Reading Omisyth’s write-up on 1st episode droppage brought me to a nice conclusion about this thing many of us do as anime-bloggers (myself included). We make quite a lot of 断言 and 公言, but does every series/season need a definitive yes=watch, no=garbage?
wernotdoinitrit
Somewhere in the deep, dark, and confusing world of psychology there is a rule that goes like, “If we make declaration of an action, but do not do it, then it will be easier to not do next declared action.” Now before someone points the finger at me declaring Irnotdoinitrit, I’ll point out the importance of this statement, where the validity of the statement does not matter.
We make professions as humans, but we each have a varying degree of upholding our said professions. So the question is, if not every human has a high percentage of upheld assertions, how valuable are they without individual basing? Furthermore why do we do it? I’m curious.
Essentially, we are calling out the names of our attacks…. MMMMazinger. If we are going to call it out, let’s make it Kamina-sized! (he DID get himself Gurren)
The Complement
What is the value of doing an action we did not declare? Personally, I feel it is the spice of life to do thing without even mentioning them… it is the element of surprise. To Enchant! A trip to Juno, I never expected my little adventurous friend to jump from the bridge while we swam below; she didn’t say anything, but she did it… and everyone followed. The rush!
Given, whether we state we will [not] watch/blog a series is somewhat more trivial, but I find it much easier to accomplish things without profession (less weight). Or as a well-known slogan goes:
That’s right.
Note
-This by no means attack on style or way, but a simple pondering as to whether either method is more beneficial? Stating, but not doing, or not stating but doing?
-Sunday Drive refers to the comment made on Omisynth’s blog, which implied we should just drive rather than reading road signs or making signs of our own.. going with the flow. ^_^
Ah… Clearly, Jesus has the answer to that one.
Mother asked for help one of her sons, but he said that he will not do it. Her other son agreed to help, but did not do it. However, the first son who said that he will not help actually helped. Which one of the boys did the right thing?
*Cats in the Cradle plays in the background* Passing by an old woman who slipped on ice and can’t stand up, father tells his son that people are supposed to help others.
Those who speak do not know. Those who know – do not speak.
Here’s how I think it breaks down:
1. Blog features a season preview, and commits to reviewing certain shows.
2. First impressions are in.
3. Reviewer drops shows.
When reviewer drops shows and lets the readers know about it in a post, this is a good thing. It manages my expectations of the blog.
If there was no commitment to reviewing the shows in the first place, the decision to drop the show has little to no value to me the reader, assuming that, I care more about the reviews than the life and times of the reviewer.
Reviews are a service to the reader after all, but personal livejournaling – maybe not so much.
@Kitsune… ze proverbs! Yea, watching/not-watching animu is a bit less severe, but I see what you mean. So less writing -about- more writing -on-…
@ghostlightning, that pretty much sums up how it works. Then we have a good example with Kurogane. He makes his posts, but has very little overhead of stating what he is actually doing. He simply expresses it pseudo-real-time with his posts.
It’s quite formal to make statements, then proceed (kind of stuff seen in dissertation abstracts), but even corporate publishers just run with it. They hardly say what they are going to do, and the reader finds out when undeclared actions have been revealed, be it a review or whatever.
Silent Signals.
I’ve never really understood why blogs such as THAT say that they are going to pick up shows wthout even having see them. The show could still swing any other way, what’s the point in declaring the action?
Then again, I do this whenever I’ve seen the first episode of a show, though I don’t do episodic blogging anymore. But there’s no sort of responsibility for me, at least. Perhaps they feel that if they do say they’re going to blog it, they will. But the Internets is a fickle mistress, it seems.
Maybe it’s an assertion on the part of the blog. Take for example THAT Anime Blog. Perhaps they believe the readers want to know what the blog will be writing and _expect_ that to be followed. A commitment is a commitment.
Unfortunately for the writer, if he/she commits and is unable to achieve then they start to feel bad. They believe that the readers are upset and begin to imagine a world where they are struggling. I’m not saying commitment is a bad thing but in the wrong context it can lead people to screw themselves up.
Readers at the end of the day will read whatever catches their eye right? If your blog doesn’t have what they are looking for then they will go elsewhere. The Antenna and Nano both facilitate this procedure.
Declaring the action seems to be taken from the fact that people are watching shows. Shows which declare their action and intent well in advance. So like the shows the bloggers have taken on a pattern. A pattern they believe best suits the medium they watch. I’m not sure if this has really sunk in and been questioned by people in quite this manner before.
Declaring the action in a schedule based on input the actioner (hehe) receives is perhaps not the best idea for everyone all around. Blogs are being used in a manner that isn’t perhaps best suited to what they are being adapted to in the example of anime blogs.
Many blogs are intending to facilitate a structured system as rigid and reliable as the shows they watch. I think a re-education of sorts needs to happen. But what is the best direction? People still want to follow a pattern or organisation of some sort. If announcing an action and attempting to follow it come what may isn’t the best idea then what is?
@Omisyth well, declaring or not isn’t so bad, neither really is following through, but somewhere in a declared position lies the tendency to feel obligated. It doesn’t always happen, yet it sure can zap enjoyment sometimes. Though, there are always those episodes which obliterate obligation and reminds us why we enjoy such things as well.
@mellow bunny Side Blogz! no jk. You entirely make sense. The issue is definitely the chance of breaking commitment, but realistically it shouldn’t matter… unless bloggers are going to admit they watch series for the sheer action of blogging about them, which isn’t true in most cases.
I believe declarations and commitments are going towards the subscription-reader relation, but as I mentioned above, professional, corporate publishers don’t state what they are going to write about with such specifics. They have a category of interesting and write a bunch of stuff in that area (or slightly related areas).
Still, giving heads ups aren’t bad. It provides some clarity to readers.
With regards to commitment, I think it’s quite important – more for the writer.
It’s like, if I told readers that I will be blogging every episode of Shin Mazinger Z and then I drop the whole thing after 3 eps, then…
I can retain my readers (who followed my coverage) by writing other content, but I relinquish the right to expect that they’ll read my other content (let’s say about Sengoku Basara).
Naturally, readers will read what they wish, and even if they are reading along a single topic/series on a blog, they are subscribed to the entire blog (not that they read every article, but it’s not like they are viewing a filtered page).
But yea, breaking commitments is going to have a pretty bad effect from the readers’ viewpoint. Dragging along without stating, “there will be no more posts on title-X,” may be worse.
In any case, there is an interesting mix of “content” versus “status” which spells a good case for subject isolation.
Good pondering materials.
what does the winged victory of samothrace have to do with it?? (that is the WV of S, isn’t it.?!)
@animekritik, it is indeed. Goddess of Victory, Nike. Corporate Nike’s slogan, Just Do It.
Ohhh, too bad her head’s chopped off. Or maybe that’s a commentary on the senseleness of corporations today…
Personally speaking, I rarely drop stuff. I found Marimite to be unbearable, but for most other series (even universally panned shit like Giniro no Olynssis) I have and could finish them. I simply think it’s a dishonor to the show to start it and not to finish it. But that’s just me, of course.
@Michael. yea, I don’t really like dropping things. Lately, I’ve been doing it more :/ but it’s still probably less than 5% of the series I start.