TheJCS | Animated Observations

Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations

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Another depressing year has passed as far as current events and politics, with COVID still as threatening as ever Democracy is on the verge of collapse…but, it was also a great year for entertainment, specifically anime and manga. Even more than that, it has been a great year on this site, and I want to open up this post by just saying thank you all to everyone who dropped a follow and who read anything from me this year. The growth, while small on an absolute scale, has been relatively enormous.

In order to commemorate such an awesome year for Animated Observations, I wanted to go through and talk about some of the developments that happened this year. Additionally, I want to talk about my plans for the future and what it will mean for the site. A “Spotify Wrapped” for Animated Observations, if you will 🙂

The Stats

Like I alluded to before, Animated Observations went through Some pretty big growth relative to how it was last year, so I thought I would share some of that with everyone here (All of these are as of the writing of this post and will likely change by the actual end of the year).

Followers on WordPress: Around 300 at the beginning of the year to now 427
Views (this year): 8,970
Views (site wide): 33,514
YouTube Subscribers: 5 (compared to none at the beginning of the year)
YouTube views: 145 (Again, compared to none at the beginning)
Facebook: 85 followers
Twitter: 92 followers
Getting our first supporter on Patreon

So yeah, an absolutely amazing year for the site, and it has definitely felt rewarding even during the times when I was feeling burnt out or not in the mood to watch anything.

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What I am Most Proud of This Year

I put out quite a few posts this year, to say the least. Maybe not as much as some of my other fellow bloggers, but definitely a good amount. Additionally, I got the opportunity to collaborate with a bunch of people on some great projects. So I wanted to share a few of the posts I really enjoyed making this year.

Hosting #TheJCS

This year was my first time hosting Jon’s Creator Showcase, and it turned out much better than expected. I can genuinely say that I enjoyed every post that was submitted, and even found some things that were added to my never-ending list of media to consume. Actually going through and organizing something like this gave me some insight on just how hard it is to be a community leader, and so I definitely have a lot more appreciation for all of the work Jon does for the community.

Princess Jellyfish: An Incredible Series

Probably the most in-depth I got with a series this year was writing about Princess Jellyfish, a show that, when I first watched it, was definitely good, but didn’t grip me with its opening episodes in the same way. Upon re-watching it however, I found that Princess Jellyfish is both deeply emotional and incredibly socially aware for its time. Mixed with some of my own revelations about gender identity, this quickly became one of my favorite series of all time.

Puparia: The Best Short Film on YouTube?!

I am joking a little bit, but in all honesty, I have seen quite a few short films on YouTube, and none of them can really claim to bring the same visual experience that Puparia does, outside of maybe a few. Analyzing this film as well as watching the documentary about Tamagawa’s process was honestly some of the most fun I have had doing research for an article this year. Whatever he ends up doing next, rest assured I will be there to talk about it.

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Blog Goals for 2022

I would love to capitalize on the success of this year and continue strong into the next, so here are some goals that I hope to works towards over the course of 2022. I guess you could also call these my New Year’s Resolutions as well.

Hitting 1000 followers on WordPress

1000 is definitely a big number for where Animated Observations is right now, and If I am being completely honest, I do not expect to hit it even by the end of next year. However, a big part of all these goals is to be more optimistic about my own abilities and the content I make here. So, whether or not I actually get there, I am making it my goal.

In line with the previous goal, a reality creating things on the internet is having a strong presence on social media, and so I hope to do just that. Again, I am not realistically expecting this to happen, but having a strong goal to work towards gives me more motivation.

Making More YouTube Videos

This is the one I feel most strongly about considering how much I have utterly failed at it in the past. Thus, I am going to try and commit myself to make at least one video a month so that there is at least some consistency on the channel. Thus, if I fail in goal, there will be some sort of punishment, which I have yet to work out, but that will be posted publicly. So yeah, even more motivation.

Doing More of What You Want

Since I am nearing the end of this post, I want to say thank you again, since it definitely cannot be said enough. Having any amount of people wanting to read the things I write, let alone 400, is crazy, so it is greatly appreciated. As such, while I will continue making stuff I like, I also want to incorporate more of what you, my readers, want to see. I plan on releasing a sort of survey in the coming week asking those kinds of questions. For example, while I do not enjoy doing seasonal episode reviews as much as other forms of content, if that is what people want to read/watch, then I have no problem committing myself to that.

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Personal Goals for 2022

As much as I want to see Animated Observations grow, I do also have a life outside of making content, and so here are few things that I personally would like to achieve.

Losing Weight

It feels like a big part of my lack of motivation sometimes comes from my lack of energy, which is only further egg-on by my size. While of course I want to look my best, and I don’t shame anyone who is my size, being a bigger person definitely comes with some downsides. I have not weighed myself in a while, but usually my weight sits somewhere between 250-260. Thus, I’m hoping to drop at least 10-20 pounds come this time next year.

Getting Published

Whether it be self-publishing my work or going through an established outlet, I really want to get some of poetry published in 2022. Some of you who follow both this blog and Solidly Liquid will probably have noticed that my other blog has not been productive for most of this year. This is because, while I have been writing stuff, I feel as though my creative direction was not firmly established. However, that problem has since been solved, and thus I know exactly where I want to go with my work. After that, I am hoping to work on some short stories as well, and potentially get back to writing my novel that has been on the backburner for two and half years.

Conclusion

It feels hard to say that 2022 will be a good year overall, but given how far Animated Observations has come already, I can confidently say that 2022 should be a good year for us, at least.

I’m sure it is annoying by now, but just wanted to throw in one final thank you and say that I hope you all have a great Holiday season.

If you are interested in reading more from me, check under blog to read my most recent stuff, or look below for some related posts. Also, if you would like to support Animated Observations, consider donating on Ko-fi or through paypal, or pledging on Patreon. You can even support by just liking and sharing this post.