Q & A: Your Answers! (All 3 of them)

I waited long enough, but here’s my end of the bargain. This is where I get to respond to these questions and promote whoever bothered to ask them in the first place.

1. “What do you look for in a series when you are looking for something to watch?”- Scott from Mechanical Anime Reviews

Good question, Scott. This question obviously involves anime since I do cover that topic on this blog. When it comes to things I haven’t re-watched on Iridium Eye, I look for a few things. I tend to see if it’s from a creator I know first. Besides that, I tend to look for things such as originality, interesting characters, and a subject that will get me somewhat engaged. Sure, I’ve gone into a bunch of anime and movies blind, so I don’t become tainted by other reviews or hearing what the fanbase says. Sometimes it has worked out for me, and other times it hasn’t.

2. “Have you seen Pontypool and if so, thoughts?” – Irina from Drunken Anime Blog

Unfortunately, I haven’t. I did look into it, and I may give it a try whenever my schedule frees up. I seem to be lacking in horror movie reviews and I haven’t reviewed as many things from Canada. Sure, there are exceptions such as Perfect Blue, Ringu, or Kakurenbo as far as horror is concerned or Wilby Wonderful and The Corporation as far as Canadian cinema is concerned (not counting co-productions). We’ll see.

3. “Do you look for different things in anime films vs. live-action films?” -Moyatori from The Moyatorium

That’s something I never thought about too much, but I appreciate the question as it got me thinking a lot. There are things that I look for in both such as characterization, storytelling, originality, and presentation which can work in both media. Let’s start with anime films and/or series. Things that I exclusively look for in anime involve animation quality although I’m not a Sakuga-monger. I also pay attention to voice acting quality in the original track whenever I can compared to dubs sometimes. There have been cases where I’ve liked the dub more than the original Japanese track (see my thoughts on Shinesman, Sailor Victory, and Yugo the Negotiator on that issue). As far as live-action media is concerned, I focus on shot composition regardless of how high-quality the camera work is. I also focus on subtle things a lot more when it comes to acting such as facial expressions, the logic of a certain emotion, and also the cinematic technique which is something I know I can judge on since I do have a film background. As nerdy as it sounds, I do enjoy seeing the purpose of filming ideologies and using narrative techniques to convey the storytelling.

Thank you to all three of you who were kind enough to ask me these questions during my hiatus.

Do you have any questions for me? Just fire away at the comments section, but just make sure to keep it civil.

Thank you.