1 year anniversary special post: Reviewing…my own blog.

Whoooooooooo! Party! [Anime: Himouto! Umaru-chan]

When I nonchalantly opened up WordPress in my browser, the last thing I expected was for WordPress to congratulate me on the anniversary of my account/blog. And well, they did. For all the shitty sides of WordPress, they at least remember when is the anniversary.

So, what did I do after seeing the notification? Of course, I decided on something that no one else has done before: a post to celebrate the anniversary. I’m such a genius.

Jokes aside, as I sat here thinking of what in the world I could do as a post, instead of just making it a celebrations post that is bland and boring, my mind clicked and I thought up this brilliant idea of actually doing a review of my own blog. Sure, I claim to live for entertainment and I just want to make entertaining posts, but how entertaining are my posts exactly? That is a question that I will try to analyse with this post, so sit tight and let’s get right into it!

Let’s travel back all the way to the beginning… [Anime: Kyoukai no Kanata]

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<<Welcome>>

Wow. My first ever post. A very notwell put together 3 lines that basically introduces what I wanted to write about in the blog as I first started…before I started getting liabilities and things, of course. There really isn’t much to talk about here, other than how embarrassed I am that I am actually digging this up…

Everyone’s gotta have a beginning, OK? [Anime: Himouto! Umaru-chan]

Entertainment: 0/10 (Come on, it’s just an introductory post…)

 

<<Anime first impressions: Alice to Zourokou>>

Oh. Oh my. Oh my goodness. Please, just get this out of my face. It’s…so…UGLY!!!!!

The formatting of the post is ugly! The way I rated it is ugly! The way I evaluated everything is ugly! Everything is just so…fugly!!

Bleh….[Anime: Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works]

But then again, it was truly the start of something special for me. Back then, all I did was to copy paste what I wrote to my friends a little, added some more things, and posted it out as a first impressions. After all, it was only meant to be shared to my friends, and my aesthetics sense is not the best.(It is still very shit to this day.)

The first impressions series ended up being a staple for me, and I did it for any anime from a new season. It might not mean much nowadays, since the first impressions of an anime really doesn’t mean much, but it’s just good to have and I will probably continue to do it just for the sentimental value.

On the topic of the post itself…the way I wrote was very different back then. It was amateurish, and well, full of subjective views(I’m totally an objective blogger by the way.)

Entertainment: 3/10 (Darn. There really is 0 attractiveness to my writing back then.)

You know what, let’s skip several posts that are very similar to get to more important ones where changes occur. It’s a bunch of first impressions on anime from that season back then, and they are more or less the same. Of course, they all had the very nice grand total of 0 likes and 0 comments.

 

<<Anime special reviews: Alice to Zourokou(Ep 2)>>

What is…what?? I called this a special review????? Nani?!

お前わもう死んでいる！ [Anime: Eromanga-sensei]

But really though. I cannot believe my eyes as I read this…it’s just so bad!

While I understand my own sentiments back then for creating this special post, just calling it a special review in the title in the first place is already failing in all sorts of places. Who’s going to click on a “special review” that doesn’t even briefly touch on what whatever it’s going to review on?

Oh…right…I didn’t actually review it either…. then why the heck did I even write the post?????????

And oh god, the special counters at the bottom. Why. Just why. Why did I rely on these useless numbers so much. “Joke counters”? Which part of this is funny?

While I’m happy that this post is the start of a series of special reviews that eventually became much more convoluted and defined, reading this back just feels so bad…

Entertainment: Cringe/10

 

<<Anime first impressions: Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho>>

Not much has changed since my first impressions. In fact, almost nothing changed except that I’ve gotten much lazier at writing this one since it was really late into the season that Zero kara started up. So, why would I pull this one up then?

Well, it is my first post ever to get a confirmation of sorts from other people. And yes, I’m going to drag you out again, Sam. It was your first ever like (you were even my first follower!) that suddenly woke me up. “Right, my writing can be seen by other people on the internet too, not just my friends. Maybe I should start trying to write better so other people will enjoy my posts?” It was that at moment that a thought as such finally started running through my head.

I thank all of you nowadays who regularly like my posts. While it might have been just a press of the button for you, it is another “Yes!” in my heart, and more drives for me to continue writing.

Thank you so much for all the support! [Anime: Ao no Exorcist]

Entertainment value: 4/10 (Still trashy writing as always.)

Skipping forward a little…

 

<<Anime afterthoughts: Youjo Senki>>

Wow. I cannot believe the me back then had it in myself to write something of that calibre. But then again, I really did love Youjo Senki as a series. (And I still do to this day! Hooray for movie sequel!)

I’m pretty sure I basically wrote the entire post in around an hour and just posted it then and there, after a small amount of checking, which was why there is quite a bit of mistakes. Either way, that was great to read back again, and I think I could have gotten much more in-depth there. Well, perhaps I could write another post next time to give this series the recognition it deserves?

I’m very happy that this post kicked started the anime afterthought series. Of course, it only really had two posts within the series, one being the No Game No Life afterthoughts, but I assure you the series will continue next time, it’s just that I don’t want to write a bad post. I want the series to be of the utmost quality, and this post about my love for Youji Senki kickstarted it all.

Entertainment: 7/10 (Pretty good!)

At this point, Karandi liked my post, which is how I managed to find out about her.

Skipping forward a little again…

 

<<Anime first impressions: Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata ♭ Episode 1>>

My first post to obtain multiple likes. Honestly, it really is not that much better than any of the posts before it, but I believe my speed at writing and posting it was what made some people find me and like my post.

And yes, it is through this post that I got to know a certain Fake plant selling Monk, who has played quite a major role in my blog’s evolution.

Entertainment: 4/10 (Eh, it’s still pretty bad…)

Timeskip!

 

<<So I just got really lucky/unlucky today…>>

The first post to feature content not from an anime, but rather, from my real life. It’s just the description of a funny event that happened on the day which I wanted to write about.

The bland writing with the way I described the events kills me inside when I read it, but I guess the parts with the calculations and the maths is more interesting. Overall, an average post, but the start of my putting other content onto the blog other than just anime reviews.

Entertainment: 6/10 (Short and not so sweet)

 

<<Sin: Nanatsu no Taizai is not my cup of tea>>

My first “drop post”. Just a post about the reasons why I drop an anime that is mid-airing, and well, I’m not impressed with myself here either. Horrible structuring, yet again, and I somehow managed to shoehorn myself into putting my thoughts in terms of categories…again. It’s not fun to read, at all. But luckily, I’ve been trying my best to make drop posts much more interesting nowadays.

I’m trying my best…[Anime: Noragami]

Entertainment: 3/10 (Oh, it hurts…)

 

<<Mid season review: Spring 2017>>

Ah…Mid season reviews. The one thing that changed the most from post to post. With every mid season review, it feels as if I try to refine it further. I’m pretty happy with the state that it is in right now, but looking back at its humble beginnings really make me have a sense of nostalgia of when I still made these types of horrible mistakes.

The “awards” I gave out at the end turned out to be something I wanted to continue as a trend on the End season reviews, and it’s fate will be discussed next time. I have to comment on how pretentious it is though, since I was never a critic.

Overall, an OK start for a series of posts that I will continue to try to improve for a long time.

Entertainment: 6/10 (Not too bad)

 

<<Trickster is beyond saving>>

This was my first post ever when I unleashed all hell and just full on ranted on a show. Trickster was a show I watched before my first season of anime begun and it carried over into the season just before that, but it just got so bad I couldn’t take it anymore and dropped it, but I decided to rant on it to vent my frustrations.

It was really harsh, and my anger as I typed out the post was pretty evident. Either way, this was the start of something truly special to me–converting my fury into words and unleashing them on a post to warn people of something not so entertaining. Perhaps I should do more rant posts in the future?

Entertainment: 7/10 (Not bad! A much better attempt than all the posts before it.)

 

<<Coming up…>>

My first posts made just for some announcements. And one that had a lasting effect, actually. The announcement about the many upcoming posts ended up being kinda a bunch of empty promises, as evident by this:

It just keeps growing…sigh.

The second announcement about my original story, is not an empty promise however. I really did write it, up to a prologue and two chapters. However, I have since realised how poorly my writing was at the time, with lots of mistakes made and an overall not that good enjoyable reading experience, so I’ve pretty much “taken it down” and I will probably reboot the series next time. Currently, I am working on the Narratives of Glauvania series, one with much better writing and personally, I am proud of myself so far for what I’ve written. I will be doing advertisements on it next time as well as fully transporting it over to my blog as well instead of just having it on Wattpad.

The YouTube channel ended up pretty much dead. I just didn’t have that much time to focus on both quality blog content and recording gameplays to upload, so it just became just sort of limbo, where I want to upload content again, but can’t find the drive or the time to. Well, it was good while it lasted for a little.

And yeap, the last announcement was the one with the longest impact. Why? If you look at my blog now, it’s the theme I changed into. I may or may not change it again in the future to make accessibility even better, but for now, I like this theme so far. I’m not really sure though, perhaps you can give me inputs in the comments?

It’s just a post of announcements, but somehow I feel old reading it. The excitements I felt back then was not really the same as I feel now, but I believe not much would have changed. I still like writing and others reading my writing, I still like anime, and I am still working on an original story. Perhaps the only big change would be my writing skills. Hopefully it has gotten better?

Entertainment: 2/10 (It’s just an announcement post, but it really fails at hyping things up…)

Fast forward a few posts with little significance…

 

<<Pre season preview: Summer 2017>>

Originally made so some of my less informed friends can be informed about shows that are appearing next season, I never expected Pre season previews to become a staple series that I would write for every series. Even more so, I never expected to be able to help people find series that they never took a look at.

Nowadays, I’ve been working harder on Pre season previews than before, trying to provide a reason why you would watch the things on my list. Hopefully it’s been entertaining enough?

entertainment: 6/10 (A good attempt!)

 

<<End season review: Spring 2017>>

This is probably one of the posts that I put in the most amount of effort into. The banner image, with the editing, for one, took me an entire day to do back then. The post itself, with the vast of anime that I had to review at the same time, took me time to think up and write as well. With my skill level of before, it really was kind of a chore to do, and in the end, there really wasn’t much to the post. Again, the awards and things will be talked about next time.

The only thing I can see myself enjoying doing again would probably be making a banner similar to that one, but it would require much time and effort so hopefully I get to do it again next time.

Entertainment: 7/10 (That poster is preeeetty good)

Skip…skip…

 

<<Feels Friday: Tsuki ga Kirei’s brilliant ending>>

My first Feels Friday post, it will probably become a long running series as we go along since I’m such a crybaby…

I don’t really like how I described the emotions I felt here, nor do I like the way I presented the content. It’s more of a simple show and tell of whatever was on the screen rather than trying to explain just what exactly made me cry or “have the feels”.

I’ve been trying to do better, but geez, this takes me back.

Entertainment: 5/10 (It’s ok I guess? Revisiting the moment from Tsuki ga Kirei is great.)

At this point, my blog started picking up in popularity a little. It’s not getting ~10 views on each post, and well, it’s staying around this way for now, and I’m content even if I just have a small audience.

 

<<Tuesday’s Topics: Re:Isekai, and why they are popular>>

My first attempt at writing something completely new to my blog, a discussion of a topic. And one that started a series with quite literally just this one post currently. I like how my writing has slowly become better here, and my ideas more coherent. While it is still obvious how sometimes my sentences fall apart and doesn’t bring the idea across, I would give myself an E for Effort.

And yes, I’m planning to write another Tuesday’s Topic post again. It needs to be high quality.

Entertainment: 7/10 (Doing good!)

Much skipping ahead later…

 

<<This blog might be lovely, but you definitely are>>

Oh my goodness. The cheesiness that’s just dripping from this title. Urgh…

That aside, being my first “award post”, trying to find some facts I can reveal was quite a daunting task. Now, I’ve got this catalogue of nominations that I will have to answer eventually, and it’s actually getting pretty hard to keep track.

Either way, I myself don’t find these facts all that fun and interesting, since it’s well, about myself. Hopefully it’s been entertaining to you people though?

Entertainment: 6/10 (I’m not narcissistic)

 

[Anime: ???Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?]

<<Black Clover: The abysmal mess of a shoutfest>>

Although I’ve already brought your attention to the first rant post I’ve made, I feel the need to do so again for this rant post on Black Clover. Mostly because of the amount of rage I felt, this was again one of those posts that I put quite a big of effort into. I still have no regrets dropping Black Clover, and the manga continues to be very enjoyable.

And yes, f**k you Pierrot.

Entertainment: 8/10 (Whew, one of my more satisfactory posts.)

It was at this point that my blog started to expand in even more directions, including manga and novels. And well, I’m going to save the trouble of writing about them individually and conclude all of the new types of posts up right here:

I’m happy about these posts. My writing has drastically improved when compared to back then, and I’m certain that they are at least a little entertaining. Still, it feels good to be able to expand, and being able to talk about many more things on my blog just makes me happy.

Hopefully you readers are happy too?

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And thus we’ve come to the present. What’s in it for me? What’s in it for you?

Well, I can say that this anniversary wouldn’t be the last of the blog, that’s for sure. I feel very committed at this point and will continue to improve on my content. After all, I’ve got you people who I need to entertain!

Don’t worry, writing will continue to be fun to me, and yes, with this post, I’ve gotten back my form. Expect new posts soon!

Intense writing in progress…[Anime: Noragami]

Thank you all for supporting me and my blog so far. We’ve been through a lot, and I’ll be sure to continue as long as there’s even a single person looking forward to my posts.

Happy anniversary.

-Plyasm