The End of the Trap Door
Ani-Gamers is about E*X*P*L*O*D*E
Well, it’s come to this. This is the end of my Trap Door column. I’ve enjoyed trawling through the diamonds in the rough and the turds in the road, but the column started to grate on my workload. I was writing for two or three websites when I started TD. I now write for four different websites, and I’m attending courses for employment training. What little time there is after all that goes toward my family. To give you an idea of my general crunch, the day after I usually post a TD review, I have to start planning the next one in twenty days or less. I’ve a personal rule: once something you love doing is starting to feel like work, stop doing it; it’s not going to get better. So, I decided to can the column while I’m still in a good mood about it. This means that, from now on, any retro posts you see from me on Ani-Gamers will just be whatever tickles my fancy. But I’m proud of the stuff I’ve covered in a column that ran on such a kickass website as Ani-Gamers for over three years! I got to cover some of my favorite guilty pleasures, like Dominion Tank Police and 3X3 Eyes, and talk about some of Animeigo’s latest Kickstarter projects, like Otaku No Video and Riding Bean. So with the end in sight, I’ve decided to wrap things up and move on.
So how will I be going out? Well, it only seems fair to review the title that started it all for a lot of fans, myself included: Akira. Akira is one of those titles that everyone says you should watch if you want to understand anime’s appeal. Even if you don’t like it (and if you don’t, we can’t be friends anymore), you should still watch it. Recently, it twigged with me that Akira arrived in an English-friendly format in North America (well, according to IMdB) in 1990. With its July 16th original Japanese release month just gone, why not combine both Anniversaries? So, we’ve decided to create the Akira Yearbook. Much like how a yearbook records our feelings about how the year or your time in school went, the Akira Yearbook is going to record how we feel about Akira after a quarter of a century in our lives. From the vets who were there when it first opened in cinemas to the people who’ve just discovered it, this is your chance to talk about how the film sits in your head as a fan and consumer of Japanese animation. As well as my regular review of Akira, I’ll also be posting my feelings on the film. Why should people write about it now? Because if the film gets any older, the people who first saw it will not want to think about until the next anniversary, and it’s important to keep this treasure in the public eye. So how is it going to work?
Firstly, anyone who wants to write from tomorrow (July 26) to the corresponding day in August can either email myself, Evan (our Editor-in-Chief at Ani-Gamers), or any of the staff with their reviews and written pieces if they don’t have a blog or website. If you’ve got your own site or blog or you’ve already written about something similar to do with Akira, cool. Just send us the link via email or social media and we’ll put into our holding page for the links on Ani-Gamers. If you’re not sure if you want to write for the yearbook, that’s cool. Just signal boost this post on social media (if you wouldn’t mind). You’ll have our full and earnest gratitude.
Finally, to everyone who read my column and liked or disliked it, I thank you and ask only one thing: when you speak with me next, buy me a Bulmers and tell me how much you hated The Humanoid. I’m trying to build a support group.