Aniblog Feature – Crow’s World of Anime

This post was originally written for the November 2018 (and revival) issue of Mangaverse, the anime, manga, and comics ‘zine published by the National Fantasy Fan Federation (N3F) which I am currently in charge of editing. If you are interested in contributing to Mangaverse, please contact me at jessi@s1e1.com. I am always on the lookout for writers and artists!

This post has been minimally-edited to include hyperlinks, and to adjust some wording; the bulk of the post is unchanged from its original form.

Crow’s World of Anime

Does anime criticism always have to be, well, so critical? As a blogger, anime fan, frequent convention panelist, and yes, a self-described critic, that’s a question that I often ask myself. I think that writing about anime or any other medium is often a balance of positive and negative opinions, and how we choose to strike that balance is part of how we define ourselves, our presence, and our voice. I find that, while it’s tempting to spend a lot of time picking apart anime that I don’t like (and I certainly do that when I feel like I can justify it or I have something I think is important to say), it’s often much more fulfilling to speak highly of the anime I do like. When something is wonderful the impulse to share it with others is sometimes one of the best ways to form connections with like-minded fans.

My Twitter account primarily exists for the purpose of following and interacting with other folks in the anime fandom and related areas, and as it usually happens when I start talking about anime on my account, other bloggers tend to find those tweets (and vice-versa). As someone who doesn’t always feel confident about her own writing, when someone chooses to follow me online and listen to the things that I talk about, it fills me with the warm fuzzies. Some months ago I was followed by “The Crow” of “Crow’s World of Anime!” (also linked in my sidebar) a blog like many others dedicated to writing about anime, both current and past.

There were two things that struck me as interesting and unique about Crow’s blog, though; the first was that he seemed dedicated to not only posting his own thoughts on a regular schedule, but also featuring and uplifting posts from other bloggers on a weekly basis as well. Crow maintains a list of other anime blogs that he checks on a weekly basis (you can find that list here) and on Sundays he links to some of those blog posts in a feature called “Other Posts to Crow About” (find the archives here). This strikes me as a lot of work, but also speaks to a commitment to interacting with, raising-up, and providing kudos to the great writing coming out of the anime community on a regular basis. I’ve even found some other great blogs to follow from reading this feature, which speaks directly to the value of this community service.

Beyond that, though (and the broader reason why I wanted to provide him with a featured spot in this issue), Crow has a stated commitment to positive discourse in the anime fandom community. In his essay, “Using an Anime Site to Take a Stand,” (found here) Crow outlines some personal experiences (some of them unfortunately toxic) that contributed to his current outlook and approach to anime fandom. What struck a chord with me was Crow’s description of the allure of toxicity – the “high” that comes from letting loose and tearing apart something we dislike. While I definitely feel that it’s my duty to criticize aspects of anime that fall flat (especially things like poor representation, sexism, racism, or other things which genuinely harm others and could have been prevented with a little bit more sensitivity or knowledge), I also know how easy it can be to adopt an attitude that fans of certain series “must be awful” or “stupid” (guilty as charged, and I was rightly taken to task for that many years ago). Differing opinions aside, ad-hominem attacks (whether in a review or in a comments section) rarely accomplish anything but the spread of toxic fandom attitudes, and Crow does a good job of outlining the harm of adopting cynicism and confrontation as a writing philosophy.

While Crow and I don’t have a lot of overlap in the series that we write about (though we both loved Planet With – if the unusual blend of psychological mecha anime with a positive outlook on humanity sounds appealing you owe it to yourself to check it out right away!), we do seem to agree that the anime fandom is one worth nurturing through contributing positivity, thoughtfulness, and reasoned discourse. While there will always be fans who feel compelled to express their own fandom through the denigration of others’, when writers like Crow make a concerted effort to take a stand for civility and kindness, it only helps to improve the fandom that we share and love.

If you have a suggestion for a blog I should be checking out, let me know in the comments! I’m always excited about reading what other anime fans have to say and giving them the publicity that they deserve!