Annotated Blogroll(s)

The ‘Here’re some blogs like mine’ Blogroll

‘[L]ike mine’ is perhaps a little presumptuous. But I’m aware that some readers use blogrolls to seek out ‘blogs in a similar vein to X’, so these are some blogs whose approaches I try to imitate: The End of the World (defunct – Martin now blogs at Mono no Aware), Hop Step Jump!, Super Fanicom, Bateszi Anime Blog, Cruel Angel Theses, anime|otaku, GAR GAR Stegosaurus, Hige Vs. Otaku, Claiming Ground, Scathbad’s Training, Omonomono, Mega Megane Moe, Ha Neul Seom (하늘섬), That’s Not Kanon!, far away no where and In Search of Number Nine.

The list may not be entirely up-to-date. I try to imitate these blogs not because I think they’re necessarily better, but because it’s what I think I can do.

The ‘I just want to be everybody’s friend’ Blogroll

This second list is a blogroll constructed on a principle of promiscuous linking (described elsewhere as ‘my uber-sluttish blogroll’), so don’t expect much rhyme or reason. In fact, this is deliberately not in alphabetical order. Ironically, my desire to be all-inclusive renders this list more-or-less useless, but don’t tell that to anyone who feels flattered to be on here . . .

Anyhow, I read some of these blogs regularly. Others stand out, but because of niche focus I’m less likely to follow them – they’re still recommended though. Be aware that I am a forgiving reader: I see merit in most blogs (or, to put it another way, I’m going to try to say nice things about everybody here). Quotations, where they appear, are from the bloggers themselves. ‘Dead’ blogs probably won’t be removed, as their archives can still be of interest. I’m not so frequently scanning for new blogs at the moment, so if you’re not on here, and you want to be, email me (see the About page for my e-ddress).

• Martin, of The End of the World, is an ‘unashamedly elitist’ writer who never fails to produce something thoughtful. He has now shifted his efforts to Mono no Aware.
• Jinx! Touch wood. Recommended.
• Paul, at Bateszi Anime Blog, says that ‘[b]eing ignored’ is the worst part of blogging. So don’t do it to him.
• THAT Animeblog is a collaborative effort; many hands may or may not make light work, but THAT’s cooks have yet to spoil their broth.
• Speaking of collaborative efforts, the Epic Win Blog tag-teams its topics in impressive style, though strangely no Muses are involved and it isn’t even in verse.
• Drastic My Anime Blog: ‘People have said that I write editorials, so let’s go with that.’
• Someone clever’s Claiming Ground with perceptive insights into anime storytelling, and I’d advise you to pay attention.
• Heterochromia is written by collection of easy-going yet perceptive fans (and has an excellent, pleasant-to-read theme).
• It’s unclear whether the Anime Sophist is referring to the literal Greek meaning of the term (‘wisdom seeker’) or its derogatory, Socratic meaning. Regardless of this ambiguity, he focuses on accessible reviews of shows and films with a Region 1 release.
• The aforementioned Sophist is on linking terms with Cameron Probert of In Search of Number Nine, who thoughtfully approaches shows as suitable subjects for analysis regardless of their reputation.
• An Anime Diet is a diet worth following.
• Derek, somewhere between yesterday and tomorrow, writes with a great deal of self-awareness and a penchant for atomised thought-lines to produce posts engagingly full of the first person.
• Baka-Raptor employs an unusual, minimalist aesthetic, backing it up with witty and idiosyncratic entries.
• Incredible Nothing! Issa-sa’s posts are informal yet strikingly sharp-witted.
• neko’s thinkbox is a place where neko thinks. And neko is a sophisticated, intelligent, Earl Grey-drinking European polyglot, so I’d listen if I were you.
• Novice’s Anime Blog: Shawn, the titular novice, professes a preference for comedy and slice-of-life over shounen action and claims to be still working through the first stages of anime addiction.
• AniPages Daily displays an intimidating depth of knowledge about animators and animation. Incredibly educational for those who are animation-illiterate – like me.
• Somewhere out in the remote, provincial parts of the UK lurks Teeif, posting his (a)musings episodically on Lostlink ~ Wrong Way To Japan.
• tasukete! is a dual-authorship blog which carries thoughtful-yet-enthusiastic reviews and humourous commentary.
• transientem’s title is a Latin derivation (A Good Thing), and the author is thinking. [Poisoned by the Romantics, I often find myself skipping the whole thought thing and going straight to feeling.]
• Ding the Dinger, Ding! How’s that for an individual blog name? Canadian ‘collage’ of viewpoints. About anime. And stuff.
• Hanners’ Anime ‘Blog not only has the distinction of being written by a Brit (top marks!), but is also the only anime ‘blog I’ve seen which indicates the missing ‘web’ with an apostrophe.
• Life in Quadrant 4 carries episodic posts, general running commentary on broadcast anime and records of its author’s purchases. It also has some information on a couple of doujin games.
• The Milky Blog displays its author’s knowledge of old and obscure anime, and its creators. Thoughtful and measured posts.
• Besides being a reason to search Wikipedia, 2-D Teleidoscope is a collection of lucid, to-the-point posts from someone teaching English in Japan.
• GAR GAR Stegosaurus – let’s face it, with a name like GAR GAR Stegosaurus I’d link this blog even if it was the worst thing since rabies. But it is genuinely good so that’s . . . good. Yes.
• You Kant go far wrong with a title like Kritik der Animationskraft, a blog informed by history, philosophy and theology. And linguistics.
• 見ないで! ひとり言: Back in the day, JP and Hinano ran two different (though similarly well-regarded) blogs. Now they use the same blog. Away from the history lesson, consider this one a combination of ‘pomobabble verbal diarrhea’ posts and impressions powered by Hinano’s ‘fangirl rage’.
• Area Graruru is a team blog-cum-podcast with a good spread of coverage – broad in both time and genre.
• East Anyhow’s author Alex has a catholic (small ‘c’) taste in anime and a rather pleasant expressive prose style. She also writes for Oi! Hayaku!
• I’ve never been hit by a Wolf Hurricane, but I imagine it’d be rather painful. Team anime blog with a pleasant balance of reviews and articles.
• j1m0ne’s blog is according to its tagline about ’seiyuu, anime [and] music’. The author took a degree at the University of Southampton, and therefore has already Won At Life.
• Fungafufu is ‘just your typical anime, touhou, games, life and randomness blog’, except that it’s run by a circle of real-life friends. Must make chasing up drafts easier, I guess . . .
• How a Girl Figures is, as you may guess from the title, the blog of a female figure collector. She has a car (an actual, full-size vehicle) with a big Kamina sticker on the side. That’s insane(ly cool).
• Otakuism is not a study of prejudice against otaku, but it is written by ‘a faux writer/blogger/historian/philosopher/student and all around hardcore otaku’. So that’s alright, then.
• Fallen Aizen is a team blog carrying a decent spread of episodic coverage and the odd inventive supplementary post.
• T_T (don’t ask me, I was told to put it like that) is, I gather, more of a personal blog, but it carries posts as part of the otakusphere’s girls’ round robin.
• Eej is a One Man Army, an Army of One, and the project leader of noted memesters and fansubbers, gSS.
• Nakama Britannica is a place for Anime UK News‘ staff writers to kick back and relax.
• Moe Check! focuses, as the name suggests, on the world of cute things, but not exclusively.
• Kurogane’s Anime Blog is relaxed and regularly ribald.
• Anime (nothing like cutting to the chase in your title) carries informal, personal, lower-case reflections on, well, anime.
• Neko Kyou of OSiRiS ANiMe has a knack for turning up interesting curiosities from the lesser-known nooks and crannies of anime, besides covering more popular shows.
• Ha Neul Seom (하늘섬) (which apparently means ‘island in the sky’) is an intelligent anime blog, informed by gaguri’s knowledge of philosophy and art history.
• Is Hige vs. Otaku some kind of journalism/anime mashup? I leave it to you to decide, dear reader.
• One of the brave, the few, the mighty – those using homebrewed blogging software – Michael of Low on Hit Points describes himself as a gamer who outgrew his games and attached himself to anime instead.
• Nigorimasen! Blog manages to have one foot in Region 1 coverage and the other in currently-airing anime with more success than some. Don’t misread the title, by the way.
• Josh’s Anime Blog – which has been through a staggering five versions since its first launch – has a substantial archive of reviews (with worryingly precise scores) to back up its episodic coverage. Haibane Renmei banners are always a good thing.
• Euphoric Field is an interesting mix. Its author is prepared to discuss some of the less-explored topics (extreme violence, yuri) alongside more traditional reviews and editorials, and for that the blog deserves respect.
• Scathbad’s Training – because cuchlann gets the dead author thing.
• Simplicity: ‘very opinionated and full of blind rage or blind fangirling’. And we know we shouldn’t discriminate against the blind, right?
• Owen S., who writes Cruel Angel Theses, declares that he has ‘a fondness for inventing taxonomies’. Be that as it may, he’s possessed of a fine analytical style and is a master of the argumentum ex verbis Latinis.
• Almost A Hero writes from South Africa about a commendably broad range of otaku stuff. Can explain what makes Lovecraft scary and how to clean your figures in one easy, incendiary step.
• Taikutsu Remedy’s Snark is a trenchant Australian with a knack for unusual posts which challenge received opinion, and a fine taste in giant robot stories.
• Anime Uplift’s About page is refreshingly self-deprecating: ‘[i]t probably isn’t going to be different from many other blogs’. That in itself must surely be a distinguishing mark . . .
• The Pink Sylphide is hard for me to annotate. I don’t know what a sylphide is (the distilled essence of an air spirit?), and Christopher writes about shows which fly rather over my head: Janggeum’s Dream and Cardcaptor Sakura, for example. But he’s got some nifty RSS sub-feeds and is probably worth reading if you’re interested in any of these.
• Try Rainbowsphere for your random ranting and anime/games/manga commentary needs.
• Sea Slugs! Anime Blog is really old, in anime blog terms, and, in this case at least, age indicates quality.
• ‘Awesome Engine is an out of control train that can never be stopped. And it’s on fire.’ Few have the interest in old anime necessary to undertake to post about every episode of Urusei Yatsura. Brack does.
• The Deathseeker – less Freudian than it at first sounds, Panther’s blog mixes anime, figures and games in a soup with some kind of philosophical stock cubes in it.
• COLONY DROP crushes earthnoids, and if more of this kind of anime blogging existed we’d . . . be living in After War Gundam X?
• 2 screenshot limit’s Reika has, in a blogosphere of people with broad ranges of taste, one of the broadest ranges I’ve noticed: besides the usual, she’s written con coverage, blogosphere digests, live action, observations on fandom &c, &c. This blog dates back to 2003, which makes it, in otakusphere terms, Venerable and Ancient.
• Mecha Marshmellow is a cheerful team blog with a proper appreciation for giant robots and a refreshing willingness to post about whatever, whenever.
• Calling a blog A Product of Wasted Time is perhaps a little self-effacing: TJ produces some neatly condensed episode summaries, which often have more than the customary few sentences of concluding reaction. He covers much more manga than your average anime/manga blog would, too.
• Grumpy Jii-san’s Journal is actually a collection of video transcripts, because the titular Jii-san is a vlogger (video blogger). I think. You’re probably better off going straight for the embedded videos, for that fine beard if nothing else.
• Full Metal Pen: written from Scotland (and with only 5% moe – wait, does anything moe come from Scotland?), Full Metal Pen contains Maxon and Hybridial’s musings (sometimes together, sometimes individually) on anime and games – plus the odd AMV.
• Funeral’s Coffin, with its Hopper-Bebop banner, focuses on anime, manga, and music and video games, making Funeral something like the otakusphere equivalent of a Renaissance man.
• Hynavian World, where Hynavian (who also blogs for RIUVA) vents frustrations and shares interests.
• Kitsune’s Thoughts are, obviously, the product of Kitsune, thinking. Kitsune’s been blogging for a while and has catholic (small ‘c’) tastes in anime. He produces, among other things, screencap-heavy episodic ‘photoessays’.
• NeoShinka brings us delicious delicacies from the table of the wonderful and Charz (its author) appreciates the old as well as the new – always a good thing.
• Super Youkai Warhead: pithy, irreverent, opinionated.
• myucon for the ‘three y’s’: yaoi, yuri and yandere.
• Atarashii Prelude is a collaborative blog with episodic entries and the best of what is random. Deserves some kind of medal for bringing the LOLWUT of Suzumiya Haruhi to my attention.
• The Orange Farm (named for Jeremiah Gottwald, purveyor of high-quality LOYALTY) is a dual-author blog with a commendable mix of older anime, currently-airing series, visual novels and . . . stuff. Supports Pizza Hut, which supports the Rebellion.
• The ‘blog duet’, Reverse Thieves, exploits the potential of team blogging unusually fully, weaving together Hisui and Narutaki’s comments within coherent posts. They review (often overlooked) anime, cover conventions, editorilise and produce the odd interesting side project (like this one).
• Scrumptious: ‘Aiming to deliver delicious anime on a silver platter.’
• Danny Choo’s blog is some kind of monster taking over the world! about anime, Japan, figures, idols . . . you name it. May take time to load on slower connections (like mine).
• Continuing World, written from the Philippines, is an anime blog with a mecha focus (sounds good already). When a blogger devotes an entry to Victory Gundam’s decapitatory kicks-to-the-head it’s always a good sign.
• Wakaranai offers a good mix of quality content, with episodic coverage, reviews and other oddities. [For some reason the author thinks that some anime series would be better off without mecha. Nothing is better off without mecha. Nothing. EDIT: Problem solved, as Washi has acquired a mecha-literate fellow-blogger.]
• アニ・ノート: [original UT voice] HEADSHOT ‘Comments are closed’.
• The Sunset Avenue Cafe sounds relaxing, doesn’t it? Relaxing the writing style may be, but madeener’s entries tend to ferment and provoke thought too.
• Inside Anime is written by someone who’s inside the UK/EU industry. Entries are slow but meaty and informative.
• Anime wa Bakuhatsu da! (something about an explosion?) is a worthwhile and varied read, and covers older shows as well as the latest stuff to come out of Japan.
• Moogy’s Anime Blog is an anime blog, run by Moogy.
• Besides from being run from the UK (and therefore being several times more awesome than normal), Dream Chatter is worth reading for sharp episodic annotation and laid-back commentary.
• FULL MOE PANIC!!! (the exclamation marks are not mine) is, I would imagine, a blog that panics about moe. Or something – there’s no about page.
• Anime Blog ga Arimasu: elegantly informal.
• Oi, Hayaku! was a team blog that was like a well-balanced Australian (chips on both shoulders); attempting to prove that ‘professional blogger’ is not an oxymoron.
• Omonomono (did I spell that right?) is written with a honed mind and a wide subject interest.
• Yoroshiku Anime Blog presents posts written in a pleasingly informal, and sometimes digressive, style.
• Certifiably Insane – the blog, the author or the readers? Or all three? Puzzling title aside, a pleasant personal blog touching on most if not all things otaku.
• Hey, Say, Anime! is a big (nine members) team review blog. HSA’s strength in numbers ensures plenty of episodic coverage and a broad spread of opinion.
• Memories of Eternity – ETERNAL is apparently an aspiring novelist, and he certainly writes an articulate and engaging About page.
• The punningly-named picchar is run by Char and with a name like Char you’re destined for success. Char’s an amateur artist and photographer, and a figure collecter, and the blog has content to match. Sadly not currently using a red theme to go three times faster.
• Tyrannosaurus Riex – Riex runs Oi, Hayaku! as well, but this is where he thinks informally. Well worth a look.
• The About page for Subatomic Brainfreeze claims that it’s the product of the author’s desire to leave a documentary record for future generations. However seriously that’s meant to be taken, the entries themselves are well-written and will tell you all sorts of things you probably didn’t know about all sorts of things you may well not have watched. Or played. As the case may be.
• Heisei Democracy casts its net wide – very wide – but majors on the peripheral hobbies – figurines, eroge et cetera. Notable for its guide to requesting images politely on Japanese-language imageboards. Probably NSFW.
• The Moral Anti-Realist is where things get quite esoteric.
• Tears of Paradise carries traditional episode summaries, but also has a refreshingly broad range of music reviews, other media &c. The only blog I’ve seen with a ’smut’ category.
• two if by sea (or ’seasquared’, or perhaps ‘c²’) is worth a look because Cathy takes a laid-back and amusing approach to episodic entries.
• Cute Proxy’s Anime Rants. You know you want to.
• Steven Dan Beste’s Chizumatic carries a nice mix of opinion, evaluation and otakusphere current affairs, dealt with in a trenchant manner.
• If you have any grasp of German at all, you may well find meidocafe very amusing. Melonpan’s posts make me laugh out loud, and I only understand about one word in five!
• Natsukashii Anime Blog: as you may be able to guess from the name, this is the conspiracy of a few old-timers.
• AnimeLife is a personal commentary blog.
• Super Fanicom: ‘Art, Culture, Nerds’, revolves around games and light novels as well as anime. Its author, Pontifus, is an English undergraduate like myself, so you should visit his blog and smother it in comments.
• The Anime Almanac is an unusual blog: it’s fansub-free.
• Lower Mid-Table is a miscellanea of . . . miscellaneous things. But that often includes anime.
• We Remember Love is a blog with a healthy taste for vintage anime; proof that Business Development Managers can be quite interesting people, really.
• The Subculture Anime Blog focuses on love comedy, but it’s not totali about that.
• The Otaku’s Hideout is big on the figurines, some of which may be NSFW, with nice sharp images. Prim3 doesn’t just review released figures, he previews forthcoming attractions too.
• mellowSPACE is a team blog, helmed by mellow_bunny who always seems to have his fingers in several internet pies at once. The posts are interesting, and the design lush.
• Crystal Tokyo Anime Blog carries in-depth summaries and thoughts, and the author’s an expert on the mahou shoujo genre.
• Yuri to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito is an informal but alert anime blog. The author, Yuribou, once spent some time examining hentai tropes in a matter-of-fact way, which is commendable.
• The question isn’t whether or not you want to know a Shameful Otaku Secret. The question is how you can bear not knowing it.
• OGIUE MANIAX is a thoughtful examination of anime and manga, part of the time. The title might give you an idea of what it is the rest of the time (and said title is also deceptively easy to misspell).
• That’s Not Kanon! It’s clever and opinionated instead.
• Are you brave enough to read the products of Deranged Minds? Can you resist the amount of hyperbolic-collar moe that their banner contains?
• Reflecting Lights doesn’t have an about page, unless I wasn’t looking hard enough. But it’s definitely a blog, and it definitely involves anime.
• Lelangiric had a tag called ‘praxis’. You can probably tell if it’s for you or not just from that. Now functioning as an archive.
• Lelangir is also hardcore enough to run a blog devoted to Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
• Hontou ni Taihen desu is witty and thought-provoking, and the tagline is more than it seems.
• Tenka Seiha does episode summaries, and does them well.
• The Meaty Anime Blog is forthright and its author tends to go his own way, which is no bad thing.
• Yukan Blog! apparently, because it’s big, and youthful, and team-based, or something.
• z0mgwtflol deserves some kind of award just for bringing us news of a U-boat-themed eroge. A U-boat-themed eroge.
• ‘Bishoujo’ dominates the bluemist anime blog tagcloud like a . . . fifty-foot tall woman?
• Under the bridge of notdotq lurks one of the otakusphere’s most cunning trolls.
• Mahou Meido Meganekko is a forthright and entertaining blog.
• Ever tried measuring out your anime with Coffee Spoons?
• A scattergun, slow-paced approach to blogging is taken at Minimum Tempo, with episodic and editorial anime entries rubbing shoulders with games, movies and music.
• Mou Yamete! is dominated by eroge, and each post is served with lashings of fanservice. An acquired taste, but it’s certainly more original than ‘let’s write about anime’ blogging (I know, I know, let him who is without sin cast the first stone).
• far away no where: Caution, Man Thinking.
• let’s anime is, as far as I know, unique: it delves into the actual past (as opposed to the ‘last couple of decades’ past) of occidental anime fandom. The posts can be pretty mind-bending, at least if, like me, you’re a relatively young person: how would you produce a fan magazine before everyone had a computer, a printer and a ‘net connection?
• Towards Our Memories describes itself as ‘Rambles from Shiro’. This is probably too self-effacing: Shiro is a Mancunian who appreciates Zeta and Turn-A, and few bloggers have the chutzpah necessary to write a series of posts highlighting anime’s finest feet.
• The Blue Fox Alley: ‘a beautiful tale of two big boys babbling about Japanese cartoons’ (isn’t it great when these little annotations are ready-provided).
• Are-are: a team blog, mostly (but not entirely) containing unbuttoned episode summaries.
• Anime3World provides an eclectic mix of brief snippets (gaming, anime, news and so forth).
• Daijoubu: besides one of the otakusphere’s sharpest webcomics, Daijoubu carries to-the-point and witty commentary.
• Anime History exudes something which I’ve seen other bloggers sometimes try to hide: genuine enthusiasm.
• Many people ramble, but few as effectively as The Ramblings of DarkMirage.
• Azure Flame Reloaded serves up traditional reviews alongside superbly comic weekly collections of tidbits, functioning as a kind of delicious blog buffet.
• I MUST SUCCEED! Why?
• Furu Anime Panikku: ferreting out fascinating facts I never knew I needed to know, plus overlooked anime, manga, sites, games et cetera. Like the anime blogger’s version of Schott’s Miscellanies. Amazingly, Furu Anime Panikku is usually updated daily.
• KT + Anime. Lengthy reviews, well worth reading.
• One is happy to acknowledge these Mistakes of Youth, which are defiantly outspoken and deliciously partisan.
• HappySoda carries figurine reviews with high-quality photography and an inventive writing style, plus R1 anime release reviews too.
• The Hound Blog is humourous and parodic and generally fun.
• Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!? presumably stands for something else, but I can’t imagine what.
• anime|otaku’s author, Michael, seems remarkably well-read. The only blog I’ve found which has ‘disquisitions’ in its tagline.
• Anime Afterglow covers a broad spread of series, generally in a brief but perceptive fashion.
• Xebek’s Blog revolves around episode summaries, with a scattering of character profiles. Author has two personas.
• Mega Megane Moe, because CCY can take a harem series apart like no one else.
• The Anime Academy is a collaboration, providing ‘focused pseudo-professional writing towards anime’. (Who does this remind me of?)
• orz: DrmChsr0 is probably unimpressed, and eloquent about it.
• The Riuva is . . . idiosyncratic. Also good: RPG-style categorisation of fellow bloggers.
• BasuGasuBakuhatsu Anime Blog is hard to say, yet easy and informative to read. Impressions, DVD reviews et cetera.
• Hop Step Jump! has a very clean, minimalist style. On top of which appear articles which are well written with (as far as I can tell) impressive attention to structure and flow.
• Derailed by Darry (formerly Anime on My Mind) divides opinion. Many anime bloggers are in an Oedipal state of rebellion against it, and it certainly suffers from a serious solipsism problem. But he writes with a style that’s distinctive and often amusing.
• Sankaku Complex is the otakusphere’s equivalent of the Sunday Sport: NSFW and generally scurrilous.
• The now-seemingly-defunct blog-like-entity Ecchi Attack is not safe for work, play or rest. Vitriolic articles about hentai are redeemed by their wit and intelligence (‘Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Shotanization Notes’). If you’re (really) strong-stomached, it’s here.