Anime is serious business. We know it, we joke about it, and then we go back to knowing it anyhow. The amount of content in the blogosphere is absolutely tremendous considering how many writers we have, and in a medium such as blogging, it’s easy for the less-known to become lost in a sea of obscurity. After all, it took me months to shift away from DarkMirage and RIUVA, and I had known of Owen’s blog for ages before I actually thought to look through the archives since he was on temporary hiatus. And if I had the community itself to push me forward, then what about the readers that rely on blogrolls and AnimeNano to find new sites?
The funny thing about blogging is that a blog’s age often has very little to do with its quality. Confidence is often only found after the writer has had a bit of experience, but there’s nothing saying that an obscure blog is bad – as a matter of fact, it might be better than many of the bigger blogs out there. Therefore, I’ve decided to hop on the bandwagon and link to what I consider to be some of the community’s biggest stars that are more or less still in the shadows.
Euphoric Field
URL: http://21stcenturydigitalboy.wordpress.com/
Why does 21stcenturydigitalboy appear to have so few readers? I’m honestly not sure. His hit count seems pretty low compared to the size of his archives, but a quick look at the front page should yield you one obvious fact: he writes. A lot. His quantity of posts is definitely way up there, to the point that I almost wonder what he does with his life, but his quality isn’t half bad either. He covers off a very wide variety of otaku-related topics, but he does it in a manner that’s either insightful or informative. Whether it’s a quirky list, a hentai review, or a full-blown editorial, digiboy does exactly what an aniblogger should do, and he always proves to be an entertaining read – whenever I can keep up with his multitude of posts!
Ha Neul Seom
URL: http://guriguriblog.wordpress.com/
gaguri’s existence is about as cryptic as his About page, but regardless of how little I know of him, he’s clearly a very skilled writer. I’d be guessing if I were to ponder his field of study, but he’s obviously fluent in a wide variety of topics, and he does a great job of letting his real life knowledge seep into his posts on anime. I’d easily place him on the same level as most of the respected editorial bloggers, only that hardly anyone seems to know him. If you’re in the mood to test your brain, read through one of his posts and see what happens.
Kritik der Animationskraft
URL: http://animekritik.wordpress.com/
I still have trouble spelling the name of animekritik’s blog, but it’s unquestionable that he’s done a great job thus far. He reminds me of gaguri in the sense that I know little about him, and yet a quick look through his posts would reveal the fact that he’s quite knowledgeable as a human being as well as an anime fan. Whether he’s rambling about philosophy, creating epic graphs, or discussing some form of anime-related art, his blog is always an informative and alluring read. He’s also got quite the sense of humour, though it’s subtle enough to not impede his analyses.
Moe Check!
URL: http://check.animeblogger.net/
I’ve hardly seen DKellis in the rest of the blogosphere – maybe he comments on the other Singaporean bloggers, who knows – but it didn’t take long for me to fall for his writing style. It’s simple, almost amateur, yet entertaining to the point that it draws me in far easier than a university-level paper would. As you can tell, he’s a moe fan, and he’s liable to discuss or otherwise ramble about things that are generally frowned upon by the more critical members of the sphere, but his writing is something I would recommend to anyone who shares his taste in anime.
Anime Instrumentality Blog
URL: http://blog.animeinstrumentality.net/
I’ll be blunt: zzeroparticle doesn’t have much competition. There aren’t too many aniblogs that focus on music, and there are probably even less that prioritize analysis and review over news. However, that doesn’t make his content any less interesting, and it’s a definite recommendation for fans of anime music or for those of you who simply want to learn more about the role music plays in anime.
Also, a few sites that I decided not to add to the main list for various reasons:
Mega Megane Moe (you’ve probably at least heard of him, but if not, tl;dr analysis + fanboy raving = win)
Grand Punk Railroad (couldn’t think of anything specific to say, but Omisyth is a good all-around writer)
somewhere between yesterday and tomorrow (inconsistent but looks promising)
Behind The Nihon Review (doesn’t seem to have many blogosphere readers or specific defining qualities, but for lack of a better phrase, they look pretty damn good)
Side notes aside, there you have it: five anime blogs which I believe, for one reason or another, don’t have the readers that they deserve. Trends like this generally bore the non-blogger audience, but I hope that this chain of posts helps you – whoever you may be – to find at least one new blog that you wouldn’t have discovered otherwise. That will be an accomplishment in itself. And let’s conveniently forget the new readers gained from circle-jerking, right?
~ ETERNAL
つづく
