Happy New Year and Resolutions!

I hadn't intended to make a post today, but I found myself with the free time and energy to do so! Today is New Year's Eve for me, and 2015 has already hit for others. So while this is a time about moving forward, it's also a time about thinking back and not leaving things undone.

Now that we're officially at the end, I looked through all my blog posts from this year and those from the beginning of Shooting Star Dreamer. It's crazy seeing how much my writing has evolved over the years, and how my interests have changed and developed.

In the past, I could see myself running with the potential to be successful and do a lot. I had a lot of passion, but I was running on passion alone. This time around, I picked up a few new things and experiences. I feel more mature, wiser, and most importantly, more intelligent! Now, I can picture myself progressing like a well oiled machine. I think that's a major improvement in a matter of a year.

So looking back at this improvement, I think my blog has progressed as well. In fact, I have a whole bunch of exciting announcements for you guys once the New Year comes around; that will change the blog a whole lot, so look forward to that!

In the meantime, I wanted to write out a few resolutions for the oncoming year. This time, I'd like to focus on myself AND my blog, instead of the blog alone. Being a writer has more to do with just writing, as the quality of the person can affect his or her work.


For my resolutions, I've narrowed them down to a couple of things:

• Perform continuous work on my blog and writing, to become better at the two.
• Give back to my readers and the anime community in general.
• Providing blog posts in different forms of media, for those who aren't all that into reading.
• Start working on the *new project* I have in store.
• Watching a lot of anime, specifically ones that I genuinely enjoy.

When it comes to myself:

• Doing whatever it takes to maintain my positive mindset and outlook.
• Continue helping people no matter who or what they may be.
• Attempt to understand people more.
• Find another anime character I can identify with, as a role model.
• Become more intelligent and refined.
• Despite all the experiences, lessons, and encounters, remaining true to myself and never losing my way.

With that said, that's pretty much all. I know it's not necessary to have so many resolutions, but this is the type of person I am. I think that's one of the most important lessons to remember when going through life. Along with never giving up and being kind to others, we should always remember our true selves. 

I'm really thankful for all the experiences and encounters I've had this year, it has truly been a time of ups and downs in a good way, and I hope 2015 will be even better. 

"Let's blast through with Sonic Speed!"

When Hardware Transcends Gaming: Hi-sCoool! SeHa Girls

We've seen and heard of many anime related to gaming. We've witnessed super popular ones such as No Game No Life, and others like Hyper Dimension Neptunia are pretty well known by fans. However, what if one of the gaming companies themselves, decided to make an anime out of their hardware? What would be the result? The answer is Hi☆sCoool! SeHa Girls!

With that being said, shall we take a look at this wonderful work? To start things off, I'll begin this post with the anime's opening and finish with the ending. Feel free to skip over it or watch it!

Opening

Characters

Dreamcast

In this anime we see personified versions of Sega's respective consoles. We have Dreamcast, the bright, optimistic, and cheerful girl who is prone to causing trouble and antics for the group. She's a personification of well Dreamcast, and her design makes references to the console. (See the obvious controller on her head.) Even though we are shown Sega Saturn first, Dreamcast becomes the center of the anime.

Sega Saturn

Next up, we have Sega Saturn. She's a little different than Dreamcast, but has the same level of energy. She has heterochromia, black twin tails, and somewhat seems to be put in unfavorable situations most of the time. Still, she tries her best and her two friends help her out if they can. (Although they were the ones who usually put her in said situation in the first place.)

Mega Drive (Sega Genesis in America)

Lastly, we have Mega Drive. She's a blonde haired girl with a calm voice and a stoic personality. Although some things can shake her up, she usually keeps this calm air about her. She always carries around a book (16-bit) that holds a lot of information about the games they play. You could call her the knowledgeable straight woman of the group. (This changes a little overtime.)

Story

So you might be asking, what kind of story could arise between console-based anime girls? Well a lot! First of all, the anime itself is very short. Sure, it's a good 13 episodes, but the episodes are about the half the length of a normal anime. Still each episode is packed full of interesting things. 

A trend I noticed throughout the anime is that most of the episodes were split into two parts. One featuring interesting side talk and jokes by the girls, and another featuring the girls diving into the games. It was a great mix of both action and comedy, which is the basis of the anime.

However, we can't forget that there's a bit of education thrown in. Although the series is full of laughs, you can learn a whole lot about Sega's games. I found it nice, because even though they noted their good qualities and fun, they took a few shots at their quirks as well. 

Also, the cuts between points of the episodes where an ad or commercial is placed were filled with a lengthy list of information about the games and characters, which is a great gift to long time and newbie gamers. You get to actually learn something, which is a little different than the usual anime break scene.

With all of this going on, one might ask the reason why this story is happening in the first place. Well, it's very simple, they're trying to graduate! In order to graduate, each girl needs 100 medals, which are received in different amounts and different ways. They are given these medals by completing the tasks at hand. Usually by completing a task in a video game or reaching a certain level they are rewarded these. What will happen when they graduate...? Who knows?

Extra

So all of this is great and all, but what if you want to know more about Sega Hard Girls? Well, there's a few other things that were in the anime that really made it for me. One of them was the numerous references and guest appearances of famous video game characters.

Off the top of my head, we have Sonic, Ulala, Jeffrey (Virtua Fighter), Sakura (Sakura Taisen), and more. They were all surprising and unexpected, but still great to see in an anime. 

Secondly, I really loved that the anime is made like a video game. That's right, it's not completely 2D, but 3D. They are pretty much designed like a video game character model. In addition to this, the girls start off in chibi mode and go through a magical girl transformation sequence when they enter the games. They become normal sized at this point. It was nice to see them in both forms!

The episode length is also pretty great. Although it is short, it's good in it's own way. Many people are very busy and sometimes don't have the time to watch a 25-30 minute episode all the way through. Other times it's just nice to watch something laid-back and short. So I believe that we need to always have anime that fit this description.

The only gripe I can say is that it ended so early. I really wanted to see more of the girls and I wanted to see other games explored. It's also a little sad considering that Sega stopped making consoles after Dreamcast, and this anime is somewhat of a reminder. Still, I couldn' ask for much more when it comes to Hi-sCoool! Seha Girls.

Like with most anime I write about, I highly recommend it to you all. It was a really fun anime, and the characters are lovely. Even if you don't like Sega, any gamer or anime fan will find something about it they enjoy.

Ending

Thoughts on Santa Company

What does Christmas mean to you? What in the world is Santa Company? A few of you might have those thoughts after reading the title of this post. It doesn't have anything to do with a toy company or any other sort of event. It's well, an anime about Christmas.

Santa Company started off as a KickStarter project, an idea by Kenji Studio and TAG International. After it was fully funded, a short 28-30 minute anime episode was produced. The anime features a few characters, the main ones being young workers at the Santa Company.

The goal of the company is to deliver presents all over the world for Christmas. While people are used to a single Santa Clause and single team of reindeer doing all the work, this anime shakes that idea up a bit. Instead, we have multiple Santa Claus and multiple reindeer. We even have more than one red-nosed reindeer.

Noel White, The Central Character.

The Santa Company is a little different though. They don't necessarily deliver presents only, as they have different departments that do different things. For instance, we have a Santa Department, Gift Department, and Reindeer Department. They each have different roles, such managing reindeer, delivering gifts, and or home security.

From the story summary, it seems like their wouldn't be much of a plot or issue, but a late letter arrives at the company and changes this. They decide to scrap the letter because it's late, but Noel overhears this and is determined to get the present to the child. Thus the story of the four children's adventure begins!

First things first, I feel like the anime is really well made barring it's time. Sure, there are a few things that didn't make too much sense, and there's things that seemed a little rush, but what can you do with such little time. The important things are still there, the story flows well, the characters are very appealing, and the main plot doesn't need too much explaining to be understandable. With all these things together we have a decent anime.

The main cast of Santa Company,

One of the things I liked the most is the little lessons that were hidden in the anime. The first one is about doing what is right. Sometimes even though people follow a set code for their daily life, it may not always be the right thing. Having the courage to follow something that is different from everyone else is hard, but in the end you may be the one in the right.

The second lesson is to remember your friends and to not be afraid to rely on them. The Santa Company runs on a key goal and has a leader, but that leader can't accomplish things on their own. Without workers their would be no company. Everyone has to play a part to make the business successful.

The last lesson, and more important of all, is the power of Christmas. Christmas is a really unique holiday, and it means different things to everyone. It's important to find your own meaning of Christmas, rather than following what someone has set for you. There is no right answer.

In regards to the genre, I'm really happy to see a more diverse series. We focus on the same things too much in anime, such as high school life, monsters, vampires, and more. I think it's time to expand anime into different aspects of life such as holidays. We need more people who think differently than others, than people following the same habits and topics again and again. This is just my opinion.

So if you have the time, try out Santa Company. It's a great anime that's short enough and well-written for anyone to watch.

Anime Xmas Wallpaper Pack

Good evening everyone! The holiday season continues, and I'm bringing you yet another pack of images. This time, it's a pack of beautiful anime wallpapers! Even the Christmas Eve and Christmas is here and ending soon, feel free to keep the decorations up until the end of year! That's how I do things anyways!

Like before, the images will be divided in three different parts. The first will be a link to the gallery, featuring every single image separately. Feel free to browse if you want insight into what you're downloading before you actually take action. The second will be a link to a zip file containing the full wallpaper pack, and the third will be a website to easily find the source of images. It's perfect for those who like an image so much they want to find the other work of an author.

Like always, I try not to include any images that are questionable, so feel free to download. Hopefully you all enjoy the Anime Xmas Wallpapers and enjoy the holiday season!

Click here to see the images!

Click here to download the zip file!

If you want to find the image's source, please click here.

Anime Xmas Image Pack

Hello everyone! Hopefully you all are enjoying the holiday season and soon to come Xmas! As my gift to you, I'd like to give you all something more than a few renders. This time, you're getting a whole lot of Anime Xmas Pictures!

Instead of just giving you all a wallpaper pack, I decided that I wanted to share some of these images with others, instead of keeping them all for myself. So here they are, various images of various characters in various sizes. The only thing not various about them is the theme and quality!

The images will be divided into three different ways. I'll post a link to each one of course. The first will feature an online gallery of all the images, made for easy browsing and for those who like to see before downloading. The second will feature the zip file of the image folder, with all the images at your leisure. The third will be a link to one of my favorite sourcing websites, in case you want to find the artist of a particular image.

So hopefully you all enjoy the images! As usual, nothing too questionable or unsafe will be include as I try my best to keep Shooting Star Dreamer appropriate for readers of any age! Please stay tuned for a soon to be, wallpaper pack. Use the Anime Xmas Images as you wish! Happy Holidays!

Click here to see the images!

Click here to download the zip file!

If you want to find the image's source, please click here.

Favorite Anime Holiday Episodes

It's the holiday season, and there's no better way to spend it than watching anime episodes with our friends and family! I really love this season, and I love when anime that are airing about this time include an episode focused on Christmas, or other such things. Although there are many anime that do this, ones which I have and haven't seen, I have a few that are absolutely my favorites! Here's my list of favorite anime with holiday episodes!

Super Sonico the Animation "A Saint Comes to Town"

Fuuri and Sonico dressed for Christmas!

This anime may have been written off or looked down upon by many viewers, but I can say that I loved it. It was bright, colorful, and full of lessons and jokes all throughout. One of my favorite episodes, is definitely the Christmas one. 

Named, "A Saint Comes to Town," the episode focuses on Sonico and friends getting involved in a struggle between two department stores. Christmas is approaching and the smaller of the two is having trouble attracting customers. Naturally, Sonico helps out and becomes a "Santa Girl" as a way to attract visitors. This works for a little bit, but soon the crowd goes empty. The best part comes in when they decide to get the real Santa to draw attention to their store, and of course, things get a little crazy.

Whether or not you believe in Santa Claus, this episode is really touching, and will definitely hit home with anyone who has experienced Christmas time as a child! The great thing about Super Sonico the Animation, is that many of episodes can be watched stand alone, so even if you haven't seen the anime you can still take a peek at this part!

School Rumble: Second Semester "Here, There and Everywhere, Christmas! A Dash for Christmas! A Shattered Christmas!"

Happy Holidays from the School Rumble Girls!

School Rumble, one of the first anime that I was lucky enough to watch! School Rumble is one of my favorites, and I loved all the characters. It was hilarious, it was random at times, and it was just a nice series to come home to. I miss watching School Rumble on Funimation! 

Now keeping it's silliness in mind, School Rumble's holiday themed episode was a little more on the funny side compared to Sonico's. One of the focal characters, Harima Kenji, is a mangaka who is trying to get his manga published. He wants to show it to the girl of his dreams first, Tenma, but he's required to meet a strict deadline with the publishers. 

He instead goes to Tenma, however a blizzard stops him from attending the party and delivering his work to the publishers. It gets a little crazy when he decides to use a giant curry bowl as a sled in order to reach the party. How does the episode end? Well, watch and find out!

Pokémon "Pikachu's Winter Vacations"

Pikachu Specials are Amazing!

Have you ever watched a Pokémon movie? Were you lucky enough to see one in the theaters? Do you remember the little short movies that took place towards the beginning of film, using focusing only on the Pokémon or Pikachu?

Even if you haven't had any of these experiences, if you like Pokémon, you're sure to love one of these shorts. I love almost every part of Pokémon from the normal anime episodes, to the specials, and the movies. So I think while I haven't seen this one yet, it still fits in the favorite category! If it's anything like the others I can assure it's a good watch! 

So that's all for now my readers! Hopefully you have a good holiday season, and please check back on Shooting Star Dreamer for more holiday related posts!

50 Holiday Anime Renders

Hello, and hopefully everyone is having a great holiday season! If not, hopefully these holiday anime renders will make your day!

See the End of This Post for Renders, Otherwise Feel Free to Keep Reading!

As a graphic designer myself, I have a hard time finding resources to use. Most of the time, I have to end up making my own renders, or making necessary edits to the ones I do have. Now I know that it isn't too hard to do these two things, but like anyone, my time is pretty limited. So finding good renders that are already perfect for use is really great!

On a side note, I have to say that I really love the idea of renders. I used to make a whole bunch of them constantly to share with others, and I received a few negative comments about them via DeviantArt. Many said they weren't forms of art, and that I was doing something that was shameful. I didn't really understand what was wrong with that.

To me, renders are a form of art. Sure, we're just removing the excess background from an image, but there's a lot more to it than that. We're creating the tools that allow others to create something new. Like how Photoshop is a tool used to create a masterpiece, a render is also a tool that leads to a masterpiece. Instead of giving others a set path or set destination, we're giving them something to work with and they decide what to do with it. I think that's something that could be considered art in itself!

So with that, enough rambling! Please enjoy the renders! Simply click on the image below to enter the gallery. If you worked on one of these renders and you have no credit, let me know and I will add your name to the gallery. Otherwise, the logos and signatures help give credit. Hopefully you enjoy them, everyone! Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions.

Holiday Anime Renders

Inspirational Role Models to Save Teens

Role models play a huge role in many people’s lives old and young. They give us inspiration, encouragement, determination to keep going in life even when things look gloomy. They sometimes even represent hope for those who think they’ve lost it.

The example I will be using is one of my favorite animes is Angel Beats and my favorite character from there is Masami Iwasawa-Chan! She is considered a role model to me because I can relate to her situation very well family matter wise. I feel young children desperately search for a role model so that they can set goals for themselves and save themselves from things they don’t want to deal with in reality.

Many young teens nowadays go through a ton of drama regardless of whether it is concerning family, friends, relationships, or they just have so much anger bottled inside of them. Whatever the cause of the problem may be they are always searching for a way to release that sorrow, that pain, that anger, those emotions. Many find ways to release that anger through drawing, singing, playing instruments, playing sports, journaling, or whatever they find to release that rage.

Iwasawa-Chan should be a role model to many young teens as the type of girl who endured a sad life with parents who are always fighting and she had to pay for the consequences for trying to stop the fighting. What I find about her that is so admirable is that she managed to find the one thing in the world that wouldn’t let go of her hand even when her parents’ did. She confided in music and guitar playing and it had saved her briefly.

She didn’t have to turn to drugs or bad influences to save herself is my main point. Because she found a role model and that role model inspired and created a safe haven for her to be, she was able to protect herself and create her own happiness in the darkness she was surrounded in.  Not every unhappy matter or thing teens are going through has to be resolved in harming one’s self or turning to bad influences. There are a ton of other options to save yourself and save those you care about.

Despite Iwasawa-Chan’s fate later on in the anime where she suffered a stroke and died from it, she still clung onto her talent and didn’t lose sight of the inspiration she was given by her role model to keep playing and singing even in her afterlife. Her unwavering determination and will of fire to protect what she found to keep her moving forward in life is respectable.

I feel that we should all learn from her especially troubled young teens. Who knows you can find your true talent and passion in your search for a role model. Sometimes it only takes a passion to keep pushing one to move forward than remain stuck in a tragic situation and do nothing. If Iwasawa-Chan can do it, so can you all!

Anime Blogging: Effort and Work

This is the look a blogger usually has on their face!

Almost anyone can have the chance to start anime blogging, or blogging of any kind, but I think it takes a lot to create and manage a good blog. When I first started blogging I expected many views in a short amount of time. I also expected a lot of guides on what to do and I thought these would pave the way to my success. Unfortunately, there weren't many. I realized as well that success is not always a straight path; simply reading a guide and following it word for word didn't shoot me straight to the stars, but it did help me get off the ground. I'm not sure if there will ever be a guide that can simply make anime blogging a quick success in such a way, as it's such an immensely wide topic, with many different things factoring in. A lot of it is in effort and working habits.

Despite this, there's a lot that makes your blog a hit or a miss. Sometimes it can just be your opinions, sometimes it's the topic you cover, and other times, people may just not want to read posts. I've learned to worry about some things and relax over others. A good example of a more urgent problem to address would be grammar. No matter what type of blog you are writing you should write to the best of the ability. Something to kind of feel laid-back about is your genre, if you're writing about something you love keep doing it! Even if it doesn't get a lot of views.

These are just simple tips, but there's other ways to look at blogging. Another way to phrase a blog or a website is an extension of one's life. In our lives we have to work and put effort forth to achieve certain things, and even get a little help along the way. The same applies to blogging, there's a lot of hard and smart work that goes into a successful website. Help is also a big plus.

Although effort is important, put too much into writing and your blog may suffer.

Writing posts is just one ingredient; there are many other factors to examine. A few being, layout, design, hosting, time management, and more. The thing that's the most important to remember is that others are also part of this. Writing isn't a solo job or activity, but a collaboration between many people, whether they are working on the the blog itself or not. A writer needs someone to read their writing, and the readers need something to read. If there's a lack of either side, it just doesn't work out!

On top of this, when it comes to such a broad genre like anime, a lot of work needs to go into it. We have many types such as romance, comedy, shonen, shojo, and other examples. When starting your own piece of work, you can focus on one or go wide and vast. Even though anime itself is vast, it can somewhat pale in comparison to other blogs covering different topics.

A point to keep in mind is that we don't have a large amount of people who generally read anime blogs, compared to something like a food blog. It's so broad and general that almost anyone could browse it. Everyone eats, but does everyone watch anime? The answer is simple.

To me, it feels like it's a little harder to blog about a niche topic compared to a general blog about a common norm. One major point in this is the lack of organized communities. For example, I did some browsing of the web and found a good amount of anime blogs, blog databases, and other such things.

However, there was a lack of a set community. If you go onto Google Plus, or even do a simple Google Search, you can find many writing communities. Not many of these will focus or even speak of anime. There's only a couple of them I know, otherwise such bloggers just comment throughout their websites and social media. Although many people don't have a problem with this, it's somewhat hard for others to connect and interact with many peers at once.

If you're good at art or graphic design, learn how to add your own elements to your blog!

Again, it comes back to something that is a normal everyday activity or topic, compared to one that only speaks to certain people. In a sense, anime writers might have an even harder time and require more energy to be put into their work, compared to others. Especially if you run a blog that focuses mostly on editorials like me.

Although some of this can seem pretty obvious, I only just thought of this recently as I was redoing my layout. It took quite a long time as I had to spend most of night to get things just how I wanted them. Even though this couldn't really be considered a job, I put my full effort into the blog. Not just for me, but for my amazing readers.

To sum things up, anime blogging isn't a one way project, it's two ways, and it requires a good amount of effort and work. Hard work alone won't suffice, but smart work as well. Despite this, I can say it's one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had. Looking at the posts that I've written, the website I've created, and the lovely people who come to visit my blog, it makes all the energy and time I spent improving Shooting Star Dreamer worth it. It's similar to how an artist would look at their finished work; it may not be the best, but it's their own creation and they are proud of it.

A Mangaka Who Sticks to Reality Than Satisfying Her Audience

I want to first thank you Rekari-Kun for allowing me just chance to be a contributing author on his blog. It’s an honor to be here and I hope this will become an amazing experience for many others and us.

Mangas and animes alike many of the times I feel they listen too much to the audience and twist and turn endings and plots to gain more publicity likes and views. That is an upsetting truth that we can only accept because creative people want their works to be accepted and obsessed over by fans than to be hated and shunned.

However, I feel no matter how creative people change their works’endings and plots it can never be able to satisfy the hearts of fans. There will always be those who still hate and shun the ending either way, there will always be hate and unfavor. No matter how hard creative people work they can never understand their fans and must make decisions they see fit for their works.

I feel that the manga Hirunaka no Ryuusei is one amazing example of this. If you haven’t heard or read it, please check the link below to see the synopsis of it:

 http://hirunakanoryuusei.wikia.com/wiki/Hirunaka_no_Ryuusei_Wiki   . 

This amazing manga recently ended and the way the mangaka ended things caused joy and also frustration among its audience. I won’t deny that I was one of those in frustration. But there lies a much deeper lesson of life when you are able to see past your obsessional thoughts. I won’t go in detail of the plot nor what happens but I will just give you a brief view of the lesson of life it taught us at the end.

All things happen for a reason and people tend to worry and think too much rather than just listen to their hearts and be sure of what it is they want in life. When someone decides to choose friendship over love, they don’t realize what they are giving up. When they realize what they’ve lost and turn around to chase after the back of the one they wounded so deeply, they will see that the person has already moved on. What’s done cannot be undone. What one gave up cannot be regained because life doesn’t work that way. The moment you chose to give the one you loved up to preserve friendship was the moment you became the saddest person on earth.

If we were able to be sure of ourselves, of what we desire, we would lessen a massive amount of this type of tragedy.

The second lesson I saw in this manga was the lesson that hard work towards chasing after what you want and having an unwavering level of certainty will reward you with fruitful results. Hard work will be noticed and seen by the one you are trying to reach and they will be the most grateful and happiest person alive.

The final lesson I want to mention is to not dwell on what has come to past. Don’t turn a blind eye to those who’ve always been there for you when you are blinded by your pain and hurt. Don’t take those who’ve always remained by your side through the good and bad for granted. Sometimes the one you’re meant to be with is the one who was always there, and you were too foolish to see because you saw no one other than the one you loved.

Yamamori Mika does such an amazing job at remaining loyal to what is most natural throughout her work and she gave it the ending she saw was most realistic and believable so bravo for sticking to your guts and facing the fiery and love of your fans! More authors and artists should see her as a role model.

Watching Anime for the Plot

What drives you to watch anime? Maybe to see your favorite characters in action? Could it be the beautiful visuals and colorful art? Whatever your reason might be, usually there comes a time where certain people cannot understand your views. They either don't agree with them or feel their way of watching anime is best. However, isn't this a little silly?

There's a lot of images floating around dealing with watching anime for plot. They're usually small collages featuring shots of numerous anime which focus on fanservice, ecchi, moe, or other forms of entertainment which are considered to be lesser than the norm. These images basically make fun of these things and label them sarcastically as "plot."

I've had a personal experience with this. In my high school days, I used to do a lot of manga reading, and one of my favorites was Rosario + Vampire. However, it was somewhat looked down upon due to it's content and amounts of fanservice. Despite this, it was one of my favorite manga.

I had a friend who used to tell people he was only reading it for the plot, since girls and guys alike would label him as all sorts of things just for reading such material. Reading it for the plot only became his excuse, and at the same time, it made me wonder why he even needed an excuse to begin with. He was doing something he enjoyed, what did others have to do with that?

Taking a few lessons from this experience, I don't worry too much about what people think about what I like. Even though things like B Gata H Kei or Rosario + Vampire may get looked down upon for their content, I like them for more than that. I like the characters, I like the art, and I like the overall concept of the anime. Even if the story isn't as deep as other series, I think everyone anime some sort of hidden message or inspiration we can pull from it. So why should I have to make an excuse or explain my way of liking such a thing to someone?

I think this goes for everyone, if someone's watching for the plot or not, does it really matter in the end? If someone likes ecchi, let them like it. It's their life and they have to live it the way they want, so the whole "only watching for the plot" thing is a little overrated. You can make up your own reasons for watching anime.

The moral of the story is to just do what you feel is right. If you want to watch something for a single character, then do it. If you love the story, that's fine too. Do whatever you want, but don't forget to respect others and their wants and needs as well.

My readers, do you watch anime for the plot? Or do other reasons drive your viewing habits? Let me know!

Have You Fulfilled Your New Year's Resolutions?

Since we're nearing the end of year, I decided to take a look back at some of my old posts from 2013. One that I really remember is a post I made towards the end of last year, December 30th to be exact. It was a basically of summary of what went on at my blog in 2013. I also ended up writing a list of resolutions for this year.

For those who don't know, 2013 was the year Shooting Star Dreamer officially started. The blog looked completely different, color scheme and all. It didn't stay that way for long, before I revamped it to the layout you see today. Thus, the blog was named Shooting Star Dreamer 2.0 or SSD 2.0. Although it wasn't my first blog, it was definitely my first anime based one.

When I started it, I didn't really have a good writing style or any kind of format. I just tried experimenting and using new things. At one point I thought my blog was going to fizzle out and die like a lot of the other ones that pop up every now and then. I didn't want that to happen, so I kept posting and writing, even if there were huge gaps between each post.

Comparing this performance in 2013 to my blog in 2014, my old self looks a little silly. Still, I'm happy to say that I outdid my last year self and not the other way around. I had a mere 46 post counts at the end of 2013. This time, I have 123 at the time I am writing this. That's more the double the amount of posts I wrote last year. I think that in itself, blows most of my New Year's Resolutions out of the water.

There's still a few I haven't fulfilled though. Taking a look at my old post, I honestly forgot about a few of these resolutions, or rather have pushed them towards a later time. I'm going to keep track of these and cross off everything I've already done or have at least attempted to do.

Acquire a more diverse audience so my writing can reach large amounts of people.

Improve myself as a writer and a blogger.

Watch more anime! (Why wouldn't I?)

Possibly finish my light novel. (In progress)

Become more involved in the anime community. (I have done this, but I still can do better)

Acquire the software/technology to begin recording gameplay footage, visual novels, etc.

Start up my YouTube channel and get things rolling. 

Add something new and unique to my blog.

Unfortunately I still haven't been able to do much with my YouTube. I've been trying to think of a few things I can record from my laptop only, but my laptop isn't the best. Hopefully I can acquire a capture card of some kind soon! It would be great if I could bring you things like Pokemon ORAS battles and more.

With that, I need to think up of a whole new list of New Year's Resolutions. There's always room for improvement, so I'll continue to improve myself and my blog. To end this post off, I'd like to ask you all what your New Year's Resolutions are, and have you fulfilled them? If not, you still have time! As always, do your best in whatever you decide to do!

Gumi Megpoid Fans Look Here!

Now that I've got your attention, I have some news for you. Are you a Gumi fan? (You probably are if you clicked on this.) Do you like pictures? Do you like music? Do you want to see them all in a central location for Gumi?

Well if you do, there's a big treat in store for you. In my spare time, I assist my friend on Tumblr in managing a blog. While we get a lot of views through the Tumblr platform, I thought about all the people were possibly missing out on the Gumi Goodness.

http://carrotsaretasty.tumblr.com/

So I came up with the perfect idea of sharing the blog here. Don't worry, no account is really needed to access and take part in most things of the Gumi Megpoid Sanctuary. You can view images, see the music, and even see the big archive with collections of images from every month. We also make sure to source everything, so if you're someone who worries about that, no need to! 

Find pictures like these at the Gumi Megpoid Sanctuary.

You might be wondering if there's anything about the blog that should be known. There definitely is! If you have Gumi artwork of your own and want more views feel free to submit them. If you've found other fan art and want to share it, you're free to do that too. If you don't know exactly where, take a look at the top of the page. There's a couple of links and there's one that's labeled submit. That's the one to go for!

Hopefully you'll check out the wonderful blog and maybe find something Gumi-related that you like. We tend to keep the blog updated constantly and try to have a steady queue. So feel free to follow and check back every day for more!

Also, I think this post is a great opportunity to give out some inspiration. Instead of simply viewing our blog you can try making one of these for your favorite character. It's great, because you're working with something you love, and getting to share that love with other people. The character also gains some publicity as well! If you're interested in doing this, but don't know where to start, let me know and I'll do my best to help you.

So that's pretty much it! Thank you sticking with me and reading this whole post. Again the Gumi Megpoid Sanctuary can be found here. Enjoy!