From a graduate student’s journalism portfolio to an anime geek’s reporting notebook, Otaku Journalist has changed a lot over the past four years. In that time, I’ve actually published a whopping 415 posts!
This month saw the two biggest hits my site has ever had, Where your Crunchyroll dollars really go and Meet the girl who gets paid to watch anime. Since chances are you actually found my blog through one of these, I’m leaving them out of my list. Otherwise, here are Otaku Journalist’s 25 most popular posts of all time:
- Gundam Modeling 101. You probably expected this, given I wrote a whole post about how this one article makes me money.
- The bad romance of My Little Monster (and why I won’t stop watching). A controversial post about a controversial show.
- What’s the appeal of cat ears? Why are girls with cat ears even a thing in anime? I should really revisit this 2010 analysis.
- My afternoon as a Lolita. I donned Angelic Pretty and interviewed Lolita fashion aficionados on the National Mall. Here’s what I learned.
- How to start a career in anime journalism. I reached out to my heroes to write this post. Now I’m friends with two of them! Go figure.
- Ten things every otaku should do in 2011. Can’t believe this is still a hit. Time to write ten things for otaku to do in 2014.
- Should anime conventions screen for sex offenders? Another controversial topic. TL;DR the answer is yes.
- How to date an otaku. Wrote this about my relationship with my boyfriend-now-husband, so I guess some of my advice had to be right!
- Your fan service experience may vary, part 1. This super old two-parter explores fan service shows aimed at guys vs. girls. Here’s part two.
- The “Hot Geek Girl” debate: this time it’s not about looks. Why did Miss USA get so much flack for calling herself a science geek?
- Why don’t more women play Magic? I don’t agree with my reasoning in this 2010 article AT ALL anymore, but here it is for posterity.
- Is anime streaming site Daisuki worth your time? I need to revisit this one, too. Daisuki has gotten a lot better since it launched.
- Anime piracy and how the anime industry is like journalism. If we want people to pay instead of pirate, we need to be selling them convenience.
- Four Leaf Studio releases Katawa Shoujo. I started writing about this game a year before it came out. Here’s my changing views on it.
- What I’m Watching: Danshi Kokousei No Nichijou. Why we can’t see women’s faces on Ordinary Lives of High School Boys.
- The day I pissed off 4chan. My earliest encounter with Internet trolls in my journalism career.
- How to meet geeks with interests like yours… in person! I’m a confirmed introvert, but here’s how I met my board game group.
- Why you don’t have your geek dream job. Some tough love (mostly love) from my friend and mentor Steven Savage.
- Do you think anime characters are sexy? Hell yeah you do! Inspired by an awkward conversation with my sister.
- Maybe you’re the reason anime is dying. I don’t always write when I’m in a good mood, but I always try to come from a good place.
- How to interview celebrities at a fandom convention. Based on a frequently asked question. Double points if the celebrity is your personal hero!
- Has anime gone too mainstream? I wrote this back in 2011, but today, in the wake of Attack on Titan, it might actually be true.
- An open letter to Asian people from a weeaboo. Back before I knew what cultural appropriation was, I wrote an apology about it.
- The truth about Boys’ Love and rape culture. An important conversation that we can’t have often enough.
- Can you pass the geek test? This is about me failing the geek test but funny story—I’ve since passed it and I don’t feel any better.
Well, that took me down the rabbit hole. I hope you find an interesting post you’ve never seen before. And no matter how old it is, feel free to leave a comment! I’ll be checking.