About
Overview
Otaku, No Video is a growing, evolving thing. Remember Tetsuo at the end of Akira? Kind of like that, only not as gross.
What it was: This journey started as a podcast, where three guys blabbed about anime and the anime industry every week. That never generated a significant audience, but a few test YouTube videos did, so we moved to YouTube. Then, some of us moved on with our lives.
What is is now: Otaku, No Video is a blog, YouTube channel, live stream, and Twitter account where one guy (Brent) talks about anime, manga, and light novels, as well as the overall industry supporting them.
Themes
Several major themes have emerged as I write and record:
- Educating the average anime fan about the histories and industries of anime, manga, and light novels
- Reviewing and analyzing new and classic anime, manga, and light novels
- Improving the quality of anime, manga, and light novel reviews online
About the Reviews
A while back, I wrote a post in which I complained about reviewers writing bland, ineffective reviews. I’m often guilty of the same behaviors, and am working to improve my reviews. As such, I have the following guidelines:
- I avoid value words like “good,” “bad,” and “terrible.” They only communicate my preferences, and don’t tell you why I think what I do.
- I don’t include a dry retelling of each work’s premise in my reviews, or a recitation of the plot. I’ll explain the premise organically as part of the review, as I explain what works and doesn’t work for me. I recognize that this is a very grey area.
- I explain why. Instead of writing, “I liked the plot,” I’ll write, “The plot was complex, and every few episodes I was genuinely surprised by a plot twist.”
- I cover certain basic elements of a work in every review. For example, each anime review at least mentions the anime’s origin, animation quality, direction, characters, music, writing, etc.
- I don’t reveal major plot spoilers, though I do think that pretty much everything in episode/volume 1 is fair game. I’m also more lax about this for older and well-known works; I don’t feel bad about revealing the introduction of Asuka Langley Soryuu in Evangelion.
At least, those are my goals.
About Brent
I’m a 21st Century Renaissance Man. I’ve seen over 700 anime titles and over 3,000 episodes (at least in part), and own over 800 discs and tapes of anime.
If you want to get in touch with me, shoot me an email.
Dear Brent,
I was checking out some of your reviews of Gundam. I appreciated it. I was curious to know what you thought about Gundam Seed Destiny was ineffective or could have been improved. For me, I felt or I think that some of the criticism of the show stemmed from an assumption that like Zeta, Shinn would have been the main character and like the original protagonists would have had their roles but they would have step aside for a clear star, Kamille Bidan. After hearing what you have to say on GSD, I have a better understanding as to why Shinn could not have inhabited that role although I believe that with the right writing, a proper balance could have been established and allowed for Shinn to have matured or broken out of his original character and establish himself as a hero. Take care and I hope for a prompt and favorable reply on this matter.
Ryan
Ryan
4 Feb 13 at 4:24 pm
Dear Brent,
I know that Macross Frontier hasn’t been brought to the US yet, thats why a petition has been started, I was wondering if you be interested in helping us bring it to the US?
here is the link for the petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/operation-valkyrie-storm
Joshua
16 Apr 13 at 12:11 am