My Story
My name is Ryience – or at least that’s my pen name. For someone who moves to all sorts of different places, writing letters is something of a necessity; and from the experience I received from writing these letters to the people that I knew from the places I've visited, my writing skills became good enough that I am able to publish some creative works for fun for the local newspapers.
Traveling around...
Contrary to popular belief, moving around almost every day of your life isn’t something that should be considered fun. After finally settling down and making friends at school, you suddenly move to a new place with entirely different people who has never heard of you and doesn't necessarily speak the same language. The different culture of new places is pretty disorienting. From people hugging you in greeting even though you’re a stranger, to touching your hair because they think you’re cute, it’s hard to get used to one culture already without needing to adjust for all the countries that you travel to.
Going outside, you are exposed to a wholly different view day – by – day. From towering skyscrapers to bustling casinos filled with anachronistic neon signs; from wheat fields carrying the green scent of nature to the soothing running water of the river. Lakes as big as the ocean expand to the horizon and beyond your field of vision. Shooting stars at night scrape past the atmosphere in the blink of an eye, views that you thought only appeared in movies. I guess traveling also has some of its perks.
In all, I’ve been to most of the East Asian countries, North America, Europe, Guam, Australia, and a few more, Right now I’m living in the United States; it probably won’t be a permanent stay, but at least for now, being able to settle down is a nice break from moving so much. Apart from the negative things that I’ve mentioned, the world really opens your eyes. It can only be explained by seeing it yourself. The pictures from Google or picture books can hardly describe the vast unstoppable forces of nature, the triumphs of human architecture, and the horrors that warfare can cause. If you have the time, Take the trip at least once in your life, you'll never know what you discover.
Things I like to do...
As a hobby, I love anything that is related to water. The ocean seems as if a large monster allowing us to tread on it, and showing us all the wonders of the water world. The most fun I’ve had in my life was fishing off the coast of Newfoundland. A family friend invited us over to go fishing on his yacht, and before I knew what happened, we were sailing on the Atlantic with the chilly ocean breeze blowing over our heads and waves splashing in our wake.
At first I was skeptical – how boring is it to wait hours on end in order to catch a fish? I was never more mistaken in my life. The moment the line got tugged, the excited but careful reeling against the furious struggles of the fish, and finally, tugging the rod out of the water and into the waiting hands of the experienced fisherman. The salmon was the largest and most beautiful one I have ever seen. As the clouds cleared up and the sun peaked out with its rays, the scales shown with a brightness that hurt the eyes. The beauty cannot be described in words, and as long as I live, I will never forget this moment.
Like many of my friends, I love music. It’s a great past time, and the anime OST’s is one of the reason why I loved manga. I’ve played the cello ever since I was big enough to not get crushed by a quarter-sized instrument, and my hands coordinated enough to hold a bow. It’s a beautiful feeling how the coordination of two hands, through an inanimate object, can produce sounds so beautiful. Music traverses differences in culture, race, and language, and serves as the glue to humanity. You can appreciate the music of Debussy regardless if you’re from Africa or Asia, and you can give others enjoyment with just the simple movement of fingers.
Random thoughts...
In my opinion, humans do not have a real purpose in life. They live, and they die, and nothing has proved it to be otherwise. They create their own purposes out of nothing, and live that purpose until they don’t have the strength to live anymore. And that’s what’s so special about us. Those who have a purpose in life is restricted to perform that which is required of them, and no more. Is it better to be a blow drier, whose purpose is to dry other’s hair? Or is it better to be the humans who uses the blow drier?
Any last words?
Well, that was longer than I had intended. In all seriousness, I'm just a normal guy who's seen a lot of the world. Like other people, I'm sometimes shy, and if you asked me to choose between playing sports under the bloody sun or stay at home, I'd choose the latter. The result isn't everything. Have fun in life, and don't worry too much about the future. Eat lot's of cake, make new friends everyday, and never ditch sleep to watch anime. I guess that's pretty much all I wanted to say!
Anime
As I mentioned, I lived for some time in Osaka when I was a boy. Besides going to a child care center, I mainly stayed at home and watched TV. Although the people there were really nice and usually tried to talk to me, I didn't really speak Japanese that well beyond the 'useful language', so I was reluctant to go outside and play with the other boys. I sometimes rode my bike around the neighborhood, but that's about as much time as I spent outside.
It's during that time that I got familiar with Anime. My first anime ever was Doraemon, and it was one hell of a new experience for me. On one hand, you have Tom and Jerry reruns in the states, and suddenly, you're introduced to a blue and white cat with large eyes and an even larger mouth, who pulls objects larger than himself from a pouch no bigger than someone's pocket. Figures.
That wasn't what hooked me though. Had I only watched Doraemon that time, I wouldn't have been so hooked by anime. The anime that really hooked me was Initial D and Inuyasha. The first one turned out to appeal to my weak point - cars. From the first time I set eyes on the race in Daytona Beach, I became hooked. What a quaint coincidence that the second anime I saw on Japanese cable turned out to be one of my favorites? Inuyasha just blew everything away. As a kid, I couldn't help but wonder why the main character looks the way he looks, and why the girl wore her school uniform everyday without seeming to wash it or anything. Gross much?
From then on, I found myself seeing more anime in different countries that I visited. Japan also aired Ultraman and Digimon, I saw Chibi Maruko-chan, and Crayon Shin-chan, and I hit the jackpot in China with Slam Dunk, Cat's Eye, Detective Conan, Cardcaptor Sakura, Hunter X Hunter, and a few others. I thought then, if anime is aired in so many countries, then it must be something special. But when Naruto came around, I watched less until I stopped watching altogether. It's not as much as Naruto was bad - till this day, I don't know why I stopped; may be I felt that I've outgrown it, or maybe there wasn't any good series at that time, but for whatever reason, I went on a long hiatus---
---Until I saw FLCL on adult swim in my friend's house. It was a big surprise, and a guilty one at that. We were supposed to go hiking that day, but I decided to say in and watch TV with the reason that I was simply too lazy to go, and so my friend and I stayed in; FLCL completely hooked me. The first time I laid eyes on it, my brain once again became a scrambled egg. I didn't know what to think about all the craziness happening, but as I struggled to keep up, it seemed to me that the hullabaloo made me feel much more relaxed. The vespa was also pretty nolstalgic, as I remember seeing vespas in a lot of the old anime. In any case, I began watching anime once again.
Favorite Genre:
1. Psychological Thriller ------------
Monster, Mirai Nikki
2. Slice of life------------------------
Clannad, Angel Beats
3. Action -----------------------------
Phantom,
Vampire Hunter D
4. Horror ----------------------------
Another,
When They Cry
5. Conversation / Comedy --------
Kore wa Zombie Desu ka,
Wolf and Spice
~ I really dislike long series though, it's as if they've already squeezed the juice out of the orange, and fills the next person's cup by adding a few drops of juice to water.
Manga
Just one thing, since
Naoki Urasawa is the best manga artist out there, and
Osamu Tesuka has the best manga ideas, then
Pluto, the work made in collaboration by the two artists should definitely be the best manga ever made! And it is.
Reviews
I usually do reviews only for the anime that I think is underrated, or deserves a more in-depth review. The reviews I make is solely based off of my opinion, and so if you don't agree with anything, don't hesitate to send a PM!
I think that the anime deserve the attention that the reviews are giving them, and rarely does any anime that I think deserves attention does not receive the quality of reviews that it receives, so I don't really write that many reviews to begin with. The reviews that I write are also used to practice my skills in writing, so I try to make them with as little errors as I could so that the number of helpfuls accurately reflects the content.
Club
Join the club if you think Hououin Kyouma is the funniest mad scientist ever!
Some of my sketches
Feel free to leave me a comment or PM!
All Comments (230) Comments
You have my respect for watching that many doraemon episodes.