Shooting Star Dreamer

As otaku or anime-viewers, we tend to indulge in the worlds of others. It's a pretty common thing when it comes to anime; the series are full of complex plots, and the characters are relatable to boot. Of course we take this love to the outside by purchasing various merchandise and showcasing our interests through apparel. I know many people like me who love letting people know they love anime! However, times are changing in the world. People are being put into important positions, which leads to massive changes of the world structure. Our earth is forever changing which of course has an effect on the things we partake in, such as anime. In America, we've just witnessed the election of a new president. Before now, America has been the leader of the world. Many countries turn to us for guidance and assistance. Therefore what happens in America has an effect on the world. This includes our interactions with other countries, such as Japan. With this in mind, we otaku need...

Character: Miki Hoshii from Idolm@ster What is an otaku? This question is asked quite a bit throughout the anime community and the answer differs depending on who you talk to. This question is eventually what led to the creation of this blog! Shooting Star Dreamer's first blog post sums this up, and the later post  discusses breaking the otaku stereotype. Today however, I'd like to highlight the opinions of others, instead of solely my own. Also with this, I'm opening (or somewhat changing) a segment of my blog, known as Shooting Star Spotlights. Contrary to other spotlights, I want this category to highlight bloggers/websites/posts, but specifically anime bloggers. Each spotlight under this title will focus on a specific theme, and all blogs or websites I provide will have a post relating to this theme. The websites I pick may not necessarily be active, but will contain posts that deserve attention. So below are posts that I feel discuss the concept of otaku we...

Being able to share your true self with another person is the greatest companionship. Being an otaku isn't always an easy thing. In fact, living a normal life is probably easier. Many otaku have the urge to hide their interests from friends, family, and romantic partners. To be honest, it's easy to understand. Growing up in different parts of the world, it's often hard to find like-minded individuals, and it's horrible getting shunned or left behind because of one's interests. Many otaku turn to the internet to find others like them, but there's also other outlets in the form of conventions, meet ups, clubs, and hang outs. For instance, I am an otaku that consistently felt different from others, as little to no people shared my interests. However, participating in my local anime scene, blogging and connecting to people online has changed that quite a bit for me. Just because you're an otaku, doesn't mean you can't have good romance! E...

The spring season of anime is coming to close with summer just around the corner. Every season, there are a couple of anime that are a bit hit with the crowd. They grow immensely popular, and everyone loves them and knows them. However, sometimes a few anime go underneath the public radar, lasting only as hidden gems for the "treasure hunters" to find. Denpa Kyoushi is one of those gems. So what is Denpa Kyoushi ? Dubbed as "Ultimate Otaku Teacher," this anime follows the life of a highly intelligent but non successful otaku by the name of Kagami Junichirou. Due to his lack of success, most of his time is spent on his anime blog and his other anime related hobbies. That is, until his sister scores him a job as a teacher. Thus, the anime follows his interactions with his students and focuses on Kagami's life as a teacher. This post may contain minor spoilers, but nothing too major! The Protagonist and The Anime At first glance, t...

Do you ever watch an anime, only to have a feeling of dislike build up inside? How about the time when you picked up a series due to recommendations and it just didn't feel right? When watching something becomes a big headache, should we just say no? Although there are many anime that we like or love, there's bound to be a bad apple in the bunch. The viewer is then given a choice; to continue on or walk away. Now, while there's numerous opinions on the topic of dropping anime, I thought it would be a nice idea to give my thoughts on it. Since this is a problem I encounter all the time, I thought others might be facing the same thing. So hopefully this post gives their minds a little bit of ease. For those who don't know, dropping is basically to stop watching an anime. It doesn't matter what episode you are on, or how much progress you've made, you basically decide that you don't want to finish it. Let's get down to business now. First things fi...

Anime merchandise is all around us, from books to posters to figurines. When we purchase these items, we don't really think too hard about the meaning behind them. We don't think about all the work and time that has been put into creating such an object. In fact, could an object be more than an object? Is there really something more to an anime figure, than being just an item? Maybe even a little magic? While many people may say that collecting anime merchandise and having large amounts of figurines is somewhat falling prey to material desires, I kind of see things in a different light. I don't think there is any such object that we own or possess that has no memories associated with it. When it comes to figurines specifically, we have memories of the character or anime. We can reminiscence of the time we bought the figure and the events that had occurred. We might even have flashbacks of our first meeting of the character and how they relate to ourselves. We can...

We all know of the website by the name of MyAnimeList. It's a wonderful website, allowing you to make a beautiful list of all your watched anime. It's a great way to keep track of what you've seen, and a useful tool for sharing your tastes with others. For me, the website is really great, because I've seen so many anime that I usually forget most of them! However, there's another side that comes in play when we make our lists. We can rate anime by a single number score. A few people take the time to write a more detailed review, but others just stick to the scoring system. In conclusion, all of this factors into an average score which is shown on the anime's page. So this is when personal opinion starts to come in; is this process somewhat harmful, especially for bloggers? I enjoy MyAnimeList as I stated before, but I feel that the act of defining a whole anime by a single number is a bit over the top. If you think of anime in general, it's ba...

Hello everyone! Sorry if I haven't been posting as much lately, I haven't been feeling too well. Basically I've been forced to take on a lighter load and get some rest for once! I guess this is just life's way of telling me "slow down!" Anyways, I just started watching Love Live! School Idol Project . I'm a huge fan of the mobile game , so if you are an owner of an Android or IOS device, I recommend checking it out. It's rhythm based, so if you enjoy those types, by all means download it. Back to the first episode, it basically starts off with a high school student by the name of Honoka. We get a pretty good glimpse of her personality from the beginning. She's optimistic, energetic, lively, and has so much passion. When she finds out that her high school is closing, she goes near berserk and passes out. Later, she wakes up and continues her day like nothing has happened, thinking that everything was a dream. She prances around the ha...

Do you believe in anime being more than just a simple hobby or pleasure? You may or may not, but that doesn't mean people haven't found ways to live and breathe anime daily. Their lives revolve around this and they use it as a way to change the world for the better. I know a lot of people that view anime lovers and non lovers as black and white. If you do not like anime or merely see it as a hobby, you are said to be one who can be successful in life. If it is a major part of your life then sorry, they say you cannot be successful. If you remember, I mentioned a picture I saw that showed two sides; one being anime, the other being success. It was presented to us as a way of having to choose between the two. Of course I didn't agree with this! You can have both, not one or the other. In order to find and follow what really makes you happy, it's best to get out of this thinking. So similarly speaking, I believe that if you want to have a career path or life go...

The new season of anime has begun, and as promised, I've started watching the series I placed on my watchlist. So far, I've been really enjoying a certain one more than the rest. That's right, Denki-Gai no Honya-san. So I'd like to share my thoughts on the anime with you guys, hopefully you don't mind! First things first, if you're a passerby or if you haven't read any of my anime specific posts, then you may not know how things work. I don't really do reviews or talks on each episode. Instead, I'd rather just give my thoughts on the series, and let my readers go forth and view the anime for themselves. With that in mind, let's begin! Denki-Gai no Honya-san, or translated The Electric Town's Bookstore, is a series that focuses more on slice of life aspects. All of the key characters work at the bookstore, which is stated in the name. Most of the characters are referred to by nicknames, and from the first episode, there aren't reall...

I remember a long time ago when I was in middle school, anime was seen as a negative thing. If you liked anime or manga, you were considered weird. For some reason, liking most things that came from a different culture were viewed as wrong. Although I had support at home and around the family, many people still didn't understand my interests. It almost felt like otaku were the minority; that they weren't important or inferior for some reason. Many of us had to hide our interests from our peers, and the ones that didn't, faced many mocking comments and various other forms of bullying. It's like a type of discrimination in a way, not anything to do with race or ethnic groups, but simply for being different . Things started to change when I began my last year of middle school and high school years. I started to be more open about my interests and not worry about people's opinions. I have to say that it was a hard switch, but it was definitely worth it. I att...

Do you ever wonder what people go through in their daily lives? Before you laugh and belittle someone, how about thinking about what they confront, what they face, the many challenges they endure. What if you were that person who you are looking down on, at this point in time?  I'm basically making this post, because of events that have happened to me recently. As you all know, I consider myself an otaku. Yes, I go outside, but I consider myself an otaku. I'm aware that this isn't the "textbook" definition , but I define the word in a different way compared to everyone else.  I've done many posts on what it means to be otaku. I've examined the myth of deciding between anime or success, the stereotypes that otaku face, and other things. Although I've been talking about them, I haven't always been the one in the line of fire when it comes to discrimination. However, today I was faced with it directly. Not only that, it came from a teac...

The otaku, the anime fans, and avid followers of any obsession, are the ones who continuously indulge in new media. We spend many hours watching, playing, and reading. We spend mass amounts of money on the products. However, why do we just settle to buying or collecting things that have been made by others? Why not take things into our hands and create our own? The problem is, many people don't think this way. In fact, very few people think about the things they do on a daily basis. We're conditioned to act mindlessly without thinking about whats going on. So how about today, we take a small amount of time and think? In my country, America, many of the products we use on a daily basis aren't even produced here. Flip over any old appliance indoors, and you'll see a "Made in (Insert Country Here)" label. Out of all the things you own, how many things are made in your country? If you live here, not many. So first of all, the things that we love aren...

There's so many wonderful series out there for us to watch and enjoy. We have multiple genres, ranging from romance and comedy to action packed adventures. Even though there's so many things out there for us and we can try them all, there's only a few that we'll truly like. I mentioned in my last post that Hanayamata just jumped out at me. Literally, if any of you know Crunchyroll, it's like a total galore of anime. So to have one stand out among many, is really something special. I'm still watching it right now and it's not finished yet, but I've already enjoyed it much more than most series. (On Episode 4 right now!) Hana has quickly become a favorite of mine! Also, I wanted to bring up Hanayamata because of a saying I related to immensely. Hana states that people should be allowed to do what they want. She says that we only have a short time on earth, so she only does the things she likes to do. Why waste her time doing things that do...

I've recently come to realization that not everyone watches things the same way. I'm sure this is obvious to most, but with anime there's a few different connotations surrounding the way someone watches. People tend to view certain series in a negative light, such as Ecchi or Card Games. They're labeled as being overused or lacking a complex plot. Some feel that true otakus watch a certain amount of anime, and if you don't do this you're not a real one. There's a vast variety of opinions when it comes to what you watch and how you watch. For me, I've never been a heavy anime watcher. The only reason I've picked up so many series on my list is due to the vast amount of anime that would air on Funimation. Ever since Funimation disappeared, my anime views have dropped significantly. By watching on TV, I would get a wide variety of anime, which had it's ups and downs. For one, I became knowledgeable of many series, but was it worth putting up wi...