Post by Koach on Jan 28, 2008 19:10:46 GMT -6
Hey guys. This post may be VERY scattered and out there. I am trying to do a total brain dump here...word for word from my head. Getting everything on paper (virtually) will make this easier not only for myself, but everyone else.
This is, in no way, the "this is the fucking way it is going to be": kind of post. In fact, I PRAY it is not. I just want to get everything out there from my point of view and then rely on my dear friends and cohorts to help us shape and mold something.
Why Are You Doing This To Us, Josh?
This is me venting about not being happy and wanting to do something with my life that makes me happy. THis is easily skippable or summed up as "QQ moar plz"
I need drive in life. 2008 struck less than a month ago and I vowed to myself that I would try a different approach to EVERYTHING in life. Things were mundane. Boring. I bitched a lot about my life and the way it is, but never did anything about it. So, I set resolutions...goals.
So far...so good.
1) Quit playing WoW and all MMO's.
2) Organize your life. Use a calendar Write everything down. Plan everything.
3) Work out at least 3 times a week and STICK TO IT.
4) Experiment with Web 2.0 sites and social networks to see what is out there ot make life easier.
5) Make something. Something you love and enjoy. Something to be ambitious about. Making money helps too
I want to make this clear. I am NOT, in any way. Forcing, pressuring, or begging any of you to contribute or even care about this. I love you all as family and I feel we have ALOT in common. With that, I am extending an open invitation and asking for contributions/ideas to helpme us form something from this jarred, skribble of a mess in my mind right now.
I mentioned money on my list. It's true. I am not doing it FOR the money. But I expect some. I have done, and still do, ALOT of research on "what makes the Internet tick". I know alot about monetizing websites, page rankings, google ads, making your site popular, getting the word out there, marketing, forming partnerships, tapping social networks, getting free plugs & publicity, etc. Its kind of one of those curiosities I perused. So whatever "tokyotaku" becomes...it will make money. I promise. It will have some form of members/user-base/society. Trust me, the LAST thing I want is to put time and money into something, and have it end up on the far corners of the Internet where no one goes and no one cares to wander.
The Name
Okay, so we got the domain www.tokyotaku.com.
Granted we could sit around and brainstorm for hours on a name, but when it comes down to it, this one is very easy to remember, plus its fun to say. As we all know, and Israel has pointed out, the Japanese say it (Tow-kyo), but us Americans, in our barbaric, non-conformist society, mostly go with (Tow-Key-Yo).
Playing on that, Tokyotaku (Tow-Key-Yo-Taku) is what we have. Otaku being the stress here as this site/podcast/whateverelse is focused on Anime and the otaku culture we know and love.
The Concept
We could do games. We could do movies. We could do tech. We all love it. Problem is, there is such a flood of sits out there already. Even getting on the first 10 pages of a google search would be close to impossible. Once again, I want to do something that WILL get seen and WILL make money and WILL make me feel good.
Do a search online for otakus. Maybe anime reviews. Perhaps just the word Anime. You get returns. But nothing really JUMPS out there. There are lots of shitty sites. Granted there are good ones as well.
www.japanator.com
www.animenewsnetwork.com
Those are the few that I can name off the top of my head.
Then, there are alot of sites dedicated to the licensed/Americanized anime. Those are fairly better in quality, but arent necessarily what I am thinking about (do not rule this out though)
I cant find anything that takes the shows we watch every week: the Gundam 00's, the Gurren Lagaan's, the Genshiken's, the School Day's...and gives it a breakdown, a synopsis, a review, a rating, info on merchandise maybe, the day its release, and perhaps even rate the different subtitles and come up with the subtitle (torrent releaser) that we recommend.
The basis is to establish us, Tokyotaku, as a creidble source of information. We want people to see our reviews and information and believe in it, the same way we believe in 1UP scoring video games and CNET scoring gadgets. I feel we are seasoned and smart enough to at least SOUND like we know what we are talking about, and will make good judgements that people will appreciate.
That's kind of what I am thinking of. Let me explain it more:
The Breakdown
There are more anime shows out there than we know what do do with! Alot are shit. Some are great. Most are so-so. Its our ob to take the ones that have the most potential in out opinion (this is our site afterall) and run with those. Maybe 7 - 8 titles tops (this doesnt include the MUST HAVES like Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, ... more on these later).
So lets say the new Persona -trinity soul-.
It comes out. 3 episodes in, we give it to 3 people to preview for potential. In our preview we give the standard synopsis, some screens, info about the anime's produciton company (ala "same studio that brought you 'AnimeX'"). We then have the 3 previewers tell us what they think of it. Maybe 2 paragrahs of what they expected...what happened...what they look forward to/dread. Standard preview stuff. Possibly even give the first few episodes a "score" (1-10 scale maybe, we can be creative).
With that same preview, we have the same three editors skim through all the subs that released the anime (we all know there are usually 2 - 4 groups that sub a particular anime). From there, they can all choose which one they recommend the most based off of criteria like: how fast they are to release, quality of sub (font, creativity, etc), quality of sub (working and language), most seeded on bittorrent (easiest to get). This is something i have yet to see. Im not trying to toot any horns, but if we could some how get popular enough amongst the online otaku community, online fan subbers may actually strive to get a good standing on our site.
So, the preview is up and done. From there, if it is a series we are sticking with, we can assign a single person to provide an update weekly on that week's episode. A paragraph discussing what they think of the episode in relation to the series, the series at this point. Maybe even give the episode itself a score. We all know anime tend to have episodes that are 10's and episodes that are 5's on a scale. It would be nice to inform the public of this.
ONce a series ends, we can do a review on the series, as a hwole, and smack the final "Score" on it.
Moving Forward
Over time, our library of reviews and news of different series will grow and can be accessed by anyone who is interested in watching a particular show. Much as one would go to gamerankings.com to find what some of the best Nintendo DS games are to buy, people can come to Tokyotaku.com and see what series stand out above the rest. That way, those who are curious can pursue those.
The Community
Every site needs a community. Our previews and posts will all be blog formatted, allowing user feedback and comments on every story. Forums are a no-brainer. We can spur topics and ask for opinions on what the community likes/dislikes about the site. Also, to see if we happened to let an anime slip by that we should be reviewing, or go back and visit one we may have missed.
The Podcast / Vidcast
This could be a weekly ordeal in which we discuss the main bullet points of what we contributed to the site that week. Any big news or reviews we want to discuss. I invision an open-forum type of discussion where we can bring up an anime we all watched and kind of take turns talking about what we thought and disecting it from there. Also, we can do any big news for the industry that week as well as just have any topic we may want to have a round-table discussion on. Such as: most memorable anime moment, favorite characters, worst anime you have ever seen, anime you want most to be a live action movie, etc etc...the list is almost endless.
Audio podcast is simple, but I have tins of ideas for a video one that would be super fun if we ever get the time and money to make something. I was thinking something like the 1Up show ( www.1up.com/do/minisite?cId=3145462 ) but for anime. It would be the same format as the audio podcast, but we could provide footage and images of the anime as we discussed it, as well as show our sexy mugs to the world.
Licensed Anime
When an anime gets picked up and released in the states, we can always revisit our review to shed light on the Americanized version. ANime that is licensed, but still ongoing in Japan, like Naruto and Bleach, will still be reviewed. It is not illegal to watch these anime on a site that streams anime via the Internet, I forget the name of some at the moment. This means, if an anime gets picked up mid season, we dont have to stop reviewing it, and we can continue to inform the users without the worries of doing something "wrong".
Miscellaneous Ideas
Merchandies
Penny Arcade does it, Pure Pwnage does it, hell, anyone can do it. Merchandise is easy. It comes later in the life cycle of a project, of course. It requires a happy and active community who loves what you are providing them and wants to support it. T-shirt and beanies and shit like that. The standard stuff. Throw the logo on it. Some catch phrases...something.
Also...and this is something I would love to work on with you guys. I have this picture...for a mascot...kind of. Something, like...when you see it...it makes you think of us. Kind of like when you see Leo or Aeris from VGCats or Gabe from PA or the little smiley face from Walmart. It's like that.
Im picturing, and I may be borderline copyright infringement...something like a mix between
The Cabbit from Tenchi Muyo
The little blob from Ragnarok
and the cats from sailor moon, Luna and Artemis
I have a HORRIBLE drawing I will show later, but I want something CUTE and bouncy, perhaps stick it in as one of the O's in the logo of Tokyotakue. We can have it be our "Persona". We can stick it on the page and mechandise. Even make a cute little plush doll like the Ragnarok one.
But...i digress. It may SOUND as htough I am getting way ahead of myself...considering all I have currently is this post and a bunch of papers with horrible drawings on them. BUT...you have to start somewhere. An this is mostly just a direction on where I would love to see things go.
Your Part
This is something that I truly WANT to happen. I dont want this to fade away or fall to the way-side.
I think I have covered almost everything in my mind about this, besides the actually look and feel of the website.
I need to know what you agree with. What you think would love to contribute to and what you think would be a waste.
What would you like to see? What would you like to do?
Try not to go too far off the beaten path...but any idea is welcome.
Try your best not to belittle this idea too much. I have looked far and wide and have though long and hard. I honestly believe that this is a niche site with very little to no competition, with a theme that we all love and are very passionate about.
I am tired of surfing the Internet seeing site after site go up day after day and I think to myself, "I want this". I want to make SOMETHING...anything...at least attempt to and give as much as I can.
ARE YOU WITH ME MEN?!?! WHO'S READY TO FOLLOW ME TO THE DEPTHS OF HADES, ITSELF?!!
HOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLDDDDD!!
This is, in no way, the "this is the fucking way it is going to be": kind of post. In fact, I PRAY it is not. I just want to get everything out there from my point of view and then rely on my dear friends and cohorts to help us shape and mold something.
Why Are You Doing This To Us, Josh?
This is me venting about not being happy and wanting to do something with my life that makes me happy. THis is easily skippable or summed up as "QQ moar plz"
I need drive in life. 2008 struck less than a month ago and I vowed to myself that I would try a different approach to EVERYTHING in life. Things were mundane. Boring. I bitched a lot about my life and the way it is, but never did anything about it. So, I set resolutions...goals.
So far...so good.
5) Make something. Something you love and enjoy. Something to be ambitious about. Making money helps too
I want to make this clear. I am NOT, in any way. Forcing, pressuring, or begging any of you to contribute or even care about this. I love you all as family and I feel we have ALOT in common. With that, I am extending an open invitation and asking for contributions/ideas to help
I mentioned money on my list. It's true. I am not doing it FOR the money. But I expect some. I have done, and still do, ALOT of research on "what makes the Internet tick". I know alot about monetizing websites, page rankings, google ads, making your site popular, getting the word out there, marketing, forming partnerships, tapping social networks, getting free plugs & publicity, etc. Its kind of one of those curiosities I perused. So whatever "tokyotaku" becomes...it will make money. I promise. It will have some form of members/user-base/society. Trust me, the LAST thing I want is to put time and money into something, and have it end up on the far corners of the Internet where no one goes and no one cares to wander.
The Name
Okay, so we got the domain www.tokyotaku.com.
Granted we could sit around and brainstorm for hours on a name, but when it comes down to it, this one is very easy to remember, plus its fun to say. As we all know, and Israel has pointed out, the Japanese say it (Tow-kyo), but us Americans, in our barbaric, non-conformist society, mostly go with (Tow-Key-Yo).
Playing on that, Tokyotaku (Tow-Key-Yo-Taku) is what we have. Otaku being the stress here as this site/podcast/whateverelse is focused on Anime and the otaku culture we know and love.
The Concept
We could do games. We could do movies. We could do tech. We all love it. Problem is, there is such a flood of sits out there already. Even getting on the first 10 pages of a google search would be close to impossible. Once again, I want to do something that WILL get seen and WILL make money and WILL make me feel good.
Do a search online for otakus. Maybe anime reviews. Perhaps just the word Anime. You get returns. But nothing really JUMPS out there. There are lots of shitty sites. Granted there are good ones as well.
www.japanator.com
www.animenewsnetwork.com
Those are the few that I can name off the top of my head.
Then, there are alot of sites dedicated to the licensed/Americanized anime. Those are fairly better in quality, but arent necessarily what I am thinking about (do not rule this out though)
I cant find anything that takes the shows we watch every week: the Gundam 00's, the Gurren Lagaan's, the Genshiken's, the School Day's...and gives it a breakdown, a synopsis, a review, a rating, info on merchandise maybe, the day its release, and perhaps even rate the different subtitles and come up with the subtitle (torrent releaser) that we recommend.
The basis is to establish us, Tokyotaku, as a creidble source of information. We want people to see our reviews and information and believe in it, the same way we believe in 1UP scoring video games and CNET scoring gadgets. I feel we are seasoned and smart enough to at least SOUND like we know what we are talking about, and will make good judgements that people will appreciate.
That's kind of what I am thinking of. Let me explain it more:
The Breakdown
There are more anime shows out there than we know what do do with! Alot are shit. Some are great. Most are so-so. Its our ob to take the ones that have the most potential in out opinion (this is our site afterall) and run with those. Maybe 7 - 8 titles tops (this doesnt include the MUST HAVES like Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, ... more on these later).
So lets say the new Persona -trinity soul-.
It comes out. 3 episodes in, we give it to 3 people to preview for potential. In our preview we give the standard synopsis, some screens, info about the anime's produciton company (ala "same studio that brought you 'AnimeX'"). We then have the 3 previewers tell us what they think of it. Maybe 2 paragrahs of what they expected...what happened...what they look forward to/dread. Standard preview stuff. Possibly even give the first few episodes a "score" (1-10 scale maybe, we can be creative).
With that same preview, we have the same three editors skim through all the subs that released the anime (we all know there are usually 2 - 4 groups that sub a particular anime). From there, they can all choose which one they recommend the most based off of criteria like: how fast they are to release, quality of sub (font, creativity, etc), quality of sub (working and language), most seeded on bittorrent (easiest to get). This is something i have yet to see. Im not trying to toot any horns, but if we could some how get popular enough amongst the online otaku community, online fan subbers may actually strive to get a good standing on our site.
So, the preview is up and done. From there, if it is a series we are sticking with, we can assign a single person to provide an update weekly on that week's episode. A paragraph discussing what they think of the episode in relation to the series, the series at this point. Maybe even give the episode itself a score. We all know anime tend to have episodes that are 10's and episodes that are 5's on a scale. It would be nice to inform the public of this.
ONce a series ends, we can do a review on the series, as a hwole, and smack the final "Score" on it.
Moving Forward
Over time, our library of reviews and news of different series will grow and can be accessed by anyone who is interested in watching a particular show. Much as one would go to gamerankings.com to find what some of the best Nintendo DS games are to buy, people can come to Tokyotaku.com and see what series stand out above the rest. That way, those who are curious can pursue those.
The Community
Every site needs a community. Our previews and posts will all be blog formatted, allowing user feedback and comments on every story. Forums are a no-brainer. We can spur topics and ask for opinions on what the community likes/dislikes about the site. Also, to see if we happened to let an anime slip by that we should be reviewing, or go back and visit one we may have missed.
The Podcast / Vidcast
This could be a weekly ordeal in which we discuss the main bullet points of what we contributed to the site that week. Any big news or reviews we want to discuss. I invision an open-forum type of discussion where we can bring up an anime we all watched and kind of take turns talking about what we thought and disecting it from there. Also, we can do any big news for the industry that week as well as just have any topic we may want to have a round-table discussion on. Such as: most memorable anime moment, favorite characters, worst anime you have ever seen, anime you want most to be a live action movie, etc etc...the list is almost endless.
Audio podcast is simple, but I have tins of ideas for a video one that would be super fun if we ever get the time and money to make something. I was thinking something like the 1Up show ( www.1up.com/do/minisite?cId=3145462 ) but for anime. It would be the same format as the audio podcast, but we could provide footage and images of the anime as we discussed it, as well as show our sexy mugs to the world.
Licensed Anime
When an anime gets picked up and released in the states, we can always revisit our review to shed light on the Americanized version. ANime that is licensed, but still ongoing in Japan, like Naruto and Bleach, will still be reviewed. It is not illegal to watch these anime on a site that streams anime via the Internet, I forget the name of some at the moment. This means, if an anime gets picked up mid season, we dont have to stop reviewing it, and we can continue to inform the users without the worries of doing something "wrong".
Miscellaneous Ideas
Merchandies
Penny Arcade does it, Pure Pwnage does it, hell, anyone can do it. Merchandise is easy. It comes later in the life cycle of a project, of course. It requires a happy and active community who loves what you are providing them and wants to support it. T-shirt and beanies and shit like that. The standard stuff. Throw the logo on it. Some catch phrases...something.
Also...and this is something I would love to work on with you guys. I have this picture...for a mascot...kind of. Something, like...when you see it...it makes you think of us. Kind of like when you see Leo or Aeris from VGCats or Gabe from PA or the little smiley face from Walmart. It's like that.
Im picturing, and I may be borderline copyright infringement...something like a mix between
The Cabbit from Tenchi Muyo
The little blob from Ragnarok
and the cats from sailor moon, Luna and Artemis
I have a HORRIBLE drawing I will show later, but I want something CUTE and bouncy, perhaps stick it in as one of the O's in the logo of Tokyotakue. We can have it be our "Persona". We can stick it on the page and mechandise. Even make a cute little plush doll like the Ragnarok one.
But...i digress. It may SOUND as htough I am getting way ahead of myself...considering all I have currently is this post and a bunch of papers with horrible drawings on them. BUT...you have to start somewhere. An this is mostly just a direction on where I would love to see things go.
Your Part
This is something that I truly WANT to happen. I dont want this to fade away or fall to the way-side.
I think I have covered almost everything in my mind about this, besides the actually look and feel of the website.
I need to know what you agree with. What you think would love to contribute to and what you think would be a waste.
What would you like to see? What would you like to do?
Try not to go too far off the beaten path...but any idea is welcome.
Try your best not to belittle this idea too much. I have looked far and wide and have though long and hard. I honestly believe that this is a niche site with very little to no competition, with a theme that we all love and are very passionate about.
I am tired of surfing the Internet seeing site after site go up day after day and I think to myself, "I want this". I want to make SOMETHING...anything...at least attempt to and give as much as I can.
ARE YOU WITH ME MEN?!?! WHO'S READY TO FOLLOW ME TO THE DEPTHS OF HADES, ITSELF?!!
HOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLDDDDD!!
