Hello! My name is Aaron. I sometimes go by the name Drake Rain, thought not that often anymore. pluvia33 is my standard username (pluvia is Latin for Rain and 33 is my favorite number). If you google pluvia33 and "Drake Aaron Rain" you can probably find my entire internet existence. I'm a pretty simple otaku in his mid-20's. I had two years of collage and recently finished a 4-year enlistment in the US Air Force (most of which was spent in Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico). I am currently living with my girlfriend in a city just outside of Cleveland Ohio. I have a tendency to be a little long-winded when I write so I'm going to enclose most of my other personal information in those nifty little spoiler tag button things MAL has....
My Anime History:
I've been an anime fan since 1996 at the age of 12, waking up extra early weekday mornings to watch Sailor Moon on Fox before school and watching as many anime movies I could find on cable movie channels. I got much deeper into anime during the Gundam Wing/Outlaw Star era of Toonami (2000-2001). Outlaw Star was my first real favorite anime and the first series I ever bought on DVD. From there I began looking up shows online and bought more and more anime. I used to primarily watch anime dubbed and only watch a few things subbed on occasion. Boogiepop Phantom was the first series that I loved much more with subtitles. Then after watching the Love Hina anime I hated the dub so much that I became a total sub-only anime fan. During the second semester of my second year of college (2004) I discovered fansubs via a set of burnt VCD's given to me by a friend which had the first episodes of various different series. A year after dropping out of college I joined the US Air Force and had a good amount of disposable income which in effect made my collection of anime DVD's grow at a rapid rate. I also began downloading a lot of fansubs. For a little over a year (from late 2007 to early 2009) I ran an anime club screening for Holloman AFB, New Mexico. I've been to three anime conventions so far: Colossal Con 2007 in Cleveland Ohio, Ohayo Con 2009 in Columbus Ohio, and most recently Anime Expo 2009 in LA.
I have been a manga fan since 2002 when I first started reading Love Hina and Chobits. Although my anime collection is much bigger than my manga collection, I love manga just as much and in some ways more than anime. After taking a year of Japanese while I was in college I began dabbling in importing manga in Japanese with the Iro-Hina versions of Love Hina being some of the first books I bought. Then after discovering scanlations I began buying Japanese manga that has never been licensed for English release. Then after watching the Suzumiya Haruhi anime for the first time I was introduced to light novels. I read the translations of all nine books that had been released and bought them all in Japanese. So far the only other light novels I've read are the first three books of Toradora but I really want to read more.
As far as the ratings on my list are concerned, I only rate what I've finished even if it's an extremely long series like Bleach. I also have a pretty wide range of tastes so my ratings tend to be a little higher than average (though I've seen a few people with much more generous ratings). A 10 for me is something that I consider to be pretty much perfect in my eyes. Any complaints I had with one of these series feels like I'm just nitpicking. Though I am a little more strict with manga than anime for some reason. I also tend to be forgiving with not-so-great endings (such as with Gurren Lagann). It's just something I've gotten used to in my years of being an anime fan. Also, anything I give a rating in the 9-7 range is an enjoyable series. 6 is when I start to get "meh" about a series. And if I give anything a 4, I really didn't like it (I should really destroy my copy of Sin: The Movie). I haven't given anything a score under a 4 yet. It'd have to be really bad for that. And since I never score anything I haven't finished and since I usually drop shows that are below 6 level for me, the only things that I've given a lower score are movies, OVA's, and such. Hell, it's hard for me to push myself through a 6 most of the times. 4 of the 6 shows I've given that score I probably wouldn't have finished if I wasn't watching them with other people.
Random MAL Stuff:
Claimed 3 Awesome Light Novel Men:
Figures:
I like figures. Yeah, some of them can be really expensive, but if I love a character enough and if the figure is good enough, it's totally worth it. In most cases I only get one figure for each character, but I do make a few exceptions if the figures are different enough. The characters with the most exceptions are from the Suzumiya Haruhi series (I have five of Nagato). I'd really like to get a better digital camera so I can take some less crappy pictures. I like placing my figures on my selves in front of their respective DVD's or books whenever possible.
These 1/6 scale Haruhi Bunny Girl figures were some of the first really expensive figures I bought. Although they are a lot more expensive, I kind of wish I would have got the 1/4 scale Freeing Bunny Girl figures instead since that series has a figure for just about all of the girls from the series and not just the main three.
Here are some nice Max Factory 1/8 scale Haruhi figures of Tsuruya, Mikuru, and Haruhi.
And here are the Yuki and Asakura figures as well as a Haruhi-chan Yuki Nendoroid Petit figure from the limited edition version of the third Haruhi-chan manga volume.
This is my Haruhi Figma Max Factory figure collection. I have one of pretty much every major cast member. I actually bought Kyon and Tsuruya twice to get Taniguchi and Kimidori.
And here's a close up of the main cast doing the final Hare Hare Yukai dance pose.
Finally, just a little set of Haruhi trading figures.
This Motoko figure from Love Hina was one of the first figures I remember buying. It's kind of plain but still nice.
Asuka and Rei from Evangelion looking good in their plug suits.
Natsumi from Sgt Frog is one of the few figures which I don't have the corresponding anime or manga to set it in front of. Debating if I really want to commit to buying the insanely long anime series. Still a nice looking figure though.
Ohno from Genshiken and a little random Kujibiki Unbalance trading figure.
And Ogiue from Genshiken in a cute little school swimsuit.
The sexy Maya from Tenjou Tenge.
One of the most amusing characters to have side-by-side on my shelf, Ikki Tousen's Kanu and Invader Zim's Gir. That's just what happens when you alphabetize your anime, I guess.
A very simple but nice figure of Mai from Mai-HiME.
The silly bunny girl from Otaku no Video.
Revy from Black Lagoon beside a cheep Ichigo figure from the second Bleach box set.
Tenma from School Rumble.
My complete set of Clamp no Kiseki chess pieces. I also own the Japanese box and chess board.
Vash from Trigun in a nice McFarlane Toys figure.
A resin statue of Yuffie from Final Fantasy VII.
An adorable figure of Hazuki from Moon Phase.
A very pretty Rakka figure from Haibane Renmei
A set of cute trading figures from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni.
Rider from Fate/stay night.
Kanzaki from To Aru no Majutsu no Index. Another figure that I don't have the anime/manga/light novel to stick it in front of. Hopefully the anime will get licensed eventually.
Shana from Shakugan no Shana in a figure of her wearing nothing but her long hair and one of her in adorable Nendoroid form (aka Shana-tan!).
Yotsuba from Yotsubato! in a fun and basic Revoltech figure.
Louise and Tabitha from Zero no Tsukaima with two very nice figures.
Nozomu Itoshiki, the one and only Zetsubou-sensei, in way to cute Nendoroid form.
Another very weird combination, we have Krauser from Detroit Metal City in Revoltech form and Rin from Kodomo no Jikan in Nendoroid form. I probably could have taken their pictures separately, but the combination amuses me.
And finally we have Taiga in a very cute 1/8 scale figure based off of the first Toradora! light novel volume's cover art. I actually hunted this down and bought it at Anime Expo 2009 for $130 since it was out of stock everywhere online (totally worth it). Then there's the even more cute Nendoroid petit figure which came with the special edition of the Toradora P! PSP game.
And then we have two hentai figures. If you have a problem with plastic boobies, don't expand the Spoiler tag.
Yukiko's masturbation scene has always been one of my favorite parts of Bible Black. This is a very nice figure.
Jiburiru is a pretty amusing hentai series and this is a pretty elaborate figure.
