Not-a-chan! This post has been coming, as I’ve taken some thought after reading Michael’s posts and responses. Maybe it has nothing to do with AnimeBlogging, perhaps nothing to do with anime in general, actually, I’ve decided not to write about my blogging style and just let it dangle, because I’ve already written about it in my About section. I will write about something else, Reflective-style. A sort of compliment to Michael’s recent post on Advertising, which deals with what I’ll call Product-style.

This reflective style which I speak is easily achieved by bloggers because it is simply a “say what you want to say” without chains, and possibly without intent of readership or privacy, possibly. (Think about that paradox for a sec, seems like these posts are meaningless right. meaningless=AloeDream ^^ ) In fact, reflection is the number one style of posting on anime blogs anyway, so why else is it important? It just is, because reflection can be, and is often, embedded in the product-style. This can cause a sort of imaginary necessity to post for readership and comments; hell I do it, its a habit, and its a blog, but it’s not specifically required.

Most blogs do the episodic summary thing, it’s not bad, its a staple, something to thrive on. Usually, beyond the summary is actual reflection. That’s awesome, so awesome, that if and when I read an episodic post, I read the reflective portion first. I feel reflective notes have a similar effect as to how a viewer may enjoy the inner thoughts of a slice-of-life character. Yet, it’s different in a way, because those reflections may actually relate to the reader, through the series / manga / novel / poem / movie / album….

Reflection also serves the writer a good purpose, greater than what others could get out of it, imo.

So why prioritize the product over the reflection? I believe it’s for readership. This isn’t evil, it’s encouraged, because, mmm, Michael’s post on advertising analyzes it well. Good things can come from this desire for readership (ie sites with descriptions I’ve added to my blogroll, I’m sure most desired readership). Though, it shouldn’t come at the cost of happiness, relaxation, enjoyment, etc (stated by many).

One blogger, who I find does this efficiently, is Kurogane. He usually posts an image and a few lines. The ultimate pure reflective style, short and sweet. I don’t even read all of the posts, but I know what to expect. I wish I could do it more, but I’m usually swayed to the product-style, damn damn damn. ^^

Nothing is for sure in the animeblogosphere, except things like Omni hunting down raws and posting summaries as if the end were tomorrow.

Perhaps we don’t need blogs for reflection. Perhaps non-bloggers only want to reflect, but having a blog is overkill. Perhaps I should finish the site that will provide reflective space without the expansiveness of a blog and without the restriction of “media-specific”. Perhaps I should finish this post.

Ryan A