Tag Archives: patreon

The Rise and Fall of Saimoe

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This post was sponsored by Johnny Trovato. If you’re interested in submitting topics for the blog, or just like my writing and want to be a patron of Ogiue Maniax, check out my Patreon.

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Who is the greatest moe anime character?

That’s the question that the Saimoe (literally “Most Moe”) Tournament set out to answer, and its long history of competitions, dating back to 2002, are a reflection of not so much the state of anime fandom over the past 13 years, but rather how internet anime fandom has grown, changed, and even arguably moved on past the concept of moe in both the US and Japan.

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If there’s one fact I always find interesting about Saimoe, it’s that its original winner was Kinomoto Sakura of Cardcaptor Sakura. There’s something just so appropriate about her being the first champion, given how beloved she is among anime fans of all stripes. However, Saimoe is also often a snapshot, a look into the zeitgeist of at least a corner of anime fandom, and in that same tournament it might come as no surprise that its silver medalist was Osaka from Azumanga Daioh. These days Azumanga Daioh is viewed as a relic of the Early 2000s, an excellent show for sure, but not as timeless as its fervent fans (of which I am included) would have hoped for.

Other than Sakura, who has stood the test of time as Saimoe champions? It’s okay if you don’t remember who has won Saimoe before, as anime fandom as a whole has a tendency to burn briefly yet passionately for its favorite characters, where in the moment it seems as if her fame will last forever, the sheer memetic popularity of a Suiseiseki (Rozen Maiden) or a Takamachi Nanoha (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha) blinding fans from seeing the long-term. That’s not to say that characters such as Aisaka Taiga (Toradora!) and Rosemary Applefield (Ashita no Nadja) are forgettable or bad, but that the otaku mind can be a fickle thing.

Among these titles, it seems as if Madoka Magica‘s popularity still endures, giving a kind of strength to previous winners Madoka and Mami, but one factor that also has to be considered is that the numbers for Saimoe participation rose rapidly in the mid-2000s, and then declined sharply afterwards. To give an idea, for final-round votes, Sakura won in 2002 with 580, Suiseiseki won in 2006 with 2306, and most recently Saki and Nodoka from Saki tied each other at 187. This can be explained by the fact that the mid-2000s were when Saimoe truly opened up to international participation, but also that the idea of “moe” no longer carries as much subcultural weight.

This is perhaps best exemplified by that Suiseiseki victory. It was during that time that fervent fans on 4chan and other communities figured out how to vote for their favorite characters, and whether they were genuinely voting for who they believed was “most moe,” were backing their favorite characters, were trying to push a running gag forward, or they wanted to rally behind their chosen girl, Suiseiseki embodied all three. She was the center of the DESU DESU DESU meme, Rozen Maiden was generally popular among hardcore fans, and her character does have distinguishable moe qualities overall. The heyday of Saimoe was indeed also the heyday of 4chan, and while it’s questionable as to whether Saimoe had ever been more than a popularity contest, when looking at the “rise and fall” of Saimoe, so to speak, what comes out of the other side isn’t so much as a return to the idea of “moe” from the earlier days when Cardcaptor Sakura won it all, but something new and different that I can’t quite fully describe.

Let’s compare the winners of Saimoe 2012 and 2014, all of whom come from the anime series Saki. 2012’s champion was Onjouji Toki, a character who is strictly moe by all conceptions of the often-nebulous term. Toki is a sickly girl whose ability to peer into the future to win at mahjong set her up as a tragic figure that overshadowed even the protagonists of her story (the ending theme to Saki: Episode of Side A, “Futuristic Player,” is actually a reference to Toki). It’s hard to describe her as anything but “moe.” In contrast, while there are cutely tragic elements to Saki and Nodoka, their dual-victory in Saimoe carries a very different set of meanings. First, it can’t be ignored that Saki dominated the overall bracket, to the extent that it could be argued that the fans who care most these days about “moe” overlap significantly with Saki fans. Second, and I think this is more important, Saki has a major yuri component, and I believe that is the true meaning behind the tie. In fact, Toki, Mami, and Madoka also all attract yuri fanbases.

saki-and-nodoka

Yuri to some extent has been a factor in people’s views of characters as moe (see Nanoha and Fate’s popularity), but the role that the cute girl plays in the aspirations and fantasies of anime fandom seem to have changed. Moe as an idea was arguably overwhelming and overpowering at its height, but now it seemingly has begun to secede, and in its place is a network of interests of which yuri is a part. I put it that way because I don’t think “yuri” supplanted “moe” as if that would even be possible. After all, yuri as a vocabulary word predates the solidification of moe by at least a couple of decades, so if anything moe was the young upstart terminology. Rather, moe may have gradually melded itself back into the fabric of anime’s iconic characters, to the extent that trying to ask who is the “moest” has become a more difficult and less directly appealing proposition overall.

Fun with Money Puns: Ogiue Maniax Status Update for September 2015

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As September begins, I feel as if something is going to happening. I’ve been considering promoting the blog more than I have in the past, and really thinking about if I should make more efforts to have my posts reach people rather than writing them and waiting for readers to show up. I don’t want to push Ogiue Maniax at people who don’t care, but I do think that there are folks who might be interested in my blog, but who could very well know nothing about it. After all, I still get messages from people discovering Ogiue Maniax, albeit at a slower pace than what used to happen when anime blogging was a bigger thing in general.

This month’s special Patreon sponsors are:

Ko Ransom

Alex

Johnny Trovato

Anonymous

I had one other new sponsor who just barely missed the cut-off point for this month, but don’t worry (and you know who you are!). You’ll see your name next month.

This month’s sponsored posts covered food anime (though it turned more into a post about the Food Network’s anime-like qualities), and Senki Zesshou Symphogear. I had a lot of fun writing both, and I’m grateful that my sponsors enjoy the fact that I will sometimes twist their topics to suit my own particular interests and way of thinking. I feel appreciated, and I’m always happy to see others interested in my thoughts on anime, manga, and other topics.

I had a kind of crazy idea for the Patreon just the other day, and I don’t know how to properly reward people if they do this, but I wanted to make it possible to pledge certain amounts that also indicate your favorite Genshiken characters, based on Japanese wordplay. It would go something like this:

$10.00 for Ogiue (The Chi in Chika means “1000” and 1000 yen is about $10.00. I would say $1000 but I’m being realistic here)

$8.00 for Madarame (The Ha in Harunobu = 8)

$3.38 for Sasahara (Sa = 3, Ha = 8, thus $3.38)

$8.10 for Hato (Ha = 8, To = 10)

$4.40 for Yoshitake (4 = Yo, Shi = 4)

$4.37 for Sue (Susanna, Su = 4 (in Chinese and also Japanese mahjong), San/Zan = 3, Na = 7)

And so on.

What do you think of this idea? Would you be interested in pledging based on your favorite Genshiken character? Is this just another nefarious way for me to add more bad puns to the world?

Senki Zesshou Symphogear and the Question of Genuine Passion

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This post was sponsored by Johnny Trovato. If you’re interested in submitting topics for the blog, or just like my writing and want to support Ogiue Maniax, check out my Patreon.

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When first approaching the anime Senki Zesshou Symphogear, my view of the show was colored by one experience in particular. A few years ago, I was on the Veef Show to discuss AKB0048, another show from Studio Satelight that also involved singing, battling idols in a science fiction setting (no surprise coming from the studio founded by the creator of Macross). There, Veef informed me that Symphogear was essentially a show made by a relatively inexperienced staff, and it showed. So, I went in with the impression that it’d probably look nice but be fairly discombobulated, lacking the veteran knowledge of Kawamori Shouji or others. While after watching four episodes I certainly can’t say how the series concludes or holds together, what I can say is that Symphogear is very good at conveying passion.

I’m aware that this kind of sounds like a cop-out response. How can any anime, created by teams of people, and often tied in along with a desire to sell and succeed, be any more or less passionate than others? For that matter, how can a series that combines mild yuri, skintight space battle uniforms, idols, mecha, and general fanservice be anything more than a cynical marketing ploy? However, when watching Symphogear, I can’t help but feel that all of those elements are less calculated ploys and more actually the things that the creators themselves wanted to see. I haven’t read any interviews, and I haven’t researched this show heavily, so none of what I say is backed up by hard facts. It’s mainly my impression, and that feeling says to me that there’s something beyond appealing to the lowest common denominator as an external factor in Symphogear.

Being calculated doesn’t make a bad series, and neither does being true to one’s passions result in a good series. I think Love Live! School Idol Project, for example, is a fantastic series, entertaining through and through, with lots of great characters with well-rendered personalities, but it feels on a very basic level to be a product of marketing knowledge. All of the characters, even my favorites such as Hanayo and Nico, are carefully crafted to have just the right balance of traits. It’s just that this has worked out in its favor, and the series is genuinely well-written. Conversely, a series that is genuinely the product of its creator’s vision and interests but might carry an unfortunate message or soapbox situation can also be an issue. Symphogear seems as if it on some level has to go cheesy and get overloaded with all of those otaku interests, because that’s just what the creators think would be enjoyable.

I think the best example might just come from the main character Hibiki herself. Within the first four episodes, she’s shown to be this quiet girl with large, gentle eyes and a petite yet shapely figure who gains a mysterious power almost equivalent to that of a berserker. She’s shown to have a strong sense of justice, a willingness to get her hands dirty fighting, and a childhood friend who seems to be on a Daidouji Tomoyo level of “friendship.”At a distance, she can come across as this amalgam of desirable traits, and even upon looking more closely they still maintain that impression, but through the efforts of the animators and artists, the writers, and her voice actress Yuuki Aoi, her sense of being shines through. All of the elements that might be viewed as schlock when viewed with a cold, critical eye gain an air of warmth, and it feels possible to connect with Symphogear on a deeper level as a result. Perhaps it’s because Symphogear, more than even Kawamori’s own series, is the pinnacle of combining singing idols with space fighting faction, because the girls’ suits are literally powered by their voices.

With three seasons of Symphogear now in existence, I might assume that the series gets better as it goes along, but of course that’s never a guarantee. One thing I’ll be looking out for is, simply, what this inexperienced team ends up doing with the experiences they gather.

 

Working!!: Ogiue Maniax Status Update for August 2015

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The #1 thing I want to talk about for this month’s Patreon status update is that as of late I’ve gotten really bad at regularly updating the Patreon page. People who frequent the blog are likely well aware that Ogiue Maniax updates frequently, but I end up neglecting the actual Patreon page itself, resulting in large swathes of updates at once. It’s not the best way to do things and for that I have to apologize.

Even so, I’m glad so many of you have been sticking around. Due to various time constraints I can’t devote quite as much attention to the blog as I like, but I still try to get out my thoughts on anime, manga, games, and other topics.

This month’s special Patreon sponsors are:

Ko Ransom

Alex

Johnny Trovato

Anonymous

This month, one of my Patreon-sponsored posts was from Johnny and was about making time for your hobbies. It’s as much a reflective piece as I come to realize what it means to be truly, truly busy as it is advice, and I also think it’s worth reading if you’ve ever felt burnt out on your hobbies or fear that you might be heading towards burn-out.

The other post was actually private at the behest of the sponsor. What do people think of this idea? Normally, what would happen is that a Patreon-sponsored post would be there for all to see and discuss, but if people want something more private and in-depth on a personal level, I’m willing to consider it.

Also, I’ve been writing a bit more about games and game design philosophy, even though I’m not a game designer. For example, I wrote a post about the relationship between balance and faithfulness to source material in Super Smash Bros. Would readers like to see more, or less of these? Keep in mind that ultimately the decision rests with myself, but I do appreciate the input.

Hundred Hand Slap: Ogiue Maniax Status Update for July 2015

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Over the past month, Ogiue Maniax finally hit the $100 mark on Patreon. I think that’s a pretty great milestone, and I’m thankful to everyone who’s helped out. I would consider this one of the more important events as of late, except that I actually also recently received my PhD and that kind of trumps everything else. Looking back, my academic achievement is a direct extension of a route that began with Ogiue Maniax all those years ago, and having my writing be appreciated on multiple levels fills me with a sense of wonderful pride (that’s also fleeting because I’m kind of self-doubting).

This month’s special Patreon sponsors are:

Ko Ransom

Alex

Johnny Trovato

Anonymous

Both Patreon-sponsored posts this month had interesting topics, I think. Touhou, Kantai Collection, and the Idea of the Controlled Fandom Experience is a post that came out of a request to talk about Touhou in general, but because Touhou is in such a different place compared to where it really began to make a mark in the English-speaking fandom, and because there’s so much competition in the mental space of otaku, I had to make it about Kantai Collection as well. For the other one, Miyamoto Ariana, “Japanese-ness,” and Black Cosplay, I’m not someone who normally thinks about beauty competitions or even cosplay, but the achievement by Miyamoto I think inevitably ties to a lot of ideas about identity and identity politics that even extends to the cosplay community.

This past month I also went and replaced my old Patreon milestone, the internet meme post, with a new challenge. At $150 I will now write a genuinely negative review of Genshiken, focusing mainly on its flaws (and not fake mascots ever). As my favorite manga ever, and because I tend to be positive overall with the blog, I see this as a challenge for myself. If you’re interested in seeing me squirm, this is your chance.

I still want to think about the whole Skype conversation reward, but it’s more a time concern than anything else at this point. I also am not sure how valuable talking to me actually is. Maybe once I get myself a silky smooth baritone voice, I can bump it up something fierce.

 

Touhou, Kantai Collection, and the Idea of the Controlled Fandom Experience

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This post was sponsored by Johnny Trovato. If you’re interested in submitting topics for the blog, or just like my writing and want to be a patron of Ogiue Maniax, check out my Patreon.

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Touhou is an interesting phenomenon. Beginning as a passion project for a game developer, this ostensibly “amateur” shmup in the tradition of R-Type and Ikaruga replaces spaceships with cute girls, introducing a wide variety of characters with distinct yet generally simplistic personalities. This has given fans plenty of room to position and interpret the characters in their own way, using the barest scraps of evidence as the catalyst for imagination. While not the first franchise to encourage this, with Touhou it’s particularly noticeable given its popularity at doujin events and the like, but it’s also interesting to note what has come in a post-Touhou environment. In particular, I feel like Kantai Collection has to be viewed within this lens, and so this post is mainly about a comparison between Touhou and Kantai Collection from an outsider’s perspective.

On a personal level, outside of Magic: The Gathering, the biggest nerd fandom that I’ve barely scratched the surface of is probably Touhou. Sure, I’ve drawn a crossover fanart between Cirno and Esports personality Day[9], and I’m a fan of bkub (particularly his New York Comic Con special featuring “the Deadpool”), but I’ve never played any of the actual games. In fact, the only Touhou game I’ve ever played is the doujin game Mega Mari, which is more of a Mega Man game than anything else. However, I’m well aware of Touhou‘s presence, if only because my surrounding environment is “other geeks,” and inevitably among hardcore anime fans there will be Touhou fans as well.

The same goes for Kantai Collection, a browser-based strategy game where battleships are personified as cute girls, except I arguably know even less about it. I’ve watched a few episodes of the anime, I know which character design I like best (Tenryuu), and I know that the game plays with supply and demand because you have to win a lottery to even get to play it in the first place. I’m also aware that it’s become Touhou‘s rival in terms of popularity, with a big difference being that Kantai Collection actively employs popular and professional artists, whereas Touhou‘s official art is famously lacking in refinement.

The relationship between Touhou and Kantai Collection is therefore a tricky one in terms of how these respective series have prompted fan production that hinges on interpretation in their fanbases (which also have plenty of overlap).  Whenever I see the two, I feel as if Touhou is primarily this product that just had an intentionally simplistic presentation that fans took and expanded into their own world. Kantai Collection, in turn, with its voiced characters, better artwork, and overall presentation invites that sort of activity from fans, and revels in being able to provide that space.

In other words, it’s as if Kantai Collection saw how Touhou inadvertently had its characters transformed into commodities through the efforts of its fans, and actively sought to replicate that through careful planning and razor-sharp marketing. That means actively trying to appeal to what fans want. Whether that’s a good thing or not is personal opinion, of course, and I’m hesitant to label it as “David vs. Goliath” in the traditional sense, especially because the border between an amateur and professional artist in Japanese games, anime, etc. can be so nebulous. However, I feel like perhaps part of what made Touhou appealing to its fans in the first place is that “amateur” environment, even if it’s indeed populated by professionals. There’s a rawness to it, a kind of unregulated frontier that’s continuously re-shaped compared to Kantai Collection with its carefully measured attributes, that makes more room for the fan to be in a sense also a creator.

 

A New Adventure?!: Ogiue Maniax Status Update for June 2015

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A lot of things have happened over the past month at (or around) Ogiue Maniax. Observant folks might have noticed that I’ve started linking to other posts on this blog. That’s because I’ve started contributing to the social media for an upcoming convention in New York City, Waku Waku +NYC, and this includes writing blog posts for them. I hope you enjoy the extra material, as while they’re not quite the same as what I’d normally write for Ogiue Maniax, they’re still intended to be fun, informative, and promote discussion.

However, if you look at the actual Patreon page, I don’t include those extra blog posts in my creations, as I believe it’s not quite fair to bolster my numbers like that when it’s all content supported by another organization not explicitly for Ogiue Maniax. Readers, do you agree, or would you rather see everything I make go on there?

This month’s special sponsors are:

Ko Ransom

Alex

Johnny Trovato

Anonymous

May was actually the first month where I wrote two sponsored posts:

We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Holograms (At Least Not All the Time): Voca Nico Night

An Acquired Taste that Gets Better with Time: Mysterious Joker

I definitely enjoyed writing them, and they got me to look more into topics I’ve had only passing familiarity with, and if you like what you see, why not consider becoming a sponsor? At $30 a month you can request topics as well.

I’m also still putting consideration into a new sponsor level, which is to have Skype conversations with me every week, and a milestone, which will involve me writing a negative review of Genshiken just for fun. The goal would not be to exaggerate, but to fairly state the flaws of my favorite series. What do you think? Would that be fun?

An Acquired Taste that Gets Better with Time: Mysterious Joker

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This is a sponsored post. If you’re interested in submitting topics for the blog, or just like my writing and want to be a patron of Ogiue Maniax, check out my Patreon.

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mysteriousjoker-crunchyroll

A comedy/adventure anime about a phantom thief named Joker and his bumbling ninja sidekick, Mysterious Joker (also known simply as Joker) is one of many anime derived from the Arsene Lupin-inspired archetype. In fact, this anime began the same season as a similar show, Magic Kaito 1412, and in that respect Mysterious Joker initially seems pretty unremarkable. Having watched the first 4 episodes, however, I noticed a couple of interesting qualities about the series. First, is that the visual designs of its characters are really indicative of a comics lineage that gets somewhat less attention from English-speaking audiences. Second, is that each episode has been better than the last.

mysteriousjoker-v11

In regards to the first point, I’m referring to the fact that Mysterious Joker was originally a children’s manga. However, when people talk about a category like “shounen,” they probably think of series like Dragon Ball or Naruto. Though titles like those are indeed meant for children, what some might be unaware of is that there are also manga magazines dedicated to very young kids, and chief among them is Corocoro Comics. This is where Mysterious Joker (created by Takahashi Hideyasu) comes from, and while the anime cleans up the look of the characters for consistency (generally a must when it comes to commercial animation), their appearances remain colorful and bombastic, with large facial features beyond even what people typically expect out of anime.

The reason why I bring all of this up is that I think it can make Mysterious Joker feel somewhat odd even for those who are accustomed to most other anime that are targeted towards children, as many of them, even if they do not expect an additional older readership, have qualities that almost inherently appeal to a roughly 15-21 demographic. This is not to say that Mysterious Joker is a show that can only be enjoyed by kids, as it can be quite clever in how its mysteries and puzzles play out, and the humor is delightfully crass at times without being crude, but it requires on some level an acknowledgement that it is indeed a kids’ show and that older viewers may not even be taken into consideration. I think this can be a sticking point for a lot of anime fans, particularly teenagers, and so enjoying Mysterious Joker, even on a basic level, requires something of an open mind.

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As for the second point, which is about how the show seems to improve with every episode, it’s as if each episode adds a bit more to the story and the world of its characters, and motivates viewers to keep watching. I originally planned on stopping at Episode 3, but then saw the reveal of a female rival phantom thief, which compelled me to see how that turns out. Episode 4 doesn’t feature her in any way, but it explores the friendly rivalry between the main character and another established in the previous episode, and in doing so gives even more reason to keep watching.

mysteriousjoker-jokerspade-small

I looked up the staff for Mysterious Joker and was surprised to see that Satou Dai of all people is responsible for series composition. While I can’t say how much of the story’s quality comes from the original manga and how much Satou himself is a factor, from my experience with his work I think you get a true sense of what it means to be responsible for series composition. Eureka Seven, another show of his, builds upon itself beautifully. Satou wasn’t around for the sequel, Eureka Seven AO, and it really shows. A more relevant work of his Battle Spirits: Shounen Toppa Bashin, which took the humble card game anime and made it into something more substantial and mature, yet still very attuned to its young audience. While I’ve not seen all of Mysterious Joker, I would not be surprised if it ends up developing in a similar way.

 

We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Holograms (At Least Not All the Time): Voca Nico Night

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This post was sponsored by Johnny Trovato. If you’re interested in submitting topics for the blog, or just like my writing and want to be a patron of Ogiue Maniax, check out my Patreon.

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As part of my Patreon rewards, I was recently asked to write about “Voca Nico Night,” a series of concerts celebrating Vocaloid music broadcasted over the Japanese streaming site Nico Nico Douga. This topic is somewhat outside of my normal purview, as I will admit to not being especially knowledgeable about Vocaloids or the scene surrounding them (I enjoy the music and recognize the characters but would not call myself a devoted Vocaloid fan), but as I watched recordings of Voca Nico Night I found that the performances seen at Voca Nico Night can be viewed as a reminder that, at the end of the day, talented human creators are an integral part of the success of Vocaloids and the music that is created using them.

The story of how virtual idol Hatsune Miku became an international sensation is the kind of tale that can cause some to proclaim the green-haired, leek-twirling, robot-voiced “singer” as the sign of a glorious future, and others to describe her as the death of music. For years the music company Yamaha had put out a voice synthesis program, but with some improvements to the software and the use of a cute girl in chic, futuristic clothing, things changed. Suddenly it was embraced by composers, musicians, music enthusiasts, artists, and writers both amateur and professional, and you can find countless examples of Vocaloid music, art, and more on sites such as Youtube, Pixiv, and Nico Nico Douga.

All of this has culminated in Vocaloid live concerts, where holographic projections of the Vocaloids sing and dance as live crowds cheer them on. This presents a fascinating contrast in the “life” of the Vocaloid. At the same time that Miku and the others become more “real”, their artificiality becomes even more pronounced. After all, even if she were to be brought into reality, Miku still has the appearance of an anime character, and that stylization and abstraction cannot be divorced from her even they’re re-drawn and individualized by various creators.

This can be viewed as a strength, as Miku’s self, constructed from the effort and desires of millions, makes no illusions about the synthesized elements of her music (as opposed to the auto-tuning that regularly occurs in popular music these days), but for those who believe that music comes from the soul, that way of thinking is certainly difficult to swallow. While I’m more of the former opinion, the latter I think is something worth keeping in mind.

This is where I think Voca Nico Night really shines, because without the expensive holograms, without the explicit desire to see Hatsune Miku or Megurine Luka or the Kagamine Twins, what’s left are the DJs, the musicians, the performers at center-stage, engaging with their audience both online and in the flesh. You can still hear the distinctly robotic tones of the Vocaloids, but their images are not taking all of the attention. Instead, the Vocaloids’ role as tools for producing music comes to the forefront, and while talking about the “functionality” of an actual musician would be crass and unfair, the origins of the Vocaloids means that they can be as “useful” or as “soulful” as one needs them to be. Voca Nico Night exists somewhat opposite the live concerts that get all of the attention, and while I hesitate to use a “yin-yang metaphor,” I do think that having both is for the better.

In many ways it reminded me of the times I’ve attended chiptunes concerts (another scene where I have interest but cannot call myself a true fan). Like the Vocaloid scene, chiptunes creators and fans embrace a type of music often associated historically with a visual component that arguably puts less emphasis on the music or the musicians (video games in the case of chiptunes), but people who love chiptunes use concerts to show their appreciation and their talents outside of what is typically expected out of a “performance.” I have to wonder if Vocaloid concerts and the like are at an intersection between the rock concert where band members are sometimes viewed as gods, the orchestra where the relative significance of the individual musicians versus the composers’ original scores can be argued, and the club where a DJ combines beats and melodies together to form something new.

New Requests and (Writing) Desires Fulfilled: Ogiue Maniax Status Update for May 2015

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This month I’m happy to say that the Ogiue Maniax Patreon is currently at almost $100, thanks to my generous patrons both new and old. Even getting close to the three-digit mark is kind of like a dream, and I hope to continue to provide interesting content for my readers.

This past month, I’ve gotten around to making a number of posts I’ve been planning for a while, most notably my review of the fujoshi friendship manga Fujoshissu!, my first look at DLC character Mewtwo in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS & Wii U, and my review of the anime about anime, SHIROBAKO. In the case Fujoshissu! I’d been anticipating writing the review of years.

This month’s special Patreon sponsors are:

Ko Ransom

Alex

Johnny Trovato

anonymous (not Capital A “Anonymous”)

One of my contributors wanted to remain anonymous, but because they fulfilled the “Decide My Fate” tier, I wanted to mention them as I am writing a special post this month. As always, if you’d like to request a topic for me to write, you can pledge $30 or more to my Patreon.  If you don’t want to or can’t contribute that much every month, you can always change the amount to something lower, or force a maximum limit on how much you give.

For this month, I’d like to ask what people want to see out of my rewards and goals. I understand that my goals and sponsor rewards aren’t exactly world-shattering, and while I’m certainly not willing to sell myself out, I’m curious as to what people would like to see. Perhaps Skype conversations once a week on any topic? Post requests with unique twists? Drawing requests? I’m not sure if I’d be able to do everything, but I’d like to at least offer more.

In terms of milestones, I’m open to suggestions. How would people feel about a tongue-in-cheek negative review of Genshiken and/or the character review of Ogiue?