With a day’s gap between highlights, two more matches have closed and nothing of a big upset has happened but I became quite wary of the close vote chase between Anime Picks and Kuuki no Puraido. The advantage I see is twitter in the prior’s case but still, it just felt off. Along with Kuuki, I want to extend my support to Chikorita157, Polychromium, iSugoi, Angryjellyfish, Notaku Blog, Anime Tree and Ace Railgun, who did not make it out of the first round but hey, on the positive side, your sites got real attention by a slew of readers and I’m sure some of them would be sticking around. Don’t forget to check them out, peeps! Anyways, on to the reviews of another sixteen anime blogs:

33. Ambivalence, or is it ambiguity?

Thoughts: First thing you see is a banner asking you a question. After the brief mindscrew… anyways, I believe I found this site sometime before even knowing about their presence in the aniblog tourney. The many first impressions they’ve done have ranged from 3-5 paragraphs with as many pictures and are an interesting read in terms of how a show chose to execute a specific plot device or animation style. There’s also a section for subjective reviews where @fkeroge lets loose on a few shows, be it mostly hate or mostly love. A section that was discontinued that I’d like to see come back is tl;dr (twitter) reviews.

The site has several banners that rotate per click/refresh and posts usually highlight the show being reviewed as the banner (Medaka’s boobs, aww yeah). I also like the plug-in they use for “Load More Posts” on the main page, as it loads within the same page instead of going to second and third and so on pages.

34. Hachimitsu

Thoughts: Mira’s blog, Hachimitsu, is an almost exclusively episodic blog (with a couple of editorials here and there), and that’s all you really have to know. Her posts are both humorous and informative, with more emphasis on the informative. I love the mixture because her writing is very coherent and brings up a lot of good points! (+10 internetz for anyone who checks out her amazing post on Tsuritama). I love it when writers put a lot of personality into their posts, it makes them so much more fun to read … so maybe I’m a little biased. The length of her posts tend to vary, but never are they devoid of actual opinions.

Visually Hachimitsu has a very simple layout. I love Mira’s hipster galaxy, if that means anything to you, but other than her fabulous banner it’s all just black and white, nothing to complain about though since it’s mostly the posts that matter anyway. If you get a chance you should also check out her About the Author page, if you’re the type of person who likes to get to know more about the person behind the writing, Mira does a great job of telling us all about how she got into, and then got out of, and then got BACK into Anime.

35. Shonen Beam

Thoughts: Shonen Beam’s site is simple and effective. Featured content at the top, podcast and important notes on the right side, and has a second featured area at the bottom with tabs to go through the different magazine’s worth of recent content. In terms of posting, SB is a one-man wrecking crew with Jean posting manga impressions for a couple handfuls of manga series, be they in Jump, Magazine or Sunday magazines. I’ve done manga impressions myself for One Piece and can find a number of things to address, but Jean is very detailed in his impressions, and also dry; in the articles I’ve looked at, not once did I find an instance where he he wrote “I “. He expresses thoughts, but he doesn’t let personal opinion seep in too much, if at all in his impressions.

The Shonen Beam podcast got started in March, which him and Clint Via host bi-weekly. They range from 40-70 minutes in length as they talk about the recent events of several selected manga series. It’s a clean production and they’re pretty straight-arrow in terms of discussing their takes on what happened in the chapter. It’s almost an audio version of what you’d see Jean write in his posts. They have show notes with timestamps listed, so even if you only read one of the mangas they discuss, it’s worth it to download the episode and fast-forward to when One Piece or whatever manga you like is being discussed.

36. Sequential Ink

Thoughts: Manga manga manga. Manga review is the only thing that can be found in Ken’s Sequential Ink because that’s the reason why this site was created. Well, there’s some novel and cartoon reviews too, but mostly manga! Ken used to be a writer for Manga Recon of Popcultureshock.com (since 2007 yo!), but its closing led Kai to create his own site, the Sequential Ink. In total, he has been writing about manga for five years already!

Ken makes no fuss about his site’s layout, using only basic theme with a sidebar for his tweets and blogrolls. Not even a banner. With minimum design, Sequential Ink’s layout will successfully direct the readers’ attention to his articles right away. Ken’s articles consist of basic summary of the manga and his opinion of the reviewed manga. Unfortunately, his writings look really tight and cramped because of the layout and the font, not to mention the lack of images. My advice is to add some space between the lines to make them more comfortable for the readers’ eyes. At least, my eyes. Is it even possible to add some space? Anyhow, Sequential Ink is the perfect place for those who want to read reviews of officially-licensed manga. Who knows, Ken’s articles might save some of our moneh.

37. Bokutachi no Blog

Thoughts: Starting off my first of many world blog tours with the giant team over at Bokutachi no BLOG! I have no idea why I love team blogs, but there is always something fun about them. Maybe it’s the ability to cover a wide range of anime reviews? Or maybe you are just drawn to a certain writing style? Either way you can find the similar things on Bokutachi no BLOG. Each writer has their own take on anime reviews such as choices in picture usage versus text and some of them leave fun picture comments like thaivu22’s review of Nazo no Kanojo X. Currently you can find this team tackling the spring season in full force; however, a few of the writers are missing in action but hey real life happens.

In terms of design and layout, I have seen countless pages like this one as in black on grey with white letters all over, while it might be somewhat generic in design choice, it doesn’t really catch my attention a whole lot. Though, it does get the job done displaying the full team, most viewed posts and recent comments. I do have to give them credit for sticking around since 2007, but they could use a blog facelift here and there or a new color scheme in the future? Overall decent reviews by Bokutachi no BLOG, so do check out the blog and wish them luck in the tournament..

38. The G-Empire

Thoughts: So many things at once. That’s my first impression when I opened G-Empire’s site. Overlord-G (OG) claimed that he dedicates his site for Yuri, but I had my doubts for a second when all I found were games-related articles. Thank god for the lists at the top of his site. Where the readers will get the navigation list that can help them find articles they want. The downside of the lists is that they can be confusing at times, especially the ones that are not alphabetically-listed. Also, it would be nice to have a centered picture as background instead of tiles. Anything but tiles.

Like how it was previously mentioned, OG covers lots of things. He writes about gaming, anime episodics, and even poetry! Yep, poetry! Let’s not forget his own yuri section. So yeah, so many things in one place. OG also has a friendly writing style that everybody surely can understand. His writing style is not the only thing that’s friendly, since OG always replies to every single comment in his posts. Such dedication. Do check his yuri articles! Oh, and congratulations for G-Empire’s one year mark or will be, since the anniversary is in April.

39. Maserbeamdotcom

Thoughts: maserbeamdotcom is a lot of things in one, covering everything from anime, to video games, to various techs/updates, and music. They had an on-going regularly updated podcast as well, which I didn’t get a chance to listen to, but unfortunately it seems like it’s been dead for quite a while, in fact, a few of their different areas seem a little ignored. No worries though because when maserbeam does post you’ll realize it was worth the wait, especially the anime related posts which according to him are the biggest focus of the blog. What I love most about his writing though is how forward and opinionated he is, making his posts all the more entertaining. A self-described “elitist”, this guy is a good blogger … it’s too bad he doesn’t post more often though! (There’s another writer too, but I didn’t see anything but an introduction from him.)

Aesthetically it’s very plain, but some positives I would say are the lack of sidebar padding removing the need for “read more” and whatnot, and the simple category navigation. It’s definitely not the best looking blog you’ll come across, but hopefully that won’t stop you from reading some of stuff because I personally think it’s worth the time.

40. The Check-in Station

Thoughts: Pervy manga section, I am so sold. I mean, yeah… Anyhow, DongKangolJones (DKJ for short. Sounds like an airport’s abbreviation) is an anime fan for ten years already, although he started Check-In Station two years ago. His layout is the same with Sequential Ink’s, but his posts are filled with images for refreshment. I personally like the frames he uses for his screenshots and where he puts them. It gives a neat but fun impression. His sidebar contains his tweets *GundamAGE brofist* and other links to his accounts. Very stalk-able. DJK also has this amusing “Random  Member of my Harem” section where he shows the world who his favorite female characters are.

DJK writes episodics with amusing titles, and most of his episodics focus more on summaries and screenshots (with pretty frames). Sometimes the last episode’s article will be tagged as “Check-Out Station,” which is creative of DJK’s. My favorite part of his site though has got to be his Images of the Week and Pery Manga Review. DJK’s Images of the Week consists of anime, manga, and pervy images with some anime/manga review in-between the images. However, I like Pervy Manga Review more than Images of the Week because DJK actually writes proper review of pervy manga instead of dissing them. Like, whoa, need more bloggers who talk about pervy manga. Also, those pervy images, me gusta.

41. Loli Salad

Thoughts: In her about page, Fang-tan admits that she fades in and out of interest in the site, and judging by how she has been posting the past couple months, that statement holds water. When she does posts, she puts thought into them, and her most detailed posts are her track-by-track analysis of the many albums she’s covered. Perhaps you may find something new to enjoy; I found an Albatrosicks review that I sampled a couple songs from and kind of liked.

Design-wise, clean and standard are the best words to use. She has a nice banner pic and uses a few pics for her anime impressions posts. Pages load without a hitch, no design issues to bring up. Also, this is one of those remnant animeblogger.net blog that is still somewhat around.

42. Manga Report

Thoughts: I’m somewhat of a “superficial” blog reader so I’m a bit slanted on my opinion of the visuals, but Manga Reader is kind of … plain. Not the writing though, which is good. Anna has a good balance of plot summarizing and opinion, putting in her own input and backing it up with details from the manga. She has this odd way of really convincing you to WANT to read certain manga, from the five reviews I read I’m now dying to get my hands on Dawn of the Arcana and a Devil and her Love Song. Oh, and I should mention Manga Report seems to have a bigger focus on shoujo manga, but it’s not exclusive to it.

Like I was saying before though, visually Manga Report is a little dull. There’s nothing really eye catching about the blog itself. The colors are a bit plain too. Similarly, Anna’s reviews have barely any images, if any at all. Not only does it not really give us readers a chance to see some art/dialogue from the manga itself, but there ends up being a block of text without any frills. I’m a frill person, so I guess this all depends on whether or not you like colors and pictures and whatnot. I’ll definitely be checking it out in the future because she covers a lot of interesting manga.

43. LuRa’s Anime Blog

Thoughts: Next up on my blog adventures I visit another team blog by the name of LuRa’s Anime Blog. After reading through a few reviews I really loved how Lucretia and Kira Yoshi’s posts are quite different in style, but how different? Lucretia goes with six tiny screencaps and leaves some funny comments under them while Kira Yoshi includes his screencaps within his post and leaves a few fun comments for them. Those kinds of things always catch my eyes, because if you follow any of my posts you can tell I love that part of any final post. Text wise both writers do a normal recap of the events in the episode followed by three to four paragraphs for their end thoughts; that said I wish there were more screencaps in their posts but it seems to be a formula they enjoy using. I did notice not all of their writers are active and Raven pretty much posts only anime music related things, which adds another twist to their blog that I liked.

Design wise, the layout is okay, but sadly it wasn’t anything mind blowing or amazing for me. Though, I liked the cool banner with all of those different anime characters spiced together. Overall this blog has fun writers and good posts for music. Anyway do take a few minutes and check out their posts and wish them luck in the tournament.

44. Moe Fundamentalism

Thoughts: Time to take a short break from the team blogs for a bit and focus on the solo anime blog Moe Fundamentalism. This blog is owned by Akirascuro or just Akira as he is known on twitter and everywhere else. Akira did episodics of one of my favorite anime series of last season: The idolm@ster. Just in case you can’t get enough of that series, you can find several other idolm@ster themed posts on his blog. Besides doing a bit of episodic anime blogging, Akira seems to excel quite well with some creative editorial anime themed posts; while I have only posted one editorial in my whole blogging “career”, I can tell Akira has a great talent for it. Each post is filled with fanart or images tied to the overall theme of the post. So, if you love to see a unique twist on normal anime blogs and you love to read something other than the everyday episodic post, stop by Moe Fundamentalism. Oh and you can follow his reviews of Uchuu Kyoudai; I am sure Akira will enjoy your comments.

Design wise Moe Fundamentalism has a great feel to it and sure it is another omg wordpress blog but I find it to be clean and free of clutter. While some of us like tons of sidebar action with a twitter feed, blogroll and so on; Akira goes with a simple design choice, which really works for his writing. Personally, the artist in me prefers brighter colors to catch my attention but anyways, do check out his blog.

45. CSW Anime Blog

Thoughts: Yooo, that layout, yoooo. Wait, I have to start from the beginning. Chocolate Syrup Waffle passed its first generation golden age by Armandru and is now being led by Jubbz with his nine harem members to even more glorious days than before (now with Armandru as one of his harem members). CSW has this awesome cool layout that looks neat, high-tech, and also refreshing thanks to the mix of the color white and blue. Good thing they changed it because their previous embossed waffle background was just… Anyways, I’m a little bit curious though of four sections under the banner because the Recent Posts are right under it.

Ten writers give CSW the advantage of covering basically everything without having articles to be similar. Each of the writers has its own writing style, which are sometimes quite opinionated making CSW have varied articles that keep the readers entertained. The writers are expertise is episodic blogging and screenshots, so do check theirs out!

46. Sekijitsu

Thoughts: You’d be hard pressed to find an aniblog site that has the graphical prowess that Sekijitsu has. Bass has constructed a site that stands out from the many other aniblogs in terms of visuals. Sekijitsu has always had awesome browser-wide banners, beautiful graphics and season previews, and I also like the carousel design/size. Post formats can also look really nice, and sometimes they ditch the sidebar for previews and art posts that look like a more beautiful version of a -booru site. Recommendations are also well-constructed.

I’m sure this is not the first time you are hearing about them here because we are kind of bro-blogs. Tofu, Vivi and Renn have done most of the blogging recently for the site. Their episodic impressions are detailed in thoughts and mostly contained to the episode itself. Tofu is the only one of them that uses a number score for episodics, a somewhat rare thing in aniblogging especially for episodics. In addition to his primary thoughts, it’s an interesting wrap-up paragraph to read how he decided to score the episode as he did. Vivi is an occasional poster and Renn does several first impressions and picks one series to cover, currently Fate/Zero.

47. Clanrain

Thoughts: Next up is the colorful team blog Clanrain and they specialize in episodic anime reviews and a few video game reviews. Their anime posts consist of lots of screenshots and some short paragraph under the picture highlighting what they thought based around them. While there might not be a whole lot of “meat” in their posts they still manage to squeeze in some final thoughts near the end. You should try to pay them a visit and check them out for yourself.

Design wise I really loved the layout of Clanrain. Right off the bat I was drawn in by the bright orange colors and every post has a tiny chibi looking anime character that I assume is based on the writers. Either way it does add a nice personal touch to each post. Besides having some cute chibi avatar things, they have some great looking banners that change every time you reload the page much like our banners. So, I can tell someone takes good care of their blog. And finally if you scroll to the very bottom you can find a huge chatbox for the readers to hang out together; so overall they have a very clean cut blog with a nice color scheme.

48. Anime Viking

Thoughts: Anime Viking is a relatively new blog, starting only about a half a year ago, but since then Marow has been extremely consistent, getting out plenty of posts each month, which is very commendable of an editorial blog. I read a couple of their older posts as well as a a few of the newer and I have to say, Marow has done a great job varying the topics and also keeping them fresh and interesting. I wanted to comment on an older Toradora themed post, but I thought that might be creepy… Anyway, this is a blog I’m almost 100% positive you won’t be disappointed in.

I love the visual aspect of Anime Viking. There are lots of bright colors in the banner and post pictures, and the background is also very nice. I’m biased on this, but I love endless scrolling, I thought that was a nice choice. Otherwise, nothing to nitpick about here.