A little about me:
- Name: Mark
- Age: 22
- Hobbies: Listening to/playing music (guitar, keys, and violin), watching anime, reading manga, playing video games every now and then
- I enjoy classic rock, jazz, city pop, mariachi, and other genres of music.
- Profile picture is Terry Kath from Chicago.
- Apparently, I'm an ISFP-T, but I'm not sure how true to my personality that actually is.
A few...
- Likes: pizza - music - anime - manga - being alone - junk food - mustard - Coca-Cola - sleep
- Dislikes: studying - getting up early - mayo - pickles - (most) cooked vegetables - exercise - dramatic irony
List Notes:
- Ratings are sort of a mix of quality and enjoyment. I'll hopefully be able to refine the system someday.
- If you're wondering why my ratings are pretty low compared to most other "new" anime fans, I just haven't come across many anime/manga I believe are 8 or higher.
- I usually watch dub but am not above watching sub also.
- 1st Episode Watched: Great Pretender – “CASE1_1: Los Angeles Connection” (March 5, 2021)
- 100th Episode Watched: Samurai Champloo – “Hellhounds for Hire (Part 2)” (April 16, 2021)
- 200th Episode Watched: JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken - "New York's JoJo" (June 26, 2021)
- 250th Episode Watched: Shingeki no Kyojin - "The Response / Attack on Trost, Part 6" (August 6, 2021)
- 300th Episode Watched: Hunter x Hunter (2011) - "Pursuit x and x Analysis" (September 3, 2021)
- 400th Episode Watched: JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 3: Stardust Crusaders - "Judgment, Part 1" (November 23, 2021)
- 500th Episode Watched: JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 4: Diamond wa Kudakenai - "Shigechi's Harvest, Part 2" (January 11, 2022)
- 600th Episode Watched: Mob Psycho 100: "An Invite to a Meeting: Simply Put, I Just Want to Be Popular" (February 26, 2022)
- 700th Episode Watched: Great Teacher Onizuka: "GTO - The Legend Begins" (May 27, 2022)
- 750th Episode Watched: Hunter x Hunter (2011) - "An x Indebted x Insect" (June 20, 2022)
- 800th Episode Watched: JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 5: Ougon no Kaze - "Diavolo Surfaces" (July 9, 2022)
- 900th Episode Watched: Space*Dandy - "I'm Never Remembering You, Baby" (October 21, 2022)
- 1000th Episode Watched: Death Note - "Overcast" (December 24, 2022)
[stopped keeping track after this]
- 1st Manga Started: One Punch Man (August 5, 2021)
- 10th Manga Started: JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 1: Phantom Blood (December 22, 2021)
- 25th Manga Started: Futsuu ni Kiite Kure (July 7, 2022)
- 50th Manga Started: One Piece (January 2, 2023)
- 75th Manga Started: Bokura no Funkasai (December 18, 2023)
- 100th Manga Started: 20th Century Boys (January 6, 2025)
- 1st Manga Completed: Uzumaki (September 7, 2021)
- 10th Manga Completed: 1-nichi Go ni Shinu Gorilla (July 12, 2022)
- 25th Manga Completed: Shimanami Tasogare (March 26, 2023)
- 50th Manga Completed: Kiseijuu (April 9, 2025)
Anime:
Ruri Dragon PV - 5/10
Los Angeles Lakers x One Piece - 4/10
Master - 4/10
Spring - 4/10
Office Work - 1/10
Manga:
The Girl That Can't Get a Girlfriend - 5/10
Bake Kitsune no Shushin - 4/10
Clamp in Wonderland: JoJo's Bizarre Married Life - 4/10
Sofa-chan - 4/10
1-nichi Go ni Shinu Gorilla - 3/10
Yes I will admit it was an interesting time to be on MAL to be sure. The only thing that hasn't really changed much is the website's layout/UI. It's pretty much looked exactly the same since I joined, which is probably this website's greatest strength and weakness depending on the user. For me personally? I adore that it has stayed the same because I really enjoy the more old school simplicity. How do you feel about it?
So I would say that when I first joined in 2008 things were pretty civil. The forums were booming and everyone for the most part seemed to get along, sure you would have your occasional disagreement but nothing too out of the ordinary. However there was this era in the website I want to say some time between 2013 to 2015, where the forums were getting very very hostile. People were intentionally making controversial threads just for the sake of starting arguments, and flame wars were a constant thing. Individuals targeting other individuals. I know a lot of people complain that the rules got a bit too tight currently, but personally I think that's for the better. While I don't have any problem with people giving their opinions on controversial topics, creating them just for the sake of creating them and starting arguments seemed like a bit too far. Thankfully since the rules did tighten those individuals have since stopped posting in the forums and some even left the website all together.
Clubs were also booming back in the day, as was club membership cards. I remember there being a time where it was very very common that whenever you clicked on somebody's profile they would have club members posting new banners and club ID cards in their comment section. This was the common delivery method for many clubs. Nowadays you very rarely even see this anymore.
Oh and another thing that popped into my mind just now, back then you had to keep everything on your profile public. Nowadays MAL allows people to put such things as their anime list and comment sections on private.
Thank you very much for the anniversary wishes Mark, appreciate it buddy! Can't believe it's been that long, I am old. Hahaha!
As far back as I can remember things overall have stayed pretty much the same aesthetically speaking. However there have been a few tweaks here and there. For instance back in the day there was no favorite section for anything. Then when they were introduced it was only for anime and manga, with only five being allowed per category. Also there was a spot on user profiles that allowed people to see how many anime and manga list views profiles had, now they are private only to the user as far as I know. We also had a section where it listed the top 50 most helpful reviewers on the website. This was later removed, though not too long ago in the grand scheme of things. Plus the creator Xinil was pretty much the soul update announcer on the forums, with only a handful of helpers. Now it seems like he doesn't log in very much anymore. Overall the website definitely has more features than it did back then. Becoming a MAL supporter with perks, and of course the introduction of badges, just to name a few.
uh Watanabe is a hit or miss for me kinda and Lazarus probably ranks somewhere in the lower half of the hits. It's nothing too special and tries to be Cowboy Bebop a bit too hard with its vibe, but it's still decent in its own way.
Well, that was long ago (like more than 4 years) so.....
Sometimes we can't get into a show on our first try but on a second try the experience turns out to be a lot better. Basically that was the case here, it also happened for me regarding Frieren which I found quite mediocre and overrated on my first watch and gave it a 6/10 rating while on a rewatch I liked the show a lot more & increased my score to a 9/10.
on 
All Comments (2240) Comments
Clubs were also booming back in the day, as was club membership cards. I remember there being a time where it was very very common that whenever you clicked on somebody's profile they would have club members posting new banners and club ID cards in their comment section. This was the common delivery method for many clubs. Nowadays you very rarely even see this anymore.
Oh and another thing that popped into my mind just now, back then you had to keep everything on your profile public. Nowadays MAL allows people to put such things as their anime list and comment sections on private.
As far back as I can remember things overall have stayed pretty much the same aesthetically speaking. However there have been a few tweaks here and there. For instance back in the day there was no favorite section for anything. Then when they were introduced it was only for anime and manga, with only five being allowed per category. Also there was a spot on user profiles that allowed people to see how many anime and manga list views profiles had, now they are private only to the user as far as I know. We also had a section where it listed the top 50 most helpful reviewers on the website. This was later removed, though not too long ago in the grand scheme of things. Plus the creator Xinil was pretty much the soul update announcer on the forums, with only a handful of helpers. Now it seems like he doesn't log in very much anymore. Overall the website definitely has more features than it did back then. Becoming a MAL supporter with perks, and of course the introduction of badges, just to name a few.
Sometimes we can't get into a show on our first try but on a second try the experience turns out to be a lot better. Basically that was the case here, it also happened for me regarding Frieren which I found quite mediocre and overrated on my first watch and gave it a 6/10 rating while on a rewatch I liked the show a lot more & increased my score to a 9/10.