One more Popee for the road.
I’ll cut to the chase right away: This is my final post for The Cart Driver, in all likelihood. Maybe I’ll feel the itch again in the future to write about anime. Maybe not. For the foreseeable future, however, I’m done. It’s been a long time coming. I kept saying to myself that I wanted to keep going, but … it just didn’t happen, for various reasons I’m not particularly interested in expanding upon. So that’s that.
OK, with that out of the way, let me be a big, sappy dork at length.
I’ve blogged about anime in some form or fashion since 2008. It seems both a long time and not long at all from my perspective. Years pass by pretty darn quick once you pass a certain age. I didn’t have any grand ambitions when I started; mostly, I was unemployed at the time (who knew that getting a college degree didn’t automatically come with work) and wanted to fill up the empty time that would otherwise be spent thinking about how much the American economy sucked and how tough it was to find a job. Nothing I wrote at the beginning was particularly special — just gut reactions about individual episodes from someone who didn’t know what he was talking about. (I’m not sure how much that has changed since then.) But writing about shows I liked and didn’t like was something nice to focus on while the road was a bit bumpy.
And, uh, somehow that turned into almost three years writing at my first blog before Scamp emailed me about writing at The Cart Driver. So I did that and now it’s over. The end!
OK BYE
… All right, I can’t leave yet, not without a bit more sap. Most of the time I wrote to amuse myself (and hopefully others) and to work out how I felt about shows I liked and didn’t like. I’m not amazing at dissecting media — mostly because I’ve worked from a limited perspective most of my life — but making myself think more about the shows I watched helped widen my viewpoint. Even if I can’t properly articulate the experience of seeing it all, simply looking at and thinking about storytelling harder has made visual media so much more enjoyable. Take it from me, a know-nothing lout: if you look long enough and hard enough, something will click for you.
Just as fulfilling are the times when someone will mention how me being way into a show and somehow relaying that passion made them interested in the series. They gave it a shot and loved it. I don’t consider myself a big shot tastemaker by any means. The reach of my opinions is pretty darn small, and the circles I travel in quite insulated. So when someone says “Hey, I wasn’t sure about it, but I started Hunter x Hunter because of you and now it’s one of my favorite shows” or “Giant Robo rules and I watched it because you wrote cool things about it,” I take it to heart. It’s nice to hear. I’m not the one making these amazing anime and pouring my energy into telling cool stories, so the least I can do is try my best to translate the rush in my brain that an unforgettable story inspires.
Even if you never said a word to me, though, you’re still pretty cool. That anyone would give their time to a total stranger who throws words on the Internet like a monkey throws shit never stops being wild to me. If I made your day a bit brighter somehow — with a stupid joke, a silly tag, something I wrote that was accidentally smart, or whatever — then I’m happy to have affected your life in some small way.
From a personal standpoint, the biggest change in my life is that shouting loudly and sometimes coherently online has brought a bunch of awesome people into my life. Who knew, right? I could never name everyone (and I’m not sure most of you would want me to talk about a bunch of folks you don’t know, anyway), so I’ll stick to those who had the most profound impact on my wordy business.
Obviously my cohorts Scamp and Inushinde are up there. I did OK for myself on my own, but I was still quite surprised to see that email from Scamp about joining his team. Truth be told, I was thinking about winding down at that time. I’m glad I didn’t. Writing for Scamp has been a fucking joy. I’ve never thought of a dumb, absurd idea that he wasn’t immediately down for — believe me, I tried. I remember wondering if I went too weird with my intro post. Scamp’s response was (I’m paraphrasing here) “haha that’s fucking hilarious post that shit.” He didn’t blink when I turned our WHO IS IMOUTO posts into nonsense fanfiction. (Maybe it helps that it’s, uh, not the first time I did that…) Running our own offshoot of MAL’s Fantasy Anime League? Sure, why not! You want a boss who will make you feel pretty darn great about yourself, then work for Scamp. Aside from that, the tone of his writing — conversational, silly, but always making a point — is something I’ve tried to strive for, maybe not always successfully.
Inushinde I remember meeting for the first time at Anime Expo 2012 either the day Scamp announced our arrival on The Cart Driver or the day after. We shook hands; his grip crushed mine. I’ve been to maybe one convention since then that Inushinde didn’t also attend. Getting into dumb shit with him and our regular crew of weirdos is always a highlight of my year. Would I have seen the masterpiece Chinese film Switch without Inushinde? Doubtful. Would the struggle to become King of Maids be even half as fulfilling without Inushinde to swat me down when I get close? Hardly. Would meeting the Savior of Anime, Yamakan, have been nearly as memorable without Inushinde to take a picture with him? Of course not. As for his writing, what I appreciate most about Inushinde is that we come from way different perspectives in what we’re getting from anime and how we express it, but I’m always keenly aware of where he’s coming from and why precisely he feels the way he does, particularly when we disagree. I never leave one of his posts thinking “I have no idea what the hell that guy is talking about.”
Someone I don’t see nearly enough of these days is ghostlightning. (That’s probably a good thing, because it means he’s living a pretty damn great life working and loving his family!) He’s the first anime blogger I read whose words, ideas, and sheer passion totally blew me away. Smart as hell, but didn’t talk down to people, and unafraid to be sincere and enthusiastic during a time when cynicism and bland snark were a much easier path for writers. Even the times when he’d let loose and completely shit on an anime (boy his posts on Gundam SEED were definitely something), you knew he at least took the time to understand it and understand the people who liked it, even if he didn’t feel the same way.
Schneider and ghostlightning were the one-two punch of getting me way more into mecha anime, for which I will always be grateful. He’s not just good for posts on mecha, of course — schneider can always be counted on to be fair on whatever he writes about, and to also reflect on himself in interesting ways. Not in, like, a narcissistic way, but to understand and challenge his own thoughts and not bury himself in them. That is something I struggle with, so I admire folks who do it with such apparent fearlessness.
AJtheFourth, meanwhile, always makes me jealous in the best way. She is somehow thoroughly analytical with her writing while also wearing her heart on her sleeve. Even when we perfectly agree with something, I come out of one of her posts with a perspective I never thought about before. She always finds empathy where a lot of other people (especially me) wouldn’t bother to look. But above all, she’s a fucking fantastic writer who I love to read regardless of the subject. I’m very happy that she has carved a niche for herself doing what she enjoys. She deserves it.
Everyone at The Nihon Review, but in particular Sorrow-kun, Kylaran, and Akira. All of them very kind to me, always a pleasure to speak with and receive advice from. My writing is all the stronger for listening to them and reading them. Running around and doing interviews with Kylaran for a couple of years at Anime Expo was a lot of fun, and I won’t forget Akira out of the blue on year being like “yo dog it’s your birthday let’s have some fun.” We did! He’s a good dude.
Day is someone I’ve long enjoyed reading for being smart as hell, cutting and super funny, and being an unrepentant lover of ridiculous trash. A noble pursuit if there ever was one. There are few places I could go where I could simultaneously get a ton of recommendations for fascinating World War I history books, thoughtful posts about shoujo and mecha and all sorts of anime, and celebrations of shows most people would dismiss as dumb garbage and never think about again. She also made that amazing screenshot above, so more evidence that she’s hilarious. Day is cool as fuck.
Landon always wowed me for having such distinct personality in his writing and always hitting some off-kilter angle that literally nobody else would conceive. Reading a post about something he loves is like reading a crazed scrawl on a bathroom wall that makes sense if you look at it from the perfect angle, and will always stick with you even if you don’t totally understand it. I swear I mean this as a compliment.
I would be remiss if I left out halfadeckshort, whose anime haikus exposed me to the joys of shitposting long before I joined Twitter. It’s impossible for me to read one of his haikus and not burst out laughing, even if I’ve never seen the anime he is referencing; he is a master of pacing and dumb as hell punchlines (again, 100 percent compliment). My antics on Twitter would be half a deck short without his influence.
Wow, I have farted out a lot of words here. It’s hard to be compelling and interesting about years spent writing about cartoons and chatting idly with people. My main feeling is that it’d be nice if I affected people in any similar to how folks affected me!
Scamp suggested that I end this post by linking to some of the better posts I’ve done, which is tough for me to think about. I can hardly read much of what I’ve written before, simply because I’ve changed so much as a person, and reading my own writing long afterward embarrasses me. I did find a few that make me cringe only a tiny bit, at least — some from my old site, some from here. Enjoy?
In chronological order, I guess??
Alien Nine – Adolescent Blues: The Alien Nine OVA and how being forced to grow up is tough.
SDF Macross – Making Culture the Fun Way: Macross is a silly show that really gets what people get out of culture.
Filming and Re-Filming Culture in Macross: On the use of movies in the various Macross anime.
Why I Love Nanami Kiryuu: Why Utena‘s Nanami is the best and if you don’t like her, you are bad.
Vampire Wars and the Joy of Terribad: Why bad stuff is, in fact, good.
AKB0048 – This Anime Has Microphone Lightsabers and an Android with a Rocket Launcher in Her Arm: Exactly as the title says.
Hunter x Hunter 124 – Tears, Tears, Tears: Killua gets really sad about a metaphor for his friendship with Gon.
Hunter x Hunter 131 – The OP Has Never Been Less Appropriate: Hunter x Hunter turns the cool fighting anime moment into something horrible and sad.
Manga Driver: Diamond Is Unbreakable, Stone Ocean, and Steel Ball Run: The JoJo manga posts I was most happy with. These are probably my favorite posts I’ve written.
There you go! It’s a bit weird to me that stuff I wrote years ago and barely think about now is so easily accessible. The Internet is a strange place. What if it’s all still here after I die? That’s strange as fuck.
Uh, let’s end this before I go places. The end got kind of bumpy, but I still had a lot of fun writing about cartoons, whether a bunch of people were reading the posts or next to nobody. I put a lot of hours and work into all that writing, y’all. Being part of a nice community rules a whole lot, as well. If any of y’all want to keep up with me, I’m on Twitter way too damn much. Beware, I mainly post garbage.
The Cart Driver 
Kinda saw this coming but I’ll still miss your posts. If nothing else I’ve always really enjoyed what you wrote. You definitely introduced a few series I wouldn’t have given a look otherwise, some of which which ended up amongst my favourites. So, thanks for writing cool stuff about cool cartoons.
Thank you! I appreciate the kind words.
I’ve enjoyed reading your blog. Out of the stuff that isn’t important, anime is probably the most important. Best of luck in your new endeavours.
Thanks!
I wish you the best, Shinmaru! I loved my weekly ritual of watching a Hunter x Hunter episode and then reading your post about it. And on this latest update to the Top 30’s I was pleased as punch to see Utena kept your number 1 spot cuz it still has mine. Best wishes!
Good to hear! I think Utena will stay in its spot forever.
Noooooo. This is sad. 😦
I came to The Cart Driver kind of late, but I always enjoyed reading all your Hunter x Hunter and JoJo posts. Well-written, entertaining, and they always made me laugh. Thanks for all the blog posts. Best of luck to you in the future, Shinmaru! See you around.
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed my posts all this time.
Which means, we won’t have BUTTS any more. Nor your wonderfull tags. Noooo !
I actually read all your posts while marathoning Hunter x Hunter some years ago, and I think it may have helped me like it better (your weekly posting about how moe all the chimeras surely contributed to this.)
Good luck with any future projects.
I’m sure Scamp will fly the butt flag proudly in my stead.
It’s almost horrifying to think how long it’s been since I first discovered your FMA:B posts as a relapsed anime fan new to online activity all those years ago. Your blog actually pre-dated The Cart Driver for me.
I don’t think it’s much of an exaggeration to stay you were one of the chief reasons I’ve stuck around in this slightly fractured yet comfortingly insular little bubble all this time, particularly in regards to twitter when I only had 4-5 followers. Even though work and generally getting older (physically at least) has taken precedent over the years, I still have fond memories of all the great posts you’ve put out and the classic (re: terrible) shit we watched. It genuinely meant a lot to me so I just want to say thanks.
Hopefully this won’t be the last I see of your writing, even if it’s in a limited format or about something other than cartoons about evil circus clowns, so if you ever decide to write a random post every now and then about whatever I’ll still be around. However, if this is truly the end, finishing out on a 148 episode marathon isn’t the worst way to sign your name. Give yourself a pat on the back.
Thank you, this means a lot to me!
Maybe every so often I will write something, should the need strike me.
No you can’t leave! This site needs a third person to be a tie breaker. Scamp and Inushinde will have to resort to rock, paper, scissors from now on.
If Diamond Is Unbreakable is to be believed, RPS matches are the way to settle arguments.
throws bittersweet Popee bombs
my friend, you truly understand me
It’s been a lot of fun. Thank you for all your posts especially your HXH ones. Reading them while enjoying the series gave me some time to slow down and appreciate the adventure.
Also, I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’m going to give Popee a watch after all. There must be something to it for you to keep singing of its distorted charm.
Best of luck!
Someone is going to try Popee because of my good bye post? It was all worth it.
Thanks for being one of the three best anibloggers on one of the best aniblogs still blogging anime in 2016. You will be missed!
Thanks! Your album R.A.P. Music rules, by the way.
Hey, thanks for everything and best of luck. It was great to work with you over at NHRV. Be sure to pop in every once and a while to say hi!
Thank you! Perhaps I will drop by again.
Hey Shinmaru! It’s been a really pleasure getting acquainted with your writing over the years. I remember when Scamp first announced he would be taking on you and Inushinde, I was like “ehhhhhhh,” but after my initial warming-up period yall ended up becoming a really great addition to one of my favorite blogs. Sad to see you go, but I wish you the best in all your future endeavors!
(I also went through a bunch of your HxH posts when I watched the series a few months back, which was great companion read to what has become one of my favorite series of ever. So yeah, kudos.)
Thank you for the kind words!
I do remember reading your website for a while and finding it quite entertaining and/or interesting at the time, but I’ve also appreciated your writing here at the Cart Driver. You will be missed.
Congratulations for all your hard work and good luck with the rest of your endeavors!
Thank you!
See ya man! I hope you still have fun watching anime. TIF is keeping the NHRV forums alive so if you ever want to sound off about a series, the old crew will still be there.
Thank you! Will do!
I will confess that even though I knew of you and your blog before you joined the Cart Driver crew, I didn’t really your older posts. I read a fair few of the ones on here though!
When JoJo aired, I read all of your JoJo posts and your love of the manga inspired me into reading Part 4 (still chugging through Part 5 though). I will no doubt read all of your HxH posts when I watch the anime properly.
I don’t know if you remember, but during my earlier internet days, I was even more of a Chuuni edgeLord than I am now. I would sometimes refer to bloggers I respected by appending “Master” to their name, e.g. Master Scamp, Master EO, etc..I referred to you as such as well! (At least in my head).
Then we became friends on Twitter and I stopped because I figured friends don’t talk like that.
errrrrr, so I am not sure where I am going with that, but basically I REALLY RESPECTED THE CLOWN’S BLOGGING OKAY?! God, don’t make me dredge up embarrassing stories.
Anyway, thanks for everything. I look forward to continuing my habit of throwing shitposts your way on Twitter (hopefully for a long time). ^_^
Thank you! JoJo part 5 does get a bit tough at times. It’s worth it by the end, at least.
Our anime tastes rarely matched, but I still enjoyed reading your posts about Hunter x Hunter and Gundam Build Fighters for example.
Thank you for your posts and keep watching anime. All of my friends have stopped watching anime at some point and I’m the only one left.
I guess I have to watch Popee The Performer now. I’m doing it just for you.
Thanks! Even if you don’t think the same way as me, it is nice to hear that you got something from my writing, regardless.
I’ve been a long time lurker of this website and have only posted 2 or 3 times within my 4-5 years here as a regular lurker. I just want to let you know that while HxH was airing I was always looking forward to what you would write about (including the infamous Hisoka cock glow) You were concise, funny, and most importantly your writing was truly a joyful experience. All the best with your life ahead!
Thank you! I appreciate the kind words.
I’ve always considered some of my “best work” or haiku that I was the most happy with to be the ones I wrote in response to the haiku comments you left for me. It’s sad for me to see you go, but since I’ve been on permanent semi-hiatus for years I understand. I know you said you’re not leaving Twitter, but please always keep in mind that there are people out in the world that you’ve never actually met, but who care a great deal about you and your wellbeing… and even though we weren’t able to Kampfer together, we’ll always have HoTD. See you around.
Your words are so kind.
Haiku comments so thoughtful.
Blushing forever.
Thank you for everything! Some of your posts got me through long days, and for that, I am eternally grateful. Thank you for being a part of this site and more importantly of the community as a whole! ^_^
Thank you! That is very nice to hear.
The Cart Drivers’ lost one of it’s squeaky wheels.
You’ll be missed.
My wheels will always squeak.
As someone you converted through sheer enthusiasm to HxH and Jojo, I’m sad to see you go. Future Jojo’s just won’t be the same without you. TheCartDriverdotCom has been (and is) a huge part of my overall anime experience, so thank you for being a part of it.
Good luck in your future endeavors, and may you use your powers for
goodevilBUTTSwhatever.Thank you very much for the kind words! The spirit of BUTTS will never die.
Good luck on whatever you may be doing next, or to life in general.
So long and thanks for all the f̶i̶s̶h̶ butts.
Thank you! The BUTTS are also grateful for your kindness.
Shin, I rooted for you as you bizarrely ventured through the world of Jojo. And thanks to your plugging of Popee and HxH, I learned for myself that clowns are genuinely horrible people.
It may have only been a couple of years (and I may have appeared only a handful of times in the comments), but I’m genuinely sad to see you go. Whatever you do from here on out (be it a sexy vampire, Aztec fitness god, serial killer, mob boss, priest, US president, etc), do it with passion and fanfaaaare. I’ll still be following you on Twitter, so keep up with the wrasslin.
SEE YOU BUTT COWBOY
SEE YOU BUTT COWBOY will be my epitaph. Thank you very much.
Compliments from an anon!
I’ve started watching HunterxHunter (mainly thanks to your including it in your top 30), and your backlog of posts on it (and your musings on Hisoka’s ass) are elevating the experience in the best way. May you keep on kicking (and writing about) butt in your future.
bows down
Thank you, anonymous friend!
Just another voice chiming in to thank you for all your writing, and I hope things go well for you in the future!
Thank you!
All i gotta say is…
NOOOOOOOOO!
But at the same time. Good luck in your future endeavours. I will miss reading your articles.
Thank you for the kind words.
thanks for all your fantastic posts! your posts got me into jojo which is a huge thing, i’d say, so thank you so very much! always continue being a cool dude.
Thanks! I’m glad the enthusiasm I felt when I got into JoJo’s transferred to other people.
I’ll miss you Shinmaru! I love reading everyone’s posts here. I’m so happy for you and all of the wonderful experiences and relationships this has opened up for you. I hope these wonderful things continue to happen even after you leave. Thank you so much for making my days so much brighter – honestly, thank you to all of you at The Cart Driver for this – and I am sure everyone else here who frequents this site is thankful too.
I guess I have to watch Popee now.
Thank you very much! 🙂
Hey, I’m really going to miss you and your posts! You actually got me into HxH and Utena, so that’s great taste all around. Thanks!
Thank you! The amount of people who watched anime they like a lot due to my words makes me happy.
Another long time lurker. Got into hxh because of your posts. Thanks for writing!
Thank you very much!
So long Shinmaru! Really enjoyed reading your posts over the years which always got me excited about anime I was watching, and equally cracked me up with your great insights and sense of humor. I hope you’ll still be watching a few shows here and there and active on MyAnimeList? Looking forward to working my way through your Top 30 Anime when I can, and best of luck to you!
First off, your avatar is adorable.
Secondly, thank you! My anime watching has scaled back quite a bit lately, but I still want to watch good series. I’ll probably pick up a few next season (JoJo, of course, being a given).
Bye Shinmaru! Always enjoyed your reviews best, so it’s sad to see you go, but good luck from here on out. Your appreciation for the ridiculous was always a joy to read!
Thank you very much! I always try my best to be enthusiastic for weird shit.
So Long Shinmaru, I have been lurking around Cart driver for quite sometime and You are probably the person who has the same taste in anime (around 40% I think). Anyways I’ll be missing your posts. God Bless.
Thank you!
I wish you good luck, Shinmaru! I really enjoyed your post, they were amazing and made me laught and think at the same time. I’ll miss your post. Greetings from Argentina
Thanks! I am glad I have Argentina in my corner.