DAY ZERO: The first half of your life — just let it be — there’s still tomorrow.
For years, a number of anime bloggers have participated in the 12 Days of Anime project, where for the twelve days leading up to Christmas, they talk about meaningful moments in anime from the year. As Perpetual Morning describes it:
You’ve all had it. Some great moment or feeling you found this year that related to a show you watched. Love, longing, validation, satisfaction, utter hatred, disappointment, you name it. 2017 has come and passed and so has its anime. Surely, there is something that you will remember, some opinion or dedication to an episode you liked or a character you adored.
I meant to do this last year, but unfortunately it turned out to be one more promise I couldn’t keep, just like weekly blog posts here. But let me try to make up this year to you in this small way. I hope this journey will be worth it.
Posts will begin on December 14. I will update the index at the bottom of this post as they are published.
All titles to the 12 Days of Esports posts are rephrased translations of lyrics from Dong Songye’s “Anhe Bridge”:
My poor attempt at translating the whole song follows:
(The title to this entry is actually a line from Dong Songye’s break-out hit, “Miss Dong,” which briefly mentions “the clear water under the Anhe Bridge.” Anhe Bridge is a reference to the area in Beijing where Dong Songye grew up and is also the namesake of Dong Songye’s 2013 debut album.)
Finally, the thing I’ve always loved about writing is the collaboration, the way inspiration, envy, and admiration spur all of us to try to write for and better than each other. With that in mind, I’d like to plug bonnie’s own 12 Days of Overwatch series from last year, we wake up, we move on, which was written for the twelve days leading up to the beginning of the Overwatch League preseason. Bonnie’s entries are bursting with love and excitement for all the various things Overwatch means to her: from the boys of Runaway to the teams that didn’t make it into the OWL to watching the Overwatch World Cup to her own experience of playing Overwatch.
I’d also like to welcome you to join me. I know this is short notice, but if you want to write your own 12 Days series, be it with me as we count down to Christmas, or for the 12 days leading up to new year’s, or hell — the 12 days after new year’s, or any other time, I’d love to follow along!
INDEX:
one. one more look at you
two. those summer days, like youth
three. no choice but to replace our dreams
four. that most beautiful sentence
five. you came home
six. trapped in the city
seven. one more taste of autumn’s wine
eight. let me remember you
nine. the bullshit we’ve talked
ten. i know you can’t come back
eleven. i won’t expect anything from anyone
twelve. and so, hello — goodbye
