Recently, my friend and Sailor Moon Cosplay
extraordinaire Rizuki did an Instagram Story discussing the growing trend of
those who are obsessed with gaining mass amounts of Followers and Likes on
various social media platforms and pushing themselves to be the top influencers
on the internet. Rizuki brought up many
valid points including the main point that ones own personal validation and the
good times had with friends should be the driving force in your love of fandom,
not the need to become an iconic figure head.
At one point, she boiled it all down to a set of important questions:
Why you do what you do? Who are you
doing it for? Why do you continue to do
what you do? Why did you join social
media in the first place? It made me sit
back and think about myself. I’ve never
been obsessed with making this blog the epitome of the Anime Review Community
but why do I keep writing when I know viewership and online interaction is
admittedly pretty minimal? Inspired by
Rizuki’s heartfelt messages, I’ve decided to take a Top 5 Wednesday to talk
about my Top 5 Reasons Why I Keep Writing for the Gundam Anime Corner. I’m gonna see if I can answer Rizuki’s
questions not just because they were asked in general, but because theyre
actually good ones to revisit when you find yourself facing burnout or are in a
particular slump and need to remember why you love doing what you do.
#5-It's a Therapeutic Escape The last few years have been some of the most challenging
in my entire life.
Between the world
going crazy through the Age of Trump, the devastating impact of Covid…and me
losing my Dad towards the end of 2020, it hasn’t been a good time some of the
time and I’ve found myself at dark, low points.
The Anime Corner became a refuge for me more than ever when things got
real bad and even during some of those aforementioned dark times, I still kept
posting and working on things.
Sometimes
I need to escape to a scifi world or a slice of life romantic comedy to feel
good about the day.
Maybe I need to rag
on a character I absolultey despise for an entire paragraph.
Maybe I just want to talk about how freaking
bad ass the final fight scene in Demon Slayer: Mugen Train was.
It may not always calm my mind but writing
for this blog is always a good start.
I
never know what might cheer me up or send me into a rage filled rant…producing
some of my favorite written material ever.
#4-Keeping the Old School Alive
When I started this blog in 2014, I was looking at titles
from my own personal collection.
We’re
almost 8 full years in and even the stuff I’ve added to my shelves has been
covered (looking at the excess in Gundam I’ve picked up).
A lot of the titles I tend to lead towards
reviewing are mostly from when I started out as an Anime fan: the 1999-2001 Age
of Toonami; the Mid 2000’s boom with Code Geass, Bleach and Gundam 00;
Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll, the
original Mobile Suit Gundam and Gundam Wing.
I’m not saying I haven’t found more recent Anime to love cause I love
the hell out of My Hero Academia and Demon Slayer.
But in an age of seasonal anime that tend to
get forgotten once the season ends, I like to keep people aware of the Old
School titles that got me into Anime.
Maybe
they’ll get someones attention and gain someones extra binge time.
Maybe they wont.
I like talking about them so that’s what I
like to focus on the most.
#3-I Might Make Somones Day with a Review or Article
In March 2020, the Covid-19 Pandemic hit us all like a
sucker punch and I had no idea what life was going to look like in the coming
months.
No Conventions.
Stay at Home Protocols.
Shutdowns of all my favorite places to go…it
was scary and I was scared.
But after I
took some time to decompress, I made a decision.
As you’ll see here:
The
Gundam Anime Corner: The Gundam Anime Corner-A Safe Space For All
(gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com) I wanted to make this little corner of the
internet a place that was mostly devoid of Covid chatter and could serves as a
respite from the horrors of the real world.
I started this off with a full month of back to back reviews of Gundam
Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny…slowly destroying my mind having to watch the
latter all over again.
But it was
ok…because even if I’m not directly away of it, I know somehow my blog is
making a difference in someones life.
It’s giving them a moment to chill out and read about a title or topic
that might catch their eye and either scoff at or laugh at or be intrigued
by.
Sure, it’d be cool to get a comment
or two.
But at this point I don’t think
it matters.
Someone out there likes this
blogs nonsense and I’m glad I can continue to help out.
#2-I Love Reviews…I Love Anime
Since High School, I’ve been obsessed with Movie and TV
Reviews, to the point where I cant go a day without talking about either a
little bit.
I love discussing the ins
and outs, Pros and Cons, highs and lows of just about anything entertainment
related from how freaking epic and inspiring Encanto is to how absolutely
crappy Eternals was.
Since Middle
School, and maybe even before, I’ve been in love with the medium of Anime.
The worlds, the characters, the animation,
the action, the powerful messages and nonsensical storytelling.
It blew my mind back then with Dragon Ball Z
and Gundam Wing and still does today with Rising of the Shield Hero and Demon
Slayer.
So why the hell wouldn’t I want
to combine these two favorite passions of mine into one connected whole: Anime Reviews
and Commentary.
Cause when I’m talking
about how cool the original Macross still is today or how God awful a future
Gundam title I’ll get to later this year truly is, that is when I’m having
genuine, warm hug feeling fun.
#1-I Know What I’ve Gained Through It
I was going to Conventions and meeting people well before
the Gundam Anime Corner was born.
However, part of the reason the blog has grown in terms of content and
title selection has come from those people I’ve met, the ones I cant wait to chat
Anime with and find out what their likes and dislikes are compared to
mine.
Through these amazing people, I’ve
checked out shows I wouldn’t normally watch on my own like Say, I Love You or
give a First Impression on My Next Life as a Villainess: All Roads Lead to
Doom.
Friends Requested Reviews have
even seen me becoming motivated to check out titles I’ve long wanted to review
like the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross and the forthcoming Ouran
High School Host Club.
Honestly I don’t
know how many of my friends read the blog regularly or at all but I know some
do.
Whether they read in abundance or
not, the Gundam Anime Corner is thriving more than ever thanks to them…the
friends I’ve gained who mean more to me than an army of Instagram Followers.
As Rizuki said in her story, “The hunt for
Followers and a famous Influencer wont bring you happiness.
There’s more to fandom than numbers and going
viral.
The numbers don’t mean much in
the long run.
Happiness comes from your
own personal validation and the good times you have with friends, not
followers.”
And that, Dear Readers, is why I keep writing on this
blog…and why I’m not stopping anytime soon (you may now insert your Rick and
Morty Season 3 rant about multiple new seasons and how this will go on forever
until I find that Seisuhuan Dipping Sauce)
Special thanks again for Rizuki for inspiring today's Top
5. You can check out more of her words
of wisdom and her awesome cosplay escapades over at her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rizuki/
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