Hello everyone, just a short(ish) announcement about the future of the site going forward. Basically content will be a lot less going forward, from what was (pre-holiday) two posts a day will be more sporadic, I might post every second day or I might only post once a week. This blog is going to be more focused on opinion pieces and lists and full season reviews on anime going forward rather than the usual episodic reviews of seasonal anime. The reason for this? Well the atmosphere in the anime community–specifically on Twitter–has been rather toxic of late and it’s kind of soured the experience of interacting with other people. People are reactionary and aggressive and opinionated and I feel that being a part of writing seasonal episodic reviews fuels knee-jerk reactions to things that should be thoughtfully considered over days and weeks–something the rapid pace of seasonal reviewing can’t capture. Also, I feel like my general opinions on ‘what’s good’ and ‘what’s not’ are falling out of line with the mainstream–which should be a rallying cry for me to speak up but instead is driving a larger wedge between me and the anime community as I’m unable to relate or understand the opinions of fellow bloggers. I apologise if this change in direction for my site will negatively affect your enjoyment of it but it’s what I have to do. Thank you for reading.
Anime QandA 
“Also, I feel like my general opinions on ‘what’s good’ and ‘what’s not’ are falling out of line with the mainstream”
There’s a mainstream?
Joking aside, your opinions are your opinions. I visit your blog to read your opinions, so it’s good you’ve been expressing them!
“which should be a rallying cry for me to speak up but instead is driving a larger wedge between me and the anime community as I’m unable to relate or understand the opinions of fellow bloggers. ”
You gotta make the decisions that you think are best!
For the record, I have and continue to enjoy reading your perspective.
Now, if you say you can’t relate to my opinions, believe me, I sympathize. I can’t relate to my opinions half the time either. You should see some of my internal dialogues! Or maybe it’s best you don’t….
But back to your point, do what you have to. I’m looking forward to your next posts!
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Thanks, ultimately this isn’t the best decision for the blog but it’s the best decision for me personally. Hopefully my content will still be enjoyable!
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I’m sorry you’ve encountered such toxicity 😦 I don’t always agree with ya, but I hope you still continue to write freely and not have to worry about anything too crazy from other people. At the end of the day, disagreements should still be handled somewhat respectfully. Usually if anyone posts anything too crazy that I disagree with, I just quietly unfollow and I’m on my way – who has time to argue online!!! haha. Hopefully any changes you make will be ~freeing,~ though. I’ve always found that seasonal episodic reviews suck the fun outta blogging/watching the anime for me.
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Also, wanna throw out there that I continue to enjoy your content and I’m sure I still will no matter what changes you make! 🙂
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Yeah I understand that, I’ve unfollowed a couple of people I’ve disagreed with. And with regard to seasonal viewing I have found myself enjoying it more now that I haven’t been reviewing it each week.
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I know what you mean, as I’ve been posting less for similar reasons. Not intentionally, it’s just harder to work yourself up to posting in such circumstances. But I’m going to keep at it, and I’m glad you’re sticking around, too.
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I’ll keep at it (even in smaller doses) as long as there’s things to talk about and people to read it! Glad you’re keeping with it too.
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I’m not nearly as tied in with the anime community as you are, but I’ve noticed some of what you’re talking about. I’ve seen a lot of toxicity among game fans myself that might mirror what you’ve seen.
My main belief about writing is that it can’t be forced – unless you’re getting paid for producing requested content, you have to write how you want about what you want. So if this is the path you need to take, I hope it goes well for you. I only post around once a week, maybe twice if I’m feeling froggy, and it works for me.
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Writing when you feel it is always the best approach!
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You’ve got to do what feels right for you. That said, I totally agree on the state of the fandom and am regularly appalled by what I see on Twitter.
On a similar note, I’ve been bingeing shows between the seasonal releases and I think I enjoy them more that way. Im thinking of lower the number of seasonal shows I watch and just catch them once they’re done.
Either way, I always enjoy you’re posts, even when we disagree on stuff like Ulysses…
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There’s a definite advantage to binge watching, I’ll admit that!
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As what everyone has said, do whatever makes you feel most comfortable. I personally really dig your episode reviews but if it’s causing you to run into so much toxicity then I understand. I’ll still look forward to what you’ll post.
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Thanks! Hopefully I can continue to provide entertaining content!
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Oh no, I didn’t realize you were getting attacked by toxicity. Do what you feel is right!
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I wasn’t being specifically attacked, just the overall air of toxicity was weighing on me.
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Ah yeah, that’s understandable as well. I think it’s been stronger then usual recently for some reason too.
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You do great posts man, always love reading them.
Also, fuck Twitter, Fuck Social Media. I am not lying when I say it is probably the worst thing to happen to humanity in the last 70+ years.
My own blog is small, and I talk about shows that affect me. I could give less of a shit about what the “mainstream” anime community thinks of those shows, or me. I’m sure if I chased those fads and trends I’d get more viewers, but I wouldn’t be true to what my own work is.
You have to do what makes you happy and content. Not what gets your view count up.
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Thanks for the kind words, hard to see the value in social media a lot of the time but I can’t deny the appeal of it too. It’s definitely a love/hate relationship. Maybe one day I’ll be able to kick the Twitter habit, like I managed to do with Facebook (haven’t had FB for over a year now and am glad for that fact every day!)
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Well pooh for us. Less Matt is a loss to our WP community.
I get everything your saying though. Mind you I’m pretty disconnected so I have no clue about the specifics but people can be brutal. I also have no clue how seasonal bloggers manage to do it in general.
I’m sure your content will continue to be great. When people are enjoying themselves more it shows in their posts.
In the end, a happy Matt is going to make for a better blog so I take back my pooh and can’t wait to see what you come up with.
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I stayed away from Twitter since last year because of personal reasons and it’s sad to know about the toxicity. Though I guess it’s always been there on some parts of various communities.
Tbh, I realized some time ago that our opinions on some of series differ (not to mention our preferred shows are different most of the time, too!), but I still enjoyed reading your take on series. That’s why I’m still looking forward to read your posts! 🙂
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Thank you, I’m glad you still enjoy my posts despite the different tastes we have!
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Sorry to hear that. Twitter is a cesspool, I’d avoid it altogether. But I understand that as a blogger you need to have a public and social media presence. One possibility is to create a character/persona, and have that be your presence, both on social media and on the blog. That way, should the unavoidable toxicity of social media present itself, you can detach it from your personal feelings. At the same time, know that the ones here who approve and validate your work are worth listening to.
I assume that you enjoy writing the way and with the frequency that you have, and without this “community” backlash, you would have continued to do so. Another alternative is to continue to write as you did, just not make those posts public, but rather make them available for like the lowest Patreon tier allowed (what is that, $1/mo?). I’m not sure if personally I would be a donator, but there might be enough takers to make it worthwhile. You’d still get to do what you enjoy, and know that the ones who read it definitely want to do so.
In the end, do what’s best for you, but I will say that I enjoyed your blog as being “not necessarily mainstream”. People want too much cookie-cutter conformity in this world now while pretending that they’re unique.
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Thanks for your advice, I appreciate that you’d say you’d be a patron just to read my posts, that’s very humbling. I haven’t given up on episodic reviews just yet, I’ve started to get the itch to write again. It might just be on a fewer number of weekly shows. Also I might wait til next season since I’m so far behind on this one.
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