Anime Blogs

One of my resolutions for 2009 was to make an honest attempt at not being negative about every single thing–it’s not good for me, and it’s not good for the people around me. Whether or not I’ve been successful is your call, but one thing I’ve been completely not successful at not hating are anime blogs.

I don’t hate all anime blogs. In fact, I don’t even hate most anime blogs. In general, I am indifferent to the obscene number of anime blogs out there–they don’t bother me and I don’t bother them. As a concept, I love the anime blog– it’s a medium by which fans can share theories, information and analyses on the variety of media that encompass modern 2D visual culture.

However, somewhere it’s all gone terribly wrong.

The types of blogs that do what I’ve outlined above tend to be complete and utter bullshit. There is no nicer way to phrase it–that’s just how it is. And no, this isn’t a case of me getting mad at people over the internet for having different opinions than I do. It’s me getting mad at people on the internet who pass their opinions off as important, while having little grounding in what they’re pontificating about atop their soapbox composed of zeros and ones. To put it simply, there is a large contingent of people who just have no idea what they’re talking about.

This alone doesn’t enrage me. On their own, blogs like these are just annoyances–like flies. What really pushes me into bouts of head-banging frustration are when these bloggers come together and debate over their pseudo-academic hogwash. The comments on these blogs are the worst internet circlejerk you could ever subject yourself to–inane comparisons are made, wrong facts are thrown about, and assumption after assumption is made; resulting in everyone involved looking like a total ass.

I am not asking all anime bloggers to have been anime fans for 10 years, watch every single classic show out there, or even learn Japanese. I don’t think these are requirements for one to be an anime blogger, but–and this is a rather large but–if you lack grounding in the field you’re writing about, don’t pretend that you have it. You can be a perfectly fine blogger that has just started watching Japanese cartoons and have something of merit to say about them, but don’t for a second take a high and mighty tone. This is my other issue with the blogs at hand–tone–they act is if they actually know what they’re talking about.

Of course, there are a small number of serious anime blogs that do what they do quite well. Their writers have either been fans for a number of years, have seen a wide variety of shows, or posses a deep knowledge of Japanese culture. Sometimes they have all of the above. They are however sadly overshadowed by the dark, looming and evil collective of pseudo-intellectual bloggers that all wank to their own misguided bullshit.

Now, don’t think for a second that I consider myself above these guys–I’m just a rambling kid vomiting up years of pent-up rage. That said, I’d like for some of these individuals (you know who you are) to think about this for a minute–does watching every show made after 2006 automatically make you an expert on this medium? No. Please realize this, and we’ll all be better for it.

Thanks!

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