And so, one year later…

It’s been a year. Isn’t it funny how quickly time can pass when you’re not looking at it? In this case, it feels like I’ve been too busy to notice the months slip by. I think I’ve been having fun, too. It was a year ago that the internet was raging at Code Geass R2, making memes out of Charles and the legendary trainwreck episode; a year ago that I first clicked the “publish” button on a Wordpress post, writing and rewriting less than 500 words on the last day of the summer holidays.

Looking back, though, it’s hardly felt like a journey at all. If anything, I’m just glad that I didn’t run from the prospective work and criticism and loss of free time, and end up missing out on something this satisfying.

It was kinda fun to read my first post again. I’m glad a better Shiori picture finally surfaced on Danbooru, and it’s a little ironic that I haven’t even played Kanon yet even though it’s translated. It’s also fitting that CCY was my first commenter since it was his rotating banners and witty fanboy ramblings that inspired a lot of my early blogging ideas.

If by some chance you’ve been reading me since the Old Days, which I define as anything before the start of 2009, you’ll know that I underwent some major changes along the way. Even now that I’ve been doing semi-serious editorial blogging for many months, my style and content still waver from time to time, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. More importantly, though, I’ve grown comfortable with my classmates and teachers and short-tempered overachievers in this little Gakuensuki.

What else is there to say? My life as a nerd isn’t too complicated. I grew up on GameFAQs with Nintendo and JRPGs, I learned of the otaku side of anime fandom through the infamous OT, I watched Suzumiya Haruhi during the summer after it aired and felt moe for the first (or maybe second) time…and after that, time passed. I played Hourglass of Summer and fell for the fluff of visual novels and dating sims, I discovered online stores and got into otaku merchandise collecting; you know how it goes. Later on, I abandoned my dream of becoming a pro gamer after Super Smash Bros Brawl proved ineffective as a fighting game, which may have been for the better since I doubt I could have made it anyway – and with one major hobby out of the way, I swore to learn everything that I could about anime and become like that guy in Otaku no Video. Except that I hadn’t actually seen Otaku no Video at the time.

Fast forward a year and a half: a certain ex-otaku named Ment0r became my first RL friend to know more about otaku culture than I did. Overjoyed at the opportunity to talk to someone about VNs and figures – a new opportunity since I was more or less internet-illiterate – I simultaneously gained experience and had fun. A few of us at school decided to make a visual novel (which turned into Sepia Tears, which later fell into my hands as I was the only one with a desire to finish). Near the end of that school year, our conversations opened my eyes to the blogosphere, and I knew what I had to do.

If you know me, you’ve seen this picture all too much.

Having come this far, I’d like to say, for the millionth time, that this site is basically a means of growth for me. The process of writing about anime and communicating with fellow fans has taught me far more about the medium and culture than I could have learned alone, and I’m also quite pleased at an accidental side-effect: at the risk of sounding cheesy, the friends that I’ve made along the way.

And on that note, in no particular order, I’d like to thank:

• CCY, for being the standard that I set myself against. There’s nothing wrong with a tl;dr filled with moe passion!
• M12, for being my first frequent commenter and reader.
• Digitalboy, for reminding me that I’m not crazy for dreaming big.
• Owen, for being the standard that I aspire toward. There’s nothing wrong with making people think on your blog, even if I must wax poetic about Clannad!
• OGT, for accidentally being like the big brother I should have had. I feel like I’ve learned a whole slew of miscellaneous but interesting things from having him around.
• lelangir, for making the blogosphere a better place. Period.
• Omisyth, for unintentionally keeping me on my toes whenever I feel like slacking off and not posting. He’s like my antithesis in anime taste but clone in blogging.
• animekritik, for making me laugh at the few philosophy jokes I actually get.
• Wildarmsheero, whose otaku knowledge and experience I’ll always respect, even if he’s not reading this and doesn’t want my acknowledgment.
• Omo, for being the kind of all-around awesome anime fan that I want to be as an adult.
• Shinn, for making me feel normal. (no offense, we all love bisexual lolicons!)

And, of course, to every one of you. I realize that lists look exclusive to those not on it, but there are many others who have made an impression on me through their writing rather than through conversation, and even more who I simply enjoy talking too. Besides, you know as well as I do that this place wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for all of you, blogger and non-blogger alike. There will always be many people that I look up to, people that inspire me, people that are fun to be around – more people than I can list – and when it’s all said and done, maybe I’ll be of inspriation to someone else too.

But I’m in no rush. For now, all that matters is moving forward: searching for my Hontou no Jibun, as usagijen call it, in both anime fandom and real life. Thanks for making this such a great year for me, and I’m genuinely looking forward to talking about Japanese cartoons with you guys in the future!

~ ETERNAL
つづく

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