Day 5 of the 12 Days of Anime
Today I’m handing in my last exam and helping a friend with his so this post will be a bit short. I also decided that I don’t care about the rules properly at this point. I’m gonna make about 12 posts these days, and if they’re not all about anime that I watched this year or if I have to skip some days because of stuff, it’ll have to suffice. I’ll make up for it by writing more the coming days after Christmas if I miss too many.
I know the title is quite a bold statement, as there’s a lot of analysis going on lately with big AniTubers like Digibro, Mother’s Basement and Super Eyepatch Wolf. However, what I’m talking about is a very specific kind of analysis, and that is an in-depth and more personal type of analysis (which Digibro definitely fulfills). I also want analysis that isn’t padded out to reach a certain length that will impact your video stats positively (Mother’s Basement).
Let’s start with why I don’t like Mother’s Basement because I feel like that could help you understand. I don’t remember too much about his videos from before he got big, but I do know that after he got big, which is when I learned to analyze myself, his videos felt padded and uninspired. What Mother’s Basement is currently doing is looking for any and all opportunity to talk about the most popular stuff so that more people will click. Honestly, I have no idea about what kind of anime he likes or don’t like, because he puts himself on the sideline in a way that makes him disappear from the work. Honestly, if someone else started writing his videos for him, I wouldn’t notice, because anyone could take his role. Take a look at this screenshot I took of his latest 12 videos. They’re all topical about recent anime or other events. The shortest video is just above 10 minutes (the point at which you can put in mid-roll ads), but most are at around 15 minutes (the ideal length to get views from the algorithms).
As someone who has tried making videos and is currently writing a lot, I can say that writing for 15 minutes will most likely mean a lot of filler. Words or sentences that are only put there to reiterate a point that has previously been made or arguments that add little to no value to the overarching point. The three videos that I made back in the day were all about 6 minutes, and in that span of time, I managed to say about as much as Geoff can say in 15 minutes. And I’m not saying that everyone is like this, but Mother’s Basement’s videos are generally padded.
One problem I have is the length. And I don’t mean that long videos are bad either. Go look at most Digibro videos (my favorite AniTuber), and you’ll see that a lot of his videos are past 15 minutes as well. However, what Digi does is making a long video that is also dense. He makes a lot of points and adds personality to it. Well, I’ll give Geoff that he has a persona, though, “anyone” could write the persona of an anime pope.
What I’m seeking is people that write about what they enjoy, not about what is topical. A lot of this has changed since I joined the anime scene about 4 years ago. Back then, YouTube’s algorithms worked differently, and it wasn’t all about making the most topical video. Actually, if my memory serves me correctly, AniTubers talked less about topical anime and more about the great anime everyone should watch. For some reason, no one talks about Suzumiya Haruhi anymore and no one talks about the Monogatari series anymore, except for small YouTubers like Kamimashita (which you should check out, because he’s great).
Basically, the more people grow, the less personal they tend to get and the content starts getting more broad. I find it less and less interesting, which is why I generally don’t watch much of Mother’s Basement’s videos anymore. I tend to get bored. They stop making content because they want to share their love for it anymore, and make it because they have to get food on their table. A content creator I spoke with once said “do you know why every AniTuber is making My Hero Academia videos currently? Because AniTubers also need food.”
What I’m looking for are videos or posts that talk about the anime the creators are watching, the ones they enjoy (or don’t) and want to talk about. I’m bored of every analysis basically boiling down to “I recommend this show because” and not actually analyzing the show. Many people criticize Digibro for not making it clear why you should care for his points, however, I couldn’t disagree more. I think you should care because it’s a person genuinely talking about what he wants to talk about. Sometimes I use an anime less because I want to talk about that one specifically, and more because I want to make a point that I thought of while watching that anime. Sometimes that’s not the case either.
Anyways, what I’m trying to say is that I feel like there’s a lack inspiration in bigger analytical AniTubers, to the point where I don’t think some of them can even call their content analysis anymore. I also want more analysis of anime that aired long ago, because it will draw more people to watch older anime and it will also allow content creators to go beyond the “you should watch this anime because . . . ” phase.
I were inspired to write this post because of this video
Reina’s Ramblings 
Leave a comment