Blerdy Otome Monthly Recap – July 2020

Hey there Blerdy Tribe, man has it been a crazy year… and yes, I am still working from home. Is it too late to just count 2020 as a loss and jump to 2021? July was a bit of a mixed bag for me since I spent most of the month dealing with an ongoing leak that caused severe damage to my ceiling. Which was just one more reason for me to find a new apartment and blessing of all blessings I was approved for a great new place and I’ll be out of this hell hole come September!!

There were of course some positives in July: I was invited to participate in a round-table discussion with fellow black creatives over on the Manga Mavericks’s podcast! I had a blast talking with some truly talented individuals and it was great swapping stories and just all around having a great time. (I’ll share the link when the episode goes live). I’m also one of three hosts in an upcoming podcast… but, the details of that are a bit hush hush for the time being, so stay tuned for that!

August brings with it more fun opportunities and the 5th Anniversary of this blog!! So, before we dive in to the new stuff, let’s take a bit to look back at the month of July here on Blerdy Otome!!

Favorite July Posts

So, when I wrote my anime gatekeeping essay, I was actually attempting to write about gatekeeping in the games community. But, I ended up running super long with the intro and rather than writing a ridiculously long post on gatekeeping, I decided to split the difference and write two separate posts. However, don’t get it twisted, gatekeeping in the gaming community is something I’ve been wanting to talk about for a VERY long time, I just wanted to be sure that when I finally penned this post, that I didn’t devolve into incoherent ranting. I try to keep things classy here.

Confessions of an Otome Gamer: Otome Game Fans are REAL Gamers

A love hotel, the adult film industry, and a high school aged uke… sounds like the set up for a really sleazy, cliche boys love series. But don’t let the synopsis fool you, Castle Mango written by Narise Konohara and illustrated by Muku Ogura is a surprisingly heartfelt read. A hidden gem in an otherwise sex heavy genre, Castle Mango is a breath of fresh air!

Castle Mango – Boys Love Manga Review

Blog Posts from July

Interviews

• Behind the Games – Interview with Nix Hydra

Thrifty Gaming 

• Thrifty Gaming: Games That Won’t Blow Your Budget #58
• Thrifty Gaming: Games That Won’t Blow Your Budget #59
• Thrifty Gaming: Games That Won’t Blow Your Budget #60

Game Reviews

• In Blood – Demo Review
• Taisho x Alice Otome Review – A Twisted Fairytale Adventure
• Spring Leaves No Flowers – Game Review
• Melanin Monday – ‘Pale Spectrum’
• Melanin Monday – ‘Xenopathy’

Non-Game Reviews

• Therapy Game Vol. 1 – BL Manga Review
• From Chatrooms to Panels – Mystic Messenger Webtoon First Impressions
• Secret XXX – BL Manga Review
• Mr. Love: Queen’s Choice Episode 1 – Anime First Impressions

Essays

• Hi, I Like Anime! YES, I’m a REAL Anime Fan!
• Visual Novels Are Long or Why I haven’t finished that review yet…

Instagram Fave Post

Of all my social media accounts, Instagram is where I’m most active. So, here is my favorite Instagram post from July!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Blerdy Otome (@blerdyotome)

From Around the Reader

I’ve been taking time out to read posts from my fellow bloggers here on WordPress and these are some of the posts that I most enjoyed this month!! I highly recommend giving each of these posts a read and maybe check out some of their other posts as well!

Where Are the Shojo Anime? – That Random Editor’s Anime Blog (The Random Editor)

On Writing: Karasuno vs. Shiratorizawa (Haikyu!!) – Meghan Plays Games (Meghan)

Best Webtoons – MangaOtakuu (Mangaotakuu)

Canola Confession – On Yaoi – Phoenix Talks Pop Culture Japan (RisefromAshes)

The Titan’s Bride – First Impressions – Yaoi Playground (Mistress of Yaoi)

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