I always promised myself I wouldn’t become the kind of blogger who puts up a post to say sorry for not blogging, but here we are. I haven’t been this off my game since I took an intentional hiatus in May 2011 in order to work on a site redesign. In retrospect, temporarily ditching the blog while working on a big project is a great idea.
The big project in question is, of course, the book you’ve been hearing so much about: Build Your Anime Blog. I’m thrilled to say that as of today, there’s nothing left to do but push it live, so it will meet that May 1 deadline I promised last month. The final product is more than 50,000 words, more than TWICE the length of Otaku Journalism, but it’ll retail for the same price my first book did.
If you can’t spare $5.99 for the book, read the next few paragraphs carefully to see how you can get it for free. I’ve been thinking a lot about the Big Picture, and I can’t remember the last time I’ve had as much fun blogging here as when I’m getting back to my roots and practicing actual reporting. I love investigating questions that I (and hopefully my readers) have, like where American anime wall scrolls came from and how blind fans watch anime. I love reporting on topics like how Anime Boston navigates religion and fandom on Easter so much that I think of my yearly visit as a vacation, not as volunteering.
I’d like to do more journalism here at Otaku Journalist, and I’d like your help. Leave a topic for me to report on in the comments—it can be as simple as a question that you’re interested in me researching—and if I decide to take it on, I’ll send you a free copy of Build Your Anime Blog. I’m not sure how many ideas I’ll want, so theoretically everyone who comments could be a winner.
So much of what I do here depends on your feedback—even my decision to write a 50k word book. I’m really excited to see what you’re interested in having me report on.
Illustration by Kevin Bolk
27 Comments.
How about a view on how anime bloggers worldwide blog their local anime community?
@marlobarcellano:disqus do you have any bloggers in mind? There are millions! What do you mean by “blog their local community?”
I was thinking about this in mind: “How do Anime bloggers talk about the Anime community in which place they live in?”
Let’s see. How about this: research Christian Otakus & their influence within the Anime community
@JDebro:disqus in that case, you’ll like my interview with Charles from Beneath the Tangles in the book!
Niceness! Cant wait to get the book! :)
I’d like to see, if possible, some research into anime fans from really far-flung places — e.g., Africa, the Middle East, or European countries like Poland or Greece where there’s little to no local distribution and the language issues are thorny (that is, little to no translation into local languages save via the bootleg circuit).
Regarding that, maybe a comparison too between an American con and one from a different country.
Motion seconded.
Heh. Well, you know, fans in Africa, the Middle East, Poland and Greece don’t really see themselves as living in far-flung places.
It would be really neat to hear more about fans outside the U.S. or Japan. Anime is pretty popular in Ecuador, for instance, but in my experience they don’t really have the “nerd” cultural archetype the way we do in the United States. Just about everyone I met there who was into anime seemed what U.S. citizens would call “hip” and liked anime as a really weird, interesting genre.
I have never felt more socially normal. ;-)
Far-flung from the U.S., that is! Forgive my geo-centricism. But yes, the way you put it is spot-on — more about anime fans who aren’t from the U.S., or from an English-speaking country.
… And suddenly I’m jealous.
I’ll list some suggestions here since it doesn’t hurt to list more :
– The otaku/anime merchandise industry from a businessman point of view.
– Raising convention standards while keeping it to the core.
– Otaku buying habits : How do they decide what to buy?
– Getting paid by covering events …… (and what to do when they don’t)
– When a fandom is too “sexualized”
P.S. The book was a refresher. Still don’t have the time to write a review about it though. @LaurenOrsini:disqus
I’d be interested in reading an interview or some form of article about localization. What are the difficulties that surround localizing a Japanese work? And answering questions about the translation business as a whole!
@disqus_X7g6wg0DiJ:disqus This is a great idea. I could explore this by speaking to translators working for major U.S. anime and manga distributors, and ask about the most difficult things to translate. Thank you for your help! Email me your email address and I’ll send you a copy of the book. (You can find my email address on laurenraeorsini.com/contact)
How about a profile of the underground, surprisingly international AMV community? Many of the best editors come from France and Russia as well as the United States. I remember I was really shocked to learn one of my favorite editors lived in a small Russian fishing village outside Finland. It would be interesting to learn more about who these international editors are, how they got into AMVs and how their culture informs their editing. You can find a lot of these top international editors on sites like amvnews.ru and animemusicvideos.org.
1. It’s a bit more numbers-orientated than most topics, but it would be interesting to break down what happens when an anime fan pays for their media, either digitally through a service like Crunchyroll or physically through Funimation/Viz/etc. How much of it goes towards the original creators? How much of it is siphoned off for new licenses? New merchandise? Is one revenue stream more valued than another, or watched more in terms of who is watching what series? I dunno, I’m interested in seeing where exactly my money goes anytime I buy a DVD set or renew my CR subscription.
2. Non-American anime fans who participate in American-dominated fandom. It’s a whole different set of perspectives that I don’t think get quite enough coverage.
@disqus_Z0sHShA9TF:disqus 1. is something I tiptoed into when I first spoke to Crunchyroll, and definitely something I’m interested in, and think a lot of other fans are interested in, too. Thank you for your help! Email me your email address and I’ll send you a copy of the book. (You can find my email address on laurenraeorsini.com/contact)
Really liked the interview with Narelle Battersby and would love to see more talk with people who work in the industry.
@angsuki:disqus anyone in particular you’d like to learn about?
Probably someone behind the scenes. Say translators, editors, scriptwriters, etc. I love me some voice actors but they already have exposure (like in con panels).
Why would someone start an anime blog and what’s the benefit? Do you mean a personal style blog or like a commercial one?
@tonytacacci:disqus I answer this question in Build Your Anime Blog. I think you’ll like it!
Motherboard did an excellent article on scanlators, and I would love to see the topic explored in further depth. http://motherboard.vice.com/read/meet-the-scanlators
1). how about a deeper look into the eternal debate of dubs vs subs, how it all got started in the first place, its effect on the industry and fandoms in the digital/internet age and how the industry gauges what anime to dub or just leave alone with original audio and english subs.
2). with so many conventions popping up seemingly every month are we heading into a “bubble” of sorts? and if so will the industry experience a crash like how video games experienced a crash in the early 80’s?
3). AMVs, fair use and domestic/international copyright laws
@disqus_eiXeBDMLz7:disqus I really like the dub v. sub thing here. How it began as “well, guess we have to dub or Americans won’t watch” into elevating our favorite dub actors to convention celebrities. Thank you for your help! Email me your email address and I’ll send you a copy of the book. (You can find my email address on laurenraeorsini.com/contact)
1. As an engineer, I would love to hear about how modern technology has been shaping the anime industry. A broad question, though I am personally interested in the ways if affects production, accessibility to new creators , and the mediums of consumption. VR, digital editting tools, crowd funded dubs, you name it.
2. Building off the international questions others have, I would love to hear how other growing nations with big markets (China, India, etc) are playing a role in their consumption and contribution to anime and perhaps animation overall. Particularly since these nations are further developing and adopting western lifystyles, culture
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