Sailing on to new horizons (or I've been poached!)

Well, the cat is out of the bag as it were and for the 3-odd people I know in real life who actually read my ramblings, I’ve already told two of you but I might as well break the entire story. If you have gone to visit the Nihon Review website, you will have seen that I’ve been recently been accepted as a staff member doing anime reviews over there. Now while that might normally be seen as a negative for this particular site, we did work out a deal where I can still continue contributing to this space. So let me entail what my feelings are on the matter and how this event affects AnimeInstrumentality.

First off, I have a great deal of respect for the staff members at the Nihon Review. Of all the anime review sites that I’ve visited, there aren’t any that can match the Nihon Review in terms of structure, analysis, and the quality of the writing. It’s definitely been the last two points that really drew me their site to begin with and for them to give me the opportunity to work with them is something that was frankly surprising because I’d not imagined my writings to match their levels, but I suppose someone thinks so and that’s good enough for me. I really look forwards to working with them because their writings effectively scream quality and I’d like to be able to continue this trend with my contributions. Had any other run-of-the-mill anime review sites (you know, the ones you get when you google “anime reviews”) picked me, I would have turned them down in a heartbeat and when the Nihon Review came knocking, the decision was fairly easy to make because I had long been impressed by their work. So because of the focus and emphasis on deep analysis and quality writing, I feel that working alongside the fine folks at the Nihon Review would be a good fit with my aims and goals while helping them out in the process. Furthermore, it’s about time I actually work with someone who will actively critique my work through the editing process and push me to become a better writer and help me think more analytically and critically when watching anime.

So what this means is that Monster will be the last review that I will “officially” write for AnimeInstrumentality. While this arrangement means that my solo effort here at AnimeInstrumentality will be curtailed somewhat, it doesn’t mean it’s over. Part of the agreement was giving me the opportunity to post a short blurb that will link directly to the reviews I write on Nihon Review. So in a sense, this site will stay current with the work I’ll do with Nihon Review. On the music side of things, I’ll continue to review anime OP/ED singles exclusively here while Nihon Review will get one version of my soundtrack reviews and this site will get the version using the formatting that I’ve been using thus far. Seeing that I have yet to get off my ass to actually review a lot of full soundtracks, that probably won’t be too big of a deal. Fear not. The music stuff will definitely be here to stay.  I’ll still make attempts to work on trying to set up that massive anime music database, but that’s effectively halted due to other projects, so take that as you will.

So as far as the audience here is concerned, my updates will mostly consist of music (OP/ED and soundtrack reviews), and links (with a blurb) of my reviews to the Nihon Review. I highly encourage you all to visit the site because it’s an excellent anime resource if you’re looking for well-founded opinions in the event you need something new to watch. And as a favor to those who actually do read this site on a regular basis, I will write reviews of a series upon request (assuming I’ve seen the series). That is, if you decide that you want to read my take on Haruhi (and assuming that it jibes pretty closely with the Nihon Review’s take), I may just take the time to write it. Of course, I’ll take requests on a case by case basis, so just because you make one doesn’t mean I’ll write it. But I will give it a good consideration and if time opens up on my schedule, I will do just that.

So to close this somewhat long entry, wish me luck as I head out to work with the Nihon Review. Thanks to all of those who have been reading this site and found my recommendations and thoughts useful and to Sorrow-kun who extended the invitation for me to work with the Nihon Review. As for the rest of you, you’ll still see me updating this beast, so stay tuned and hope to see you all around!