Man, the last time I posted before answering the Extra Life question was the end of 2016??? That's nuts, someone remind me I gotta make more journals every so often.


Hey, everyone! As you may have heard, Fan Service's biggest announcement is that we weren't getting renewed for another season. I wanted to take this time to reflect personally on this show, talk about some of the things I loved and will miss, and think about the future ahead! 


There, that's my thesis statement, strap in, folks.


To be honest, going in to Fan Service, I wouldn't have labeled myself as a ~*super*~ anime fan. All through college and a little after, I'd been watching more western cartoons. I've only really watched a new anime or two every year, though my enthusiasm for a series is enough to fill the void of other content I wasn't participating in. But in the end, that enthusiasm became my saving grace and main role in Fan Service. 


We had to watch an anime every season. If we wanted to be on we had to talk specifically about an anime that we felt very strongly about. Every "what are you excited about for next season?" meant doing research about what was coming up and learning about the new trends of anime and being oddly excited about the future to come. It felt like a slow and insidious process. The first season I was just watching, what, two shows? Three? Then the next season, I had four on my queue. Then it went on in that pattern until, one day, I realized I was actively going through Crunchyroll and putting things in my queue to just try out. Now I'm watching anime YouTubers dissect serious and studios and taking into account their recommendations. 


Who KNEW! ThaT! If you were involved in an anime show, you'd WATCH MORE ANIME?!?!?!?  /sarcasm


(By the way, I actually a good chunk of what Cole recommends. He has good taste and can discern what show you'd like!)


If there's something I like to be, it's informed. Fan Service helped me be up to date (on my better days haha) and be more aware of what goes on in the anime community. It also meant knowing who does what and what goes on behind the scenes in our industry. I'm so happy that our anime podcast facilitated discussion and enabled us to bring new people to our glass table and call them our friends after the episode was done. Elizabeth Maxwell, Reina Sculley, Victoria Holden, Jessica Nigri, Caitlin Glass, Cliff Chapin, Monica Rial, and Sungwon Cho were all soooooo nice and great to have, and their insights into voice acting, dubbing, and the culture and community in general were so informative! I felt so happy and honored that they'd take their time out of their lives to just chill and hang with us, and I'm going to miss that so much.


Speaking of taking time out of their lives, HOLY COW there were a lot of other people who spent time with us too right inside our company! ROLL CALL! Michael Jones, Lindsay Jones, Shannon McCormick (putting you here because you're a family member at this point, Shannon, haha), Mica Burton, Elyse Willems, Blaine Gibson, Barbara Dunkelman, Tim Gettys, Nick Scarpino, James Willems, Kdin Jenzen, and Lawrence Sonntag! /anime theme song meme

These guys are HECKIN BUSY. It was so fun to just be around them and hear their own personal insights and favorites about anime, and I know we work in the same company but I already miss them :'))

This particular interaction sums up my overall feelings about having these guys on--Tim and Nick from Kinda Funny had told us they were a little intimidated about being on the show because they felt like we were experts. Consequently, I feel like they schooled us a little by mentioning an anime I never heard about before, and their passion for the shows they loved was just as justified as ours. At the end of it, we had a great time being together and talking with each other about anime, and that's all that matters.


Of course, where would we be without our own Animation guests. Stan Lewis, Kim Newman, Andrea Caprotti, Tony Salvaggio, Tanya Fetzer, Patrick Rodriguez, Dustin Matthews, and Rachel Doda, they work hard and know how to have fun. Some of the most interesting viewpoints and lessons came from these guys who I see almost every day! It's wonderful to know I inhabit a space with amazing people, all with different experiences and different viewpoints for me to learn from. 


Also special paragraph for Erin Winn for being our thumbnail artist, a great friend, and being around for the final few episodes of Fan Service. I love seeing your face (smoochy face)


(I sincerely hope I didn't miss a guest let me know if I did SWEATS)


If it were anyone else in the cast, I would've been worried going into it as the only girl. It's hard being a minority HAHA. But with Cole, Kerry, Miles, Gray, and Austin backing me up, it felt seamless. I'm honored that I developed a working relationship with these guys to be included as main cast, and I've gleaned so much from every one of them. They all work hard at their jobs, and Fan Service was one of the few times I got to spend time with them outside of our work space. Adding Erin in was great too! I was finally not the only girl!!! Even though technically we were "still working", it was always the most fun two hours of my week to be with them while Broadcast works to make the magic happen. 


Big ups to the Broadcast team as well! Hearing and participating in conversations on how the show should go was always a learning experience, and I always get to see firsthand the labor that goes with making a show. Broadcast is the best.


I'm at a point where I'm just screaming now because AHH!! The community! You guys are so awesome! Thank you so much for watching our dinky anime show. Your outpour of support for it after our announcement makes me smile, and I'm glad that people were watching. One of my favorite memories was how packed RTX 2017 was for our panel. It was a huuuuge room, and almost every seat was filled. Then, every time one of us came out, there was always a huge cheer before we inevitably went behind the curtain. 


One of my biggest insecurities is that I'm always Too Much. I'm Too Loud, Too Emotional, Too Taxing, Too Annoying. And it's something that I don't know how to turn off, and I lie awake at night groaning about how dumb I am. But at least, I dunno, this Fan Service collective let me be that person and was completely ok with it. I guess what I'm saying is--thanks, guys, for being ok with me HAHAHAHA.


Although Fan Service is out for the count, anime isn't! I highly encourage everyone to keep an eye on Gray, Austin, Kerry, Miles, Cole, and my accounts on the RT site, Twitter, where ever, because we might end up talking about some new anime thing that is relevant to our interests. I am definitely screaming about an anime at some point or another on twitter. 


When I think about Fan Service, I get sad because I wish I could have spent more time with everyone in our recordings. I know I wanted to do more, wanted to understand more, and try to be a better version of myself with every new season. But I will always feel grateful that we were able to come this far together. Thank you, everyone, for making this all possible. I'm honored to have been part of your RT life for the past two years.