▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Interview #254 - @IrrelevantGuy ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬  Wannabe writer and critic "Just an irrelevant guy doing irrelevant things." Interview conducted & Reviewed by: @NextUniverse IrrelevantGuy, tell us more about yourself. As cliche as this sounds, I have never really been good at introductions, but here we go. I'm basically your typical 16-year-old teenager that you could find anywhere on the internet, but I guess the only thing unique about me is that I'm a little bit "popular" on MAL where I get to voice my shitty opinions on anime and manga that I like and dislike. My real name is Radowan—which may sound weird, but it is actually a somewhat common name in the country that I live in. Speaking of which, I have lived pretty much my entire life in Bangladesh, which is a name I guarantee that you have heard for the first time. While I'm not necessarily a patriotic guy, it does kinda sadden me that most people outside Asia don't even know about my country, and I pretty much always have to say that it is a neighbor of India to make them recognize it. But hey, hopefully my interview would get more people to know about Bangladesh lol. Don't know if this will come as a surprise, but I'm fairly shy and somewhat introverted in real life, and even on the internet I don't go out of my way to talk with other people unless they reach out to me first. On the contrary, I'm normally very interactive around my close friends, and I have gotten into a lot of trouble for talking the most in class. At home, I'm mostly on my phone browsing the internet whenever I'm not fulfilling my basic needs, so you could say that my entire life revolves around it. I have tried many times to reduce my phone usage, especially since I have bad eyesight and important exams coming up that I need to study for, but all of my attempts have unfortunately been in vain so far. :) As for my religious beliefs, I'm an agnostic atheist. I come from a very devoted Muslim family, and for almost my entire life I have believed in the teachings of Islam myself; however, it was two years ago when I started to be more critical of things (coincidentally around the same time I got into anime and manga). This "awakening" didn't happen for a specific reason—it was more like I always had certain qualms about the religion yet was too afraid to question them, but after some time I finally became assured that I didn't sincerely believe in all of its teachings. I still respect and agree with some of the stuff that Islam teaches, especially regarding equality, but I don't think I could ever regain my faith in it. Note: I wanted to go more in-depth about exactly why I left Islam and became an atheist, but given that religion is an extremely sensitive topic, I decided to keep it short and simple. How did you choose your username and are you as irrelevant as your name claims to be? I could make up a "deep" story about how meaningful IrrelevantGuy is and how it perfectly defines me as a person, but to be completely honest, the only reason I picked the username was because I thought it sounded cool enough and was easy to remember—there's nothing remotely deep about it. For further context, I remember that I really liked the word "relevant" for whatever reason, but since "RelevantGuy" didn't sound very good to me (although now it is my discord username), I decided to go with "IrrelevantGuy" at last. I know, big brain thinking. Also, some people have asked me if I chose my username because of Hachiman; he doesn't have anything to do with it. I came up with the username long before I watched Oregairu or even knew what it was. Answering the second question, I would say it depends on what you define as "irrelevant". To get a bit philosophical, I definitely am irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. The universe is astronomically large, and it has been existing for a long, long time. If you suppose that the universe has existed for one year, we humans haven't even existed for a nanosecond in comparison (just an assumption, I didn't do the math), so I guess we are all irrelevant in the end. Actually serious answer: no, not really. I think I do have relevance in some aspects. Could you give us the history of your time on MAL? I have been on MAL for more than two years now, but it feels like only a few months to be honest. Maybe it's due to the pandemic, time for me has passed a lot faster than it normally does. Most of 2020 and 2021 have been a big blur; I don't even remember what I did in those two years outside of the internet. Returning to the actual topic, my first encounter with MAL dates back to as early as 2017, which was the year when I regularly started consuming youtube content. This mostly consisted of the videos of big youtubers during that time, which included PewDiePie. I was a huge fan of Felix, like I still am, and watched nearly all of the videos that he released. One day, he uploaded this video on his channel where he showed his old MAL account, and that was what introduced me to the site and made me more interested in anime in general. It took two more years before I actually considered creating an account though since I didn't regularly watch anime before then. I finally became a full otaku in December 2019 (more on that later), and after one month, I decided to create a MAL account to keep track of my completed titles. Initially, my prime reason for using the site was only that, but I quickly found myself interacting more with the community. I used to be really active on the forums, particularly in the "Anime Discussions", "Anime & Manga Recommendations", and "Forum Games" sections. I would post on Forum Games the most and spend a lot of time on it because it was the easiest way to get profile views, and I actually cared about profile views back then for some reason. I'm glad that I have "matured" now though. I have also written a fair amount of reviews in the last couple of years, which is one of the reasons some of you might know me. If you ask me whether I like all of my reviews or not, the answer would be a hard "nope". A lot of them are honestly very mediocre, and some of the earlier ones are actually egregious. There are a few reviews that I am quite proud of though, and the AdaShima review is certainly one of them. This is not just because it has the most helpful votes out of any of my reviews; I honestly think I nailed almost everything in that review (there's a reason why it's on the top with 300 votes). As for my motivation for writing reviews, I will admit that getting helpful votes is part of the reason why I do it, but I wouldn't care about helpful votes if I didn't like writing reviews in the first place. At first, I used to write very infrequently and didn't enjoy it that much, but as I got better at writing, it naturally started to become more enjoyable. Reviewing has sort of become like a hobby for me at this point, and I don't see myself quitting it anytime soon (barring any unexpected and major drawbacks). Probably the most memorable part about my experience with MAL would be Rewrite, something which I have dedicated a lot of my time and effort into. As far as I can remember, I was invited to join the club in March 2021—after two unsuccessful yet meaningful attempts. Joining Rewrite was a huge factor for me as it vastly improved my writing skills, which in turn helped me become more confident in general. It may sound like I'm exaggerating, but I genuinely mean that. I used to be quite insecure about myself in the past, but that boost in confidence was very, very helpful. Concerning the Rewrite community itself, I have never really interacted with them that much, but it's a great community from what I have seen. They seem like genuinely nice people, and I had quite a few laughs from reading their conversations on the discord server. But yeah, being the stereotypical "shy and introverted guy" that I am, I rarely talk with them myself unless it is something work-related. How did you get into anime and manga? I don't specifically remember when and how I discovered anime, but I used to frequently watch kids' shows like Doraemon, Crayon Shin-chan, Beyblade, and Pokémon as a child. Back in the day, shows like these were extremely popular with kids in my country (and they still are to some extent), but everyone just called them "cartoons" and didn't know they had a specific name. Now the term "anime" has become much more common here, especially because of stuff like Demon Slayer and Attack on Titan (as you would expect), although I can guarantee that most people still don't know what it means. Anyways, the first "proper" anime that I watched was either Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo or Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry, and I clearly remember the reason why I watched them. I stumbled upon a video on youtube which had a title like "Top 10 Anime Kisses" or something, where Rakudai and Yamada-kun were respectively ranked 1st and 6th as I recall. Being the horny teenager that I was, I really liked the kiss scenes and started watching those two shows soon after. And guess where I watched them? On youtube. Back then, I didn't know about any pirated websites that had streamed anime for free (although a simple google search would have told me), so youtube was my only available platform for watching anime. If you have ever tried watching anime on youtube, you would know that it's really difficult to find an entire TV show there, and even if you find one, the entire thing is usually shown in a small rectangular box in order to avoid copyright strike, which obviously isn't very enjoyable to watch. There were also some shows that were only subtitled in Spanish or Indonesian, and I didn't and still don't understand a single word of those languages, so yeah… I barely watched any anime in 2017 and 2018 because of this, although I really enjoyed the shows that I watched and wanted to watch more. Don't ask me why I was so stupid. One of the few anime I watched during that period was Death Note, and I'm so glad that I did. I got to know about the anime from, again, Felix's video about MAL, because he had given it a 10/10 and also had Light as his only favorite character. Luckily, I managed to find the dubbed version of the show on youtube, and it immediately became the best thing I had ever watched (later surpassed by Koe no Katachi)—which I didn't expect whatsoever. I was completely engrossed by the story right from the beginning, and every twist and turn progressively made the experience even more thrilling and enjoyable. All the episodes had me on the edge of my seat, even those of the relatively inferior second half that everyone hates. The conclusion was exceptionally good and fitting, and had me breaking down in tears as the ending score started playing (yes I wanted Light to win). Death Note was the first anime that created the so-called void in my heart, so I kept searching for more shows like it—but unfortunately, I couldn't find any of them on youtube (press Fs in the chat). Luckily, it was in December 2019 that I learned that you could pirate almost any anime online and do the same with manga and that basically opened a whole new world for me. My school was closed during that time since my national exams had ended recently, which meant I had all the time in the world. Given this opportunity, I watched as many anime and read as many manga as I could, and—surprise surprise—found out that I really enjoyed those two mediums. It went only downhill from there. I continued to watch anime and read manga that I found worth watching and reading, slowly turning into the pretentious weeb that I am now. I used to be somewhat picky back then, as for the most part I only watched and read stuff that seemed like I would enjoy—unlike my current self who watches and reads nearly anything that he comes across, whether good or bad. Don't know if that's an upgrade or downgrade though. Fun fact: I got into hentai much earlier than I got into anime and manga. What was the reason? Unlike anime, I actually knew of a site where I could watch hentai for free, and that site was hentaihaven (RIP). I don't remember how I learned about hentai either, but what I do remember is that I used to have an unhealthy obsession with it. In fact, the first thing I did after whenever my parents would go outside was watch hentai. My favorite was one of the beloved classics, Kanojo x Kanojo x Kanojo, which I watched an uncensored version of—probably the first time I watched uncensored hentai. As you would expect from a degenerate, I immediately loved it, but I could only watch one episode because my parents suddenly returned home. It took a while before I could get my next chance, and those days felt like some of the longest days of my life—I'm not exaggerating. So when I finally got the opportunity, I finished the entire hentai right away, and at that time, it had become one of the best things I ever watched. Although my favorite hentai is different now (for anyone curious—Kyuuai Etranger; go give it a read, it is underrated af), Kanojo x Kanojo x Kanojo is still very special to me even to this day. I barely watch any hentai now though, and have almost entirely shifted to reading. The main reason for this is that a lot of hentai are either poorly animated or have subpar voice acting, and they are usually big turn-offs for me. The character designs are sometimes very attractive though, and in such cases, I just read the original source material instead of wasting my time watching the hentai. Poorly drawn hentai aren't as common as poorly animated hentai, and you don't have to worry about the sound being awful, making reading a better choice. Also, hentai manga have a lot more to offer simply because there are many more of them, so you are far likelier to find a hentai manga that fits your taste than you are to find a hentai anime. Well, unless you have something against reading I guess. (P.S. Sorry for going into a random discussion about hentai :P) Could you recommend us three of your favorite anime and manga? Hmm…. This is a hard one since I have a lot to pick from, but I will go with some that immediately came to my mind after reading the word "favorite" and some that I think are underappreciated. Anime: Shirobako (anime): One of my recent favorites, and probably the one I expected the least to give a 10/10 (or precisely 9.9/10). Shirobako is an anime that brims with unfiltered passion and creativity, and one that is incredibly delightful and fascinating to watch. The anime is extraordinarily detailed and meticulous in its presentation; it painstakingly shows you the gradual process of creating anime. The characters are easily the best part of Shirobako. Every character, and I mean every one of them, is very endearing and memorable. I still vividly remember most of them, even Tarou who acts like a jerk from time to time. One of the reasons for this is because the viewers are provided with an extensive look into the characters' daily lives, so you feel as if you actually know these characters personally, making it hard to not care about them. On the production side, this show is animated by P.A. Works, so expect some great animation and a great soundtrack to boot (the first ending song "Animetic Love Letter" especially slaps). To summarize—an amazing anime with an amazing storyline and especially amazing characters. Now go watch the anime. Aoi deserves to be loved a lot more! Koe no Katachi (anime): A very generic recommendation, but I wanted to recommend it anyway since it's my favorite anime of all time. Koe no Katachi is one of the few pieces of media that has actually impacted me in some way, and definitely the one that has resonated with me the most. It was an absorbing experience to say the least. From the beginning to the conclusion there was never a scene where I got even slightly disinterested. Nothing felt forced or pointless in the movie; each and every scene was sincere and had a purpose to exist (except for maybe Pedro, but he was hilarious so it doesn't matter). The entire thing was an emotional rollercoaster. I went through a variety of emotions while watching it, all of which flawlessly culminated into the spectacular ending scene. Nothing else has ever made me cry so much except for that scene—I remember being completely dejected for a full week after finishing it. And this is not just about making me cry. When I said that the movie impacted me, I meant every single word of it. My perspective on bullying and especially mental trauma has changed a lot after I watched the movie, and definitely for the better. You will hear many people say this, but I'm truly glad that I was able to experience something like Koe no Katachi, and I wish I could erase my memories and watch the anime for the first time again. Sora yori mo Tooi Basho (anime): Personally, I think this is the epitome of "Don't judge a book by its cover" in anime. Sora yori mo Tooi Basho seems like a completely vapid CGDCT series from an outsider's perspective, but trust me, it is far, far more different from what you are expecting. When I first heard about the show, I was unsure myself whether I would enjoy it or not, but when I actually started watching the anime, I quickly became totally invested. For starters, the show is animated by Madhouse, so the production values are unsurprisingly stellar. Moving on to the best part, the characters are amazing. They may look like moe blobs at first glance, but they have substantial depth to them. Their designs never proved to be a hindrance to my enjoyment, as they had very believable personalities and were remarkably well fleshed-out. As the series progressed, their interactions became more engaging and their relationship more genuine. The emotional parts hit me just in the right place, especially that last half totally sobered me. Simply, I cried like a bitch. Manga: Velvet Kiss (manga): Velvet Kiss is a smut, but a legitimately well-written smut. It was also one of my first read manga, so you may think I'm just showing bias towards it or viewing it in rose-tinted glasses, but even from an "objective" standpoint, I believe it has an intriguing storyline. The two lead characters are the main selling point of the series, and they are both very compelling characters—especially Kanoko. As toxic and contrived as their relationship may seem, their circumstances actually justify most of it, and considering the amount of care that is given to their characterization, you can completely get behind their actions and even find the two. The art is gorgeous; there's something so captivating about Harumi Chihiro's art that I have never seen with any other manga artist. Some of the panels that she draws are genuinely breathtaking. There are a lot of sex scenes in the manga—one nearly every chapter—and they are very titillating, so even if you don't like the story or the characters, you have other things to look forward to. ;) But seriously, this is one of the most underrated manga out there, even with all the abundant sex scenes. Kieli: Shisha-tachi wa Kouya ni Nemuru (manga): This is my favorite shoujo series to date, although it doesn't really have the typical characteristics of the shoujo genre/demographic. The story is set in a somewhat dystopian world and a rather interesting and well-executed one. The relationship of two main characters, Harvey and Kieli, is what sells this manga. They are not only a very likable and entertaining duo, but also their bond feels truly sincere and wholehearted. The corporal guy is a great character too, despite the fact that he is basically just a talking radio. The tone and the atmosphere of the manga is astounding, which was what got me interested in its world to begin with. Though, I wish the series had been longer so that they could have had more time to extend some parts of the storyline; but other than that, it's an engrossing and emotionally rewarding read. Yaiteru Futari (manga): Although this is an ongoing manga and I have read only 10 chapters myself, I felt like I had to recommend it so that more people would know about the manga and read it. In short, Yaiteru Futari is a romance manga that focuses on an inexperienced couple who frequently like to do BBQs. It is a very simple series on the whole, and that's actually one of its good points. The couple in question—Kenta and Chihiro—are two mature, responsible adults who are genuinely in love with each other. They are occasionally very shy and awkward, but that never feels bothersome because it is the point of the manga. The story is all about how these two try to overcome their shyness and gain more confidence in the process, and there's luckily no stupid and unnecessary twist to it. This simple yet well-executed approach makes the manga so much delightful to read, which is something that most romance series lack. Also, Kenta and Chihiro are both really sweet and adorable. They have already become one of my favorite animanga couples to date. Any users you like/dislike and why? "dislike" is a pretty strong word. Unless someone is being outright obnoxious and repulsive, I find it hard to dislike them just based on how they act online. This is why I will only list some users that I have come to like over the years I have been using MAL. Spoiler alert: a majority of these users are popular reviewers, and I have interacted very few times with them, but they seem cool enough for me to consider that I like them. @Archaeon : One of my favorite MAL reviewers. His reviews are a bit on the utilitarian side, but they are still quite distinct and very insightful. I hated him at first after reading his Evangelion review, but now that I have learned to be more receptive to other people's opinions, I totally understand where he comes from. Too bad I wasn't around in his prime and he rarely stays active on MAL now, because he seems like he would be an amazing guy to have some serious (and maybe boomer) conversations with. By the way, for the longest time I thought his profile picture was of Jesus Christ, but it is apparently of The Big Lebowski. @Veronin : Another great reviewer. I also initially hated him after seeing some of the scores he gave on the shows I liked, but I have eventually grown to like the guy (and his reviews as well). Especially after I read the interview he gave to this club, I found him to a much more likable person. @ZephSilver : Probably the most eloquent reviewer I have come across on MAL so far. His reviews are seriously on another level; not only the critiquing but also the writing is astounding. Furthermore, his writing style changes distinctively depending on the show that he is reviewing and without almost any loss in quality, which is exceptional. Simply, he is an S tier reviewer in my book. @RebelPanda : Probably the most popular reviewer on MAL right now. Despite his overtly harsh and "no holding back" approach to reviewing that made him so popular, he seems like a nice guy from the brief conversations I have had with him. He is a good reviewer to say the least, and his critical mindset actually makes the reviews more interesting to read for the most part. I especially like the sardonic side of his writing—the beginning and ending sections of his SAO Alicization War of Underworld review are comedy gems. HAIL KIRITO! @KTGita22 : A fellow editor of Rewrite, or a "Reeditor" if you will. Hardly interacted with them (this is a trend), but their amazing edits alongside their elaborate comments have helped me really improve myself. Their synopses are some of the neatest and most well-written ones that I have read, and they have inspired me to write better synopses too. So if you are reading this Gita, thank you for all the help that you have provided me for more than half a year (and hopefully will continue to provide). :) Below are some users that I have conversed with for quite a while: @Coolest1234D : In a way, he is a neighbor of mine, as I live in Bangladesh and he lives in India. First talked with him after joining MAL Interviews' discord server, and it didn't take us long to become friends. @Space_Boyfriend : Another reviewer, who was known by IshigamiCrisis before he changed his username. He seems like a nice guy, albeit his scores on some shows are probably too harsh (in my eyes at least). We haven't talked for a while, unfortunately, but I'm going to contact him soon. @rehoshi : Approached him first after seeing his Osamake review. Specifically, I wanted to know where his avatar was from and left a comment on his profile, and from then we have had quite a few lengthy yet fun conversations with each other. He is half-Canadian and half-Japanese, so I learned a lot about Japan from him. I was encouraged to get into the idol genre because of his suggestion, but I have yet to prepare myself to fall into that rabbit hole. He also listens to the Trash Taste podcast like I do, which deepened our connection even more lol. @basileus03 : A really wise and friendly guy. Given that he is also Asian and a few years older than me, I kind of see him as my senpai on MAL. Unfortunately, we haven't been in contact for a long time. @thebluedash : Recently started conversing with them. We seem to have the same opinion on most of the shows that we watch, so they are kind of like my soulmate on MAL haha. I have yet to know them properly, so hopefully we will continue to interact a lot more in the future. @Kenny_H and @dmoneyjohn : My Utopia clubmates. I have been playing Battleship with them for like two years now and they are quite likable. @Nakamurasenpai : Another user whom I began to converse recently with. Unlike me, he is very good with maps and geography, and he also seems like an incredibly wholehearted guy, which I find rather admirable. Do you have any hobbies outside of anime/manga and MAL? Sadly not many, or at least not many "good" ones. I don't play sports at all, which I think you have already guessed, and as I mentioned before, I'm mostly on my phone when I'm at home, so yeah… I do like reading quite a bit, though. I used to be an avid reader about three years ago, and although not I'm not as frequent as before, I still try to read books on a somewhat regular basis. I write short stories and poems now and then too, but I'm still not confident enough to show them to others. There is also writing and editing synopses for Rewrite, if that counts as a hobby. As for my other "inferior" hobbies, watching youtube, listening to music and playing Princess Connect are the three that take up most of my time. As I previously mentioned, I started watching youtube back in 2017, and my preferences haven't really changed a lot since then. I still like most of the youtubers I liked back then, though I guess my range of content has become more extensive. Anyways, here are some youtubers/content creators that I regularly watch or at least enjoy the content of: Youtubers that everybody knows about: PewDiePie, JackSepticEye, Markiplier Anime/Otaku related: Gigguk, The Anime Man, CDawgVA, Trash Taste (though they rarely talk about anime now) Educational (basically science, mathematics, history and stuff like that): Vsauce, OverSimplified, Numberphile, Veritasium, Kurzgesagt, Real Life Lore Comedy-oriented/"commentary" channels: Cody Ko and Noel Miller (funniest comedy duo imo), MoistCritikal, Drew Gooden Animation: Odd1sOut and occasionally Domics and Jaiden Animations When it comes to music, my taste is very simple. I'm mostly into J-pop music, particularly anime or anime-ish songs. Minami and Eve are my two favorite singers, and I'm also a fan of Nagi Yanagi and Masayuki Suzuki (the guy who sang the openings of Kaguya-sama—he is 65 years old by the way). There are yunomi and nyarons as well, both of whom I discovered through Felix's intros. My favorite music composer would probably be Kensuke Ushio, who created the soundtrack of Koe no Katachi. Outside of J-pop, I'm a big fan of Eminem in particular and like many mainstream and also non-mainstream songs in general. A special shoutout to "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire, which doesn't fail to put a smile on my face whenever I listen to it. Regarding Princess Connect, I have been playing it since last year in September. I initially wanted to play the game because my phone didn't have enough space for Genshin Impact, which I have heard is much better and grander, but PriConne has been amazing so far for me. Although the gameplay is fairly simplistic (albeit arguably decent), I enjoy the game mainly because of the characters. Most of them are very likable, and their individual stories are usually well-executed. Karyl and Nozomi are my favorite characters, followed by Suzuna and Shizuku. I haven't caught up to the overarching storyline yet (I'm like 100 chapters behind), but that also seems fairly interesting from what I have seen—albeit a bit convoluted. One thing that irks me a lot though, is the complete lack of thought given to the designs of the minor background characters. The game uses like 10 template character models for all of the stories and doesn't even bother to fit them to their roles. For example, in one of the character-unique stories, the protagonist had to go to a lingerie store along with the said character (Suzuna), and the store lady there was holding a fruit basket for no reason. Things like this are unfortunately quite frequent in the game, which makes me wonder why they are ignoring such obvious flaws. But yeah, other than this, PriConne is actually really good. Oh, I somehow forgot to talk about my love of Cricket (if you don't know what that is, look it up on Google—not the bug but the sport). It is a considerably long sport, as even one game of the shortest format called "T20" can last up to four hours. The second shortest/second longest format is "ODI", which usually lasts for like seven to eight hours. Lastly you have Test matches, which are played for a maximum of 5 days straight with normally seven hours of play each day (there are breaks in the middle). I'm quite a big fan of Cricket, or a "Cricket enthusiast" if you will, although I don't watch it as often as I did two years ago. However, I do stay up to date with most international matches and any major T20 leagues (IPL, Big Bash and BPL for example). By "stay up to date", I mean things like checking the results of the matches, how many runs each team scored, etc. This might come off as a surprise, and some people may even call me crazy, but I actually unironically enjoy watching Test cricket, although I obviously don't watch it for seven hours straight. It is mostly just something that I put on TV while doing other tasks, and the rare occurrences that I become fully engrossed in a match are only when it gets rather exciting or I have nothing better to do. How do you feel about how the site is run? Especially in regards to the moderators and admins. I don't have many bad things to say about the management of the site to be honest; my personal experience so far has been very positive. The mods and the admins are running the site quite well, especially in 2021 they have made huge improvements. There were quite a few glaring issues before then—like constant score botting, server being down for a long period of time, reviews suddenly being mass-voted by bots, etc.—but now I don't really come across any notable problems. Well, there is one issue I guess, which is that DB moderators usually take a very long time to respond or implement changes. In particular, I wish they were more prompt with updating the database of manga; there are a considerable amount of series out there that have already finished publishing but are still marked as "Currently Publishing". NextUniverse: Since you have quite a bit of forum posts, do you think the forum/community mods are as bad as people make them out to be? They seem to be a quick target for users to criticise whenever they commit any action. Although I was very active on the forums back in the day, I'm honestly not that knowledgeable about the moderation side, so I can't really give an elaborate answer to this question. From what I have seen though, I think the moderators are competent enough for their jobs and people are usually a bit too harsh on them. However, I do wish the mods were more prompt with handling user toxicity and removing forum threads that spread or initiate that toxicity. You were one of the earliest Rewrite editor-of-the-month. What was the journey like? Do you believe you have made an impact on MAL with your edits and write-ups too? Honestly, it was an amazing experience—both the journey and the "destination" (not really, since I'm still editing). As I have mentioned previously, I joined Rewrite in March 2021, and I got accepted as an editor six months later in September (this time in my first attempt). I had to improve my proficiency a lot to get there, and I was able to do that mostly thanks to the editors who left insightful edits on my synopses. A lot of people say this, but when I look back and read some of my earlier drafts, I actually get embarrassed thinking how bad I used to be. Well, if you view it from another perspective, that also means that I have improved enough to notice and criticize my past mistakes, which is definitely a positive. Anyways, back to the main topic, after becoming an editor, I simply kept editing synopses that I thought I could improve upon or help make them better, and obviously, my skills also naturally developed along the way. Eventually, in November (I didn't remember this by the way, just looked it up), I was given the title of "editor-of-the-month" for that month for making the most edits in that period. This "achievement" meant quite a lot to me, which gave me a bigger push to better myself even further. I haven't exactly determined my next goal yet, but maybe something like creating 50 write-ups or making 300 edits works? Saying that I have made an impact on MAL might be stretching it, but my contributions weren't really negligible either. I think I have written more than 20 synopses and edited more than 150, which has to mean something right? Rewrite synopses are of the reasons why I prefer MAL to other websites, as they always give you an accurate idea of what a show is about without you being spoiled of anything, which is especially helpful for when you are considering to watch/read obscure titles. Some synopses are so well-written that they can get the viewers interested in a show merely through their writing quality. This is why I believe synopses are a very essential part of MAL, and I'm really glad that I am a part of the community that creates these synopses and actively contribute to it myself as well. You have shown to be heavily invested in YouTube, what do you think about the platform as a whole in terms of both function and community? Do content creators live up to the standards you’d like them to, or do some falter in delivering sufficient content? What are your thoughts about the stigma behind anitubers too? First question: I think the youtube community is quite decent as a whole, but there are certainly noticeable problems with some parts of it. First listing off the good things, almost all of the communities that I have been a part of are very wholesome and friendly. You do see a few toxic comments here and there, but they have gradually decreased in number. Of course, that doesn't apply to the entire youtube sphere. One of the things I hate the most about the community is the cancel culture trend that has been going on youtube for a while. Some people are way too quick to judge others without knowing the full story, and quite a lot of creators have wrongly suffered because of this. I wish they were more patient and didn't react so aggressively, but I might be just expecting too much. Ending in a less serious tone, I dislike how some youtube comments are so uncreative and plagiarized Youtube's functions are great in my opinion. To go into further detail, if you separate the site from the people behind it and solely see it as a website, I honestly think it is pretty amazing. The problem comes up when you add the organization to the equation, who have been known for doing some questionable things to say the least. Even just a few months ago, youtube removed the dislike count for everyone in the pretense of helping "small creators", which is frankly complete bullshit. The copyright system is also a fucking mess. Although I'm not personally affected by it, countless content creators have been an unfortunate victim of this stupid system, yet youtube hasn't taken any actions regarding it whatsoever. It's like they are completely detached from their user community and aren't willing to listen to them at all. And I don't know why so Second question: Well, I think it entirely depends on what you define as "sufficient content". Personally speaking, there are definitely more content creators out there who fail to deliver good content than there are who don't, but the creators that I'm subscribed to do live up to my expectations. That doesn't mean that they always post amazing content, but that they remain consistent with what they post and are (or at least seem like) well-meaning individuals in general. Third question: While I do watch three of the biggest anitubers, I'm not that involved with that side of youtube to be honest, but from what I have seen, the hate surrounding them isn't justified for the most part. I'm saying this in defense of the Trash Taste trio in particular. A few months ago, I had an argument with a user on the forums about this topic, who claimed the three to be opinionated and spreading misleading information. They mentioned a specific instance where the trio was talking about Attack on Titan and Rent-a-Girlfriend and called them good shows, and the user didn't agree with them—which is completely reasonable—but they kept saying that the three were misleading their audience by making them think they are good shows. I personally can't get behind this kind of perspective whatsoever. Again, I don't know about other anitubers, but the Trash Taste members always make it clear that they are simply stating their own opinions, so the viewers shouldn't take them objectively at all. They never pretend that their taste is impeccable or anything stupid like that, and they are completely aware that other people can have different opinions and show full respect to that (as long as the people in question are not being irrational). This should be clear if you watch their content with an unbiased mindset, especially their podcast where you get to see their genuine personalities and they come across as legitimately likable and charming individuals. What ideas do your stories and poems center around? My writings generally incorporate angst and self-deprecation as their pivotal themes. There are fundamentally two prime reasons behind this. One is that I have been enamored by stories revolving around semi-nihilism/semi-pessimism since I started ninth grade, and the other reason is a lot more personal. There are some days when I get suddenly depressed and feel like crying my heart out—sometimes for no particular reasons—and I occasionally try to express that feeling of dreadfulness through my stories and poems; not only because it is productive but also because it feels strangely refreshing. Don't worry, I'm not just an edgy, overly sentimental teenager, so I do write stuff that are relatively "normal" and optimistic too. I just have to be in the right mood to do that. You have mentioned that you were an avid reader, which books have you read and what are your favourites? Do you also believe that the medium is underappreciated these days with people less inclined to read books? Most of the books I have read are in Bengali (it is my native language after all), so I doubt anyone here would know them unless they are acquainted with Bengali literature or live in the Indian subcontinent like me. Two of my favorite books would be "Srikanta" and "Pather Panchali", both of which are considered masterpieces in Bengali literature. Srikanta is particularly excellent because of the titular protagonist, whom the author created based on his own beliefs and experiences. The novel contains many culture-specific themes and story elements though, so you would have to be directly involved with Bengali culture to truly appreciate it (same with Pather Panchali). Yes, I agree that books are somewhat underappreciated nowadays. This is only natural in my opinion, considering that kids worldwide are far more familiar with visual mediums today than they are with books and the like. But to be honest, I don't think that's always a bad thing contrary to what some people say. Not reading books doesn't automatically make you a less intelligent person (ironically, that kind of thinking is extremely stupid), as there are many other ways you can derive knowledge from. That being said, you should at least try to make a habit of reading if you are interested. It may seem like a challenging task at first, but properly invest your time into it and you will eventually begin to like reading books. I would suggest starting slow, like reading 3 pages or 10 minutes each day, and then you can gradually work your way up from there. And even if you don't like reading, there are many audiobooks available too, so you can try that out. You've once made a blog on the "Delightful things about the anime community", since the anime community is somewhat stigmatised within the community and outside of it, where do you think the community would place on the whole in terms of how likeable it is? I did make a blog like that back in the earlier stages of my time on MAL, and to be honest, it's not one of my proudest works to say the least. I still somewhat concur with the primary idea that I wanted to convey, as I still believe there are many positive sides about the community that people usually ignore, but at the same time, I can't deny that it's not exactly the best community to be a part of or involved with. There is a considerable amount of toxicity and many immature, obnoxious kids who should have had their internet cut off a long time ago (I'm saying this half-jokingly), which makes some of the hate towards the anime community justified. Especially in my country, based on what I have personally experienced online, most anime viewers here are very insular when it comes to their taste and preferences, which is particularly true for action shounen fans. A lot of action shounen fans overhype certain shounen anime (Demon Slayer, Attack on Titan, Tokyo Revengers, etc.) to the extreme without taking notice to other equally good if not better shows out there, and this is not even the worst part. Some act as if action shounen anime are the only good shows to exist, and other anime aren't even worth being considered to watch. Furthermore, they get genuinely angry whenever you share an opinion that slightly differs from theirs, although they never have any rational argument to back up their claims with. I said "especially in my country", but I feel like this applies to the entirety of the anime sphere to varying extent, and it's usually because of stuff like this that the community gets a bad rep. In the end though, as I said in my blog, there are also many likable and intellectual people in the community—you just have to frequent the right places to find and interact with them. You've participated in many MAL events, ranging from watching competitions to more general events. What are you favourites and for what reasons? Definitely MALoween and Fantasy Anime League. I think these two events are the ones that the staff put the most effort into arranging, and their efforts have more than paid off. MALoween is super entertaining because there are so many different games and challenges that you can participate in, and I find the "lore" to be very interesting to follow as well. Also, this may seem trivial, but I discovered one of my favorite songs "The Everlasting" too because of MALoween, and a few other things, so I have some delightful memories of the event. I love playing FAL because it brings out the "calculative" side in me, and it's also just fun to see the progression of points and how each anime is performing. Put simply, I like seeing the numbers go up. Do you see yourself leaving MAL in the near future? No, definitely not. Me leaving MAL correlates to me quitting anime, which I don't see happening in the next 10 years at least. I have also grown very fond of the website over two years, particularly Rewrite where I want to keep making my contributions. Nothing is set in stone though, so the future me might think differently, but for now, I don't want to leave MAL at all. Is there anything you wish MAL had? A couple of things, actually. Here they are:
Is there something unasked that you would like to talk about? I want to talk a little about my bad habit of procrastinating, for which many hours of my life have gone to waste. I usually take hours to finish my assignments, and this is not because the assignment is long or difficult or anything like that; it is because I always get distracted by my surroundings and can't pay attention properly—and the distraction is mostly caused by my phone. Furthermore, I unnecessarily delay replying to a lot of the comments and messages that are sent to me on MAL, and I don't really know why I do that even though I could have just responded to them in a few minutes. Any feedback on the interview format? It looks great to me, and that's pretty much it (don't know if this is considered feedback). If I had to go in more detail, I really like the fact that you have added community questions and made the interviewing process very easy and simple. Hopefully, in the future, you will be able to improve the format even more! (don't ask me for ideas though) Can you recommend three members who we can choose from to interview next, and briefly explain why you would like to read their interviews? @Archaeon : If there is one user I would like to know more about, it will certainly be Archaeon. This is probably never gonna happen considering he has most likely been suggested many times by now, which means he probably isn't interested (understandably so), but it would still be awesome if he does accept one day. @RebelPanda : Odd that there isn't an interview of him yet, would definitely like to read one soon. Gotta know what else he likes besides pandas. @ZephSilver : I know that he has already been interviewed before, but I want him to be reinterviewed. I feel like the first interview wasn't enough, and you can find out many more interesting things about him from the new interview. Well, that’s the end of the interview. Thank you for your time :) Thank you as well for taking the interview. This took an unexpectedly long time to finish (I apologize for that), but I hope something great came out of it. :) |
| That was a nice one.... Good job bruv |
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Coolest1234D said: That was a nice one.... Good job bruv Tysm bruv! It's always nice to see a fellow South Asian on MAL, and you are definitely my favourite one! |
| Wonderful interview @IrrelevantGuy! I'd probably realized that some of your AniManga favourites are mine as well. But overall, a heavily lengthy but nice read :) |
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KANLen09 said: Wonderful interview @IrrelevantGuy! I'd probably realized that some of your AniManga favourites are mine as well. But overall, a heavily lengthy but nice read :) Thank you so much! Our taste is indeed quite similar, although I noticed it earlier haha. I'm especially glad that you have something like Velvet Kiss is on your favorites, which I didn't expect at all. Also, keep up the reviews! |
Pretextor said: nice interview. Thank you! Always happy to hear that someone actually likes reading about me ^_^ |
IrrelevantGuyMay 15, 2022 1:09 AM
| Super late, but thank you so much for the kind words :) |
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ZephSilver said: Super late, but thank you so much for the kind words :) Damn, never thought you would actually respond. Cool to see you back on MAL (even if you go back to hiatus for 6 months) |
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