Der Liebster Preis

Hello everyone!

No, unfortunately this isn’t the Lain article (the first of many) I promised. I’m still thinking about that, I promise. I actually went and re-took a bunch of screenshots because I wasn’t satisfied with the method I had taken them before. That was a fun few hours. Anyway. I’m here today to talk about something much more serious. Not at all more serious. Something. The Liebster Award.

ZeroReq011 has nominated me for the Liebster Award. After this nomination there was some confusion as I scrambled to figure out what exactly was going on and why I had been nominated. Thankfully it is a lot more light hearted than I was lead to initially believe. You just answer some questions and make up… errr tell the truth about yourself. I suppose I should do that all anyway, shouldn’t I? I’ve only gone over a little bit about myself and most of your experience of me has either been an article about Maria or Shrek.

I’ll be using the rule set that was put forth by the official rules (you can use this if I nominate you). I’m sure whoever came up with this idea in the first place is overjoyed that so many people have begun using it. I think it’s a really interesting tool and a way to spread meaningful content while still using effort and of course it’s used to encourage a blogger to make a post.

Usually I’m the one asking the questions; some of you may know me from reddit’s TrueAnime forum where I the Weekly Discussions (and totally don’t think them up on the spot the day/the hour beforehand nuh uh nope no way). But anyone can talk about themselves so I don’t think this’ll be too difficult. I want to thank ZeroReq011 again for nominating me, it means senpai noticed me ^_^. Enough with the shitposting though, let’s move onto ADVANCED shitposting. Here are the questions that Zero proposed that Zero answer.

1. I just beat Frog-kun with a bat. What do you do?
2. Do you ship, best girl, and/or waifu? If you do, what do you get out of it? If you don’t, why?
3. What’s your favorite anime couple. Why?
4. How open-minded or adventurous to trying out show genres you’re not used to? Are there any show genres you feel either obstinate or uncomfortable trying? Why?
5. Have there been things in shows that have (as opposed to disgusted) horrified you? Why and how? Additionally, have there been things in shows that have moved you to tears? Why and how?
6. Do you prefer shows that bore you or shows that disgust you? Why?
7. What are a couple of characters that you strongly identify with? Why?
8. When was the last time you decided to watch a show you knew or thought you knew you’d dislike or hate? Why did you watch it?
9. What’s a question you’d ask yourself? Why would you ask it?
10. What is something that you fear? Why do you fear it?
11. The bat I used to beat Frog-kun came to life. What do you do?

So here. We. Go.

1. I just beat Frog-kun with a bat. What do you do?

D-d-dostedt? Well I make sure Frog is okay. Frogs have a weakness against bats, you know. Actually, wait, that’s not true. According to Bulbapedia Froakie is resistant to steel. So maybe Frog-kun would be okay, only beaten half to death, or half to half to death, depending on what Zero did. Then I make sure Frog gets whatever revenge they want to on ZeroReq cause fair’s fair and all that. I wouldn’t enjoy it if Frog just brushed it off as so many male harem MCs tend to do, but that pet peeve doesn’t belong here cause I’ll just get angry and start ranting.

2. Do you ship, best girl, and/or waifu? If you do, what do you get out of it? If you don’t, why?

WOOP WOOP

Yes, I do. And she’s the cutest. Forever. Always. When I first watched Chuunibyou I knew that Rikka would be it. I had been joking about having a waifu before (I still am mostly, I just REALLY like Rikka). Taiga was a strong contender for that spot but Rikka just stole my heart with her VA’s performance combined with her character design. Gothic Lolita is a GIGANTIC weakness of mine.

3. What’s your favorite anime couple. Why?

Taiga and Ryuuji. That’s the first one that comes into my head when I think about that and I think it’s the best answer I can give to that question. And no it’s not just because i can’t stand knowing that Rikka is holding hands with Yuuta. I actually genuinely enjoyed watching Ryuuji and Taiga’s relationship mature alongside of them as they came to accept their feelings for one another. So much so that I’m going to try and run a panel on Toradora’s characters and relationships to try and showcase how well done they are. Characters make or break a show for me sometimes and they’re a lot of the appeal of a show to me.

4. How open-minded or adventurous to trying out show genres you’re not used to? Are there any show genres you feel either obstinate or uncomfortable trying? Why?

I’m extremely open minded. Much more so than I used to be. I’m currently watching Card Captor Sakura. I am a 23 year old white male. This show is certainly not aimed at me but I enjoy watching it anyway. Before that I watched Princess Tutu and realized that it was a 10/10 show even though it’s not aimed at me. The only thing that makes me feel really uncomfortable is some of the special interest hentai stuff because it’s just offputting to me to see some of the more extreme ones. Yaoi is something I jokingly rail against while praising Yuri but I realistically couldn’t hate one and love the other without looking like a massive hypocrite; i don’t really watch Yaoi or read it because I haven’t seen any that would catch my interest. I’m planning on trying to sample all genres; after magical girls I’m going to go for mecha.

5. Have there been things in shows that have (as opposed to disgusted) horrified you? Why and how? Additionally, have there been things in shows that have moved you to tears? Why and how?

Hm… let me think about this. Usually I don’t think I’m horrified at anime too much. For some reason horror MOVIES really get to me but anime doesn’t scare me as much. Some of it is unsettling but nothing that has really kept me up at night. Sorry for not giving any more of an interesting answer to this 😦

As for moved to tears? Yes. Note that for any shows I talk about here, there will be SPOILERS for Toradora, Clannad After Story, and Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

HERE BE SPOILERS, BEWARE

So my first show that I ever remember shedding a tear on was Clannad: After Story. I had marathoned the first into the second season when I was in high school and was in love with the whole thing. So of course when we got some of those final scenes with Ushio I couldn’t help but cry a little bit. I only ever remember shedding one tear, having it fall down my face.

The second time where only one tear has fallen (I don’t really let the tear ducts flow ever, they mostly just well up) was a Toradora rewatch. Knowing what kind of girl Taiga was and realizing that she had such a hard life and didn’t know how to handle social situations and didn’t know how to handle love made me extremely sad. The Christmas episode where she runs out after Ryuuji into the street and breaks down crying is just soul crushing beyond a shadow of a doubt. I couldn’t really hold it together there.

As for shows that have made me tear up? Much more numerous. Isshuukan Friends almost made me cry from happiness at the beginning of the show, Plastic Memories and AnoHana perfectly manipulated me into tearing up, some Makoto Shinkai films have also made me extremely sad.

SPOILERS FOR LEGEND OF THE GALACTIC HEROES BELOW, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

For a last thing, something SLIGHTLY related, Yang Wenli’s death in that show didn’t make me cry. I didn’t break down and sob when he was gone. I had planned to watch two episodes that night. I ended up doing that but the first one I watched was where that fateful event happens. I just sat there after the episode ended. After the narrator finished speaking and I realized it was real, I just couldn’t believe it. I had been watching that show for 2 years up to that point and then that finally happened. It felt like someone I knew had passed away.

6. Do you prefer shows that bore you or shows that disgust you? Why?

Well considering I’m a KyoAni fanboy and love the slice of life genre I would have to say shows that bore me. When I get disgusted or annoyed with how characters are acting I’m not well likely to continue with a show. Then again I dropped Acchi Kochi because I thought nothing would happen but I generally think I have pretty high tolerance for the boring stuff as opposed to the disgusting things. They’re just easy to turn your brain off to, you know?

7. What are a couple of characters that you strongly identify with? Why?

I never really thought about this too much. Most of the characters I like watching are 2D girls and sometimes it’s hard for me to identify with them thanks to cultural, age, gender, etc. differences. If I had to pick a character… Madarame Harunobu from Genshiken is probably the closest in personality to me. Fiercely passionate about anime, yet realizes that he has to tone it down. I think in the manga he’s slightly feeling disenchanted with the whole lifestyle and I don’t have a loli, a foreigner, a crossdresser, and a cabaret girl lusting after me but personality wise I think we’re pretty similar. We both have full time jobs, we hang out around our college clubs to keep staying with our friends, and sometimes we both question if what we’re doing is the best thing we could be.

8. When was the last time you decided to watch a show you knew or thought you knew you’d dislike or hate? Why did you watch it?

Wow I haven’t done that in a while…I suppose the closest thing I’v done to that is Ping Pong: The Animation? I was going to watch it ironically because c’mon, it was called “PING PONG THE ANIMATION.”

I was severely wrong about thinking it would be bad. Like, extremely wrong.

Most of the time I get angry with a show while I’m watching it and hate it then but finish it because I want to mark it as completed and know what I’m talking about when I inevitably talk shit about the show.

9. What’s a question you’d ask yourself? Why would you ask it?

“What do you wanna do with your life?” I still have no idea what the answer to that question is so if this second me could somehow provide an answer I would be eternally grateful. It’s something I still need to figure out, where I am, where I’m going, what I wanna do.

10. What is something that you fear? Why do you fear it?

Death is a pretty scary thing no matter how much we play it up and romanticize it in stories or fiction. It’s not something I like to think about much though because there’s no point in constantly reminding yourself of the inevitable. You have to focus on the right now.

Horror movies are pretty scary too, like I said before. Insidious made me anxious for a week or two.

11. The bat I used to beat Frog-kun came to life. What do you do?

I try and avoid it if it’s a vampire bat, otherwise I try and avoid it anyway because bats are scary. Why were you beating Frog to death with a dead animal though ZeroReq?

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I guess this means it’s time for 11 Random Facts About Myself

1. I majored in Information Technology with a B.S. I am currently trying to forget that I should eventually go back to school.
2. I run panels at conventions, or at least try to. I love going to conventions a lot so I decided to try my hand at panels.
3. My birthday is on the Ides of March, also known as the day Julius Caesar was assassinated.
4. I like running and cycling, cycling more than running. I’m glad it’s getting warm again. Oh and I play tennis.
5. Serial Experiments Lain is my favorite show although Ping Pong was poised to take that position at one time.
6. Amusement parks and roller coasters are awesome. I love them a lot. I’m going to Kings Dominion again soon. I’ve been every year as long as I can remember.
7. I listen to 60-90’s rock (some new stuff), chill hop/chill out (thanks Nujabes), Touhou music, and like those random songs I just get stuck in my head from time to time.
8. I’ve tried online dating for a bit and realized that I just don’t care to date anyone at the moment. It was eye opening.
9. I’ve been watching anime since I watched Dragonball Z on Toonami (probably 1998 or 1999?); the progression was DBZ, Pokemon, and YuYuHakusho followed by things like Naruto, Bleach, and Inuyasha (and Shonen Jump in general) followed by things like Gunslinger Girl and Haruhi Suzumiya followed by currently airing shows, starting in about 2009. Yet my MAL is still small compared to some 😛
10. Makoto Shinkai is my favorite director yet Spirited Away is my favorite movie.
11. I’m extremely happy to have found AniSkyp and AniTwitter because one of my biggest annoyances early on in my anime watching days was not having anyone to gush about series to after they finished.

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Questions for nominees now… hm…

1. What made you want to start blogging? A person, an event, a feeling?
2. What is your favorite genre of anime and why?
3. Besides watch/read/write about anime/manga, what do you like to do in your spare time?
4. If you had to present a panel at an anime convention with little to no prep time what would be the topic? You have to talk for an hour.
5. What’s one aspect about yourself that you dislike? What about one aspect that you think you’re great at?
6. How do you feel about how anime is received by the average person today, in both Japan and your home country?
7. Why is Rikka NOT you’re waifu?
8. What’s your favorite short joke?
9. What are you supposed to be doing right now instead of reading this article/watching anime?
10. Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?
11. What is the dankest meme you know of?

Finally, here’s the meme loving fucks people I want to nominate:

• kaidakaori
• novasylum
• itsrandomman
• N4gaiyume
• caspy

Oh god did I do this right