Miscellaneous

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.

What do you need to know about me as a blogger? Well, I consider myself in anime – as in life – a generalist and not a specialist. I tend not to look at genre so much in deciding what to watch – I’m more interested in the writer, the director, even the studio. If it’s good, I’ll watch it – I don’t care if it’s shounen, shoujo, mecha, slice-of-life, romance… If anything, character-driven stories are what interest me the most. Some of my favorite shows of the last couple of years have been Cross Game, Sarai-ya Goyou, Hourou Musuko, and AnoHana (yes, there’s a lot of NoitaminA in there). But I also think it’s been a golden age for comedy – Shinryaku Ika Musume, Mitsudomoe, Baka-Test, Seitokai no Ichizon… All huge winners in my book.

The first anime I ever watched was Star Blazers (Space Battleship Yamato), old even when I was watching it at 6:30 AM on WGN Chicago before elementary school. I always loved animation, but anime was never a big part of my consciousness again until after college. I was a huge ReBoot fan (thus the handle) and I watched the older Ghibli catalogue, and when anime like Tenchi started showing up on Cartoon Network’s Toonami block I realized I was really intrigued by it. DVD’s followed, I started watching subs instead of dubs, and the rest is history.

The first anime that really blew my mind was (as it was for many, I’m sure) Evangelion. That was the one that completely changed the way I looked at animation forever. I was also a huge fan of Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, FLCL, Last Exile, Fruits Basket (though I wish it hadn’t ended right in the middle of the manga), Infinite Ryvius… And over the years, some of my absolute favorites have been Seirei no Moribito, Ghost Hound, Mushishi, and Kanon – as well as movies like 5 CM per Second and Colorful.

What do I plan to blog for RC? Well, I expect to cover a few of the new Summer series, depending on what the other writers settle on. It looks like an above-average Summer in terms of series that interest me, so I think there will be plenty of good shows to choose from. I may pick up one or two continuing Spring shows (you might be able to guess which!) for RC as well. To start with, I’ll be using the “mini” post format, using 15 images or so in the main post, while I get acclimated to posting on RC. Also, I do blog from subs as my Japanese is nowhere near good enough to cover raws yet.

I look forward to hearing from all of you, both here and at LiA – or ping me on Twitter (@GuardianEnzo). I’m really honored to be working with Divine and a great team of writers at a truly legendary place like Random Curiosity. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!

188 Comments

  13. I checked out your personal blog, and I like your writing style so far (from what little of it I managed to skim before being subjected to a manga-spoiler and having to stop). I think you’ll fit in well here.

    zem
    Reply

  16. I had actually just stumbled upon LiA a few days ago (through the godly powers of Google, of course), and I liked what I saw there. I’m glad you’re joining the RC team and I look forward to reading more of your posts. Are you a member of MyAnimeList by chance?

    Bass.EXE
    Reply

    1. Hi, Jack (don’t say that at the airport). Yes, Mushishi is in my 5-star category, and 5-CM is probably in my top 3 anime ever. The first segment “Cherry Blossoms” is arguably the most perfect 22 minutes of anime ever made, IMHO.

      Guardian Enzo
      Reply

  20. I know you quite well from animesuki as well as your blog. Your stance on watching anime is the same as me, so I’m very pleased to know I can see more of your posts here, on Random Curiosity. 🙂

    I’m looking forward to your 1st post!

    tanukichan
    Reply

  21. WGN Chicago eh? Are you from Chitown or just watched the channel? Would be nice to see a fellow Chicagoan here! Welcome to the blog! If only I had more time, I would love to blog for a site like this, especially since I can kind of watch some shows raw, unless they get technical (like Index, oh god…)

    longtimefirsttime
    Reply

  30. Wow, just from your introduction and reading a couple of posts on your own blog I’m already impressed with your writing style! Welcome to RC! I really hope you have fun blogging here and I can’t wait to read you blogs!

    Nikki
    Reply

  33. First of all, congratulations! I’m sure you’ll help balance posts after Kiiragi’s departure.
    Second, I look forward to reading your posts as I’ve read a few of your posts and they are lengthy, informative, and insightful. Clarification of the events in an episode and your thoughts (though I wish to see more of “your thoughts”)? That’s a big yes.

    Kevin
    Reply

  35. Congrats on joining the team Enzo. It’ll be interesting to see your work here at RC, and I guess I’ve now got a blog to follow too, since you’ve got your own. So +1 to your readership group.

    Hope you have fun here, and you seem to have the same attitude I do when viewing shows – as long as its good, its a watch. So I bet anything you watch, I’ll need to watch as well.

    ^_^ Enjoy your stay!

    Kageho
    Reply

    1. Hey, Click! At this point I might be picking up a couple of Kiragii’s shows. In addition, I have a number of series that I’m looking forward to for summer and I’m sure I’ll blog a couple of them here. But personally, the show I’m most looking forward to as a viewer is Natsume Yuujinchou San. I’m a huge fan of the manga and the first two series.

      Guardian Enzo
      Reply

      2. I loved Natsume Yuujinchou. The second season made me cry. It’s gotten a better grip on my emotions than so many other shows of its kind. Kogitsune, the kitsune yokai, is my favorite. He really knows how to yank ’em out of you. :’D

        Shirt
        Reply

  39. Hullo! new writer named Enzo!!

    hope you have fun writing for this blog from what i see of your various favourites you seem to be a vary unbiased person and i hope i will enjoy your writings 😀

    Finally a person who has the appreciation for Ichizon and ika musume its too rare 😀

    Quick question what are your thoughts on Toradora? and is Kanon your favourite Key anime? and why is it?

    Torrigan
    Reply

    1. Hullo!

      I love Ichizon and Ika Musume, ~degeso. Thrilled to be seeing both of them come out with new seasons, hopefully in the fall.

      Tatsuyuki Nagai, director of Toradora, also directed my favorite show of 2011 so far, AnoHana. And I enjoy Toradora – I don’t consider it a classic, but it’s very, very good – an interesting and atypical HS romance series. One issue I had with it is that I actually liked Taiga less than either of the other main girls (though I confess I hated Ami at first, I loved her by the end).

      Finally, yes – Kanon is my favorite KEY series. I think Clannad is excellent as well, but Kanon was a little less melodramatic for me, and the characters grabbed me a little more. I prefer Naoki Hisaya’s writing style (he also wrote “Sola”) to Jun Maeda’s.

      Guardian Enzo
      Reply

  42. I want to say I actually convinced Divine to take you in after how impressed I was that another beast of blogging existed (seriously you blog like an addict on crack), but I believe he was thinking about it already. 😛

    But good luck man. Despite your several hundred posts far surpassing mine, blogging with a large audience is a different animal. Don’t lose yourself amidst it all.

    Kiiragi
    Reply

  47. And over the years, some of my absolute favorites have been Seirei no Moribito, Ghost Hound, Mushishi, and Kanon – as well as movies like 5 CM per Second and Colorful/.

    Are you serious? [-imfreakinsold-] Can’t wait to see you take off the training wheels a give us all y’got. I think it’s suicide to write not for RC, but your own as well. All the more props to you.

    I’m a little surprised. Most of the writers here have a MyAnimeList account or some sort of website where they keep track of all the anime they watch in some way or form. Do you have something like that on your homepage? After seeing all that anime you’ve watched, I wanted to recommend The Book of Bantorra. <–crack

    lol I'm all excited now. I wish you'd tell us more about your animu uprising! It's always fun to hear about stuff like that.

    Shirt
    Reply

  48. And here I thought this would be just another day… It’s sad to see how fast Divine found Kiiragi’s replacement. Give a man a little time to soak this all up! ToT

    I have high expectations for someone who already blogs, but please don’t overwork yourself.

    Luxorcist
    Reply

    1. Ohh! I see. I didn’t know there was such a place. I found it a bit hard to navigate but you’ve watched a lot! I took it lightly, but Kiiragi’s comment about you blogging like an “addict on crack” must have some validity to it after all. If I could somehow drag you over to MAL, I would. Better format imo. (Plus I’d be able to add ya to m’friends list.)

      I’m still stoaked that you like Seirei no Moribito so much. Balsa’s a real woman. A real woman.

      Shirt
      Reply

    2. I do think most of us watchers here are MAL fans, so I think our influence will drag you there. And I’ve never been to anime-planet. The format is a bit weird, but I like how the layout is more… modern? MAL is very simple-looking, but I like how easy it is to navigate. Hope you switch over to the dark side =O (so i can add you)

      Evident
      Reply

  55. Hey guys I just woke up now what’s going on here?

    So from what I’m gathering, you’ll be picking up AnE and S;G after Kiiragi leaves, and here comes Natsume?

    XD

    But seriously man, congrats!

    Arabesque
    Reply

  56. @Matt – thanks, but admire me *after* I’m able to actually do it without destroying my brain!
    @Shirt – Moribito is my #1 series of all time. Not just Balsa, but Chagum and the other chars too. It’s fantastic.
    @Peep – thanks to you, too. Look forward to chatting with you both places.
    @CornMe – Soon, I promise. Let me get settled and then I’ll figure out a way to get IRC into the mix.

    Guardian Enzo
    Reply

  66. Welcome~I just spent some time checking out your blog. Will probably continue to go there to check out the Tiger&Bunny blogs. Fangirling on LJ and Aarin is nice and all, but it’s also great to have a more neutral perspective on things. Also glad that your taste is pretty similar to mine, especially since you’ll probably be blogging Natsume San since I was resigned to the fact that no one at RC had a keen interest in it. Also hope you’ll include more personal impressions rather than straight summary though I’m aware that it those tend to be awfully inflammable.

    Anyways, looking forward to your posts. ^-^

    momogoldfish
    Reply

    1. Ponch & MrTerrorist: yeah, I blogged all the way thru GoT. It took a few eps for me to really fall for it, but it’s great – one of the better live-action shows out there. Looking forward to S2 next year and I’ll definitely blog it.

      Guardian Enzo
      Reply

  73. Welcome aboard! I look forward to see what you cover and your writing style since each blogger does it slightly differently 🙂

    Also, Ano Hana and Hourou Musuko are also among my favourites, both in my top 5 and both came out this year in Noitamina which is surprising. But yeah, seeyah around!

    Kurofaise
    Reply

  77. it is sad to see kiiragi leaves, but it is also good to have someone get in board.

    guardian enzo, i think he is the only contributor here who have two-word name 🙂

    Ryuuzaki21
    Reply

  79. Welcome on board. I visited your blog, and saw that you’ve covered the current shows timely (especially Hanasuka Iroha), so I’m thrilled that you joined Random Curiosity. Looking forward to read from you.

    vladrin
    Reply

  90. I love Seitokai no Ichizon, thank goodness for a second season. Although, 5 CM per Second pulled at my heart strings it was probably one of my most favorite movies ever, although in some parts I was just raging at Takaki. Welcome to RC and I look forward to your posts!

    Zisulizations
    Reply

  92. Welcome to Random Curiosity, Guardian Enzo
    I really like what I have just read in LiA. You got yourself a new fan 🙂
    Since you’re a Ghibli fan, maybe you can do a post on Karigurashi no Arrietty? I just saw the movie a few days back and love it to bits!

    Seishun Otoko
    Reply

  97. Welcome! I checked out your blog, and I would even add it to my daily internet routine. You provide insights that I haven’t really thought of. Glad that you’re a Cross Game fan! Read the manga and watched the anime. It’s definitely in my Top 10, and yes, my three favorite characters and their seiyuu’s are back! Kou-Jintan, Aoba-Anaru, and Yuuhei-Yukiatsu. Can’t wait to read your first blog here in RC. You’ll be a great addition to the team

    Evident
    Reply

  104. I just read some post on your blog.. Kiiragi’s right, you’re like an addict on crack!

    You have good readable content.. really engaging to read.. BUT, no offense, the site looks plain. A large part of what attracts readers is the eye candy (RC has a front page full of pictures). Your blog is like a girl with a great personality but not so attractive face. If you have the time I would suggest a little makeover.. A good working design can take you miles!
    And on a technical note, widen the width boarder a little more (I think blogger has an easy way to do that). Remember, modern monitors are wide screens (even smart phones compensates for wide views). Don’t make the sides look like a waste of space.. ^^

    Oh yeah.. I’m looking forward to what you have to write here. Good luck!

    MrRei
    Reply

    1. Mr. Rei:

      Appreciate the feedback. Yes, Blogger does let you adjust widths easily – so I gave that a try. I’m almost at their max with this template – love to hear your thoughts.

      Any other suggestions for eye candy? I’m a writer, not a visual artist – so any and all input is great. Believe it or not I have made over the site quite a bit already.

      Guardian Enzo
      Reply

      1. I see that the max boarder width has been widen. However, the contents inside that boarder are still the same size. How should I put this.. you have a bucket with things inside, then you widen that bucket and now the contents are a bit loose. Now you should also change the width of the things inside the boarder to maximize the space. Things like the boarder that displays your posts (I forgot what it’s called). Widen them just enough so it doesn’t look too loose or too cramp. Sorry if you can’t get my meaning here. It’s kinda hard to explain design w/o a paper and pen.

        As for the actual theme.. I don’t hate it. The colors work. And I would agree that finding a theme that “WOWS” can take trials and errors. What’s probably lacking are pictures on your post. Most successful blogs I’ve seen revolves around how much pictures there are and how they are arrange/divided in a post. This is something that I think you’re gonna learn here on RC. I don’t know how Divine and the others take 40+ or so screen caps per post (practice I think), but learning that will help. You don’t have to arrange pics it like RC does.. How you post them is up to you. Just make them seem enjoyable and not drown 1st time visitors w/ words. Hate it or not, most people are shallow.. There’s likely many people who goes to RC just to see screen caps.

        MrRei
        Reply

    2. Mr Rei,

      I’ve debated on the image question long and hard. I’ve had other suggestions along the lines of “pics are useless – all the readers will have seen the episode anyway. They’re only good for breaking up text”. It’s a work in progress – by no means am I done tweaking that part of the site.

      Guardian Enzo
      Reply

      1. I can understand what you mean.. it’s really debatable depending on your audience. Pics or no pics and where to place them. You even made a poll about that. And I think that was a good idea. good luck on that..

        Opinion wise, here’s what I can give you.. I’ve seen great sites that host images like wallpapers and they have templates that are plane in color. It probably works because of the massive amounts of pics you see (like the RC frontpage). I rarely see good sites that are text based, but when I do.. the background has playful color and design that works with the overall template of the site. So I guess if you post more pics a plain design could work. But if not, have a more playful and eye catching background and make the colors work. Finding a great design is hard. But if you find one you can keep it for a long long time.

        MrRei
        Reply

      2. Pictures may carry much more information than the text of the same area. It would be better for you probably to select some emotional snapshots so that you could share that snapshot with the readers, as the written words may be interpreted in too many ways, or just skipped, but the picture may be seen as a whole, undivided entity which is common both for you and the readers, and it is perceived at once, instead of sequential text reading. Because of that the pictures are important. Just place the right ones 😉

        SpoilerMaker
        Reply

      1. Consumption habits (including the consumption of services, in particular show viewing habits) give quite a bit of information about the personalities of the consumers (watchers). In this case it is fun to uncover their internal misery. You can read my comments about Star Driver – it also works with Britney Spears fans – they share much the same defects of their personalities. Combining both gives even greater chance of the presence of the already described misery and personality defects, which constitute a good object for mocking – the justification of such actions is based on the fact that such defects of personality are mostly a direct result of their stupid and despicable actions – it gives a kind of a good excuse to make fun of them (to relieve your own personal stress, for example).

        SpoilerMaker
        Reply

  110. welcome Guardian Enzo, glad that Divine found another great writer after kiragii left, best of luck, i hope to read great blogging article from you. And btw Adachi Mitsuru is my favorite mangaka and Cross game is top of the list in my opinion, that being said… I like your taste in anime 🙂

    XiShi
    Reply

  114. Welcome to RC! Looking forward to reading your works. I’ve now bookmarked your site and read your AnoHana final episode and season review blogposts: good stuff, will be following you on both sites 🙂

    MonkeyZerg
    Reply

  116. Oh it’s Enzo from the suggestion department of AS!!! (and lol still wearing a Kou avatar)

    Good Luck on being a blogger in here, hope you don’t induce too much coffee when writing some blog post overnight lol…

    BaKaYaRou
    Reply

  118. Welcome to RC!
    PS Reboot was my favourite show ever when i was a wee child so you already have +100 coolpoints in my book :). I also creeped your comments earlier and saw that Kanon is your favourite Key show! Yaaay! It’s one of my favourite shows ever and I was convinced that I WAS Makoto in like eighth grade, super cool I know right?
    verreh important/random questions:
    1) Do you like Glee?
    2) What’s your favourite manga?

    Allie
    Reply

    1. Hallo, Allie. Alphanumeric to be here. To respond to your questions:

      1. I forgot the question, sorry.
      2. Wow. Well – Rurouni Kenshin, Sand Chronicles and Negima come to mind. But I’m loving the Hell out of Otoyomegatari at the moment.

      Guardian Enzo
      Reply

  124. You have good taste in anime. Seems that you have an appreciation for stuff that doesn’t get as much attention as they should get. I hope you give these types of shows more lip service then the more mainstream stuff.

    bluth
    Reply

  125. Banzai!! And welcome to RC. OMG…to hear someone mention Space Battleship Yamato and then Reboot…I am considered a youngin’ but to hear that from someone else is making feeling nostalgic. What’s next ROV or glass mask 😉 heh?

    Bakanekokun
    Reply

  126. C’mon, ReBoot isn’t that old – S4 aired in the 2000s, dammit! And SBY was already ancient by the time I was watching it…

    @Bluth: I do tend to like shows that underperform sometimes, it’s true. But then, AnoHana was (much to my surprise) arguably the most successful show of the season and I absolutely loved it. I really liked Madoka as well, even if I didn’t join the Church. I try not to worry too much about that one way or the other, though it’s always nice to stand up for a show that doesn’t get much attention. Now – go watch Dororon Enma-kun!

    Guardian Enzo
    Reply

  131. WOW, A-MA-ZING! RC/LiA Crossover! w000t! You joined the NYT of anime blogging! Like a dream come true :).
    I guess this remedies your posts having gotten way less comments than they deserved sofar :). Welcome to RC, I guess :D. (Well, I started reading RC and LiA basically at the same time, so I think I can say that ^^)
    I wish you all the best and lots of fun with this your now greater audience! Haters gonna hate and stay true to yourself :).

    engage
    Reply

  135. @Guardian Enzo: LOVE THE KEN SUGISAKI PIC! Truly THE BEST HAREM LEAD OF ALL TIME! Of all harem animes and mangas I have watched and read, it was only Ken whom admits he wants the harem and wants all the girls to love him. He’s a very unique harem lead and a very honest one at that! I still wish that they will have a second season despite them telling us t(the viewers) that they wont be having one lol. Such a tease!

    Great that you love Ichizon too, welcome to RC and I hope you enjoy writing in RC. Kiiragi will be missed, I love his occasional drop in comments like in AnoHana lol which created quite a ruckus when he commented about Anaru.

    X
    Reply

    1. Really?! You just made my day! I’m liking you already! Thanks a lot!!! Yes I do hope it will come out this year, but do you know if the novels are complete? I think that it should be down to its final volume so that would wrap up the story, is that true? Thanks again Guardian Enzo! You Rock!

      X
      Reply

  139. Hi there. I am very happy I came across this site, I truly discovered you in error, whilst I’d been looking Yahoo for another thing, Anyway I am here now and would just like to interesting time for the great site posting as well as a over-all helpful web blog (I additionally such as the theme/design). I have bookmarked it as well as subscribed towards the RSS feeds. Best wishes.

    Dcc 1200 Cuisinart
    Reply

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