You may have noticed something. This blog is alive again.
I took a break from anime to focus on my fiction writing. I had to balance this with work and the rest of my life, and something had to go, or at least be minimized.
I continued to watch series that I’d watched earlier seasons of like Naruto Shippuuden/Boruto, but I didn’t have time to pick up new series or keep up with industry news. In short, it was like a leave of absence.
The energy around anime had shifted for me, and in the opening that resulted, I found an intense desire emerging to write The Queendoms Series, a set of seven novels including The Califia Trilogy and Second Bond. Moving away from anime gave me the space and time to write the books.
Things have happened since then that have shifted the energy back. As you might remember, I used to freelance as a translation rewriter and editor for manga and anime-related novels. The industry crashed with Borders Books closing and the financial recession, though for some years after that I continued to edit for Digital Manga, Inc.
All the other publishers I’d freelanced for—Tokyopop, Broccoli Books, Aurora Publishing and Bandai Entertainment—went out of business, or at least their North American publishing divisions did. For a while, the publishing side of anime and manga was pretty dead.
Around the time I stopped working in the industry, something came along that started a revitalization of anime and manga’s popularity: Attack on Titan.
Attack on Titan’s debut reenergized the industry. The manga aisle at Barnes & Noble had begun to dwindle in the late 2000s: now suddenly, manga books were increasing on the shelves instead of decreasing.
Today, in 2018, the manga aisle at Barnes & Noble is a permanent fixture. And the entire aisle is manga books, instead of being shared with graphic novels like before.
While I was away writing my own fiction, I’d neglected to follow what was going on in the industry.
When I finally looked, earlier this year, I saw an industry that was thriving and whole, one that had grown bigger, and was in no danger of fading away as before.
At the same time, I released Second Bond. Four of the seven books in The Queendoms Series are now done and published. I know the momentum will continue and I’ll finish the remaining three novels in the next few years.
With that reassurance, I realized there was a hole in my life.
An anime-shaped hole. ;-)
This blog is back, and I am back, because I missed anime. I missed it as a daily part of my life. I’ve spent a lot of time writing fiction these past few years, and I’ll continue to do so because I have stories to tell and because I love writing. But I have a natural need for entertainment and relaxation like anyone, and nothing has ever filled that need for me as well as anime.
I am also returning to the freelance work I enjoyed doing before. Recently I was the proofreader for two J-Novel Club books, Amagi Brilliant Park, Vol. 1 and Last and First Idol, Vol. 1. I hope to continue working for J-Novel Club, and I’ve begun to seek work from other publishers again.
Nine years ago, I started this blog intending it to be an industry blog. I was in the thick of editing light novels in the Code Geass and Eureka Seven and Gundam 00 franchises for Bandai, and working as the copy editor on over 40 manga books for Tokyopop, and editing yaoi novels and Hideyuki Kikuchi horror novels for Digital Manga, Inc. I went to conventions all the time, and read and commented on many people’s blogs. I was active in fandom.
When I saw the industry falter in the wake of the recession and piracy/torrenting, I wrote a series of posts about Supporting the Industry. I was really passionate about keeping the industry alive.
Now the industry is strong and healthy. So what is Neo-Shonen Fujoshi going to be about, moving forward?
The thing is—this blog was never quite the industry blog I’d meant it to be. It’s always been a mélange of my thoughts about the industry, series reviews, and ephemera about all things Japanese. The posts here have ranged from serious essays on defending fan fiction, to interviews with industry people like Austin Osueke of EigoManga and Vy Nguyen of Tokyopop, and gushy posts about seiyuu and J-pop music and yaoi and all the other wonders that came wrapped up in the gift that was anime.
When I discovered anime, it touched every part of me: as a writer/artist striving to produce my own works, as a Japanese-American mostly unfamiliar with my own heritage.
It literally changed my life. It broadened my horizons as an artist, it inspired me as a writer, it sparked a fascination with the culture and language of my ancestors. I’ve completed two years of college-level Japanese language classes now, and my studies continue, particularly in reading Japanese. I aim to live in Japan and study Japanese more intensively someday. I would never have that ambition, were it not for anime.
I expect this blog, going forward, will be similar to its old self, but less frequently updated due to my schedule and possibly less focused on the fandom aspects of anime, since I’m older now and coming at this from a different perspective than before.
So the neo Neo-Shonen Fujoshi begins. Thanks for noticing. ;-)
