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!

Made in Abyss and the Importance of a Believable Setting

Made in Abyss. What a beautiful series unlike any other in recent memory and one of a kind I doubt we’ll see again in a very long time. For my lack of ability to convey how absolutely special it is, I’ll leave you with this simple description: it is one of those series where everyone involved in its creation – whether the original manga creator or the anime adaptation staff should be valued the most I don’t know, nor does it matter – just get “it”. This intangible “it” here represents what one could call a wondrous sense of adventure and discovery, loneliness and friendship, beauty and horror of the world. Together with its sublime soundtrack, one that might be one of my favorite in all of anime only rivaling my eternal favorite ARIA the Animation, it on a whole to me felt something much more than a short series. One month after having finished it, it still lingers fresh in my memories as if it has never left me. Truly, if time is scarce and you only have enough to watch one series in 2017, this would be my recommendation.

Yet, for all the praises I sing there was a time when I almost turned it off to never once more continue.

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.

My Favorite Anime of 2014

It has been quite a while since a post appeared on the blog, hasn’t it? Hopefully there are still some readers out there eager for some more stuff! Feeling a bit stiff when it comes to writing, I figured the best way to get it all started is to revisit my favorite anime of 2014! After this, I hope to slowly return to form.

Truth is, I haven’t seen a lot of anime lately. We’re a few months into the new year and I have only seen two new series, which is a new record for me. Instead, the time has been spent watching older, completed, anime whenever the urge has kicked in. As a result, it has made me feel rather distant to the anime community.

When it comes to the year 2014 in anime, my stance is that it has been a fine year.

12 Days of Christmas 2014 #10 – The Pilot’s Love Song and a Sense of Adventure

If you ever told me Superman would be starring in an anime as a young pilot on a voyage to the edge of the world, then surely I would laugh until being shown The Pilot’s Love Song. Then, I would ask why someone thought naming their protagonist Kal-el was actually a good idea.

Puzzling naming sense aside, The Pilot’s Love Song is a sweet tale about love and adventure. It stars a large cast and an intricate setting, the latter which should be known to those who have seen The Princess and the Pilot as it is set in the same universe. Over the short span of merely 13 episodes – far too few for a story on this scale – it managed to live and breathe a wondrous sense of adventure I haven’t encountered very often in anime.

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.

Sword Art Online II is Really Good So Far

When Sword Art Online aired two years ago it left me disappointed and frustrated. As I’ve written before, the idea of focusing a story around video games and virtual reality is one that has fascinated me for a long time. Instead of using that idea to its strength, it merely seemed like an afterthought in Sword Art Online.

In episode after episode the game rules were smashed into an unrecognizable mess, making it feel less like a game world and more as a self-fulfilling fantasy world where anything could happen if it meant to spur our hero Kirito. Furthermore, the world was never very carefully crafted and the story felt haphazardly put together – jumping from side story to side story with no tangible relation to the overarching plot – along with characters with paper-thin personalities. It felt like the author Kawahara Reki never actually had played video games.

As such, the second season comes a bit of a surprise. After four enjoyable episodes in a row, I must admit that I really like Sword Art Online II at the moment.

Thoughts on Daisuki, False Promises and Delays

Note: This post was originally meant to be part of “This Is How You Can Watch Anime Legally in 2014”, written by Justin at the website OASG. It ended up too long, however, so I rewrote it and published it on my own blog.

When it comes to the legal outlets for streamed anime there are few available in Sweden. Essentially, it all boils down to Crunchyroll as the few other alternatives are too weak in comparison. Those alternatives are, in my case, Daisuki and Viewster. Not only do these two have meager libraries, but they also have poor video quality to boot. However, whereas Viewster at least has titles unavailable elsewhere, Daisuki offers nothing of worth which surprises me.

With this in mind, let me share a story regarding my very short experience using Daisuki and a few questions which arose about the platform.

Thoughts on the Disastrous Crunchyroll Reddit AMA

It was a whole lot of nothing.

A few days ago the leading legal English anime streaming website Crunchyroll decided to run a so-called “AMA” on Reddit:

“I’m Kun Gao, the CO-Founder and CEO of Crunchyroll, the global Anime streaming service, AMA!”.

This stands for “Ask Me Anything” and can be used by anyone from your everyday person to the largest of companies. Its purpose is exactly as the name implies – to let users ask relevant questions and learn something about the host – although when it comes to companies, or famous persons, its use begin to muddle.