Remembering My First Year: Humble Ace Turns One Year Older, And One Year Wiser

It’s been over a year since I started this site on a whim, and what an awesome time it’s been. Not that I think the occasion is particularly significant in the grand scheme of things; not even regarding the anime and manga industry and/or related fandoms. But I did manage to publish over one hundred and fifty posts during my first year of blogging.

And it’s been fun writing on here, sharing and celebrating the stuff that is my lifeblood, clumsily reflecting upon various aspects of anime and other things, ever so slightly improving in articulating my thoughts and feelings about things, exploring what makes the shows/franchises I love so fascinating, and exploring how it is to be a fan of anime.

This post is really just meant to be a thank you to all of the readers, followers, and commenters. You’ve made this anime and manga hobby of mine feel considerably less lonely. I’ve made friends with many awesome people to share and discuss things with, and generally make this hobby a very enjoyable one.

Thank you to those who discovered this blog very early on without me reaching out and have provided very motivating messages, those who supported and influenced me, those who have contributed in the blogging experience and provided me with thought-provoking pieces and all-around entertainment:

Karandi, 100wordanime (The very first to comment! Been here since the beginning!)

Tim Rattray, Thoughts That Move (My first discovery; the first to engage me in the most thought-provoking conversations, always interesting)

Rodrovich, Rodrovich’s Anime Blog (wish I could read his stuff, posts about shows I haven’t watched)

Rose, wretchedanddivine (loves One Piece almost as much as I do)

Kapodaco, The Visualist’s Veranda (first to give constructive criticism on my writing, Toradora fanboy #1)

Plain Pasta and Plain Rice (great comments and a good read)

LitaKino, Lita Kino Anime Corner (For all the linking generosity, and being a pleasant person overall)

Rocco B, In the cubbyhole

Remy Fool, The Lily Garden

Prattle, seasonalprattle (The wisest ani-blogger I know, I learn quite a bit over there)

Cauthan: Cauthan Reviews, AJ: shoujoramen (great commenters)

Chris, Peach’s Almanac (loves KonoSuba and is cool)

That Razor Guy (He should write more)

Elijah, Caffeinated Telescopes (great to read, awesome to talk to)

DerekL, Apprentice Mages Lounge (posts badass comments)

D; D Talks Anime (My first episodic blog experience)

Kurumi Shim

Jon Spencer (power-commenter extraordinaire)

Eff-fume, Eff-fumes Domain (devoted her first post to reblogging one of mine; not something I advise doing, but appreciated)

The Spooky Red Head, Irina; I Drink And Watch Anime (Are both consistent readers in the blogging world, I have much catching-up to do)

Krystallina, Daiyamanga

Keiko, Keiko’s Anime Blog

Rei_The_Offbeat_Otaku (very supportive, and fun to talk to)

Tetrax4berium

Arthifis

And a special shout-out to Stephen Shin, BoogiePunk, Yatahaze (my borderline otaku friends), and all those whom I didn’t mention that commented here, are friends on twitter or MAL, and new visitors who generously give their time to read. A lot of whom I don’t talk to nearly as much as I could stand to, and hope get along with in the coming year. You all give me faith in my ability to produce worthwhile content, and remind me that there is plenty of room to grow. You, and the rest of the anime community, all make it fun to indulge this hobby, and are the reason watching anime on its own isn’t enough for me anymore. I love it here ❤

The year 2017 ended with me completing my 465th and 466th anime (both TTGL movies), and now I’m aiming even higher. I’ve got a long list of anime to watch and manga to read, and I doubt I’ll get through even half of it, but I want to make myself into a better anime loving nerd. So, I’m going to fill those gaps as best I can in the coming year.

I don’t know what the future holds or how long I’ll be doing this for, but I can’t imagine ever shutting down the site. So, count on another year of humble (and notsohumble) blogging. I hope to make enjoyable content worth reading. Happy New Years, everyone.