Anime

Second Real Neat Blog Award!

Thanks for the Nomination!

I was really happy that Yomu from Umai Yomu Anime Blog and Keiko from Keiko’s Anime Blog nominated this site for its second Real Net Blog Award. I have to apologize for making them wait so long for me to reply, and I say thanks for their patience.

You can read my first Real Neat Blog Award here.

The Rules

According to ancient custom, I must now display the rules. I’m not entirely sure what will happen if I don’t, but since I’m writing this on Halloween, I find I’m not really inclined to find out! So here they are:

  1. Display the logo (should be above).
  2. Thank the bloggers for the award (already done!).
  3. Answer the questions from the one who nominated you.
  4. Nominate 7 to 10 bloggers.
  5. Ask them 7 questions.

Questions from Yomu

Since Yomu’s nomination was earlier, I’ll answer those questions first.

What anime got you into anime?

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex pulled me so far into the world of anime that I never escaped. Capture from the Adult Swim stream.

I actually answered that question in my post Why Do I Love Anime? I watched some anime series before it, but Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex grabbed me and pulled me in. It didn’t hurt that I was disgusted with the state of science fiction in the United States. The SciFi Channel (now called SyFy, I think — shudder) had cut Farscape short. They also cancelled Stargate Atlantis before its time. So I was looking for some other genre to get into.

Looking back, I think it might have been Farscape that prepared me for anime. In a lot of ways, it’s like a really good action-based harem. Puts me in mind of The Asterisk War, in fact. Only in space.

What is the first anime you wrote about on your blog?

Oh, that’s easy (I say as I dive into the Posts tab in WordPress and open the first post — hoping you don’t notice that I had to look it up). My very first post was a Summer 2015 preview. The first series I mentioned was Charlotte.

However, the first series I dedicated a whole post to was Monster Musume. Wow. That was a long time ago…

If you could erase your memory of an anime in order to rewatch it, which anime would you choose?

There were just so many reasons Re:CREATORS was amazing… Capture from the Amazon stream.

That’s an interesting question. Well, all of the questions have been (and will be!), but this one in particular is fascinating. What series blew me away with its plot twists or character reveals?

If it’s just for plot twists, I’d have to go with Astra Lost in Space. For character + plot + just incredible ideas, I’d have to go with Re:CREATORS.

Is there a genre of anime that you used to avoid, but don’t mind watching now? If so, what genre?

Probably slice of life, because I saw myself as a science fan seeking solace in anime, so I told myself I needed to stick to hard science fiction or high fantasy. I’m glad I’ve overcome that myopia.

What post are you most proud of on your blog?

This kind of question is the hardest to answer, because (and apologies for those of you who have read me talk about this subject before) I really don’t like anything I’ve written. Since I started collaborating with Irina I find I like those posts better than any other of mine, so I’ll pick one of those.

The post I’m most proud of was called Irina And Crow In Zombieland (Saga) Ep8: Lily And The Man In Her Life. Zombieland Saga was a wonderful series, filled with warm, vivacious characters (which is really ironic if you think about it). This episode, even in the context of a an especially good series, was itself special. I’ll never know if I did the topic justice. I’m not sure my imagination is wide enough, and I know my experience is not broad enough. But I thought the episode was beautiful, and I know I tried to capture that. I think Irina did her usual outstanding job, of course!

And my favorite line from that post is “Lily is Lily.” That might be the most clear sentence I’ve ever written.

This episode was just that good. Glad I had someone like Irina to collaborate with me; it gave me a decent shot of saying something reasonable about it! Capture from the Crunchyroll stream.

What’s your favourite older anime? (Early 2000’s and older).

Martian Successor Nadesico. I was surprised after watching it to find that some folks thought it was a comedy. I’m glad that Scott on Mechanical Anime Reviews set the record straight.

The series had a lot of what I like in a science fiction series: political overtones, a dark and desparate world that was also detailed and engrossing, and solid characters.

What is a lesson you’ve learned from blogging that you can share with us all?

Every time I tried to come up with a single answer, it kept branching out into related ideas. For example, I’d like to say I’ve learned it’s important to express your perspective, since you’re the only one who can do it. Trouble is, if you honestly follow that, there’s a chance you’ll forgo some level of commercial success. The internet rewards click-bait and confrontation. It’ll be hard to be commercially successful if you’re “just” interesting and enjoyable.

But in the interests of making the world a better place, I’ll still say that’s what I’ve learned. Be you. I want to read your stuff. I don’t want to read what you think will be popular stuff. There’s enough of that around.

Of course, more power to you if “yourself” is wildly successful!

Questions from Keiko

What do you enjoy the most about blogging?

I think I enjoy the idea of sharing my reactions to the anime series we watch. No one I work with likes anime. Only a handful of people in my extended family like anime, so the only chance I really have to talk about it and not get funny looks is here.

Sure, I could go to other resources like Reddit, and for folks who enjoy that kind of discussion, those resources are great! It’s not the kind of discussion I prefer, though. On a good day, Reddit is like a jubilant party where everyone’s shouting about what they like. I like blogs better, where it’s more like sitting beside a fire with your favorite adult beverage.

Which can include plain iced tea if you don’t like alcoholic beverages.

What anime had the biggest impact on you?

Yeah, it’s Re:CREATORS. No shock or surprise here, is there? Capture from the Amazon stream.

Another really interesting question! There are a lot of contenders, but in terms of the impact it had on me as I watched it, and in terms of the enduring fascination it held for me, I’d have to say Re:CREATORS. I’m actually sketching a post about Shunma Suruga to talk about just why this series means so much to me.

What genre of anime do you enjoy the most?

I have to pick only one? I wonder if I should use the English genres or the Japanese genres? I’m tempted to choose both so I can give two answers, but I’ll try to invoke the old idea that rules force creativity and give only one answer.

I’ll go with Seinen. It includes titles as diverse as Black Bullet and Houseki no Kuni, at least according to this My Anime List page. Though to be honest, I like most genres!

Do you ever revisit older posts you’ve written?

No, I don’t. It’s partly a matter of time (as in I don’t have enough of it!). It’s also partly because the work I’ve done is done. It’s a snapshot of what I was thinking, and who I was, at the time. Maybe it’d be different if I wrote a lot of essays, but for reviews where the main point is sharing what I thought at the time, I prefer to just let them sit.

What is your favourite post that you’ve written?

See my answer to Yomu’s question, “What post are you most proud of on your blog?”

What anime do you think needs more attention?

All joking aside, Re:CREATORS deserves more attention. Capture from the Amazon stream.

Re:CREATORS. It’s probably a series written by creators for creators, but I really think it had more broad appeal. It’s only available on Amazon Prime (legally, at least), so I wonder if that’s part of the problem?

If you could pick an animal from an anime to keep as a pet, who would you pick?

Let me start by saying not Kyubey (too cruel and dangerous) and not Alexander (way, way too sad).

Okay, at the risk of being declared ecchi, I’m going to say Blair. She’s a pretty kitty! Okay, she can shape shift into a beautiful woman, but I’m only interested in her in feline form.

Seriously.

Why are you looking at me like that?

By the way, if you don’t tell my wife, I’ll be much obliged!

This is Blair. She’s a cat. No, really. She’s a cat. Capture from the Hulu stream.

Nominations and Questions

This is the part where I get to cordially invite other bloggers to answer my questions. So, here are some sites that I’d love to see answer the questions (which are below):

  1. The Backloggers
  2. Blaztavern
  3. Christine’s Cinema Corner
  4. Lumi Reviews Things
  5. MyAnime2Go
  6. OtakuAndShit
  7. SAE with a K
  8. Season 1 Episode 1
  9. xxanimexxgirlxx
  10. Yuri Reviews

Now — what questions to inflict on these good folks? Seriously, the questions from Yomu and Keiko were really a lot of fun to think about and answer, so let’s see if I can stay in the same spirit (and maybe flat out steal one or two of their questions)!

Here they are:

  1. What do you think makes your blog special — either to you or your readers?
  2. When you first started your blog, what did you think would be the most enjoyable part of blogging?
  3. What do you think is the most enjoyable part of blogging now?
  4. You’ve been charged with revitalizing the Isekai genre. How would you do it?
  5. Excepting my site and yours, what is your favorite blog post? If that’s too broad, what’s your favorite blog post in the last month?
  6. What advice would you have for new anime bloggers trying to get started?
  7. What one anime character do you most identify with, and why?

Thanks for reading! And if you’re so inclined, please feel free to use the comments section to give your own answer to any of the questions!

tcrow
Copyright 2022 Terrance A. Crow. All rights reserved.
https://www.crowsworldofanime.com

34 thoughts on “Second Real Neat Blog Award!

    1. “I didn’t even know what questions I had asked at this point haha.”

      Yeah, that’s why I apologized for the delay.

      “Thanks for the answers anyways!”

      Glad at least I didn’t provide detestable answers! That’d be like insult to injury.

    1. “Congrats on the award!! ”

      Thanks!

      “Thank you for the tag.”

      I hope you can make time to post — I’d love to see our answers!

  1. Random comments: Yeah, express yourself. If you keep chasing what’s popular, you’re always behind the curve. Less so with blogging than in slower forms of publishing, but… well the competition is immense, and the people who write what’s popular [i]and[/i] express themselves that way are ahead of you.

    Also, I learned today that a second season of Zombieland Saga has been announced. Not much is known so far, and the promo art only features the Mamoru Miyano character whose name I’ve forgotten. Google Zombieland Saga Revenge. It’s been announced at an official Zombieland Saga event along with the release of a soundtrack so at the very least the plans are real.

    1. “If you keep chasing what’s popular, you’re always behind the curve.”

      Good point. And since I don’t have a team to keep on top of that stuff…

      “Also, I learned today that a second season of Zombieland Saga has been announced. ”

      I’m ready. Have you seen the parody of the promo art? It shows Franchouchou trying to cover him up. They looked pretty annoyed.

    1. “Congrats on the award! ”

      Thanks!

      “I think I was tagged for this at one point, but I can’t remember.”

      I saw that Sirius and Lynn had tagged you for your December 2018 post, and I wasn’t sure if you’d want another so soon. BTW, I liked your answer about Youtubers (among others)!

    1. “Congrats on another nomination. ”

      Thanks!

      “Absolutely agree of the ‘be you’ point. I think that’s the best way to approach blogging.”

      Cool — and it seems to be working for you!

  2. Congrats on the award.

    A lot of people say they don’t have people to share their anime hobby with, but I guess I’m lucky that most of my close family is okay with it and for the past few years, I’ve had a proper anime club to go to (there was an anime club I went to before that but it ended up dying out after a few years, which is why I’m so thankful for my current one). That said, I was surprised to learn last year that one of my cousins (who’d come from a different part of the country to attend a wedding) was a fan of Beyond the Boundary/Kyoukai no Kanata (which is still on my PTW as I type this…clearly blood is not thicker than the sea of anime on one’s PTW list).

    The annoying thing about “anime genres” is that some (including seinen) are actually /demographics/. Demographics and genres are related, but shouldn’t be conflated even though it’s a common mistake to do so (it doesn’t help that MAL conflates the two, either).

    1. “Congrats on the award.”

      Thanks!

      “for the past few years, I’ve had a proper anime club to go to”

      That sounds great. I really enjoy writing about it, but having an actual conversation would be kind of nice from time to time!

      “was a fan of Beyond the Boundary/Kyoukai no Kanata”

      Your cousin has great taste! I really enjoyed that series.

      “The annoying thing about “anime genres” is that some (including seinen) are actually /demographics/. ”

      Sounds like I should have done some more research. Though to be honest, I _did_ wonder why MAL described the genre not in terms of content, but in terms of viewership. Sounds like you just explained it!

    1. “Thanks for the nomination! ”

      You’re welcome!

      “I hope I can do it justice”

      I’m sure you can, and I’m looking forward to what you come up with!

  3. Thank you so much for the nomination! A year ago, I honestly would have not imagined being where I am today! I am very greatful for your support and I will answer these questions soon after I handle all my countless college assignments!!! 🙂

    1. “Thank you so much for the nomination! ”

      You’re welcome!

      “A year ago, I honestly would have not imagined being where I am today!”

      Hard work and dedication do pay off. Glad your site’s doing so well!

      “after I handle all my countless college assignments!!! ”

      I barely remember those days. I have no idea how you juggle college _and_ a site!

  4. Haha! Yomu nominated you in May… that’s epic that you remembered. Also, I’m getting a sense that you like Re:Creators…

    1. “that’s epic that you remembered”

      I had to write it down! Been so busy I only now got to it. He Yomu was to nice to nominate me!

      “Also, I’m getting a sense that you like Re:Creators…”

      Only a sense? Hmmm… I’m going to have to step things up! 🙂

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