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A Farewell to Episodic Blogging: Off to Discover My Naritai Jibun
With the outpour of the new Spring animes, I’ve been thinking a lot about what blogging style I should really adopt and stick to. I had already gone weary of making summary posts, not because of the elitist view that editorials and other writing styles are superior to episode summaries, but rather because it’s not my niche. I suck at summarizing, and I’m not being modest at that. The amount of time I spend on writing these is just ridiculous, ranging from 3-5 hours or more, depending on the anime. And the thing I hate most about this is that much of my time is wasted thinking about how to describe the scenes. How more lame could that be.
More often than not, I’m not even satisfied with the summary I churn out. Again, because I suck. (I’m not soliciting any sympathies here; I’m just stating mere facts) So why bother spending hours on something whose results are far from what you’d be proud of, when you can capitalize on your strengths instead?
These thoughts already came to me a few months back, during Fall 2007, hence the change in my blogging style, particularly for KimiKiss and Shugo Chara, though I dropped the latter a few months after. The same goes for True Tears, whose bandwagon I joined halfway through the show, with the sudden spark of writing motivation I had. What I liked most about blogging KimiKiss and True Tears is how the shows itself compelled me to write. And I believe that’s the tried-and-true Way of BloggingTM.
To each his own niche, and I now declare freedom from the shackles of episodic blogging! (Or more specifically, the act of tying myself down to the commitment of writing out a post for each episode that airs each week) Yes dear readers, after almost a year of blogging, it’s only now that I’ve come to realize my HONTOU no JIBUN. If you see me regularly churning out insightful or fun posts about the ongoing shows, that just means it’s all the more indicator that I LOVE what I’m watching. No poser masks, whatsoever~
Then… looking back at my comment on the undying editorial vs episode summary debate in Zyl’s blog…
…I find it harder to make editorial posts than episodic ones, which is why I stick to doing it.
I think I was being a poser Amu here, because my NARITAI JIBUN prefers to write editorials, may it be about otaku life, or some in-depth analysis of an anime and its characters, etc. (in addition to the nonsensical posts I make from time to time). That’s where I find the most fulfillment. And of course I can also capitalize on my pimping power, if I can still do the same feat as I did with Toshokan Sensou 
…and that explains why I haven’t been so active in blogging the new shows lately, though I have a couple of planned posts in mind. Now without committing myself to [rigid] episodic blogging, I can have more time to procrastinate cook up posts for a wider variety of animes, and of more worth (or fun, at least), I hope~
The blogging adventure continues~
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LOL, well I can’t say much because I don’t spoil myself by reading summaries but by reading thoughts, so if you had anything wrong with your writing, I don’t think I’ve ever noticed it. And the blogging adventure will always continue~
I wish you the best of luck!
PS if it makes you feel any better, my summarizing writing isn’t so good either …
One of us one of us one of us.
Welcome to the dark side (or is that light!?). You’ll find it a pleasant experience considering you’ve been straddling both sides for a long time already — I mean, you’ve been writing editorials at the pace of one per episode for a lot of kimikiss, so I guess this step was only natural? As long as you’re having fun doing it…
Also, congratulations to your Narimashita Jibun.
Don’t worry, I waste a lot of time to describe the scenes too..
It also took me 3-5 hours to write a single post.
Sometimes it is tiring to write a post. Most of the time I don’t know what to write, because I don’t know how to describe some scenes..and I always end up writing a bad one..
I’m still trying to find some ways to make writing posts more enjoyable and less time consuming..
So, try your best and good luck!
Yay! Congrats on finding your hontou no jibun
I’ll be looking forward to more of your great editorials.
Well, so long as you enjoy writing they way you write and you write interesting entries (and I for one find them interesting) it’s all good. And as Owen says, you managed editorials at an episodic pace for Kimikiss.
‘Kung saan ka, susuportahan kita.’
Good luck on this new endeavor of yours. The PLDT commercial represents my support for you.
Precisely why I don’t really do episodes unless I want to make myself laugh like an idiot
@Blissmo: By the time you started visiting our blog, I don’t think I was writing any summary posts anymore, so lol.
@Owen: yes, I guess I am becoming one of you, or tj (and his randomness), or Iwa ni Hana…?
@Setsukyie: the thing is, I don’t have all the time in the world, because of my work. I guess that’s one of my other greatest qualm
thanks, and the best of luck with your blogging endeavors too! ^^
@Senna: hehe, thanks~~
@IKnight: aw, you don’t know how happy that made me feel~ :3
@Mike: lool, thanks! it’s not really new, though, as Owen has also mentioned. It’s like I was already doing it, but it’s only now that I’ve openly embraced it
@DrmChsr0: to each his own~~ and hey, I don’t want this to be a flame bait for those who enjoy doing episodic stuff :p
nooooOOOOooooooo we’ve been betrayed! Owen takes another poor victim to the dark side!!!
JK. I actually think this switch is more fitting to your style as well…..actually, without even realizing when, it kind of seemed like you already made the switch within the past few months.
Blogging freedom FTW
I said it in one of your other posts, but write the way you want. I love reading the anime summaries, i won’t deny it, but i can’t write them properly. Which is why i dropped doing anime and moved onto focusing on manga. Since with that my posts sort of write themselves.
If you look at a post and don’t feel happy about it, then there’s something wrong.
Write the way YOU want to write, not the way people expect or want you to write. It’s your blog after all. So you should be able to look at a post and be happy with it.
Sure you’re going to get a few disgruntled idiots who’ll whine about the change, but you get those everywhere
So long as you write, and you’re happy, thats all that counts.
I remember when i moved to manga only, i was told no one would visit my blog. And it’s true i don’t get many commentors, yet i still manage to rack up around 500 hits a day. As well as getting visits from the likes of DC, Tokyopop, Del Rey and others, so i must be doing something right
Remember that line from Feild of Dreams with costner, ‘build it and they will come’ well it applies here aswell
‘write it, and they will come’
well I slept right through this. 3-5 hours is a ton of time no matter how you look at it. For myself, I like putting short blibs on episodes, which is part of the reason I use melative reflections, but then there is the snapshots, but I created AniSnaps to handle that as well… Now, 10-15 minutes from the end of an episode, I have a reflections and snaps online; simplicity ^^
I look forward to more editorial style, as well as this “pimp” blogging. ^^ Cheers
It’s awesome that you finally found a blogging style that works for you. I’m haveing a party for you in my head, with snacks and DDR, and…and…(well I haven’t figured out the rest yet but I’ll get back to you.) I do hope you will keep up with Shug Chara manga though. I’ve been dying to read chapter 28 but I’m not going to push you. Just have fun!
And i thought you wrote something about Shugo Chara – aka Amu & Ikuto
@Totali: haha, yes! viva Blog Freedom! \o/
@Tiamat: that’s the true spirit of blogging! ^-^ I doubt there will be disgruntled idiots who’ll complain about this change, unless I did this change in the middle of the anime season
@Ryan: yeah, and I found what you did real nifty, Ryan ^^ thanks for the support too!
@cresentdreamer: haha, rest assured I will post about Shugo Chara chapter 28
I’m as eager as you guys are to read it, coz I have yet to see the scans of it!
@KazumaXX: aw, don’t worry KazumaXX… I will write about those two, sooonnn~
Music to my ears. I’ve been considering the same. I mean seriously, if I really wanted to read a summary … I’d go read RandomC. =/
Usually takes me anywhere from 2-3 hours to crank out summaries as well. I find that I keep re-hashing the same sentence beginners as well, which I try to avoid because it makes reading a bore. (As, When, While, The…)
Nevertheless, if I were to do editorials, I’m not sure how we’ll I’d do. For example, for Itazura na Kiss 2, I could probably only pump out a paragraph… =/
Not to mention the Purpose I have in my blog’s About page, stating that my blog is to help others (and myself) better understand various anime series, and it’s hard to do that without summaries.
In short, I’d like to take your path, but cannot. =p
3-5 hours! I would change my style too, since that is a crazy amount of time to put in for every single episode. In the end, it’s finding out what works for you and lets you express your thoughts best. Good luck with the new style, you have evolved like Raichu!
I once did this when I tried blogging Ergo Proxy. I just realized that summaries weren’t my thing a lot earlier. But still, note that editorials also take a chunk of your time, believe it or not.
Still, it’s better to love what you do than hate it.
Wow 3-5 hours. Well do whatever make you happy.
Remember Noe likes genki people, to be sad and self loathing is anathema to the Noe way. While I am confident of your support for Amuto goodness I hope that Itazura na Kiss will receive your good esteem as well.
I admit my first instinct was to rib you for your down and out attitude of the first few paragraphs, but in deference to your services to Noe I will spare you from my overly mean remarks about why we are all “really” here.
woah i know writing summaries are hard. i too “suffer” it by writing tutorials and articles. anyway i love the way you post and i believe if you just write in the way you are , your feelings would definitely spread to us! if you are doing a new style then good luck in it! i support ya!
so dont worry if you cant be up to standard , just like others said this is your blog so post in your way. like me
i have my own site and i just design the way i like and people likes it better 
so ganbatte! XDD
@Nagato: in time Nagato, you shall find your own path too :p
@Kabitzin: yes, that is especially what happened to my Saiunkoku and Kaze no Stigma blogging @__@ and yes for evolution! but… Raichu rofl.
@Mike: yes, I do know for a fact that editorials also take a lot of time, but I feel that the time I invest on it is far more worth it
@Crusader: oh noes~ was I giving off negative chi DX oh well, it’s just one of the harsh truths I had to embrace hehe. And yes, I hope to churn out more Itazura na Kiss posts too! still thinking of interesting stuff to write
@Ziyan: aw thank you!! =3
Nagato, rather than doing summaries, do overviews. Just covering the key points, your thoughts and stuff.
And sometimes, it’s better to have a solid paragraph rather than 6 paragraphs that are all over the place
@ Tiamat: Hmm. Hey, do you think you could give me critique on my articles?
Since people have been talking about how long it takes to blog one episode, I actually timed myself.
And then one LONG summary is like 1hr, but I don’t describe the scenes since I cbs. I just write what happens lols. And then it takes like half and hour to get snapshots cos i do it the long way. Print Scrn, Copy, Paste, Save method with Windows Media. Tried using vlc for snapshots but it just doesn’t feel the same, you know?
Still haven’t timed the short summary, but i think it’s like 30-40mins? Or maybe that’s what it FEELS like. Who knows, I probably take 4 hrs to write a post >_>
@Blissmo: oh I forgot to say one thing… when I was summarizing all the stuff I summarized, I did so with either raw or chinese subs, so that also takes a little bit more time hehe.
well if you wrote a post for 4 hours but didn’t feel that it took you that long, then that’s just great! it means you don’t feel that you’ve wasted much time :3