As summer comes to a close, I hope that the autumn weather might spark some interesting ideas for posts. I’d like to give some food for thought to my readers, and for my own satisfaction. Speaking of food, there’s going to be an extended restaurant analogy for this update. I hope you don’t run away!
Before I start, though, I want to extend a thank you to my Patreon sponsors for the month of September.
General:
Johnny Trovato
Ko Ransom
Alex
Diogo Prado
Viga
Yoshitake Rika fans:
Elliot Page
Hato Kenjirou fans:
Elizabeth
Yajima Mirei fans:
Machi-Kurada
I recently ate at Wendy’s, a trip that had me reading about some of the fast food chain’s recent changes. Apparently, Wendy’s in recent years has suffered from being seen as behind-the-times in spite of the relatively high quality of their food—ironic, given their slogan of “Old-Fashioned Hamburgers.” Customers still thought the food was great, but Wendy’s has had to play catch up, which is why they changed their signature burger a few years ago, re-introducing it as “Dave’s Hot ‘n’ Juicy Single/Double/Triple” before changing it to just “Dave’s.”
I feel like Ogiue Maniax is in a similarly precarious position. I know my readers still enjoy my posts, and I feel like I’m still serving what made people come to my blog in the first place, but it feels a bit stuck in another era. This is perhaps because of the blog format itself; this sort of anime/manga criticism exists much more readily on YouTube these days, and even that format looks like it might be in trouble given all of YouTube’s recent monkey wrenches that mess with people’s abilities to make a livelihood through the streaming video service.
I wish I had a new burger to provide something fresh, but I don’t. At least, not yet. I don’t rely on Ogiue Maniax as a career, so maybe I’ve gotten complacent, but the last thing I want to happen is for this blog to lose its core identity of thoughtful analysis.
At least, I hope they’re still thoughtful. Here are my personal highlights from the past month of Ogiue Maniax:
Capitalizing on a New Home: Otakon 2017
My Otakon 2017 con report! It also includes links to interviews, film reviews, and such.
Hell Hath no Fury: Benten in The Eccentric Family 2
Benten is one of anime’s most intriguing characters, but the second season of The Eccentric Family takes her portrayal to another level.
A New Way to Look at Precure Character Archetypes
This one’s kind of unusual: a look at how some recent Precure merchandise categorizes its extensive character list.
Patreon-Sponsored
The Star that Shines Brightest: Thoughts on the Aikatsu! Five-Year Anniversary Crossover
Five years of Aikatsu! Really?!
Closing
This doesn’t have to do with anything, but I should really write about Voltron: Legendary Defender one of these days. I have a lot of thoughts I want to get out there.
OGIUE MANIAX 