1. The Friday Rumble idea sounds pretty neat to me. Some of the more obscure shows like Himitsu and Kaiba are well-suited to this, as well as Kyouran Nikki.
2. I prefer Quick Summaries and your thoughts of the episode rather than a 10+ paragraph summary. Ugh, I still haven’t gotten the time to start Nabari yet. Stab me.
3. I prefer the larger pictures with the captions. It’s what got me hooked to THAT in the first place. That pirate picture: “That Rocked”.
4. Sparking more discussions would be great. And with the variety of bloggers and opinions you guys have, this will be make THAT an even better place. This really works well with the Friday Rumble idea.

The captions are hilarious, one of my favorite things in this blog.

Friday Rumble sounds interesting. It’ll be nice to see opinions on random shows I haven’t watched.

I mostly read blogs because I love knowing what other people think about certain series or episodes. I know a lot of people who also do the same. So opinions and saying things that spark discussion would be great.

2. Overall thoughts or impressions of the Nabari episode. (That’s usually the only thing I read… ^^;;)

3. The numbers/amount of pictures aren’t really important to me as long as they’re interesting or funny, without being spoiler-ish of course.

4. Something in between maybe? Having too much analytical content reminds me of school (shudder) and I usually do not read comments because there is A.LOT. But it really depends I guess, if the topic is interesting, relevant or even controversial, I wouldn’t mind whatever you guys chose to go for in the end.

@Kabitzin
“Hard to say, but straight up content usually does not get as much discussion and takes more effort to produce.” I’m going to have to personally disagree there. I can churn out summaries like it’s no ones business, and that’s why I hate it. To me it’s more of a challenge to create interesting content that will provoke great discussion.

@Dando008
Thank you for your comment in point #4. And thanks for taking the time to post (I don’t think I’ve seen your name before…if I have, sorry!).

@Coaxen
“Of course, a humorous summary is still entertaining for those who already watched an episode and want to read a little funny rant.” That’s my main goal with summaries…either that or to be insanely concise.

@D.J.
Nabari 02 made me wish I had an all Miharu basketball team.

@KaeBoo
Thank you for noticing, and I blame Impz. It’s rAmble people! AAA!

@Ruk
I agree that RC is a great place for mad screens and summaries. That’s one thing I asked myself “Why would readers read my post over an RC one?”. If all I did were summaries, it’d be pointless and to be blunt, I’d rather go read an RC summary than do it myself. Soul Eater posts will be the hotness (starting around episode 04).

@Sylvira
I wouldn’t exactly say Rumbel is amazing, but they’re the best out that I’ve seen, and the ones that I’m currently watching. I don’t know how to blog KKN…I mean honestly, where do you even start? You make a good point of using whatever image format goes with each particular post (which will play in a lot with my Soul Eater posts), and I think that’s the idea I’ll be using. Yes, it’s a mammoth comment and thank you so much for taking the time to write it and appreciating what I’m trying to do through all this harassment.

@spring_rain
I write for these comments. Not because I want my e-peen to grow or anything…I just feel like you guys have something to say and my job as a writer is to motivate you to put it out there. Just look at these comments: I write one post and get a posts’ worth of comments back. That’s amazing.

@EVERYONE
Currently, this post has 17 comments (not counting my own) which is kinda average for THAT. But every comment posted here has been insightful, of a quality that I would love to have consistently, and I am THRILLED at everything you guys have said. The only way I know how to show my appreciation is to say something in response to every comment made and continue to work hard on the posts that I put out for you.

It’s off to Super Mario Galaxy and then bed for me. ‘Night!

For the Soul Eater update: Hmm, that wouldn’t be based on the fact that Rumbel is doing the Late Night show scans, right. -cough- Their subs are amazing.

For A or B, I’d personally like you to do Kyouran Kazoku Nikki. That’s basically the only one, because THAT is blogging almost everything else under the sun. It doesn’t really matter if you blog it or do a Friday Ramble, and it seems like more people like FR.

I like Nabari so I would say more thoughts/impressions and crazy stuff. Summarizing is not something I’m too keen about either, so you can keep it to a bare minimum.

For pictures, I don’t need many. Thumbnails are convenient but may take too much time (to set up in a post) and captions don’t matter to me. What does matter to me is that the pictures have some relevency to the post, be it silly antics or plot. But there are times when each type of imaging works the best, so I leave the choice to you.

I’m more than fine with reader interaction being a key component. Hearing the blogger’s opinion and adding my own along with others is great. As long as you keep a decent amount (moderate) of information that readers can digest to work with, discussion shouldn’t be a problem. Um, does this count as a mammoth comment?

It’s great to know that you’re trying to improve your posts and make things more interesting for readers. Keep up the great work.

And with regards to Nabari no Ou, opinions please. I don’t read this blog for summaries really (random curiosity is probably the best place for filling in gaps when watching raws) so I’d love to see more of your personal thoughts on the episode. I’m not sure if the commentary would be more interesting if you read the manga or not…but it’s quite nice seeing someone take the anime just for what it is right now, without the manga-glasses.

And, like you said, discussion is funfunfun, so content that encourages comments would be great I think. So, yeah, looking forward to seeing the Soul Eater post. (I can’t be the only one who is addicted to watching the op.)

The Friday Ra(u)mble is a great Idea. The introductory post as to what you had in mind for that one is a big hit for me. (just leave the loli hair color wars to impzie who had, and will always, claim that green is queen!)

As for images, I would prefer seeing thumbnails. It does not, however, follow that it is always a good idea to use it all the time. I believe it is the writer’s prerogative on how to include the photos which would make it more relevant to the post and make readers understand or relate to the article better.
About 5 or 6 thumbnails of pure screencaps and no captions would do just fine. However, if it is something that would have a caption, use bigger photos.

2 - I’m watching Nabari no ou. So I don’t really need a summary In fact I just finished watching Episode 2 and I’m even more in love with it than I was after just the first episode. It has a nice mix of action, humor (Kumohira’s little phobia was a great source of amusement. And I love how they animate Miharu when he’s being devilish)

I guess instead of a summary just tell us your impressions of the episode. Were there things about it that were great? Were there things about it that were just bloody irritating?

For those who haven’t watched it, maybe a post could be all about why they should watch it.(As if me threatening to gut them with a kunai if they don’t isn’t enough of an incentive…)
Did it make you laugh, cry, want to take up the art of ninpo, or was it just meh.

3.How important are pictures? Pictures are great! Especially if you manage to capture a shot of a character looking or doing something you can add a really funny caption to. I love Crusader’s posts because they are a blast to read. But also because the captions that go along with the pictures usually make me laugh my head off too. I’d say the amount of pictures you have currently been putting up in your posts is adequate.(Btw lots of pictures of Kumohira would be great appreciated )

4. Discussion is great. I think something is always more interesting when you can participate. Sometimes its nice to not just sit in front of the lifesucking box of doom and just read.

I’m not so great at ideas but hopefully some of that was helpful.

Of course, a humorous summary is still entertaining for those who already watched an episode and want to read a little funny rant.

Images:Key pictures that don’t spoil the plot are fine. Pictures with funny comments are also good to see. They should relate to the text written. Too many pics distract attention.

Reader participation: A good writer is enjoyable to read. Good commentators too. Both components are required in a successful blog.

Agree about summaries. If you’re doing a post for every episode, a short summary is fine, preferably without giving away any important conclusion to the action. I hate when I can’t read blog posts because they reveal everything about an episode I fully intend to watch…

I prefer reflection, comparison, picking out the fun details, the highlights. Sometimes we (or I at least) watch so much anime, it’s easy to just gloss past the really good stuff. If you notice something that was really good, it’s great to hear about it so I can go back and fully appreciate something that no doubt a lot of work went into creating.

I like a mix of the different image formats, to be honest. The six-in-one works well to sum up the different things that were going on in the episode, while it’s nice to be able to open up a larger version if it’s a really good screen cap once in a while.

Discussion is what makes a blog come alive - you are all certainly good writers that I enjoy reading just for the sake of reading (about anime), but it’s when it stirs discussion that it becomes really great. Or perhaps the other way around - it’s when the discussions take off that you know you have a good blog post? Maybe…
Anyway, offering food for thought, asking for reader input, offering controversial opinions once in a while, all to bring everyone into the discussion, I think that’s good.

@blissmo
I like the Friday Ramble idea as well (laziness FTW!), I just like to harass readers with questions because as I said…I’m not here to listen to myself. If you aren’t reading it or don’t want to read it, I’m wasting my time (I know there are different opinions on that, but that’s mine).

Also, be sure to check out my Soul Eater posts (starting around the 4th ep or so), I’m using it as an experiment for reader interaction and trying out some different posting ideas.

@issa-sa
Appreciate the input, and your vote has counted for the Friday Ramble. You also hit the concept of it right on the head too: we don’t blog everything we watch, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t shows just as kick-ass as the ones we are watching. I like to get the word out.

@jiff
Epic comment! Woot! I have officially stolen your idea tweak in point #1. Another anti-epicsummary vote, and thanks for the picture input.

@meromero
Kamen and Kyouran will both be in there (unless Calawain decides to actually blog Kamen). And start watching Nabari! Gosh!

@Everyone in reference to Impz
Impz is a big fan of stealing ideas and making me do insane quantities of slave labor. Then he tries to pretend that I like it or have a weird fetish or something (I never never once dated a violent female and liked it *cough*).

@Mystic Girl
That’s another anti-summary vote…I love you guys. Srsly!

@Wootles
You know, I checked my google reader and you’re right…images past the “more” tag don’t show up even with the full reader plugin. I looked for a hotfix but with no luck. Hopefully this issue will be resolved once we upgrade to WP 2.5, but until then if anyone knows a temporary solution let me know.