Why Otakubate is on pause

Otakubate was supposed to be the anime platform I actually wanted to use. Debates, polls, clubs, a support chatbot that could actually hold a conversation. React, TypeScript, Vite, Tailwind. AnimeSearch pulling from AniList's GraphQL API instead of Jikan, streaming through Consumet. It was moving well.

Then I relocated to another state. Same day, I got robbed.

I'm not writing this so anyone feels bad for me. I just want to explain why the project went quiet instead of letting it disappear from my GitHub with no context.

For a while after that I didn't even have a phone. Every commit, every fix, every "let me just push this one thing" happened through GitHub's web editor, on whatever device I could get my hands on. It works, but it's not how you build real momentum on something that needs sustained attention. It's just enough to keep it from dying completely.

So Otakubate sat. I never deleted the repo, never stopped thinking about finishing the Aiko chatbot integration. Just paused, because rebuilding my own situation had to come first.

I'm still not fully back on my feet. Right now it's just the laptop, no wifi, no router. But that's still more than I had, and I wanted this documented properly instead of just quietly picking it back up one day like nothing happened. If your own project ever stalled for reasons that had nothing to do with the code itself, you get it.

Otakubate isn't finished. It's just waiting its turn.