We tip our proverbial hat to Nopy’s Blog, Maserbeamdotcom,  Anime Vision, Hanners’ Anime Blog, Animemiz’s Scribblings, Blog of the Hawk, AstroNerdBoy, Trzr23, Super Fanicom, Foomafoo, GAR GAR Stegosaurus, AniRecs Anime Blog, Chaostangent, Prede’s Anime Reviews, Continuing World, Yaranakya, Karmaburn, Kuriosity, Slightly Biased Manga and Nigorimasen for sticking around to round 2. It’s an eye-opener for some that most of the new blogs are leaving the seeded blogs into dust. The new generation is sure showing their fresh bloodlust. Also, congrats to Bokutachi no Blog, Loli Salad, Moe Fundamentalism, Sekijitsu, Anime Viking, Emory Anime Club, Shinde Iie Anime Blog, Anime B&B, We Remember Love, Anime Instrumentality, Whiners, Open Your Mind, Kritik de Animationskraft, Just as Planned, Yuri no Boke, Desu Ex Machina, Empty Blue Blog, Jinx, Lemmas and Submodalities and Marth’s Anime Blog for making it to the next round. I’m not sure if they will be held timely or not but you’ll be hearing from the staff soon enough. Without any further ado:

137. Chaostangent

Thoughts: Welcome to Chaostangent, which I will always misread as chaosagent until the day I die for unknown reasons. This blog has been around for 6 long years, and still keeps up a good pace of posting almost every other day. What will you find in this lengthy archive? Chaostangent does a “3 episode taste test” instead of doing a first impression based on only one episode, and usually only talks about a series again if there’s a point of interest (then you’ve got an editorial) or if it’s over, and it’s time to write an all-encompassing review. I ended up getting absorbed in more than a couple of his editorial posts, so I’d suggest giving him a read if you like really strong writing. Seriously, this guy knows how to write.

You will not get lost navigating Chaostangent. There is only a home button and an about page on the top, and things are kept simply with only one column. It’s bland, but it works. I also really like how he has a quote from his post in larger font, kind of like a sneak-peek at what else lies within if you want to click “read the rest of this entry.” Which you should. Click it, I mean. Yeah.

138. Desu Ex Machina

Thoughts:  Welcome to the anime blog Desu Ex Machina where you can find the writing team of Kevo and Aeroblip, however it appears that only Kevo has been updating the blog for now. So, what does Desu ex Machina bring to the ani-sphere besides anime reviews? Have you ever heard of the anime power rankings? They are basically surveys from the current anime season where a pool of anibloggers submit their rankings for their top 5 series weekly. It sort of brings several anime fans together to participate in something creative, so if you are ever curious about what people are into for the current season, you should check them out! Except for this, every post favors writing above everything else with less focus on the screenshots, but every picture from the episode has a hilarious comment on the bottom so that worked for me. You can find posts on Aquarion EVOL and some Editorial style posts as well. Oh also, they produce Desu ex Machina podcast or the “FAPcast” as it is called…so yeah there is a bit of everything to enjoy on this blog.

In terms of design for Desu Ex Machina, the first thing that always catches my eye on reviewing blog layouts is the color scheme with all the greens, but I enjoyed the creative banners with the name of the blog followed by a cleaver catchphrase to match the banner. Besides the fun banners you can find the usual sidebar options like a twitter feeds, blog rolls and so on; overall the blog doesn’t feel cluttered at all and it leaves everything easy to find. So, do check them out!

139. Karmaburn

Thoughts: Karmaburn has nothing to do with burning things OR karma from what I saw (which is mildly disappointing), but Evirus does impressions on anime regardless. These seem to be grouped together by season/ whatever else they’re watching at the time and generally give a couple of sentences on their thoughts. There are a few other posts floating around the site though (like manga related ones) and sometimes Evirus gives an entire post to their thoughts on a series. They’re still relatively short though (and who can blame them since Evirus has been at this for practically forever now).

This blog is 10 years old now. Ten. TEN. Also, HOLY CRAP is the list of categories and old reviews ever long. I’m not saying that this is a bad thing in the slightest, I just wanted to express my amazement at how freaking long it was. An about page would have been appreciated, but other than that, things are easy enough to find.

140. Jinx

Thoughts: Next stop I visited the anime blog Jinx. This blog is owned by NovaJinx and you can find reviews and first impression posts on anime or something like his rant post on reviewing? NovaJinx follows the average review style we all have come to know with the usual caps from the episode and what he enjoyed or dislike. After reading a few reviews something caught my eye in the form of jokes and hilarious screen caps. Like my own reviews I saw a few photo-shopped captions on the actual screenshots that left me laughing for a while. I don’t know why; but I personally enjoy doing that with my own reviews so I saw a bit of myself in his unique review style. There really isn’t a whole lot to say other than go read his awesome and funny posts. Seriously you will laugh, but if you don’t I can understand, comedic reviews are not every one’s cup of tea.

Design time! I really liked the layout for Jinx, down to the creative background and fun looking banner at the top complete with a great quote “Cast in the name of god, ye not sober”. I guess you could say drinking might be the overall theme for Jinx? Either way if it is not a theme I certainly hope so! Nothing else catches my eye from a design point because it really is clean cut and not very cluttered with every sidebar feature in the world; overall the layout works nicely even though most would love to see a different theme.

141. Slightly Biased Manga

Thoughts: Manga blogs have had a really tough time in the tourney. Some of them are really good and border on professional in some cases, but they just can’t get the votes. Connie runs things a bit differently though, as she openly admits her bias. Every manga she reads is something she likes, and while she speaks in good detail about the contents of the manga, knowing the likely overall review of the volume makes the read somewhat predictable once you get used to her writing style. What is the best read on her site is the publishers and shopping guide sections where she breaks down each active publisher and her thoughts on places to buy manga.

The site design looks no different from its mobile version. I challenge you to find more than one jpeg image, cause Connie’s not one to include images in her posts. I get that the writing is important, but you’ve got to put at least one image up to draw my attention to manga series that I (and surely many visitors) have never heard of. Yes, google, I’m aware, but the posts need just a picture to add a sense of appeal to a particular review.

142. Nigorimasen

Thoughts: Nigorimasen is a blog dedicated to Japanese media, not limited to just anime and manga, and Tom, the writer for the blog, covers everything from anime cons to season previews. He doesn’t have any system which makes his posts unpredictable, something that I enjoy in a blog. One minute you’re reading about his attraction to older female characters and the next you’re learning about his fondness of sports related anime. I suppose I just enjoy the fact that he posts whatever the heck he wants, there’s no formula and he adds a personal touch to everything he writes. (Oh and did I mention he has a podcast? I didn’t get the chance to listen to it yet, but usually that’s a good sign!)

Visually Nigorimasen seems to be more original than most of the blogs I’ve been checking out. A nice sidebar that doesn’t stretch the page, easy navigation thanks to the header bar and the search box. It’s a fun blog I enjoyed reading, and you might too!

143. Conspicuous Klux

Thoughts: Expect some biasness because Klux is a dear friend. I discovered her blog last year following a blogroll link and found some of her entries quite hilarious. You have to understand one thing while browsing Klux’s site, it is very personal and she damn well does whatever she pleases because it’s her own space, where she unwinds and discusses her favouritism and hate in copious amount. This is not your typical genre type blog, rather it has a bit of everything with prominent categories like Diary of a tard (update on what Klux has been reading/watching), First Impressions and editorials on different topics of animanga. She might not use the perfect English or even sentence structure sometimes but her strong personality comes through her writing and is always an entertaining read. Oh a fun fact, she’s a professional baker and makes many amazing looking cakes that will leave you drooling. 

Design wise, I’m not a fan of blogspot at all but somehow or the other Klux has arranged her content quite nicely. From her old theme, the current one is pretty nice with her woman powuh showing in her banner. The related widget makes the posts look busy but is distilled by the white background. The funniest thing is that a wordpress theme is applied on blogspot, which makes the latter look good. So, if you are looking for very opinionated reviews and some hilarious comments, visit Klux’s abode online and vote for her!  

144. Drastic My Anime Blog

Thoughts: For five years Drastic My Anime Blog has been standing, and it’s still running fabulously until now. Props to TheBigN for still trying to run this blog even though he has such a busy real life. TheBigN is not the only writer in Drastic though. Some time ago, dm00 joined his blog, and nomadotto can be called as theBigN’s partner I guess, considering how close they are (they were roomates). Nomadotto seems to be MIA, and the same goes to Link. So right now, it’s only TheBigN and dm00.

Although there’s no specific role given to them, each writer has its own distinguishable style. TheBigN is more to anime, while dm00 has been writing about manga/LN a lot recently. Dm00 Writes short concise information about licensed manga with some personal opinion at times. TheBigN writes mostly thoughtful editorials that can be easily understood, and they’re usually agreeable most times. That doesn’t mean that dm00 doesn’t write anime editorials though. His is just shorter and friendlier. Either way, both TheBigN and dm00 have filled Drastic with fun and great articles, and that gives enough reason to visit this site. 

145. Omonomono

Thoughts: From what I understand, this blog has had technical issues in the past and it’s actually older then it appears. Omo is currently in the process of reuploading all of their old posts (or so they say), but this isn’t your ordinary aniblog for sure. Anime impressions are somewhat scarce and the entire blog is dedicated to omo’s thoughts on things they don’t see talked about often. Really, omo seems to talk a lot about the culture and other things surrounding the anime/manga culture rather than the medium itself (though they do cover some impressions).  …There are a lot of walls of text though.  

The style of the webite is pretty cool (it kind of looks like old paper) and that banner is undeniably badass. …It’s had to find certain topics though since there are only archives. The category section is kind of broad as well if people are looking for something extremely particular (though to balance that out, there’s a handy search bar). But as he has been quite vocal in the tourney comments, I’m sure many of us have already checked out his blog before rather than waiting for his match.

146. Ani-Nouto

Thoughts: Author writes anime review posts…except not really, because he’s mostly just quoting other blogs and then commenting briefly on their statements. I understand linking to someone’s blog, but I don’t really see a need to have this many citations all in one place. It’s great if you want an overview of how the aniblogosphere reacted to a particular episode or series though, and Author provides some good input; though his target usually is some way of dis/agreement. So in the end, I know what Ani-nouto is, but I personally prefer looking at each blog individually. If you’re strapped for time, Ani-nouto is there for you, though.

Now onto the site’s design, which is unfortunately not easy on the eyes. It’s just incredibly unorganized. It’s hard to tell where one post ends or begins, and the posts themselves are particularly uninviting to read. Imagine that you wrote a normal post. Now imagine you chopped up every sentence and spaced them out so you had one on every other line. This is what Ani-nouto looks like, probably because the column with the posts is so wide. I don’t get the appeal, but if you want to see a frankenstein monster of regurgitated quotes from other people in the aniblogosphere…go for it.

147. Canne’s anime review blog

Thoughts: And finally welcome to Canime’s anime review blog where you can find the solo writer and owner of the blog Canne! So what does this blog specialize in? I would say the core of the blog might be the full series reviews of older series and a few new ones. Each review has a few screenshots from the series followed by a paragraph set up where Canne breaks down the plot, story, characters and ends with a final rating for the series or movie review. This is great for anyone curious about some older anime or maybe a series you might have overlooked while it was airing? Also every paragraph focuses on the subjects really well and I never felt bored reading over the reviews. Other than the series reviews, you can check out some very creative editorial posts on anime and the whole fandom overall. So if you enjoy series reviews and editorials stop by and show some love.

Design breakdown time: Canne’s anime review blog primarily uses yellow as a base color and the rest consists of an orange banner; I didn’t mind the color scheme too much because it was bright and kept my attention. Layout wise everything is easy to find at the top from every review and every editorial post Canne has ever worked on! Sidebar stuff you can find twitter feed, recent comments, blog roll and archives from the past.

148. Eye Sedso

Thoughts: Glothelegend is Eye Sedso’s god. He writes whatever he wants, however he wants it to be. List? He’ll fucking do it. Random videos? Hell yeah. Insulting everything that walks on earth? Sure, why not. Making a post about a certain commentor that pissed him off? Write whatever he wants, Glothelegend always does. Although some will find his attitude to be unbearable (just read some of the comments he gets), this I-don’t-give-a-damn attitude is probably what makes Eye Sedso interesting in the first place.

But when Glothelegend writes a review, he’s actually serious about it. He will pour his thought into it. His free writing style is pretty engaging at times; those who don’t like cusses and swears shouldn’t read his articles though. To be honest, so far I’ve read only his Ghibli review (because I’m sleepy right now), but I had fun reading it. I would love to see more of his anime reviews. Oh, and less swearing please. In terms of design, he’s using a generic wordpress layout so not much to comment on that.

149. Unmei Kaihen

Thoughts: Bias warning! Shinmaru was a guest on our podcast once (although I wasn’t there) and I actually frequent his site in lurking mode most of the time already. Am I even allowed to write this review then? WHO KNOWS! I’m doing it anyways. Unmei Kaihen mostly has anime episodic posts, with a bit of editorials thrown in here and there. He tends to throw some interesting antics into his episodics such as a GUESS THE DUMB poll each week in Guilty Crown to vote on which scene was the most absurd and nonsensical. I think he even wrote a song instead of writing a post once. Of course, it’s not just because of these little creative touches he adds every now and again that his blog is good – it’s the strength of his writing. His tone is a nice mix of serious and persuasive, with a joking edge to it.

Aside from the creepy old man in the banner (I demand moe in all my banners!), the layout is rather pleasing as well. I really like white text on dark backgrounds, because it feels like I’m not stranded in an arctic blizzard huddling for warmth. Maybe I’m traumatized from being Canadian. Anyways, I digress, Unmei Kaihen looks nice, organized and has the benefit of having a search bar. I’d recommend checking it out if you haven’t already – especially if you’re following Hunter x Hunter right now.

150. Anime Gerad

Thoughts: I remember watching 3 eps of Elemental Gelad. Not my cup of tea, but anyways… from the articles I skimmed through on the first few pages, EhNani is sort of the primary poster and his style leans more toward dissecting/picking apart certain animes or subjects w/in anime. Though the general feel I get of the site leans more opinionated, I found many of the articles interesting even if I didn’t watch or read the discussed source content.

Anime Gerad is one of the few sites in the tourney I’m aware of that has not a forum and also a gallery. All of it looks nice and well-designed, and I like that they don’t lean on the ordinary color palette to make a boring site. A lot of sites in the tourney aren’t that much different from me viewing it on my Reader feed, so it’s rare to see a site I actually want to look at. Don’t get me wrong, Anime Gerad is not a super-duper awesome looking site with tons of bells and whistles, it’s just that AG is a quality site that’s well-presented with well-written content.

151. Manga Xanadu

Thoughts: Woo~ Another manga blog! I didn’t realize there were so many out there. Xanadu’s original spin is the fact that it’s written by a mother of two, whose daughters and husband also contribute on occasion. (A manga loving family? Adorable!) I love the variety of manga covered on Xanadu, and the reviews themselves are always concise and informative. (Okay, maybe not THAT concise if you’re reading Krissy’s Korner, but who cares, those reviews are just too cute. ><) Variety, detailed reviews, honestly this blog won’t let you down, and as far as manga blogs go I’d say this is my favorite so far.

Visually Xanadu is nice to look at. The banner isn’t all that eye-catching, but overall not bad in the least! Navigation-wise everything checks out, you can find whatever you’re looking for very easily! So, if you are a manga lover like me, you definitely need to make a pit stop on this site.

152. Mono no Aware

Thoughts: This is the kind of a blog I love discovering. You should already understand the reason for my biasness from the image because Martin shares the same enthusiasm for nasuverse, if not the over-bubbly like me but I can definitely see eye to eye with his views on Kara no Kyoukai. He has done something that I haven’t even wrapped my mind around yet still: blogging all the KnK movies. Aside for the nasuverse, his interest in music and J-culture really comes to the fore in his editorials and musings. Going through some of his entries now, I wish he would write more but I do understand the solo blogger pains and how you can’t type out entries after entries per day along with balancing RL. I find his reviews to be personal views that the readers can identify with; sure, you can’t always agree with his points but he does give a good reason for why he liked something, an example could be Hanako’s route in Katawa Shoujo.

Design wise, the site is the generic Twenty-Eleven theme but even then it’s not boring because the content is well placed and every refresh gives you a new banner. Supposedly, the theme is known for it’s usefulness and all widgets and sidebar content is orderly arranged for you to not lose your way around the site. About and links pages are always helpful, which made me check out the main site and find Martin’s music influence and some of his original fiction. Be the main site or Mono no Aware, I’m definitely a regular subscriber now and will be combing through the posts slowly along with adding it to our Blogroll to boot.