101 Reviews: Where I am and Where I am going (Blog Update)

Well, I never expected it to happen but it did. The blog has recently hit over 100 reviews! It may not be perceived as a great achievement by some more accomplished bloggers, but I never even assumed that Watching Asia Film Reviews blog will grow this big with me as the only author. I am even more astonished when I look at the whole thing from today’s perspective:

The beginnings of this blog, or the first year to be exact (2015-2016), were difficult, but not exhausting, as I was learning the ins and outs of blogging: HTML, gadgets, widgets, as well as developing my writing style. At the same time, my cramming for university exams kept growing, yet I remained passionate about reviewing Asian movies in my spare time. The second year, on the other hand (2016-2017), was disastrous. My whole life broke down in a single day and it took me a lot of time and hard work in order to get back on track. Many things happened since then, I almost virtually abandoned this blog while under depression, being convinced that it’s not worth it, since there’s little to none activity anyway. When I finally began sorting things out, other matters started picking up onwards the late 2017. Asian cinema gave me the enjoyment and escapism I very much needed after the darkest days. Here comes the third year (2018) when I got back to blogging, increasingly putting out more sophisticated content. All of a sudden, traffic spiked and comments began to appear too. In July, I also joined MyDramaList, which is a great community centred on Asian cinema. So far, I have written two article there (Movie Recommendations) and started sharing my blog reviews via Feeds feature.

101 reviews occasion also provides an opportunity for an update on my upcoming plans for this blog. First of all, I intend to discontinue the section on Indian movies. It is a difficult decision to make, all the more because these films sparked my interest in Asia, but these pictures are being released in such overwhelming quantities nowadays, that it is almost impossible for me to keep up with the new titles. Nevertheless, there still are some great classics from the 1960s/1970s, which I would like to discuss in the future. So, I’m not abandoning India for good. This section will just not be regularly updated. Secondly, I set up some accounts on social media over the years and for now… I will keep them: my MDL account is just as important as the blog itself, only recently I started developing my list on MAL (MyAnimeList), whereas Tumblr is still under a question mark because of numerous changes of that site’s policies.

What’s more to add? I will most certainly continue to review movies here as much as I possibly can. I want to develop some sections (China, South Korea) and create new ones (Taiwan), Asian dramas became my new pleasure, so reviews of these will appear as well (see my posts on Bayside Shakedown and Keizoku). I finally warmed up to anime, so reviews either of full features or particular TV shows will also crop up in all likelihood.

That’s it for the moment. Thank You for being here, reading my opinions, and most importantly, appreciating the grandeur of Eastern Cinema. I wish you all the best and Godspeed!