Shameful Otaku Secret!

Gone to cartoons, every one

For those of you who commented when Oi, Hayaku! launched, saying that you hoped I wouldn’t slow down here… sorry, I guess I’ve done just that. It’s not really OH’s fault, though. Life, work, sickness, etc. gets in the way sometimes, and given the choice between taking a few spare minutes to watch anime or blog, WordPress doesn’t look nearly as good as Michiko.

However, I have been doing a lot of design and theming work with Riex, and that is looking sexy. I’m happy to say that the work has paid off in the form of a new front page and some theme modifications that really make this site suit us more than the out-of-the-box theme.

totally awesome and unrelated image (from Collection DX)

I’ve met some great bloggers as a result of OH! too. It goes without saying that the rest of our writers are cool people with good stuff to say. But even clicking commenters’ names has led me to folks like ghostlightning and mechafetish of We Remember Love, a fantastic giant robot worship blog and a great read. Whether you’re a fan of Gundam, Macross, or even Mazinger, I hereby demand you read this blog.

I’ve also started a very serious undertaking, one that I pretended to begin months ago and didn’t get anywhere with: Inspired by a new wave of folks who’ve actually finished the whole thing, I’m back on Legend of the Galactic Heroes. I find that I almost have to force myself to sit down in front of the TV and do all that reading, especially after a long day, but inexplicably I’m riveted once they start strategizing. So far, it’s just involved enough that you feel like you’re really chewing on something, but not so complicated that it hurts. I’m maybe 10% into it, though, so time will tell.

Today the Legend, tomorrow… shit, I dunno. Probably will be well past tomorrow before that’s done. Come back to me then.

But it’s still good, so far.

Not really too much else worth mentioning about that, but hopefully the quality doesn’t falter. So far there’s been nothing original about the plot in general, so adding another anime cliché should just be another test of Kannagi’s ability to execute brilliantly. It’s still a bit early, but it hasn’t failed yet.

This is mostly an excuse to respond to remarks made by He-Who-Must-Be-Spoken-To-in-Trackbacks (you’re welcome for the trackback), which no one loves to do but the statement that “nobody … even paid attention” raised a flag. Heaping praise is being dumped on Kannagi from all over the webernets, and let’s just say I wasn’t the only one zaitcev glossed over when he decided he was the sole party who noticed the animation quality. In fact, I even mentioned the Lucky Star resemblance (passing mention, I guess, but the parallel is clear as day).

Why is it people have to imagine they’re the only ones to notice something? Some other bloggers I love have a tendency toward this underdog stuff as well. Maybe it’s everyone’s desire to be the one finding the hidden gem, but let’s just all get together here: Kannagi is pretty boss, it’s so boss that we all know it, time to start a fan club.

(For now)

Well, it’s here. Oi, Hayaku!, in all its glory, has launched. The mastermind, or at least mind, behind it was revealed to be Riex, formerly of THAT, and he got a handsome fella to help write an intro post.

It’s still a little rough — in the biz we call it a “soft launch” — but over the next week it’ll fill out nicely, like that one skinny girl you went to school with. Authors will gradually reveal themselves, and then hopefully things will start barrelling like a freight train. There are some great writers on board of various levels of notoriety and handsomeness, and it’s been a lot of fun putting things together. It’s going to be work as well, but the great part is that you guys reap the benefits of that work.

So stop by, add it to your RSS feeds, and if you’re feeling especially nice give us a spot on your blogroll.