Time to continue clearing my award debt! Actually, as some of you may have noticed, I have fallen into a lazy blogging spell, hence the lack of posts recently :p Its a result of being addicted to Chinese web novels for two weeks straight. To be honest, being addicted to a novel is somewhat worse than being addicted to an anime series for me, because when I start to read everything just flashes by and it gets too hard to stop. Whereas for anime, I know at least there’s an end to every episode, and when that time comes, I usually think more about whether to click on the next button.
(This is Part 4 of my 2015 Anime Review series. See Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 on more awards on as well as for certain background information and disclaimers with regards to this series of posts.)
(This is Part 3 of my 2015 Anime Review series. See Part 1 and Part 2 on awards more awards on genres & productionas well as for certain background information and disclaimers with regards to this series of posts.)
Now that the proper titles are out of the way, let us first start to dig a little deeper. First off, starting with …
(This is Part 2 of my 2015 anime review series. See Part 1 for more awards on genres & productionas well as for certain background information and disclaimerswith regards to this series of posts.)
I was nominated by TwiceAlive for the Liebster Award on 29 July 2015 in this post right here. Once again, I apologise for my lateness, but as you can see, I am trying to finally repay all of your kindness over the past year and continuing.
And because its TwiceAlive, I expect to enter the realm of dreams, hopes and wildly imaginative questions with this post that require probably a lot of my creative juices. So here we go!
Ahem. So, I decided to finally clear my award debts. Even if they are like 23278436247826372 months late. And that the people who nominated me probably forgot they did. But its okay. I owe all of you guys messages of gratitude anyway since I neglected to do shoutouts of any sort. Besides, more and late love is better than less and never love. Even if its virtual. Right?
Seeing that this award hasn’t been going around for some time now, I have decided to revive the appearance of this icon on WordPress Reader yet again by …. clearing my award posts debt!! I apologise that I have taken 1.5 months to do a reply post on this, but I always save these posts for times when I feel more restless and less focused on studying, and I need some therapeutic, informal writing to save me from going gradually insane. Hence, you guys just saved me! xD
This also reminds me … I also need to return to reviews because I also realised that I haven’t been doing reviews for A VERY LONG TIME. Its ironic because this blog was supposed to be dedicated to that.
Its time for another award post! I know I haven’t been the fastest at doing posts like these, but that certainly does not reduce the amount of gratitude and appreciation to those who have nominated me for this blog awards. This time I would like to thank Lovely from Words & Rhythm as well as Joe from The Reviewers’ Corner, both my seniors in the blogging community here on WordPress given the time they have been on here and the voluminous amounts of posts they have already written, compared to what I have currently 😀 What these two bloggers have in common is that they blog on a variety of topics and there is a vast amount of content available on their blogs, so do check their blogs out! 🙂
Truth be told, I really pushed doing this nomination back as long as I should, simply because of the nature of what I am supposed to write in this post: my dreams.
I don’t really consider myself to have any dreams.
The statement above is a little ironic given that having dreams and working for it is possibly one of the core life lessons that anime and manga strive to bring across all the time, and in every genre possible (with the exception of the psychological and the dark, of course.)
One problem is, however, that ‘dreams’ inevitably connote a goal with the lifespan of a bubble. A dream also undeniably means a scenario or a story that starts when your head hits the pillow at night and ends when your alarm blasts through your reverie, signalling the start of a new day. Years may have passed in your story then, but in actuality it has only been about 7 to 8 hours.
Another problem is that given my inherent way of thinking i.e. to lockdown on any thoughts that stray beyond a foreseeable future, I have tried in vain to come up with anything that constitute dreams for the purpose of answering this award.
Hence, I am going to bend the rules a little and write about 7 goals instead:
So… I was nominated for the Sunshine Award by three amazing bloggers (or four, since the folks at The Animeted Critics are a pair). I would like to give my thanks to you guys as well as the blogging community in WordPress, for being so supportive of my posts thus far 🙂 This is actually a way overdue post ever since the first slew of Sunshine Awards on WordPress Reader, which I apologise for.
And it also seems the time has come for me to return my award nomination posts debts, so to speak! I was really saving up these posts for a rainy day i.e. when I am so busy that I have no time to blog any new content. And the rainy day has come: I am saddened as a self-proclaimed anime lover to say that I have yet to have any time to check out the current Summer Lineup at all! *anticipates a round of gasps across the room* I feel like I am missing out a lot by seeing the number of episode impressions of my fellow aniblogger friends on WordPress, but my schedule has really been catching up to me in the most frantic way possible. I hope this state of things would change soon, but it seems unlikely till the 25th of this month, for I have two upcoming exams so I am studying for them, and I am also working at the same time. What a way to spend my summer holidays -sigh- (though I guess, I am totally asking for it because I didn’t actually have to take those exams, oops.)
But anyways, enough of that! Let the curtains raise and the questions begin!
1. What have you found blogging has bought to you?
Blogging has brought me a bunch of friends – is the first thought that comes to mind. Yes, I started blogging here because I wanted a platform to air my thoughts. Having people who read what I write is a plus. Having people who periodically read what I write is a double plus. Having people who comment meaningfully is a triple plus. But most of all, meeting people over here who have spilled on to getting to know each other in person and being friends beyond the confines of this platform .. that’s something that I am always always thankful for. You know who you are when you read this :>
As for the rest of my readers and followers, I really appreciate it that you are giving me a reason to write, and you have enabled me to find joy and motivation to write where I never thought it was possible. 🙂 Incidentally, I am open to getting to know blogger friends offline so just drop a comment if you want to do that! 😀 (though yes, I don’t have Twitter haha) 2. What was your favorite childhood show growing up?
Can I say Teletubbies? They are the adorable chubby little things ever 😀 I think they still make me smile when I see them. (I don’t actually know which country they originate from lol, but they were my favourite evening show!) 3. Ramen or Sushi?
I am absolutely in love with authentic Ramen; though I have tasted two of the top ramen in Singapore (recommended by a plethora of online food blogs and critics) and my palette can’t really accept anything lesser nowadays. Its a beautiful mistake, really. *stomach rumbles*
Having said that, high quality sushi is heavenly, though I have had close to zero opportunity to try these things, for obvious reasons. Maybe if I am rich I would eat it once a week. (That is an ‘if’, not a ‘when’.) 4. What is the most typical anime genre you end up watching a lot?
Going by my anime list, I would have to say psychological. No particular reason, I just like most of my anime more towards the intellectual side. Another possible one is mecha, though in recent months I haven’t been watching too much of those. 5. What anime character do you feel you relate to a lot?
Ah well, that would be Kaori Miyazono from Shigatsu no Kimi no Uso. It has to do with her attitude and motivation towards the way she behaves, which I find really hard to elaborate on here without going into spoilers. Having said that, I will be writing a commentary (or review) on it soon, so look out for that! 🙂 6. What ending of an anime would you change if you had the chance to?
Nothing actually comes to mind at the moment, oops. I am probably more accepting than I thought. But ask me this another day, and I would probably have a better answer than this 🙂
7. What do you love to see in a blog?
I love seeing and reading personal posts. Ironic really, when I don’t actually write too much about myself though more about what I think about certain topics. But it all boils down to the principle that I believe that writing is a form of art and self-expression, so its impossible to think of segregating who you are as a person from the content of what you write. You are inevitably bound to leave a little piece of you somewhere in your content, especially if you are particularly passionate about writing 🙂 Personal posts offer a snapshot into a little piece of the blogger’s soul, which is really precious because you and I know that the soul tends to be buried if we were having a real-life conversation instead of an online one.
1. What got you interested in the things you blog about?
Hmm well, what got me interested in anime was the way that it had the ability to flesh out so many imaginative, creative ideas which I had always dreamt of but have never seen in most other entertainment medium. I had always known anime existed for a long time; but I never got attracted to it even when it was a fad amongst my peers, classmates and friends. It was after trying all kinds of other things that I chanced upon anime and realised this was the thing I was looking for all my life.
2. Favorite food?
Bread and cake. Despite being Asian, I can survive on bread the whole day while my family and friends have to consume rice or noodles at least once a day (or they would complain. A lot.) They often tell me that its best that I marry a Westerner and migrate to the West because of this.
3. What are your hobbies outside of blogging?
Reading. My entire being revolves around words, especially with the degree I am doing. And of course, watching anime and certain other random entertainment as well (like TV series, movies). Thinking about random content, some of which you see on this blog and some of which you have yet to see, because me being me I often too busy to do more than two or three posts in a week.
4. Random fact about you?
Uhhhhhhhhh. I decided to take said exams (see above) because I was bored. My friends said I was crazy to do this to myself when it was the summer HOLIDAYS and when people all over Facebook and Instagram are flying everywhere around the world. Maybe I am.
5. Favorite animal?
Ooooooh chipmunks. Cos of Disney’s Chip and Dale, they are my favourite.
6. Ice cream or cake?
This is tough. Really tough. Its a dilemma. But answer goes to cake. 😀
7. What got you into anime?
Code Geass got me into anime. I actually watched a few before that but I wasn’t interested enough. And for the record, I have never watched a single series in my childhood (with the exception of Pokemon, which my pea-sized brain registered as a cartoon so I have to honour my five-year-old self and go with that definition). I only watched my first anime when I was about 18. Code Geass happened a year after. I was so overly stimulated that I decided this was what I have been looking for my entire life. I can’t really explain it without writing a full length post on this, but I am pretty sure this is a very watered-down version of how exactly I got into anime (i.e. after trying literally everything else).
1. When did you get into anime and what was your first anime?
See answers above for ChibiMajo’s numbers 1 and 7 🙂
2. If you could travel anywhere with no restrictions (money, time etc.), where would it be and why?
Are you kidding me? Japan of course! In fact, I would be in Hokkaido for a month at least, and if I felt more adventurous instead of lazing around in the heaven that is Hokkaido, I will travel south slowly. Why? I have been in love in Japan waaaaayyyyy before I even knew anime existed.
3. What do you like most about blogging?
I like having a place to air my thoughts, and the fact that people actually read them. I have realised that, even though this may appear rather shallow, its really important to have people reading my thoughts given that just liking to write isn’t nearly sufficient at times.
4. Do you prefer subs or dubs?
Never watched dubs in my life, haha. I love the sound of the Japanese language too much. xD Besides, English is not very pretty a language (though too bad for me; its the language I am most proficient in xD)
5. Do you have any hobbies besides blogging/anime/manga?
My hobbies include playing the piano & violin, running and eating. Yep, eating. What? Don’t judge me.
6. What’s your favorite anime genre?
If its a favourite I would have to go with psychological for sure. I love the intellectual stuff, and that actually applies beyond anime to any other thing in general: books, movies, TV series.
7. What type of music do you listen to and what is your favorite song?
Well damn, music is another area where I have loads to gush about. In fact, I am more open-minded about music than my visual entertainment. I listen to all kinds of genres: pop, rock, instrumental, classical, some metal, acoustic just to name some. Nowadays though, I mostly listen to Japanese songs (anime and non anime related, ONE OK ROCK and Kalafina are my favourite bands ever) because I find that out of everything, they have the most creative melodies and richer harmonic texture even for their pop songs. I listen to Chinese songs mostly for emotion and the most beautiful lyrics ever to grace music.
As for favourite song, let me see if I can put up an AMV here – I don’t think its possible for anybody who generally loves music to have a favourite, but this is currently what I am listening a lot to now 🙂 this also contains a lot of romance anime recommendations which are worth checking out.
I am aware I still have a few award nomination posts to do for now, but all those will come in due time 🙂 I don’t have anybody to nominate for this award, but rest assured that I will be doing some nominations if I find that there are still some worthy candidates not nominated yet when the time I get to those posts 🙂
Thank you for reading, and do check out LitaKino, ChibiMajo and The Animeted Critics if you haven’t; LitaKino is already a well known name in the community I believe, ChibiMajo really deserves more followers because her very direct way of blogging is certainly refreshing to the eye and she is also very humourous ^^ The Animeted Critics are relatively new to the scene but they have some awesome content already put up by the blogger pair running it 😀
And that’s all for now! Thank you for reading, and leave a comment or like if you have dropped by! 🙂
So … I was nominated by Lovely of Words & Rhythm for the Sunshine Award! Thank you so much for nominating me 🙂
I admit I am secretly excited that I have yet another excuse to do a semi-personal post because I don’t do that very often ^^ Because I started my blog as an anime blog and I initially didn’t want to write anything too personal, but now that conception is slowly changing for me ^^ And of course, its always fun to do questions-and-answers with the WordPress community so with no further ado, I’ll dive straight in!
The Sunshine Blog award is an award given to “bloggers who are positive and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere”. (I googled that, hehe) Its really nice to have awards like these going around because it serves as a pat on the back to many deserving bloggers in the community for doing such a great job blogging!
The Guidelines:
Thank the person who nominated you.
Answer the questions from the person who nominated you.
Nominate a few other bloggers.
Write the same amount of questions for the bloggers you nominated.
Notify the bloggers on their blog.
Put the award button on your blog.
Lovely’s questions and my answers:
1. If a zombie apocalypse would happen right this very minute, are you going to tweet about it? But seriously, are you going to fight or run? Why?
I don’t actually have Twitter, but if I had an account I probably will ^^ but it must come with an image so that people will actually believe me, haha! Well, I guess I am not much of a fighter; I bet I am a lot better at running away lol. I am quite cowardly in the face of such adversities I believe HAHA.
2. How would you spend a million dollars?
I am afraid my answer won’t probably be too interesting here oops! I’ll probably invest most of it instead of merely keeping it in the bank. Though that also means I have to study first on what makes a good investment hehe. I’ll use 10k to travel the world on a backpacking basis 🙂
3. What thing would you want to change yourself?
I think at this point in time, there’s only one thing that pops into my head: I want to be and look more confident and be able to speak well. No seriously! Currently its kind of obvious I lack that when I speak to certain people especially those whom I know to be more senior and intelligent than me, though I presume I have a brain and all but when I open my mouth it tends to freeze. 😦
4. What’s your chinese birth year sign?
This is easy cos I am Chinese! I am born in the Year of the Rooster, and Roosters are really …. hardworking. Haha!
5. If you could invent something, what is that? why?
Hmm this would have been slightly harder to answer a few months ago but now my answer is clear as day: I would invent a time machine that where you can travel back in time or to the future, and change certain decisions you make. It must also have the capability to produce more time if I want it (lmao) so that I have lots of time to do everythinggggg I want to do!
The reason is that time is the best resource a person could have. It gives you an edge above people, it enables you to learn things, every relationship has to withstand the test of time. So time triumphs everything. Now if time is the ultimate victor, what better than enabling time to be manipulated in favour of what you desire? 😉
I realise this could open up a topic of discussion especially for those who have watched Steins; Gate and all and realised how potentially disastrous it might be … but well I still believe the benefits outweigh the costs, if you aren’t greedy of course xD
6. A gift that you would love to receive on your birthday?
Honestly, this is a really tough one. I don’t really celebrate much of my own birthday because it always falls during exams (yeah, sucks to be me) and whatever gifts I receive are usually not on my birthday. It can be anything from a robotic boyfriend (HAHA, Absolute Boyfriend reference) to a song or a heartfelt written letter or actually even any material gift (like earrings or a bag or whatever, I know precisely how tough it is to choose such gifts for a friend’s birthday). Its the thought that counts, really ^^
7. What is wordpress’ effect in your life and your message to me as your fellow blogger?
WordPress has enabled me to meet people I would never dream of meeting and to be immersed in a community who share the same interests I do. I am really glad I decided to set up this blog ^^
As for my message to Lovely: Your blog’s awesome – you have all sorts of things on it and a variety of interests! I wish I had so many types of interests like that 🙂 I like the way you blog about photography, even certain events and food and of course, anime! I enjoy reading your posts and I hope you love and will continue blogging for a longgggg time! 😀
Blog nominations :
CoffeeHipster: This blog contains plenty of long & intellectual anime reviews, which I love because I love reading long posts. There are some essays on academic topics of interest too, mainly history related but very interesting as well. I personally like his style of writing and its a great recommendation to anybody who likes reading posts which dig deep. I am still waiting for more posts on Shinsekai Yori, an anime which I am too afraid to go about blogging myself for fear of screwing it up, haha!
Just Geeky Stuff: A variety of anime, TV series, movie reviews (and etc.) which are very concise but to the point. I enjoy reading his posts because I feel that they illuminate what the anime is about in not too many words (a skill I should pick up, hehe)
Just Something About Lynlyn: I like how she has many anime, book, manga reviews and they are very short and sweet, a breath of fresh air and a very good source of shoujo manga recommendations. 🙂
Takuto’s Anime Cafe: Many many reviews that are also analysed in depth; always a very good read for me! I like the way his blog is structured and we have had some good conversations as well.
LitaKino Anime Reviews: One of the first people I have followed on WordPress and has been an inspiration in terms of blogging ideas 🙂 Her positive and upbeat style of blogging is very fun to read as well!
OtakuRui: If we are talking about inspiration, the content of what Otakurui writes has always been a constant inspiration to me. We think alike and we have had so many, countless interesting conversations. I am so happy to have found her and I have WordPress to thank for that!! 😀
My questions for the nominees:
1. Do you think you’ll ever stop blogging? If yes, why and if no, why not?
2. How do you juggle between real life and blogging commitments?
3. Do you let people you know in real life read your blog? If yes, why and if no, why not?
4. What anime / manga / movie / TV series character do you resemble the most, in terms of personality?
5. What is the biggest concern you have right now?
6. Name one virtue/value that you think is extremely important and why.
Okay that’s all from me for now~ hope you guys would have fun answering the questions, thank you for reading and please spread the love ❤
the limitless imagination 