My Answers to Yumeka’s Questions

Since I’m still enjoying my vacation, I decided to go a bit off track. Remember the 50 questions I have answered back in March? Well, I’m going to entertain you with some answers to questions Yumeka came up with. So, enjoy and feel free to share your thoughts on what I have said. (Image Source)

1. What anime have you seen? If you’ve seen too many to type out here, link to any list you may have, such as MAL.

As of today, I have seen about 78 shows (excluding the ones I plan to watch) and completed 41 shows.  The number of completed shows is pretty low because some titles fall into the backlog due to lack of time. However, I intend to complete them someday.

2. Out of those, which ones would you consider favorites?

Air, Clannad, Kanon, Haruhi (First season only), K-ON, Madoka Magica and The Idolmaster

3. What was the first anime you ever watched and what was your first impression?

First anime believe it or not is My Neighbor Totoro, which is actually my first Miyazaki film during my childhood. It was a very enjoyable film that had a good story. Of course, I think I enjoyed Kiki Delivery Service, which came out a few years later despite releasing in the early 90s.

On TV, the first series I watched on there is Pokémon. After playing the games, I was pretty excited to watch that anime even though I don’t anymore. Still, it’s one of my fondest times during my childhood.

4. In what year would you say you became an anime fan?

Probably in the late 90s as Anime in a limited fashion started airing on KidsWB thanks to the notorious 4Kids

5. Do you read manga as well as watch anime?

No, I don’t read Manga since I don’t have the time. If this counts, I did play a few visual novels, but only the ones from Key (Clannad and Kanon).

6. What genre of anime usually interests you?

I usually watch comedy, drama, slice of life type of shows, but I will watch anything except for Mecha or Shouen action anime (e.g Naruto).

8. For your own personal enjoyment, what do you think is the most important factor in an anime?

I think the story and characters matter the most since they drive the plot. Sadly, Sturgeon’s Law is in full effect, thus there are always going to be some annoying characters or a weak story line. Shows that have fanservice turned up to 11 also turns me off as well.

9. Which do you prefer, dub or sub?

I don’t have a preference. As long the dub isn’t horrible, I don’t mind.

10. Who are some of your favorite Japanese seiyuu?

I don’t pay too much attention to the seiyuu scene, so I don’t exactly have a favorite. However, I do like some of the singing talent from Tomatsu Haruka, Nana Mizuki, Sakamoto Mayaa, Imai Asami, and Takahashi Chiaki. Also, I enjoy Kugimiya Rie tsunderes, although some people complain about her voicing too many of them.

11. If you watch anime dubs, who are some of your favorite voice actors?

Since I don’t pay attention to the names of English voice actors, I can’t say.

12. Which anime do you think has the worst English dub? And the best?

For the worst English Dub, just put any 4Kids title here besides Pokémon. The reason being is that they make unnecessary changes and try to blatantly Americanize it as seen with the infamous “Jelly-filled doughnut” and the sandwich rolling down the hill. As for the best, I have to say Haruhi.

13. What are your most disliked anime?

Since I never complete anime that I dislike, I may as talk about the ones I dropped:

AKB0048 – I just hate the AKB48 because I dislike Asian Idol groups in general for the lack of talent. I couldn’t last two episodes of the horrible plot they are trying to pull

Rio: Rainbow Gate – This show is so terrible that it made me cry. Whose idea was it to make an anime about casinos? Also, the characters are terrible (besides the cute ferret that Rio had) and there is too much needless fanservice that it totally killed it for me.

Ore-tachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai – I don’t know, but even though this show was bad, I couldn’t stop watching it since the girls looked so cute. Still, Takashi is probably the worst male lead in any harem anime since he is so weak, especially when a girl tries to have intercourse with him. That was the last straw and I had to drop it there.

14. Do you ever try to get people interested in anime? If so, what kind of success have you had?

Nope, since they wouldn’t understand.

15. Who are your most favorite anime characters?

I know this list is terribly out of date, but here it goes:

Misaka Shiori, Kamio Misuzu, Fujibashi Kyou, Ichinose Kotomi, Furukawa Nagisa , Tohno Minagi , Tsukimiya Ayu, Minase Nayuki, Kisaragi Chihaya, Miura Azusa, Shijou Takane, Hagiwara Yukiho

16. Who are your least favorite anime characters?

Zouken Matou… No explanation needed!

17. Who are your favorite “non-human”(animal-like) characters?

Botan (Clannad), Sakamoto (Nichijou) and Kyubey (Madoka Magica)

18. What are some ways you express your anime fandom? (going to conventions, blogging, reading fanfiction, etc)

I only blog about Anime I lack the funds to attend conventions and I want to share the passion for the medium.

19. What kinds of anime products do you usually buy?

In the past, I have bought American Licensed DVDs of various series. Since then, I have imported games that had Anime adaptations (Idolmaster 2, Idolmaster SP, Shining Hearts) and bought a few CDS. I think in the future, I think I will buy more CDs and games (if any) rather than buying licensed DVDs as long the Yen exchange rates holds.

20. What are some of your favorite anime songs and soundtracks?

Anything from Kajiura Yuki and Key (Magome Togoshi, Jun Maeda, Shinji Orito, etc) are your obvious bets. Aside from these composers, the list of favorite songs is going to be too long, so just check out my Last.fm loved list. It should contain most of the tracks I enjoy.

21. What anime pairings/shippings do you like?

I’m not into shipping, so I can’t say.

22. What medium to you usually use to watch anime? (buy DVDs, streaming, etc)

I mainly use fansubs and DVDs, since there might be times where I won’t have an internet connection. Also, it’s a lot easier to take screenshots from these opposed to streaming.

23. What is your favorite anime quote?

I don’t have a specific one, so I’ll give a random one that everyone should know…

“私、気になります” – Chitanada Eru

24. What are your favorite anime movies?

I don’t have a specific favorite movie, but I really enjoyed 5 Centimeters Per Second, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Movie the 1^st, and the two Miyazaki films I mentioned earlier.

25. What other “geeky,” media-related hobbies besides anime do you have? (video games, Western animation, etc)

Besides Anime, I play a lot of video games, mostly Japanese games since western games tend to be the shooting games, which I have no interest in. From my childhood, I grew up with Nintendo consoles. I eventually got a Playstation 3 since there are games I wanted on it. However, I hate mobile gaming (iPhone gaming) since the gaming experiences are too shallow and it mostly consists of crappy games. Therefore, I don’t consider people who play only mobile games gamers.

As for the gaming consoles I own (excluding the ones my sister has): Super Nintendo, N64, Gamecube, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Wii, Gameboy (Original, Pocket, Color, Advance, SP) Nintendo DS (all), Nintendo 3DS, and Playstation Vita.

26. What is your most favorite anime of all, and why is it your favorite?

My most favorite Anime is obviously Clannad (especially the second season) for it’s emotional moments and heartwarming scenes.

27. What are some anime you haven’t watched but want to someday?

Lots. My backlog keeps on filling that I can’t keep track.