I listen to a lot of YouTube channels while I do other things. I don’t watch a lot of videos, but I listen to a lot of them. They’re bonus audio while I replay Skyrim or Fallout for hours or while I’m prepping for my weekly Dungeons and Dragons game. It’s also possible that at some point during the 2,080 hours a year that I spend in a cubicle, I have listened to the occasional YouTube show.
That in mind, I think it’s fair to say that some of the anime YouTubers I’ve listened to in the last several months are partially responsible for my return to this blog. I’d like to make a few recommendations. If you’ve got some time to kill or could use some quality background chatter, these are all great listens.
Gigguk has been reviewing anime since 2008. His videos tend to be of the louder, faster-paced variety with a lot of comedy thrown in, but his analysis and discussion of broader trends are also really good. Check out this video about whether anime is mainstream.
Previously a video game journalist, Geoff Thew does some really nice, focused in videos on trends and current series over on his channel, Mother’s Basement. He gets some criticism for “shilling” too much, but the man’s got to pay bills just like everybody else. I’ve never found his ad spots disruptive. Check out his video on traditional animation versus digital animation.
Super Eyepatch Wolf is by far my favorite to listen to. His essay-style videos breakdown the making of and storytelling mechanics of some incredibly influential shows. SEW’s videos are the kind of breakdowns I really want to get to at some point during this challenge. Unusually for me, I’ve gone back and listened to some of his essays multiple times. Check out one of his videos about Dragon Ball.
That’s all I’m giving you on those guys. They’re video essayists. They can sell themselves from here.
But one more thing before you leave. There’s a trend, and it’s not exactly brand new. It only tangentially relates to anime, but it was part of the road to this blog.
Go to YouTube. Search for “lo-fi hip-hop.” Chances are you’ve just stumbled onto a cornucopia of 24 hour streams of fuzzy, rhythmic tracks that make heavy use of sampling. I’m not going to over explain lo-fi hip-hop. I would be way, way out of my depth. Kevin Cortez has already done a solid job of doing just that here.
Cortez describes a trend I got hypnotized by last year. These 24 hour streams of low fidelity hip hop tracks are accompanied by looping gifs of anime girls doing homework, and they are absolutely amazing to work to. The looping gifs got me hungry for new anime, and the rest, as they say, is a cliche. If you like the work of Nujabes, I highly recommend checking one of these streams out. Here’s a link to one I frequent at work, Chilled Cow.
Until tomorrow.
chasetriesagain.com 