My Reasons Why – Untold Questions

What’s this? Good question, I’ve been selected by the lovely Irina, to participate in a tag created by Kimchisama.

Is it an award? Not as such, a similar format, but this is more of a… reflection. A chance for people to focus on the positives in their life and share them with people in this aniblogging community. Our lives are too often spent dwelling on the negatives, this tag is a perfect way to take stock of everything that makes this life worth living.

Right. So I’m assuming there’s rules? There’s always rules.
1. Mention the person who nominated you.
2. List 13 reasons why you keep going/living (This is borrowed from the book but I’m taking it the opposite direction).
3. Nominate 10 or more people to give their reasons why.
4. Use the picture that I (Kimchisama) created in your post. I’m sorry that I’m a bit bad a making these things… But I tried.

Okay, so how are we going to do this? You’ll pick up quick, just be your usual smarmy self and we’ll get through okay! Also I’m doing this in alphabetical order, makes the most sense this way.

Tch. Fine, so reason number 1? This one’s obvious but Anime & Manga, among my various passions and past times this is the one that brings me the most immediate and pure joy. A day without anime or manga is a day wasted!

And number 2? While relatively new to my life Blogging has proven an immeasurable boon not only to my self-confidence but to just general life happiness. Being able to share the things I love with like-minded individuals and have them respond so kindly is just beyond words.

Number 3? You might not know this about me but I’m a pretty damn good cook, so Cooking is number 3. I do all the cooking in my life and I love cooking for people, its satisfying to be able to make people happy with something that comes so easy to me.

Number 4? This one might seem a bit counter-intuitive since it’s probably doing the opposite for me, but Fast Food, I know it’s bad for me and the only reason I like it so much is because of chemicals and what not screwing with my brain, but then again, isn’t everything we love just the result of chemicals in our brain reacting favourably to input? Anyway that’s my excuse for the “negative” things in this list. *winky face*

Uh-oh, Number 5 then? Chemicals, hey? Aren’t they great, I do love Having a Drink. By which I mean alcohol of course, bourbon is my drink of choice btw.

You know there’s a word for people who need alcohol as a ‘reason to live’. Shut-up. I know my limits, it’s just something I enjoy is all.

Okay then. Number 6? Japan! That’s right the whole damn place, I’ve only been twice, but the most recent trip was so much fun and I love (almost) everything about it that I can’t wait to go back! The people, the food, the public transportation, the city, the country, all of it! Just please, North Korea, don’t do anything silly—leave Japan alone.

Number 7? In general, I think people should just be nicer to one another, doesn’t matter if you don’t agree with someone’s opinions, just be nice. Kindness is something that’s so underrated, whether it’s kindness to and from your friends and family, or the kindness of strangers. We all should show more kindness and I’m always appreciative of when people show kindness to me, especially when it comes from unexpected places or in unexpected ways.

Number 8? Now, I must preface this one by saying I messaged Irina to just inquire whether this one was “appropriate”, she said “I dunno”, so to my followers (especially the more ‘shy’ among you) please forgive me, I promise I won’t go into any detail. I’ll say it and we can move on. Okay, ready? Masturbation. Next!

…*shakes head* Number 9? I love Music, the listening to it, not playing of course, I don’t have a musical bone in my body. Also, I don’t just mean anime music, my musical tastes are varied, running across nearly every genre of music and ranging from music from the late 70’s up until today. It’s always been a cornerstone of my life and I wouldn’t be the same without it.

Number 10? A Sense of Humour is important, at least for me it is. Whether my sense of humour is something that is relatable or even inherently evident is up to the individual, but I love being able to make (some) people laugh, or even just smile. Whether it’s in real life or with my silly blog posts!

Number 11? I have a fiancé, her name is Sharon (often referred to on this blog as the ‘irl waifu’) and she means everything to me. The fact that I get to share my life with her is a treat. I’ll never get tired of and the fact that she puts up with me is a testament to how amazing of a person she is. Things aren’t always easy, but we can work through this life together.

Number 12? I don’t get the chance to be as weird as I’d like to on this blog, some people don’t like Weirdness, and that’s okay. But I love it! Whether it’s in the media I’m consuming or out in the world or within myself, I can’t help but be drawn to weird things!

And finally, number 13? Probably the thing I’m simultaneously most passionate about but least secure in sharing is my Writing, not the reviews but rather creative writing or fiction. I’ve got a lot of it under my belt but very little of it sees the light of day, mostly because I put so much of myself into the writing I worry that if someone judges my work harshly they are—in turn judging me harshly. Writing is an outlet for my creativity and imagination, it helps me work through complicated feelings and it even helped me work through a crippling fear of my own mortality. It’s an invaluable tool and an important part of my life.

Wow, that was certainly an eye-opening experience—for better or worse. Please don’t bring it up again. But yes, I enjoyed this, it’s good to focus on the positives!

So now you have to pick 10 people to do this too? Right, so as with all these types of tags, if you’ve already been tagged or just don’t want to do it no pressure. After all it can be an intimidating thing to do, especially for those who are more private about their lives. That said, these are my picks!
Jenn
Auri
Spooky
Ahogegirl
The Bookworm Drinketh
Nesha
Miyo’s Permanent Record
WeeabrosDerek
thelostvoice
TheAniMessenger

And that’s it then! Thanks for reading this, I hope you enjoyed this or found it enlightening, or just wasn’t too creeped out my Number 8. Also, thanks again to Kimchisama for creating this wonderful tag!

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Brotherhood of the World Award – Untold Questions

Another award? I’m running out of space on the walls for all these awards!

What walls? This is a virtual space. The walls of my heart.

Oh dear. So what’s this award? Brotherhood of the World Award!?

Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants? I don’t… I don’t know what that is…

I’m sure someone will get a chuckle out of that. Don’t quit your day job.

This is my day job. Ugh, sorry.

Get on with it! Right, so I was nominated by Ruyji of Ryuji Tatsuya’s Anime Corner!

Cool, so what are the rules? Your such a square! Forget about the rules man… okay nevermind, the rules are: Thank the Person who nominated you and link back to their blog. Answer the questions sent to you. Nominated around 10 bloggers. Create your own set of questions for your nominees and display the rules… well obviously…

‘Kay, so what questions do you have?

1. Briefly Describe Your Blogging Style (Where is your favourite blogging spot/what is your favourite blogging tool).

Well, I can blog just about anywhere but my favourite place in my apartment is my anime office (it’s just an office filled with lots of anime merch). Either that or on the couch in the living room. I almost exclusively blog from my MacBook, but occasionally tap out a blog on my phone when I’m away from the lounge or office…

2. How do you manage your blogging and blog reading time?

I only follow like 50 people at the moment so it’s easy, I read every blog that’s relevant to my interests, live my life, and do a couple of blogs a day. But then again blogging comes exceptionally easy to me in the 20 Question Format. It’s just so much fun, that I don’t ever feel like it’s taking up too much time.

3. Who is your most read author?

Assuming this means manga author the answer is Okayado of Monster Musume fame. Not my favourite author mind you, just the one I’ve read the most of. But if you ask me this in a couple of months time the answer will probably be different, I’m getting into manga reading in a big way, more than I ever have in the past.

4. How did you come up with your blogging name?

By this I assume you mean the name of my blog. In which case it’s actually a bit of a story (though not particularly interesting but here goes…) Originally the name of this blog was to be ‘Questionable Anime’ but the irl waifu thought it was too confusing of a pun of a name and suggested ‘Questioning Anime’, but upon making a wordpress blog I found out that name was taken by a blog that had been deleted for years. So I was just casually browsing Twitter when I saw the #qanda pop up on my feed. It being the official hashtag of a shitty Australian show where racist people argue with people of colour and I thought, “hmm, anime q and a, there’s some SEO to be had there.” And the rest is history!

5. What Keeps You Blogging?

Existential dread? Alcohol? The constant approval of my peers? No, to be honest it’s just wanting to talk about anime; something I love more than anything else in this dumb world.

Now that that’s done with you have to nominate 10 people! It’s hard to keep track of all the people I nominate over these various awards, so hopefully I don’t double up and sorry if I missed you! Also I’m only nominating 5 people.

But… but the rules?! No!

Fine, who are your FIVE nominees? They are these fine bloggers! Also, as usual no obligation to do it if you’re too busy or already have been nominated!
Rose @Wretched and Divine
Lili’s Blissful Pages
KimchiSama
A Nerdy Perspective
Moyatori of The Moyatorium

Cool, also don’t you have to come up with your own questions for them? Nah.

What do you mean? I think those same questions will be fine, besides Ruyji did the same, so precedent and all that.

You’re just being lazy, aren’t you? Why can’t it be both!

Sure. Whatever. Thanks for reading!

3 Days 3 Quotes x 2 (Day 3) – Untold Questions

And the final day of the 3 Quotes 3 Days challenge has come! It went so quickly!

Rule refresh please? Sure, so the rules are you have to thank the people who selected you, then the meat of it; post a quote every day for 3 consecutive days, and then nominate *three bloggers each day to do the same. Also, I’m doing two quotes because I got two consecutive nominations, anyone else who’s nominated doesn’t have to do the same!

*? You know what it means by now, I’ll nominate however many I want, damnit!

Like anyone’s going to stop you! So who nominated you again? Ryuuiji and Arthifis!

Cool first quote of the last day is?

“If great talent knows the frustration of defeat early on, it can become even greater.”

• Koro Sensei, Assassination Classroom

Interesting, what’s it mean to you? It means a great deal, sure it’s a simple sentiment but it’s an important thing to remember, no matter what you’re doing in your life. Defeat can allow you to learn from your mistakes, refine your skills and hone your craft as well as make future defeats more palatable by comparison. Never give up.

Well said, and the second and final quote that you’re going to leave us with? The last one is from a song, I had so many songs that I wanted to feature but every time I had a song in mind I realised it was the song as a whole that I was gravitating towards rather than a lyric or lyrics, so while this isn’t my favourite song of all time it does contain some of my favourite and most relatable lyrics. I could have posted all the lyrics but I chose to pick just the last four lines. But I do recommend you listen to the whole song if you get the chance.

“So if you’re careful / you won’t get hurt / but if your careful all the time / then what’s it worth?”

• Magne Furuholmen, Morten Harket, Pal Waaktaar. Song: Cosy Prisons by a-ha from Analogue (2005).

Well this has been an interesting experience. Indeed, and for the final nominees: @ameithyst @anerdyperspective @shadowcat99

Thank you for reading. Yes, thank you, I hope you enjoyed reading these as much as I enjoyed talking about them!

3 Days 3 Quotes x 2 (Day 2) – Untold Questions

Another day another quote challenge, eh? It’s the same one just the second day of it.

I knew that! Pfft, repeat the rules for anyone new, will ya? Yeah, so you have to thank the people who selected you, then the meat of it; post a quote every day for 3 consecutive days, and then nominate three~ bloggers each day to do the same.

“~3” meaning? Meaning I DO WHAT I WANT.

Fair ‘nuff. So who nominated you? Ryuuiji and Arthifis! Thanks again for the noms!

Quote number one please? So here’s the thing, and I hesitated to do this because it peels back the curtain on the mystery of me more than I wanted to, but things is I used to be a obsessed with the film and TV works of writer/director David Lynch, doesn’t mean I’m still not a fan, but anime is now all consuming and everything else is just background noise. So me of a couple of years ago could have just filled this list of quotes from his movies or his life, but instead I’ll settle for one.

And?

“My cow is not pretty but it’s pretty to me”

• David Lynch

Left: Cow, Right: David Lynch.

And what’s that mean? I’m not in the business of dissecting the inner meanings of the things people say but I’ll offer as much this time. Maybe he’s literally talking about a literal cow, or maybe he’s speaking to human nature itself, in that the things we like are to the core the things we like, regardless of all opposing words against them. In short, I like this thing, you don’t but I like it and that’s what matters to me. It’s a good attitude to have in this world that seems in a constant state or arguing.

Right, and something normal for the second quote? Don’t bet on it.

Go on then!

“A fake with more power than the real thing is more dangerous than the real thing.”

• Senjougahara Hitagi, Bakemonogatai

[Insert Obvious Political Commentary] It’s not just about politics, regardless of how relevant that is to current times, it may be an obvious thought but it’s so appropriate to all aspects of life. We must always be wary of those people with money and influence who seek to make decisions over other people despite not being qualified to do so.

Heavy stuff. Also if you haven’t check out my review for Bakemonogatari, it’s as of the writing of this, still my favourite anime of all time. It was only my second ever blog so there’s a chance you may have missed it!

You’re shameless, you know that? Today’s nominees! As usual no obligation to do one yourself if you’re too busy, or just don’t want to! @ambeivory @nesha5971 @shookamoka

You totally just ignored me- See you tomorrow for the third and final round of quotes!

20 Question Weekly Review Week Ending 25th February 2018

It’s been another week, huh? Yep. Time sure flies when you’re IMPATIENTLY WAITING FOR THE SPRING 2018 ANIME SEASON!

Yikes! What’s got you so wound up? There’s just so much good stuff coming out in April, I can’t wait!

Yeah well you have to wait, so shut up and let’s talk about what you watched this week. The usual is the usual, I’m not going to bother to post every show I’m watching week by week, it just feels lazy, click here if you want a show by show run down of the newly airing anime I’m watching.

Fair enough, but any highlights from those shows? Indeed! Citrus Episode 8 was particularly good, probably the best episode yet in fact, so much drama, it feels like Cruel Intentions except if every character was female and also if it was actually good and not some trash 90’s movie.

Take that movie nobody cares about in this, the year 2018. What else? Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles Episode 8 was so good I blogged about it here. Slow Start Ep 8 was adorable as usual, even if they didn’t continue the juicy plot line they established in the very special episode 7. Pop Team Epic 8 was funny. Darling in the FranXX continued to be heavily flawed and borderline trash. The rest was just the rest for better or worse, mostly better.

Koizumi-san brought some boys to the proverbial table this week and the show was all the more interesting for it.

Cool. And any other shows you started watching? Of course! It’s a big wide world of anime and I’m trying to take it all in!

Heh, so do go on. I watched 8 episodes of Yuru Yuri! It’s phenomenally good, like I’m in awe of how likable they made literally every character on this show, its mind-boggling. Plus it’s just plain fun from beginning to end. And then there’s Vatican Miracle Examiner [SPOILERS FOR THIS SHOW FROM HERE TIL END OF NEXT QUESTION], which I watched 4 episodes of and can sum up with four simple words, ‘Hitler Semen Immaculate Conception’.

What? WHAT!? Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever reacted so animatedly to an anime before, it’s a wild ride and I can only imagine where they go from there considering we had literal Hitler in the first 4 episodes of this show!

Wild indeed, but wow, I await your full review. It’s kind of spoiled now, but whatever, I’ll probably still review it!

Is that it for anime? No, I started ‘A Sister’s All You Need’, continued with ‘Teekyu’ and embarked upon the tit-tastic third season of ‘High School DxD’.

Great, and on the manga front? I got a lot in the mail! eBay sales continue to fund my addiction!

In case it wasn’t apparent, I have a thing for monster girls.

Yep, that’s a lot. But what did you read this week? I read volume one of ‘There’s A Demon Lord on the Floor’ which is cute like Blend-S but super sexy like Yusibu, it’s pretty derivative, I could pretty much call out all the similarities to other manga and anime as I read it but I still enjoyed it a lot.

What else? Finally got around to ‘Bloom Into You’ volume 1, and I’m almost sorry I waited so long, it’s a yuri manga but where the protagonist isn’t really into her love interest and it’s dense and complex but still fun and interesting. But this week’s true MVP is ‘Murcielago’ Volume One, which is a super twisted, violent and sexual manga about a notorious female serial killer who becomes the Japanese government’s assassin, tasked with taking out other serial killers who threaten the piece. She’s also a lesbian and total pervert, and while I’m the first to admit the gore in this anime is off-putting, the characters are terrific, the storylines intriguing and the sex scenes are genuinely erotic. Expect a full review of this manga soon!

I can’t wait? Why the question mark?

No sure if can’t wait. Hmm.

Anything else you wanted to talk about? The 2^nd Annual Anime Awards aired over the weekend. I didn’t watch it because I assumed it would be cringe and I didn’t want to get angry at all the wrong decisions that’d be made, but turns out for the most part the anime community has really good taste and pretty much voted the way I did. Which was a pleasant surprise. Very happy that My Hero Academia, Made in Abyss and my personal favourite show of 2017 Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid got recognition!

Froppy was robbed! Total best girl. But Ochako is okay too I guess.

Cool. And something else? Yes, I’ve had Discord mentioned to me a couple of times and I’m considering it the only thing is and this is embarrassing to admit, but I’m not actually sure what it is, I know it’s something people use to talk with other people but is it like text or is it voice? Or both?

I don’t know, I just assumed it was like MSN Messenger. How old are you?

Don’t pretend like you didn’t have it too and had a totally edgy user name with xx’s either side of your name. You don’t know me!

Well this kinda went off the rails. How would you rate the week ending the 25^th of February 2018? Good, just good. Nothing particularly remarkable happened in the real world, anime was great; blogging was great but otherwise pretty ordinary. Thanks for reading!

The Mystery Blogger Award – Untold Questions

Another award huh? I’m as surprised as you are!

Does this mean I get a pay rise? No.

*grumble grumble* So what’s the award? Well *copy and paste* “It’s an award for amazing bloggers with ingenious posts. Their blog not only captivates; it inspires and motivates. They are one of the best out there, and they deserve every recognition they get. This award is also for bloggers who find fun and inspiration in blogging, and they do it with so much love and passion.”

And you won that? Shut up, I’m totally amazing.

I think you mean we’re amazing, we both won the award. Yeah yeah yeah…

So these things have rules right? What are they? Award logo in blog. List rules. Thank who nominated me. Tell the reader 3 things about myself. Nominated 10-20(!) people. Ask your nominee 5 questions with one weird or funny question. And share a link to one of your best posts.

Right so who nominated you for the Mystery Blogger Award? It was Auri! Of Manga Toritsukareru Koto! Thank you so much, this means so much to me!

Indeed! So now I need to ask 3 things about you? Or is it about me? Things get confusing when there’s two of us? The only thing that’s confusing is that you still think you’re a real person and not a construct of my mind.

*completely ignores remark* I suppose we’ll just get you to answer the 3 things about you, I like to keep up some anonymity… Right… So 1^st thing about me is that I’m Australian, I don’t know if that’s some big secret or not, but I think I’m like the least Australian Australian there is, I’m pale, I don’t drink beer (only the finest bourbon for me thank you very much) and I have zero interest in sports! That’s probably already counts as 3 things but I’m going to keep going because I like talking about myself. 2^nd thing is despite studying Japanese for 5 years through primary and high school; I can barely speak it at all! *sad face* I wish more of it sunk in but being a writer, I’m so connected to the English language that Japanese just seems so hard by comparison! Sure I can recognise and say all the hiragana and know what a lot of words mean, but it’s still a slow process. 3^rd thing kind of ties into that previous point, because I am a writer, a novelist actually… except all my novels are unpublished. I’ve got one that I’m very proud of that got rejected by a lot of publishers, so at the moment I’m just deciding whether I self publish on Amazon!

Well that was all very interesting, I had no idea you were Australian? *sigh* sure you didn’t.

Right, and so now Auri has asked you some questions now in VN form? What does that mean? Ah, Visual Novel! You know it’s weird that you happened to chose VN style questions because just last night I was working on a 20 Question Anime Review for an anime that was based on a VN! Spooky! (P.S. A million points to the person who correctly guesses it!)

Right. So these questions look like they can’t be asked by me, because they’re about me. So how are we going to do this? What should I do? You go away and do something boring and heteronormative and I’ll bring out the ‘ol copy paste!

1. One day you wake up and find your yet to be named construct of mind making you breakfast. How would you react? And also how’d you imagine him/ her to look? (I assumed he’s a he…but…I don’t know so…)

Making me breakfast, huh? Just wearing an apron and nothing else? No wait, ugh! I’m not into that, he’s unfortunately male. He’s basically me if I weren’t into anime and was boring and liked to judge me for being into cute girls. Basically your typical male, although he’s a bit more friendly. I don’t know why I didn’t make him female. I guess I don’t think of women as being as judgemental? How would I react? Well I’d be annoyed that he’s using my kitchen, I do all the cooking here!

1. After your first interaction you decide to sit down and eat the breakfast first. As you eat, when you try to start a conversation you realise that you can only talk if it’s an answer to a question he asks. Your thoughts on this?

Makes sense, I’m shy in real life and generally only answer when spoken too unless I’m with really close friends. Oh no these answers are getting serious!

1. And of all the days possible this is when you have an important party to attend. You decide to manage the situation how? You can call it damage control!

A party?! Well I guess I’ll have to get ol’ Question boy to follow me around and ask me questions that allow me to still talk to people, assuming he’ll cooperate! Either that or I do something stupid, like say the theme of the party is a silent party and everyone has to communicate through non-verbal gestures. That’d work right? (You can totally tell I have lots of parties…)

1. Somehow you manage to finish the day off without any major upsets. (The minor ones however do include ignoring your friend asking about you and managing to get him/ her upset). You’d end the day with…..

Heavy drinking.

1. Well that’s the end of one of the weirdest day in the year! He’s disappeared for now, but would you get back at him on the blog? If so how?

I’d find a replacement. Preferably a cute girl, so that when they appear in my life again it’ll be more pleasant when they’re just wearing an apron… Wait did I say that out loud?!

Right. I’m back from reinforcing gender stereotypes, everything all good here? Don’t you ever appear to me in real life, okay? And if you do please for the love of god wear some underpants.

I’m so confused right now. You and me both.

Right… So now you have to nominate your ‘best post’, that’s awfully subjective isn’t it? I know, all my posts are my best posts!

Let’s reign in the ego a bit, which one will you pick? *drum roll* going all the way back to my third ever 20 Question Anime Review it’s my review of ‘Dagashi Kashi’, 2 views, zero likes! And I was really proud of this review! Not that I blame anyone for not having read it, it was in the early days after all! But in all seriousness I think it’s still a very funny review, even if I hadn’t gotten all the kinks worked out. I think it was this particular review where I realised, yes, this is fun and yes this is what I want to do with my time.

Cool, I can get behind that. So who are you going to nominate it said you had to do 10 right? Yeah I don’t think I’m going to nominate 10, I feel like it’d be rude to bother that many people, besides, these posts take a long time to write!

But you had fun, doing this yeah? Of course!

So don’t you think other people might have fun? Fine… how about 5 nominees! My nominees for the Mystery Blogger Award will be:
Lina @dorislina
The AniMessenger @theanimessenger
Jenn @jeancorntunnel
Irina @drunkenanimeblog
Raistlin0903 @raistlin0903
Don’t feel obliged to do it if you don’t have the time though! Just know that I think your work is super and deserving of an award. And if you weren’t nominated don’t think that means I don’t think your blog is less deserving, I just didn’t want to hassle too many people! I’m still all new to this awards stuff!

And the five questions you want to ask them?
1. Do you think you could survive on a remote tropical island with no one else around? What about for 7 whole days?
2. Do you enjoy seeing live music and concerts? If so who was your favourite artist that you saw live?
3. You can have a body pillow (dakimakura) of any anime character? Who is it of?
4. Name an inanimate object, suddenly you’ve got the magical ability to create one of these items per day, what is it?
5. Now you’re trapped on a remote tropical island, with your favourite musician you saw live, the actual anime character brought to life that you wanted as a body pillow and that power of yours from question 4. What do you do for the next 7 days?

Fair enough! Any last words? Wow that sounded sinister!

I meant for the post. Right, well thanks again for Auri for nominating me, this has been really fun! And thank you all for reading!

Untold Questions – The Future of Anime Q and A

What’s wrong? Oh you know, just thinking about the future.

Like flying cars and robots and colonising other planets and stuff? No, like my future and the blog’s future.

Oh, sounds kind of serious. It is, partially so, I mean it is just a blog it’s not life and death, but I’ve been here less than a month and it’s already something I enjoy doing more than a lot of things recently. 2017 was not a good year for me emotionally, but finishing the year off by quitting a job that I hated and going to Japan for three weeks was a real boon to my psyche. But it’s been three months since then and the money from my long service leave payout is almost entirely dried up, so either I go about getting a new job or…

Or? Or I try and make this my job.

This? Don’t be ridiculous. I can dream, can’t I?

You have 34 followers on wordpress, not exactly setting the blogging world on fire. I didn’t say it would be easy…

So what’s the point of this particular blog post exactly? I don’t know. I guess just to let my followers know that with their help I know I can succeed and achieve my goal. And that I’ve got big plans for this blog for the coming months whether I get a part time job or not!

Anything else? Yes, I can’t even begin to thank all the people who’ve liked my content over the past few weeks, it’s been such a boon to this poor writer’s heart, who’s always had the blogging spirit but never the drive or ideas to do so. But in 20 Question Anime Review’s I found a muse that’s a constant voice in my ear, pushing me to create more and more content.

Are you talking about me? Well, yeah. Otherwise none of this would be here…

I’ve never been someone’s muse before! Don’t get so excited, this is already weird enough as it is.

And I believe you wanted to ask your readers something too? Indeed. To all my fellow bloggers, you’ve already done so much, but I ask for your assistance in growing my audience. To the one’s who’ve reblogged and retweeted and recommended I couldn’t ask for more that would be selfish, but know I appreciate it every time you do. It feels like my words are going further than they have ever before and as a writer that’s all I could’ve hoped for. But what other advice would you give me to help grow my followers?

And you wanted to talk about collaborations too, yeah? Right, so obviously being new to wordpress blogging I don’t know a lot about collaborations, in fact to be blunt, I know nothing. For example whose blog do they go on? Do they go on both at the same time? Etc, please unfurl your great knowledge upon me so I can be a better blogger. Also and this is important, if anyone wants to collaborate with me, now would be a good time while I’m still unemployed! Drop me a message on twitter if you want to discuss ideas!

Was there site news too? Yes! Starting in March I’ll be doing 20 Question Manga Reviews! But as they’ll probably take a lot more time to organise, don’t expect more than one a week!

Cool, so that’s it then? For now, but feel free to leave any advice you have for an up and comer like me and once again thank you all for your continued support! Also, sorry if this post was a bit dry but kudos if you made it through ’til the end!

20 Question Weekly Review Week Ending 11th February 2018

What’s this?! A new weekly feature of this website, exploring my previous weeks’ anime/manga related experiences. It’ll be posted every Monday and cover the previous week up until the Sunday (I’m posting this one late because I only got the idea to do this on Thursday). The blog will also contain some shout outs and personal thoughts because apparently people are kind and generous and actually want to know things about me *shy shuffle*

Okay, cool, I guess I can get into this? Do I get paid double for doing this job too? No.

Pfft, fine. So what new anime did you watch last week? Well… a lot to be honest, this ‘Winter’ season has been pretty damn good for slice of life. Which is, I’m sure most of you are aware, is my favourite genre. Of last week’s newly aired anime I watched episode 6 of: A Place Further Than The Universe, Citrus, Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san, Marchen Madchen, Miss Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles, Pop Team Epic, Slow Start, Yuru Camp. And episode 5 of: Dagashi Kashi 2, Darling in the FranXX and Mitsuboshi Colors.

It was just a button! Silly Hana.

That’s a lot! Pfft, that’s nothing. There’s some people who watch every new anime. That’ll be me one day, hopefully.

What’s stopping you? Crippling depression. Not enough hours in the day. And, um, personal stuff…

Personal stuff? Spill! Well, I turned 30 on the 9^th. It’s weird because I simultaneously don’t feel 30 and also feel like a hundred million years old.

Big deal. People are having birthday’s every day. Oh and my grandmother died two days later.

Woah, this took a turn for the dark, sorry for your loss and all but maybe not ambush the good people who bothered to read this with such things? Hey, you wanted me to spill!

So, what’s your verdict on all those shows you’re currently watching? And succinctly please we don’t have all day… Hmm, okay. All of it is really good (I mean otherwise I wouldn’t still be watching, right?) I usually don’t release preliminary scores and I don’t make a decision on the score out of 100 like I have for my reviews until completing an anime. But I will for the sake of these weekly blogs give a score out of five stars for the series as it currently stands, so bare in mind these scores could change by the end of the season.
A Place Further Than The Universe ★★★★★
Slow Start ★★★★1/2
Citrus ★★★★1/2
Mitsuboshi Colors ★★★★1/2
Yuru Camp ★★★★1/2
Miss Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles ★★★★
Dagashi Kashi 2 ★★★★
Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san ★★★★
Marchen Madchen ★★★★
Darling in the FranXX ★★★1/2
Pop Team Epic ★★★

Even Japanese girls don’t like durian! Hard to believe when they still like natto.

Cool, any other non-new anime you’ve started/continued watching last week? Up to episode 10 of Haikyuu!! It’s not really my thing but I certainly see the appeal, there will be a review of it up once I’m done with it, be rest assured of that. Also finished Made in Abyss.

Oh yeah? How’s that show? Remember when I mentioned the ‘crippling depression’ above? Yeah, that show’s partially to blame…

Huh, that powerful then? *slow nod*

And I see we’re talking about manga now? That’s like anime except book, yeah? Sure… “anime except book” let’s go with that…

Shuddup. So what are you reading? Well I’ve bought quite a lot, but last week I read Volume 1 of ‘A Certain Scientific Railgun’ and Volume 1 of ‘Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary’.

An irl photo! All the manga I received last week.

Verdict? Well, ‘A Certain Scientific Railgun’ has its charms, its more focused on world building than I expected (which is good!) but at the expense of character development (which is bad). I can see me continuing with it even if I find it hard to tell the difference between the two main girls, which is a big problem as far as I’m concerned. But ‘Nurse Hitomi’s Monster Infirmary’ omg, I LOVE it! It reminds me a lot of ‘Interviews With Monster Girls’ which I’ve only seen the anime, but loved a lot, except Nurse Hitomi has a lot more cheeky comedy and innuendo, plus the characters are all so unique and interesting. I instantly bought the other 6 volumes on [popular book website] and will read them with glee once they arrive!

Well this was all very nice, but what if I have more questions for you, beyond the allotted 20? Then wait ‘til next week you impatient bastard.

AHAHA! (I was meaning what if the readers have more question, don’t go alienating them already!) Oh, um sure if you have any questions just come and add me on twitter.com/Cactus_Matt I’m the kind of person who always has twitter open so unless I’m asleep chances are you’ll get a quick reply! Or comment below, either way works!

Anything else you want to add? Of course, I’m only new to the blogging scene but already I’ve been overwhelmed by the kindness of the wordpress anime blogging community. Specifically I want to shout out Irina @drunkenanimeblog, who was there from my fourth day on the site and kept liking my content and thus spurring me on despite very few views. Then came @raistlin0903 who reblogged me and still comments like a persistent cheerleader! And @chizurue who championed me on twitter loudly!

But wait; didn’t the last two people only start to do those things the week after the week ending the 11^th? Ah… well yeah, but this is the first blog of this type so credit where credit’s due and all that… I just wanted to thank some people is all… Plus there’s way more people before and after the aforementioned that deserve a shoutout, I’m just still trying to get to grips with this whole thing…

Fair enough. How would you rate the week ending 11^th of February 2018? An emotional roller coaster, as much as that is a cliché, I don’t think I’ve ever felt such dizzying highs and worrisome lows. Nevertheless, I am out the other side and thinking of the future and can’t wait to see what comes next for this blog, for anime and manga and for my life.

Well that was the first of my 20 Question Weekly Reviews! Let me know what you think, what should be changed, what else should be discussed? Also, don’t worry, the normal 20 Question Anime Reviews will still come out daily, these will not interrupt the regularly scheduled reviews! Thanks for reading!