My Favorite Anime Is Better than Your Favorite Anime - 2008 Edition
It is freaking December and I am not getting any younger. Memory flees like crazy prank caller who gave God a ring; or Jay Leno in the snow. I can’t tell the difference between Thursday and Friday, other than that I’m suppose to meet up with some people to see some anime movie on one of those.
It’s the holidays, in the city. Times are good, if not for the bear economy. It’s time to sing, not just watch people do it.
Yeah, I’ll do a review like I did last year. Sigh.
I’m not one to say who’s anime is better than who else’s. My taste is just too indiscriminate and if all you do is watch 5 anime series a year and you want to know which to pick, this is probably not the blog to read (although I talk about probably just 5 anime a year with focus, I didn’t count). However it’s always good to recall every year by what made it special. I think every year is somehow special in its own way, don’t you?
I think as someone who watch anime and is glued to a computer more often than not, the biggest thing this year is all those online distribution deals. We started off the year with BOST and their Gonzo deals. You remember that still? Youtube was the free alternative, and it marked probably the first time I bought something from BOST. Soon enough other players like Crunchyroll stepped in, too, and we’ve got an honest party on the streams of intarwebs. Joost, Hulu, what have you. That’s on top of Netflix’s usual thing and the random PSN or Xbox nonsense. And can we say TV Japan? Nuts!
Ironically, I watched way less anime in 2008; totally out of personal reasons, and not because there are fewer or worse shows compared to 2007. I also spent more money this year. I wonder why–probably because the shows I watched and liked in 2007 are now on DVDs. Speaking of which, Blu-Ray won the war this year…and anime is officially Blu-Ray’s flagship genre in Japan. That was awesome news, in retrospect.
All these corporate orgs and reorgs and license rescues are good, I guess, but it is not without casualties. The latest being Broccoli USA. Nonetheless the point of all of this from my eyes is to make anime more accessible, made available faster, and give us more choices to view our shows. I think there’s a major change in the game this year. It’s an exciting time. But the ball is also in the court of the audience, the market, the consumer. Will the offerings be tempting enough?
Meta-wise, blogs are doing well. Some people retire, get tired, but more people pick up the slack than those departing. I think it was fun meeting a bunch of internet-extrovertspeople this year. That was something that I should have tried to do earlier. Wildarm’s podcasts are always fun when you get to talk to the people he duped into doing those things. Yea, that’d make me a pretty dopey individual… Not counting other slings like these. Just flatter me sufficiently and I’ll do your bidding!
Joking aside, personally this past year was a transition year as well as a fan. In a way I don’t want to settle into the mode of just watching and buying the stuff on DVDs or what have you. (ji mi da ne?) I want to have fun doing it, and do something constructive and meaningful. To rise above just being a fan, I guess. I think I’ve tried to walk that path somewhat with some success.
Year in Review 2008:
- Introduction
- Kurenai
- Miyuki Sawashiro
- JAM Project & others
- 12 lists of randomness
- Type-Moon
- 9 TV series of 2008
- Conclusion
But my anime IS better than your anime.
I look forward to reading more of your posts in the future.
lol, indeed. it’s fun stuff.
Yuno is better than your favourite anime.
I may bother you again for a Kannagi podcast ;v
I think your last paragraph pretty much defines the reason I started blogging. Being a fan and having fun is nice, but sometimes, you can’t help but feel as if you should be doing something more. I look forward to reading more of your posts in the future!