Shiroe

Well, if you read that title and are expecting this blogpost to be a guide on how to become a successful Youtuber... Sorry, but no. Note: this entry is rambling and my personal experience/opinion. You know, for a big part of my life, I've wanted to have a community. I've tried a lot of different things, like reddit, 4chan, discord, etc. A lot of them don't really sit right with me. Let's start off with reddit. For the most part, the reddit website is fine, but I have lots of issues with the r/anime subreddit. Here are some of my issues with it: The same things are said over and over again. This is possibly due to the seasonal format recycling the same ideas. This is really bothersome for me because no new "ideas" are being thought of. There's too much Fanart. Fanart isn't necessarily bad, but if I wanted to see fanart of a show, I would subscribe to that show's subreddit. Most comments in a fanart post have nothing new to say. There's no discussion at all. The same joke or a variation of it is always top comment, rather than the comments that have something interesting to say. This is due to the "early bird gets the worm" system that reddit has when it comes to its voting system. Instead encouraging thinking, the reddit system encourages taking a trending joke and fitting it into the scenario. Because a comment was posted earlier, it has been seen for a longer time; therefore, that comment will get upvoted. Comments that are not top comments get buried in an avalanche of redditors rushing to get their karma. The upvote/downvote system is stupid. Many times, I get downvoted for doing nothing wrong. Conversely, people who say stupid/obvious things get upvoted. In other subreddits, downvoting should only be used to show that something is off-topic, offensive, or rulebreaking, but r/anime uses it as a disagree button I post many things that are on-topic, yet still get downvoted for no apparent reason. This is super frustrating because I can never find out why I got downvoted. It just happens. It feels too impersonal. On my time on AF, I feel like I've already gotten to know some of you guys despite being here for less than a month. From using reddit over years, I have not felt the same. I feel like no one knows who I am, and no one knows who each other are. The only way people know people is through other websites. (For instance, Youtubers or Twitter users, etc.) I explained to someone why I don't like getting spoiled. I was downvoted, and then someone replied to me saying "spoilers don't ruin a show". The person who replied to me got upvoted. Both the person and the people who downvoted me failed to see that I was explaining why you shouldn't spoil things for other people. Instead of trying to understand me, they downvote me anonymously. Some other points that may or may not be true anymore: Mods are power-hungry, corrupt, and hard to work with Rules don't make sense or are unintuitive Posts get taken down for no good reason And most importantly, the biggest problem of all... The community is way too passive aggressive. They dance around what they're saying in a sarcastic manner, which is really frustrating. Boy, that list was longer than I expected. I still love reddit, but it's definitely time for me to part ways with r/anime. I've had very few problems with other subreddits, like r/manga or r/animemes. This may be because more specific subreddits have a focus. For instance, fanart isn't banned on r/manga, but it's taboo to spam fanart there because the subreddit is, in essence, a manga-focused subreddit. The r/anime subreddit, however, will just hoard whatever anime-related content it sees while hypocritically banning topics that "aren't anime". MrAnimeFan and others have had this issue before, and it's really confusing. Next up is 4chan's /a/. I've pretty much only lurked there, but the vibes are definitely not for me. Essentially: Way too many untagged spoilers Constant aggressiveness Refusal to understand other viewpoints, even when proven wrong Impersonality/lack of "community" It's still way better than r/anime, though. The discussions on /a/ are way more "intelligent" than r/anime, there isn't a stupid voting system, and their general taste in anime is much better than r/anime's. That last point is entirely subjective, but I still stand by it. I probably feel this way because many of my thoughts about an anime are never even mentioned on r/anime, (or they are downvoted when brought up) but are explained in detail on /a/ in a precise way that just clicks with me. The biggest example I can think of off of the top of my head is My Hero Academia. Everyone and their grandmother loves this show, but there were so many things that bothered my enjoyment of the show that're just overlooked on r/anime. On the other hand, /a/ will gladly call out anything they have an issue with. The biggest difference between reddit and 4chan is that redditors try to conform to what other redditors are thinking to farm upvotes. However, 4chan users mostly don't care about what other 4chan users are thinking and will jump at the opportunity to directly insult them. So what's better, Kinbaryu: a redundant website that stays inside its own thought bubble, or a volatile website that claws at itself to prove a point? I don't want to partake in either, yet I still do. I love anime, and I love talking to other people about anime. For every 3-4 painful threads on /a/ or r/anime, there's always a good thread where the replies are interesting to read. I love reading what people have to say about an anime, and how it inspires them to draw or write or change their life. These threads make me appreciate a show in entirely new ways I couldn't have imagined on my own. It's fascinating. Maybe these websites aren't for me, then. I'm okay with that. So, I turned to discord. Afterall, you could talk to anyone in the server, and there's a name and profile picture that lets you identify who someone is. But in regards to anime-based servers, here's why I don't like them: Many servers are dead. Anime-based servers are typically quiet. General servers that have a channel for anime discussion are even more quiet. Some servers that aren't dead are way too chaotic. I can't tell who's who, and I can't tell what's going on. There's no sense of connection, meaning it's hard to get your foot in the door on these servers. There's always drama. I don't care. I want to talk about anime. A lot of servers don't even talk about anime. Over ~15 anime-related servers I had joined, only two have consistently talked about anime. In a lot of them, here's the most they would talk about anime: "Oh hey, I like My Hero Academia." "Oh really! Me too! My favorite hero is [Hero], who's yours?" "[Hero]" There's nothing interesting being said here. They don't explain why they like the hero, or what they think about the show. This is probably a huge factor in why I have a resentment against My Hero Academia. Eventually, I was led to more things, like Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, and AnimeForums. So far, I'm not having a bad time here, honestly. I do lurk too much, though. I should definitely try to be more active, like @Kaga Koko. But really, I actually feel welcome here, especially compared to r/anime, /a/, or discord servers. There's even high-level discussion, with @Ryan Dave Jimenez explaining the parallels between Harry Potter and My Hero Academia in my last blog post, with @Wedgy responding to that comparison. Most importantly, neither of them are attacking each other for having a different opinion/interpretation of the series, and neither of them are being passive-aggressive to one another. Ryan didn't take it as a personal attack when Wedgy responded to his interpretation because he understands that it's an interpretation. This is probably because the two of them are mature adults that know how to present their viewpoints without feeling like they need to attack the other person for thinking differently. That's all I've ever wanted, to be honest. Does this dude ever stop talking...? Wrapping up, I don't know what direction I'm going with Youtube. Hopefully, I have a main channel for humor and a side channel for more in-depth talks like these, but who knows what the future holds. Alright, the entry is over, I promise. If you managed to read this whole thing, thanks. I really do appreciate it.

Some days feel the same New adventures are golden Yet, time moves itself Bonus: (Not a submission)

You make a good point! I would also like to mention that if we're relating this back to One Punch Man and My Hero Academia, there's definitely something to look at regarding that theme. My Hero Academia's Deku wants to become the number one hero, and by doing that, he aims to become stronger. On the other hand, One Punch Man's Saitama strove to be a hero, but now he feels empty about it. Since I personally find One Punch Man's take on that more interesting, I also should have mentioned that in the post. Again, not saying one is necessarily "better" than the other, but I find it important to share why we like the things we do in order for us to fully appreciate them.

Hope you feel better soon!

I also loved this one! I know the series better as Rurouni Kenshin, though. I genuinely appreciated the serious tone of Trust and Betrayal, but I don't know how serious the rest of Rurouni Kenshin is.

My favorite anime of all time have to be the Monogatari series and Land of the Lustrous. They're both so unique, in both presentation and themes. I don't think that everyone would like them, but both appealed to me personally. What appeals to you?

Good news everyone, I got fish and chips with shrimp. Anyone else eat anything good?

I've never tried the hash browns there, but now I'm curious, lol. Have you tried the hash browns at House of Pies? How do they compare? Looking at this thread while I'm still hungry is a mistake

That sounds awesome right about now, lol. Hash browns are fantastic

I'm still at work, haha. My shift'll end soon, though. I like Japanese and Indian food too, but I don't often get a chance to eat it. Mexican food can be hit or miss, I usually only eat if a friend recommends a place.

I'd really like a cheeseburger with some fries right now. What food do you guys like? I love potatoes, can't get enough of them. (Anime is GJ-bu)

Hope you all have fun on your vacations. I'm planning on staying indoors as much as possible. Really though, I'm hoping I get enough free time to finish my visual novel.

I'm reading a lot of manga, but my favorites are Kase-san, Yandere Kanojo, My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, One Punch Man. (Both manga and webcomic.) I really like humor of these manga, but they mostly have different feels from one another.

Some of my favorites are: Fate/Zero Second Season OP: To the Beginning Tsukimonogatari's OP: Orange Mint Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders OP 2: Sono Chi no Kioku Bakemonogatari's ED* (technically not an OP): Kimi no Shiranari Monogatari *Special mention to an acoustic cover that's beautiful in its own bittersweet way. My absolute favorite is: Land of the Lustrous's OP: Kyoumen no Nami To me, this song has a lot of emotion, especially after finishing anime and manga. Special mention to the orchestral version, as well.

Thanks for the read and reply. Of course, I can't force someone to like a show, but it's definitely fun to talk about why we enjoy certain things. I'm looking forward to reading your MHA feedback. Huh, that's definitely an interesting analogy. You could also make the argument that Draco Malfoy is Bakugou, too. I really hadn't considered this since most of the time, MHA is compared to Naruto. Thanks for the reply!

Yep, everyone seems really nice so far. I'm liking how personal and closely-knit the community is, it gives me a very different feel than reddit or 4chan.

Thanks for the support, you two. I really appreciate it. If you wanna be updated, I'll do my best to have information available on my blog on this website.

Yes! It's Strider Hiryu from the Strider series. Unfortunately, it's mostly a dead franchise, with the most recent game being Strider 2014. Hiryu mostly appears in fighting games now. I noticed that you're working on a Light Novel. Good luck with that! I'm working on a Visual Novel myself, and it's definitely a lot of work. I'll probably blog about updates to it, but a playable version might take a while. It'll definitely be free for all to play, though. What plans do you have for your Light Novel?

Yeah, MAL has its share of problems. I've swapped over to anilist, which seems to be fine for me, but I have no idea if it'll be any good for your website.

Good luck, friend! Not everything is easy, but with your determination, I'm sure it'll all be worth it.

TL;DR I like Saitama more than Midoriya, and the themes of One Punch Man appeal to me more than My Hero Academia's. Also, hype culture is bad for any media. I will try to make this blog post spoiler-free, so no worries about that. However, I can't guarantee anything I source will be spoiler-free, so discretion is still advised. This blog entry was inspired from @Seshi and me talking on the Introduce Forums, found here. I tried to condense a lot of what I was thinking there, so hopefully it sounds more fluid here. Just to note, I'm going to call One Punch Man "OPM" and My Hero Academia as "BnHA" So, Seshi is not the first person to ask me why I rate BnHA so lowly. I admitted that 3 and 4 might be a little harsh for something that actually feels like it has heart poured into it, (and that I plan to change these ratings when I read/watch more of the show) but I still heavily prefer OPM over it. I find it interesting that these two are lumped together pretty frequently. Other than being action anime about hero organizations and ranks, I don't find them anything alike structurally. At their core, OPM is a meta-comedy with an overpowered main character that doesn't really get any stronger and BnHA is a battle shounen about progressively and constantly getting stronger. Anyways, the question I get a lot is "why did you enjoy OPM, but not BnHA?" Answering this question means explaining why I like anime to begin with. Compared to western shows and movies, (where I find the characters completely disconnected and shallow) I can relate to anime characters in the weirdest ways, and the more I slowly understand about a character, the more I can appreciate who they are. To give an example of this, Koyomi Araragi from the Monogatari series seems like a shallow character at first. However, as the series continues, more of his motivations and ideologies get revealed, which really made me admire his character and thought put into him. As for Deku, I felt like we knew everything about him from the beginning. He's kind of a timid kid who works hard because he wants to be like All Might. For the two seasons I watched, he's kept this same personality throughout both seasons, and it doesn't seem like he's going to change. I don't think this is necessarily bad writing, (many great works have no character development) but because of what I appreciate in anime, I don't like it when characters are shallow and unchanging. Conversely, I love when characters are deep or develop throughout the story, as it's showing that everyone can either change for the better, or is simply misunderstood. To move the topic onto OPM, I actually found Saitama's character to be more than "I'm bald man that kill in one hit". There are actually already videos explaining why Saitama is a representation of a depressed worker that feels nothing due to the harsh nature of the Japanese workplace, but I won't go into that in this blog post. Instead, I'm just going to mention that Saitama has an enthralling relationship with the other heroes, particularly Fubuki, Genos, and King. The dichotomy he plays with these other heroes is something unique and unlike most anime I've seen. The last thing I'd like to talk about here is the themes the two shows portray. From the first two seasons of BnHA, I found the theme to be "we shouldn't be afraid to follow in our predecessor's footsteps", especially in the second season with Todoroki. OPM, on the other hand, has a theme of "you should focus on improving yourself rather than comparing yourself to others", which is made apparent with characters like Genos and Glasses. I can appreciate both of these themes, but OPM's appeals more to me. I hope this a lesson that everybody takes to heart, as many people (including myself) don't feel confident because they're not as good as others' at doing something. I say screw that, be your own person. Are you a better person than you were yesterday? If so, then that's all you need. That's all for this post. Have any thoughts, questions, suggestions on this post or the next? Feel free to let me know, since I love talking and listening to others about anime. Don't be afraid to say something controversial, if it's what you truly believe.

I agree with you, 3 and 4 is probably too harsh for it. I'll probably reconsider those scores when I watch/read more of My Hero Academia, but when I was watching them, I couldn't enjoy it because of how much everyone was hyping it up. As for Deku's power unravelling, I also agree. Watching someone get stronger in new ways is always fun in any series, like in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. However, it's not something that particularly appeals to me. I prefer the mysterious side, (as you mentioned) like in Fate, where the characters are powerful, but the viewer has to figure out exactly how powerful instead of being told by the show. As for the antagonist, yeah it never really made sense for me. It's also why I rated Log Horizon Season 2 and Overlord III so lowly, even though I liked the first seasons. Both would have done much better without trying to force an "enemy". In my opinion, an antagonist isn't really necessary to a story, since shows like the Monogatari series, A Silent Voice, and OreGairu don't have a conventional main antagonist, and I consider them all to be masterpieces.

Thanks for the replies, everyone! It's nice to meet you all too. I'm still not too sure how to blog, though. How do I make one and post? Let me preface this by saying I've only seen the first two seasons of My Hero Academia, none of the manga or movies. But, I have seen the anime, manga, and webcomic of One Punch Man, so I'm going to have a deeper understanding of One Punch Man than My Hero Academia. A huge factor on whether or not I enjoy an anime is the interactions between the characters and universe against the main character. Personally, I couldn't handle Deku's personality, but I did appreciate his interactions with Todoroki and Iida. I'd probably rate it less harshly if people didn't always try to get me to watch more of it. (I've seen two seasons and I'm still not 100% sold yet.) On the other hand, I really enjoyed Saitama's relationship with the other heroes. I'll try not to spoil anything in case you plan on picking it back up again, but the series is much more than Saitama trying to climb to #1 in the hero ranks. Also, I like One Punch Man's original Webcomic by ONE the most (yes, the one with the rough art) because it focuses less on the fights and the fluff. Instead, it focuses more on what the story is trying to say. Another thing that kind of always bothered me about My Hero Academia is how Deku is given One For All. I know he has to train to correctly utilize it, but in the end, he was given the power by All Might. Saitama, on the other hand, was never given his powers, (he was born without powers and simply trained by himself to get them) and this point is made clear in the manga whenever he meets another hero named Glasses, who believes he's useless because he was born without superpowers. I think that last point is kind of unfair though, as the two series are trying to say something different about the same topic. My Hero Academia feels more like it's trying to say "we shouldn't be afraid to follow in our predecessor's footsteps, but we should also be our own person", especially in the second season, which I can appreciate. In that case, it makes perfect sense for All Might to give Deku the One For All ability. One Punch Man, on the other hand, says something more like "you should focus on improving yourself rather than comparing yourself to others", which is why Genos is such a major character. Perhaps if/when I make a blog, I'll make this into a topic. A lot of people seem to have strong feelings about these two anime. What about you? What do you like and dislike about these anime? Ah, I'm not looking for an in-depth tutorial, just quick instructions on how to get started. My list is here: https://anilist.co/user/Densten/mangalist, but my absolute favorites have to be Kase-san, Yandere Kanojo, and My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness. Kase-san and Yandere Kanojo are pretty similar in the way that they're both fluffy manga with a main couple that gets established early on. If you check Yandere Kanojo out, just know that Yandere in this context means "delinquent", not "I want to kill you". My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness is a heavy story about a depressed girl that feels uncomfortable in her own skin. While not everything, a lot of the things the main character says hit home, and it made me realize how far I've come as a person. If you're looking for a light-hearted Yuri comedy, this is NOT the manga for you, and I would recommend Kase-san instead. What about you? What do you like?

Oh, another thing to mention is that my favorite anime of all time are Land of the Lustrous, the Monogatari series, and the Fate series. If you have any suggestions or would like to talk about why you like/dislike anime, I'm all ears!

I lurk on a lot of websites, but hopefully I can become a regular on AF. I'm pretty new to forums, posting, writing, blogging, etc., so anything helps. I'm not really sure how blogging works on this website, but I'm interested in it, so if someone could let me know how it works, that'd be great! I have a list of anime, but honestly, I read way more than I watch. Looking at my list now, I have no idea how I even find these things.... Anyways, my anilist is https://anilist.co/user/Densten/animelist/. I'm probably gonna get a lot of flak for rating something like Tsuki ga Kirei or Boku no Hero Academia lowly, but I rate things based on how much I enjoyed them. In my opinion, it's pretty difficult to rate things "objectively", and that we should just watch anime for things we like. I also like hearing about what people hear about anime, even if I don't agree with them. So long as you're specific and can tell me why you like or dislike something, I'm really interested in what you have to say. I don't know if plugging my discord is allowed, so you can PM me for my information if you'd like.