Otaku108's avatar

Otaku108

  • Austin, TX. USA
  • Joined Oct 2, 2007
  • 46 / M

YAY! Lots of text, go read it! xD

Seen more than my fair share of the good, the bad, and the just plain stupid in anime, manga, web toons and light novels. It's not that my opinion is better than yours, just that it's more informed than most around :P Care of tv.links forums back in the day I used to keep a list on there of which anime I'd seen and wanted to see when Sothis posted on my list that she was running this site called Anime-Planet that was meant to do exactly what I was doing. Became a member and have loved it here ever since.

Sadly I am to the point where I've gotten very tired of the cookie cutter tropes in some of my favorite genres (example: loli, harem, and over the top fancservice in rom/coms). It's gotten to the point where I will actually drop a series that goes too far into objectifying their female characters, especially lolis. There is nothing sexy about a 12 year old body, I don't care if she's actually 800 years old or not. Being tricky about it by aging the body but not the mind of a 12 year old isn't a good work around either, they lack the mental and emotional understanding of what these acts mean. I just find it disgustingly off putting and write it off. I used to have a high tolerance to it back when I first started watching simply because my desire to consume anime was that great. Now I have extremely low tolerance of it and as soon as I see a loli the chances of my dropping a series skyrockets.

My mode of consumption is to usually wait for entire volumes/seasons to be finished before I ultimately devour them in a sitting or two. As you can imagine this leads to large gaps in my between periods of watching or not watching, reading or not reading something. That's not to say I don't have my weeklies too, just that I keep those to a minimum so I can leave some time for my other loves.

An otaku that loves something other than anime or manga you say? Absolutely, for I am an otaku of stories, of entertainment. Since I'm mostly into Fantasy/Sci-fi I try not to limit myself in other areas such as an artist's medium. Books, movites, TV, games, anime, manga, light novels, web toons. If it's got a decent story I can sink my teeth into I'm likely to devour it whole.

On a technicality Voltron was my first anime, I didn't know what anime was at the time so first I acknowledge as so is Akira. Many nights of Adult Swim and Toonami sealed the deal and it wasn't long before I was searching online to feed the need. For about a year I devowered any and all anime I could get my hands on, some good, but most of it ranged from "not great" to "omg wtf did I just watch?". Once I got into AP my viewing content became considerablely higher quality and as the years moved on quantity gradually fell off to the point where I'd seen all the anime I could (within my tastes) that wasn't already in production. Now I exists in holding paterns as the seasons produce their shows and I cherry pick the ones I know I'll like while testing out the ones that might have been more quirky or in my vein of enjoyment despite their obvious lower scores.

Sometimes I'll go on a revisiting spree, grabing some old titles I've loved and watching them start to finish with an older perspective and understanding. Sometimes they stand the test of time, many (shockingly) do not. It's kind of intersting to learn that as we age our tastes don't just change, they evolve. More often than not this is when I'll write reviews, be they good or bad impressions. Some shows really can weather time, and these are the ones I most want to share with those that are new to anime.

Am I really an otaku? Probably not by textbook definition. I don't collect art from my favorite shows, know any writer/directors (except Miyazaki) or could even call one voice actor or actress by name. Hell I couldn't even tell you which studio any of my favorite anime are from. These things just don't concern me in the least. I do have a lot of books but no manga, or anime dvds. I've just seen a metric crapton of anime at this point and I don't have any desire to stop now.

Favorite Genres: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Romance, Comedy

Favorite Tropes: Entire crew of Serenity. The no bullshit unless bullshit is exactly what's needed. Women that have no problem pawing on men (or other women. At least I'm honest? *smiles devilishly*).

Disliked Genres: Horror, Thriller, Tragedy, Melancoly

Disliked Tropes: I'm better than you will point it out at every turn. It's screaming, again, make it stop, now... Men that have no problem pawning on women (or other men. what double standard? *blinks innocently*).

A few things I wish the industry didn't do anymore: Lolis, incest, and rampant over the top fanservice. Basically if I were wanting to recomend this to my mother and it had one those, then effectively I couldn't do it. I do acknowledge that loli can be cute and often times embody that which is refered to as moe (something that makes your heart squee from the cuteness overload) in which case they are perfectly acceptable. I do not acknowledge a grown man (or woman) desiring a 12 year old's body. I can overlook siblings by marage and not blood but even then I cringe, but related by blood (even cousins) and that's instant dropped/stalled. And I'm not above enjoying some fanservice but when it's a primary feature of your show (unless cleverly done or used as a joke) I tend to throw it into my stalled list.

To wrap it up, a bit about how I rate titles.

0.5 Stars: Something about this title has irked me to the point that I will actively steer people away from it. Usually incest, too much death or overly morose themes end up here. I might not have even finished the title in question. I would almost definitely write a scathing review.

1.0 Stars: I couldn't find anything redeemable about this show, but nothing really irked or turned me off of it. I probably finished it but definitely wouldn't recommend it to anyone. If it irked me enough I might write a review but beyond this point it's less likely to do so, usually only pure tripe do I consider review worthy on the low end.

1.5 Stars: Still a bad show, might have given me some feels at some point, but nothing much here worth noting. Still wouldn't recommend these to anyone.

2.0 Stars: Not good, but not bad. Some feels, maybe a laugh, some facet of the show was interesting or quirky enough to make an impression maybe. Might have fell short due to a couple nuances that I particularly didn't like but someone else would find neglible or even a quirky plus. Probably wouldn't give it any recommend it to anyone unless it has similar premise to a better anime.

2.5 Stars: Decent, not really bad but still not very good. Some facets are lacking heavily in areas, or perhaps a few of the characters I didn't like, some serious plot holes or story problems that the rest of the show was able to cover for made this show enjoyable. I would recommend this to someone if I knew them well enough and their likes/dislikes. I would definitely add a recommendation in both directions to similar titles. I might give this title another chance down the line.

3.0 Stars: I enjoyed it, there was probably something about it that stuck in my head but it also lacked something important and so I would probably only recommend it to people that specifically enjoy the same type of materials. Higher chance of me wanting to watch/read it again.

3.5 Stars: This was entertaining, I probably laughed a lot, got some sort of strong feeling from it, or had some uniqueness that I enjoyed a lot. Those that fall here I will probably revisit it again somewhere down the road more than once. I would also recommend this to someone if they also liked similar titles. Will actively search out similar titles to add recommendations to. Titles from this point on are most likely to get a review, especially if it left me with a lasting impression.

4.0 Stars: This was a noteworthy title, I enjoyed it thoroughly and will definitely or already have watch/read it again. I probably will recommend it to just about anyone, those that fall here are almost a must for any aspiring otaku. Visually stunning or unique, no sounds that jar or annoy me, characters on any side that I absolutely love or love to hate, or a great story/plot that I end up wanting more of or just get that fulfilled feeling when I'm done with it. Might not have 10s across the board but something about it hit at or near that peak.

4.5 Stars: Near perfection, I enjoyed this so much that I couldn't wait to talk to someone about it. I will keep coming back to this title multiple times, enjoy something new from it each time or, in a way, just that feeling nostalgia while visiting with an old friend. Maybe something about it was just a bit off, I wasn't liking a specific character, or something left open ended kept it from that 10/10.

5.0 Stars: This title was made for me. Perfection and an instant top list winner. Something I might recommend but I recognize my inner fanboy as someone that can get a bit over exuberant over these titles and so might shy away from doing so at the same time. An over compensation, if you will, for my enthusiasm. I quite possibely even started watching parts of this show again right after finishing it to better understand various plot points, or character development. Maybe the OP/ED was so awe inspiring that I'll sit and listen to them all on their own (a definite unusal case for me but it's happened). Something about it got that mythical 10/10 from me that I so rarely give out. If you call yourself an otaku and I find out you haven't seen all those that are on my list I will find you and.... *coughs* for legal reasons I shall not finish that sentance :P

The Wall-O-Text ends here. Thanks for reading, or if you just skimmed to this point, kudos, here's a cookie. ;)

Life on anime

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Life on manga

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Comments

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Funkgun Sep 1, 2016

Thanks for the coment Otaku108. Yeah, man long time. It's going good here, how about you?

chii Sep 1, 2016

Somethings never change XD they are very cute indeed. I'm doing same old same old :) Hope things are well with you too ^__^"

eleuin Mar 30, 2015

While there are stuff that does contribute to the overall score (such as story and personal satisfaction), having an overall rating of 1 when practically everything else says otherwise is really unjustified even if you didn't enjoy a series. There is the stuff that i didn't enjoy (Infinite Stratos for example), and others that just can't make a list of decent anime (Attack On Titan being a very controversial example of this), i still doubt i would give such a review on them, because quite frankly, there were redeeming qualities to them. While its your personal decision to rate an anime how you feel, and be able to do so, its just not really right to call someone a fanboy just because they don't agree with your review. No, im not really that experienced in anime, nor do i claim to be, but calling me out for foolish reasons like that simply doesn't help anybody. Again, while you are entitled to your opinion (which really doesn't bother me by the way), it would just be a lot better and more helpful if it wasn't being so forced.

kazas41 Nov 30, 2014

Thanks for the suggestions~! Yeah, I watched Log Horizon, though the second season is a bit of a let down - I droped it after the 6th episode. I'll go read the review you wrote and see, if our opinions match :)I think I'll get into SOA when they finish the second season. I remember I tried it once, but failed to complete the season. So now, after Log Horizon, I go with a different aproach. By the way, don't you know if there's a better chating system on Anime-Planet? It's strange to write a commnet on profiles each time you want to say something :D

kazas41 Nov 29, 2014

Thanks for the reply! I'll wait for your next reviews - I've taken interest in you :DBy the way, what's your recently watched favorite anime?