It has been a while since I have done one of those blog award posts. As you have might know already, I have been busy relocating to the Washington DC metro area. Yes, it’s for a new job that I have been working at for almost 4 weeks.
Since I have been doing lots of driving back and forth moving stuff, finding a new place and such towards the end of last year, I didn’t get the chance to do it. It’s not until the end of January that I finally moved into a new place. The only problem, I didn’t have stable internet since I didn’t have stable internet. In other words, I couldn’t publish any other content besides episodic reviews, until now.
While I was busy moving, two people appeared to have nominated me for the Mystery Blogger Award. They are SparkNorkx of Supaku Blog and Keni from The Anime Basement. Apparently, the latter person appeared to have lost their post, so if you want me to do it, contact me as soon as possible.
If you are wondering, here is some background on what is this award.
“Mystery Blogger Award” is 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.
– Okoto Enigma
Since I am very busy, I will not be nominating anyone from this award, but I will just do it.
Three things about me
First off, I have been a fan of anime for a long time. Well, my start came from watching the Pokémon anime, whatever is available on over the air TV (e.g. Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, Card Captor Sakura, Yugioh) primarily and a few Miyazaki’s films, (My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service). It’s not until my first year of undergraduate college that I really got into it, mostly thanks to blogging it about it. This is after several years of not watching any during my time in high school. Believe it or not, I have been writing about it for over 10 years and still going.
Second, I am a tech enthusiast, or rather working with computers is part of my hobby and I also do it for a living. I have to admit that I spend a good amount of money on technology, mostly high-end stuff I keep and use for years like Macbook Pros and iPhones. I just enjoy working with technology, even during my childhood. Most of my childhood is spent in front of a computer screen. It’s probably why I don’t spend money eating out or traveling.
While most people during my age seem to enjoy doing other things such as playing sports, which I have absolutely no interest in. Eventually, it influenced my career choice. Although I thought that there are no jobs in Information Technology since most of it is outsourced, at least in the private industry. I actually work in Information Technology for the federal government and have two certifications from Comptia (Security Plus and Cybersecurity Analyst). Of course, I scored highly on both exams. I plan to get my CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) in the future, after I get my four years of experience.
Lastly, I have a strong interest in video games. I grew up mostly playing Nintendo games, but I eventually played with games on the Playstation and even PC. Outside of Japanese role-playing games, music, and simulation games, I play a lot of simulation games. Yes, games like Sim City, The Sims, Cities Skylines and lots of hours on Civilization 5 and 6. Also, I started teaching myself Japanese mostly because I wanted to play Idolmaster 2 and kind of understand the story. It’s still a work in progress and I plan to take the JPLT exams eventually. The Kanji memorization is the hard part, but I will get there someday.
The Best Posts
In 2015, I covered a long, but informative editorial with lots of research on the poor working conditions and pay of animators. I eventually did a follow-up in 2018, which of course, things didn’t get better. I can imagine that things still haven’t gotten better, especially with delays becoming more frequent. Not only that, some productions had notable problems, especially with Azur Lane in 2019 and Märchen Mädchen in 2018. Also, can’t forget about COVID-19 (aka Novel Cornavirus) delaying productions too.
Now onward to the questions
1. What is some of your top favorite anime?
If you see my MyAnimeList profile, it lists some of my favorite anime, although outdated since I haven’t bothered updating the list for a long time. I will probably revisit the list and go into detail in a much longer editorial post.
2. Who or what inspired you to start blogging/writing?
I started blogging about anime mostly to improve my writing skills. This started during my freshman year of college on February 17, 2009. Not only that, I want to share my thoughts about anime. I have to admit, it’s a pretty good hobby taking my mind off schoolwork, the long three-year job hunting, and eventually my full-time job. I think it’s worth it, especially with being able to interact with others who also write about anime as well.
3. Do you play PC games? If so, please mention some PC games that you play.
As mentioned earlier, I shared what games I play on the computer. I don’t do too much computer gaming nowadays for a few reasons, besides time.
First off, keeping the computer hardware up to date is really expensive. I tend to prefer buying high end graphics cards, which cost upwards to $300-600. I used to buy nVidia video cards, namely a GTX 1070, but they are not compatible with macOS, especially with the desktop computer. Besides running Windows 10, it runs macOS most of the time, which I built myself in 2017. I replaced it with a high-end AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 and sold the 1070. Also, most of the games I play these days are on the console and I prefer playing them on my Nintendo Switch.
4. Do you play mobile games? If so, please mention some mobile games that you play.
Yes, but the only mobile game I really play with dedication these days is Magia Record. I only spend money on the monthly packs for the English version. I also play the Japanese version, but I skip the story since I would rather spend time practicing Japanese through other means like manga or full experiences. Also play some Kirara Fantasia, but the same reason as the Japanese version. Used to play Revue Starlight, but I don’t have the time for that anymore.
5. Do you read light novels?
No, I do not read light novels, mostly because there is none that interests me. Sure, it will be good practice for my Japanese self-studies, but most of my efforts are on reading Manga. I read mostly Manga Time Kirara series and some Comic Yuri Hime titles thrown in. My AniList manga list has a full list what I own and reading.
Nowadays, I read them digitally since it’s a lot convenient to read them that way on my iPad Pro while traveling from work to home. I get my digital copies from CDJapan eBook service (mostly Manga Time Kirara series) or eBookJapan. I am digitizing what I haven’t read physically using a Fujitsu overhead scanner into a digital PDF format.
With that, this sums up all my answers. Feel free to discuss what I shared in the comments.
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