, since true bloggers never really die, they just go nuts every once in a while and then eventually everything resets.

Speaking of which, I think we’re about ready to open up shop again here at Epic Win. It’s been a long and busy year, but fortunately things are starting to settle down finally. Having just finished the JLPT level 2 (bleh), along with a couple big deadlines at work, I’ve switched to consumption mode and am busy working through my to-watch backlog. Oh, and if anybody has any recommendations for stuff from this year you think I should be checking out, feel free to let me know. 

So far, from among the currently broadcasting series, I’ve gotten current with Soul Eater, Kannagi, ToraDora, Xamdou, and Index. I’m also working my way through other series from earlier in the year that I didn’t have time to follow. In addition, I rewatched a couple of my older favorites – Utawarerumono and Black Lagoon. Both are awesome series that I highly recommend, by the way.

This picture is supposed to represent myself and Guff, or something. You know, if we were cute Japanese highschool girls, that is… don’t try to think about that too hard.

You know, I find it interesting that the most common reason I see given by bloggers who are taking a break is, “Sorry, I’m out of ideas.”

While we haven’t posted as much recently, I have to say, one thing we’ve never been short on here is fun ideas for the blog. Our only difficulty has been just plain lack of time, both for watching and for writing. I’m confident that as long as we can make time for it, we’ll be here blogging at Epic Win for a long, long while to come. Of course, at the same time, it really pains me to look back through all those unfinished drafts here in Wordpress, and all the unfinished series in MAL I need to catch up on.

Anyway, as much as I usually abhor making posts about posting, I figured after a good four months of silence we owed our readers at least some measure of explanation. For my own part, it’s been the combination of my very time-consuming occupational pursuits, some prolonged illness, and more focused Japanese studies. And yes, as much as I hate to admit it, my push to get Gladiator for arena season 4 probably had something to do with it, too… *ahem*

If you have no idea what that means, don’t worry, you’re better off that way. =P

Because grape hippo is awesome.

As for Guff, true to his avatar, he seems to have been off gallivanting across the world pursuing the Ginko lifestyle… I’ll let him fill you in himself, though.

Well, after finishing my Japanese studies in Sapporo this summer, only one thought plagued me constantly – the thought of returning back to that little bakery in Matsumoto. However, during my travels I somehow made a gross miscalculation and ended up here at the University of Aberdeen instead, and as we all know Scotland is categorically not a Japanese bakery filled with delicious sweets.

Look I can explain… in the endeavor to achieve my dream of becoming like Ginko, traveling throughout the globe selling homemade apothecary remedies, smoking merrily, and offering sagacious wisdom to all, I somehow ended up arriving in Aberdeen: a cold city bereft of both curry rice and Pocari Sweat.

After stumbling about fruitlessly in search for some sign of civilization - a ramen shop, a Gamers, a Family Mart, even just a cigarette vending machine, it became painfully obvious that I had made a Ryoga caliber logistical error.

I’m the map, I’m the map, I’m the map.

So, while my attempt to be as fearlessly cool as Ginko has ended in colossal failure, I did at least manage to find a place that would entertain my fascination with “t3h animus” in a serious academic environment. Or they might simply be too kind to inform me that I’m not actually enrolled in the University and are just waiting for the day that security escorts me off the premises and revokes my library card.

I’ll say this, the fact that I can receive credit from a degree granting institution on a postgraduate level for writing about obscure artists, philosophy, and anime is quite WIN indeed. In other personal related news of the less disastrous variety, I’ve also submitted my application to the JET program in hopes, though the prospect of me attempting to educate impressionable young children is probably laughable to the people currently reviewing my application. We’ll see how it goes.

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Hard to believe that it’s already been a full year since Guff and I first set up digs here, our humble abode at www.epicwin.org. It’s been a long and somewhat rocky path, as I’m sure is evidenced by our post count in recent months, but all in all we don’t regret one second of the time we’ve put into this site.

As always, first and foremost I have to thank all of you, our readers, for making our blogging adventure a fun and fulfilling one. I’ve always tried to stress the fact that you guys are what makes this site fun, and that we really appreciate your involvement in our own little nook of the internet here. That goes especially to you guys who are still here reading now despite our inconsistent blogging schedule as of late. Without all of you we would be just another empty blip on the internet radar, a hollow monologue talking for only ourselves to hear. For a writer, the idea that there might be no audience out there to ever read the work that you’ve slaved over and poured yourself into is truly disheartening.

Fortunately, that’s something we’ve never really had to worry about here at Epic Win thanks to you all. I especially want to give a big shout out to all of our blogging sempai who have linked to us, supported us, read and commented on our work, and most importantly continued to encourage and motivate us through their own excellent writing. Through participation in the anime blogging community, I’ve become aware of many great anime series and manga that I would never have watched or read otherwise. Likewise Guff and I feel that we have been able to spread our own excitement for a number of off-the-wall but still very fun series, to create new fans and broaden people’s interests.

And most of all, I’ve gotten to know many many fascinating people from all over the globe. I haven’t often taken the time to step back and really think about it, but the influence of the anime blogging community (I hate the term “blogosphere” so I’m trying very hard to avoid using it here =P) has really helped me broaden my perspective, to open up to and appreciate things I would not have otherwise, to think more critically, and to be more aware of the world around me.

Unfortunately, Guff was unable to tear himself away from his hectic schedule in Japan to add his own thoughts at this time, but I’m sure if he could, he would concur with everything I have said thus far. Hopefully he’ll be able to add a few words in a comment once he gets the time. =D

When Guff and I first started our little venture here at Epic Win, we weren’t quite sure what to expect. We didn’t really know whether we would ever get any readers, or whether anyone would be interested in or entertained by our commentary. Fortunately, the success of the site has been far beyond what we ever imagined it would become.

After one full year, according to Google Analytics this site has racked up a stunning (to us) 500,000 pageviews from over 100,000 unique visitors, who hail from 139 different countries around the globe. At our peak of popularity, December ‘07 and January ‘08, we had upwards of 4,000 pageviews a day on the site.

Our single most popular entry, with over 15,000 views, has proven to be our entry from last October entitled The Good, The Bad, and The Moe: The Fall ‘07 Anime Rankings, in which we numerically ranked every series from the new crop of anime in that season according to our preference. Coming in at a close second, as well as being one of our personal favorite posts, with just shy of 15k views is our infamous 48 Reasons Why Lucky Star is Awesome.

Other popular posts include all of our 2007 Anime Award Show series, which ran for 7 days, our Top Ten Things I Want as Plushies article, and surprisingly our first look at the quirky but fun anime Moyashimon, which each racked up over 10,000 views apiece.

Once again, thanks to everybody who’s taken the time to read our stuff and to add their own thoughts whether through comments or trackbacks or e-mails or IRC conversations. We’ve put countless hours of our time in brainstorming and writing the posts we put up on this site, and to see the appreciation you guys have shown really means a lot to us and gives us the encouragement to keep on writing, even as everyday life gets crazier and business with each passing day.

* 0rion sheds a single tear *

Now if we can just find the time to post more than once a month we’ll be doing great! In all seriousness, though, I still do hope to keep this updated more regularly and to crank out more great content for you guys. I’m just committed to making sure everything we post on Epic Win is truly Epic Win. No filler episodes here!

With all that said, fat wall-o-text that it is, I’ll simply say one more time that you guys have all been awesome and you all deserve a big Konata good job!

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Breaking news! The sudden disappearance of superstar bloggers 0rion and Guff over two months ago had left the anime blogosphere in a state of shock, and theories abounded regarding the whereabouts of the former tag team blogging duo.

Today we bring you breaking headline news to report on the status of Epic Win with a live interview with none other than the previously MIA, thought deceased writers themselves.

So Orion, needless to say the world is waiting with bated breath to hear about where you and Guff have been over the last few months, and the reason for your unannounced absence. Would you care to fill us in?

Certainly, 0rion.

I can only imagine the sadness that must have filled the intertubes after our sudden departure. Such irony that we ourselves would fall victim to the dread Hiatus Disease so soon after posting about it.

Regardless, we are still alive and have every intention of resuming a relatively normal posting schedule. Reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated. We’re not dead yet! We’re getting better! We can still fight! Etc., etc.

The truth of the matter is that it was not one, nor even two, but in fact a series of unfortunate events that plagued our valiant attempts to blog as usual. In keeping with anime blogger tradition, I am now contractually required to provide ten of them in a reverse-order numerically ranked list with bullet points.

So without further ado I present…

The Top Ten Reasons Behind The Disappearance of Epic Win: Redundant Title of Redundancy Twice

#10. Kidnapped by yakuza and forced to play endless games of restricted Tic-Tac-Toe

I should have known this would happen.

First our attempts to corner the X market backfired, then when our O buyout failed us as well, Orion was forced to bludgeon our captors senseless with his lethal vale tudo techniques. Thankfully, he was in fact, fully clothed at the time.

#9. Hospitalized after overdosing on sunshine pie

After our narrow escape from the Blimp of Hope, or whatever that place was called, we thought it would be safe to relax a bit.

And what better way than to relax than with a slice of sunshine pie? Little did we realize the power of its addictive nature.

At first you think to yourself, “Hey, I’ll just cut myself a slice, you know? Yeah, just one slice should be fine…I can handle it…”

Then your appetite grows more and more insatiable, and soon you’re hooked. The next thing you know, you’re curled in the fetal position on the floor in an empty room (after having sold all your possessions) gnawing at your knuckles anticipating your next fix. It ain’t pretty, that’s for sure.

#8. Ran out of spiral energy AND molepig steaks

After the inevitable pie-induced withdrawal crash, we were left lifeless and torpid, too lethargic to even raise our drills skyward, let alone pierce the heavens with them.

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It’s impossible to pierce the heavens without spiral energy. And without pig-mole steaks, you have no spiral energy. And without spiral energy, well, those heavens are categorically impenetrable. Seriously dude, don’t even try to pierce them. You’re just going to hurt yourself.

#7. Spirited away by Oyashiro-sama

Sheesh, if I had a nickel for every time this happened…

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You’d have a nickel?

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Precisely. But hey, on the bright side, I was considering taking the year dead for tax purposes anyway. I just wish I didn’t have to claw out my own throat, ya know?

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#6. Sent on an arduous journey to fetch fresh water from Mt. Fuji

Well, this is what I get for not checking the fine print in my job description. Next time that wench wants some fresh water I’ll point her to the sink. To think I braved dense forests, massive killer insects, and altitude sickness only to be abruptly repudiated upon my return. It’s an outrage, I say! Why it’s almost enough to make me want to wreak complete havoc upon my coworkers and place of business!

#5. Stuck on the stairway to heaven

Eating bad shitake mushrooms can prove to have quite the unpleasant array of side effects. You walk about in a daze only to find yourself on an endless staircase, and worse yet, there’s that little bastard of a bullfrog to pester you the whole way up. Talk about obnoxious.

You’d think we would have learned our lesson after the sunshine pie incident. >_<

Ah well, such is the life of a bounty hunter.

I mean blogger.

#4. Performed a forbidden transmutation

You know it seemed like a good idea at the time. KyoAni seemed to be stuck on making key-game adaptations and our precious SOS-dan had been pigeon-holed yet again. After stumbling upon some forbidden alchemy texts we learned that it was possible transmute the “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya” box set, a Tachikoma figure, and a Moyashimon plushie into “The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya.”

Unfortunately, however, as the circle was completed we were swept beyond the gate into a strange forbidden realm, one where our blogging powers no longer worked.

Why, oh why did ever try to play God!?

#3. Chasing the rain, chasing the rainbow

Just when we thought our misadventures were finally over, this chap wanders over and says he’s looking for rainbows. Wants to bring one home with him, he says. Well, I tried pointing him in the general direction of San Francisco, but he explained that he wasn’t looking for that kind of rainbow. Well what the heck, I had always wanted to find that giant bowl of Lucky Charms at the end of the rainbow, so why not?

Moses, that is last time I join some random vagabond on a cross-country rainbow-hunting excursion. I had to lug that huge pot the whole way to boot, and wouldn’t you know it, we finally got there and the rainbow wouldn’t fit. To make matters worse, I now have this insatiable desire to run wild like a lunatic every time it rains. Good thing we live in California, where that kind of thing only happens about once a year.

#2. Forgot to construct additional pylons

Sometimes you think you’ve got everything under control. Your zealots are swift, your templars are psionic, and your carriers are about to arrive. And then it happens…you realize that you do not have enough pylons, that you need to go constructing additional ones. I hate it when that happens.

Honestly, I feel like I should set my alarm clock to just play that Protoss announcement over and over; it would certainly have matched my mood well enough the past few months.

#1. Zetsubou Shita!!

So yeah, basically life has been sucking lately. I went through a nasty bout with the flu not once but TWICE within the last few months, and between that and trying to stay caught up with my deadlines at work there has just not been much time, energy, or creativity left in the locker for blogging. The cupboard, as they say, was bare. And once you fall behind in watching/blogging, it gets harder and harder to get back into the groove and pick up again, so a short hiatus due to illness became a longer hiatus due to stress which in the end nearly proved the death knell of this site.

At any rate, that’s been my life recently. Don’t know what Guff’s excuse is; probably just laziness like always.

Oh, you’d like to think that your last semester would be the easy one, but no. Those textbooks will rape your bank account and mind alike. Every time I go to write a post I get ambushed by Chaucer, Zizek, and Foucault. Let me get this straight: you take all my money, and then you make me work in exchange for the privilege of giving you all my money? Congratulations higher academia, you’re the biggest scam since Avon.

In all sincerity folks, school this semester has been utterly ridiculous. If i wasn’t so close to graduating I’d head to dean’s office, demand my money back and defecate in the campus fountain right now. We really apologize for our unprecedented period of inactivity, but we’re back now and plan to stay that way. Thanks for your patience; we really appreciate it.

To those of you who are still here and reading this: thank you. You guys are the real fans, the ones for whom we happily dedicate our time and energy to write. Thanks for sticking around through the dry times; here’s hoping that the Golden Age of Win shall return, and that it shall be Epic indeed. ;D

So there you have it folks! Today’s report was brought to you live exclusively from Epic Win. We now return you to your regularly scheduled internet. 0rion out!

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While variety is the spice and wolf of life, and while we like always mixing things up here, it’s also good to know what kind of content you guys enjoy most.

In our contest last month I asked, among other things, what you wanted to see more of here at Epic Win. Between that and our recent poll, I think I’ve gotten a pretty good idea of what our core audience is looking for.

1. Funny Stuff

Totali: “Random funnies are the best.”

tj_han: “More funny posts!”

Crisu: “just funny Japanese newsy stuff will do.”

Hiyuu: “The funny stuff. Everyone can blog about anime and review episodes, but only a few can make funny parodies or crack hilarious jokes while at it. So far, I think there’s plenty of it, but wouldn’t it be nice if there was more”

True to form, the voice of the internet has spoken, and according the result of our latest poll “random funny stuff” is what it desires. Really, I shouldn’t be surprised.

Of course, we enjoy doing silly random posts a quite a bit, and try to do so as often as possible. On the other hand, it tends to be the kind of thing that happens only when inspiration strikes. Trying to force things only makes the posts become unfunny and boring instead. That said, however, we do have a few good entertaining posts in the works.

Right now with the new season just starting, a lot of our attention is going to the new series that are airing, but once things settle down a bit we’ll have some fun random stuff for you guys.

We do have a couple rainy day/lazy Sunday posts in queue which we hope will provide you with lulz. We’re saving them for a special occasion, however… namely, when we get around to actually finishing them.

2. Rants and Editorials

xenosagafreak: “Interesting rants! And more hilarity!”

Owen: “Uhh, more wordy analytical stuff. Less pictures. I have no idea, since your blog is really fine as it is right now.”

JRoxas: “I think it’s fine as-is, though a bit more editorial-y or OMG CONTROVERSIAL stuff might be nice.”

Zeke: “More critical blogs of the queer anime that is popular for no reason.”

IcyStorm: “Hmm, maybe some more editorial-ish posts and more epic posts such as the 48 Reasons Why Lucky Star Is Awesome.”

The second most popular choice in our poll was “Rants & thought provoking editorials”. This is also unsurprising. After “random funny”, the internet loves nothing more than watching a good mudslinging flamewar ranting contest.

Unfortunately for them, watching Aria has made me too mellow and happy to get angry at anybody, and Guff is too lazy to do more than just complain verbally. However, I am working on a follow-up post to my earlier flame-inducing complaints regarding Clannad, which I hope to post some time next week.

The problem is that quarreling and debating involve expending tremendous amounts of energy, energy that I don’t have. So rather than wearing ourselves out with vociferous rants, we’d just as soon have a nice cup of sake and say, “To each his own.”

And to us, epic win.

As for editorials, our recent commentary on what makes a good anime OP generated some seriously quality feedback, and we are working on a follow-up to that as well to flesh out the discussion further. I’ve also got several other interesting editorial posts in the works, but I’m pretty slow when it comes to putting together wordy entries like these, so who knows when they’ll see the light of day. OTL

DominicRaze: “I love the tag team style, but I would also like to see some multi-blog posting! Hook up with a couple of good writers in some other blogs and link to each others sites mid rant – tag it off and expand the blogging community why not?”

Now this is a really excellent point and something I’ve aimed for ever since the blog’s inception. I read quite a few other anime blogs, and I like to pick up interesting topics I see elsewhere and run with them. This kind of thing tends to come and go, and it depends on whether something I read catches my fancy.

The “What Makes A Good Anime OP?” post is one of those, although technically it was inspired by a comment Steven Den Beste made here on Epic Win.

Other posts that I’ve done in this vein in the past include the follow-up to tj_han’s “Anime Blogger Subspecies” and our tongue-in-cheek response to all the cries of “The sky is falling!” that were spawned by Justin Sevakis’ recent editorial on ANN about the state of the anime industry.

3. Episode Reviews

The third most popular choice in our poll was for us to do more episode reviews, which I was glad to see, as they make for the “bread and butter” of this site. Episode reviews give us something consistent to talk about every week and help fill in slow periods when we’re too busy lazy to write anything else.

As you’ve probably already noticed, I’ve recently started doing some solo episode reviews after watching the raws of new series. Up until now all of our episode reviews have been tag-team style posts, but since Guff doesn’t understand those hard Nippon words, that necessitated our waiting until fansubs were available before blogging about the episode.

Since Guff is conveniently away on vacation right now, and since I watch everything raw, I went ahead and started blogging about the new shows that interested me, so as to be a bit more timely with the posts. We will definitely continue doing some tag-team style episode reviews, of course, but those posts will unfortunately always be a bit slower coming out.

Oh, rub it in man. Yes, I’m horribly illiterate when it comes to those crazy Japanese moon runes and my spoken vocabulary is somewhere between “baka gaijin,” and babbling infant. Also, I’m actually back from vacation (snowboarding) and it is good to be back.

Oshi-

When did you sneak in here?

4. Series Reviews

DeathToZippermouth: “Perhaps your thoughts on older series”

Ser Jaime: “I’d go with the review of some random old series. But I do like the variety of articles, tomfoolery and whatnot.”

The Worlds Weshest Weeaboo: “More awesome blogging if such a thing can be achieved, what with you being so handsome and wonderful already. Reviews of whole series are fine as well.”

This is something I also have in the works, although I’m not nearly as diligent about doing straight “reviews” of a show as guys like bateszi or Martin. Our style is generally much more suited to random commentary than in depth analysis of the merits or shortcomings of a series, really.

Most likely, I’ll save review posts for slow times when there’s not much else to post about.

I had actually considered on doing a review of one or more of my favorite series; the problematic thing is condensing the myriad of comments and memories down to a cohesive article. I’d love it if this season we were able to do another review similar to our “48 Reasons Why Lucky Star is Awesome” post, though. That was really enjoyable.

5. Stories and Photos of Japan

Martin: “I love the anecdotes and Japan-related trivia that you work into the posts…moar photos would be nice too.”

AS: “Same as above, posts other than anime would be nice time to time.”

TheBigN: “More posts about real-life adventures, since I love that sort of thing.”

xXmikotoNakadaiXx: “More stories about Japan. i really loved your post detailing your noble journey in Miyajima Island and I’d like to see more. ”

Nekonron: “Random funny stuff related to anime and tales from Japan, but not too much that it affects the other types of posts. Balance is good”

CCY: “Some non-anime posts, like you said, would be a nice change of pace. Japan does spark my curiosity, and since it’s something that not a lot of us can blog about, a nice balanced view on it would be interesting. I would like to see what else there is other than Akihabara and overpriced (but still win) merchandise”

Although this didn’t get as many votes in the poll, it was definitely the popular choice among those who commented.

As I mentioned previously, this is something Guff and I really want to start posting about regularly. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 100GBs of photos from my time in Japan, and I always love sharing those photos and reminiscing. We do have a couple of interesting posts in the queue right now, but mainly I’m waiting until the winter anime season gets underway and we can settle into our groove.

Hopefully in the near future, however, Japan-themed photoblog style posts will become a regular feature here, with one or two new ones coming every week.

My colleague has spent considerably more time in Japan than I have and is far more accustomed to the language and culture. That said, some of our travels definitely merit a post or two, if for nothing else than just the photos. Hopefully we’ll be able to roll some of those out in the near future. If nothing else it should convince you that the only way to truly receive epic amounts of win is to travel to the source from which it flows – Japan.

6. Other

korosora: “Erotic literature.”

*ahem*

Our answer… show

Now then, moving right along before things become awkward…

Thanks to everyone who took the time to share your thoughts. And if you didn’t get a chance to comment on the other thread, or if you have something further you want to add, please by all means let us know.

We try to take the feedback you guys give us seriously, and to learn what works and what doesn’t work. Also, if you have something you’d like to see us write about, feel free to drop us an e-mail any time and let us know.

As a quick final note – this marks Epic Win’s 100th post. Woohoo!

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