246 Reviews and Counting (Blog Update)

Welcome to the annual blog update. Another year is nearing its end and… I have to say that, in terms of personal stuff, 2021 has been even worse to me than 2020. There has been a lot of personal drama going on, a lot of stress and worries, and the pandemic situation in my country to top it all off, but in the midst of it all, I somehow managed not to give up blogging and I even maintained publishing pace from the previous year.

With regard to maintenance misadventures, regular readers already know this, but I was forced to change the email delivery service. I wrote about this in greater detail here. I have also started adding reviews to IMDb. What is more, I have updated the email subscription widget which can be found at the bottom of the main site. Also, I had to switch off the option enabling anonymous users to comment under blog posts. This was caused by recent spam postings, so I am hoping that this measure is going to be only temporary.

Additionally, I think that this blog update is a good opportunity to share some statistics with you all. That is to say, the most read post of 2021 was Tezuka’s Barbara review (519 views). I had no idea that the fandom of Osamu Tezuka is so strong out there! Close second was Tengoku to Jigoku: Psychona no Futari review (490 views). The least popular review of 2021 was that of Citizen Kitano documentary (mere 31 views), but I know it’s a bit unfair towards that text because it was published a couple of weeks ago rather than months. As for the most all-time read post, the grand prize goes to… The Negotiator The Movie review (1026 views)! I guess Ryoko Yonekura would definitely feel proud that her first theatrical movie (albeit mediocre) is so popular amongst readers of Watching Asia blog xD

I am still thinking about whether or not to make YouTube videos. Instead of putting my time and effort into doing video editorials (which basically gain less views than my traditional blog pieces), I would like to turn my channel into a freewheeling type of thing, where I could discuss a variety of topics and even show off my physical media collection. In my previous blog update, I mentioned my intention to discuss North Korean movies, and I will most certainly do that, not as separate blog reviews, but as a series of special editorials.

That’s it from me at the moment. As always, Thank You for being here. Running this blog for the past few years has been a humbling experience which allowed me to stay sane in the midst of real-life insanity. I send you warmest wishes. Please keep on appreciating the grandeur of East Asian Cinema. As Senbon Nokko used to say, “Tomorrow is another day!”