 Interview with a witch "Look for something positive in each day, even if some days you have to look a little harder". Interview conducted by: @Atlos Reviewed by: @NextUniverse Could you tell us more about yourself? As said in my profile, the name's Ellen, and I love anime and manga. Hailing from the United Kingdom, who now works two jobs, though one is on hold due to the football season being finished, so gotta wait for that to pick up once again. Anything else on me? I like to game, watch Youtube, and play Genshin, Amber is top tier btw haha. How did you choose your username? Well, growing up, I noticed everyone had like an avatar, an alias. So I wanted to pick one that reflected on me. Or well, wanted it to be my username. As I do love witches, and at the time, I was really big into those Horror RPGs. Ib, Yume Nikki, Mad Father, and of course where my username comes from. The Witch's House. Which a girl or witch I should say called Ellen is the main character of. Explains itself. Could you give us your brief history of your time on MAL? My profile says 2014, but I'd honestly say it'd be better reflected if it said 2018 honestly lol. Cause when I made the account before, it was mostly to just store the anime and manga I watch and read there, but then I went on a bit of a burnout, where I only really kept up with Cardfight Vanguard, and Future Card Buddyfight, while also somehow watching like other anime per year, like how my friend got me into watching Owari No Seraph. After that it took some hard doing, by 2018 I wanted to fix it, so I watched a fair number of shows to get back into the swing of things. Which included titles such as Girls und Panzer, Dragon maid, Wixoss series, Little Witch Academia, Darling in the FranXX, Zombieland Saga, along with the current Yu-Gi-Oh series at the time in Yu-Gi-Oh Vrains. Ever since then, I've been on MAL a ton, from doing seasonal reviews, to even reading more manga now. How did you get into anime and manga? As a kid, I was drawn into Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Beyblade, Digimon as a kid, and I really loved them. But I think the one show that really sparked it for me. Was a show called Cardcaptor Sakura. It came on CITV here in the UK, and I got hooked instantly and wanted to see more. A few years later I moved on to series such as: Heaven's Lost Property, Steins;gate, Pani Poni Dash, K-on, Spice and Wolf, Negima, Lucky Star, Girl Meets Girl, Strawberry Panic, Rosario Vampire, YuruYuri, Kill Me Baby, Nichijou, Squid Girl, Guilty Crown, Pandora Hearts, these were the types of shows I began my journey with. Could you recommend to us three of your favourite anime/manga? The three that I am picking are simple. Little Witch Academia, Zombieland Saga, and Symphogear. Why these three? Because they're each very great shows. From the music, animation, and just the overall feel about them. Little Witch, Zombieland, and Symphogear are shows that are close to me, not just from a watchable standpoint, but like in the case of Zombieland, I made a whole five new friends who I'm still friends with today through that show. Making the show much more meaningful to me, it's one thing to enjoy it, but having the memories with good buddies. That makes it special. Plus, Little Witch and Zombieland came at a time I was really in a bad place, depression can really kick you, to have that, really kept my head up. If I had to list three manga that I've really enjoyed for many reasons: Slime Taoshite 300-nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level Max ni Nattemashita: A sweet and peaceful kind of tale that is a fun read. Characters are cute, and the progression is nice and casual. If one is looking for something nice and relaxing, should read it. Black Clover: Black Clover is a very easy read, and a fun Manga overall. I cannot scream enough of how hype I am for how it's all gonna wrap up in it's final arc. Shadows House: The long term story is super compelling, and I honestly got sad when I got caught up. Cause I wanted to read more, that's the level Shadow House does. Any users you like/dislike and why? Eh, not really. I've seen a few comments here or there that I just eye roll at, but in a general sense, there isn't really anyone that I'd openly say I dislike or hate. I may disagree with choices, or say someone's opinion, but hate? No, not at all. Not really a hate kind of person. Any hobbies outside of anime/manga and MAL? As mentioned earlier, pretty much Genshin is mostly what I do. Have a huge love for Amber, Keqing, Yunjin, Ayaka, and I even have a baron bunny plush, along with watching things like footie, wrestling, and streamers. Chilling with ASMR, listening to podcasts, spooky stories, that kind of thing. Chilling with friends too. I'd play Arknights too, but my phone is a piece of poop, though I do love Crownslayer, which is why it's my theme and icon. How do you feel about how the site is run? Especially in regards to the moderators and admins. Eeeeeeh. Not really sure how to answer this one. Mainly because I haven't really had many run-ins with mods or admins. The only times I've had such, was when my reviews got removed lol. I only really see them sometimes when they're commenting on animes they're watching when I can be bothered to make a comment myself. But I'd say I have an OK feel about them. Nothing much to say. What reviewer in the top 50 do you think had the best reviews? I think that's a hard question to answer, not because I couldn't do such, but more because of the subject of opinion. Like looking through it now, I can disagree with some things, and agree on others. But that's the beauty of it, the subject of opinion. If we all had the same tastes, then all reviews would be over a million lmao. Then again, these are the top reviews for a reason of course. Will say though, do agree with the top review in @LordAura's SAO review. But also @ZephSilver's review on there did bring a chuckle out of me. Could you ever see yourself going back to non-preliminary reviews? I could. I used to do that at the start, my first review with Resturant to Another World, then Black Rock Shooter, Bungou Stray Dogs in there, which is actually funny cause I always remember they had like a few up votes, then I went to check them recently, and the OVA had like 45 upvotes, which me by surprise haha. But I used to review every show I was watching, if I somehow carried that on, I would've had over 800 reviews I bet haha. I think it really depends on the show, and if I feel like it, I've just been enjoying the preliminary reviews. Like the last ones that I did, were for the final series of Magia Record, and Yu-Gi-Oh Sevens. How is the process of writing preliminary reviews and normal reviews different? It's quite different. Cause I could use an example, but I won't cause spoilers. But basically, a show could have the best first few episodes possible, but then the second half ends up being a dry mess. Which impacts the score, and the feel of the show. Then there are other cases where the show could be not good at the start, but as it goes along, it really picks up. So I would say it really depends on how the show starts off. But also in terms of normal review, how it finishes also. Which determines how to prepare for it. What is the reviewing scene like, do you talk to any other top reviewers? Tbh. I'm kinda bad with communication haha. Though I have spoken to a few who have done reviews or have left a comment. 'Hey, I liked your review' so from the interactions that I've had, I would say it's been pretty pleasant. If you could only be known for one of your reviews which one would it be and why? The Re:Zero first season review. While that pre-review may say over 500 rn, but that was my first review that really exploded. I still recall going to bed, seeing it had a few upvotes, then waking up the next day to see it had almost a 100, over time it kept going, and going, and going. Till it had over 1,000 upvotes, which blew my mind at the time. As before normally, I've had over 100 upvotes, 200, but nothing of that level. What podcasts do you listen to? Trash Taste is the main one that I listen to weekly, and if it wasn't for me being lazy lately since been behind on eps, and among other things, I'd be fully caught up, but I'd say I'm only one and a half eps behind, I'm even listening to it as I type these answers haha. I used to listen to Talk is Jericho a lot in the past, being a long term wrestling fan. What football team do you support? Been a lifelong Newcastle United fan all of my life, which has been a big struggle for so many years. As it honestly felt lifeless at times, and any time there was hope, it just felt squashed, over and over again. When the owner doesn't care, or basically treats it like a toy for his empire, it was a mess. But now we're the richest club in the entire world, so the future is bright, and I'm looking forward to it. How many hours have you put into Genshin? Waaaaaay too many. More likely enough to fill most of a year haha. A good friend of mine got me into it last year though showing me Amber, and the itch became one to scratch eventually. At first, I only played it once a week or such. But then I've been playing every day for the past year. If you had to remove a preliminary review of yours and replace it with a regular one, which anime would you do this for? From @NextUniverse To be honest, I could give many answers for this, for different reasons. Such as one, I could redo some of the lower uptoved reviews, not because of the low upvotes, but more that I changed beliefs since I saw the entire show, compared to at the time 3-4 eps. That I would be able to do a better job in reviewing it. A lot of animes in Fall 2021, I'm more than likely that I could've done better with the reviews there haha. There are some shows I'd re-look at my review and think I could write a different one now, as being finished the show. Such like Adachi and Shimamura, that yuri show, as my thoughts on it would be different, but in context with what I wrote, I do agree with it. So it stays… My other answer to this question, is actually a bit cheap, which is why I wanted to give the first answer. As I would redo my review of Ore wo Suki nano wa Omae dake ka yo: Oretachi no Game Set. Mainly because at time, I posted my review basically after it finishing airing, but at time, MAL didn't update it, so my review was counted as a pre review. I just haven't really bothered to go fix it haha. Do you find preliminary reviews less of a race compared to the regular ones? From @NextUniverse Yes and no. It all really depends on the timing. I always recall seeing people putting up reviews right away, or even the night before haha. Some I guess just wanna be seen first, but for me, it's just addicting. But the reason why I say yes and no, and the timing, is because last season was late to reviewing a popular show My Dress-Up Darling, as I didn't know about the rule change for reviews at the time. I could've just shrugged and left it, but I wanted to do a review anyway, it was stuck in my head, and I wanted to express what I felt people hadn't covered before in the show. To my surprise, under top reviews, it gained attraction and ended up being a good review. I do see it being less of a race as unlike a finished review, it'll be removed from the top of the pile unless you show it. But my point is more that while I can see it, at the same time, you can be late and end up doing good. No need to race, and just enjoy reviewing. Do you see yourself leaving MAL in the near future? The only way I'd honestly leave MAL, or not be as active on the site as I am normally, is as if my time would be super limited due to work, or if MAL basically decides one day to delete the website in general. Is there something unasked that you would like to talk about? Nothing really springs to mind, as I do feel like a lot of things were really covered during this interview. Any feedback on the interview format? It went swimmingly honestly, I was a bit nervous and on the spot at first, as it was a bit of a surprise to see a sudden request for it haha. But I had fun doing it. Recommendations for interviews? I can name one as I asked them about it haha. Their username is @Moondusk. They're like if you turned my anime list, or a good chunk of it, and put it in manga lol. Well then, that's the end of the interview. Thank you for your time. |
 _______I like rocks__  |
| EHHHH @Ellenwitch nice interview! Thanks for always helping to do the prelim reviews, I haven't got time to say this but somehow I keep missing the chance to appreciate you for not chasing the final clout. And yes, reviewing can be fun too. Also, I needa chase Trash Taste backlog and put for every comment "Hey, I liked your review" times infinity haha |
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KANLen09 said: EHHHH @Ellenwitch nice interview! Thanks for always helping to do the prelim reviews, I haven't got time to say this but somehow I keep missing the chance to appreciate you for not chasing the final clout. And yes, reviewing can be fun too. Also, I needa chase Trash Taste backlog and put for every comment "Hey, I liked your review" times infinity haha Haha thanks! Honestly I could've, but I never really wanted it. Hell, this title is the first I heard that I was in the top 30 of all reviewers LMAO. Doooo it. |
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