August Updates (10k subs, 50 patrons and more!)

Hi guys!

How is everyone? I feel like I've been saying this a lot recently, but it's been a very busy month for me. I've now submitted all my assignments for my Master's and only have my research project/dissertation/the report I'm producing for the agency I'm working with left. Those are due in in about two months. I'm leaving the city where I've been doing my degree this month, so I've spent a lot of time with my friends here and, as mentioned, also took ten days to go and visit undergrad and school friends I hadn't seen since the start of the pandemic or longer, as they all live in a different part of the country. I had a great time, but it's made the end of this month pretty hectic, and I've spent the past few days hastily packing up my studio in prep for moving out day (tomorrow). Of course, I also managed to release a video amidst it all!

In about a month my family are moving back to the UK for the first time in eight years (and to a completely new place) and I'll be moving back in with them, but in the meantime I'll be between places and focusing on my remaining uni work. I really need to put all my effort towards my dissertation and that combined with the move will make working on anything for YouTube hard anyway. Sort of for this reason I've decided to take September off YouTube stuff, though mostly because I haven't had a whole month off since starting my channel (almost two years ago!) and I think it'll only be good for me (even though I kind of have to tear myself away). 2021 has been a significantly slower year for my channel uploads-wise so it probably doesn't feel this way to anyone else, but this summer has definitely been the most full-on few months since I started making videos and I think I need a rest to let the creative part of my brain renew itself a little. A lot of the projects I have left on my list of things to make are larger videos that I'm not ready for yet (mostly because of the time that has to go into watching/rewatching/replaying things pre-production, which I'm slowly chipping away at for multiple of them at once, but a few are also projects I'm still working up the emotional readiness to tackle). In addition to this, I'm coming to the end of the anime I've already seen that I want to make one-off videos on, so I need time to start getting through new titles. I do have plenty I suspect I'll want to cover once I have seen them, and one of the big bonuses of the channel for me is it being the push I need to start getting through more of those series. Now I've reached the ripe old age of 23, I worry that I'm going to die before I see all the anime I want to more than I did at 13. TL;DR, no video in September.

Incidentally, there's now 50 of you here on this Patreon. This is mind-blowing to me. It's no exaggeration to say you guys are literally helping keep me fed and alive which is sort of important if I'm to keep making videos. This Patreon is all the more invaluable after all the financial challenges the past year has thrown up, which only makes me more astounded at all of your generosity, as I know many of you will have experienced the same struggles. Needless to say, please only stay a member of the Patreon for as long as you feel able, as I completely understand some may want to support me but are only realistically able to for a limited time. I won't say it's a good thing that such value is attached to money beyond its intrinsic worth, but the honest truth is that the idea that people enjoy what I make enough to sacrifice any of their disposable income to support it really helps me to see merit in what I do. I don't take it for granted for a second -- really, thank you. All of that to say I'd love to hear from you guys what kind of content you enjoy from me and which series you think I'd like or want to hear my thoughts on. I can never promise to cover something (though we're slowly edging towards that stretch goal where you guys will get to pick a video topic!), but I keep every recommendation in mind, and if I get one for something already on my to-watch list, it bumps it up that bit further. Please do use this post as a space to let me know what you'd like to see on the channel in the future, even if it's not a specific series, but "more videos like ___, or covering this specific subject matter, please."

I will of course still be posting on here throughout September (and the end of August, the podcast is forthcoming). My first project when I'm back is likely to be the Mirai video -- I'm not 100%, but I don't anticipate that one taking long to make, so I think it'd work out with me having roughly the same gap between uploads as usual that way. I'll keep you all posted.

Is that everything? Oh, and I hit 10,000 subscribers. I posted about that here.

Thank you all for everything. I'll be posting on here plenty in the coming weeks, but still, have a great month!