Lost in Ideas: The Mystery Blogger Award

Here we are with another tag post! I am working on a few different articles at the moment but felt as though I needed a break of sorts from that rhythm, so this is a welcome opportunity for that. I was first tagged for this by Nora over at IT’S YOUR FAULT I’M NOT POPULAR!, so am going to respond to that; to Aizen_Kuro over at It’severythinganime, I also appreciate you mentioning me, but as this is already quite an extensive tag I thought I wouldn’t stack them up. Thank you to the two of you, and for those reading, go and view their blogs!

Right, then, here we go, time to find out more about, well, me? Here are the rules, as copied from the post I was tagged in:

The Rules

1. Display the award logo on your blog.
2. Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
3. Mention Okoto Enigma, the creator of the award.
4. Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.
5. Answer 5 questions from the nominee.
6. Nominate 10 – 20 bloggers.
7. Notify your nominees by leaving a comment on their blog.
8. Ask your nominees 5 questions of your choice, including 1 weird or funny question.
9. Share the link to your best post.

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3 Things About Myself

Profession: People who read this site may not know that I am a graphic designer, so this seems a suitable place to mention it! I have a Degree in Design for Publishing and 2 years of experience in industry. My focus is on printed products such as magazines and books, which matches my personal trait of collecting physical media. The tangibility of beautiful printed products holds so much value to me, and being involved in creating in them supplies this to me as well.

Gaming: It may be clear I am a fan of gaming – considering this site! – but here is some trivia for you: all the way back in 2010, I took part in Britain’s Best Nintendo Gamer, where after qualifying locally, I got to the finals with 15 others. These were held in London, and Nintendo treated us very well on our trip there. The game for the finals was Goldeneye on the Wii, which hadn’t been released yet! I narrowly missed out on the final 4, placing 2nd in my match, but still, I won a year of free Nintendo first-party games, as well as a Super Mario Bros. DSi XL for winning at a Guitar Hero side tournament they had there! I also got to know some new fellow gamers, which was great.

Activity: I have done quite a bit of field archery in my time, and know my way around a bow! In games and other mediums, I am drawn to archery and those who wield a bow, so it seems right that I have done it myself. My focus was on recurve – I prefer this to certain modern bows with many extra devices such as weights. I am considering Green Arrow for future cosplay!

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My Answers

Following are my answers to the five questions asked; I have copied the questions from the post in which I was tagged:

I mentioned something I started doing thanks to anime. What about you? Have you ever took up on or tried something that you saw in anime?

I mean, I guess the clearest example would be when I got into Trading Card Games around the time that Yu-Gi-Oh! was ascending into stratospheric popularity. The anime and the card game were much more intrinsically tied together than, say, Pokémon, where the anime and the TCG were – to me – more separate from the success of the games. I played the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG from early on, eventually starting to go to a local club where I met new people who would become friends. I actually found quite a bit of success, winning promotional cards, sleeves, and more. I really enjoyed that, but did drop off around the time that XYZ was introduced – in my opinion, they started to over-complicate the game. I still collect the cards, but I don’t currently regularly go to a club as I used to.

Any general bad habits/a type of prejudice that you have when you’re first starting an anime series? Example: I am very picky about genre, thus I don’t start a series from *insert the genre you don’t like* unless I read very good things about it.

Hmm… Perhaps art style. I often find myself watching anime with detailed and soft aesthetics, such as Your Lie in April, with stunning use of colour that is not in-your-face. Other anime that have that perhaps more intense, flatter style can initially sway me away. I should be more open to watching them and seeing how they are in movement though, as perhaps I would enjoy them differently to how I reckon beforehand. A few examples are My Hero Academia, Kill la Kill, and Naruto – they’re not as high in my list of to-watch as, say, a show such as Violet Evergarden is, and the art style is part of that.

Any title that you think should exist in another form? Ex. a manga that needs an anime adaptation, an anime that needs a game adaptation etc.

Great question. I reckon a Kakegurui game could be awesome! They way that world is constructed, with the tiers of status, could make for a satisfying progression system as you try to survive your academic life, playing the different games that appear in the manga and learning more on each character. It could be a mix of visual novel and puzzle game, with these various matches to make your way through and a story that is constantly evolving as you do so. It’d also be a reason to get awesome new artwork of the characters!

What’s one character you think is greatly misunderstood by fandom or a series that is paid dust but it should change?

This isn’t so much for anime or directed at the fandom or series itself, but I found the way certain people reacted to Shadow of the Tomb Raider in 2018 disconcerting. For the final game in the origin trilogy, Eidos Montreal and Square Enix made the choice to explore how the quest for answers Lara Croft is on is in some ways hurting her and the people around her, resulting in multiple points where she shows her vulnerabilities and flaws. I saw some people react to this in a disappointing way, as though she had to be constantly endearing and happy. In my opinion, the game handles itself very well and treats this aspect of itself with class. They did not have to delve into the character in this way, yet they did, and that should be applauded.

Something personal: what is one thing that you didn’t think would enjoy/it wasn’t your thing but out of utter boredom you took it up and enjoyed in the end? I’m sure quarantine life had us do otherwise unreasonable things.

To apply context again, this isn’t an idea I was against, but one I just hadn’t put enough into pursuing, and that is Discord. For years I have heard of people using it for chat and easier discussion with friends, especially for gaming, but for some reason I had just not gotten into it. However, during this year and the obstacles of contacting others it has brought, my friends and I tried it out. It has replaced much of my other social media since for keeping in touch with said friends, and allowed us all to converse in a more cohesive and satisfying way. The multiple chat channels, with an efficient combination of text, audio, and video, has been a personal revelation and helped to be a daily source of communication in a year where doing it face-to-face has been tough.

Bonus question: Terry Eagleton once said “Evil becomes sexy, when virtue becomes boring,” in a discussion on our fascination with evil characters. What are your thoughts on this? This isn’t easy to just answer under an award post and I intend it to be more of a conversation starter, or a new blog post idea that you may want to play around with.

This is a question I may indeed go into elsewhere in a separate article. It extends on from my point on Lara Croft; characters facing personal setbacks, and then learning and improving in those areas, can be very rewarding to view, endearing them to us for their determination to be better. For antagonists, they are there to be people with opposing ideals that we may not agree on, and so that conflict is built-in; therefore, they inhernetly have that space in which to change in a positive way, and when they do that they can be fascinating for the audience. I mean, take my favourite TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Angel and Spike are amazing examples of character development and redemption arcs.

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Right, now time to nominate people! Seems plenty have been tagged already elsewhere, so I am not going to tag 10-20 here, so as not to repeat tags already done. Instead I am going to tag 5 people; if you are mentioned, don’t consider it an obligation, but a suggestion! My 5 questions for you all are then below.

Shoot the Rookie
Frostilyte
Wretched and Divine
Nepiki Gaming
Gray’s Otome Visual Novel Corner

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Questions

1. Is there a particular genre of game, anime, or otherwise that you previously did not have much experience with, but over recent times have found yourself discovering an enjoyment of?
2. Have you ever considered getting into cosplay? If so, which character(s) do you reckon you would embody?
3. Which is your favourite gaming-time snack and drink combo?
4. Is there a particular game series you have never played that you plan to soon get into?
5. If you could go on holiday with any fictional character, who would it be and where? You can choose the tone of holiday!

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Best Post

Finally, for my best post, I am going to include a link to one I did on Celeste back in 2018, named: Celeste Tackles Anxiety in a Way Only Games Can. That is a game that is very special to me in how it handles certain mental health issues in a way that is interwoven into the gameplay itself, and has really helped me personally in tackling certain internal thoughts. Firstly, I recommend that you play the game, but then afterwards I would point you to read this, as it is an article that means a lot to me. It is awesome that Lena Raine – who did the music for Celeste – mentioned it on social media too, a wonderful moment for me!

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Well, there you go, I hope you feel as if you know me a bit better! This was a fun one, and perhaps a great way to change up the format of writing. As aforementioned, I am working on several exciting articles that are on the way soon. I hope you have a brilliant day!