Have you ever wondered if you could incorporate other types of journaling into your bullet journal, especially if they’re two completely different types of journaling styles? Well hop on in!

Hi! Viv or @/bujowmee from YouTube / Instagram here talking about how I incorporate two of my favorite things in my journal! These spreads are one of my favorites because there’s endless possibilities on making a spread. In this blog, I’ll be talking you through ‘what,’ ‘how,’ and ‘mix’ about a spread with anime in your bullet journals!

Supplies For An Anime Bullet Journal

For the spreads today, I used the supplies below which you may find helpful. Remember to use my code VIV10 for 10% off on your orders at Archer and Olive; we definitely love ourselves some discount!

• A5 Archer and Olive Notebook
• Acrylograph Pens or Calliographs
• A5 Archer and Olive Notepad
• double-sided glue tape
• Stickers, washi tapes, and doilies 
• optional, but they definitely add a good flair to the spreads!

Watch instead of read? For a quick overview on the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of the incorporation, check out the video below!

But…what is it?

Before we jump into incorporating anime into our spreads, let’s talk a little about what anime journaling looks like! I started anime journaling back in May 2020 after getting back to anime! Anime is the hand-drawn and computer generated animation originating from Japan. It describes all animated works, regardless of style or origin. Anime journaling is a form of journaling where you create a spread for a character! The spread can be about your favorite character or it can also be a bunch of characters in the same anime. You can also create spreads in the form of a review for the anime! 

This spread created by @0ueix on Instagram is an example of how to create a spread about a character! The layering and entering take up most of the space making the writing in the spread reduced to a minimum. For the text you write in the spread, it can be about anything, ranging from your views about the character/anime to how your day has been. Many anime journalists also create spreads with only images and tend to not write anything. If this is the style for you, refer to this amazing spread created by @jujo.dam on Instagram!

Another form of anime journaling is creating small minimal spreads! These spreads are really easy to create and take up very little to none of your time. If you’re thinking of starting an anime journal but don’t have much time on your hands, you can definitely try using this form of journaling! Below is an example of a very minimal spread created by @daedal.nyx!

But…how does one even?

Here’s some steps on how to create a small anime corner in your journal! If you’re more of a visual person, feel free to skip reading this and go directly to the photo below this paragraph for the steps! For everybody who’d read and refer, follow the steps below the photo!

• Step 1: Base
• The first step to any kind of spread is to create a base! I’ve used the craft paper from the A&O notepad as my base. The base can be changed to anything else that you may prefer, like some other kind of paper or even some velum!

• Moving on, we’ll be layering this spread using doilies! Again, using doilies is just what I like to do, but you can also use paper scraps or anything else in this step.

• This step is pretty self-explanatory and all you need to do is just stick the character of your choice on top of the layering you’ve created!

• I’ll be dividing this step into two parts to make it easier!
• First part: Sticker
• All you need to do here is stick stickers of your choice! For the little spread I made, I decided to use stickers from @sendingyoulovealways on Instagram, but you can also use stickers from A&O.
• Second Part: Doodles
• For this part, you can use a gel pen to create little accents and doodles here and there to add some flair! I used the A&O gel pen since it works on dark and light papers just the same.

And that’s all there is to how you can create a minimal spread in your journal! Now that you know what it is and how you can create a spread in an anime journal, let’s dive into how i mix them in my bullet journal!

Let’s mix!✨

For creating spreads with anime in your bullet journals, I tend to stick to the corners! They’re more flexible to work with and you can change how you layer as well! I’ll be showing you some spread from my journal earlier this year where I used anime in my spreads along with spreads from another bullet journalist on Instagram, @awa_studies, to show different ways to incorporate anime into your bullet journal!

This part in my bullet journal is where I decorated a corner in my bullet journal! This time, I decided to not use any kind of layering. base and just stuck the characters directly, meaning I just skipped to step three directly and ended up only using doodles from step four. I liked how it turned out and was quite happy with how minimalist it looked.

I also decided to add quotes from the anime to the weekly spread. The anime I chose had a lot of affirmations and I decided to use those as the quotes so that I read it every time I open my journal. It’s another form of self-care that you can incorporate in your journals as well!

As for the calendar in my black journal, I decided to use small symbols instead of drawing characters. I thought it’d be easier to use symbols since I used characters in my white bullet journal! I also wanted to create more space to write in the calendar which was also another reason why I used smaller symbols about the anime in my black journal.

This cover page for December was created by Alysia from @awa_studies on Instagram and is a perfect example of how you can create anime as a theme in your bullet journal! Her journals feature themes where she draws characters from an anime in her spreads. The most recent theme related to anime that she created is SpyxFamily! My calendars in the black journal are inspired by her as well.

If you’d like to create a spread similar to mine in your journal, you can use this printable above! It’s a printable of small chibi faces of another character from ‘Haikyuu!!’ The character in the printable is Iwaizumi Hajime and you can use these small faces as stickers in your daily weeklies or even your cover page! Feel free to tag me in your stories and your posts whenever you use them!

Again, if you’d like to see how I created the spread above, it’s in the video on the top of the blog! The steps I use are just the same as the steps I've written in this blog. 

There is no absolute way to create spreads in an anime journal, but hopefully you’ve found the ideas in this blog post to be helpful; I hope you’re excited to add in some anime elements to your bullet journal! Feel free to tag me, @bujowmee, @archerandolive, @archerandolive.community, #AOShare, and #archerandolive in your spreads related to this blog on Instagram. We can’t wait to see what you create! :))