One Year of Blogging: Reflection and Future Plans

Today marks a very special day for the blog. As of today, October 3rd 2017, I have officially been blogging under the guise of the lazy aniblogger “Lethargic Ramblings” for a whole year.

So I figured why not reflect on the past year and discuss my future plans for the blog!

Reflecting on the last year and the progress I’ve made:

It’s honestly just a really incredible thing. When I first started up this blog, I had no idea that it would last this long, nor did I foresee that it would become such an integral part of my life and my daily schedule. I think about blogging all the time now. I’m always posting things on the blogs Twitter. I’m always engaging with other content creators, reading their posts and sharing them when I can. For someone like myself who’s never really engaged with social media platforms in the past, it’s been a really awesome experience to have such a presence online, even if it’s rather small in comparison to a lot of others in the community. Having a voice is awesome, and knowing people are hearing it and actually enjoy listening to my rambles makes it even more so. That’s something I could never get from writing reviews on MAL like I used to.

I’ve always had a desire to get my thoughts out there and share them with the world, and Lethargic Ramblings has been the perfect place for me to do so. From my crazy stance on dropping shows, to sharing my love for shows nobody remotely enjoys aside from me, like Netzuou TRap, I’ve gotten so many thoughts and ideas I’ve wanted to share for years, and it’s been a phenomenal experience.

I also feel that I’ve come a long way as a writer in the last year thanks to blogging. My first ever post on here was a decent start, but feel I’ve come a really long way since then, and I hope to continue improving as the years go on.

My biggest fault however, and something I definitely need to improve on is my scheduling. When I first started blogging, I was brilliant at sticking to my schedule. I’d do two or three posts during the weekdays, and do two posts at the weekend. But unfortunately in the last few months, I’ve been very hit or miss with this schedule, often delaying posts after promising they’ll be out on a certain date, or spending several days not working on anything at all. This is mostly out of my control due to how busy my work and life schedule has been since moving house, but I’ll also admit that general laziness sometimes plays a part in it too, and I’m aiming to stop that from being the case. I’d like to get back to posting more regular, in depth content.

Posts I’m most Proud of:

The post I’m most proud of would have to be my analysis of Aku no Hana, where I compared the Anime adaptation to the original Manga, and where things went wrong. It’s by far my most in depth piece, and I’d love to do more work like this in the future, so you can expect more very soon.

I’m also really happy with how my recent post on Netsuzou TRap turned out. I feel it presented a fairly unique perspective on a show that nobody else really took seriously. It was even well received by people who disagreed, something that was nice to see. I got a lot of discussion out of that post.

There’s a lot more, such as my post about Kirito’s influence on the way protagonists are portrayed in Anime today and why Tsubasa Chronicle remains a consistent favourite after so many years… But you get the idea!

Plans for the future:

So what’s next for Lethargic Ramblings? I’ve got a lot planned for the next year, and the biggest update has to do with an update in my equipment.

For the past year, I’ve been running this blog from what can only be referred to as a scrapheap of computer parts flung together into a dying husk of what was once considered a laptop. It’s battery is dead, and it can only be run if plugged into the mains. The trackpad only responds 70% of the time. The keyboard gets stuck frequently. Things crash for seemingly no reason… I can barely watch Anime on this thing any more, let alone write blog posts half the time.

However, I’m planning on getting a new laptop, as I now have the money to do so. I just need to find the right size and specs for my needs, and I’m good to go. I’m hoping that with this, I’ll be able to blog more regularly.

But with this upgrade, comes some new content as well because…

I’m planning to make some video content. I’m not sure what the focus will be yet, but I want to start doing Anime related videos, similar to what other bloggers have been doing recently. I’m not going anywhere however, so don’t worry!

I also recently did a few podcast episodes focusing on Netsuzou TRap over on JuGenie’s YouTube channel. It was great fun, and I had a good time whenever I managed to get on. I’d love to do more podcasts in the future, and am considering either hosting one of my own, or joining someone else’s, although I’m not sure which yet. If anyone wants me to join a podcast, hit me up. I’m eager to do one again!

As for my blog posts, I’ve got a lot of ideas planned that I’m looking forward to sharing with you guys. I’ve got some new Superior Source posts in the works, as well as some general posts about my thoughts on various Anime related things. I’ve also been reading a lot of Manga recently, so I’m planning to talk more about Manga in general.

I’m also planning on starting a new series, where I quickly give my thoughts on something, be it an Anime, Manga, Video Game or whatever in a shorter, more concise post. I’m not quite sure what the title for this series will be yet, but the first post will be on Sonic Mania!

Speaking of video games, I’d like to dive into them a little bit more as well. Anime will always, first and foremost, be the primary focus of this blog, but I’m also really passionate about video games, and I feel I have a lot to say about the medium and various games within it. I’m not too sure how you guys would feel about that though, so it’d be great if you’d let me know!

And while we’re on the subject of expanding the content of the blog, I also have a couple of music related posts in mind. My taste in music is… Pretty far out there I’d say, and both these posts aim to dive into the weird and wonderful world of crazy stuff I listen to on a near daily basis. Someone has to write an in depth look into Gomba Reject Ward Japan, so why not me?

And above all else, I’m planning to be more organised with my schedule this next year and post at a consistent rate. I’m a very busy guy, with a very busy life, so I can’t always stick to a schedule, but I’m going to try. Really hard!

And really… That’s about all I have to say regarding updates. There’s a lot more, but I don’t want to give away too much.

Blogger shout-outs:

Before I wrap this up, I’d like to take the opportunity to give a shout-out to my amazing fiance who has been super supportive and even helped me come up with ideas for posts. She’s the best!

I’d also like to give a shout-out to various bloggers who have been very supportive and friendly to me over the last year and have engaged with my content on a regular basis (sorry if I missed anyone!) :

• Karandi
• Hazelyn
• BoogiePunk
• Cain S. Latrani
• D Talks Anime
• Arria Cross
• Humble Ace
• Rocco B
• Jon Spencer Reviews
• Kawaii Paper Pandas
• Marth Aurion
• Lita Kino
• Matt Doyle Media
• Scott – Mechanical Reviews
• Mel in Anime Land
• Plain Pasta and Plain Rice
• Psychime
• Rai
• Raistlin
• Seasonal Prattle
• Shoujo Thoughts
• Takuto
• Remy Fool
• Kapodaco
• Thoughts That Move
• Weekend Otaku
• Mirror Purple
• Rose

You guys are all awesome! I look forward to engaging with you all more in the future! …And anyone else I may have missed.

And that’s all for now! Here’s to another year!