Thanks for checking out my blog, Anime Wasteland! I'm Azure and here I plan to post a wide variety of reviews, retrospectives, and retro ads ('80s-to-early '00s) from some of my favorite (and not so favorite) anime titles.
Though this isn't my first time blogging, it's my first blog to strictly deal with anime and manga. I intend to blog mostly about anime from a decade ago or so, but not exclusively. There's such an unprecedented onslaught of new anime and manga hitting the shelves today that I may want to fit in a review on a more current title from time to time.
So why call my blog Anime Wasteland?
First, a couple of definitions...
Anime [an-uh-mey]: A Japanese style of motion-picture animation, characterized by highly stylized, colorful art, futuristic settings, violence, and sexuality.
Wasteland [weyst-land]: An area that has been damaged, has become useless, or is lacking in positive qualities.
Both of those questionable definitions were found on Dictionary.com. Though hailing themselves as the "world's leading digital resource for language success," I don't feel that either definition particularly "defines" those words. For instance, is all anime characterized by colorful art or futuristic settings? Surely not. Nor is every anime title brimming with violence or sexuality. Though anime has made leaps and bounds in what is called "mainstream" in the West, it's still a victim of such overt generalizations. Anime is such a wide, encompassing medium and, as such, a more suitable definition for anime might be something more akin to this:
Anime: Japanese for "animation." A style of Japanese film and television animation, typically aimed at adults as well as children.
As for the word "wasteland," I see it less as an area damaged, useless, or lacking positive qualities. A better definition:
Wasteland: An area no longer used, neglected, forgotten, or improperly managed.
And I think both of those revised definitions fit this blog perfectly. With the constant influx of new anime being released every year, so many old ones are neglected, and my hope for this blog is to revisit some of the oft-forgotten titles of years past (and if someone spots one on here and becomes so inclined to check it out for the first time, all the better!). Of course, this isn't to say that new anime is crummy or unworthy of mention (far from it), but there are countless ones from yesteryear that deserve at least modest recognition.
So, onto the posting schedule. My goal is to make this blog fairly active and keep the updates coming weekly.
Magazine Monday/Manga Monday: Every Monday I'll alternate between featuring either an anime magazine or manga to post and briefly talk about.
Throwback Ad Tuesday: On Tuesdays expect an old ad from years past from one of those ancient stapled paper artifacts called "magazines." I have tons of old ad scans, so it might be an ad for an anime, manga, video game, etc.
WTF Wednesday: Anything goes on Wednesday. Usually here I'll post more offbeat stuff that I collected over the years. Maybe some laserdisc covers, VCDs, odd bootlegs, unique figures, convention programs, etc.
Throwback Ad Thursday: Another ad will be posted, just like on Tuesday. I did say I have tons of old scans!
Friday Review: Every Friday a review will be posted of an anime, or anime-inspired product such as a CD, novel, model kit, action figure, collectible, etc.
Saturday Special: This won't be a regular feature, but occasionally on Saturdays I'll post a retrospective or more in-depth article on some anime-related topic. Stay tuned for more info on those...
Gameday Sunday: Sunday's will be devoted strictly to anime-based video games. Some will be titles never released in the U.S., while others will be ones that did, indeed, get Western releases.
And there we have the tentative plan for Anime Wasteland. So stick around, check out the blog posts, and enjoy! Always feel free to comment and if anyone wants to help submit content, just send the word. My email is: azureventis@yahoo.com
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