Writing an Introduction

Writing an introduction for something that is entirely about myself without sounding self-indulgent and pretentious is a very difficult thing to do. With that in mind, I'll skip directly to the meat and potatoes of this blog post.

Part 1: What Do I Like?

A question people always ask me is, “What type of anime/manga do you like?” That’s a question that requires such a complex answer it almost results in my brain imploding each time it gets asked. But, since I have this space to share my thoughts more thoroughly, I can go into detail.

Let’s start from the beginning.

I have been watching anime and reading manga for as long as I can remember. My earliest memories of sentience begin around my pre-school days, and at that time, I had already started my anime DVD collection. By the time I was 3 years old, I had collected a couple of Studio Ghibli films on DVD (namely Ponyo and Totoro), which I would watch repeatedly until I fell asleep each day. Since I had very little money for DVDs, most of my anime viewership came by way of television (4kids TV, Cartoon Network, etc.). I grew to love One Piece, Yugioh (GX), Digimon, Battle B-Daman, Duel Masters, Rave Master, Blue Dragon, and Zatch Bell, as well as series that had a high level of crossover with anime fans like Ben 10, Generator Rex, Totally Spies, Code Lyoko, Bakugan, etc. I moved a bit during my childhood, but I enjoyed bonding with people over my love of anime (wherever I went, there were always people who loved anime, which was great).

Around the age of 8 or 9, I discovered that you could find anime and manga on the internet. What a wondrous world I had discovered. Even though I was watching anime on YouTube, mirrored in 480p resolution, each episode split into three parts, my love for anime only grew. By the time I was 15, I was hosting online anime clubs with hundreds of people (yikes!) and promoting my favorite series (RahXephon and A Certain Magical Index at the time).

I can spare you the rest of the details, but I say all of this to make the point that I’ve had enough time to sift through so much that I have a pretty good understanding of what I like and dislike.

What I’ve come to realize is that, in general, I have a strong preference for things that have some sort of moral or emotional value, whether it be teaching you an important lesson about life, portraying a touching love story, or simply showing a hero’s journey. I also appreciate being able to enjoy a story that shows strong bonds between people, as well as people trying to complete a mission against all odds. To me, this is something that never gets old.

Some of my favorite stories include:

• Fate/Stay Night
• Eureka Seven
• Zatch Bell
• Gurren Lagann
• Heavenly Delusion
• Steins;Gate
• Code Geass

Some Other Things I Enjoy:

Banter

Banter may be the only reason I still watch anime. If not for excellent scriptwriting, I may have switched fully over to manga a long time ago. In addition, this is also why I enjoy watching dubs because if there’s one thing they excel at, it's writing jokes. Some of the funnier ones that I have watched completely or have watched in part include Haganai, The 100 Girlfriends, Bleach, and Konosuba.

Fantasy & Magic

Those who are close to me know that I am a massive fan of fantasy. With that in mind, many of the series in my favorites incorporate fantasy elements, whether they’re more modern urban fantasy series like Fate/Stay Night and A Certain Magical Index or pure fantasy like The Familiar of Zero. I really enjoy series that have some sort of magic, as it's a classic trope that can be modified in so many different ways and remain fresh to the reader.

Expansive Worlds

One thing that I love, though I don’t often find it, is a unique and diverse setting for a story. The most impressive that I’ve seen to date would have to be A Certain Magical Index and Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Both of those series go into such an extreme level of detail on the world and give the viewer just about everything they could ever want (and maybe some they even don’t want). I appreciate an author that takes time to properly immerse the audience.

Now you know what I like. If you need any further explanation, please don’t reach out. Just read the above again.

Part 2: How Do I Find a Series?

To put it simply, finding a good series is like scouting NFL prospects. It’s a skill that comes with time. Eventually, as you become a more seasoned fan, you begin to have an idea of what you like and don’t like. Not to sound like an old curmudgeon, but this is something that I find annoying/weird about the newer generation of anime fans. At times, people have no patience to figure out what they like or don’t like and simply watch what social media friends tell them to watch or allow an advertising algorithm to send them their next title. Try new things! (Hopping off my soapbox now).

For me, the primary way I have found new titles has been by way of a few methods:

1. MyAnimeList: This is the largest online anime catalog site and one of the oldest. Definitely an important place where you can learn a lot. Under each series, they have manual recommendations based on the series page you’re currently on, as well as auto-recommendations made based on the genre and topic of the series.
2. r/manga: While it is a Reddit community (I will eventually share my issues with large Reddit communities), this one still does a decent job of sticking to its roots and allowing niche titles to grow in popularity. I have been able to learn about lots of fresh new and underrated content on this subreddit. Notice that I did not and probably won’t recommend r/anime for finding new content. Nothing against it, but I don’t think it’s good for that because of the level of activity.
3. MangaUpdates: This is a very old site that is one of the most influential in the manga community. To put it simply, you can go on here to find out who is translating what manga, when a manga is released, etc.
4. Word of Mouth: This is a much better way of finding recommendations, as the people who know you are much more likely to recommend something you would be interested in.

Generally speaking, I will casually surf r/manga looking for a new name, or navigate to the MyAnimeList page of one of my favorite titles, then dive into the recommendations, looking for something good.

Part 3: How Do I Consume a Series?

Honestly, I just try to watch/read the whole thing. I don’t have any real method for how I think it should be done. Some people have a “three-episode rule,” but I don’t think that works, as that’s not how literature or television shows are written half the time. There is no arbitrary amount of time to know whether or not something will truly be “good.” In addition, something being “good” sometimes has no impact on how quickly I finish it or whether I watch it again, etc. There are quite a few series that I have never finished, even though I think they were very good; I just wasn’t in the mood for them at the moment.

The most important thing for me, however, is to not read about, Google, or look up any information about a series on social media before finishing it. When watching anime with friends growing up, I found that we would watch a series together, love it, then Google it to find that everyone on the internet hated it or were posting spoilers. This could have directly influenced what we were looking for in the series or what we thought would happen. I could go on a rant about how the advent of social media (outside of dedicated forums) has been catastrophic for the culture of anime and manga, but that is another discussion for another day.

In any case, the most important thing is consuming things as blindly as possible to form your own opinion.

Part 4: How I Decide How I Feel About a Series

As a much-needed sequel to the previous section, I’m going to discuss how I collect my thoughts on a series. I rarely rate things with a number because that’s a somewhat cheap method that adds very little to the discussion. What am I rating it off? Vibes? I would much rather explain how I feel in words.

There are many different things I look for:

• What Was I Supposed to Get Out of This?
  Were they trying to be deep and fumbled? Was this a mystery series, but the mystery was completely obvious the entire time? What was the author’s intent? I try to ask myself what the purpose of the story being written was. This is an important step because I’m not going to say a comedy anime is utter trash for not being The Epic of Gilgamesh.

• Did They Accomplish Their Goal?
  I try to think about whether or not the author accomplished their goals (or the audience's goals) during the story. For a story like Steins;Gate, I would give a resounding yes, but for something like My Hero Academia, I struggle to say this happened, not just because the audience didn’t get the outcome they wanted, but also because there was so much done haphazardly and in a way that felt a bit cheap.

• Did I Have a Good Time Watching It?
  If I had a good time watching it, it was enjoyable at the very least. This says nothing about the quality of the story as a whole, but if something is fun, it’s fun. Think of an NBA player who has a beautiful style of play but isn’t very good at the game of basketball. Of course, I would say most things I found enjoyable are actually pretty good in terms of story and other important things, but there are clear exceptions.

• Can I Appreciate Its Place in History?
  There are some series that I have to admit were genre-defining (especially if I was around to see them become popular). When I think of series like The Familiar of Zero, which was incredibly important to the isekai genre, it’s really easy for me to appreciate the author’s contributions. This goes for things like Fate and Index as well, which practically created new genres out of thin air.

• Vibe Stuff: Music, Visuals, Art, etc.
  This is where things like Guilty Crown shine. Some things are ahead of the curve when it comes to how beautiful they look. I notice that, while I have never made something a favorite of mine simply based on how it looks, a series can become memorable and inspire quite a few YouTube compilation videos just off vibes.

That’s it for this post. Goodbye!!