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03 Aug 2008 mellow_bunny

Interview: Extrange - Lolicon, Metrosexual, Manga Lord

I decided it’s high time we all learn a little more about the bloggers around us. All to often we dismiss the bloggers around us as nothing more then “entities” that exist only in our computers. So that we can all become acqauinted with one another i’ve decided to do a few interviews with fellow anime bloggers.

Today we hear from Extrange, I did my first blog post on Extrange’s old haunt XD! I’ve seen this dude progress in his writing and have been awed by his Manga knowledge and dedication. So here we go!

What’s your background/backstory? What makes Extrange well.. Extrange?
Well, I’m a 24 year old Portuguese University Student/Computer Sciences Teacher/Programmer. Yeah, I’m all that. And that’s what makes me Extrange, I’m a fusion of several aspects that you can’t find that easily. I lived in a big city, then in a small town; been always connected with several kinds of friends, from the geeks to the harcore punks to the hippies. It’s that adaptability that allowed me to get in touch with all kinds of points of view and made me into what I am today.

Can you give us a bit of a history around your getting involved with Japanese culture?
How long ago, what drew you to it, influences within and without the anime community that helped you get involved?

I’m not sure of my first contact, but I remember the ones that made me look into anime/manga. It was around ‘93, when stuff like Dragon Ball and Samurai X was spreading across Europe. National TV was even broadcasting anime I would never think they would, like Evangelion, Tenchi Muyo and Slayers.

Incidentally, I remember the 1st anime when I’ve looked into anime in the perspective of learning how to draw: Lost Universe. From there, it evolved to VHS purchases of movies (lol, I still have my Street Fighter II tape, that I used to hid away because of Chun-Li’s naked scenes), and manga sea rches in MSN Groups (my first manga that I’ve read fully on the Internet was Card Captor Sakura). Of course, this also included the aspects of Japanese society. This was mainly a solo hobby I had, since there was no such thing as weaboos or Narutards at the time.

How did you find starting a blog on anime?
Was it your first foray into blogging, did you have a massive learning curve, did you stop start for awhile?

My first anime blogging experience was probably September 2005, when I found the Animeblogger community and IRC chat (don’t ask me how, fuzzy memory). After a while lurking in #Animeblogger, I decided to start a blog too, for sharing my tastes and to learn more about blogging tools. The learning curve, structurally speaking, wasn’t steep, since I was on the Computer Science branch. What was hard was finding ways to express myself clearly. My English was good enough, but the trouble is applying it into post format, which requires some vocabulary that you only get with time. That’s the common challenge to non English native speakers, but it isn’t an unbreakable wall.

Do you find your current blogging situation much better for cultivating you as a writer?
Has blogging at THAT in what I hear is a structured and organised affair helped you to focus on timely information in a quality way?

Structured? More like a ramble of skirt chasers after a loli trap ass. Now seriously, being part of THAT is a forever learning experience. The main asset is the variety of backgrounds our bloggers have, which allows us to exchange ideas and experiences and to incubate our own ideas based on them. I notice it best in the way I blog, evolving from a rather synthetic and impersonal style to a format which allowed me to share my views in a more easy and free manner and at the same time it’s more simple to structure and write.

Do you have favourites when it comes to genres or studios?
Everyone has favourites, based on their past experiences. Currently, I’m impressed with the works from BONES (Kurau Phantom Memory, Xam’d: Lost Memories, Darker than Black, Chiko Heiress of the Phantom Thief, Soul Eater), which has a list of great productions in their curriculum….well, except Full Metal Alchemist TV, which still ticks me off because of the divergences with the manga plot.. But in general, the studio only tells me what basic expectations I should have, I prefer to trust in the view of the first episodes.

Do you have goals when it comes to your writing/blogging? If so what are they?
My main goal is simple: write about what I like. If you don’t write about the subjects you want to share with the readers, it only leads to a less-than-par article. But I would say my secondary goals would be to be apreciated by my fellow bloggers, which fortunely I am when it comes to manga issues.

Do you have other writers that you admire today? Do you have influences outside of the animeblogosphere that push you along?
Heh, this is a fun question. One of my influences is Crusader (fellow blogger at THAT) with his rambling style which combines his military expertise with anime criticism with the same skills he would shoot the right eye of a bunny at 300 meters with a Steyr AUG A1 (mellow: O_O). Another influence would be Owen S. from Cruel Angel Thesis, with his direct and provocative writing that bangs you in the head with a 30 pound hammer but that leaves his mark as intended. We may clash in the IRC, but that’s him being Tsun for me… Lastly, I would reference Usagijen from The Scrumptious Anime Blog, with her personal approach, which she writes in her blog in the same way she would write in a diary.

After taking a look at the current anime blogging community what do you think could be done to perhaps improve it?
Hmm, that’s a tough one. One good bet is making a place to newbie bloggers, where they would post under the same URL and with a specific forum with useful tips like text and image formatting, writing structure, etc. Newbie bloggers always commit the mistake of trying to face the blogosphere alone, in a foolish bravado, but that only leads to loss of interest and motivation due to lack of feedback from readers. Grouping them would lead to more motivation and a safe core where they can learn properly.

If you would like to also perhaps monologue on what your ideal manga/anime would feature. You could use anime/manga references and images basically anything you want to explain how your story would go.
It’s quite simple; animation by BONES, sound arrangement by Toru Nakano. Plot would be the anime adaptation of Gunnm (or Battle Angel Alita in the US.) It’s the manga I want to see animated more than any other.

Fun time!

Have you ever robbed a bank? I plead the 5th Amendment.
If you have gold fish what colour are they? They are orange .
How many times have you driven a getaway van? None, but I’ve driven a train…

Could you please draw a pic showing what you think a meeting between me (the bunny lord) and you (the metrosexual) would look like :D!
I don’t have a scanner, so have a phone photo :-p

THANKS EXTRANGE :D!