In other words: Remy rambles.
Last month, The Lily Garden posted a poll in order to gauge the readers’ interests.
It seems like most of you want more analytical content and older anime series reviews. Simulcast content and visual novel reviews were next on the rankings. Manga reviews and fanfiction content were tied for last.
I realize that my wording for the simulcast option is a bit weird. I meant to convey that I would be writing longer, more analytical episodic reviews should the majority display preference for such content. Why? Because I simply feel like my episode reviews are generally mediocre. And to me, there’s nothing more disgraceful than a constant stream of content that is barely adequate.
In my opinion, episode reviews should either be quick to digest or be throughly analytical. I have consistently demonstrated an inability to be concise and sometimes I feel like I’m only doing the play-by-play instead of analyzing and elaborating on the finer details concerning an episode. In other words, I fall short in following either definition of a well-executed episodic review.
To be completely frank, the poll was a thinly-veiled attempt to determine whether or not I can take a break from doing episode reviews. But despite my dismal perception of my episodic posts, I don’t think I should. A fair amount of people swing by to look at what I have to say about this episode or that episode. And what if no other blogger is covering this series and it’s up to me to give the people what they want?
I’m going to keep trying, but please be aware that I’m not impressed with my own content. Maybe I’ll get better in due time…
tl;dr – I believe my episode reviews are trash compared to certain other bloggers’ content (let’s call them K-san and P-san) but I feel like I have to keep at it for multiple reasons.
I want to post content aside from episode reviews ,and series reviews, but I feel like I have no time to do so.
I want my voice to be heard, but I’m choking on an oversaturation of mediocre content.
The Lily Garden 
Dear Remy,
I love your episodic reviews but also enjoy your other content as well. I rather not pressure you into doing something that you particularity don’t want to do, so If you turned away from episodic content then that would be okay. Your Prattle supports you in any direction that you end up going!
Sincerely,
Prattle
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Dear Prattle,
Thank you for your continued support. After having some time to think, I believe that I should keep at it. I am sorry for acting like a big baby over all of this. Hopefully I won’t disappoint. Once again, thanks.
Sincerely,
Remy
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❤
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♡ﾟ･｡♥｡･ﾟ♡ﾟ･｡♥｡･ﾟ♡
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I’m going to say, as others already have, that you should do what you’re most comfortable with. But at the same time, I can see why you’re reluctant to give up episodic reviews despite feeling that they’re not upto your standards. Personally, I love reading your posts, including the episodic reviews. They may not always be analytical but they never fail to be thoroughly amusing. So yeah, that’s a plus. And it’s great to keep up with shows I wouldn’t otherwise even hear of through your posts.
But the priority here should go to your feelings and if you’re not into episodic reviews at the moment, perhaps you could take a break for a season, be it this or the next? Just a suggestion. It makes me sad to see you so torn.
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I’m glad to hear you enjoy the episodic reviews. As long as they remain amusing, I have an incentive to keep them up. Analytical material can come and go as it pleases, I suppose. Maybe. Being able to help you and others keep up with these shows that typically do not align with align your interests is definitely a plus, too!
I guess I will keep at it for now. Maybe things will calm down in a while and I’ll figure things out. Or not. Life is crazy like that.
Thank you for your kind words as usual, D. I hope your finale to your life as a undergraduate student is going smoothly.
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Life is indeed crazy but I have faith in you!
It’s been going well enough so far but really, it depends a lot on the graders. For instance, I had to come up with a short story on the spot on my last paper and I wrote about lesbians in love, which is all well and fine, but if it’s some conservative dick checking the paper, I might lose 15 marks. I regret nothing.
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Haha thank you!
Much respect for sticking to your guns. I can only applaud and cheer from over here. Wooo I hope it continues going well and that you get an open-minded grader!
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Your cheers are much appreciated. They say around here that grading is always 50% luck so there’s that.
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Remy, my friend, let me help you.
I can appreciate you feeling motivated to do better based on what you see in other blogs. Like Hiroko mentioned in YLIA, some good competition puts a fire under your ass to push to the next level.
Along the same lines, reaching out to your readers to see what they would like is generally a good thing, and shows that you want to cater to what they appreciate about your blog.
Personally, I love your more analytical posts. Those are the kinds of things I like to read in general, but at the same time they’re something that I need to put time aside to read, and aren’t very accessible at a quick glance.
What I would advise most is having a clear idea of what kind of content YOU want to write about, and what your goals for your blog are. Do you want more readers? More discussion? Do you want these things if it means you’re not doing the content you wanted to do?
I did “analytical” episodic posts for 8 shows last season and it took up ALL my time. You’re not going to deliver a good analysis piece without putting a decent amount of time into it. I did only brief analyses, yet still struggled for time, and I got very few views. There could be a lot of reasons for that which I didn’t look into, but I hope you’re seeing my point.
Let’s remember Kaori’s sage advice: “Before you fingers touch the keys, you must determine in your mind how you want to play it.”
How do you want to write this blog? Who are you writing it for? I’m open to talk sometime on Twitter or w/e if you want to discuss.
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YLIA does provide some great advice.
Glad to hear you appreciate the more lengthy posts. Never thought about accessibility in that way, though, so thanks for that.
You’re definitely posing the right kind of questions. I’m going to have to think about these for a while but in the meanwhile I think I will soldier on with episodic reviews. Hopefully I can make time for more analytical stuff.
Mmm I see your point. It’s a shame that your analytical episodic posts didn’t do as well as I thought they would.
Thank you for the thoughtful words and the open invitation, Weekend.
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You absolutely should take your blog in whatever direction you so desire. With that said, taking a break from episodic reviewing is sometimes necessary to refresh. For myself, I have opted to write first impression reviews, mid-season thoughts, and a final impression review. It’s enough to convey my thoughts and offer a bit of insight.
What I feel sets your reviews apart (and what keeps me coming back) is that you offer a condensed summary, mixed with your insight and thoughts. This allows me to understand your thought process as the episode unfolds.
Along the same line, your reviews always have a pictorial summary. I don’t see many reviewers doing this and I think it sets you apart.
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Thanks for being as understanding as always. Your decision to write first impression reviews, mid-season thoughts, and final impression reviews is a great one.
Ah, I didn’t really consider those aspects. As long as what I’m writing remains interesting, then I can say I’m happy to keep writing. Thank you for pointing this out to me.
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Ah that’s rough. Normally I’d recommend that you do what makes you happy, but clearly there’s a lot of other things to consider.
Personally, I’m always amazed at the crazy amount of good content that you put out. Maybe taking a small break will help?
Either way, I’ll be happy to read the stuff you put out, whatever it may be and whenever it comes out!
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Mmm it does make things a little bit more difficult.
Great suggestion. I ended taking a small break yesterday to figure things out and I think that keeping this up is alright. I probably just need to learn how to manage my time better in order to set time aside for other kinds of posts.
Thank you for your thoughtful words. I will try not to disappoint!
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While you should certainly take your blog in whatever direction you feel comfortable with, I really like your thoughts individual episodes of shows, even if I’m not watching the anime you are covering. Whatever you decide, I look forward to reading your future posts.
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Thank you for the kind words. I think I’ll keep doing episode reviews after all, then. If you are enjoying said posts even if you aren’t watching the correlated shows, then I must be doing something right.
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I think I know K-san and P-san.
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