The End

      366 days ago, John Sato was born, albeit under a different name. It was an impulsive decision, starting a blog, but also a calculated one. I had those grandiose dreams of becoming an internet celebrity, garnering hundreds of comments every day and becoming a prolific voice in every industry I touched. . .and I knew those were just dreams. I was fully aware of the fact that I would get few-to-no commenters, little exposure, would make posts I'd be less than happy with, and stumble along the way. That being the case, when I started I set myself a few reasonably lofty goals. I wanted to review Mushishi, Kino no Tabi, and Baccano!, my three favorite anime series. I wanted to review Fallout and Jazz Jackrabbit 2, a couple of my favorite video games. I wanted to articulate my views on why I feel video games are an art form. And finally, I wanted to have discussions about various aspects of games, anime, and as time went on even blogging.

      As of today, I've accomplished each of those goals, to an extent I can be satisfied with. In other words, I've completed what I originally set out to do when I started this blog. It's time to go.

      . . .Or so I say, but I'm not killing the site off just yet. The reason I started John Sato was so I could have an outlet for my thoughts and opinions on media (interactive or otherwise), and I doubt the need I have for that will go away so easily. What I am doing is putting this site in a state of sporadic hibernation. No more post obligations, deadlines, or apologies for not updating. In truth, this is less a change of policy than it is an admittance of what has already happened. I mean, I took an unannounced twenty day hiatus between November and December as far as post releasing goes. Granted, it was finals week, but still, hardly the sign of an active, fit blogger. All that's being accomplished is that I'm stressing out; I feel bad for not updating my blog but either have no inspiration or am too busy to really do anything about it. Furthermore, my stats are telling me that my few readers can deal just fine with my intermittent posting. So really, all I'm doing is trying to cut down on the amount of stress my hobby causes me. Hopefully, taking the obligations off won't turn me into a layabout that makes 2 posts a year or something; if so, however, I've already done what I originally meant to, so it won't be a huge loss.

      So, is this is end of John Sato? Well, it depends on how you look at it. If a blog that has no schedule or regular updates can truly be called “alive,” then no, it's not. If it can't, however, then yes; today marks the end of John Sato. Of course, there's also the view that a blog functioning like this is doomed anyway, so it might as well be the end. Either way, if you're looking for an excuse to remove my blog from your blogroll/reading list, this is the perfect chance (I completely understand).

      I think the real purpose with anniversary posts, however, is more to reflect on the year before than to focus on the one to come. That being the case, I would like to thank each and every one of my readers. The quality of my posts has been all over the place, and some people have understandably stopped visiting. To those that kept coming back in spite of it all, though: thank you. You're what makes this outlet so special. You're the reason I don't just delete my whole blog and start anew when I want to erase the shame of certain posts (well, you and the fact that naming blogs is hard). In the post I made six months ago, I thanked essentially everyone I'd interacted with in the blogosphere by name. I would love to do that here, but I want to keep this brief – and more to the point there are far too many names to list now! Rest assured, however, that if you've ever commented, told me you read a post on Twitter, or we've chatted somewhere else, that I remember you. Thank you playing the huge part that you did in what has been a fantastic, life-changing year for me.

      Please have a wonderful rest of your holiday season, and I hope we meet again someday – preferably sooner rather than later.