If you have left me a comment and I haven't responded, more likely than not I just haven't found the time to respond yet. I will likely get back to you eventually, but feel free to leave a second comment if you think I may have missed yours. I often go online briefly just to update my list or something, which is why it may say I was online recently even when I haven't responded to you.
Profile picture and banner are from the album Nightride by Tinashe.
Hi. You can call me "Ian" or "Nintendo". Either is fine.
Welcome to my profile. I have been an anime fan for over seven years as of 2020, but haven't watched it as much the past the past three years. I used to watch a bit of it when I was younger, but it was only stuff like Pokémon and the occasional Ghibli movie. I slowly got more interested it when watching the Funimation channel in either the late 00s or very early 10s (not completely sure). Anyway, I started to get really into it around 2012, and I was obsessed from 2013-2015, during my middle school and high school years. However, my life started to take a downturn around 2016. I got busy as hell and my life became a mess in more ways than one, but I've managed to hold it together (with a lot of bumps in the road)... Anyway, I haven't abandoned the medium and am still trying to get back into it at a more consistent pace. During the latter half of 2019, I began to watch it at a more consistent pace. I still don't watch nearly as much as I did in the first half of the 10s, but it's the most I've been watching it in a few years. I finally finished Blood+, an anime I started in late 2015, in the fall of 2019. This was a huge weight of my shoulders, and now I am just trying to keep watching anime. My on-hold list is massive, and there tons of second and third seasons of shows I love I haven't seen yet, but at least I've been watching anime, as I still have a love for it. 2020 has been a huge year for me when it comes to anime as I've watched more anime than I have in several years. I finally feel motivated again and I'm finding the time to watch it pretty consistently. I'm so happy to have anime back in my life. It was one of the brightest lights in my life from 2013-2016. I've also been trying to consistently read manga and LNs for over seven years now, and it continues to be a struggle. Reading in general has always been (due to a noisy household, busy life, and poor attention span), so I'm trying to change that as well.
I'm currently trying to learn Japanese. Hopefully I can one day update this profile description to say I am fluent in Japanese, but we'll have to see how that goes. As for the rest of my hobbies, I love video games, sports (especially baseball), and music. I've been playing video games since I was little and will never stop. I've been playing Nintendo games since I was small and I got into PS4 a few years ago. As for baseball, I've been a passionate Philadelphia Phillies fan my whole life. And music? Well, I'm certainly no music snob. I surprisingly got really into pop music in college. So sadly, I can't recommend to you some unknown indie band. Never thought I would love pop music, but I do. Despite that, I follow specific artists and listen to full albums, so I don't just listen to anything that plays on the radio (it's not like I like everything). Pop is a surprisingly expansive genre, and not every pop artist is popular. Ariana Grande, Tove Lo, MARINA, Charli XCX, Dua Lipa, Tinashe, The Weeknd, and Post Malone are some of my favorites, but I'm always discovering someone new. I also like several alternative and pop rock bands. I grew up on alternative rock, so some bands in this genre evoke great nostalgia within me. I haven't discovered many new artists in the genre that I like, but I still listen to my favorites: U2, Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, OneRepublic... just to name a few. Recently I've started to listen to some artists from Japan (more than just OPs and EDs: full discographies) and Korea. For J-Pop, I've become a big fan of Reol, Rei Yasuda, and Maaya Sakamoto, among others. For K-Pop, I like BLACKPINK (G)I-DLE, TWICE, Dreamcatcher, Everglow, ITZY, Sunmi, YUKIKA, IU, and many others. The list keeps on growing. I started trying out a ton of new artists from Japan and Korea in 2020 and will continue to do so as I am finding a lot of music that I love. I also starting getting into K-Dramas last year, so Korea really seems to have become a big part of my life!
Early on I watched a few series in dub, including several Ghibli movies, but since mid-to-late 2013 I've watched everything in sub. A few more Ghilbli movies were probably watched in sub since then, but even those I would watch in sub now. I read manga and light novels in an English translation. I buy both in physical copies and read the official translation if available. I do the same with visual novels and videos games, of course. If I become fluent in Japanese, I will start reading in the original language, but I'm a far way out from that.
I don't know the exact watch date of every anime I saw in my first few years. I got more consistent with adding that later on. If there is no watch date listed, I probably watched in 2013 or 2014. Maybe 2015 or 2016. I plan to add estimates at some point.
My rating system has become more simplified over the years. I basically have a word or two, or a phrase, that represents each score: 10=amazing, 9=great, 8=very good, 7=good, 6=decent, 5=mediocre, 4=bad, 3=really bad, 2=horrible, 1=a dumpster fire from beginning to end. Whichever of these words feels is most comfortable to describe an anime is the score I give it. I have a hard time scoring things, so sometimes I will go back and change a score. I also have a bit of a recency bias. I am more strict when going back and reviewing my scores, so if I haven't done that in awhile, some of the shows I have seen recently may be better scored than older anime even though I enjoyed them just as much when watching. Most short specials will have lukewarm reviews. Unless they do something interesting or unique, they won't have beyond a 7. As for recap episodes, higher scores will be awarded for being succinct, unique, or adding some new content. But a 50 minute recap for the first three episodes of a show? Yeah, that's gonna be a low score. Overall, I enjoy most anime. So 7's, 8's, and 9's are much more common than 4's, 3's, and 2's.
I'm not super critical, but I still have my opinions. I don't flame shows though so if you love something I gave a 4, then that's great. I'm glad others could see something great in it. I will watch basically any type of anime, but I have become more selective in recent years since I don't have a lot of time to watch stuff anymore (and when I do have time, I often feel like doing something else). I also have like six million shows on hold. I hope to get to them one day... but I've accepted that some will stay there for a very long time (hopefully not forever). There may be a couple potential 10/10's on there. If so, hopefully I get to those. But for now, I just watch what I feel like. I also don't really drop shows. I don't have a rule that I CAN'T drop anything, but I like to power through even the pretty bad stuff so I can have a full opinion on it. But if I ever start watching a 2/10 100+ episode anime, I won't torture myself.
If you are wondering why there are numbers in the tags for anime in the "Watching" category in my list, that is for personal use. I'll explain in detail, so skip the following paragraph if you don't care:
Since mid-2020 I have been categorizing anime I am watching in different categories. I usually watch three anime at a time, though sometimes I will add a fourth or fifth if there are airing anime I want to watch. Category 1 is for finishing anime I put on hold back in the day or for watching sequels that I never got to for anime I watched before 2020, as that is the year I started watching anime consistently again after barely watching it from 2017 through 2019. Category 2 is for shows I want to watch that are completely new to me (not a sequel to anything I have seen). Category 3 is for anything that could fit into Category 1 or 2, but also for sequels from anime I started in 2020 or later (I don't usually go right to the next season and instead save it for a few months later). I always watch at least three shows at once, so Categories 1-3 are always used. Categories 4 and 5 are for airing anime, and are not always used. The second number for each tag (e.g.: the 1 in "2-1") just means it is the anime in that category I am watching at the moment. Anime in my "Plan to Watch" are queued based off what I will watch next. So "2-2" is the anime I will watch in Category 2 after finishing "2-1". "2-3 is the one I will watch after "2-2". When "2-1", gets finished, I erase the tag for it and "2-2" becomes "2-1", "2-3" becomes "2-2", and so on. On my "Plan to Watch", I also mark things as "New" or "Related", and I sometimes add a "PTW" tag. "New" just means that it is a series I have not started yet, "Related" means it is something I have not seen yet from a series I have watched before, and "PTW" is just an informal tag to distinguish it from other titles I am interested in and to say that I plan to watch it in the near future, but I don't want to add it to my number queue yet for whatever reason (such as not being fully committed to the idea of watching it soon, or it is an airing show that might not time up with the numbered queue). Not sure if anyone gives a flying fuck about my tag system, and who knows if anyone will find it worth reading this whole paragraph, but I figured I'd explain if someone was wondering what the number tags were for.
I accept all friend requests and try to be friendly to everyone. Just don't be rude and we should get along fine.
I have a VNDB account, but haven't played a lot of visual novels:
http://vndb.org/u58882/list. Hopefully I can get the ball rolling for VNs and manga/LNs sooner rather than later.
If you play video games, too and want to add me on something...
3DS Friend Code: 1118-0241-9851 (Message or post a comment on my profile with yours if you want to be friends.)
Switch Friend Code: 2956-1923-0300 (As with the 3DS, send me yours as well).
Nintendo Network ID: NinFan204
Playstation Network ID: NintendoFan204
League of Legend's Summoners Name: Nintendofan204 (Haven't played in a long time, but I'll leave it up).
Talk to me often and I will gladly give you my Discord.
That is all.
All Comments (945) Comments
or in spite of however many people say it!
Hope you had lots of jelly and ice cream, and a bouncy castle at your party :)
It's been much longer than I thought, so I'll try to keep it brief. Basically I regained most of my 2020 weight in 2021, then started losing it again in June. I ended up losing 42lbs last year and was able to maintain my weight from Thanksgiving all the way until Christmas. Unfortunately, 8+ weeks of constant temptations finally got me and I went all out on the feasting / junk food in the final week of the year. I've gained about 7lbs back, but I'm still within a reasonable range. I spent plenty of time in the last months of 2021 doing research on my calorie deficits and figuring out what specifically works. I cracked the code and have a plan for reaching my final weight goal this year - specifically by May. If you're interested in my unprofessional advice, I could tell you about my "Dynamic Calorie Deficit" method in another comment.
I did get away from the junk food for a while in Oct/Nov. I was at a point where I was eating 1500-1600 calories per day and feeling great. Now I'm transitioning back out of it and although it's taking some effort, it's nowhere near as addicting.
Well I hope your luck with the ladies will fare well. I find that much of what you describe about mental health & motivation really comes from fitness for me. Back in November, I had a sense of absolute confidence and felt like I couldn't be stopped.
Admittedly I've social distanced myself into total alienation, but one thing I am glad about is that I never liked social media. I'm somewhat anti-social and prefer solitude & quiet, but I would much rather have real interactions than scroll through Fake & Gay Book. I only keep an account for contacts and don't even interact with it beyond casual correspondence with old friends. As for politics, social media is only ever going to offer you caricatures & stereotypes instead of down to Earth experiences with other complex, multi-faceted people.
I'm making some finishing touches to my New Year's tidying, so I'm hoping to shift gears back to anime & fitness very soon. It's a very refreshing way to kick the year off, but the problem can be that sometimes it goes on for too long and I forget how to do anything else for a while. I haven't hanged up gaming completely, but I did sell a number of my games including many of my classics. I'm trying to give the unplayed games a bit more time, but I really do feel like I'm at the end of my gamer lifespan. It's not a matter of getting older, as thankfully I don't feel that way about anime. I just don't feel as connected to it as a medium. Not to mention most of modern gaming feels so commercialized and out of touch these days.
Well said on the femininity & interests. I've got to say though, male idol anime made a really strong case for me last year between Starmyu & iDOLiSH7. Even as a straight guy, I can't help but fangirl at the aesthetic of kawaii anime guys.
It's been half a year, but I'd still consider Fruits Basket my #2 anime at this point. I've only had two experiences in my life that moved me so deeply - becoming a Christian and Clannad After Story. Unfortunately one of those didn't last, but I can still remember that sensation as a young teen even half a lifetime later. I don't think I would have made it to the end of this year intact without FB to keep me steady.
I notice a lot of regulars going on hiatus at various time and I'll sometimes take little breaks myself, and as I say to a lot of my MAL friends, there's no rush to reply to my comments/messages. Whenever suits you is fine by me!
'Weeb status' lol. That phrasing makes me laugh. Imagine having a weeb status feature or indicator on MAL. I wonder where each of us (and our friends) would be, and what range of factors they'd use to determine ones rank/position? For example, would knowledge of the Japanese language, or even culture and history, come into it in any way? What about ones dubbed/subbed anime ratio? You mention it as a tool for learning the language and that you've been studying it yourself for years. Whereas in all honesty I'm pretty much hopeless at learning languages other than my native English, and throughout my anime 'career' I've probably seen around 95% of it (an educated guess) through the medium of English language dubs.
18 degrees (with a real feel/wind chill factor of 5) where you are now! I'm not sure if you mean 18 degrees Fahrenheit or Celsius, though. That's either surprising mild for this time of year or bitterly cold lol. I've noticed (from MAL correspondents) that you guys tend to use Fahrenheit more, whereas over here in England most people tend to favor/favour Celsius. Currently it's 39 Fahrenheit here. Or that's what the computer says anyway! I guess I've already answered the question of which country I'm from lol! Well, to be honest, as well as being my current residence, I've also lived in England longer than anywhere else, and my only conscious memories are of having lived in various parts of the British mainland (my very first memories are from around age 3). Oh, FYI - I was also born on the British mainland.
Talking about war genre anime, there are a fair few knocking about, and some of them deal with very old historical wars and conflicts. Seeing as there are literally thousands of anime, I'm not going to list them all, or even try to remember the ones I've seen. There are also some anime that contain elements of that kind of thing, like the Fate or Grand Order series/movies, because they contain a lot of historical characters. For example, I've only recently watched the new FGO Camelot movie/film (officially know as Fate/Grand Order: Shinsei Entaku Ryouiki Camelot 1 - Wandering; Agateram), and I'm nearly certain it's connected to some historical things from the past. Different people are more predisposed to interest in specific areas (geographically) or times and eras (historically) though, so it might not be for everyone. It might not be everyone's cup of tea. As the people here say ;)
If you're looking for a nice lengthy anime to get your claws into (metaphorical claws rather than those your avatar/profile picture are sporting) then Naruto followed by Naruto Shippuden would be the perfect choice. There are 720 episodes in total, so if you've not got at least a basic to moderate understanding of the language by then, then perhaps you never will. Also, if you're not eating instant cup ramen for breakfast every day, sleeping on a futon on the floor, and walking home with your school work tie tied around your forehead by the end, then I want you to practice your paper folding for an hour every night to atone for your bad karma, Nintendo-sensei. Lol.
Haha. Friends. I wonder if there's an ideal British TV comedy that non-English language speakers could use to prep up on their lingo? There are many great British series that would be good contenders/suitable candidates but perhaps there is too much slang, vernacular, dialect, colloquialisms, and regional references in most of them, to make them suitable for the majority of oversees people. I myself would put forward the series The League of Gentleman, as it was one of my faves when I was young.
Anyway, it was nice and an unexpected surprise to hear from you, and maybe I'll hear from you again (in your own time)!
Congratulations!!
So how did the interview go? Are you working now? (:
If you don't have one already, that is!
I've been alright. We had a heatwave here for the past few weeks which was uncomfortable but I know you guys in North America have been having it even harder. Take care of yourself and your family, and as Kirito says to Eugeo, stay cool ;)
Anime-wise, I've been getting into 86 and Tokyo Revengers, recently. 86 is kinda reminiscent of AOT but on a smaller scale. It's one of the best war anime I've come across and Sawano is on the OST as well, to give it an authentic bite of epicness. Tokyo Revengers has been so much fun and it's also quite violent and edgy. It's kinda like if Naruto went all-out gangster. Lol. There's also a time-traveling Erased/Steins; Gate vibe to it and some funny and heartfelt moments, as well. It's probably the best new thing I've come across for quite a while. How have you been, and how are things going on the anime front?
Yep, I got the Pfizer vaccine mid-June (1st dose) and late-June (2nd dose), I luckily didn't have any side effects besides a sore arm both times lol. I haven't seen much coverage about it lately so I completely forgot about the Delta variant :/. As for feeling safe, I probably won't be wearing my mask as much unless I feel like there are too many people around me. I honestly think the only times I won't be wearing a mask are when I co-teach a first year seminar in the fall or go out (movie theater, restaurant, etc.). I'm practically a homebody anyway so I think i'm mainly concerned about college safety but I trust my school a bit more since they got their shit together this summer so I'll just have to trust that they won't be as carefree as before in regards to the rules and regulations that announced a while ago. I'm ready to enjoy myself as much as possible - I just to relax so i'm definitely using that one-week gap between the end of Summer semester and Fall semester XD.
On better news, I passed the driver's test last month and am now saving for a car ^^. I never realized how broke I am until I actually started looking at cars lmao.
Okay! I will make sure to add you when I log in again :)
Everything you mentioned is very true. I'm just tired of feeling overweight, by America's standards i'm obese but I don't go by that chart so I don't dwell on it. I should not have let my weight increase so much anyway but I'm ready to exercise and have a healthier diet (I just don't want to spend so much money T_T). Our power was cut off during a storm (a lot of people think it was a mini-tornado because there was 73 mph wind) and trees were everywhere, poles were split in half, and those were some of the worst five days of the year so far. It was so damn hot. We had to clear out the fridge and freezer because everything went bad :/. I will say that we can now buy healthier groceries when we go to the store this weekend and stay on task but it's still a pain in the ass. I can relate, I think my biggest issue is actually finding the motivation to go to the gym, and not brushing it off because my weight won't lose itself. Congratulations again!!
I'm actually pretty weak physically and all of the fat goes straight to my waist & thighs. I can basically predict when I'll have a good weigh-in by how close my inner thighs feel when I wake up. But yeah, I just want to keep fighting for the life I want to live while I can. As Nagisa says in Clannad, "I'm physically weak but I want to live strongly."
Also, I went without junk food for over a month and didn't miss it one bit. Eating it again during our 4th of July feast actually made my body meltdown for the past week. I don't want to feel like that anymore and thankfully it doesn't seem like going back is much of an issue now that the spell is broken.
Yeah I took a break from Code Vein. I'm actually focusing on a bunch of replays now. I have a few games I routinely replay each year, but I've decided that 2021 is the last time. Once I finish everything, I'm going to sell my old games and just leave the digital ones alone. One of my final goals is the Mile High Club on Call of Duty 4. I remember back when that was new and I spent 2 months getting all of the golden guns. It's the one achievement that's weighed on me for over a decade and I want to settle the score.
I guess my main issue with anime type games is the amount of dialogue. I actually had to stop playing SAO Fatal Bullet because dialogue scenes would sometimes stretch for 30-40 mins at a time and felt like visual novels. It's not inherently bad, but at that point I'd rather just go watch anime with that time.
I've only played Tales of Vesperia (incomplete), but I guess you could call it a standard JRPG. The thing that's always won me over about it has been ufotable's godly animation for the cutscenes as well as the fantasy settings in general. Honestly I'd love to see full anime adaptations for these games instead.
So I often wait at least a few days before I score anything. When I finally get to it, I spent anywhere from 10 mins to an hour reflecting on its qualities and then gauging where it falls on my scoring system. If you're interested, this is my Scoring System. I almost never go back and adjust scores because I try to make my feelings for anime as clear as possible before rating it. That said, I do use Anilist as a backup and enjoy using their 100 point system to add nuance to my ratings. Although, that ends up meaning less 10's!
"To say that nothing is true is to realize that the foundations of society are fragile and that we must be the shepherds of our civilization. To say that everything is permitted is to understand that we are the architects of our actions, and that we must live with their consequences, whether glorious of tragic."
- Ezio Auditore
I've tried to live by these words since I first played Assassin's Creed Revelations. It's always easier said than done, of course, but that quote remains a critical guiding post for me as I try to live true to myself.
Interesting you should mention femininity. Personally I've always felt a greater affinity to cutesy, girly things than being manly. I think it started when I first saw Powerpuff Girls. Even though I'd play along & mock it with all of the fellas, I found myself drawn Blossom and wondered what it would be like to be her. Maybe that's bled over as I'm now using Ichigo from Aikatsu as my profile picture, who is also everything nice with a red bow in her hair.
One of my favorite & most relatable anime characters is actually Amu Hinamori, an 11 year old girl from a shoujo series. I sometimes wonder if I could have been like her had I been a girl. I don't consider myself transgender and fully accept that I am a man, but I have jokingly thought to myself that within this man is a maiden waiting to break free.
Well speaking of our ideal lives, I actually finished Fruits Basket tonight and I have to say it's easily in my top 10 if not top 5 anime now. It reminded me of what I want out of life and how much of how I'm living has become filler & noise that's distracted me from that goal. I won't recommend it if you're busy, but I'll at least say there are moments that rival or equal After Story. Honestly something started welling up inside me in April when I started it and that was right when I'd hit rock bottom again this year. Since then, I feel like I've been on a mission and finishing the final season tonight has reaffirmed that feeling more than ever before.
I actually had a K-Pop phase in 2010. It was all I listened to for months so I get what that's like. Even now, I have a modest playlist on YT that I listen to every so often featuring some of my favorite K-Pop tracks.
A little late, but happy birthday!