I’ve Been Nominated for a Real Neat Blog Award!

I’ve been nominated for a Real Neat Blog Award by the awesometastic Blamesaiki! Thank you very much for the nomination, BlameSaiki! 🙂 Sorry it’s taken me so long to respond, but I hope I’ve come up with some decent answers to your questions.

If you haven’t already, check out their blog – There are a lot of really great anime and manga reviews waiting for you! We each reviewed the latest Yami Shibai series episode by episode back around Halloween, and it was a ton of fun to bounce back and forth and get different (and similar) views on the episodes as we went on. Hopefully, we’ll be able to do it again this fall, but for now it’s question time!

So, what are the rules?

• Display the logo.
• Thank the blogger for the award.
• Answer the questions from the one who nominated you.
• Nominate 7 to 10 bloggers.
• Ask them 7 questions.

Questions!

So, you’ve been hit by the infamous truck-kun. You are now in a different world! (Didn’t see that coming, did ya?). You’re now forced to make some choices prior to starting your journey. But, be warned, once chosen, they cannot be undone. Play at your own risk.

1) What Class/Role Would You Choose?

I’ve answered this question a couple of ways in the past, but this time I feel more like answering with: A machinist/engineer.

I absolutely love any game that has a machinist/engineer or the like in it. The usually steampunk-esque vibe is always cool, and it’s so much fun and so interesting to set up turrets, traps, healing locations etc. whether by yourself or in a team (though, admittedly, it’s usually more fun when you’re in a team.) Plus, I love tech, mecha and robots, so I think I’d have just as much fun being this class in a real scenario.

2) What Ability or Weapon Would Be Your Go-To?

I love the power to bring drawings to life. I love art, I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember, and this ability literally yields endless opportunities, as long as I’d have something to draw with and on.

3) Pick Two Companions to Have with You from Any Form of Entertainment.

Deadpool. Hands down. He’d be an endless source of entertainment, and he’d be able to take down any threats we encounter.

The second pick is a little tougher….Maybe Appa from Avatar the Last Airbender? He’d be an awesome companion, and he’d be able to fly us around to get a lay of the area and transport us anywhere quickly.

4) What is an Unexpected Talent You Have That’ll Help You in Your Journey?

Uhhhh…..I don’t really think I have any? I’m a pretty talentless schmo.

5) What Character Would You Choose as Your Mentor/Sensei?

Vash the Stampede. He’s funny, but wise. He’s gentle, but kickass. He’s a great friend, serious, focused when need be, and his philosophies are noble. Plus, he’d be able to teach me how to shoot damn near perfectly.

Special shoutout to Rock Lee and Might Guy, though. I really considered both of them for this but I remembered that Might’s not all that great of a sensei to Tenten and Neji. He may be great for Rock Lee, but he’s pretty much never training Neji and Tenten. You could argue Neji doesn’t ‘need’ it, but Tenten needs all the help she can get.

As for Rock Lee, I would’ve chosen him in a heartbeat if I didn’t think his training regimen would kill me lol

6) What Stat Would You Considering to be Your Highest (Strength, Intelligence, Stamina/Endurance, Luck, Charisma, etc.) and What One Is Your Weakest?

Charisma for weakest, most definitely. I have the social skills and grace of a sack of hammers.

Highest is….tricky….I have been told I’m pretty strong, though, in my opinion, I’m not really significantly as such. I’d probably say intelligence just because I really like learning. Retaining knowledge, however, is iffy. My memory is garbage.

7) And Finally, What’s Your Ultimate Goal/Mission in this World?

What else would it be?

WORLD DOMINATION!!

Err…I mean….I’d help…people…Make the world a better place. Yup.

My Questions

I don’t have a cool story setup for people, I’m kinda bad at that, so let’s have a game theme here!

1) What’s Your Favorite Board Game/Tabletop RPG?

2) You’ve Just Acquired the BEST Co-op Video Game Ever. What Anime/Manga Character Would you Choose to Play with You?

3) What is Your Least Favorite Class/Role in Video/Tabletop Games?

4) What is Your Favorite Anime/Manga Based on a Video Game or Video Game Based on an Anime/Manga?

5) You Can Play One Sport of Your Choosing with One Anime/Manga Character. What Sport and Character Would You Choose?

6) You Can Choose Any Anime/Manga Character to be the Dungeon Master at Your Next D&D Game – Who is it? (Alternatively, What Character Do You Think Would be Able to Create the Best Story?)

7) You Can Steal the Weapon of Any Anime/Manga Character to Use in an Action Video Game. Whose Weapon Do You Steal?

Nominees (Sorry if I nom anyone who has done this already. No pressure to do it either way. :))

012Mashi

9 Tailed Kitsune

Yahari Bento!!

Inskime

Krystallina

Jiraiyan

BiblioNyan

 

Creative Blogger QUADRA KILL!

CREATIVE BLOGGER AWARD QUADRA KILL!

I’ve been nominated for a Creative Blogger Award by *deep breath* Muranodo of Otaku Academia, Krystallina of Daiyamanga, Lazarinth of Fantasy and Anime and Cassidy Cornblatt of Funny Anime Pics. Thank you all very much for your nominations, and don’t worry this isn’t some rinky-dink ‘one ring response to rule them all’ thing. I am doing every one of your award posts in an ultra award THROWDOWN!

Before we get started with this little project, let’s go over the rules of the award.

1 – Thank the person who nominated you and include a link to their blog.

2 – Share 5 facts about yourself.

3 – Nominate 15-20 bloggers and add their links.

4 – Notify the bloggers you nominated.

5 – Keep the rules in your post to make it easy for everyone to know what to do!

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Now let’s knockout our first award; I believe Krystallina of Daiyamanga nominated me first. Thank you very much for the nomination, and while the rules don’t indicate that the facts have to have a theme, someone who nominated me for this said it’d be better to have a theme and that does seem like it would spice up this mass award post so let’s start with facts from my childhood. Just basically start every entry with ‘When I was a kid…’

1 – ….I believed tomboys were an entirely different gender. I don’t know why I thought that, but the belief didn’t last long. I was pretty adamant about it for a while for some reason.

2 – …..I threw all of my sister’s nail polish out my window….at her. I don’t know why, but I was a pretty crappy shot either way. Most of the bottles ended up in the bush outside my house, only a few of them broke and only one hit my sister in the arm.

3 – …..I was obsessed with wearing a Chuck E. Cheese t-shirt. I would wear it every. Single. Day. To first grade. I would take it off to get it washed of course, but I wore it so often that apparently my teacher had voiced concerns to my parents over my home life. They explained everything, of course, and I soon had to give up my poor t-shirt because it was being washed and worn so often that the cheap t-shirt was wearing out and getting holes. RIP Chuck E. Cheese shirt.

4 – ….I once got so queasy/scared (?) on a Tilt-o-Whirl that my mom freaked out while watching me on the ride. She urged the operator to stop the ride, they did, I got off, and I have never ever gotten on another spinning ride ever again. I honestly only vaguely remember it, and I still don’t remember whether I was sick or scared, but I still just won’t go on spinning rides. No.

5 – ….I was a complete Nickelodeon nut, specifically Rugrats. If something had the Nickelodeon logo on it, I wanted it. My parents would constantly get me Rugrats stuff, and the first movie release I ever got excited over was Rugrats the First Movie. I even saw Rugrats Live! And I begged my parents to let me get braces so that I could get orange ones that spelled out ‘Nickelodeon’ (I saw it on Slime Time Live! And no, they didn’t let me even though I eventually developed a need for braces) My love lasted well into my teens and even now I still venture there, even if the quality of their shows has just gotten sad over the years. They may still get a gem every now and then, but their treatment of Korra really just made me ashamed of them as a company.

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Second award up to bat was a nomination by Cassidy Cornblatt of Funny Anime Pics. Thank you very much for nominating me, and I have decided that the theme for this award post will be guilty pleasures.

1 – I like Batman and Robin and Batman Forever. Yes, they’re awful movies….really awful movies, but I both love them in a bad movie sense and in their send up to the 1966 Batman series as I am a huge fan of that series.

2 – I still love listening to the Backstreet Boys and N*Sync, yet I’m a huge hypocrite in basically instantly hating all current boy bands.

3 – I like Nickelback and Daughtry. They’re far from my favorite bands, but I still like their music most of the time. I honestly don’t get the massive hate on the former.

4 – I’m never able to catch it anymore, but I always liked watching Maury. The people act ridiculous and fake, the subjects are sometimes really dumb, but I do like watching to see who is and is not the father.

5 – I like Dog with a Blog. Hear me out; the show itself can actually be pretty funny. Ironically, I find the absolute worst aspect of the show to be the damn dog. No plotline with Stan is funny. No line that comes out of Stan’s mouth is funny, in fact most jokes are just pokes at the fact that HURR HURR He’s a dog! The fact that he has a blog isn’t even really a significant part of the show. It’s just there. It’s like they had a nice cast for a decent family sitcom, realized they didn’t have a hook and boom they tossed in a talking dog, realized that has been done to death, so they gave him a blog.

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Third award up was nomination by Muranodo of Otaku Academia. Thank you very much for the nomination. I have decided that the theme for this one will be crushes on characters/celebrities through my life barring Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender and Hatsuharu from Fruits Basket as I’ve already spoken of them previously.

1 – Billy from Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. I had more Red and White Ranger stuff for some reason, but I have always had a crush on Billy from MMPR. In fact, I’d wager he was my first crush ever, though that’s questionable.

2 – Luke Skywalker from Star Wars. The Empire Strikes back was so good for Luke fanservice…..*cough* That aside, I’m not sure I really ever would’ve became a Star Wars fan at first if I never developed a crush on him. I love the series as a whole for a slue of reasons, but my crush still stands.

3 – Justin Bartha: the main reason why I grew to love National Treasure so much. You may also know him as that guy who is supposed to be the fourth best friend in the ‘wolf pack’ from The Hangover movies. You probably don’t though because his part is always extremely minor in those movies for some dumb reason.

4 – David Boreanaz: Bones, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. To be honest, when I first watched Buffy, I had a bit of a crush on Seth Green, and while I still do a little, my attention skewed almost entirely to David Boreanaz as Angel. I stalked him through the television box to Angel and quickly fell in love with Bones when I saw he starred in it, even though I don’t much care for the show anymore due to a mess of reasons.

5 – Misha Collins: Supernatural. I guess this counts as both because I have a crush on both him and his character of Castiel (And no I’m not the type who can’t differentiate between actor and character). He’s just such an awesome and hilarious guy.

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Finally, my fourth nomination was given to me by Lazarinth of Fantasy and Anime. Thank you very much for your nomination, and I since I’m already spent on coming up with topics I have decided this one will be completely random facts.

1 – My favorite color is purple and I hate the color yellow.

2 – I was born with long jet black hair that eventually fell out and was later replaced by dirty blond hair until my hair turned brown in my teens. Apparently this is perfectly normal, but my parents still talk about it saying how I looked like a little Elvis.

3 – I have a four-inch birthmark on my left hand. My mother, thinking it was dirt, apparently tried furiously to scrub it off when I was a child, cleaning it with every safe cleaner she could get her hands on. It was only later when she realized that it was a birth mark. Also, I love my birth mark. It’s not in a special shape or anything (kinda like a boomerang or maybe Florida….I’m so good at descriptions) but I’d never think of having it removed.

4 – I was once knocked unconscious after falling off of a giant Onix made of snow that me and my class made. My teacher didn’t call the nurse, I got a big bruise on my butt and I only now realized that I am probably the only person alive to actually get knocked out by a Pokemon.

Similarly, I was once thrown several feet in front of my ATV after slamming it into a snow banking. The ATV wasn’t damaged, my parents never found out and I learned I am incredibly stupid for playing Chicken with a snow banking….

5 – My favorite season is Autumn for several reasons. The heat from summer is gone, and the cool breezes of fall return. The trees are insanely gorgeous. NO GODDAMN BUGS. Halloween. Thanksgiving. The various scents such as pumpkin, maple, spices etc. and horror movie marathons.

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Well, that’s all I got for you guys this time. This was an awesome award post, and thanks again to everyone who nominated me for the Creative Blogger Award.

Speaking of nominations, the rules state that I have to nominate 15 – 20 blogs….which means, collectively, I’d have to put together 60 – 80 nominees....Yeah….yeah that’s not happening. But I did scour my list of blogs that I follow, tried to exclude those who are inactive and those who have done a lot of awards recently or done this award already/recently and gathered as many awesome nominees as possible for this. So, prepare yourselves, because here they are!

Otakuness Anime Reviews

Anime Reporter

The Sixth Station

Mocorochi

Otaku Lounge

Fantastic Memes

Medieval Otaku

Sequential Ink

Denny Sinnoh

Moe Sucks

Anime Vios

Anime Thief

Thoughts on Anime

3 Episode Test

Icysquirrel

The Garbage Man Reviews

Anime Monographia

Pedantic Perspective

Nhan Fiction

The Reviewer’s Corner

Too Old for Anime

Sekinetsu

Daiyamanga

Slightly Biased Manga

That Baka Blog

Anime World

The True Lystria

Anime B&B

Fujoshitep

24 Frames Per Second

The Nostalgia Spot

Mahou Tofu

Otaku Highschool Life

Inma Otaku

Doop Anime

Discount Anime Reviews

Unnecessary Exclamation Mark

Adriano Jones

Marvelously Mismatched

Anime Reviewer Girl

Geek Girl Senshi

Grand total of 41. Can’t say I didn’t try. I’m also trying to keep track of people who either simply don’t want to partake in awards anymore or can’t for one reason or another. Additionally, any future awards, if I get any, will temporarily have no nominees as I’m a bit spent there for the time being.

And even if for some reason my nominees can’t partake in the award, visit their blogs anyway, as well as the blogs of my nominators, because gosh darn it they sure are nifty, and you’ll be nifty too for visiting them! And that’s just swell.

Real Neat Blog Award #2 and Liebster Award #2

I’ve been nominated for another Real Neat Blog Award by Marvelously Mismatched, and for another Liebster Award by Caddidy Cornblatt of Funny Anime Pics! Thank both of you very much for the nominations! 🙂 However, I am running into a roadblock when it comes to blogs to nominate and questions to ask. Many potential nominees have already done these awards or similar ones several times, and in my quest to showcase as many great blogs as possible here, I’ve pretty much exhausted my own follow list. Plus I’m having difficulty coming up with new and interesting questions. So I hope no one minds if I make this post a Q&A session only.

If you’d like to catch onto some cool blogs, though, check out my nominees for my previous award posts. ^_^

Sunshine Award

Real Neat Blog Award #1

Liebster Award #1

For anyone who’d like to partake in these awards, here are the rules.

Real Neat Blog Award

1 – Put the award logo in your blog.

2 – Answer the 7 questions asked by the person who nominated you.

3 – Thank the people nominating you, linking to their blogs.

4 – Nominate any number of bloggers, linking to their blogs.

5 – Let them know you nominated them by commenting on their blogs.

6 – Ask the bloggers 7 new questions.

First up is Marvelously Mismatched’s questions for the Real Neat Blog Award.

1 – If You Could Teleport Anywhere in the World for One Day, Where Would You Go, What Would You Do and Why?

Probably Disney World because I’ve always wanted to go and I can’t really see a trip there happening in my near future. I’d do as much as humanly possible in one day and buy all the things!

2 – What is Your Favorite Anime Character of All Time?

Wow, that’s even tougher than the favorite anime question. Off the top of my head, probably Hatsuharu from Fruits Basket. He’s very caring, kind and gentle, while also being tough and kickass as Black Haru, and his backstory is both sad without being overly dramatic and sweet in his crush on Yuki. In addition, he makes for one of the funniest and most memorable scenes I’ve seen in an anime in episode 13.

3 – What is One Thing You Can’t Live Without?

I’ll take one thing as being one material object instead of making a sappy or joking response. Probably my computer, or just a computer. Sad as it is that I am also one of the many people somewhat dependent on technology, I do a lot of stuff on my computer such as schoolwork, work-work, my blog posts, watching anime, catching up on news, even some therapeutic activities. It’d be a major pain to not have a computer.

4 – Do You Want an Anime Girlfriend or Boyfriend? If So, Who Would it Be and Why?

Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender. I’m counting anime as a style here since I discounted him during my 30 Day Anime Challenge. He’s a great character with a complex personality and great backstory. And I won’t deny that I’ve had a crush on him since pretty much the first time I saw in the series way back when it first aired. There is no shame here.

5 – If We Had a Massive Power Outage that, For Some Reason, Only Took Out the Internet, Would You Read a Book and Survive or Would You Go Insane at the Lack of Wifi?

Despite my reliance on a computer, I have lived in a world without heavy Internet use before. It was a long time ago, back when things were younger. I’d probably be very pissed for a few days or weeks, but I’d manage I believe.

6 – If There Was No Such Thing as Manga and Anime, What Would You Do?

Probably get into comics, get more into video games or rely mostly on Western Animation.

7 – What Makes You Mad Enough to Want to Go Super Saiyan?

Animal abuse. I have a lot of pet peeves, but if you want to get me insanely mad in a short amount of time, any story of animal abuse will probably do it. Even fictional just makes me rage.

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Rules for the Liebster Award

1 – Thank and link back to your nominator.

2 – Answer the 11 Questions Give by the Nominator

3 – Nominate 5-11 other blogs who have less than 200 followers.

4 – Create 11 new questions for your nominees.

5 – Let your nominees know that you have nominated them via social media or their blogs.

And now for Cassidy’s Questions for the Liebster Award!

1 – How Old Were You When You First Started Watching Anime?

I was either eight or nine. It was 1998, I believe, right when Pokemon started popping up in the states. If I was eight, I was eight bordering on nine. As you can probably predict from my previous statement, technically the first anime I watched was Pokemon after I started getting into the games (Pokemon Red was my game of choice – Also started with Charmander because I had no clue of type advantages early game back then. Was a great challenge though. I think I actually still have my first save file on that game.) Then I quickly got introduced to Sailor Moon and Digimon.

2 – What Do You Like To Do When You’re Not Watching Anime?

Draw, play with my dog, listen to music and play video games.

3 – Are There Any Genres of Anime that You Avoid?

Harems. It’s like watching the same anime over and over, and most of them simply don’t have the humor or plots to warrant my attention. I try to give every other genre a shot, though I do prefer some over others, but harems are the one genre on my ‘avoid’ list.

4 – What is Your Favorite Name of an Anime Character?

A completely minor character in Pokemon the First Movie, in the original, is named Voyager. That is such a kickass name that I really believe a much more important character should have gotten.

5 – Do You Generally Watch OVAs?

Yes. You never know what kind of hidden gems you’ll find in the world of OVAs. They typically have some great original content. As for OVAs that are based off of an existing series, yeah I typically watch those too. Those are big hits and misses. Some of them just seem to be pointless extensions of the series, others are really dumb parodies, and few and far between seem to have interesting and worthwhile stories.

6 – How Do You Determine Which Anime to Watch Next?

My watch list is very much random. I have series (nerdily) organized by length and I randomly pick of a pool of each length and then watch the series altogether to help break things up. When I finish an anime, usually a short series of course, I pick again from the pool of the finished series’ length. If someone really urges me to watch a series, I’ll put that at the front of the line, but yeah my watch list is both organized and random at the same time. I’m trying to strive to have as diverse of watching experience as I can.

7 – Do You Have a Favorite Japanese Word?

Not really. I find the language to be quite beautiful, but I’d be hardpressed to think of a favorite word. I really like most of the words for colors and flowers, though.

8 – Do You Buy, Download or Stream Anime?

I typically stream anime and buy DVDs of those that I’m really interested in or particularly love. Usually anime movies.

9 – Have You Ever Traveled to a Foreign Country?

I have gone to Canada once on a snowmobile with my dad for about 20 minutes. Lol. I’ve stayed in the states my entire life beyond that.

10 – What is Your Dream Job?

Anything where I can work with animals, helping them, taking care of them, finding them good homes etc. I’m aiming to be an animal behaviorist, so hopefully that will come true.

11 – Do You Prefer Long Anime Series or Short Ones?

This is an interesting question that I’ve never really considered before. On one hand, short series are, well, short. They can be over and done with in a short amount of time. However, short series usually mean sacrificing some character development and perhaps having rushed pacing.

On the other hand, long series have much more freedom to fully develop characters and make more satisfying stories. However, long series can easily overstay their welcome with overt amounts of filler, may not take up the opportunity to flesh out characters or stories and require a bigger commitment.

I would probably say shorter series in that case. Short series that can actually manage to have well-fleshed out characters and interesting and complex storylines move fluidly in a short amount of time deserve applause whereas long anime basically start with an advantage in that regard, and many simply don’t take the opportunity to do anything worthwhile with their added length. Plus, even anime that don’t have much in terms of filler can seem like they’re dragging on for way too long in long series.

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Great questions, guys, and thanks to Marvelously Mismatched and Cassidy Cornblatt of Funny Anime Pics again for their nominations!

Liebster Award!

Wow, my third award nomination. Thank you very much to Mochirochi for nominating me for a Liebster award! I felt like I skimped on the nominees for the Real Neat Blog Award, so I scoured my follow list for a hefty pack of awesome, yet below 200 followers, blogs that everyone should check out. 🙂

Here are the rules of the Liebster Awards

1 – Thank and link back to your nominator.

2 – Answer the 11 questions given by the nominator

3 – Nominate 5-11 other bloggers who have less than 200 followers.

4 – Create 11 new questions for your nominees

5 – Let your nominees know that you have nominated them via social media or their blogs.

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Answers to Mochirochi’s questions

1 – What Made You Start Blogging?

I wanted a more organized and ‘legit’ place to put all of my budding anime reviews/analyses/sub dub comparisons and whatnot. After years having them be merely posts on a forum to eventually get buried and probably forgotten, I wanted a place of my own to not only keep the ball rolling on my reviews etc. but also discover other anime reviewers, have great discussions and discover new things.

2 – What is Your Favorite Anime/Drama?

This is always a very tough question since my ‘lists’ in these regards are constantly changing while rethinking things. Since I listed FMA: Brotherhood in my 30 day anime challenge, I’ll step down a peg and say…Fruits Basket, though I still have to keep knocking off points for not having a very solid resolution and not getting to two members of the zodiac (Kureno and Rin, the rooster and horse respectively) I just love all of the characters, the art, the story, the great mixture of comedy and drama; it’s just fantastic.

3 – If You Could Live Anywhere in the World, Where Would You Live and Why?

I….don’t really know. I mean, I’d love to live in several places for a while to enjoy the scenery, culture and history such as Ireland, New Zealand, Italy and, because it’s totally not expected for an anime fan to say this, Japan, but if it was for years or permanently, I really wouldn’t know where I’d most like to live. Hell, I haven’t even really had time, money or anything to explore my own country, haha.

4 – What is One Trend in Anime/Dramas That You Hate?

I’m gonna list two because the first is really predictable from me; the School Days Effect, which is what I’ve named the trend that is most common in harem anime where pretty much any girl in the show instantly falls for the main lead guy no matter how boring or terrible of a character he may be (See – Makoto) For reverse harems, you could probably rename it to the Fushigi Yuugi effect…

And poorly executed fanservice. Notice I didn’t say fanservice as a whole. I’ve come to accept that fanservice is never going away, and I can’t knock it too much without being a hypocrite because I do like fanservice aimed at female viewers. What I don’t like, however, is when the fanservice is just lazy. Some instances of fanservice have made me laugh out loud simply because of how ridiculously convoluted and even clever a situation turned out simply to get in a panty shot or a boob grab.

However, the most common forms of fanservice are the most lazy. Have a character in completely ridiculous and barely-there clothing so we can always see her panties and her boobs have plenty of bounce room. Have the main male lead accidentally fall somehow causing a female character to lose clothes, or have him land on top of her for a boob grope or a suggestive position. Have a female character be super clumsy for loads of panty shots and boob bounce-age.

The worst offenders here are when the fanservice actually interferes with the plot. I have seen several instances of characters talking about plot points and story developments only to have the shot rest on a girl’s boobs, or in the case of 11Eyes, just unashamedly directing the camera up a girl’s skirt during an important conversation. That’s basically a big red flag for me that says the people working on the show are outright telling me that the story is not worth paying attention to. There’s panties or boobs in the room, it’s much more vital to look at those! Drives me nuts…

Sorry, hehe. Ranty side got the better of me there.

5 – What is Your Favorite Anime/Drama?

Come on, Mochirochi, I know I said my list changes all the time, but it’s only been a few minutes!

6 – What is One Thing That You Didn’t Like About It?

One thing I didn’t like about Fruits Basket? Outside of the ‘unfinished’ ending, the lack of insight into Akito was also a negative to me. He’s such an important character to not have much exploration. Hell, Ritsu got way more exploration that he did.

7 – What is Your Least Favorite Anime/Drama?

I’ve wailed on Fushigi Yuugi Eikoden and School Days enough for now, so I’m gonna throw the baton to Eiken. I haven’t posted my review on that yet, but in a nutshell it’s a completely unfunny, ungodly huge boobed, horribly written, awful visual and audio experience that’s best feature is being mercifully short. It’s not even good for fanservice, unless your preferred bra cup size is parachute.

8 – What is One Thing That You Liked About It?

Outside of being short?……uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……….Errr…….Uhmmmmm………..One thing….liked….about…Eiken….

…….There was a giant teddy bea—no that was badly designed, didn’t do anything, and wasn’t even a robot, just a girl in a costume.

…….Kyoko was okay?

Yay!

9 – If You Could Change One Thing In Your Life, What Would It Be and Why?

I’d be more socially outgoing because not being so, at all, is a real crimp on my life.

10 – What’s Your Favorite Joke?

Wow, that’s another tough one, especially since it encompasses so much media. Instead of an actual answer, I’ll just say the joke that instantly came to mind upon reading the question. From Futurama:

Robot: “Is heaven missing an angel? Cuz you got nice cans!”

11 – What is One Thing You Want Readers to Take Away from Your Blog?

Appreciation and heightened enjoyment of animation as a whole. Being critical of it to see more improvement, not blindly following junk to perpetuate it, and respecting the work that goes into every frame.

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Well, that was a tough set this time around, but I had a lot of fun! I’m losing a bit of creativity with my questions for these awards, but let’s see what I got in me.

First off, here are my nominees!

Nominees

The Anime Reporter

Otaku Orbit

Fantasy and Anime

The Garbage Man Reviews

World of Yamaguchi Hoshiko

Too Old for Anime

Sekinetsu

Daiyamanga

That Baka Blog

Aniwhat? Aniwho? Anime.

SenpaiEats

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My Questions

1 – Worst Plot Twist in an Anime? (Spoiler tags galore!)

2 – What is Your Current Opinion on the First Anime You Ever Watched?

3 – What is Your Favorite Animation Studio?

4 – What Anime Character Do You Most Relate To?

5 – Favorite Movie Genre?

6 – Favorite Drink?

7 – Favorite Fictitious Place?

8 – Weirdest Outfit in an Anime?

9 – Least Favorite Anime Opening Theme?

10 – Favorite Weapon from a Movie, TV show or Anime?

11 – Favorite Voice Actor? (From western cartoons or anime)

Happy blogging, everyone, and thanks again to Mochirochi for nominating me!

Edit – Honorable Mention: One Stop for All Entertainment 

I accidentally wrote a Liebster message on their page without realizing, but their blog is cool and check it out. One more blog won’t kill ya. 😛

Real Neat Blog Award

I’ve been nominated for a ‘Real Neat Blog Award’ by Daiyamanga’s Krystallina! Thank you very much, Krystallina! 😀

This award seems to act very much like the Sunshine award, but with seven questions instead of the ten I was given. Neato! (Puns?)

Here are the rules:

1: Put the logo for the award in your post.

2: Answer the seven questions asked by the person who nominated you.

3: Thank the people who nominated you, linking to their blogs.

4: Nominate any number of bloggers that you like, linking to their blogs.

5: Let them know you nominated them by commenting on their blogs.

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Answers to Krystallina’s Questions

1: Would you rather be a Phantom Thief or the cop that chases one?

I’d rather be the thief. >:3 Though, I’m a bit of goody two-shoes, so in reality I’d probably end up as the cop.

2: What series do you think is the most overhyped?

I don’t really follow new anime enough to get a good grasp on that, but in a similar vein I believe the hype for anything Attack on Titan related is really out of hand. The second season isn’t even out yet and it’s already invaded practically every facet of media. I liked AoT, but the long stretches of story that end up with little resolution were a bit too much of a slap for me to get hyped very much for it anymore. I couldn’t even enjoy the manga due to its chicken scratch art (though it was admittedly very detailed on the titans).

3: What series do you think deserves more attention?

That’s a tough one….I wish 07 Ghost got more attention. Then maybe we could actually get a continuation since the series ended on such a cliffhanger. The art is great, the story is solid, the characters are likable and well-designed, the music is gorgeous. It’s just a great series all around.

4: What series would you never watch or read again unless you were paid to?

Hm….I’m bordering between Fushigi Yuugi Eikoden and School Days. Each are basically tied for my most hated anime, but if I had to choose it’d be Fushigi Yuugi Eikoden. Give School Days credit, Makoto may be a horrible person and most of the cast may be horny idiots, but at least he gets his comeuppance in the end. Perhaps too extreme for his crimes, but some payoff anyway.

Mayo in FYE just gets put on a gigantic pedestal after she does all of her deeds, and her acts can definitely been seen as much worse than Makoto’s what with her threatened and attempted baby murder. Everyone forgives her without a thought and she’s accepted as a new BFF in the Suzaku gang and even possibly gets a boyfriend in Miaka’s brother. That series makes me angry just thinking about it. >.<;;

5: What’s your favorite color?

Purple. Though my favorite color combo is black and orange. (Love Halloween)

6: Have you ever listened to Vocaloid music, and would you consider yourself a fan?

I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Vocaloid track full out, though I do have a few friends who are fans. It seems alright, I just never got into it.

7: If you could have any animal for a pet, what would it be?

Branching away from traditional, tamed animals, probably a fox. Branching away from real animals, a flying lemur. (<3 Momo)

My Nominations

Lesley’s Musings….On Anime and Manga

24 Frames Per Second

My Otaku Reviews

My Questions

1: What’s your favorite weapon from an anime or manga?

2: If you could have any elemental power, what would it be and why?

3: What anime had the most unsatisfying ending?

4: Does bad art ruin an anime for you?

5: What is your favorite soundtrack from any show, movie, anime etc.?

6: Do you like to draw?

7: Who is the worst comic relief sidekick from an anime or manga?

Thanks again to Krystallina for nominating me! ^_^

The Sunshine Award

I’ve been nominated for a Sunshine Award! Otherwise known as an irony award because it’s been super cloudy and rainy all day.

I’m very honored and happy to be nominated for the Sunshine Award, and I like to thank Mangataku-kun for the nomination! ^_^

I had no clue what this was until I was nominated, but I see that it’s a cool chain for anime (and manga?) bloggers where people can spotlight some of their favorite blogs, spread some exposure (ooh lala) ask some questions and share some of our experiences and opinions with other fans. Sounds like fun. 🙂

How it works:

1) Thank the person who nominated you.

2) Answer the questions given by the person who nominated you.

3) Nominate a few other anime bloggers.

4) Write the same amount of questions for your nominees to answer.

5) Notify the nominated bloggers on their blog.

6) Put the Sunshine Award badge (the above picture) on your blog post.

My Nominees!

I can’t see anywhere in the rules where there’s a set number of people to nominate so here are some great bloggers that I nominate for the Sunshine Award!

Fujinsei A ton of really interesting and well written blog posts about anime, manga, and basically ever facet of Japanese culture.

Mocorochi  Great blog with a great writing style, Mocorochi focuses on anime, games, manga and dramas. On a bit of a hiatus right now, but I still wanted to include this one, plus the blog will supposedly be back up and running very soon. ^_^

Standing on My Neck Like this blog’s namesake, and points for the Daria reference from the getgo, this blog tells it like it is and pulls no punches when reviewing any anime.

Moe Sucks  Really well-formatted, organized, detailed and funny reviews on anime done on an episode by episode basis. I got hooked on their Ore Monogatari!! reviews.

Anime World  Insightful and well-written reviews and discussions on anime.

Now to address Mangataku-kun’s questions.

1: When Did You Start Blogging?

Technically, I’ve had a blog for over seven or eight years on a general discussion forum (That was created from an indie Pokemon game website) that I moderate, but I’ve only been properly blogging with a legit blog for a little over a year. In regards to reviewing, I’ve also been doing that since 2008 on the same forum I mentioned, though I didn’t start doing it very regularly until a few years ago, and I enjoyed it so much that I made a WordPress blog about them. 🙂

2: What Anime Will You Watch Summer 2015?

I don’t really get a chance very often to check out the latest anime since the way I select things to watch is typically pretty random and spans all sorts of genres and release dates. I really only go out of my way for that if it’s something related to a show I know and love or if one of my friends strongly suggests it. While it’s not coming out in summer, I am really excited to watch the new Digimon movies. 😀 And I hope Working!! Season 3 is great.

3: Can You Suggest Me More Anime, Otaku, Japanese Blogs to Follow?

Sure thing!

Outside of my nominations, here are some other great anime, manga, all-things-Japan blogs for ya!

IntrovertJapan: For any and all things Japanese. They also have cool book giveaways on occasion, if you’d be interested.

Otaku Lounge:  I really love the way this blog is set up. There are plenty of thorough and interesting reviews as well as articles on various aspects of anime.

IlostMyHeartInJapan:  A blog made with a lot of heart (hehe, puns) about all sorts of great aspects of Japanese culture.

Denny Sinnoh: Cool guy with a bunch of stuff on Japanese culture on his blog. 🙂

Sequential Ink:  If you like manga, you belong here.

Otakuness Anime Reviews: In-depth and interesting anime reviews going episode by episode most of the time.

TheAnimeMan: Tons of reviews on anime, top lists and some stuff on Japanese culture.

Viewer Discretion is Advised:  Probably would’ve been nominated but I see they’ve been nominated twice lol. Piles of anime and manga reviews at your service.

Beneath the Tangles: An interesting look at anime through a Christian analytic eye. No matter if you’re religious or not, they have some very interesting articles.

IcySquirrel:  I love the tone of this blog. It’s just a lot of fun. Lots of quick and insightful impressions and full reviews on anime.

Slightly Biased Manga:  Another great place for in-depth manga reviews.

If you’d like to discover more, I tend to find mine either through the follow lists of bloggers I’m following or using the tags “anime” and “manga” on the WordPress reader. 🙂

4: Are There Any Anime You Can Suggest to Me?

I’m not sure of your tastes in that regard, but here are some off the top of my head, in handy-dandy alphabetical order. ~~So fancy~~

07 Ghost: Love this series, and it still makes me cry. Lovely soundtrack, great art and characters and decent story. However, the anime does end on basically a cliffhanger with no second season in sight, fair warning.

3000 Leagues in Search of Mother: A bit of a long one and pretty old, but this is still a very heartbreaking and fantastic story.

Baccano!: Absolutely adore this series. Tons of fun, very interesting method of storytelling, and incredibly memorable characters. Be warned of violence and gore, though.

Cowboy Bebop: Contractual obligation as an anime fan to suggest to everyone. Though it is and will always be awesome.

Ef Series: Both Memories and Melodies. Beautifully made, great characters and music, some really heavy storylines. I’d suggest Melodies over Memories, though.

Hell Girl: For lovers of ‘horror’ anthologies and sending bad people to hell.

FLCL: A quick burst of insane fun in every bite.

Fruits Basket: Classic, will never stop loving this series. Though, like 07 Ghost, it does end with no real resolution of the main issue of the series, and they leave off without introducing two characters of the zodiac.

Haibane Renmei: Relaxing and intriguing, I’d love to see more of this series.

Paranoia Agent: Confusing sometimes, but a great ride and a fantastic psychological thriller.

Trigun: Another classic and contractual obligation. Love and PEACE! 😀

Yu Yu Hakusho: I believe this to be one of the best Shounen fighting anime ever made and probably my favorite one.

5: Do You Have Any Other Hobbies Besides Consuming Anime/manga/LN/VN/or Basically Aside from Japanese Visual Goods?

I love drawing, and I’ve been doing it as long as I can remember. Wrist problems kinda restrict me lately, and I had a big slump the past couple of years, but I am working to get back into it. Outside of that, I love learning about animals and playing with my dog, Skye. I also love playing video games with RPGs and horror games being my favorite genres, and I love listening to all different kinds of music.

6: What Part of Japan Do You Love Most?

I’ve never had the pleasure of going to Japan, but I love the temples, national parks/natural spots in general and historic sites. While I’d love to see it at least once, I can’t imagine enjoying Tokyo or the big cities too much. I’m too much of a small town bumpkin. 😛

7: Are You a Certified Otaku?

I’m practicing without a license. *rebel*

8: What Japanese Food Do You Like Most?

Sadly, I also haven’t been able to try much Japanese food in my life. However, I do hear they have some awesome candy. :3

9: What are Your Strategies in Surviving School?

Don’t take your school days for granted. They may be tough in regards to schoolwork, but they can also be some great times that you may not ever get again. Appreciate your good teachers; they do a lot to ensure that you succeed and finding teachers that care is a wonderful thing. Be organized with your schoolwork, especially homework. It’ll save you someday, trust me. Finally, play kickball. Because kickball’s awesome yet no one ever seems to want to play outside of school.

10: Did Someone Introduce You to Anime?

Yes, actually. One of my best friends at the time, Monica, introduced me to Pokemon, Sailor Moon and Digimon in that order. To be fair, I first heard of Pokemon through some student at my school one day as he was playing Pokemon Red, which is the same version I bought shortly afterward, but Monica told me about the anime series. She also was the first person to introduce me to manga, which was, not surprisingly, more Sailor Moon. I also remember us labeling ourselves as certain Sailor Scouts when she said which ones reminded her of me and my other best friend, Beth. She said I reminded her or Sailor Venus and Beth reminded her of Sailor Mercury. After I got into the series, Sailor Venus did indeed become my favorite. 🙂

Questions for my Nominees:

1: What first drew you into the anime fandom?

2: What’s one anime that sticks close to your heart?

3: Has an anime ever made you cry? If so, which one and why? (Mark spoilers!)

4: Do you collect anime merchandise? If so, what’s your favorite type of merchandise?

5: What’s your most hated/disliked anime?

6: A character that nearly ruined an anime that you like?

7: What’s your favorite type of show to discuss on your blog?

8: Are you a fan of Japanese music?

9: Have you every been to Japan or plan to go?

10: What anime show or movie would you pick to show to someone who has never been exposed to anything anime in order to show them how cool it can be?

Thanks again to Mangataku-kun for the nomination, and happy blogging everyone!