Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story (Part 1) – A Secret Santa Review

In the end, it turns out that participating in the anime Secret Santa project – now in it’s 14^th year, started at Reverse Thieves and continued on the AGC podcast site – is the one thing that will pull me back, dust off the cobwebs, oil the gears a bit, and get me to write something here for my mostly anime with a little SF thrown-in blog The Null Set. I first participated 11 years ago in 2011 and I don’t know which part I enjoy more, the picking of anime for someone else to watch or discovering what new anime someone has chosen for me to watch. Over the years I’ve discovered a number of great anime from participating and I still haven’t been handed a lemon yet – will this year continue the trend?

Let’s find out.

Kachou Ouji (Legend of Black Heaven) – A Secret Santa Review

Oh! Hello again, somehow another year has slipped by again or should I say that somehow only a year has passed by again – I’m not sure which it is or maybe it’s both. The world seems to be simultaneously worse off, better off, and about the same as it was a year ago at this time. One thing that I’m glad is back again is the anime Secret Santa project, which has been going strong for 13 years now. I don’t know which part I enjoy more, the picking of anime for someone else to watch or discovering what new anime someone has chosen for me to watch. Over the years I’ve discovered a number of great anime from participating and I still haven’t gotten a lemon yet – will this year continue the trend?

Let’s find out.

Perfect Blue – A Secret Santa Review

Hello, it’s been awhile. I hadn’t intended to take a whole year off from blogging; I intended last year’s secret Santa review (of the excellent Interstella5555, which I still routinely re-watch) to be the kick start of a more productive year of anime blogging. I’d just started feeling like discussing animation again after 5 months had passed since the Kyoto Animation fire (which I now think of as a foreshock of what 2020 turned out to be). I also had the desire to see if I could increase my stats for 2020 over 2019 as the last time I had a yearly increase in views was 2009. Then 2020 happened … and, yeah …. here we are. The funny thing is I was able to accomplish my goal; with a week left of 2020 and this being my first post of 2020, I’ve increased my views for the year by over 2500 from 2019.

But, one is never done blogging. Something will always bring you back and for me it’s participating in the anime Secret Santa project and I’m excited to see what this year has in store for me. This year marks, I believe, the 12th year of the Secret Santa Project and my ninth year participating. Reverse Thieves started the project and continued it for ten years and this year marks the second year that All Geeks Considered hosts this absolutely enjoyable project.

Interstella5555: The 5tory of The 5ecret 5tar 5ystem – 5ecret 5anta Review

This year marks, I believe, the 11th year of the Secret Santa Project and my eighth year participating. Reverse Thieves started the project and continued it for ten years and this year marks the first year that All Geeks Considered hosts this absolutely enjoyable project. I don’t know which part I enjoy more, the picking of anime for someone else to watch or discovering what new anime someone has chosen for me to watch.

My track record in receiving good picks has been very good. Will this year continue the string or did I receive a big lump of coal this year?

Gundam Build Fighters – Secret Santa Review

Ten years ago the Reverse Thieves blog/podcast site started their Secret Santa Project and it quickly became my favorite annual anime blog tradition. I did not actively participate the first couple of years because I didn’t have a MAL or equivalent account which would have made it somewhat difficult for a stranger to pick a new-to-me anime. (Being able to participate was the reason I started using MAL). I missed another year because I made the mistake – after several years of doing it correctly – of sending my desire to participate message to the wrong email address and only realizing this well after it was possible to be included. So, this is the seventh year I am participating and once again I found myself eagerly trying to determine the best series to give my Secret Santa recipient and hoping for at least one good series from my Secret Santa.

My track record in receiving good picks has been very good. Will this year continue the string or did I receive a big lump of coal this year?

The Not-so-Good, Disappointing, and Bad Anime of Summer 2018

Even in the best seasons, not every anime of the season will turn out positively and this season was definitely not one of the best. Before I turn my attention to the fall season, I want to highlight some of the anime that made this season slightly difficult to get through.