StreamSuki

Yesterday, I launched StreamSuki, an index of free, legal, English-language streams of Japanese animation.

I spent many long hours building it, and I’m not sure why. I was downright obsessed with the technical implementation. I wanted to get it right, and to launch it. I did so at the expense of other, more pressing matters (like, er, keeping my house clean).

It turned into a pretty big project. It automatically indexes 9 different sites, parsing thousands of lines of code for the tell-tale markers of individual anime series or episodes. It builds and maintains a database of over 19,000 records, referencing well over 500 different works of anime.

I wrote code and I tested and I rewrote code and I restructured the database until eventually it really, really worked. This just consumed hours and hours of my time, but I was absolutely captivated by it. Sucked in. I’d lay in bed, trying to go to sleep, and go over parsing problems in my head.

For better or worse, the outcome is a complete, working site that I think will be of use to people. I’m glad for that, but I have to wonder a bit at my behavior. Why was I so obsessed?