Welcome everyone to the Aniblog Tourney 2012 Preview show! I am your host, the smexy red smirk, TRazor. As always, I'm joined here by the man who muses beneath the tangles, TWWK. Blogs are generally considered to be one's personal space on the web. But what happens when several authors come together to write for the same blog? You get a mishmash of talents known as a team blog. Team blogs form an integral part of aniblogging because of their popularity and also because of their picspams large number of posts. In this post we talk about our top 5 team blogs, not ones that we pick will win, but ones that we like. So if you click the Read More button already, I can stop writing more stuff you already knew!
Team blogs can be a lot of fun. With a lot of different authors, you can almost bet your 2D-lovin ass that all the shows airing that season are covered, making it the go-to blog for all your anipinion (geddit guyz?) needs. Another thing I notice are that team blog members tend to be nicer people, making it a warm place for visitors to stop by and drop a comment or two, unlike mean ol' trzr23. I consider
all blogs with more than one writer as a team blog. Without further ado, here
are my 5 favorite team blogs (in no particular order):
AnimeDiet
I love this blog for its sheer variety. You've got interesting news articles, music reviews, neat episodics, con reports and even posts drawing tangents from anime and kanji word. It isn't niche in any way and is more of a potluck than a grand feast. The authors themselves don't have a very unique voice due to the matter-of-fact nature of posts. The lack of personality is probably what drags the blog down the most, but apart from that, this is a pretty damn good team blog, which is constantly updated with fresh and interesting content.
Reverse Thieves
My bias level for this blog is over 9000 because of their fantastic theme. It does not get any more awesome than their one-of-a-kind layout. Technically, they're not a team blog, but actually a blog duet, but fuck, I make the rules around here, so they're in! Apart from organizing the Secret Santa project, they also have a quirky podcast called the Speakeasy. I would love if they interacted more in their posts instead of one author ignoring the other and going "Hey, look what I did this weekend!". If they did that and started doing episodics, they would become hands down the best team blog out there.
The Untold Story of Altair and Vega
The departure of 2DT from the 'sphere left a huge blank in terms of refined writing. Thankfully, Altair and Vega fills that void all too well with its sophisticated and intricate language. Since the positives have already been discussed already, I'll go bad cop. I don't find their posts "fun". I'm the kind of cheap little twit who enjoys lame puns and smarmy writing. That's just me. My English isn't really as good as you guys think and I have a lot of trouble deciphering some of the words they use. Couple those with their blog's hard-to-read font and you get a really tedious reading experience. But trust me (and TWWK) when I say that this blog is downright classy. Speaking of TWWK...
Beneath the Tangles
As with Reverse Thieves, Beneath the Tangles too has done a fine job of carving its own niche: Christianity. To quote TWWK himself, it's a place "where Monkey D. Luffy and Jesus Christ meet". Now as crazy as that encounter would be, the blog is more focused on discussing the emotional and philosophical aspect of anime, which is a far cry from the traditional review format most blogs use. He also brings to the fore several discussions about religion, without triggering a negative response of any kind. While they aren't as frequent as TWWK, his fellow bloggers do a neat job of reviewing anime as well. In short, it's a real honor to co-write a post with a blogger I really admire.
Anime Instrumentality - THAT Anime Blog
It's a tie between these two. I've already talked about them before in this series, so yeah.
So…what
exactly is a team blog? The field could
get quite wide if, for instance, you consider a blog with any anime-related
purpose containing as little as two writers as a “team blog.” I typically think of a team blog as a site
that has more than two writers (sorry, Anime Instrumentality!) and is driven by
consistent content from a variety of team members, instead of the focus being
mostly on the
editor. And with those considerations in mind, here are my selections for the
five best team blogs entering the tournament.
THAT Anime Blog
Again, I’ve given my two cents on this giant in a previous post. They’re good because they know the game and do it so well, and because some of the best bloggers in the ‘sphere write for them.
Daifuuku!
This team blog isn’t just a resource – it’s a destination. Each writer for Daifuuku has a “role” based on the idea that the blog is a café. This voice is consistent throughout the site and really adds a layer that’s lacking in 99% of blogs. I don’t necessarily go here to discuss anime – I got here for entertainment. The enthusiasm and effort put in by the staff here is evident in the content and in the site’s excellent design. There’s also a level of “hyper” that draws readers (and viewers in the video blog).
I wanted to avoid talking about ourselves in these posts, but I
just have to include trzr23's blog in this group. One of the strongest
and most contemplative voices in the Internet, trzr23 is every bit as
funny and opinionated as a similar writer, Scamp. His site also has a
variety of cool series and posts that keep the readers entertained. Oh,
and the co-writers are great, too (I'm finding myself reading a lot of
Moonlight's work lately).
all blogs with more than one writer as a team blog. Without further ado, here
are my 5 favorite team blogs (in no particular order):
AnimeDiet
I love this blog for its sheer variety. You've got interesting news articles, music reviews, neat episodics, con reports and even posts drawing tangents from anime and kanji word. It isn't niche in any way and is more of a potluck than a grand feast. The authors themselves don't have a very unique voice due to the matter-of-fact nature of posts. The lack of personality is probably what drags the blog down the most, but apart from that, this is a pretty damn good team blog, which is constantly updated with fresh and interesting content.
Reverse Thieves
My bias level for this blog is over 9000 because of their fantastic theme. It does not get any more awesome than their one-of-a-kind layout. Technically, they're not a team blog, but actually a blog duet, but fuck, I make the rules around here, so they're in! Apart from organizing the Secret Santa project, they also have a quirky podcast called the Speakeasy. I would love if they interacted more in their posts instead of one author ignoring the other and going "Hey, look what I did this weekend!". If they did that and started doing episodics, they would become hands down the best team blog out there.
The Untold Story of Altair and Vega
The departure of 2DT from the 'sphere left a huge blank in terms of refined writing. Thankfully, Altair and Vega fills that void all too well with its sophisticated and intricate language. Since the positives have already been discussed already, I'll go bad cop. I don't find their posts "fun". I'm the kind of cheap little twit who enjoys lame puns and smarmy writing. That's just me. My English isn't really as good as you guys think and I have a lot of trouble deciphering some of the words they use. Couple those with their blog's hard-to-read font and you get a really tedious reading experience. But trust me (and TWWK) when I say that this blog is downright classy. Speaking of TWWK...
Beneath the Tangles
As with Reverse Thieves, Beneath the Tangles too has done a fine job of carving its own niche: Christianity. To quote TWWK himself, it's a place "where Monkey D. Luffy and Jesus Christ meet". Now as crazy as that encounter would be, the blog is more focused on discussing the emotional and philosophical aspect of anime, which is a far cry from the traditional review format most blogs use. He also brings to the fore several discussions about religion, without triggering a negative response of any kind. While they aren't as frequent as TWWK, his fellow bloggers do a neat job of reviewing anime as well. In short, it's a real honor to co-write a post with a blogger I really admire.
Anime Instrumentality - THAT Anime Blog
It's a tie between these two. I've already talked about them before in this series, so yeah.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
editor. And with those considerations in mind, here are my selections for the
five best team blogs entering the tournament.
I’ve already gone gaga over this site in the dream
quarterfinals post, where I predicted them as the winner, so I won’t detail
my reasons here. But to sum up, the
writers’ posts are smart…smart…and smart.
THAT Anime Blog
Again, I’ve given my two cents on this giant in a previous post. They’re good because they know the game and do it so well, and because some of the best bloggers in the ‘sphere write for them.
Daifuuku!
This team blog isn’t just a resource – it’s a destination. Each writer for Daifuuku has a “role” based on the idea that the blog is a café. This voice is consistent throughout the site and really adds a layer that’s lacking in 99% of blogs. I don’t necessarily go here to discuss anime – I got here for entertainment. The enthusiasm and effort put in by the staff here is evident in the content and in the site’s excellent design. There’s also a level of “hyper” that draws readers (and viewers in the video blog).
It’s easy for
an anime club to be focused entirely on viewing the members’ favorite medium,
so it’s unexpected when a club makes blogging a major part of what it does. Like the Star Crossed Blog, Emory Anime
Club’s blog has a structured, streamlined look to its site. Attractively minimalistic, other bloggers
(myself included) could take a note from the excellent look of the blog. Entirely review/episodic in nature, the blog
is a terrific resource for synopses and screen caps. The bloggers also do a great job in their season
previews.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No April Fool's prank post here, sadly. We are an awfully serious lot here, aren't we? Oh well, join us again next time. Until then, I'll be off to bed because I need to wake up at an ungodly hour to watch Wrestlemania 28. Uggh, I can already imagine waking up in a few hours, groggy-eyed, to scour around for a decent stream...
