Happy Halloween! I’d like to welcome you to the first edition of Record of A Blerd on this candy-ladden holiday. Whether you’re munching on treats, up to playing tricks, or are already into the month of November, I’m glad you’re here for my fairly fortnightly link-wrangling post.
This month marks a major change for me as I became quite busy. The Fall 2020 anime season kicked off with an almost overwhelming amount of new series, which meant that my work at Anime Feminist also picked up.
Additionally, I’ve been working hard behind to scenes to land some new contracts, including a few with different JP-EN publishers and localizers. Safe to say I’ve been hard at work editing and QA’ing just about everything I can.
As a note, future link-wrangling posts will come out pretty much every two weeks. In fact, you can expect the next post to come sometime around November 15th. For now, let’s get into the month of October, and see what all there is to wrangle!
Backlit Pixels
Here on the blog, I’ve been a bit quiet this month, especially as work picked up. Early in the month, I gave a bit of a peek behind the curtain, right as work picked up and my schedule shifted.
Unfortunately, this month, I didn’t get any doujinshi reviews done, in large part because of my new work schedule. I was a bit dissapointed, but I’m trying to be kind to myself and not sink into self-blame.
However, in November, you can expect a slew of doujinshi reviews, as well as something brand new: manga reviews, hosted here on this blog. Actually, as of writing this article, I’m awaiting some review materials from Yen Press: mostly manga, though I think I also requested High School DxD just because, which means there’ll be a light novel review to boot!
It’s all very exciting stuff, so…there’s that coming down the pipeline!
Anime Feminist
This season, I covered the season premier for five different series: TONIKAWA: Over the Moon For You, Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina, Iwa Kakeru! Sprts Climbing Girls, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, and Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club.
If you don’t have time to reach each of those articles, you can check out my snippets in Anime Feminist’s 2020 Fall Premiere Digest, as well as getting the 411 on all of the other series running this season.
In a throwback to summer, I chimed in with my recommendation for Summer 2020 anime. I went with Diary of Our Days at Breakwater, in large part because laid-back, chill anime are so necessary as the pandemic rages on. You can read more at the link above.
On October 30, I also checked in and gave my thoughts on the first three episodes of a few other anime for a perspective change in our 2020 Fall Three-Episode Check-In. You can read throughts from all of the team members at AniFem, and see what’s hot, and what you might wanna drop.
Fandom Post
This October, I had the honor of becoming part of The Fandom Post as a manga and anime reviewer. It’s been a really great experience thus far, and has let me dabble in a more frequent anime reviews and coverage.
This anime season, I’ve chosen to cover Funimation’s The Day I Became a God, a show from well-known creator Maeda Jun, who’s best known for the 2010 anime Angel Beats. So far, you can read my reviews on episode 1, episode 2, and episode 3.
Additionally, I’m covering Funimation’s Maesetsu! Opening Act, an anime being headlined by Lucky Star creator Yoshimizu Kagami. As of today’s post, you can read my reviews covering episode 1, episode 2, and episode 3.
In regards to manga reviews, my first review is set to go up on Halloween. I’ll be covering Yen Press’ Nightschool: The Weird Books Vol. 1. As a note, this is a 10th anniversary edition reprint collating Volumes 1 & 2 of Svetlana Chmakova’s Nightschool series into two omnibus editions.
I’m actually a big fan of Nightschool, so I’m quite excited to share mythoughts on this OEL (Original English Language) title. Plus, it’s an aptly spooky title, given all the supernatural beasties inside the volume.
Projects and Products
My first doujinshi project as a QA went live on Rotten Blossoms. I worked on That is a Sensitive Place! a 15+ Boys’ Love doujinshi that’s a good read for fans of monster boys and pretty boys who like to tease.
Additionally, I did some light review on another Rotten Blossoms title: WINGS Concerto A. Please note that this is an R18+/Adult title and please read the content warnings with care to yourself and personal triggers.
I’ve also got a slew of projects -both QA’ing and editing- that I’m currently working that are under NDAs. Please look forward to those in the November 2020 edition, should things go to plan, which I firmly believe they will.
Podcasting
I reflected on the Summer 2020 anime season with AniFem’s Chiaki and Dee on Chatty AF 126: 2020 Summer Wrap-up. During the Summer 2020 anime season, I watched the following: Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out, Monster Girl Doctor, Lapis Re:Lights, Diary of Our Days at Breakwater, and Rent-a-Girlfriend. All of them provide very interesting peeks into a rather lean anime season. On this episode of Chatty AF, you can hear my own thoughts, as well as the thoughts of my co-host, on Summer’s offerings.
Additionally, I’ve become part of the TomoChoco Podcast team as the podcast editor. Recently, the podcast also celebrated a huge milestone: as of Octoer 27, the podcast now pays for itself! Kit and Sarah, the hosts of the podcast, have been striving for this most of this year: now, they’re able to do even more now that fees are covered.
You can support TomoChoco directly by becoming a patron. Right now, they’re trying to reach their $150/month goal, which will allow me to be a regular editor, instead of splitting the work with Kit. As of this post, the podcast earns $106/month, which is enough to cover hosting and pay for the podcast.
If you’re in a position to give even $5, you can help both Kit and Sarah reach yet another stupendous goal!
Ecetera, Ecetera, Ecetera
In September, I made my AniFem podcast debut on Chatty AF 125: BNA Retrospective where I talked about over-the-top furry rights in the anime Brand New Animal, which is currently streaming on Netflix. Since then, I’ve recorded a number of podcast episodes that you can look forward to hearing over the course of Fall 2020 and Winter 2021.
I’ve also opened up essay commissions on my Ko-Fi. For $35 (1,000 – 1,850 words) or $50 (1,850 – 2,700 words) you can request an article about any fandom-oriented topic, including anime, manga, light novels, fanworks and fanfiction, video games, and more. I have a grand total of five slots open, and would like to fill them to fund my work and activities for the next month. All commissioned articles will go up on my Medium account, where they will be avaliable for free indefinitely. Additionally, commissioners will get a shoutout on Twitter of their own social media and whatnot in thanks for their commission.
Additionally, I’ve updated my on-going Japanese Reference Materials List, which is hosted on Amazon Japan. All gifted textbooks go towards supporting my endevours as a translator & localizer, as well as helping me continue to study Japanese pop culture and Japanese in general.
Right now, I’m trying to learn Japanese Sign Language, which is harder outside of Japan. However, there’s a lot of textbooks and matierals on my list that could help me achieve my goal of being an an accessible language learner. If you’re in a stable situation and have the means to support, please consider gifting me any of the texts on my list.
Ultimately, this month was a happily busy one: I’ve got a surplus of work, including a lot of secret projects that I’m keeping completely offline. That all being said, it truly was a solid month: I’m looking forward to sharing what happens over the next two weeks.
For now, I’ll see you in the next edition of Record of A Blerd!
If you like what I’ve got to say, want to support my reviews, or just generally want to support my ongoing creative and professional endeavors, please consider buying me a nice cup of Ko-fi or donating to me via PayPal. I’m also currently avaliable for essay commissions via Ko-Fi, which will be hosted via my Medium. You can further support my work and creativity by gifting me research materials from my Japanese Reference Materials wishlist, which is hosted by Amazon JP.
Every dollar allows me to sustainably and healthily do the work I love, all while sharing it with you for free. Thank you in advance for your on-going readership and support: it means the world to me.
Backlit Pixels 