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 600 anime titles and over 3,000 episodes (at least in part), and own over 700 discs and tapes of anime.
If you want to get in touch with me, shoot me an email.
