Anime Viking has a new blog

Hello all! Long story short, I’ve been feeling the itch to keep on writing from time to time for a while. Since this blog is finished, I’ve decided to create a new one. The content will be similar to Anime Viking, but also expanded to include other aspects the interests me. So do expect some more posts on video games, especially as I might want to help highlight some smaller titles I enjoy. It’ll be a sporadic blog, but I’d love it if you decided to follow me on to my new blog:

Fun Makes Right

Thank you for having read my content for all these years, both new and old.

Those Final Steps – 10 Years of Anime Blogging

Here I am, finally taking my final steps in the blogosphere on Anime Viking. And I have been okay with it for a long time, no longer trembling as I did when I first set out on my journey a decade ago.

10 years?

Yes, it’s been that long.

Unlike beginnings, I have a tendency to find it far easier to write about the endings. I can still feel incredibly tense when writing the very first words, whereas near the end I often know exactly what I want to write down. But enough of that! In case you didn’t catch on – and I don’t blame you, after all this blog has not been regularly active in a long time – I was mirroring my very first post just now. It’s hard to pass up the chance!

Four Years of Anime Blogging and at a Crossroads

It has been four years since Anime Viking was created. With each passing year it becomes harder and harder to believe that I was once eighteen years old, still in high school and wet behind my years when this blog came to life. Looking through my older texts I realize that I may in fact have actually grown as a person whether I want it or not – the I from today is not the same as I from the past. Change is in itself a frightening aspect of life, but something one must come to accept in order to move forward however difficult it may be at times. The last year in particular has been a turbulent one on a personal level, but I hope and wish to have come out as a stronger person thanks to it.

Similarly, it hasn’t been a kind year to the blog itself. In 2015 it has only been updated once and even before that it was sparsely updated. There is no doubt that Anime Viking can be seen as an inactive, or possibly dead, blog at this point. This is an aspect I have reflected upon a lot lately in regards as to what should become of it.

12 Days of Christmas 2014 #02 – Yama no Susume 2 and a Dream to Climb Mount Fuji

Climbing, hiking and camping. These are all things I have not really done outside of more casual occasions, yet those times live on as warm memories inside of me. Despite being years ago since I last did any of these, my fondness remains the same as if it was yesterday. If possible, I would like to give them a try again – especially in the case of climbing or hiking.

12 Days of Christmas 2014 #06 – Kokoro Connect and Understanding Iori Nagase

In November this year I stumbled upon a blog I had encountered once before, but forgotten the name of (it’s excellent and I highly recommend following it!). On it, I discovered a well-written piece about Kokoro Connect and the main character Iori Nagase called “Kokoro Connect: A Glass Half-Empty”.

I found reading this fairly engrossing, as it was the first time someone had discussed the series from Iori’s perspective and shed light on something that may had gone overlooked. The text itself was so interesting it spurred me to rewatch the final arc of Kokoro Connect, which I initially had problems with when released.

12 Days of Christmas 2014 #07 – Honeys, Clovers and Bicycles

Honey and Clover is a peculiar anime. It was one I was almost always recommended and told I would love by avid fans. Years passed and I eventually watched it shortly after having started studying on university level, a very fitting choice as it takes place in a college setting with adult characters. Indeed, I don’t think there ever would’ve been a better time to watch it.

12 Days of Christmas 2014 #12 – Unfinished Blog Posts

Today marks the start of another yearly iteration of the “12 Days of Christmas” blogging tradition. This means each of the twelve upcoming days will have an accompanying blog post about something I perhaps found especially noteworthy or fun during this year. As this is an anime blog, this will naturally all be tied to anime in one way or another.

To kick things off, let me start by talking about two blog posts that were essentially completed yet never published.

Three Years of Anime Blogging and Reflections

To think that three years have actually passed since I first started Anime Viking. It has been a long journey coupled with both joy and sadness, but ultimately every second has been worth it. Being able to create something and be recognized for it, while also connecting with readers genuinely caring about you as a person, is a feeling difficult to describe in words.

I Wish I Had Someone to Truly Share My Hobbies With

In only a couple of days I’ll be moving away from home due to university studies on campus. Considering this being my next step in life, it fills me both with an equal amount of excitement as anxiety. After all, I will live in a completely new city where I won’t know anyone besides myself. In other words, you could say my life will essentially start over from the beginning.

This has unsurprisingly led me to think about the process of making new friends all over again.

Anime I Love – Angel Beats!

Angel Beats! was the first anime I cried to. No, scratch that. It was the first anime that left me utterly emotionally devastated after finishing the final episode. There had been emotional anime before, plenty of them in fact, but none hit home as well as Angel Beats! did.