Report Crossbell's Profile

I am a university student studying computer science who likes to pass time by watching anime, playing video games, and nerding out about forum mafia.

I'm not the biggest anime watcher but I do watch a fair bit now and then. Some of my most favorite anime include the Haruhi Suzumiya series, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, and ERASED.

I like to play JRPGs and read visual novels more than I like to watch anime. As many people who know me can tell you, I am a devoted fanboy of the Trails/Kiseki series of JRPGs due to their stellar worldbuilding, excellent characterization and storytelling, and the god-tier OST. Some other JRPGs I'm a fan of include the Persona series and Final Fantasy series (I have played FFs 1-6, working my way through the rest of the series very slowly).

I'm also a fan of visual novels, due to them having the two aspects of media I care about the most (good story and good music) while skipping out on the gameplay. Some of my favorite visual novels are the Ace Attorney series (Ace Attorney Investigations 2 has one of the best self-contained stories I've ever seen), the Zero Escape series, and Narcissu. I am currently reading through Higurashi and hope to start Umineko.

My biggest passion is forum mafia, which is a game I've been playing for five years. I play on multiple mafia sites including MAL. I am relatively decent at the game, with a couple of games played here and there, though I wouldn't call myself good at the game by any means. Feel free to PM me for any advice or mentoring, as I love helping new players learn and grow. I'm not the best mafia player, but I'd like to think I know something by playing this game since 2011.

I much prefer being town over being mafia, since I enjoy solving the game and relishing over scum lynches as town. Being scum ruins the game for me, as it's all deception and survival, and there's no game to solve - you're just playing to stay alive. Heck, I even feel bad for the town when I'm scum and they can't figure me out, though that only happened in one game since my scum game is extremely poor.

I also like to read books, surprisingly enough. Some of my most favorite books include the Mistborn trilogy and anything written by Malcolm Gladwell. I am also a sucker for biographies after reading Steve Jobs, which I consider to be one of the best books I've ever read. Other good biographies I've read include Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! and the Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. On the Japanese side of things I loved the Haruhi Suzumiya light novels and I'm currently reading Mushoku Tensei, which has amazing characterization so far.

I will steal this from Togs, one of my good friends:

Elements of a series that I like:
- An excellent story and soundtrack. Those two aspects of a anime/video game will get me through, no matter how bad the gameplay or pacing of the story is.
- Strong characterization. My litmus test for this is "if this character were to die right now, how profoundly affected will I be?" If I don't care or want the character to die, then that's not good characterization.
- PLOT TWISTS with good foreshadowing. I am addicted to well executed plot twists and that's what got me hooked on stories in the first place.
- Well written villains. I find that most villains are pretty mediocre, so I'm a sucker for strong, menacing villains that have believable motivations or are just downright evil or suave. Some examples I'm thinking of include Kotomine Kirei from the Fate series or Maou from the G-senjou no Maou VN.
- When an enemy becomes an ally, or an ally becomes an enemy. These tropes are common but I love them.
- Formulaic plots. If it's done well, I don't mind it.
- Anything that makes me experience emotion, such as sadness or fear. If a work of medium makes me cry, then it's elevated greatly in my book.

Elements of a series that I dislike:
- Boring or badly written characters. This is the quickest way for me to be turned off from a anime/video game/novel. If the characters aren't well written then I just roll my eyes every time I consume media.
- Plot twists without good foreshadowing. Whenever I experience one of these, it makes me angry. Plot twists should leave you feeling shocked and surprised, not make you bang your fist on the table.
- Predictable endings. When I can predict what the characters will do and how the story will end, I don't think it makes for a good ending. This can also apply to fight scenes as well, as if you watch a lot of them then you'll see how they devolve into formulaic, predictable mush pretty quickly.
- Fanservice. Every time I see this I roll my eyes.

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