I've been blogging for more than 6 years, having started Game n Tech in Sep 2006. It was a slow start, averaging 2 posts a month and then slowing down to 1 a month in 2008, and finally taking a one year break in 2009. In 2010, I came back and eventually renamed the blog to The Visual Medium. I think my passion for blogging was reignited by reading a lot of anime blogs and wanting my own platform to express my thoughts. In fact, one of my first posts on TVM was a review of FLCL, a show that made me excited about anime again.
Every banner since 2008.
I was extremely active in 2010, writing a whole bunch of anime reviews and starting the annual anime awards. In 2011, the reviews died down a little and I attempted (to utter failure) a weekly magazine format as well as individual episode posts. I started doing seasonal previews as well, but they were generally bad and not well-researched. This year, the weekly Acchi Kocchi was a huge success in terms of page views, but left me feeling pretty empty inside; I didn't start a blog to post screenshots and one-liners. In retrospect, 2010 seems to have been heavily influenced by anipages daily and psgels, 2011 was more like randomc, and 2012 was more like kurogane's style.
Posts
The blog posts are slowly dwindling after 2010. I think 60 is a good number. Average of once per week with some spares for special events like the annual anime awards. Till now I haven't found a way to write once a week without running out of things to say. Covering a show weekly requires writing a good summary and/or bringing new ideas and thoughts about the show. Sometimes the only thing I can say is "I still like this show". A review is much better, but it takes much more time and effort to write one. In 2013 I'll aim to do more reviews, go back to doing more Creator Spotlight and more features (like the Bakemonogatari week and Satoshi Kon features I did this year), and perhaps expand into Japanese culture and Anime seiyuu.
Reviews
The current review format was started in 2010 with the focus on how re-watchable a series is. This kind of made sense at the time as I sought addictive entertainment. These days, I find it hard to categorize a series into the ratings. For example, Lucky Star and Nichijou are 2 shows that I re-watch scenes from very regularly through Youtube. Shows like K-ON! and Oreimo I love a lot but can't justify even a 4 star rating. As such, I'll be revamping the rating system. The new system will have 2 separate ratings, one for what my brain tells me, and another for what my heart tells me. Cheesy, I know, but it makes the most sense. You can find it here once I decide on the icons and update it.
Anime of 2012
I'm aiming to publish this between 28th to 31st December. This year, I'll split it into 3 posts: Favourite Shows, Music, People and Trends. The first post is an unordered list of some of my favourite shows from this year. The second post will focus on the soundtracks and the OP/ED. The third post will highlight directors, animators, studios, seiyuu, and general trends of the year, as well as a wrap up. Furiously working my way through some shows and perhaps getting some reviews up before this.
Monthly blog views peaked at 5630 in June 2012 largely due to Acchi Kocchi posts and now its back to a more normal 1500 to 2500 views per month. With some luck, I might break the 60k all-time-pageviews this month! I'm also experimenting with other social media networks.
- Twitter - Using the #tvmblog hashtag to post blog-related stuff. I think this is the best format for episodic reviews.
- Tumblr - Mostly for seiyuu photos, though I do post some screencaps, animated gifs, and other random cool stuff.
- WONDER! - Starting to explore this but have not posted anything. If I do, it might be just cosplay and figurine photos.
- The Visual Moments - An image blog (still under construction), with a focus on cosplay, figurines, and anime events. Started work on this before I started using Tumblr and WONDER!. I don't think I'll continue work on it, but if I do, it will be when I get my own hosted domain and find a suitable CMS.
- Figure.fm - The community over there is a little dead, but might be a good place for figurine photography.
- AnimeVice - Used to be half-active there, but mostly just reblogging what I post here. Community better than Figure.fm but there is poor visibility. It's mostly the mods and a handful of the most active users that have seen my posts.
Currently its just this blog, Twitter, and Tumblr that are active though. Hoping to host my own site someday to replace this blog :)
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