Interview with Protaku
Reviewed and edited by the reporter with a red tie.
Protaku, thanks for joining us with your dank memes. Anything you'd like to say before we begin?
Yes. Lately I've really been wanting to update my profile into something more dank than it already is, but I didn't want to scare anyone away before this interview was over haha. I'll probably do it right after this goes live though because why not.
Oh and I'm going to be writing a lot here because I have some free time at the moment of writing this. Brace yourselves.
Tell us more about yourself
You ask and you shall receive.
I came out of the womb on October 7th 1994, which makes me 21 years old. I am of Hispanic origins. Currently, I reside in the state of California where I've lived most of my life; USA of course. Before that, I had moved and lived in Utah for about 5 years before I moved back to California because of family issues. Now I live in a small city situated in an arid desert and any southern California resident should be able to figure out where that is.
Honestly, I'm not too interesting until you get to know me. Depending on who you are, I can either reply to you on my wall or on the forums with just one line or with an elaborate multiple paragraph reply. These days, I prefer the former for lack of time and I reserve my elaborate replies for just my closest friends here. If I get to know you though (and I'm willing to talk to almost anyone) you'll find out I'm a huge softie who's a total spaz and has shit taste in everything, at least according to a bunch of my friends.
One of my blog entries already talks a lot about this, but I'll reiterate myself anyway:
When I graduated from high school in 2012, I didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life or even what I wanted to do right then and there. At the time, I was a huge gamer and I still am today, but ever since I was introduced to anime in my first year of college I put gaming in the backseat. Well I've technically been watching anime all my life but only recently has it become my main hobby. You can look at my profile or anime list to see what anime I'm into. As for gaming, I haven't yet subjected myself to the PC master race, so I play on my Xbox One. The two games I'm actively playing right now are Fallout 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, the latter mostly because a lot of my friends play it. I also have a 3DS I play Super Sm4sh on from time to time, and I'm confident enough in my skills to say I'd defeat most of everyone reading this. Totally not an indirect call for someone to play with.
I like playing Pokemon Showdown too but I doubt anyone here knows what that is beyond just the franchise name.
Hmmmmm what else? Oh, I'm an aspiring writer! Right now I'm working on a project some of my friends are helping me out with that I hope turns into a full blown novel one day. I used to be working on another novel in high school about a homeless family trying to survive in the streets of the big apple, but I got kind of bored of the idea and scraped it around 100 pages in. Sadly though, I don't read or write as much as I used to and I purely have anime to blame for this. If being a writer doesn't work out for me, I'm currently studying to become an English teacher one day.
I think this is a huge enough text wall as it is, so I'll start wrapping this section up. I'm a very weird individual in general, almost anyone can agree with this sentiment and I don't deny it. If I did I would be denying a part of myself and I don't want that. I'm obsessed with memes and GIFs; If only you could understand how much willpower I summoned to not post GIF reactions all over this text wall, you'd be amazed. I usually use emoticons too but even I don't wear sandals to a formal party.
Give us a brief history of your time on MAL. Which sections of MAL are you the most active on?
Well my join date is public for anyone and everyone to see. I wasn't really active on the forums though until early September of 2014. Heck, I never even wanted to be active here; I just wanted to learn how to use a forum since this was the first forum I ever joined and now look what you guys have gone and done to me lol. Before MAL, I recorded my anime list on a Word doc and I still do today since it's much more accurate than MAL's. Oh and I also got accepted into MAL Rewrite somewhat recently and I hope to get some of my synopsis rewrites out soon.
I click the Recent Posts link, and from there I click on whatever threads sound interesting. I'd say I'm most active in CD since it seems to be the most active board. I lurk in all the boards at least a little though, besides Forum Games since those seem really pointless to me. If you ever see me lurking or floating around, feel free to say hi.
How do you think the MAL community sees you? How do you feel about that?
The MAL community sees me as something? Well if they do, they'd probably see me as one of the few guys on the site who loves School Days, but this twat actually went through the trouble of writing a whole dissertation defending School Days; What a no life— I topkek all the time, but I'm kind of glad I'm in a minority. Just about anyone who knows anything about me knows I can make some shit weird or strangely intelligent threads from time to time; I'm like a mixed bag of cancer and the cure for cancer for MAL. And I don't mind all of this. When people look at me here, I want them to think of an edgy mofo that gives no quacks. People seem to think I like incest too because I'm all about Hiroomi Nase but...I'll leave that up to speculation for now.
What do you feel about the board you use the most? What do you feel about the community in general?
Well due to the nature of Recent Posts and the popularity of CD, I end up frequenting that board the most. For the most part I like it, but I think the guidelines are a bit too uptight for it and they could be loosened a bit. I'll elaborate more in the next part of the interview.
I feel like I'll get ridiculed for not calling the MAL community a cesspool of decadence, but I really never saw it that way, at least as a whole. If you don't interact with the cancer, you won't acknowledge the cancer. It's as simple as that. Everyone acts like shitposters are the scourge of the earth, but we're they're just trying to have a good time like the rest of us but in their own way. I remember I was treated nicely my first few weeks here and by the time shit started flowing in I had built up an immunity to it on the forums. You're a good bunch of people for the most part, it's just that a lot of you are misunderstood and need a helping hand to guide you onto the path of righteousness.
How do you feel about how the site is run? Especially in regards to the moderators and admins.
Oh fuck, believe it or not I've never been banned on this website and I want to keep my streak clean so I'll limit what I say here.
This site is way too leftist for me, almost Bernie Sanders leftist. I dislike how (mods) have to pander to all the lower denominators that are people's feelings here even though most cases where people report something is just a plain and obvious case of someone being butt hurt. Making someone butt hurt =/= an offense worthy of a warning or ban in my book. Mods should be experienced enough to tell between being someone getting butthurt and someone legitimately throwing spite and hate at another user. I'd apply to be a mod, and even though I'd take my job seriously, I'd be so lax with the rules I'd be fired within a month.
And like I said earlier, the rules and restrictions placed on CD are way too superfluous in my opinion. The newest 30-character rule was just the newest pile of dung to land in there.
Mods also take the definition of spam too liberally and every mod is free to essentially call anything they want spam and there's nothing we can really do to refute them once they delete our replies in threads. I put a lot of thought into most of my replies, be they only one or two lines sometimes, and when I wake up in the morning and see around 3 of my forums posts got deleted at night, I can't help but reconsider why I'm still on this website that's run the wrong way at times. But it's ok, I just rebel by actually shitposting and smart posting less and dancing on the edgy edge I like dancing on.
Any users you like? Why?
I like everyone on my friend's list that I actively talk to. I guess I'll name some you guys might not know much about:
Harrymanhunter: Legit my best bro on MAL. I've sent him more lines of text than probably most of you have to all your friends here combined. He's so like me, yet unlike me and we both know this. We're like twins but one of us came out black and the other white. He's not active on the forums outside episode discussions but I'm sure at least one of you has seen him around.
Enharmonic: There was some drama here and now she doesn't frequent the website as Enharmonic anymore, but I still actively talk to her today even outside MAL. She's a great person at heart even though she can be a huge tsundere at times. She used to make edgy threads like me often so some of you chaps should remember her.
ExTamplier: He's chill and edgy like me and I like that. We always have quick little conversations here and there that I always like participating in. I swear I confuse his replies in the forums for mine sometimes.
TheHonestThief: He's like Harrymanhunter but more like me xD One of the few people I still write essay size replies to as well. He's written some great anime reviews for MAL too.
hoopla123: Yeeeeeee boi. We can relate to each other on so many levels, and we even met by arguing about best girl, it was the best. Haven't been talking to him long but I know he be dank as fck like me. And I like dank people.
I'd say a little bit about all my friends here, but then I'd keep you all here longer than I should.
Any users you dislike? Why?
I find it weird how people can just dislike users so easily, it takes a lot for me to legitimately dislike someone. Only one person fits that description to me, so much so that I even blocked him, but he's a nobody on MAL and always will be so I won't mention him. Instead, I'll list some users that I maybe just kind of didn't understand at first or still don't understand.
Red_Keys: I used to think he was just an asshole but now I know he's more of a sarcastic asshole and that's slightly better. He's like the edgy I dream of being but not really. Oh and he wants to be a writer, I think, so he's cool for that too.
Moog: I don't even know ... He always just struck me as too condescending to others and not even in the sarcastic way Red_Keys would. Maybe he's a bit too blunt for his own good, at least to others outside his inner circle.
I guess that's about it. I also have an innate but petty dislike for forum mods, especially when they flex their authority too much, but I have nothing against them personally on an individual level.
What are some MAL members you consider the most influential?
If by influential you mean a quasi-popularity contest, Mayuka would probably take the cake. Stark700 would probably have even more influence though if he did things besides just make episode or chapter threads for almost everything lol. And if we're being literal, of course Xinil or Kineta have the most influence.
Is there a MAL member you would want to take on a date or get to know better? Who and why?
I talk to a decent amount of girls here, but if we're being serious, I never really saw this place as a dating site. That, and asking to date someone from a whole other continent and start a long-distance relationship is kind of, eh? I know of people who did find what you'd call love here, but such a thing for me seems terribly unlikely. I won't deny I wouldn't mind the idea of it though.
Do you see yourself leaving MAL in the near future? Why?
Just up and leaving MAL, no. Slowly but surely over time? Probably yes. All good things come to an end, my friends. I won't be young forever and neither will you guys.
As writer of a School Days dissertation, what would you say to a reader here who's been hesitant to watch it thanks to its negative reputation?
Well to someone who's both never seen School Days and hasn't been spoiled in the least yet, I'd say GO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW. It's really something that's best if you go in blind, but with how infamous the anime is it's really hard to avoid spoilers. But even if you've already been spoiled, I believe you should still give the series a shot since spoilers also don't mean the end of the world. And to those that have already seen the series and most likely disliked it, do feel free to read my little essay on School Days and maybe it will sway your opinion just a tad afterwards.
You are very open about your love for memes. Would you give us your favorite?
Yeah I'm probably the most open person about memes on MAL. I don't even remember how I got so into them to be honest. It was a while ago now. But my MAL profile is 60% memes now and it'd be full of even more memes if I didn't fear for people's sanity.
My favorite memes? That's a tough question. I legitimately have thousands of memes saved on my laptop and phone, but if I had to name you my favorite meme icon it would undoubtedly be Doge! Doge is love, Doge is life <3 Much emoticons, such emphasis. Dank Woody memes would probably come in second; I even gave them an entire section in my “about me” just for them and them alone.
Red Note: Even makes the memes. Might drop a request for a Shia one later.
Do you have any authors that have inspired you as a writer? How have they influenced you?
It's going to sound generic, but Stephen King has definitely inspired and influenced me as a writer. I love how in his novels he doesn't pander to PC and he just writes regardless of how graphic or contemporary his ideas might be. If you read enough of his works, you begin to notice patterns in how his stories are structured as well, like his own identity or trademark, and that notion sort of set me out to also try separating myself from the standard crowd of writers one day. I primarily want to be a Horror writer because of him, and to not just write a plain Horror novel, but a Horror novel with deep and interesting characters with a gripping plot from start to finish. Stephen King's It is probably the best novel I can think with those qualities, and is undoubtedly my favorite of his works.
Aside from the games you are playing right now, care to recommend to gamers out there some of your favorite titles?
My favorite titles are all pretty generic too haha. I adore every entry in the Bioshock series, and I believe it's a great example of powerful storytelling in video games, so the series is a definite must play if you already haven't. Mass Effect is also another great series with storytelling that's more tailored to the player, complete with great action and dialogue to boot.
A lesser known video game that I loved and still love today is Catherine, a puzzle based platformer that's infamous for being wickedly difficult and I'm definitely not denying that. But I think it's more of an acquired taste so it's not for everyone. If you're interested though, you can probably pick it up for like 5 bucks at Gamestop. It was well worth the money for me even at 60$.
You seem to love James Cameron and Titanic (Ladies, take note). What do you admire about the filmmaker?
James Cameron is one of the most acclaimed directors of all time, we should all know this. But adding on to that, he's also produced some of my all time favorite films like Aliens, Avatar, and of course Titanic. I'm kind of bummed the new Star Wars is knocking out a bunch of his film records but that's just the times I suppose. Maybe the Avatar sequel will set things right again.
Is there something unasked you would like to talk about?
Hmmmmm I think that's about it actually. If you guys are curious about anything else, you can always ask a question on my profile or somewhere around in this thread.
Can you recommend us 3 members who we can choose from to interview next and briefly explain why you would love to read their interviews?
ExTamplier: I don't know why he doesn't have an interview here yet, he's easily one of the best candidates for it. It'd be cool to see his interview since I actually don't know much about him since we never really talk about ourselves for some reason. Maybe he's already been invited to do an interview but rejected the offer, that seems like him too.
hoopla123: Aw yiss, I know he'd shred glory all over his interview. We usually talk dank so it'd be interesting to see him adopt a more genteel demeanor like I did for this interview. But I still wanna see him talk about the the glorious 2D master race in it so I'm conflicted.
BT-kun: The chap has laid down 20k comments on profiles. I think that's a legend we'd all like to learn more about even though I already know a lot about this legend. The legend also has a super kawaii demeanor and I'd want to see how that translates into here ~
Any feedback on the interview format?
I like it. I'm a firm believer of "If it's not broken don't fix it," so possibly keep that in mind if you guys are ever thinking of big changes. Don't be like MAL and just break everything haha.
Any shameless self-promotions? Perhaps you want more publicity for your club, or a suggestion for the community to see?
Yes. I want you all to scroll through my profile and look me in the eye and tell me I'm not the dank king or the meme king. Most of you are plebs before me in these categories. I'd like some recognition plz fam.
Also, I don't really have any social media but you can ask me more stuff on my Ask.fm. Or leave me comments, whatever works. I don't bite, usually.
Oh and since you mentioned clubs, I'm going to promote MAL Rewrite and urge who ever wants to apply to go and apply already. We're like mods and just want more people in our ranks, in particular though I think we need more editors and coordinators if those positions interest you; But writers are always welcome too. Editors and coordinators just make the whole process much faster for us writers and help us pump out synopses much faster.
This concludes the interview. Thanks for sitting down with us. |
