Hello everyone, Lenlo here. Lets talks, about the state of the blog, the state of my life, and where things are going. Or well, I’m going to talk, y’all are going to read.
As many of you have noticed, posts have been slowing down for a while now. I’m months late on things like the 2023 Anime of the Year, as well as the Dr. STONE S4 and Undead Girl Murder Farce reviews. Some of you also probably figured out those were never happening. Well I’m here to talk about why, as well as the future of the blog. Simply put, I’m tired. So very tired. I’ve been doing this for almost 7 years at this point, and I’ve enjoyed it a lot! I remember every single series I’ve covered, and I valued every comment. But… I just don’t have the energy for it anymore. Not only can I not handle 3-5 posts a week on top of my regular life, watching anime in this way, looking for things to praise or criticize, taking notes as I watch it… it’s ruining my enjoyment of them. I can’t do it anymore. So… I’ve decided to follow the rest of the writers and retire, from weekly posts at least.
What does this mean for the site? Well for starters, it’s not necessarily the end. I’ll still write the occasional review or post that interests me, I do still enjoy writing the larger reviews, but I’m going to do it on my time, as I naturally finish a series, without any weekly posts or other deadline considerations to worry about. I’ll also continue to post any guest reviews, such as Firechick’s, for as long as I am able. But basically this means all weekly, almost daily, content is coming to an end for the site. Everything else, we’ll see. As for how long this will go on for, the server is paid for until 2025, so at the very least it will remain up for another 18 months. All the old reviews, all the posts, the comments, those will all stay up until the end of next year. Once that time runs out I’m going to evaluate where we’re at and decide whether or not to pay for the server for another year.
So yeah… That’s the news. I talked it over with the other writers in the discord, and they support my decision. They understand that some day, all things must end. That every dreamer must wake. And while I tried to put it off, I held on to this place as best I could, it’s my time. Effective immediately, for the sake of my own mental health as I finish this last busy summer semester of my Master’s degree, I am retiring. I apologize for the series left half-finished, for the incomplete weekly roundups. I might, hell I probably will, write a review for a couple of them. But those will come out on my own time. So until then, chat with you in discord whenever I can, and I’ll see you around space cowboy.
I haven’t been active as a writer on this site for a couple of years now and I understand how taxing it can be to manage weekly posts with the busy schedules of our work lives. So, if anything, I both admire and commend you, Lenlo, for doing it as long as you have. But yeah, like you said, maybe it’s time to call it a wrap.
I don’t think any reader here would want to lose their love for this medium of anime that, while now popular than ever, was but a niche when most of us got familiarised with it. And writing critically about something for this long can take a toll or our ability to simply enjoy the things we like. So, it’s okay to hang up your boots and drive along, as the sun fades into the ocean.
This site is home to some of the most cherished memories of my teenage years; of discovering this wonderfully weird medium of ours, of falling in love with the stories that have been told through it, and of falling in love with stories as a whole. I treasure all this immensely. Maybe that makes me come off as sentimental but I couldn’t care less about that. I am just thankful to all the people who made this site what it has been for the last two decades, almost. And I feel fortunate that I too was able to contribute to it along the way.
We all really are carrying that weight. And I’ll forever be grateful for stumbling across a place like this in our own small corner of the internet, that made the burden feel a little lighter.
There is a particular manga which I recall having an ending where one of the characters stands in a spotlight and states “All things must come to an end, and it is because it has an end that makes it precious and beautiful” before walking away. I think many of us have seen the end result when something goes past it’s due date and wouldn’t like it to happen to this place.
I am sure many of you have other avenues to get opinions on anime these days but if you got anything out of this place then that’s good. This is ultimately a hobby for those of us with too much time on our hands and if it stops being fun then there’s no reason to not walk away.
Let me say that you did good Lenlo and to everyone else who contributed to the site it was most appreciated.
As sad as I am about this news, I’ll gladly respect your decision. You’ve done a lot for this site and we all appreciate all the work you and the others put into it, and for allowing me to contribute to it in some small way. I’ll always be grateful for that. Man, it feels like it was only yesterday I found this site way back in 2007 trying to find more into about Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette that wasn’t just bashing it for not being a 1:1 adaptation of the book. This site really helped to inform my current tastes in anime back when I was starting to dive deeper into the medium. Question: In the event that the site truly nears its end, will it at least be archived, like in Wayback Machine or something?
It should be, and if nothing else if I don’t renew it next year I will make sure to create a backup of all posts/comments/images, if only for posterities sake. As much as I’ve been running solo for the last year or so, this isn’t just my site. Aidan, Mario, Wooper, Armitage, Amun, Helghast, and even Psgels have posts here. I dont want those to disappear.
So tldr, yes, there will be an archive.
This is going to come across like very selfish, but I hope at least you guys can keep the seasonal previews for the future, it’s been a guide for me and many more for years now.
I’m here since the Psgels days, so I appreciate your contribution and work to the blog, thanks Lenlo.
Sames to every point made here!
Season Previews will continue, even as Lenlo enjoys a much-deserved break. He and I might collaborate on them, another writer might pop in to help out, or I might handle the bulk of them myself. Whatever the case may be, you can expect the Summer 2024 Preview to drop later this month.
As Wooper said, Season Previews should continue. Those are still typically fun, because they are a 3-week commitment at most and you get to be brutally honest about stuff. It’s really only the weekly content that’s ending. I have high hopes for some larger articles/reviews I’ve wanted to do for a while now but have never had the time to because weekly episode reviews just suck the life out of me.
Also, thanks for sticking with us for so long! It’s really nice see how many people have been around and are paying their respects as we transition to something more what we want to do/write.
Been around for years since psgels and the only anime blog I still check regularly. Thank you so much for the content you (and all the other writers) have put out for so long! And ditto on the season previews, would love for them to continue, would not fault if they didn’t.
You took the words out of my my mouth.
Thanks to all the writers and commenters over the years, and especially Lenlo, who not only held on to the bitter end, but also seemed to share a similar taste in storytelling, animation and overall flavor. You know, the classy shit.
Pouring one out for you tonight, buddy! Good luck on your schooling and all the best for your future!
Sorry to hear it, but highly appreciative of all the hard work you’ve done over the years! I’ve done anime summaries/reviews for another website for many years and there is so much work that goes into things that doesn’t even show up in the final post so totally understand the feeling. And for me it’s just on my own pace for shows already finished airing, not tied into a multiple times a week schedule which I’m sure must have been overwhelming.
So long, and thanks for all the reviews!
Lenlo isn’t gone for good – I can see a couple new posts of his brewing in the writers’ dashboard, plus he’s part of the Summer 2024 Preview, which should be going up in just a day or two.
Thanks for the work 🙂