▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Interview #232 - @KANLen09 ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬  The Iyashikei Lonewolf-ko Sugar, spice and everything nice is all I am and are...without the nonsense. Interview conducted by: @Mei-o_Scarlett Reviewed by: @NextUniverse (13/3/22) Could you tell us about yourself? Before I start my introduction proper, bear in mind that the country I'm from has British English that's especially "tuned" to my country's standards, so you'll see them almost everywhere, and for goody-two-shoes reasons. Without ado leh... Hello, 你好 (ni hao), Apa khabar, வணக்கம் (Vaṇakkam)! I'm KANLen09 (most people find it hard to call me by a nickname, so Kan is usually fine by me), and I'm 27 as of the time I'm writing this (my birthday's in full view, so there's that), and I hail from what is globally known as the Little Red Dot! What, you've never heard of this well-known moniker? Damn son, you must be living under a rock then. I'm part of the 75% male on mal; Part of the 43.4% of users between the ages 25-34; Part of the 55% that uses MAL on the desktop (because mobile is a pain, even the MAL official app isn't perfect and have been using 3rd party apps for better); and most important of all: Part of the minuscule 1.5% that labels itself as living in the sunny island of the multi-racial Singapore! Singlish is known globally lah, so you know leh, it's our native language lorh. Eh why you so like dat? Aku makan already? Ho Seh Boh? If you can vibe with me, FUIYOH! If not, HAIYAH... And for a fun fact, @Mei-o_Scarlett is also my local brethren, and we've only been online friends for quite some time now? Mei-o_Scarlett: like 1 month yea P.S. Oops Scarlett, I promise I'll hang out with you in real life, get to know you better as well! Great that we always have the annual AFA a.k.a Anime Festival Asia to be the Southeast Asia regional center for all things anime and more, but COVID's still a bitch lah. Still thankful for Sozo though for bringing the anime spotlight to Singapore! Hope to meet you soon ^_^ Of course, my real-life persona is that I wasn't born like your average kid. Being born with colour blindness of the common genetic red-green deuteranopia symptom, and finding out that I was suffering from mild autism at a young age (that's close towards ASD a.k.a Autism Spectrum Disorder). As such, being the eldest in the family meant that with all these side effects, I wasn't guaranteed a good life ahead of me, and tend to act like the weirdest kid in school where I was constantly being bullied during my growing-up years, which turned me into a recluse of a NEET, long before I ever learned what that was from anime. As such, I tend to shun away from people a lot, and people who had prejudices about me were mockingbirds clamping on the one soft tree bark of my heart, and I only hung out with friends who didn't mind my presence and got my life changed for the better through an arduous process. Simply Red's "Holding Back The Years" indeed. Of course, my main social media was Facebook for the longest time before I started going into Instagram just 2 years ago, not because of FOMO, but to signal yet another milestone change in my own personal well-being. Twitter was never my thing, and it certainly isn't better now due to all the toxic bandwidth that my brain just simply cannot process. I used to study Business and Supply Chain in RMIT ( through my global university affiliate), Industrial and Operational Management (or in plain simple English: Logistics) in polytechnic tho it was never really my thing due to the fact that I wasn't a studious person, but it just stuck from there, and that's where I am now, working for a large corporation. So you could guess that’s how I manage my own profile here in MAL is largely the same thing: plain ol' logistics planning. Much like MAL's Greatest Stallion @Yas- (or Yasaal in full, always just go by Yas because he's a Yes-Man, no pun intended), I find myself going through a culture shock due to people younger than my generation whom I cannot relate to (y'know the whole Gen Y "Millennials" vs. Gen Z "Strawberry Generation" debacle), and as such I always lean towards Gen X in terms of both friendship and music tastes like M.J., Earth, Wind and Fire, England Dan & John Ford Coley, to name a few. Yes, these are classics and imagine my surprise when my parents had a stash of classic oldie collections song box that extends back to the '60s, I was in Heaven. Kinda wish I was born earlier so that I could experience the last hurrah that was the '80s funk music, I really hate 2010s music to the core. Unlike Yas the Yes-Man, I'm not so lenient and can come off as being serious a lot, but if you resonate with me, then be my friend! I can accept all with very high levels of patience with some slander… just don't push my buttons too far, and you'll be just fine. I won't bite xD Mei-o_Scarlett: yea im not even gonna try to edit this NextUniverse: :bruh: Also, I'm looking for INFJ people, because we're the rare 2% (1% boy, 1% girl) in the world. We're the one-in-a-million special ones! How did you choose your username? I was hesitating on this question because for a moment, I seriously forgot how I came up with my username! Sorry though, when you're growing old, STM a.k.a short-term memory becomes a thing, and although I'm very good with memories, I occasionally will forget some things. The backup plan was that I was thinking: "Since KAN can be referred to as a KANgaroo, I can just state it as such!". But now I DO remember (and this is a throwback): Anyone outside of the U.S. remember we had to pirate shows on a website known as KissAnime? That's where I got my inspiration to create the username as such for years until the unfortunate DMCA takedown levels of clamping on piracy a few years back. And because I'm a dork (kidding, I'm not), I decided that I'll be carrying the username over to MAL instead, and it stuck ever since for easy remembrance. If you need a breakdown of how I've formed my username: KAN - KissANime Len - Len(ovo), the computer brand that I was using in my young days in polytechnic (or institute in U.S. terms) 09 - Basically the day of my birthday Could you give us a brief history of your time on MAL? DANG this one, I double confirm plus-chop, legit really forgot how I stumbled onto MAL. All I could remember was that I was trying to search more anime on KissAnime rather than go to MAL because back then I had an account that could track when new seasonal episodes were coming out for a few years or so, so literally, there was no incentive for me to find anime on MAL when the database and episodes were all there in one place. I guess when KissAnime was taken down indefinitely, then there was the kicker that I had to find another website to do just that: record my watched anime and such, and that probably was what landed me in MAL to start my own account and do such simple tasks for recording purposes. Also, because I always keep track of anime that I always download to my external storage devices (about 5TB worth and growing), there was just no substitute for it, so MAL became the site that I always go to for reporting on my own list. The community back then was a much more newcomer-welcome and lukewarm one, and over time subsequently, I started shifting to watching seasonals and doing some reviews (albeit half-heartedly starting from Summer 2017) just because I could do some to pass the time. I could still wholeheartedly remember when your review reaches the Top 4 on the main anime page (the first being the 2017 remake of Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World - The Animated Series), I was so ecstatic from the feeling that it became the rhetoric on my new-found self in MAL, even users commented that they had love-hate relationships with my reviews, so there's that for improvement. But to get the attention of even @Stark700 and @RebelPanda months into the MAL inception IS ALREADY A BIG DEAL to me back then as I've always looked to their reviews for a lot of inspiration, most things I can agree, some things I can't because of differing views (not to mention "personality changes" that I kinda hate to lament but have to do so). Bear in mind that I haven't got into forums as of yet, and just mainly sticking by when new episodes come out and watch times are basically my own...until 2018's MALpocalyse happened and silenced the site for a few months. It's only after that, that I religiously followed seasonal anime slowly, bit by bit, from shows that I would watch, to basically everything that came out in the seasonal chart. It was also around this time that I started engaging with an anime tracker website by the name of LiveChart (which is a much better AniDB or Anilist IMO, I always have it listed in the description), and that helped me manage better with the anime schedule (since literally late-night anime in Japan from 10pm to 4am (or 2300 to 2900 JST as weird as the 番組表 (Bangumi, Japanese for TV program listing) is scheduled, and Singapore's timing is just a 1-hour shift back). Going into forums in the midst of Spring 2018 (that isn't like the passive-aggressiveness of me) just for fun and sharing views was such a good time too back in the day (still is now, but even MAL's userbase fandom toxicity is getting worse by the second). Lastly, though, Summer 2019 was the time that I decided to join a club that I could share with like-minded people, and the Anime Guild it is that I requested to be part of it and go full-time as a seasonal watcher head admin to help with doing our own version of the MAL Score Progressions, attached with the Discord label just at the start of this year. So comparing myself when I first started out in MAL as opposed to right now, a lot has changed, but the formula stayed the same, with improvements already done and still a work-in-progress. How do you think the people on MAL view you as a user? Hoo boy is this now a #throwback or what. I obviously don't remember what were my very first comments were like, so thank God that MAL can trace those comments to those moments, which are just basically comments about my reviews and the usual "If you love or hate it, there's always a story to tell" these kinds of hypocrisies (that looking back now, aren't as bad and toxic as the new ones coming out today). I guarantee that you ask someone who knows me well can sum me up in one word: "constructive" because my method of doing reviews is to be as constructive as possible while sticking to the newbie-guns of making your very first few show reviews. If you were to ask me to gauge the review vs. non-reviews comments, it would be a good 80/20 Pareto principle, and it's just that. I would really like to give constructive criticism, and I still do to this day, but some people just like to shove the shovel up my ass SO HARD that I just don't care. It's the simple words that make or break me, that's all. I always gear towards people who either love or hate what I have to say, and I feel that that's fine by them if they find discourse over what I've said before that could inherently be an insult (which is never my intention in the first place). In a nutshell, I DO love talking about anime, and the large majority of the community here who has talked to me has found my comments quite pleasant (I hope haha, please don't doxx me T.T). It's the reason why people looked at my profile and thought: "If I can be friends with KANLen09, he would just accept it as is." But of course, I had to grey out that option most times because I'm not the kind of friend who desires a "large following" so to speak and would rather have genuine friendships with whom I can converse and have fun online. Nowadays, people need not look for me that far, because I exist EVERYWHERE on MAL now: front-page episodic discussions, most modern-day anime Top 4 reviews and my very dear circle of friends in Anime Guild. Just quote me or comment on my profile (for a shameless PR stunt), and I'll respond in kind. P.S. Someone sent me this some years back, and it's still something I hold dear to my heart: https://www.reddit.com/r/Animemes/comments/a2psm2/truly_the_best_type_of_friendship/ How did you get into anime/manga? I actually got into manga first, and that's because of my parents who were once avid collectors of this one series: Yumi Hotta's Hikaru no Go, and in plain traditional conservative China Chinese, because Singapore can't be that multi-racial enough just for a single English language. A plain ol' search in my family’s storeroom for that only manga that I'd read back and forth of all 23 volumes for several years, and even at my cousin's place where there is even more hardcopy manga to read. And unbeknownst to myself at the time, the harem rom-com legend that is Ken Akamatsu's Love Hina became my 2nd mainstay to binge all 14 volumes at one go, and pretty much like Hikaru no Go, once I read from start to finish, I would read it again. YES, YOU'RE READING IT RIGHT. It was SO GOOD that I couldn't put it down to try his other work (which was Negima! Magister Negi Magi which at the time, 38 volumes seemed a lot for me to take in). But eventually, I had to expand my efforts and look at online sites and purchase hardcopy manga, just to read more manga for my hopelessly big changes of a hardcore romance fan through and through. The one that stuck out to me more than most is Piroshiki's Iris Zero, more than the romance angle and more for its fantasy drama. And just like Hikaru no Go and Love Hina, this unfinished manga from 2009 is still one of my top absolute favourites to restart and re-read, and I sincerely hope that the mangaka Piroshiki is able to recover well to at least finish this work that has been left on a hiatus for quite a long time. It would be asinine to leave this on an unfinished note and wish the author the best of health. For anime, discounting Pokémon (particularly the 1st Gen and The First Movie (y'know, the one that has Mewtwo in it), and because nostalgia is a pretty big factor back in the day), would you believe it that Zero no Tsukaima, the Isekai that was an actual Isekai (before the now stereotypical genre would be called), was the first show that I've watched on local TV late at night. And dear me Lord, that's not the OG season, but Season 3 (Princesses no Rondo) itself, which lends heavily towards the school life and romance antics more than the actual plot...which thinking about it now, isn't so much a spoiler for Seasons 1 and 2 that preceded it. Also, back in the day, my family was very hardcore for Rumiko Takahashi's Inuyasha, even had the DVD VCD volume boxes of what, maybe 10 boxes or something across the 2001 OG season all the way to The Final Act and the in-between movies? Still though, can't get enough of V6's "Change The World", the very first Inuyasha OP that I still wholeheartedly remember to this day. It's a very iconic and classic Anisong that speaks to my heart, much less speaking of how old I really am. The show that truly solicited and solidified my love for anime was in the year 2012, and guess what was the most popular show at the time...you've guessed it: Sword Art Online, the show that single-handedly put the Isekai genre on the anime map. And back in the day, I thought that Reki Kawahara really did pull all the punches for a tremendous 1st half with the Aincrad arc (that I still remember them to this day, and yes, of course, the popular Lonewolf Black Swordsman Kirito with the Knights of the Blood Asuna being one hell of a couple who's fought through hell and back over the past decade since the anime debut)...but therein came the much-awaited Alfheim/Fairy Dance arc, and I need not mention how much flak it got back in the day, even now. All I could say is that: So many years have passed, and SAO may still be a scapegoat of the anime industry and the Otaku Fandom, but you can't deny the huge impact that this monumental show did to both scrape the bottom of the wreck and sell its premise as such. It's only until 2016 when Re:Zero came out that I started to dab in different shows, and this is where I'm now lorh. P.S. Looking forward to the SAO: Progressive movie, which is a re-telling of Aincrad in Asuna's POV! (By which when this interview is out, you should be able to watch it already) And because the Asia region has a lot of manga licensees, Books Kinokuniya became the place to go to search for more AniManga material. And fear more than most, because the anime community in Singapore is so huge that AFA a.k.a Anime Festival Asia in SG is the biggest in the Southeast Asia region, think of it as akin to Anime Expo in the U.S. though of course smaller in numbers. Still though, I am excited for more AniManga stash down the line while simultaneously getting older at the same time. Could I be part of MAL: The Later Years soon? We'll see! Any users you like/dislike? Why? You really like to scrape the bottom of the barrel, don't yah say? So I'll start off with my set of list of cliques in MAL: I would like to give a shoutout to one of the users who made my day back in the day (who's sadly gone from MAL now): papsoshea. From what I've heard from users who are also close to this guy, it seems that he basically ripped off reviews from other sites and tailored it to his own, which looking back, I find to be very ridonculous as his reviews are actually really very good, sometimes to the point or even exceeding Stark's quality of reviews back then. And for the matter of fact that both he and I shared our reviews back and forth in 2018 felt like we're soulmates, partners-in-crime to play the rat race between who has the better review, and therein coming with the advice of constructive criticisms and such. papsoshea, if you're reading this, don't come back to MAL, you're gonna incur more wrath than spend time doing some good here. I miss you bud. The Current (Active)-cum-Former Review Niceties Gang: @Stark700 @RebelPanda @Karhu (Inactive, RIP once-troll and MALpocalyse anime review triggered) @HellLyter (plus those I've talked to in the past, but not as prominent) If you're gonna look up well-written reviews made today, look no further than these individuals (and many others whom you always see the Top 4 reviews on shows, the consistent names). These people basically helped me kickstart the anime review process through time trial and error with the constructive criticism that I've so wanted, craved, and learnt in-depth. From proofreading to analysing every nook and cranny with their reviews, plus reading on their thoughts as well, as opposed to just voting for the review and being on your way. The large majority of the lessons learnt helped me propel my name to the Top 50 board, and as of the time of this writing, I've already made it into the top 20. Love or hate their opinions, you can't deny that their words have influence, and the way that they articulate in their reviews looks seamless, very complete and easy to understand, even if it's on a not-so-trolling level (which many others like it that I looked and just basically gave a black face to it at how incoherent on a visual and wordy formatting level, not to mention the vocabulary and grammar. Like come on guys, do some paragraphing not just for my OCD eyes and brains to process but others as well, thank you very much). I demand perfection and only perfection, I'm a 100% perfectionist through and through xD Also, blessed are those who came and did the job better before me like @CodeBlazeFate @MozillaFennekin @TakamakiJoker @AstralBread @HaXXspetten @literaturenerd, these are the OG reviewers whom I still do look at their reviews for classic early 2010s shows from time to time. You guys are great and paved the way for how reviews should be without having the "elitist" angle (though more than some with hidden context). The Forum Gang of many posts and discussions: @_MushiRock11_ & @MegamiRem: DAMN you guys are fast when it comes to any new news that's come out of Twitter, even if the rumours have been going the way to confirmation. You are the definition of "Fastest fingers first", the quicker-than-quick news reports (before MAL collates them all). The Asian and Western counterparts align! @Syureria: For being a Gaijin who knows Japanese to a Gaijin like me, I know I can always trust you alongside Stark when it comes to the episode forums when neither of us could cover new shows because of 1001 reasons. You're also a great bud to converse with. The Special People who broke the 💯 comments mark and made significance to my MAL life: @Sinankooesa @RobertBobert @Ryuseishun These 3 people are my Happy T(h)ree Online Friends LOLS. I really enjoyed the conversation between them that at least makes for some side chatter fun on MAL, from discussing anime to real-world issues. @Sinankooesa: One of my very first friends to discuss seasonals and more. Though not as active; still a great friend to have. @RobertBobert: I leech thy Asian blood with your Russian blood brother, we're like physically late-20s and early-30s, but our communication skills are one of a kind...aside from the fact that Yuri dis-tastes are still a thing that we can't shake off in MAL. @Ryuseishun: I know you have a YouTube channel that's mainly a react channel because I've seen how you looked at the time when I was looking upon overall reactions on Asobi Asobase and Hinamatsuri back in 2018. And you're no different here in MAL either, a really good guy who sometimes pumps reviews also which have its own unique levels when it matters most. Of course, speaking of clubs, how could I forget about Anime Guild, because that's the first club where I can totally be myself online. Being part of a club has its benefits and drawbacks, so it's pretty much another clique sort of standard of finding like-minded friends. But still though, gotta hand it to the people there who have laid the foundation for any future wannabes who want to join the club, and I wholeheartedly do enjoy the interactions with everyone both on MAL and on Discord. Don't worry guys, I've never forgotten you! Just that tagging most of yah here is gonna ping like crazy, so a no-go for that! Of all my time in AG, the one who really made me feel welcome: @Akuma-chi: Many thanks for bearing with my nonsense "flirting" both on MAL and Discord, you're such a great person to talk to, and thy seasonal charts are such wonderful pieces of art to read, send and have fun with! Never have I thought I would feel like a "special" (not favourite) kind of person of interest (since I always give you essays upon essays for seasonal shows for a time), and I always appreciate your unkempt responses a whole lot! I would personally online date you if I'd known you much earlier, but that's not the reason for a shoutout here. You're a breathtaking soul of a person who loves to joke a lot of things, and I can't really thank you enough for my starting year in AG 💌 Sending the ❤️ that I hope you're alright IRL, I will lead Toriyama well with the utmost care :) And while I'm at it, I would also like to do a PR for the anime community which I'm following heavily on Instagram, the notables whose content has been great, please go follow and support them on Insta. (Format: MAL username a.k.a IG username, the order is not in terms of favourites) @Animaniaig a.k.a animaniaig & animaniareviews: The Stark700 equivalent, OG King of Instagram AniManga content, down to the high standards of anime and a no-nonsense person. Someone that you can wholly trust in the anime view of the few good and many bad. @silentotaku__ a.k.a silentotaku__: The No. 1 account I always look up to for seasonal anime content on Insta (being a close-to-full takedown of myself if I was on Insta), this person is such a great sport to converse online. As the name implies, this person's a silent blogger. @UncleJojo a.k.a engiex.anime: The RebelPanda equivalent of a weeb account that posts daily anime content. Is not afraid to dish out likes and dislikes. @jasanime a.k.a jasanime: My very first IG friend on MAL (way before I entered into Insta), and he always brings his points across on a succinct level. Used to have great conversations with him, and still is one (though now mainly on Insta a lot than MAL). @anime_reviews_94 a.k.a anime_reviews_94: Daily screenshots of new anime, and gives honest thoughts in a simple, not-so-wordy package. Great diverse content all around. @Tsukiko_Inkling a.k.a tsukiko_inkling: Seasonal anime snippets with short and concise thoughts. @ag_ a.k.a kotomisviolin: Aside from the obvious Clannad reference and being both a Clannad and Persona enthusiast, always does some great daily IG stories that are consistent and enjoyable to read. @Anime_zeroh a.k.a anime_zeroh: Trash taste, but the great format of a seasonal count. @animeizboring a.k.a animeizboring: Dank memes with short vids, I can live with it. @gutsoncrack a.k.a anime_.guts: A media entertainer who occasionally posts (and is now on indefinite hiatus). @haruto_ken a.k.a Analyx.anime / Analyx.manga & tanmoshiii (because of Origami Siesta): The self-proclaimed anime journalist, and also mostly vids. @paradis0 a.k.a hakomarii, formerly Tohsakasthighs & tokyosendo: The best SIMP for Rin Tohsaka and The House of Fata Morgana avid lover. @shiroyakuza a.k.a shiroyakuza.anime: The #1 ranked ToAru love-hater, a man of few words. @floyume a.k.a otaku_yume: Anime scenes flood this account to bring back memories of classics. @MikeStoklasa a.k.a otaku.mindset: One who covers anything and everything anime. @shawn_frost1996 a.k.a insta_animeworld: The Indian otaku who screenshots all present and classic anime. @IcarusxIcarus a.k.a icarusanime: The #1 KyoAni fan, and an aspiring writer. @zekromvijay a.k.a _anime._.master_: The Tamil Anime Master who has his own YouTube channel, and occasionally posts IG content. @plasticgenius a.k.a naofuuumi (main acc), mangafuuumi & hyoukaanime: Lots of posts that diverge in style. If I have to single out the haters, I'd be best not to mention them (though one obvious case is someone not worth "Marinate"-ing at all), because I've grown used to them and silently wished that I could be Death Note's Light Yagami, to have a Death Note for MAL and secretly fantasize about penning down these users to their online "ban hammer" deaths, because one does not simply create a spam/troll MAL account just to have their "one post of fame" and/or being part of the toxic fandom. These toxic people should not exist online to create destruction and disruption to an already infectious site like MAL (which NGL, is getting worse than ever). Please fix your shit MAL, but support the DB admins (cyruz, Luna, Kineta and the rest of the DB team) in highlighting those issues that needed to be fixed slowly and incrementally. Don't invoke anger, but place trust that small overhauls can be done. Fingers crossed. OK! Community questions please: From @NextUniverse Expose your secrets as the seasonal king, how you operate with both life and anime, or in other words, what is your daily routine. HAHA WOW, this is an honour to be called "the seasonal king". Whoever thought of this tagline, I must commend and tip my Fedora hat to you. I may not be Stark700, but now I do cover up for him for shows that due to certain reasons he cannot post, so my presence will be a mainstay in MAL for years to come, until the day that I have to stop this behaviour for real-life reasons. As the literal Singlish Singaporean would say: Eat, Sleep, Shit. Nah, who am I kidding? Of course, it's more than that. Living in a timezone that's not too far from Japan, and thank God I don't stay in the U.S. (since ET and SGT are literally polar opposites e.g. 9am ET is 9pm SGT), I always find a pleasure that I'm able to watch anime at night while work gets in the way in the usual 9-6 time. Of course, I can't always be a NEET at home and watch anime, I do have a life too outside of anime. I have had a relationship with my significant other for 9 years (at the time of writing this), and just like the amount of care I give to anime, I must also prioritize my real-life time and love for her as well. She may not be a waifu, but she is my lifetime soulmate after all. So what's my late-night anime routine? Glad that you asked! 1) Go and find an anime tracker list that you can keep up with seasonal shows. I use LiveChart because I find that it's very intuitive and easy to use (and has been used by some Anitubers I know and follow when following seasonal content: Joey The Anime Man, Chibi Reviews, AH Brandon Reviews), though most people will gear to Anilist or AniDB (for fansubs). Not sure if Anilist has its own Discord, but there's one for LiveChart so yeah. 2) Tune the Japan timing with your local timing so you'll know when these RAW shows come out on Japanese TV. Not gonna link you to where I find this information because MAL does not like external links, and that would be a violation of rules. SMH if you're a leecher who asks "Where can I watch this?" for the fact that the prizes are best found yourself. I understand the legitimacy of asking the question, but IMO, don't spread this information around willy-nilly, especially on a place like MAL. 3) It's as easy as 1-2-3! Watch the anime, glance at the manga, multi-task them both, and get the comments posted IN FULL. That's why you see my discussions are pretty very hefty for episodic summaries, and there's a reason for it because of my final reviews when I need to look back on the anime and collate my thoughts with external sources. 4) WASH, RINSE AND REPEAT. Every 3 months, the same formula, over and over again from 9pm to 3-4am SGT (by the time subs come out). Burnout is real, but I don't care until I'm done with the daily seasonal offerings, and then I can fully rest. Explain how one both reads manga and watches the anime at the very same time. Dude, it's called multitasking. Of course, I have a computer, but I also got 2 smartphones that I use to keep track of the adapted manga (whether it be literate manga or the LN in visual terms) so that I can also keep a record when there's no anime to watch, and read manga in my free time. I always have a policy that for the ones that are going to be adapted into anime or film, I won't touch them and go in blind as an anime-only, par for the course for some that I have been reading and waiting to get an anime adaptation (e.g. HigeHiro, Tonikaku Kawaii, Komi Can't Communicate). You can tell my hype levels if I already have the extensive knowledge of what's gonna happen down the road in anime that can be done in 1 Cour (12-13) or 2 Cour (24-26) episodes. Of course, there are going to be additions (like anime-original scenes altered) and omissions (due to the anime's broadcast time constraint), but I'm totally fine with that since it's meant to market the original source material. One thing you must know about me is that the reviews that I have done for the past few years or so are representative of the complete package of who I am. When you stop watching so many seasonals, what will you do next? I already have a backup plan to watch the classics, like the 80s, 90s stuff that's considered to be the Golden Age of anime. That's also one of the reasons why a site like MAL Badges does exist for me to rack up the experience of all anime good and bad. Do keep a lookout on my On-Hold anime list that I plan to watch when I really have a lot of free time that's not pertaining to the seasonal view. Likewise with manga that I can clear alongside the past decades of anime. Behold that I'm always constantly updating my list, so I suggest that please give it a quick look, even for shameless PR ;) When will the name change to KANLels09? What Lels, is this someone who knows my egoistic Singlish and tries to play it off? Sorry, ain't gonna work out Lels. I can provide a big Len(s) of a pair of 👀 if you want ;) @Mei-o_Scarlett's personal questions (aside from that one question that only the true blue 1.5% Singaporean-based MAL users could understand): 1) So you're the head of Toriyama PRC and the seasonal voice chat, how do you manage? Correction: Make that the *NEW* head of AG's Toriyama PRC. For anyone who wants to know me in-depth outside of MAL, I'd suggest to please join Anime Guild, request for a Discord invite, and WahBanana! (please be strict to the rules as well, TVYM). I've attached my Discord tag so that you can find me there easily if I'm not on MAL (which is a rare case if I don't come online every 2-3 days). It's basically a lot of work trying to juggle not just my seasonal list, but other like-minded people in Toriyama, say 10+ pax or so. It's like a glorified MAL Score Progressions for Anime Guild, just that we aren't masochists to have time to watch THAT many seasonal shows, so gotta keep yourself in check here if you wanna retain your sanity. And for the record, Toriyama requires you to cover at least 20 shows in any given season, so imagine my profile's near-full seasonal watchlist, that people only watch about as much as 20-25 shows, then submit on a fixed deadline to ensure that we know what shows are worth from popularity to hidden gems and more. There is a dedicated Discord channel for that if you so wish to discover other shows outside of seasonals (e.g. some of us are more into Chinese Manhwa shows that are chock full of 3DCG animation, that as a borne Chinese, I cannot take it and cringe at the visuals). Seasonal voice chats a.k.a SVCs are held every end of the month at a time that suits the people in the West (because I'm one of the few Asians in the group), so imagine having to have chats that you have to burn the midnight oil to do so just to get their attention. It's tough-talking to people when I'm supposed to be asleep, but my love for anime always comes first, and I try to catch up on sleep thereafter. Not to worry, I'm always getting ample rest so that I have enough energy for the day. Tell us about your time in National Service a.k.a NS (or in U.S. terms: Army). Hoo boy, I don't exactly have a lot of good memories of when I was in the army. For context, the starting point of a Recruit for 4 months (2 months if you're fit, plus an additional 2 months if you failed a mandatory fitness test) was the most excruciating moment in my life. We're paired on a buddy level, slept on bunk beds, and as the true blue Singaporean would say: Kenna tortured to death with expletives over and over again. My buddy didn't fare better than me as he had a medical condition that tries as I might help him, it only got worse and he had to be bailed out, and so I was left without a troublesome buddy, and things got a little better in my 1st year of NS, going into an infantry unit and then got posted to Air Force (which you had to have a high level of security clearance from the government in order to be posted there). And I admit that being in the Air Force has its advantages and disadvantages. For one, Singapore has a lot of regimental forces (Army, Air Force, Navy), and the middle is considered to be the best posting, especially now that I still have to go back to do my annual 2-week long in-camp training (or better known as ICT). The Air Force camp I'm situated at is very close to the globally recognized No. 1 airport in the world (Singapore Changi Airport), so security is VERY tight, and the potential for terrorist attacks is very high, and that's a disadvantage if war really broke out because we're the first ones on the frontline. So more perks than anything, it's quiet up there. Regardless, I wasn't really the most common-sense person of the bunch and always tended to do things the way I wanted to with rebellion, which always got me in trouble with my superiors, much less almost being sent to detention a.k.a behind bars. For that, I've earned myself a notorious Black Sheep reputation within my own company, and it wasn't the best ideal situation being locked up in camp and not being able to taste civilian freedom even for just a few days. And remember that I mentioned watching Re:Zero in 2016? That lockdown time for me in camp is what led me to Anime, and I'm glad I did find time to cross the gap to spend a lot of time watching anime while serving the National Service because I was a security guard to guard my camp 24/7 in 3 or 6-hour shifts. So you could say that for all my intentions and purposes for being a rebellious person, Anime was my saving grace, and that is the sweetest thing that I could remember about my days in NS. It did save my life and lead me to turn over a new leaf to the 21/22-something-year-old me back in the day. Is your girlfriend an anime fan too, how did you guys meet? Contrary to popular belief, my long-time girlfriend is NOT an anime fan! We met in the last phases of secondary school through the church, and I immediately took a liking to her by teasing her and not being a Playboy, because that's not my true nature. You can't expect a relationship to be just all happy and smiles, and through years of arguments and close-call breakups, we're still together through thick and thin, hell and back after 9 years (as of the time of this interview), and on the next step of preparing for marriage (which by the time you're reading this 2 years after this interview is posted, we're already married!) My girlfriend likes all things Rikakkuma, so getting her Rikakkuma merchandise lights her eyes, and even more so now with Netflix's Rilakkuma to Kaoru that she can rewatch as and when she likes. Not an entry point into anime because she's quite obsessed with Mando-pop and K-pop, and I'm largely content with that as her languages are quite strong. So think like if we're in a foreign land, she can speak Korean, I can speak Japanese, and we bridge those connections together seamlessly. Is there something you would like to talk about? YES I DO. CAN WE PLEASE STOP THIS THING CALLED "FANDOM", ONCE AND FOR ALL? Fruits Basket, Attack on Titan, heck, even Fullmetal Alchemist. I know y'all fans are very hardcore in protecting your #1 anime spot on MAL with the 9.XX score, but IT'S JUST A DAMN F***ING SCORE. It's not the be-all, end-all like Rotten Tomatoes. Just because you like it doesn't mean that someone else will do, and please, the MAL system is already so outdated and vulnerable to these relentless attacks, so stop with the toxic spamming and trolling that has ABSOLUTELY NO PLACE to exist here. Don't make the DB admins' work that is already a monumental mountainous problematic one to process, even more difficult. Just keep things to yourself and appreciate the work without going out of your way to shitpost on other innocent people. AND HAVE A LIFE TOO. Don't be a F***TARD to go on Twitter and slander the production staff that bring your favourite manga/LN to life on the small screen. They already have their work cut out for them, and to still receive death threats over such simple "requests" for atrocities, you guys are the scum of the Earth to have that kind of mindset. Listening to Anitubers covering this sort of shit every once in a while hurts my heart to see that people like this exist, do y'all have not learnt your lessons over the 2019 KyoAni arson attack? So if you DO have a life, please respect these people and give them your unrelenting support in the best way you can. DONE. 끝 (Kkeut). 終わり (Owari). Can you recommend to us three members who we can choose from to interview next and briefly explain why you would love to read their interviews? @RobertBobert: Simply for the fact that I would like to see his honest-to-goodness thoughts on the "unintentionally" Yuri side of things that plague MAL and users always asking "Is it Yuri or not?" @Syureria: The Nihon-jin that surprisingly is a Gaijin, I've talked with this person before, but would like to see more of who he/she is about since secrets are best kept and released on an unknown area. @_MushiRock11_: My dear Chinese Asian! A diehard weeaboo would be interesting to see him flesh out who he really is, more than just from his bombarding profile page! P.S. I'm a very safe but boring guy when it comes to friends on MAL T.T Epilogue: Thanks for kickstarting and reviving the MAL Interviews Club with this interview @Mei-o_Scarlett! I have long been looking into this "dead" group and wanted my chance of fame, but the encounter with your comment on my comment list truly was the spark to re-ignite that sole chance, and glad I requested to give it a go! You're such a nice person ^_^ NextUniverse: The club died shortly after the making of this interview :pepelol: |
NextUniverseMar 13, 2022 6:42 AM
| So embarrased with Tensura fans and the fandom, how have we degraded |
| Thanks for the mention, I feel like I was mentioned by a star on tv lol. |
 |
| This interview was indeed cool and good. I will copycat these techniques to spam 1000 reviews and 7000 recommendations. Anyways, I think this Kan guy is a cool and interesting person, wouldn't you agree. This was a nice read. Good to see this club going back to death straight after this lmao. |
| Interesting, and suuuuuuper long interview. Took quite a while to read it, lol. Still enjoyed it, though. I always wondered how you can write THIS much all while having many other things to deal with, so thanks for your enlightenment! Just a smidgen of criticism, though. While I have to agree that your reviews are mostly constructive, sometimes it feels like you are choosing quantity over quality. This is especially the case with Stark; his reviews almost always feel like they are missing "something". That something, in my eyes, is vibrancy and actual insight. This is just my own opinion, btw. Despite my criticism, I still think you are a good reviewer who writes in an elaborate manner most of the times. At the very least, you can effectively convey your thoughts through your reviews. So don't let what the haters say discourage you, ever! Also, glad to know that you are a fan of Joey (The Anime Man) as well. Do you watch the Trash Taste podcast? |
IrrelevantGuyJul 13, 2021 11:03 AM
| That was a great interview! It's always fun and interesting to learn more about other users (and from a fellow South-East Asian as well)! It was nice to see Iris Zero be mentioned. It's such an amazing manga, and it's really a shame that less and less people talk about it due to the hiatus. Glad to see you bring it back! Also, love that Reddit post. |
| Did not expect to get mentioned, let alone in a positive light, but hey, thanks for the shout-out more autism rep plus a fellow autistic person with a GF is a rare and fascinating sight here on MAL tbh Also, oh God, yeah, the botting over the past year and a half, ESPECIALLY Winter of this year, was downright insane! Glad that's been largely bulldozed by mods, finally. Too bad about popular media fandoms constantly being hateful towards the creators of their works. |
| Being wrong is just an occupational hazard. Follow me on twitter. I have an anitube channel so feel free to check it out and subscribe if you like what you see. |
| Woah, this club is still alive. Anyway nice interview |
 _______I like rocks__  |
| @KANLen09 Oh my lord, I'm so sorry for not responding to the mention. Guess it's because I'm not a club member here so I didn't get the notif but I hope you don't mind the tardiness on my part. I'm glad that you see me that way lol, I've been fairly busy lately so I haven't been able to be as active sadly but I'm sure this'll give me some motivation to go the extra mile, so thanks for that! |
#Anime4Life be my Life Motto! #PrayForKyoAni  |
| Yeah, Apa kabar. Excuse my late respond for mention... I didn't get notif ;") I know your Interview when I visit yourprofile :") Glad to be able to help you two on the episode thread, even though I just write a bullsht on my post :") What? do u have a GF? damn, that was big suprise for this year jk. |
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