Posted by 
Wow.
To say the least, I’ve been dreaming of this moment for years. But now that I’m actually here, I can’t remember what I was going to say at all! I suppose it’s true what people say: “There just ain’t nothing like the real thing.” Still, if there are some things I know for sure, it’s how grateful I am to Divine for giving me this opportunity and how I look forward to interacting with all you readers out there, whose expectations I hope to both meet and ultimately exceed.
My anime background, I reckon, probably started similar to a lot of you guys out there, especially if you were born and raised in the states. Saturday morning cartoons (Pokemon, Digimon) and Toonami over on Cartoon Network (Mobile Suit Gundam, Ronin Warriors) were my only source for a long while, and heck, the latter was only available when I’d sneak over to my parents’ office to leech the cable TV! As such, I didn’t get into anime until the late 90’s, when I finally could afford cable TV at home and had an internet connection other than AOL and NetZero. Ah… the good times where a call would disconnect my internet, the sweet sound of the connection and the “You’ve got mail!”… Ahem* Anyway, I eventually caught a peek of Gundam Wing, which was the first anime I watched in its entirety, binging all 50 or so episodes in the span of 2 days. Looking back, it probably wasn’t the greatest idea though, as I got quite the migraine afterwards. But if anything, the binge sparked my interest in anime in earnest. I’ve since followed up with thousands of episodes and now watch around 8-10 airing shows per season.
In terms of favorites, I have a few, with series such as Eureka Seven, Steins;Gate, and Macross Frontier making my list. However, my absolute favorite series, would have to be Ghost in the Shell. Both Stand Alone Complex and the movies; they’ll hold a special place in my heart forever. I’d go on about my other favorites (characters, actors etc.) and manga I’ve read, but I’ll spare everyone the tl;dr and link my MAL here1.
Genre-wise, I suppose I had a slight bias toward anime of the Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Mecha variety in the early days (I still have a soft spot for them). But, I’ve since made it my mission to watch a wide variety of genres, branching out to Comedy, Romance, and Slice of Life etc. At this point, I believe I can safely say I don’t have much real preference in regards to genre. If it’s interesting or enjoyable in some sense, I’ll probably give it a try if I have the time. As for how I choose shows to watch since I don’t choose by genre, I typically note down a bunch of random anime (anywhere from 10-20 series) before a season starts, preview a few episodes of each series, and eventually choose around 10-12 to watch, leaving a few to watch at a later season, and maybe adding a few more as the season goes on (based on recommendations etc.).
As for myself as a person, I’m currently a college student majoring in Biomolecular Science. Typically in my free time, I’ll do things like read a book, maybe try (and never finish) writing some novels, watch some movies, play some games, or go out and play some sports (baseball). I love travelling and photography and also do other things like editing for a fansub group, and writing the occasional post (under the name Ghost_Zephyr) on a friend’s site. I have also opened my own blog as well. Last but not least, there’s also my love for music, which I have playing from the moment I wake up to when I go to sleep. As for what I listen to, it doesn’t really matter as long as it sounds good to my ears, as I listen to songs in Japanese, English, Italian, German, and Russian, pure background music, pop, rock, jazz etc.
And… I reckon that’s about it, I think. At this point I’ve thrown in everything but the kitchen sink, and you probably now know more about me then you’d ever wanted to know. (:D) On that note, I’m not quite sure what I’ll be working on at the moment, but I should be covering 1-2 shows from here on out. Also, my writing style may need a little work in terms of adapting it from the impression type posts I write over at leetNEET to the episodic format here, so you may notice some slight stylistic changes as I get more posts under my belt. In that regard, I thus heartily welcome criticisms and/or suggestions in the comments regarding my style and things I’ve missed or should cover etc. Ultimately, I hope to write for years to come, here at Random Curiosity, where you realize the net is indeed vast and infinite. (>^_^)>
___________________
1 Feel free to add me. One thing you’ll note is I do rate the shows I watch. I was going to remove them, but I felt that leaving them in could make for some nice discussion on IRC (find me under “Ghost_Zephyr”) about a respective series. [Back]
“I’m currently a college student majoring in Biomolecular Science. Typically in my free time…”
Biomolecular Science major + freetime? Seems like a contradiction. 😛
Looking forward to reading more, though. Welcome!
Haha, I know right? But eh, guess it’s just I was fortunate to have some extra credits lying around so I don’t need to take as much classes the last few semesters. Combine that with a few profs giving me the syllabus for the whole semester before hand and letting me do a lot of work weeks in advance, I manage to sneak some time out. 😀
Thanks!
Welcome new writer! ( ･ω･)ﾉ
Glad to have you on board, and I hope you enjoy yourself!
Blog-Ranger #6!
Eureka Seven, huh? Are you gonna watch AO when it comes out next month?
Just one more left to reveal…
Yeah, definitely. I’ve already read the two manga issues that have come out. It’s a bit confusing trying to decipher in terms of how it connects with the original, but hoping that’ll sort itself as it goes. 😀
Nice to meet you ! I’m eager to read your opinions on RC !
Welcome aboard 🙂
>Gundam Wing
I like you already.
It’s also one of my entry points to anime. Can never go wrong with someone liking it as well.
Looking forward to your posts.
One more ’til the 7 Masters have gathered and the Grail War will finally start.Gotta wonder who will cover F/Z 2…
Haha, can’t go wrong when the third episode you watch has guy falling out of the sky, ripping up birthday invites and saying “I’ll kill you!”
Last writer should be coming up soon in the next few days. And Fate/Zero S2’s gonna be quite the fight to see who gets that one, haha. I’ll probably stay out of it though.
So you are using the assasin class in that fight then?
Makes me wonder which writer gets to use which class now ^^
Do I have to say “Welcome and good luck!” everyday now?!
Hehe, just one more time!
just marco “gambatte kudasai!!!” on IRC…he won’t notice a thing…ops xD
Congratulations!!!!!! 😀
Welcome to RC ! c:
wow, you must really like GitS to even include a quote from it….
and I’ll ask the same question as I have asked Moomba (which he didn’t finish answer btw)
which of the OPs and EDs (or even inserts) you have a higher opinion of for the past 2 seasons so far?
Lol, you have no idea. Rewatched SAC 1st and 2nd Gig like 3 times apiece, Solid State Society twice, watched every movie, and have copies of the manga. Bwahaha… Moving on…
Hm. Last two seasons…
OP: Fate/Zero Season 1, Rinne no Lagrange are two that pop up toward the top whenever I think about it. Guilty Crown (both OP), Symphogear, and P4A’s 2nd OP were pretty memorable for me as well.
ED: First thing I think of is Fate/Zero again… and UN-GO. Penguindrum S2’s various endings were quite nice as well too. 😀
Inserts… Hm. I don’t remember much inserts actually, lol. Only real ones I remember are Symphogear’s.
Grats on finally introducing yourself formally~you’ve gone unpromoted in IRC for too long I say! Welcome! [>^_^]> < (^_^<) Also, inb4 anyone else can ask:Are you a gi–I mean tra—I mean robot? This is a serious question.
I wonder… The question should be, which do you want me to be? I reckon I could probably write in either viewpoint if I tried.. really.. really hard… maybe.
Welcome to Random Curiosity Zephyr! I hope that you’ll have a good time writing for RC and for us readers:D At least I am looking forward to reading your posts (as probably many others)
Welcome welcome!
I’m loving your photos!
Love the photos too! And welcome =) (… not that we haven’t said it already.)
*hands out banana bread to Zephyr and Stereo*
YEAHHHH BANANANANANA BREAD!
Welcome to the team, Zephyr, you can have my part of the banana bread…since I’m allergic to bananas =(
I never said I was sending you any verdant… =O
Random question! What is your banner image from? I can’t figure it out! Cheers and welcome!
Hrms, the pics in this post come from Macross Frontier and GITS. My icon’s also from GITS. And my MAL background is Xenosaga. Not quite sure which one you meant eh. o-o
Welcome to the team bro. Just think…maybe writing here will give you enough practice to finish one of those novels, eh? 😉
Haha, I don’t know about that… Seems like a reach… haha.
Excellent taste in anime, sir/madam/whatever-you-are. Gotta love GitS.
Now I’m off to listen to Inner Universe and Rise on an infinite loop…
…singing along random gibberish because I don’t understand the lyrics.
Damn you, Origa! *shakes fist at the sky*
XD. I remember the good times where I’d just loop the OST’s back and forth over weeks. Torukia… “I do”… etc. Practically memorized all the lyrics for all the songs, haha. I think there’s some translations for all the songs actually, aside from the random words that are literally made up. And yeah, ya gotta love Origa, as well as Yoko Kanno and Gabriela Robin too.
Anybody who loves Eureka7 is a great person. Looking forward too your posts from now on. Hope you review Eureka7 AO.
First and foremost, congratulation on becoming RC newest writer. I see you like photography as I myself aspiring to become a professional photographer. As a reader, I look forward to your creative writing. Dazzle us 🙂
Cheers for joining RC. Also waiting that you can cover Eureka 7 AO. Best of luck
zephyr!!! awesome, another familiar person from the channel, congrats on becoming a writer for RC!!!
now I have to say, good luck and hope to continue talking to you on the channel (I know you probably heard that a lot already 🙂
“Anyway, I eventually caught a peek of Gundam Wing, which was the first anime I watched in its entirety, binging all 50 or so episodes in the span of 2 days…”
Lol, I remember doing the exact same thing with Wing; didn’t give me a migraine, but the sleeplessness pretty much turned me into a zombie for the next day or so…
And lol, a GitS/(Sci-fi) fan who’s majoring in Biomolecular Science- are we not, truly, the sum of our experiences? XP
Anyways, great to have you with us, and I wish you all the best! 🙂
Haha, back then I rarely watched stuff for more than an hour or two in a row, so suddenly watching so much in a row just blew up mind (literally). 😀
And yes, we really are indeed. GITS’ actually makes me kinda want to go into AI/Computer Engineering related stuff these days eh, instead of BMS.
Congrats Zephyr, good to see you as a writer now! As a fellow bimolecular major here, i wish you luck on balancing the workload (though it sounds like you have a good grip on things. Tips?? =)) Looking forward to your first post!
Whoa what? I wasn’t expecting anyone to also be a BMS major at all. Any chance you’re on the U.S. East Coast? O_o
Hmm tips… I guess the only thing I can say is try to get ahead where you can eh. I typically make it a habit to do some review sheets off the text in my free time, helps out a bit. That’s about it sadly. Science major’s always just end up being a chunk of memorization, which is quite sad (I could go on a whole rant here.. Lol), but yeah. -_-
LOL yea so far memorization and staying ahead/up with readings seems to be key, just wanted to see if you had some killer strategy I could get in on =P I’ve actually been enjoying a heavy amount of laboratory research work in addition to class work. GO SCIENCE!
Sadly, I’m not East Coast; I’m situated right now in TX! Should be fun chatting with you though, both anime and BMS! 😀
If you want the applied version of sciences, switch to an engineering major. There’s some memorization, but a lot of it is ending up “here’s a technique, and a bunch of examples, have at.” Memorization is a brute-force approach that works in some cases, but not all.
Oooh! Welcome, Zephyr! It’s so reassuring that there’s someone out there who has so many things to handle but can still manage one extra thing: writing for RC. ^-^ And aweeesome, you like music too! Looking forward to your reviews here!
It’s all good until I end up doing too much! Though hopefully that won’t happen. 😛
And yeah, can’t live without music. Kinda worried I’m totally blowing up my hearing ability for the future though. -_-
Welcome !! Now I can’t complain that I don’t have enough free time to watch anime when I see that you are studying in major BM, and that I’m “just” (ahem.) studying in Sciences. [Still a college student 😛 ]
I’ll be looking forward to read your post !
Do your best.
Ah na, BM just sounds much more fancier than it is. It’s just a combination of like every science class imaginable, so it’s pretty much “just the sciences” too. So don’t go sellin’ yourself short. Science is science. 😛
Welcome.
Welcome to the RC, Zephyr!
Yep, I used to watch Toonami and the occasional saturday morning cartoon too. Good times indeed ^_^ Glad to here your really into the music side of anime too so looking forward to your posts!
Congrats, Zephyr! And I think I’ve seen you around using your other handle, Ghost_Zephyr, around here, right?
Yeah, I typically go under Ghost_Zephyr on IRC, so we’ve met, haha. 😀
Somehow I find you to be the most interesting person who’s introduced him/her/itself so far (there, see why we want to know your genders?), with no justification whatsoever. I guess I feel I can relate to you the most out of all the newbies, since MAL also says we have “Somewhat High” (71.7%) anime compatibility 🙂
No. 6, aka, Zephyr…
Congratulations and Good Luck.
hello and welcome
can’t wait to see soon blogging
might not always comment but i read what interest me
good luck 😀
Congratulations Zephyr!
Hooray for another Macross fan. Now the eternal dilemma, team Sheryl or team Ranka?
Also, I really like your pictures. You’re a very talented guy 😉
Lol, I’ll probably get a lot of flak for this… Maybe I shouldn’t say it… haha. But yeah, while I do like them both, especially their songs, I guess I was always more of a Sheryl person. I don’t quite dislike Ranka at all though. I suppose it’s because of how the series started, with Sheryl’s concert, just caught my eye first eh.
I am almost 100% certain that the show was tailoring toward Sheryl to begin with.
Woah, I think I found my new favorite RC contributor. I look forward to seeing your posts. I hope you get E7 Ao. It would make watching it even better =)
Congratulations! 🙂
Welcome to RC visit the irc when you have the time. I’m currently taking Bio-medical Sciences.
Hohoho, another BMS major. And ya know, we’ve actually met before, Mr. RC fanfic writer sir. 😀
Congratulations, Zephyr! =)
I thought that this was someone over 40 due to all the nostalgic references then I read “college student”. I thought it was going to be interesting to hear a view point from someone older lol
Anyways, I look forward to your post!
Excellent article Dave… you’ve put a convincing bow around something I’ve been watching and pondering for a good while. Well done.
Macross F? Ghost in the Shell? Constantly listening to music? Yep, I think we’re going to get along! Welcome to the team!
Hi hi… and welcome
And yeah when you said Gundam I was like I already like you man.
Btw can any1 please remind me from what is first picture? I rember seemibng it somewhere but realy cannt rember.
It’s from the Macross Frontier movie, Sayonara no Tsubasa.
ty
Still waiting to see any new writer who has watched more anime as I have.
I lead a sad life
how many anime have you watched?
Yaaay *thumbs up*
Welcome, good luck.
Nice to meet you. I am a College student too!! In fact I am visiting this site even though I am suppose to study for Finals and Mid-Term….. Ah, how I wish I could live w/out internet.
Anyways, welcome and wish me luck.
Good luck. 😀 I should’ve been studying this spring break myself, but haven’t done anything of the sort, heh.
Hi, I noticed you live in New York City and currently a student…by chance do you go to NYU?
NYU:Poly, yes. Lol.
That’s really cool, I just saw the Poly campus last week and it was pretty sweet looking. You ever come down to Manhattan area to use NYU related facilities?
Congratz & Welcome Zephyr!
That Sheryl pic is one of my favourite. It also reminded me to watch the second Macross movie (although I was largely disappointed by it). But hey, at least Sheryl wore that military attire in that movie and she looked really good.
Your photography is awesome! I’m not sure how you manage to have time to pursue all your hobbies. Welcome aboard. It will be fun following your posts! We have a lot of similar interests.
Thanks! 😀 As for my time… I’d say most of it comes from doing stuff ahead of time when I can (when it comes to school work) and planning stuff weeks ahead eh. XD
Oh my. There are SO many things that I already like about you. xD
(I am also someone who listens to music every waking moment besides sleep and work.
Same kinds too! Yeah!)
I look forward to you posts in the future~ =D
***your
(Oh my 3am typing not so nice. O.o; )
You had me at Gundam and GitS, my favorite animes as well. Although I am not a big fan of slice of life anime, I can’t wait to start reading your reviews. 🙂
What anime is the first display image?
Macross I guess.
It’s from the Macross Frontier movie, Sayonara no Tsubasa.
you sound so freaken ambitious. Molecular scientist + writer + photographer + god knows who else? Ahahahahahahahahahaha
Haha, it’s not really ambition eh… I wish it was! It’s more of me being bored of doing the same stuff all the time and stuff. XD.
Are you going to be picking up Gundam AGE? If not, do you know who is?