Random Curiosity

Hello everyone! My name is Stilts¹, and I’m the latest chump new writer that you might have heard about. Are you excited? Because I sure am! I’m really looking forward to writing for you all, and bringing you the most insightful analysis I can dredge up from the far corners of my dark, twisted and eldritch horror-infested mind. That’s a promise ; )

Okay, so a little about myself. It’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly when I got into anime, because I have a crappy memory. I remember rushing back from school as a little’un to catch the latest episode of Dragon Ball Z, and I know I first watched Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop and a few others on Toonami sometime after that, but those weren’t really the start. They just primed the pump. Probably the start was watching Naruto and Bleach during my freshman year of college. I distinctly remember marathoning ~50 episodes of Bleach over the course of a day or two. That’s when it really started to take off.

…more after the jump.

With the new year rapidly approaching, it’s time to look back on our favorites of 2011. This is the Sixth Annual Reader’s Choice poll, where it’s your turn to voice your opinion and have it heard!

Continuing the trend from two years ago, there are two polls for your to vote on — one for regularly broadcast TV series and another for OVA/movies. We’re asking for your top 5 picks in both polls to get a better spread of results that aren’t heavily skewed in favor of any unanimously popular shows. This year, you have 99 TV series and 57 OVA/movies to choose from, so have a careful look over the lists before deciding. Also, please respect other people’s choices in the comments and keep in mind that this is purely subjective. People like what they like.

…

Note: The polls don’t have a fixed close date just yet, but it will be sometime next week when the Winter 2012 season starts.

Update: Polls closed. Thank you for taking the time to vote! Results will be posted soon in the upcoming Best of Anime 2011 post.

42 hours in 2.5 days: Done. :)

Saber Lily from Fate/unlimited codes.

Another seven months, another ten million visits. I’ve had the pleasure of writing three of these milestone posts, which allow me to take a moment to thank you all for reading the site regularly and sharing your thoughts about anime. I said before that Random Curiosity wouldn’t be what it is today without its readers and I firmly believe that even now. I can’t speak for all the other writers, but I know I wouldn’t be devoting as much time and effort into the site if it wasn’t for its readership. While I’m passionate about anime and enjoy talking to those with a mutual interest, the motivation to continually push myself to churn out well-thought-out posts in a timely and consistent manner comes from all of you. I mentioned before that one side drives the other, and from my perspective, it’s the readers who shaped Random Curiosity into the anime blog you see today. The reason I spend so much time taking screen captures and writing up posts is because there are people who want to read them. Without you guys, there’s simply no compelling reason to cover shows on a weekly basis to the degree that RC does, let alone spend hundreds of hours putting together season previews to introduce them. I probably don’t say this enough, but I’m very grateful for all the support I’ve received in the comments and direct e-mails, and all the personal time the other writers have devoted to help meet reader demand.

…More after the jump.

Hey all, I’m verdant and I’ll be the “main” writer who will be guest blogging Persona 4 the ANIMATION along with unlisted. Earlier this summer, he piqued my interest in the upcoming anime adaptation of Persona 4, so once classes finished, I decided to play both the Persona 3 and 4 games (a daunting task, but someone had to do it). Fortunately, my dedication paid off when a couple weeks later, unlisted tells me that Divine is looking for someone familiar with the game to cover Persona 4. Challenge accepted.

Compared to most people, my introduction to anime is probably quite unique since my dad was the one who introduced me. He would peruse the kids’ animation section of our local library and bring home shows like Fushigi Yûgi and Revolutionary Girl Utena, even though he never watched anime himself. Being young, I probably didn’t fully understand what I was watching, but nevertheless, what stood out was seeing the stories, themes, and action that couldn’t be found in my usual Western cartoons. I was starting to get hooked, and once I discovered Escaflowne on Fox, Dragon Ball Z on Toonami, and that my best friend also secretly liked anime, there was no looking back. We even dabbled in some drifting thanks to Initial D (please don’t try this at home).

More after the jump.

I’m the other half of the duo that will be guest writing/covering Persona 4 the ANIMATION.

I’ll try to refrain from telling you my favorites since you can get that from MyAnimeList. Instead, I’ll try to explain what my list can’t: how I got into anime.

I’ve seen or been exposed to shows like Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Sailor Moon and Gundam. (None of them except for the original Pokemon are on my anime list since I can’t tell you how many episodes of I’ve seen of each.) But it wasn’t until late 2006 when I started watching seriously. This was when I got into Bleach which was airing dubs on late night television. I then followed up with another of the big 3 shounen Naruto. Soon after I watched Hayate no Gotoku and loved it. This is where I steadily branched out into the anime scene.

More on my “credentials” are after the jump.

Over the past month, anime has slipped quite a bit on my priority list. Work’s been hectic and I find that I don’t get home until seven or eight in the evening on some days, leaving very little time to watch anime let alone blog about it. Then there are other real-life priorities with family, a social life, and moments where I want to laze away and relax (maybe even play a game) — all of which have really taken precedence over the site as of late. I’ve managed to make do by squeezing as many waking hours out of a day as I can, hence why you see posts published in the early hours of the morning (i.e. 2-5 AM), but it’s become painfully obvious that I can’t — and shouldn’t — maintain such a grueling schedule for any prolonged period of time.

Addendum: Thanks for the vote of confidence everyone, but please don’t read too much into the post title. I simply used it to go with the image and the quotation marks around “survival” are intended to be sarcastic. This post is merely a formal way of letting everyone what’s going on and why certain shows and the RL post are being dropped. I can still manage a show a day so it’s not like the site’s in a dire state or anything.

My second time at the largest anime convention in the United States and it still felt like an entirely new experience.

Is that.. a Prinny?

Updated with Twitter information on 07-01-11

When Divine asked me if I wanted to join Random Curiosity as a contributing writer, I was, in sequential order, shocked, thrilled and honored.

RC was really the first anime blog I ever visited regularly – and it was the inspiration for me to start my own blog, Lost in America. I’ve spent the last year building the site up – posting frequently, networking, tweaking. And I’m proud of it. But if you start a community newspaper and manage to build a small readership, when the New York Times calls and asks if you’d like to write some articles for them, your only question is “When can I start?”

Divine has been very kind about allowing me to split my time, so Lost in America will go on, – I’ll blog several additional series there, plus the other stuff I like to cover – TV series like “Game of Thrones”, manga, my occasional Japan trips… I really hope you’ll check it out from time to time and leave me your feedback, as I put a lot into it. And, as hard as it is for me to believe, I’ll be blogging anime at Random Curiosity. I’m incredibly excited for that opportunity and I intend to do my best to make a real contribution to what I consider the best anime blog there is. My only disappointment is not getting the chance to work with Kiiragi, but I’ll do my best to keep up with the rest of the team.

…more after the break.

While I’ve been lurking the site during my break and reading the odd comment here and there, I’ve been somewhat detached from the everyday happenings in the past month. I never would’ve imagined that I’d be able to take a break to begin with, so I’m curious as to what the sentiment is towards me doing so. I feel the other writers have done an admirable job filling in for me, but it’s hard to get a feel for what it’s like from a reader’s perspective when I’m in the “hot seat” so to speak. The poll I held about this initially was kind of split over the idea, where more than half of the voters were either a little concerned or flat-out didn’t like it, leaving me wondering if people still feel the same way.

If you’d like to leave more detailed feedback, you’re more than welcome to in the comments, but all I ask is that you word things in a constructive manner and don’t berate any of the writers for their efforts. There will be little to no tolerance for flaming, and I won’t even entertain the notion that it’s “funny”. Random Curiosity has built up a bit of a reputation with its timely posts (i.e. covering raws), insightful and objective content (arguably), and of course, plethora of high definition screen captures, so those are some areas that may be worth addressing to help this site continue to grow as (hopefully) one of your regular anime stops on the Internet.

As always, from one fan to another, thanks for reading.

Edit: Added the Retrospective Look poll for better visibility.
Edit #2: This post will be kept at the top for the next bit, since the feedback is veering toward a direction of personal interest. Please be sure to scroll past it or refer to the Recent Entries in the sidebar for new posts.

In just seven months, Random Curiosity has been graced by another 10 million visits, so I’d like to once again thank all our readers for continuing to make this site one of your regular stops on the Internet. It simply wouldn’t be what it is today without its readership, which motivates me to continue on to the best of my ability. The five-year history that was about to come to a close has officially become six, coinciding with the one-year anniversary of things under my tenure. Both Kiiragi and Prooof are approaching their first full year as writers as well, so I’d like to thank them for all they’ve contributed. The same goes for Takaii, who’s taken on a fair number of shows in the past six months and handled them very well.

This isn’t the same Random Curiosity that Omni left behind, but I hope the changes made in the past year are seen as positive ones. This includes the ever-so-popular season previews that I’ve tried to improve by making them more comprehensive than in years past. A goal of mine has always been to promote a more open-minded view on anime, so hopefully the fairly objective coverage on a diverse range of shows has achieved that to a certain degree too. For me, one of the most satisfying aspects about blogging anime is helping people discover new shows that they would have never considered and sharing in the discussion of them. After all, it’s about being a fan first and foremost, and our mutual interest in anime.

Since August, the site has seen 600 new posts, 32,000 new comments, 18 million new page views, and of course 10 million new visits. We’re quickly approaching the 5,000 post mark and have already past the 205,000 comment mark. Again, thank you all for helping Random Curiosity grow, not only as an anime blog but as a bit of a community as well. This one’s for you guys!