Yay! This is my first post for 2019! I’ll start out by saying that 2018 was a very good year for me personally.

While 2017 was the year of professional freelance writing, 2018 was the year of professional writing… at a full-time job! Yep, in 2018, I got a full-time writing job, which was basically a dream come true. Although it’s not perfect, I really enjoy my job and it has helped make my life more stable. At first I was overwhelmed and fell behind with blogging, but I eventually adjusted to my work schedule. And I think the more consistent schedule actually helps me plan ahead a little (instead of completely scrambling around).

My Goals for 2019

Speaking of planning, I have a certain goal in mind for 2019. From the beginning of this blog, I wanted post something at least once a week, but that doesn’t always happen… partially because of my love of research or analytical pieces. My long research pieces, such as the body image piece, take a lot of time and effort. So much time, that they can take a couple weeks, especially with my busy schedule. And then I end up not posting anything at all…

So my goal is to post about one research/long piece a month. But at the same time, I will work on lighter pieces, like reviews, lists, ramblings, collabs, previous works, that can go up (hopefully) every week. I kind of did that in 2018, but I want to plan better in 2019. But yeah. You can expect more things like that coming down the pike, but I will still work on my research/analysis pieces. They’ll just be slow and steady like they are supposed to be.

I also would like to do more collabs, podcasts, interviews and things of that nature this year, so please feel free to reach out to me! (But just a warning  – I am terrible at replying to messages.) I also want to be better at leaving comments, replying to comments, and interacting with other bloggers on WordPress. And finally, I want to write more pieces for different anime sites.

2018 Piece Showcase

Enough of my blabbing! Here’s the good stuff 😛 Here are my favorite posts from 2018, arranged in categories for your enjoyment~

Note: Some pieces may overlap into multiple different categories.

Research / Analysis

Why Are Anime Girls Always Dieting? Female Body Image and Weight in Japan: I thought this was going to be a relatively short piece and it somehow became a monster… I was very surprised by what I found. But this piece really blew up and got very good reactions. It was also featured in Jon’s November Creator Showcase. Thank you to everyone for the kind words!

The Journey and History of Yuri Part 1: As the name implies, this piece talks about the history of yuri. It covers the very early beginnings of yuri manga and anime in Japan. It dated further back than I imagined. Please check it; it’s very interesting. I will write Part 2… eventually ;~;

Why Everyone Freaked Out Over The Citrus Anime (Including Me): Citrus aired at the beginning of 20-gay-teen and received a lot of mixed reactions. In this piece, I talk about the importance of the Citrus anime, despite its controversy.

Self Care in My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness: GO READ THIS MANGA. But seriously, this manga is amazing. In this piece, I discuss all of the themes of self care in this manga.

Reviews

Pokemon Alpha Sapphire Review: I FINALLY FILLED THE SIXTH GENERATION DEX. I mean… ORAS is a very good game, so please check out this review ❤

Music Girls (Ongaku Shoujo) Anime Review: I’m a huge idol fan, so I was excited to watch the Music Girls anime. It started out very different from other anime, but I was disappointed in the end.

Ninagawa Macbeth: A Japanese Rendition of Shakespeare’s Classic: I don’t always talk about it, but I am a big theater fan. A couple months back, I went to see a Japanese version of Shakespeare’s MacBeth, and it was really beautiful and unique.

English Light Novel Review: Restart ∞ Days by S0rahana: A while back, Vic’s Lab contacted me and asked me to do a review of one their novels. If you aren’t aware, this company publishes light novels written by English-speaking authors. It’s a very cool idea since I would love to write my own light novel one day.

Love Live! Sunshine!! Review and Podcast: If it isn’t obvious from my Twitter account, I am obsessed with a big fan of the Love Live franchise. However, I was a little disappointed with the end of Sunshine’s second season.

Pride Month: My Favorite Yuri Anime and Manga: I guess this isn’t technically a review, but you should check it out anyway because it is about some of my favorite yuri series!! >w<

OWLS 2018

If you aren’t aware, OWLS is a group of otaku bloggers who like to spread acceptance to everyone, regardless of their ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, etc. Here are the posts I wrote for OWLS in 2018.

Clannad: The Revolving Ups and Downs of Life: Clannad and Clannad After Story are two of my favorite anime ever. They are beautifully done and have so much meaning. In this post, I discuss the ups and downs of the main character’s (Tomoya) life. In my opinion, it is extremely relatable and heartfelt.

Comic Girls: Good Friends Make The Best Mentors: Comic Girls is one of my favorite anime from 2018 so when I saw the OWLS “Mentor” blog tour, I had to write about it 😀 This piece is about how Kaos, a nervous and bizarre girl, gets help with her manga career from your friends.

The Journey and History of Yuri Part 1: My idea to write about the history of yuri actually came from the OWLs “Journey” blog tour. A big thank you to OWLS for inspiring me to write this 🙂

Self Care in My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness: This was another piece inspired of OWLS that I really enjoyed writing. It discusses the manga My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness and its themes of self care. Thanks again to OWLS!

Collab Posts

Unknown Anime That Deserve Attention- Collab Post with Nerdy Girl News: In this post, me and Nerdy Girls news discuss some anime that we really love personally… but no one else seems to know about. This is a very fun and silly post that I really enjoyed, so please give it a look ^.^

Interview with mynameissport, English Anisong Cover Producer: Over the past two years, I have done a couple interviews with ANN. But this was the very first interview I facilitated all by myself, so I am very proud of it. A big thank you to YouTube producer mynameissport for doing the interview with me!

Tenchi Muyo Character Talk Part 2 (Collab with Mechanical Anime Reviews): Tenchi Muyo is one of my favorite classic anime and Ryoko is one of my favorite waifus~ In this collab post, Scott and I discuss why we like (or dislike) the characters from this show. This actually Part 2 of of collab – you can read Part 1 on Scott’s blog.

Anime News Network

I am still occasionally freelancing as a correspondent for ANN. Here is most of my work from 2018.

AnimeNext: This was my very first anime convention and I continue to go to it almost every year. Although it has gotten bigger over the past few years, it still doesn’t have that many big names in the industry. Still, I got to write about both the upcoming Ultraman series and Marina Kawano, a favorite idol of mine.

2018 Hatsune Miku Expo Concert in NYC: I am a huge fan of Miku and have seen her every time she has come to NYC. But this time was extra special because I got to write a piece on it.

Anime Fest @ NYCC Overview: So, overall, Anime Fest at New York Comic Con did not get good reactions. And I was definitely underwhelmed. However, I meant what I said in this piece. I did really enjoy the less chaotic atmosphere of Anime Fest (I have a problem with crowds), and I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. But hopefully, it will be better organized next year, so everyone will enjoy it.

Volks USA Interview: I will be honest – for a long time, I found Volks or other similar dolls creepy. But I have gotten more used to them over time and this interview definitely helped me understand them more. Enjoy!

Luna Haruna Interview: As of right now, Luna Haruna is probably my favorite Japanese solo idol. Her voice is soothing and strong, and I love many of her songs. Not to mention, her style is so… CUTE *_* I was very excited to write this interview.

TRUE Interview: TRUE is another solo idol that I really love. Her voice is BEAUTIFUL and incredibly powerful. She’s sung opening for some of my favorite anime, including Sparkle Daydream from Chuunibyou and the openings of Hibike Euphonium.

Anisong Matsuri at AnimeNYC: This year’s AnimeNYC held a concert… and I loved it!! It had some of my favorite Japanese artists, like Luna Haruna and TRUE, and I was also able to discover some amazing new artists. The crowd was so insane that the energy was infectious. And I also got to sit with fellow OWLS blogger Naja 🙂  In this piece, I wrote about the Saturday concert.

My Favorite Anime of 2018

I am not going to go into a lot of detail since this post is already pretty long. But here are some of my favorite anime (that I finished) from 2018. There’s no particular order.

Amanchu Season 2
(Please read some of my posts about Amanchu.)

Comic Girls
(As mentioned, I wrote an OWLS piece about Comic Girls.)

Attack On Titan Season 3

Zombieland Saga
(I recently wrote about a transgender character in this anime. Please read it!)

Uma Musume

Anima Yell

Citrus
(Please check out my discussion and thoughts on Citrus. )

Laid Back Camp

How To Keep A Mummy
(This is the cutest anime ever. Please read my post about it.)

A Place Further Than the Universe

Sword Art Online Gun Gale Alternative Online

And I haven’t finished them yet ;_; …but I know these two will also be on the list since I love the manga so much.

Bloom Into You

Happy Sugar Life

Thanks to everyone who read and supported this blog in 2018.
I hope everyone has a happy, healthy, and successful 2019!

You may also like: My 2017: The Year of Anime and Professional Writing