Before starting, I’d like to take a moment to thank Irina from I-Drink-and-Watch-Anime for inspiring this piece. While her original article (perhaps sarcastically?) asked for someone to create a list of benefits for gatekeeping in anime, I couldn’t quite get past a couple adequate benefits, seeing as I don’t believe in it. Instead, it churned the mind to think about my own history with popularity in anime, which led me to my greatest enemy: trends.

Also, this will be my personal opinion. It is not gospel, though I’d be flattered if you believed so. Continue reading “How Trends Affect the Quality of Japanese Media” →