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I am a fan of Anime for its epic stories which are hard to get from american movies/television. I have only gotten deeply into them though in the last dozen years or so, but have been watching since Star Blazers and Battle of the Planets (Gatchaman) aired on US television. I generally get into the manga side if I get impatient waiting for the next episode of an anime to be released. This then leads me to find a bunch of new series and bounce back and forth between the two.

The greatest things about anime, as compared to other forms of entertainment (especially US TV), is that there is something for everyone and it caters to niche viewers.
In US Television a show may have a main genre and target audience, but the network executives will try to encompass every other possible audience they can.
However, in anime, each show tends to target a specific genre and/or niche of viewers and caters to them pretty exclusively. Sure, it may pick up a few outside views or ones that aren't so picky, but they will attempt to give their target audience as much as they possibly can. If you have ever been a huge fan of something (video game, TV show, musical band, etc) and suddenly they changed something that change how you expect and wanted it to be (made it stupid easy for casual players, added a terrible character, made a lame/tame album that gets an absurd amount of airplay) then you understand how it feels to be a fan of a niche and how painful it is to have your love warped and twisted to include things you don't want included. Then comes anime where they will target a specific audience and overload them with everything they could possibly want. Sometimes they target your niche. Sometimes they target my niche. Sometimes they target the niche in between both our niches. And they do it in volume. If I don't like your niche, I don't have to watch it, because there are usually boatloads of anime that fit what I like and visa versa. If we do like other niches and cross-niches then there are more anime for us to watch. The downsides to this are that if the niche is new or small there may not be a lot of shows for it and that the Animation Industry, when they find a niche is doing well, will beat the horse until it is long past dead and turns to glue, thinning out the quality of shows in that niche and leading to bad sequels and unnecessary remakes.

I generally prefer Sub's to Dubs, mostly, because the Japanese voice actors tend to be much better. I can tell the emotions the characters are feeling better with actors that put effort into it. When Dub's actually find good voice actors (or more importantly good directors) I am perfectly happy with them (ie: Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell). Sadly few anime use quality voice actors and many sound like the characters are either stoned, bored or like 4 people were used to do the voices for an entire series. I am not, however, picky about the translations or Subs vs Dubs as long as the meaning and intent of the story is not changed.

I am easy going and easy to talk to and enjoy it when people want to talk, so feel free to say hello. I don't accept blind friend invites without being talked to first, so again, say hello first.

I would describe my sense of humor as "One part Douglas Adams, one part Monty Python, one part Mad-Libs, one part South Park, two parts Calvin & Hobbes"

My favorite types of anime are generally Mecha, Action, and Sci-Fi, but I also enjoy Horror, Fantasy, and Psychological.



My Top 13 Favorite Genres (According to Graph Anime Plus)


Breaking Down Anime
Story: I love a good story. One that is well told in an entertaining fashion. Not drowned out in either humor or fanservice when the creators decide to chicken out because the story is getting too serious. I love good believable plot twists, not ones just for the sake of throwing off the audience. I like stories that make you think. I love when you are immersed in the world and the world has consistent rules that it follows. The most important thing is to be entertained and as long as that happen, I will usually like the show. I hate to be made angry though, as the entertainment value disappears entirely. I don't really have a preference whether a story originated from an Anime, Book, Visual Novel or is an Original piece, but ones derived from games (non Visual Novel) tend to be bad. Novels do tend to have the most complex characters however.

Animation: This is what got me into Anime in the first place, the excellent artwork and attention to detail. I love detailed and well choreographed action scenes. I despise bad artwork, which is why I dislike most american and children's animation. I don't really care too much whether the art is done with CGI or not as long as it is done well. I don't mind weird/artistic animation as long as it done for a reason and doesn't distract from the story, like Kyousogiga (The odd art lets you know that something is off about the world) or xxxHolic (It was done to intentionally mimic old Ukio style artwork). I dislike reusing of scenes and extended frames of no movement at all *cough*gundam*cough*.

Characters: I like characters that have depth and add to the story. I am fine with both lots of characters and few. I hate main characters that completely break down when everything is on the line and I despise ones that have no purpose but to make the most idiotic possible choice whenever possible (see Ohma, Shu - Guilty Crown). I dislike major characters that are aged disproportionately from the rest of the cast without good reason (i.e.: Sibling, Teacher) and ones that are drawn far younger than their stated age. I understand, but am not really interested in intentionally Moe character tropes. They tend to make the range of characters the same from one show to the next. I hate Yandere because of their irrationality and generally dislike Tsundere because they are very inconsistent. I also don't care for the Detached/Emotionally Stunted characters as they are either creepy or unnecessarily difficult to interact with (does not include Shy or Stoic characters).

Soundtrack: I generally do not judge an anime by it's soundtrack. The anime may be good or bad, the soundtrack may be good or bad, but I do not associate the two. The only exception would be if there is an annoying insert song that pops up that is distracting from watching the story.

My Rankings
10 = Amazing. Probably some part (plot, character, etc) held a special meaning for me. Definitely re-watchable. "I would try to convince all my friends to watch"

9 = Awesome. Flawless, with all aspects beings worth the watch. Definitely re-watchable. "I would buy the DVD's when released"

8 = Great. Re-watchable. "I would re-watch the series as soon as the initial run of the series has completed"

7 = Good. I would re-watch with a friend who has not seen it before, but probably not likely to without reason. "That was fun. What's next?"

6 = Decent. Either wasn't all that impressed or (more often than not) it had elements I really liked and elements that dragged it back down (too much fanservice, annoying characters, bad animation, etc). Not usually re watchable. I would recommend to someone only if they really loved the genre. "IF they changed this and/or that it would have been much better, but at least I was entertained."

5a = Meh. Completely uninteresting or easily forgettable. I can't recommend what I have forgotten exists. "I think I watched it once, but I can't remember what it was about."

5b = Had some really bad elements that dragged it down. Would not recommend. "This sucked, that sucked, and I wish they would have done it differently."

4 = Bad. Would recommend to a friend as a practical joke. "That was a waste of my time."

3 = Worse. Would recommend to a friend as a punishment. "Where's the 'Dropped' button again on MAL?"

2 = Horrible. Would stop a friend from watching, even if I had to knock them unconscious. "No. Anyone who has ever recommended it is now dead to me."

1 = Sucked Monkey Snot. Would stop even someone I disliked from watching. "Make it stop!"

*Notes on my Watched list:
Sometimes I forget to add in OVAs that belong to a regular series, but the odds are if I rated it 6 or higher I probably saw any OVA's that go with it.

My 5 Favorite Anime Movies
05) Eve no Jikan
04) The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi
03) Summer Wars
02) Appleseed
01) Ghost in the Shell

Favorite Anime from Winter 2024
1) Solo Leveling
2) Frieren: Beyond Journey's End
3) Classroom of the Elite III
4) Ishura
5) Synduality: Noir Part 2

Favorite Anime Series by Year




About Me
I love Baseball, Video Games, Rock (Classic, Hard, Metal, Power, Progressive, Melodic, Symphonic, Gothic), Astrophysics and Nice women with pretty eyes and genuine smiles.
I like Reading, fantasy sports, deep conversations, listening, movies, and computers.
I dislike kiss asses, people with no opinions of their own, women that like Uchiha Sasuke, characters that are unnecessarily lolis, mascot characters. Being told something is absolute when it is not. When people confuse Stoic and Detached personalities.
I hate medleys, recap episodes and movies, people that are pompous, people that are self important, ones that pretend to be stupid and characters who's sole purpose is to find the most idiotic action to take and do it.
But you know what really chaps my ass? Wet Underwear.

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Virtual World Battletech Awards



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