It’s my blog’s birthday!!!! woots!!! Can you believe it? I can’t! It’s a little hard to explain (or justify) how proud I am of keeping this place in existence for a year…. I’ve had a blast. I tend to get all mushy and sentimental with you guys at the flimsiest excuse so I’ll try to control myself this time, after all, there’ll be plenty of time for that in the future. 😁
I have been trying to come up with some way to mark the occasion for weeks. I’ve raided the archives of my seniors’ blogs to see how they handled it, tweeted questions, asked random strangers on the street and in the end, made a sort of mish mash of my favorites.
First I brought myself a present! What? It’s my birthday…. If you are not reading this in the reader app, you may have noticed that I’ve updated the blog’s appearance. I’ve also added a few plugins which I hope will be fun or at least functional for all of us. What you can’t just tell by looking, is that I’ve upgraded my plan to business. I essentially just did it but once I’ve had the chance to play around with it a bit, I’ll let you know my thoughts in a post. (If you are interested in any of the plugins I use, let me know, I’ll be happy to tell you which ones I have). Now that I’m all pretty and shiny, I’m ready to face my second year.
A lot of anniversary posts reflect back on the blog’s year and milestones. It’s a traditional way to mark off your accomplishments. So this is what I got:
In a year, I’ve posted at least once a day every single day. This means that I currently have 476 posts published totalling 569 192 words. I also have a total of 15 355 likes and my most treasured accomplishment by far 9 951 comments. I’m not sure how to appreciate these numbers but half a million words seems like a lot.
A little while ago Arthifis told me to name and tag my pics. Ok he told us all in this post here. Having over 400 posts already at the time, each with at least a handful of pictures, I’m afraid I never got around to tagging all of them but I did update quite a few. I’m not sure if this helped but my non WordPress traffic and Google referrals went up noticeably making June my best month in terms of views so far.
I somehow managed to get 1354 general followers, as I write this 951 wordpress followers. Amazingly one of my posts got 100 likes, this one!, while another got 118 comments, and oddly this one got over 1000 views…
Of course all know what stat really matters: search terms that lead to my blog. I plan to do another post going through those at the end of the year (we can compare with last year) but so far here are my favorites:
- an anime character with the same design as haruhi suzumiya but with glasses and is a magic user (precise!)
- grancrest war episode 9 worst show ever (opinionated!)
- steins gate 0 episode 11 everyone can replace me (sad yet haunting)
- everything wrong with uta no prince sama (nothing!)
think that’s enough stats for now… out of curiosity, are you guys interested in other people’s stats? I’m a stat nerd so I find these type of posts really cool but even as I write this I realize how dorky it sounds.
A few of you take your blog anniversaries as an excuse to give us (your readers) presents in the form of artistic endeavors. I’ve seen skits, artworks, listened to songs. I really appreciate when a blogger takes the time to do something special like that.
I did draw a logo for the blog, although that was mostly for me. I was unable to reach the artist of my old banner to licence it. I also wanted something personalized and haven’t found time to find someone to create it yet so I made a placeholder.
However, I did also create a little something to share with you guys. Some of you may remember that earlier this year, Sanrio Boys broke my brain and I started writing fictional episode reviews. In my version, the show was a dark psychological thriller, where innocent young man got swept up with as ruthless cult that ultimately destroyed him.
I loved writing those and it seems Shaddowcat enjoyed reading them. She came up with the absolutely brilliant idea of creating a trailer for my imaginary show and even offered to help! I had to jump on the idea.
So it’s with great pride (?) That I bring you Nefarious Sparkles:
Yes I’m not great at this but this is my first time ever doing any of these things (video editing, voice over ect…) and I had a blast making it so I wanted to share.
Finally I have a potentially ill thought out proposition for all of you dear readers. I want to offer my blog as a general platform. What does that mean? Well I would be happy to have contributors.
In essence this doesn’t change anything. I will continue to write and post as I always have but if anyone is interested in also posting on my blog they are welcome to do so.
For instance if you don’t have or want a blog of your own but have a post you want to share, or maybe you have an idea for an article but the format doesn’t fit your blog. You want to blog under a pen name. You would prefer posting only occasionally but want to do so on a blog that’s decently active, or want to diversify your audience a little. Then I would be happy to have your post on my blog.
For me, it’s a way to give my readers some variety and add some content without having to work for it so obvious win here!
As for the details: DM me and if it works out, I will give you contributor access. This means you have complete control over your own posts, including formatting and pictures. I don’t have to approve your posts or even see them beforehand unless you want me to for some reason. I also don’t have to agree. Want to shred a show I’ve already gushed about, go ahead. Want to present a thesis that’s in straight opposition with my generally liberal (somewhat libertine) views, as long as you’re not a jerk about it, knock yourself out. Want to say bad things about Natsume’s book of Friends,? Find another blog…
Why did I just feel a chill?? Listen, this may be a horrible idea that I will go back on in a few months. Or, even more likely, no one will be interested and we will never speak of this again. But I’ve been so lucky in my blogging experience so far that I can’t resist pushing it!
As for the future, I’ve always been very casual about this blog. I think it’s why I enjoy it so much. As such, I don’t have any particular goals I absolutely want to reach. I’d like to extend my social media presence… who just said that? I guess it’s time to kidnap…I mean adopt more orphans. Maybe I’ll sit down and figure out what SEO means. Not how to do/apply/cook it, just what the letters stand for. Or how about we all just chat about anime?
Well here we are friends! It’s been one heck of a year. I had a great time. Much better than I ever would have expected. And because I’m no dumb dumb, I know exactly who I owe it all to.
As always, Thank you for making the sucky days a bit more bearable and the fun days even better. I hope you continue to take such good care of me!
Happy anniversary!!! That is pretty awesome
Thank you so much! You gotta celebrate those tiny victories…you know
Happy first year friend! Even though I had not commented to any of your posts yet, I really enjoyed reading them. They’re really interesting and inspiring even. Best of luck to your blog and to you also this upcoming year! ❤️
Congrats
Thank you!!!
Welcome
Congrats on the blog anniversary! I’m glad I could be a part of it for a good amount of time 😛
Also the blog redesign looks really nice! 😀
Thank you Alfredo. Always nice to see you around. Hope you get the chance to do more podcasts
Happy blog birthday and congrats on keeping your blog in existence for a year 🙂 Can’t wait to see what you’ll bring us in your second year 🙂
Thank you, I’m looking forward to it too…I have no clue
Awesome sauce! You work so hard and your blog posts always make my day! Once a day that is amazing to me since I struggle with once a week ahhh.
I look forward to the next year! So glad to have found your blog <3
Awww thats mutual. And I look forward to your once a week, all week!
Happy Anniversary Iri!! You’re truly one of the funniest bloggers I know, I’m so glad I met you <3
Thank you Zel!!! You are so sweet to drop by with everything you have to do! Im gonna try to get another harem post so I can tag you!
LOL oh dear!! I wonder how creative I’ll get with that one! I don’t think I can beat blonde battle angels though…
Redhead battle demons. We need an opposing team!
I’m laughing so hard at work right now. That does sound like a pretty damn good sequel!!
Right
Yay you! You have much to be proud of! I will look forward to many more years of reading and enjoying your unique and wonderful posts.
Thank you so much!
YAY – I will try to get more Natsume in!
Awesome! 🙂 Congratulations on the 1 year bloggiversary! Here’s to another year of wonderful content!
Thank you so much!
I’m a day late in saying this but congratulations on making it through your first year as an Anime blogger!
It’s insane how fast your blog has grown in that short amount of time and you’ve been a welcome addition to the community and an even better friend.
Here’s to another year, Irina! 😀
Thank yu so Much Leth!
I really appreciate the friends I’ve made !
Congratulations!!! I’m so sad I’ve been AWOL with work the last couple of days, so I’ve been behind with your blog, I’M CATCHING UP NOW!! Happy Bloggiversary and you deserve all of the love and followers and views AND MORE, my friend!! Congrats on your blog upgrade as well, I’m just in reader right now, as it’s super early in my part of the world and I’m in bed on my phone (I’m sorry if this isn’t English! 😉) I’m glad you have no particular goals and you’re going to continue to keep things casual, keep doing what you’re doing, because it works!! You’re the bestest!!! 💖💖💖
Super Master Expert at being casual!!!
Congrats! Oh wow, I did not even realise that it’s been an entire year. Time truly passes in a flash. Truly, congratulations Irina! Your entertaining reviews and essays deserve all the praise.
I can’t really keep up with the latest posts nowadays but I will say that somehow your posts are always eye-catching. It’s probably how I originally found your blog 😀 Well happy anniversary. I hope that you continue to have a wonderful year and continue to excel in your blog!
Hat! So good to see you again. Thank you so much for stopping by
Congratulations! You’re right it is your birthday you should get presents! XD 🙂
YAY!!!
Thank you so much
Happy Blogiversary once again! 😀
Thank you once more!
Happy blogging birthday, and congratulation on one year! Looking forward too drinking more beer while watching anime as long you’re around! Cheers!
Thank you so much!
Even though stats do get people down from time to time (me included), there’s always something deeply intimate about another person sharing their stats…basically, that’s just a fancy way of saying “if you put stats up for me, I won’t be able to resist looking at them”.
Once again, congrats on the year. Don’t know how you’ll top it in the future, but I’m sure you’ll know how when you get to it.
I’M thinking it’s all downhill from here!
Thanks Magic!
(*≧∇≦)ﾉ＜※*・:*:｀♪:*:。*・☆* 🎉🎉🎊🎊
Oh, and I got the net too! 🗑
Happy blogaversary!!
Thank you!!! I bet it’s a lovely net!
Whoop! It’s mom’s birthday gotta celebrate as hard as possible!
For real though, I’ve always said you had the announcer voice, and now you’ve gone and did it: You actually played the narrator. Maybe next time some anime production might even pick you up…heh.
I doubt it – you do not want to know how many tries it took me to record that. I have a whole new found respect for voice actors
Happy blog birthday!
A minimum of one post per day is great productivity, and you’ve been really good at community work – those blogwarming parties were always fun.
That’s a great video, complete with a Meaningful Leaf!
And I can’t NOT do this on the anniversary blog.
Inari Kon Kon Koir Iroha – Don’t know (some western VN?) – Blog statistics (it’s odd to type this in a screenshot guessing game) – Free!! (don’t ask which season…) – Nisekoi (best girl to the far left – she knows what show she’s in) – I’m not sure but that brand of purple hair (especially with the pink combo) is a speciality of Precure so maybe related? – Uta no Prince sama (I’m starting to recognise the show; of course I can also read taglines…) – I do not recognise the bunny but that’s Black Butler (fan art?)
Good – nice to get back to the classics:
1- Yes
2- Mobile game I think
3-Yes – mine
4- Free promo art
5- Yes!
6 – PriPara
7- Yes
8- I think he’s just a gif bunny
9- Yup
Great job as always. Not my favorite pic assortment
Ah, PriPara. I’ve never seen a single episode of any of the seasons. I may watch one at some point; I doubt I’ll watch two, but you never know. I’ve underestimated plenty of shows, sometimes shows I tried and dropped.
Let me know how it goes…
Congratulatiooons! 🎉🎉🍶 it has been quite a journey 😁 hope to see you around for many more blogversaries! Oh, and that sexy “sanrio boys~” at the end 👌 priceless!
thank you so much – I hope you guys still want me around for a while too!
Yessss! *insert Snape’s gif here* “Always”
that made me happy and sad at the same time
Not gonna lie I had just assumed you were a much older blog (like 2+ years or something lol) so congrats on your first anniversary! Here’s to many more!
I look old…..LOL – Thank you so much!
I’d say you give off the vibes of being older, rather then looking old… lol and you’re most welcome!
Congratulations again! Here’s to another year!!! 🍾🍷 (I’m not legally allowed to drink so well stick with this)
IT’s all good – I’ll drink for both of us
Congratulations on the one year!
I absolutely loved your trailer for nefarious sparkles. I really do wish someone would recut the entire show to follow your reviews because it was a much better story.
I was wondering about your new look on the blog and I’m looking forward to you telling us a bit more about your new plan and how that’s working as well as the plug-ins.
Once again, huge congratulations and I am so glad I found your blog. I absolutely love reading your posts and I’ve really enjoyed working with you, particularly on the Natsume collaboration. Here’s to another year and hopefully we can work together on a new project at some point.
I hope so as well. I find any opportunity to work with you always super rewarding
Happy blog birthday! Looks like you’re having quite the celebration!
Really like the new theme. The carousel/slide makes the most recent stores accessible and gives the site a dynamic look.
Nefarious Sparkles was hilarious!
Interesting idea about guest bloggers. I’m curious to see how it works out.
Looking forward to another year to great reading (and/or viewing, if Nefarious Sparkles takes off)!
thank you so much for all the kind words these past few days. I was really lovely of you
Happy Anniversary to your blog!
Thank you!
You’re welcome 🙂
First, happy birthday to your blog—I can’t believe it’s only been one year, as you’ve garnered so much success and good company! Second, you are an absolute inspiration—what you’ve done so far and how you’ve accomplished it works amazingly well, and I wouldn’t change a thing if I were you! Third, while I’ve still got like 10 posts of yours still booked to my to-read list, it’s been fun reading everything you’ve written this past year! Fourth, umm, you’re awesome!? Ok, I’ll leave it at those points for now, but seriously, congrats on all your hard work!!
Thank you so much Taku. I’ve been pretty open about how much I love your writing in general. I believe the inspiration goes the other way.
Happy Blog Birthday!!! goodness, my post for one year is embarrassing and boring compared to this. I’ll have to up it next year. With such great inspiration and examples in sure I’ll come up with something. Very entertaining to read and thanks for the shout out! Your blog looks amazing too. Glad I came out for this!
I disagree and I’m so glad you stopped by. Thanks again for the great idea!
Congratulations, Irina!!! Your productivity is amazing (and so are your search terms).
I loved Nefarious Sparkles…I swear your voice was where 90% of the nefariousness comes from. You need to get a job reading audiobooks or something. I’d never fall asleep listening to an audiobook read by you.
I’M not sure that’s a compliment but you know I’ll still take it that way – secret to happiness!
Thank you Moya!!!
That’s totally a compliment, okay? I listen to 2 hrs of audiobooks a day and none of the readers are this good. XD
Wow you must go through a lot of books!! No wonder you’re so wise beyond your years. Thanks Moya!
>///< It's just an English student's way of coping with too many readings!
Happy blogging birthday Irina! I’ve always enjoyed reading your blogs and I look forward to more from you for more years to come!
Thank you Jerem and it’s quite mutual!
Congrats on your first year!! And here’s to another awesome year! 🥂 That trailer was hilerious!! Way to go on your first trailer! 😊😂
Thank you Keiko! I hope I get a chance to make another one
Hopefully you do! It’d be fun to watch 😊
Yay! What a terrific post and wondrous milestone for an utterly brilliant individual (you, in case you were second-guessing) eat up all this fabulous praise and adulation and grow bloated on our kind praise!
Your voice in that video was simultaneously unlike I expected and yet… exactly how I wanted it to be… I’ll be reading all your posts in that voice from now on!
I hope you’ll allow me to contribute to your blog… I have so many ideas that I was too afraid to post on my own blog that’ll surely end up being a source of anxiety for yours…. muahahaha. (I’m not evil, just drunk)
It would be my pleasure – I am getting a lot of very nice compliments on my productivity but it’s nothing compared to yours!
Happy blogging aniv Irina! That vid was awesome lol I like it!!!
Thanks Kitty! I’m so glad I can share the fun!
Whaa- a year? Oh gosh, I didn’t realise! You’re such a big part of the community that I thought you had actually been around longer, haha. Nevertheless, congratulations on reaching a year! You’ve certainly done so well to get where you are now (that’s a lot of blue on your posting activity, crikey!) and it certainly makes me want to up my own game! o: I love seeing your content and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next year for you! (^∇^)
Thank you Amelia! I love your posts so if I can prod you to publish one more then I have done something right
Again, congrats! And I hope your idea for hosting others participants turns out well–definitely a big step. And just so you know, I’m constantly amazed at your prolific posting pace (alliteration, anyone?). I sometimes have trouble knocking out a post per week, so I visualize you having some fertile and frenetic mind with an anime-powered hyperdrive.. .good show! And good luck!
Thank you Again!!! Might as well use my amazing OCD powers for good…um for neutral…
I’m sure your pots are the good things worth waiting for!
Happy anniversary. You’ve accomplished much more than I did your first year (maybe it’s time I stepped up my game…). Also you should try doing more video editing. Who knows, maybe you’ll even be able to in dat YouTube fame 😉
I don’t think I’m fancy enough to be YouTube famous…I know my lane. You guys are all I need and more than I deserve
Hit 10,000 comments yet?
It feels weird to congratulate someone on the same thing twice…
But yeah, good job on the whole blog thing!
DOn’t worry about it – I haven’t checked but today is certainly doing wonders for the ol stats…
That video was amazing! I loved it! I want to say congratulations again! So…CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Your progress is amazing and I’m a stats nerd so it’s always so fun to see people’s growth over time! You work so hard, produce such incredible content and you should be so proud of yourself! 😄🎉 here is to your second year!
Thank you so much Sam! Glad someone enjoyed that little clip!
Can’t wait to celebrate your own one year!
You’re welcome!! I did! I love how such a cute sparkly show could be turned on it’s head into a more sinister setting! It was fab! 😄 and same here! 😆
Congratulations Irina! I have always enjpyed reading your posts and I will continue reading them. I can completely relate to your excitement because my blog anniversary is next month and I have a series of posts in mind to post in name of the occassion. Once again, I am so happy for you! We have’nt gotten around to talking a lot, but I hope we do because I heard so many wonderful things about you from Michel (raistlin0903)!!! All the best! And continue writing!
I need to start paying Rait…
Thank you so much Anj, I guess great blogs start in the summer – I can’t wait to see what you have planned!
Yeah raustlin really needs an award or something! 😂 I hope I can execute the posts well. They are a set of 16 posts in a chronological order based on somethung that caught my interest recently 😂
wow 16!
That’s amazing. You are setting that bar high!
Aaahh yeah! I am a little worried but then again why not!
Lol…really you don’t need to 😂😂
Hmmm…makes a mental note mumbling *so your blog anniversary is next month eh?* 🤔🤔
Haha yeah! Actually when I saw many others were celebrating their anniversary I went and checked and realised mine is next month. Anyway the posts for the anniversary are in the making 😂
Welll..looking forward to the celebration. Now I have gotten curious though…have to check on my own blog…I don’t think I ever celebrated my blog’s anniversary 😅😅
It’s something that won’t come as a surprise once you start reading it I guess. It’s actually 16 connected posts. I was unsure of how good it might be but then again I thought, why not give it a try. I have never done a sequential set of posts before!
Haha….well, it sounds amazing and also a lot of work: Talk about really having commitment, that’s truly awesome 😊: really looking forward to reading the posts😀
It is indeed a lot of work and I am tensed to release it bit then again why not! I am looking forward to it too!
Happy Blogiversary! The layout change was the first thing I noticed and couldn’t help but keep playing with that switch icon X’D.
Hope you’ll continue to grow and inspire more bloggers!! I think an exponential growth would be a reasonable prediction, haha :))
Cheers to your upcoming projects and have another awesome year of blogging ahead Irina!!!
It’s a fun little useless gadget thing (the switch icon)… I should switch up the stuff I put there once in a while
Thanks Tetra – I’m so glad you’re back!
Naw it’s not useless at all!
That certainly sounds like a good idea, an Easter egg for those who tinker with sites they visit 😀
*
Back and still here to stay! Holo was complaining of long bumpy rides the whole time!
More importantly, thank you for always being so awesome!!!
daawwwww
Congrats and happy blogging birthday! 🙂 Honestly, I can hardly believe it’s only been a year for you, you’ve become such a fixture in my own daily blogging experience. Looking forward to many more! 😉
That is so flattering to hear! Thank you so much Merlin!
😀
That’s amazing. Congrats on a year of blogging!
Thank you! I had a lot of fun
You’re welcome. You certainly have a fun and creative way of reviewing anime. I know I haven’t been as active in blogging besides my fiction stuff, but I still wanted to congratulate you on your milestone once I found out.
Well you have some serious and super impressive projects coming up – I don’t blame you. I really appreciate you taking the time to drop by!
Quite true. I’ve been serializing a cell phone novel and copyrighting the other books in my bibliography. No problem, Irina. I’m glad you’re doing great.
Only been active on your blog for a few weeks but have thoroughly enjoyed your posts Irina!
Congratulations on your anniversary and enjoy your celebrations!
Only been active on your blog for a few weeks Irina but thoroughly enjoy your posts!
Congratulations on your anniversary and enjoy your celebrations!
Brad – nice to talk to you in a different setting! Thank you so much
Congradulations Irinaa !! You’ve made so much progess and honestly you deserve it, your blog is absolutely a great place for reads wether it’s about anime or just your amazing general essays. Keep it up 🙂
That is really kind of you to say. With such great readers – I’m going to do my best!
Well…this I think I have lost count of how many times I have said this now, but then again I really was waiting for this post today and it did not disappoint for even a second. Congratulations again Irina on everything that you have achieved, and everything that you are going to achieve in the future (see how I subtly place that in here, simply knowing that you are going to achieve even more 😊). The stats of your blog are just as impressive as you yourself are, and I really loved the video as well (I would not even know how to make one, let alone have it turn out so well).
The plans you have for your blog are impressive! I look forward to the coming year! You have yourself a great day today, and never change who you are as you are awesome 😊
oh Raistlin I don’t know if another thank you can really convey how much I appreciate all your support. You make this community such a pleasant place for all of us – don’t think we don’t notice
Really no thanks are necessary at all. (But you did succeed in making me blush again, something that a lot of you are pretty fond of doing it seems lol 😂😂)
Really though, thanks for the kind words, and I really hope that you have enjoyed and are still enjoying your blog anniversary 😊
very much!
Happy anniversary!!! I think this is a great opportunity for me to tell you that I love the fact that ALL of your pictures contain captions and most of them are funny. I’ll keep on reading your blog 😀
I don’t know how you managed to hit the nail on the head but my picture caption are one of my greatest prides. so THANK you that’s one of the best compliments you could have given me!
I’ll have to watch that trailer when I get back from church.
I’m glad this is all working out for you!
Oh wow – of course, church first!
Thank you
Oh my god, I would just LOVE to reach the progress you have done in a year. Hard work and passion CAN come a long way for making your hobby worth it.
Congratulations on one year (I still can’t believe that!), and here’s to another.
Also, OH MY GOD, 9,000 COMMENTS, HOWWWWW
I don’t know… Lots of luck and a deeply unintimidating writing style?
Well, unintimidating sounds whelpy. I think you mean friendly and familiar 😀
As for the luck, well, can’t spell Luck of the Irish without the first three letters of your name, so………..
Conspiracy!
I’m sure you will, personally I was amazed by how strong your posts were right off the bat. It took me months to find my footing
To be fair, I was redditing for a bout a year, so I guess that counts as experience XD
Obviously it did something or maybe you’re super talented?
Pfffft, I wish.
*I’ll take that compliment, though, won’t take up too much of yer time.*
That trailer was hilarious and will edited for your first time.
Congratulations again, Irina. I hope you stuck around for a long while!
Thank you Scott! I plan to be here for a bit more.
I had fun making that Trailer but I really have no clue what I’m doing – it gave me a whole new respect for YouTubers
I think you have more of a clue then me!
And you’re just so fun, Irina. I think you’ll become another big foundation of the blog community soon.
I think we got some pretty great foundations already – I’ll be ok with jester.
This said – Scott I really appreciate your constant support. Chatting anime with you is one of the great little pluses I got from this blog and it’s very valuable to me
You’re welcome. You do the same for me, I am just returning the favor!
Happy 1yrs of blogging anniversary!
One of the best decision I took was to start a conversation with you, if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have discovered the wonderful blogger and human that you are.
I’m happy to know you in real life too!
MEL!! Feeling is more than mutua. I consider meeting you a sign that his blog was 1000% success!