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22 Years of Fun (and Stereotype)

Many thanks to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday! It’s much appreciated and did turn out to be a pleasantly happy one.

As a random bout of this 22-years-alive appreciation day, I’ve written down some random facts about me that come attached with some commentary! So if you’re a little curious about me, past my thoughts on 179 manga books (hard to believe I’ve written that many since March 2007…), then check it out after the jump! Maybe you’ll discover we have some more stuff in common; the misunderstood, multi-hobby geeks that we are!

I’m a 22-year-old female.

I find myself a little shamed to say that I can’t tell the gender of some bloggers I follow across the internet. Sometimes I find myself surprised to learn that one I always thought was one gender, ended up being another. Gender-knowledge really doesn’t change much but it can certainly surprise you none-the-less, so if for some reason there is ever reason to question mine, now you know.

I’m Canadian.

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Living up here in good ‘ol Canada, which by the way shares a climate similar to much of the United States aka: no, we don’t live in igloos, travel on polar bears or continue to get over our recent acquisition of electricity. Those silly stereotypes aside, I often find myself amazed at how many people seem to think Canada and America differs in terms of people, interests and general market. We get just as many manga, comics and movies as you guys down below and at the same time (if not earlier). So, no, I’m not automatically months behind you because I live a couple miles to the North, alrighty?

I read, enjoy and collect comic books.

Some recent bedtime reading.A manga fan who also enjoys comic books as well. Another difficult thing for many people to grasp, don’t you find? I fully admit that manga wins my time predominantly because there’s just far too many comic series, coming out too often and too expensive as little floppies for me to afford! Amazing how fast a collection can grow up to the hundreds though (Free Comic Day never hurts either!)

But, joyously, the growing trend of trade paperbacks leaves me enjoying them more than ever, so bring on the capes and colours! Marvel and DC continue battle for my comic-loving soul but it’s hard to go wrong with Image and Aspen. Excuse me while I catch up on what the Midnighter’s up to, laugh enjoyably at the WTF moments of Superman and Batman’s team-up adventures, and continue weaving through the webs of Civil War if only to find another glimpse of the Avengers and their newly formed, Young Avengers (whose series’ I highly recommend, by the way).

I play video games.

Frequently even. I highly recommend some good, thick Dance Dance Revolution pads (extra price is definitely worth it for the good ones) for those who live in front of their computers all day like me. They allow me some semblance of a healthy lifestyle. Aside from those, favourite series include Resident Evil, Kingdom Hearts, Soul Blade/Calibur (though SC4 leaves me sad), Smash Brothers and God of War (though this list could on far past most attention spans, mine included). Mario and Zelda games always make for a fun revisit and you can never go wrong with your 327th play through of Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy 6.

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I love animation that isn’t from Japan too.

I’m a cartoon junkie! I also come across sounding much older than I am with my constant referrals to “my day”. You know the one I’m talking about: Gummi Bears, Gargoyles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Gem & The Holograms. The eighties and nineties were the time to be awake on a Saturday morning at the crack of dawn. 2D animation on television today generally stinks and likes to treat kids like their rather dumb. Where are the epic plotlines? Thought out characters? The mild but necessarily realistic violence that teaches children about consequences of such things while promoting friendship, morals and doing the right thing? Thank goodness for shows like Avatar which momentarily boost my faith in the North-American animated society (and the outsourced Korean animators who make most of our decent shows these days).

I’m currently a digital animation student focusing in 2D work. Anime isn’t what put me in animation school, these old shows did. Anime has just provided me with a level of animation and story you just can’t seem to find over here anymore. Thank goodness for its diversity!

I draw.

I like to think of myself as a bit of an artist. I’ve been doodling and drawing at random for several years now and I think I’ve gotten somewhat decent at it. And I love doing it too, which helps of course!

Anime-styled comic book fanart... just 'cause I can.But it seems when people see my artwork, I get one (or both) of the following responses:

“You draw? So you must want to make a manga right?”
I don’t have any plans to create my own manga or comics on my own, but I love illustrating and working with other artists. Dream job would be as an editor or assistant to a lead artist for a project though.

“How can do you both?”
I’ve gotten three e-mails from site visitors about this since my site went up last year. Is being interested in the industry, review writing and blog-surfing so odd for someone who also draws and occasionally dabbles in the fan community? What’s so hard to fathom about doing both? I may be a master of none but I do so enjoy being a Jack-of-all-trades sort of person.

I read and enjoy boys’ love stories… and I read other genres!

You ever have those one-liners that stick in your head forever? A while back I mentioned to someone that I read boys’ love and the response I got comes back to me every now and again. “Oh, well you should really try some other manga genres too.” It wasn’t even said in a mean manner either, which makes it worse. I often come across this thought every now and again. I find it hard to believe there could be fans who won’t read anything that doesn’t have a high probability of guys making out (though I don’t deny their existence), but I suppose they must be out there since I keep getting mistaken for them.

Also remember that just because I’m a fan, doesn’t mean that I automatically love all boys’ love stories either. Usually I’m about 65-35 on the like-dislike metre of reading boys’ love and I think it’s fair to say that my reviews reflect this.

I’m in love with manga but rarely find an anime that entertains me for long.

You can have a preference (why do some people try to argue such a basic concept?). I love manga, adore it, obsess over it, reread it. Anime… not so much. There’s a few series I will love forever, and I always give shows that catch my eye a chance, but no anime can ever hook me like a manga can.

I watch fansubs.

I may not watch a lot of anime compared to some, but I often look to fansubs to try out a series that hasn’t been licensed. And you know what? Any anime series that’s ever held my interest past three episodes and has then been licensed, I buy.

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Fansubs themselves aren’t the core problem of anime-decline, and there will always be easy, illegal ways to find anime. The legal way to enjoy anime costs a fortune and makes fans wait years to watch any new content. People can watch fansubs and buy anime too. Whether you watch fansubs or not, it’s the lack of buying that’s the key issue. The legal goods need to become faster and cheaper to make it any sort of real competition.

I buy anime to enjoy over and over and support the companies though I really wish it was feasible to do more often!

I read manga scanlations.

Mostly just one-shots, since longer series need to be in book format (since it’s just not the same any other way!). I don’t download licensed series (why would I need to when they come out so fast and affordably (you crazy stealer people)?!) and I delete any manga I have that has been licensed following my download. I also buy the Japanese editions because stealing is stealing with scanlations if you don’t! There’re millions of stories out there and barely a fraction will ever see English shores so scanlations are the only way some of us will ever see them. All the more reason to buy, love and appreciate what we do get here, translated and packaged for our convenience.

I’ve also purchased almost 2000 English-translated manga books over the last nine years (not counting the 100+ manga floppies when there were such things) and I’m nowhere near stopping:

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Fortunately for my apartment space’s sake, I’ve been learning how to let go of the series I don’t enjoy as much as the others. Have to make room for the new books after all! The boxes on the bottom are some of my current ready-to-gos.

As with fansubs, just because someone reads scanlations doesn’t mean they automatically don’t buy anything but remember, they’re never a substitution for purchasing the real thing!

I used to think saying words like kawaii made me totally anime-savvy.

Allow me to dodge your tomatoes and remind you I was 12 at the time. It also didn’t last long. Forgive me? ;)

I scar your eyes and ears.

About the Author:

Lissa Pattillo is the owner and editor of Kuriousity.ca. Residing in Halifax, Nova Scotia she takes great joy in collecting all manners of manga genres, regretting that there's never enough time in the day to review or share them all. Along with reviews, Lissa is responsible for all the news postings to the website and works full time as a web and graphic designer.



Kuriousity does not condone or support the illegal distribution of manga online.
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4 Responses

  1. How do we compare? I'm a female, several more years older than 22 (unfortunately), and I live in the US.

    I read comics, though not so much the Marvel/DC types. I just can't go with the crowd.

    I watched the Disney Afternoon cartoons too, and loved Gargoyles. JEM and the Holograms rocked, and I wish they would release the rest of the season on DVD (same for Gargoyles).

    I used to draw, though nowhere near as good as you.

    I'm not into Yaoi/BL, but do like a variety of genres.

    I do watch fansubs, but wait for season sets to buy.

    I've tried downloading scanalations, but I never get to reading them, so they end up getting licensed and I end up reading the books anyway.

    I don't have as many manga, but I only started in 2003, and didn't get serious until 2005, so you've got the years on me. Letting go is hard, but, I'm learning too.

    I never had the urge to say kawaii out loud. But I can still be a 12 year old in my mind. :)

  2. ahhh to be 22 again

    Glad i'm not the only one who has tones of manga. Things are so bad in my home the spare bedroom the study, and half of the bedroom are crammed full of manga. Even the bed is half covered in manga hehe i have to sleep on my side so as not to sleep on them o.O

    I haven't mastered letting go of stuff though, once i've got something it's there for the long term. hehe

    That said still a few hard to find series i'm after, Grey Witch and Demon Flame from Lodoss, Far and Away, Utena volume 5 (curse you Viz!!)

    I'm having to looking at moving shortly or i'm going to be like the bibliophile girls from R.O.D. I'll get home one days and have a manga draft :)

    As for Kawaii, i love that word!! it should official be adopted into the english language along with baka and a few others :)

  3. I am not deeply into western comics, but I *heart* Young Avengers! :D It warmed my heart to see them getting some love here.

    Part of what has drawn me to your blog is how much BL you read. I've had such bad luck with it. I was reading/writing slash fanfiction long before I discovered manga, and initially I thought that I would find a lot to love in BL, but honestly, it's been rough. I've had a difficult time finding series that satisfy me in terms of plot and thoughtful characterization, and while the boys making out is nice and all, it's hard for me to enjoy when it feels so contrived. I'm hoping that by paging through your reviews, I'll be able to find some stories that work better for me. The fact that you aren't exclusively a BL fan gives me more confidence in your reviews that some. :)

    I'm glad your birthday was happy!

  4. […] I was toodling around in Lissa Pattillo’s post-birthday/station-identification post this morning, I found myself mulling (once I’d finished groaning about my own old age) over […]

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