Episodic Blogging Threshold

A quote (text re-formatted):

Anime blogging is done with two classes of readers in mind: those who have watched the anime and those who have not. The first class is by definition spoiler-proof. It looks for joint celebration, detail clarification, and/or nostalgic kick. The second class is spoiler-sensitive and looks for advance information. Blogging for the two is generally incompatible, but a blogger cannot know the future class breakdown. One approach is a non-spoiling celebration, such as Visual Retrospective at Ani-nouto. It’s quite effective, but still a compromise. When I read the following as a 2nd Class Reader, I had not the clue about the power of the transmission:

[Insert some cool observation]

Yes.

[Insert some cool observation #2]

YES[spoiler removed]

Wow yes. I didn’t consciously notice it.

Still, 2nd Class people reading about [insert show here] will not understand either.

I am open to blogging on an per-episode basis. I do find the exercise fun when the show and I make a good match. I also think it is just as powerful as “1st Class” or whatever. It’s all in how you write and posture it.

Personally, I find this sort of thing a lot more natural; that care-free, easy-flow, low-word-count format and approach open the door to blogging about a much wider variety of stuff. The trade off is that having some constraint help structure your thought and give your readers something to expect or anticipate, and you kind of don’t get that. The idea is to associate ideas from one to another, and from a person to another through these shared experiences. Do I speak to you as a person trying to share some new information, or do I speak to you as a person trying to relive the same thing we watched?

So to me those two are really the same. I think ultimately it’s like a con. We celebrate together in different ways, and in the end it all kind of blurs for the outsider and freak out the locals. We party under the banner, regardless.

PS. Top image celebrates not just Makoto’s Kikuchi’s birthday, but also to cheer for her in her first contest in Saimoe 2012. Nekopuchi love is genuine!