You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when clouds are gray
You’ll never know, Dear, how much I love you
Please don’t take my sunshine away
A shout-out to Crow’s World of Anime for nominating me for this! Also glad because I realized I wasn’t following them (a surprise, because I thought followed them months ago); this has now been rectified.
Like they say in The Santa Clause 2, there’s nothing more important than the rules:
The Rules
Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link to their blog so that other people can visit them
Answer the 11 questions put to you by the nominator
Nominate 11 bloggers of your choosing and provide them with a new set of 11 questions to answer
Notify the nominees by commenting/ping-backing on one of their blog posts
List the rules and display The Sunshine Blogger Award logo within your post or on your blog site, like so:
The Questions
What part of blogging do you find the most challenging?
Striking a balance between writing too much and too little. Being an academic by training, I tend to think in 10,000-word blocks. Of course, it’s nigh impossible to actually write so much for a blog post; so I tend to start writing things that are huge and then get discouraged because it’s taking so long so I stop writing for a bit, which feels even more discouraging, so then I try to do something shorter but I don’t feel like I’m giving it my all and the vicious cycle continues…
What tools do you use to help you write your blog posts, besides the blogging platform itself? For example, do you have a favorite tool for screen captures?
I use an Android tablet with a stylus and handwriting recognition. I like writing by hand (even though my cursive is horrific!) because I feel like It helps me be more creative.
Do you prefer to write episodic reviews or other features and why?
I tend to incline slightly more towards “Other”, because so many people are doing regular episode reviews I like to provide some vanity. Also I tend to write when the muse strikes, and she may inspire me with an idea that doesn’t lend itself to the episode review format. But I have no objection to episode reviews!
When you watch an anime series, is it easier for to forgive bad plotting or bad characters and why?
Bad characters. According to Aristotle, Plot is the source from which all the other elements of a story derive. Including characters. I can think of plenty of series with poor characters and a decent plot, but none with a terrible plot and fantastic characters. Slice of Life might complicate this a bit, depending on how you understand “plot”.
If you could bring one piece of an anime series — a magic spell, a piece of equipment, a technology, or something like that — to our world and use it, what would it be?
Foodgasms. The fear of having one in public might motivate me to go out to eat less. Then I’d save money and lose weight.
If you use one of the anime database sites (Anime Planet, AniList, MyAnimeList, or some other), which is your favorite and what do you like about it?
I don’t use one, and am open to recommendations!
What series in Summer 2019 (or in the next season if you get to this later) are you most looking forward to? Multiple answers are fine if you have a tie!
Oh boy! Dr. Stone and Kanata no Astra! Both have some pretty trippy twists and colorful characters!
What’s your favorite non-human anime character?
Tough choice! This was actually the hardest question to answer. I think I’d have to settle on Sebas from Overlord. Of all the guardians who serve Ains, Sebas manages to be the most humane (ie, he doesn’t treat humans as dirt) and just as cool as, say, Demiurge.
What anime series would you like to see get more recognition?
Seems like every season there’s one gem that slips through the cracks of popularity. Voice of Fox would be a recent example. Silver Spoon is well-known, not too mention award-winning, but rarely talked about. And Gate, as I’ve mentioned before, is the series closest to my heart. But if I had to pick just one series, I’d probably go with Restaurant to Another World. It’s got the most uplifting OP ever; it’s a slice of life story with a plot (see above!), albeit a slowly-unfolding one; and it always succeeds in combining the wonder of discovering a fantasy world with the best parts of down-to-earth home life that we all love.
Do you have a post, or a topic, that you’ve tried to write many times, but couldn’t? What was it about and what stopped you from finishing?
That topic would be an exploration of what we generally call fanservice. But that’s a sticky enough topic that 10,000 words probably wouldn’t do it justice…
Have you ever not posted something because you thought it might be too controversial? Did you change your post, cancel the post, or just let it fly?
I had second thoughts about my critique of Darling in the FranXX. At the time I wrote it, it was shaping up to be the most lauded show of the season. (That changed.) But I’m glad I went forward with it. It was a lot of fun!
Now to spread the Sunshine to more folks…!
I’d like to nominate the following:
- Moya: https://moyatorium.wordpress.com
- Arthifis: https://animeshelter.com
- Cactus Matt: http://animeqanda.com
- Karandi: http://100wordanime.blog
- Irina: https://drunkenanimeblog.com
- Scott: https://mechanicalanimereviews.com/
- Rose: https://wretchedanddivine.wordpress.com
- Lina: http://tinyuglyanimal.com
- tanteikid94: https://blaztavern.wordpress.com
- anibproductions: https://anibproductions.wordpress.com
- Jenn: https://animehellzone.wordpress.com
And some questions for you all…
- Which anime do you consider the all-around best (Character, plot, visuals, etc.) and yet you don’t really care for it?
- Conversely, is there an anime which you consider seriously flawed and yet can’t help feeling particularly fond of?
- Is there an anime which you don’t really enjoy and yet love the OP or ED?
- How about one you adore, except the OP/ED is abysmal?
- Has an anime ever profoundly changed your life?
- How so?
- Which anime character do you find most similar to yourself?
- Why?
- Which character would you most like to be related to?
- How so?
- Finally, name one moment in anime which broke your heart.
Until next time…!
Congrats on the award! 😊
Thank you, Keiko! How are you these days? 🙂
I’m doing well thanks! Slowly getting back into my hobbies which is great! 😊 you?
About the same! Took a breather from blogging last mouth and now easing back into it. 🙂
Oh nice! Hopefully the breather helped and now you can enjoy blogging again! 😊
“I use an Android tablet with a stylus and handwriting recognition. I like writing by hand (even though my cursive is horrific!) because I feel like It helps me be more creative.”
You’re not the first person I’ve heard say that. You might just have convinced me to invest in an iPad with a pencil…
“According to Aristotle, Plot is the source from which all the other elements of a story derive. ”
That’s in the running for the most learned answer I’ve read! Speaking as a self-avowed Aristotelian Thomist, that’s very cool!
“Kanata no Astra”
I hadn’t heard anything about that! Looking at the preview, now I’m looking forward to it, too!
“Of all the guardians who serve Ains, Sebas manages to be the most humane ”
Do you remember him slapping the man who mistreated the prostitute? The man was good enough to warrant a punch, so he just slapped him. Lots. Very cool scene.
“And Gate, as I’ve mentioned before, is the series closest to my heart. ”
I see you’re a man of culture as well! 🙂
“Restaurant to Another World. It’s got the most uplifting OP ever”
Isn’t it, though? Just beautiful!
Really enjoyed reading your answers!
Thank you, Crow! Did I know you were a Thomist before? I’ve had it in the back of my mind to do a “Sic et non” in the classic scholastic style, but about anime. “It would seem that SAO is not a good anime. … On the contrary… etc.” 😆
Re the tablet, if money is an issue you might consider getting a Samsung instead of an iPad. That’s what I use.
Man, you have good anime taste! 😎🥂
“I’ve had it in the back of my mind to do a “Sic et non” in the classic scholastic style, but about anime. “It would seem that SAO is not a good anime. … On the contrary… etc.””
That would be amazing!
My Latin is so rusty I had to use Google Translate, but you could write Summa Anime Scriptor!
And by “rusty,” I mean “terrible.”
Heh, pretty sure I don’t want to do a summa – remember Aquinas died before finishing!
Gee, how would you translate “anime” into Latin? It’s just the Japanese derivative of “animation”, which itself has Latin roots. So “animatio” is a probable form, but you’d want to distinguish it from animation more generally. So “Japanese animation” -> “animatio Iaponica”. Which is a bit of a mouthful, tbh.
Most languages allow for importing foreign words directly, or with minimal change, but the problem with doing that here is the potential for confusion with “anima, animae” meaning ‘soul’. Another option would be to treat it like a word imported from Greek (the Romans borrowed quite a lot from them), and decline it like “anime, animes, animae, animem, anime”, but again you run into the “animae” confusion potential. So I think “animatio Iaponica” is your safest bet!
Congrats on the award!
Ooh, can’t wait to see what people answer for #1 in particular.
Thanks, Krystallina! 🙂 Out of curiousity, why that question in particular? (Also, feel free to answer even if not nominated!)
Just be interested to see what big, major titles people aren’t a fan of. See what they admit is good but just not a fan of. For me, maybe Fruits Basket?
I can see that! It’s gorgeous and funny and melancholic, and yet I probably wouldn’t watch it without my kids wanting to.