Miscellaneous

Hello hello! I’m Iskendaris and it’s lovely to meet you. In true anime fashion, I blushed when asked to join RandomC – someone pinch me, is this real? My heart went dokidoki like a shoujo protagonist under sakura flowers on the first day of spring. “Ah,” I thought, “this is the moment when senpai notices me!”

As the middle child of a large family, anime was one of the few things that bonded us siblings together. Souryuuden, Gundam Wing, Flame of Recca and other typical shounen series were our daily staple, I’d watch them with my older brother every day and we’d play-fight the best action scenes with armour made of blankets and pillows. Later when my younger sister was born, we got her right up to speed with Macross Plus, Ruroni Kenshin, Visions of Escaflowne and more.

3pm – 6pm was the sacred time slot that we all lived by. It didn’t matter if we were in the middle of a sibling quarrel; time stopped. We’d stop fighting and tune in to AXN anime.

As a kid, I was watching anime regularly, but so was everyone else. Anime is different in East/Southeast Asia, almost everyone watches it. It’s not a big deal to watch anime or read manga as long as you weren’t too deep into it. Trains regularly advertise Pokémon collaborations, and even my mother knows what Card Captor Sakura is.

The turning point was when my oldest brother suggested that we save up all our money to buy this really cool series, this series that everyone was talking about, this series that was so cool and awesome it wasn’t even screened on TV. A month later, a DVD box arrived at home and with shaking hands, we binge-watched all 26 episodes in one night.

This series was Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Yes dear reader, at the tender age of 9, I saw naked Rei clones explode in LCL tanks and every person turn into orange tang.

It was traumatic. It was amazing. It seized my brain and seared my heart and I was hopelessly, madly, forever in love. I had gone from a normal nerd kid to a super weird kid and it was absolutely wonderful.

Like a flipped switch, I downloaded EVA wallpapers with my crappy 56k connection, I memorized “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” OP, I read up on Jewish and Christian mythology and downloaded The Red Book on .doc… and I never recovered from that experience. I ascended to my true self and became a total anime otaku.

In terms of genre, I’m a generalist. I like everything from complex psychological shows (Psycho-Pass, Steins;Gate and Death Parade) to straightforward shounen series (Kimetsu no Yaiba) or mahou shoujo series whether it’s old school Card Captor Sakura or new school Madoka — I love them all!

Epic drama like Code-Geass, Shouwa Rakugo and Fate/Zero are my top favourites, and I’ll happily watch anything; even enjoy a good ecchi or shounen-ai series too.

I’m most interested in stories about transition and progression, whether it’s a simple coming-of-age or an epic tale of fate. I feel that what makes anime special for me is this universal telling of change; whether it’s accepting change, adapting to change, or overcoming change into something more.

Professionally I’m a designer. I’ve lived/worked in Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Russia, Australia, coastal USA and am currently based in Tokyo, Japan. I like to think this makes me a mysterious moe character, but it probably sounds really shady. Being in Tokyo is both wonderful and terrible. It’s wonderful because I live 15mins away from Animate!!! It’s terrible because I live 15mins away from Animate.

That said, よろしくおねがいします yoroshiku onegaishimasu !! I look forward to watching shows together with you!

29 Comments

  3. Welcome!
    No pressure, but your first post was due yesterday :).

    I (sorta) remember my first “Anime.” It was English dub and aired (in the US)
    at an odd time – not the same time each episode – guess it was a filler series.
    I don’t remember its title (something related to space), but as an avid cartoon
    watching kid, I was amazed in that there was continuity from episode to episode,
    something I have never seen before in a cartoon/animation!

    I scanned the newspaper TV listings every day looking for its time slot and
    planning my (kid) day around that. Not much made it into the US at that time,
    and after that finished, I didn’t see any other series like it and I soon forgot
    about it w/Scooby and the other mindless cartoons of the era.

    —

    Looking forward to reading you post and seeing which series you’ll pick up!

    mac65
    Reply

    1. hahaha you don’t know how true that is xD randomc is really well run! And the other more senior writers have been helping me with the formatting and posting times

      That’s really interesting, do you remember the characters or year? I watch a ton of anime, so if you need help tracking a title down I’ll be happy to help

      Iskendaris
      Reply

      1. Naw, just a childhood memory. I don’t know if my memory of it has been mixed
        with other (cartoons/Anime). It was probably late 60’s, early 70’s.

        It was some sort of space adventure, but I couldn’t tell you anything about
        the characters or much of the plot. The thing that really stuck out was that
        every episode built upon the last — something non-existent in U.S. media
        (excepting for soaps) at the time. Everything was episodal and I hated it.
        Okay, maybe a little character growth in some of the latter comedies (All
        in the Family), but really, you could watch shows back then in any order
        and get the same nothingness of character development or plot except for
        a few laughs.

        Honestly, I think that’s the main draw of most Anime (for me). After a good
        series, you feel like you’ve gained a little something for your viewing effort.
        It’s a shame <<rant>> that we subject our kids to junk like Sponge Bob.
        There’s absolutely no learning there; and you know damn well we could do better!<</rant>>

        mac65
        Reply

  4. I don’t spend much time looking at anime posts nowadays, mostly because I don’t watch that many series currently. I do scroll through RC and try to get a sense of what’s worth my time to try out, though, but I admittedly don’t read stuff in detail all the time. But I saw this, and the picture, and the username, and promptly decided you will be an enjoyable addition to the cast! Welcome and looking forward to more from the new blood.

    ZJZJ
    Reply

    1. Thank you for taking a moment to check my intro out!! I understand that — it’s difficult to juggle a professional life with watching seasonal anime especially with other things taking attention. I hope the few shows I cover would be of interest to you though, and have a great day!! ★

      Iskendaris
      Reply

    1. oooooohhhhhhhh boy, grave of fireflies? that’s rough D: D: D: do you still cringe at the sight of those canned candy boxes???? I feel that way about minestrone soup and Evangelion haha

      thank you!! and I look forward with working with everyone

      Iskendaris
      Reply

    1. Thank you!!

      I’m a user-experience designer, so a lot of flow charts and KPIs and CTAs and conversion ratios etc etc it’s a nice mix between visual design and math. I’ve also worked in with agencies/brand and product design. I’ll rather prefer to keep my professional life separate from anime blogging but I’ll be happy to answer any questions re: design industry.

      Hope to see you around! 😀

      Iskendaris
      Reply

  13. “Gundam Wing“

    Welcome aboard, fellow Winger! o7

    Also, your name, “Iskendaris” (plus your choice of Heroic Spirit/writer avatar)… Noice. (“Broskander” is awesome.) Speaking of names based on Alexander the Great, do you happen to be familiar with the “Iscandar” from the Space Battleship Yamato/Star Blazers series (and its remake, Space Battleship Yamato/Star Blazers 2199)?

    “I’m most interested in stories about transition and progression, whether it’s a simple coming-of-age or an epic tale of fate. I feel that what makes anime special for me is this universal telling of change; whether it’s accepting change, adapting to change, or overcoming change into something more.”
    Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho seems right up your alley.

    “Being in Tokyo is both wonderful and terrible. It’s wonderful because I live 15mins away from Animate!!! It’s terrible because I live 15mins away from Animate.”
    Ah yes, the conflict of feeling both convenience and temptation to buy the anime/manga goods you want. XD I’d feel the same way if the hotel I stayed at was located in Akihabara (or Osaka’s Nipponbashi, a.k.a.: “Den-Den Town”).

    Anyway, looking forward to your write-ups for the Winter 2020 season. Just enjoy watching the anime you want to enjoy.

    Incognito
    Reply

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