Hey everybody! c:
I’m honored to be the newest addition to RandomC’s staff of writers! The profile says Jig, but you can call me The Jig Man…or Jig Meister, Jiggy, McJiggerton, Andre Jiguodala, Jiggy Azalea—you get the idea.
Or Sweet Jesus. You can call me Sweet Jesus if you want to.
First and foremost, I stumbled into anime from a very early age. Having parents that worked as artists in the animation industry since before I was even born, I grew up around the medium in all of its forms—from Western to Japanese. I have thus grown to cherish animation as one of my most beloved modes of storytelling. Some of my favorite shows growing up ranged from programs I watched on the tube like Batman: TAS and Dexter’s Laboratory, to old tapes of stuff like Astro Boy, Mazinger, and Brave Command Dagwon that I would rent from the Asian video store.
My great love of anime stems from the Japanese’s very sincere regard for the storytelling possibilities and creative potential of the animated medium. Aside from a couple of rare exceptions (Avatar: The Last Airbender, Transformers: Prime, Pixar films, and the like) it’s really difficult to find many American animated productions which take the art form seriously (given the more Western consensus that animation should be reserved for kids’ cartoons or lo-fi mature comedy shows ala South Park and Family Guy. Not that I’m discounting these programs—they’re great for their own reasons). Anime, though, doesn’t play it safe—it dives headfirst into the absolutely insane levels of creative freedom and narrative possibilities which can be realized with animation, and it is so goddamn sweet.
I think it’s beyond my capability to pinpoint and delineate my specific tastes and preferences in anime. Like a lot of people (I presume), I’m unable to definitively predict if I’ll enjoy a show or not. Sure I could list some criteria for types of series I think I’d either absolutely eat up or spurn immediately, but my expectations have proven erroneous time and time again. Generally speaking, though, I consider my palette modestly expansive—some of my fave stuffz ranges from high-adrenaline, balls-to-the-wall action shows like Gurren Lagann and Kuroko No Basket (Basuke?), to the subdued complexity and allegorical intricacies of productions such as Garden of Words and Anohana (no Name wo Bokutouchywamajfdal;nlkla). I’m still fleshing out my MAL, but feel free to check it out if it tickles your fancy.
On a more personal note, I study both English Literature and Philosophy (and hopefully a film minor, if everything pans out accordingly) at UCLA in preparation for law school. I harbor a deep and intense appreciation for the art of storytelling, and consume it in all forms, from novels, to movies, to comic books, to video games, and so on. My exploits in creative writing turn out much the same as they do for many other “aspiring” writers—a half-finished screenplay there, a barely started novel over here. Right now, though, I’d like to complete an entire screenplay, as long and drawn out as the process might take (here’s hopin’!).
If I ain’t doin’ any of that though, you can catch me playin’ some tasty jams. Aside from gluing my headphones to my earholes, I’ve been playing the violin, guitar, bass guitar, and my vocal folds for many years, and am currently in the process of fluidizing myself with the ukulele and the piano. Now, I’m not the best at any of those, but I still have a blast playin’ ’em. 🙂 I also love me some hoops! I avidly follow the NBA and its day-to-day happenings and occurrences, and though I’m often far from being the best guy on the court, I try to find every opportunity I can to play.
Overall, I’m super stoked and honored that I’ll get to write for all you lovely pickles! Though I have a long ways to go and lots to learn, I’m hoping you’ll all be patient with me and help me grow along the way. All feedback, criticisms, and comments are immensely welcome and wanted. Let’s talk lots! Don’t be afraid to hit me up on Twitter, my amigos.
And with that, I bid you all adieu! And because all the cool kids are doing it:
よろしくおねがいします。
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.
Hi! Congratulations for being the new RC staff! (*flashing a yandere smile while hides a knife ala Yasai Guno). For the sake of curiosity, what shows will you cover this Fall?
The seasonal blogging pick knife fights don’t happen until after the preview is up, so I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a bit to see what the Jigster’ll get
And when will the preview be up? 😀 sorry.. just curious 😛 Always enjoy reading RC previews
As I said on the post announcing Jig’s selection, you can expect it sometime next week. In general, you can expect it around the 25th of the month in question—the 23rd-27th, or whereabouts.
Welcome to RC Jiggle Jiggle! Looking forward to your posts~
Welcome to RC Jigglypuff!
M’kay, Jigz McKenzie, Jigsaw, Jiggers, Jigs n’ Jugs, Jigs von… okay, okay, deep breaths, Ryan, deep breaths…
No, but really, I’m going to have an unhealthy amount of fun with your name. 🙂
Congratulations on becoming the newest
fresh meatwriter here at RandomC. Looking forward to seeing what you can do and what your first show will be. Do your best and seeya around. ;DExcellent use of Itsuki
Thank you Iketani-senpai
You know, I have to call you this forever now, right?
Welcome to the crew \o\
And i’ll love every minute of it :^D
A fellow Californian? Nice. Welcome to the anime blogging world. 🙂
Welcome, Jig! Finally! Maybe they’ll let me move out of the janitor’s closet now.
(Law school, though. Oh dear. Well, I hope you have fun with that.)
Didn’t they move you out when Samu joined the crew? XD
Anyway, welcome, Jiggy. Looking forward to reading your posts!
Ah, that was the cardboard box (passed down the RandomC family FOR GENERATIONS).
Hey, Sweet Jesus! ‘Sup~
Ya’ seem sprightly boiyh! Ne’er expected that you’d be the one, but y’know what? I bear-hug you into mah arms in love!
Now c’mon, let’s get jiggy wit’ it!
Seriously man, I thought it’d be someone like Pancakes or Frosty, but I guess we can always initiate our surgical strikes whenever the opportunity comes! Anyways, I’ll be lookin’ forward to more of ya’ Sweet Jesus! Just hopefully the shows you talk about have one or two missile silos to bomb~ (If you know what I mean)
What’s with the country accent Nishizawa-san? LOL.
I know it’s random, but believe or not, if it ain’t for ‘speech-training’, I’d end up speakin’ English like I came from the southern United States. That’s just how it is son. But it’s also ‘cuz I’m from Malaysia, and quite a few of us do a lotta ‘code-switchin’, so our accents change dependin’ on who we’re talkin’ to.
Can we call you Jiggly Jiggly Heaven?
Also, congrats on getting on being the new blogger Jig, can’t wait to see what kind of shows you’ll pick and reading your posts.
Yes that would be righteous. And thanks B^)
Welcome to the RC community, Jiggles.
Spontaneous nicknaming aside, I’m looking forward to reading your posts for the upcoming Fall 2015 anime season. (You guys might want to start working on that preview.)
The Jig is up. Welcome aboard! Anyone who has Anohana listed among their faves is a person of good taste.
Finally, I’m no longer the kouhai blogger~
Hehe, first thing that popped into my mind when seeing this introduction was literally “the Jig is up!”.
Welcome Jig! Looks like you already got yourself a catchphrase! 😀
i will call you Jiggy peper because your name suit that most
welcome to RC Jiggy peper
Congrats! 🙂
I look forward to your future post’s.
Sweet Jesus, did you do that intentionally?
בּ_בּ … fade to black
Hi Jig! I can sort of feel a happy energy from your introductory post, which makes me feel bouncy and giggle-y and happy too. Or maybe I’m just going mad from studying too much. Anyway, welcome and looking forward to seeing more from you! I think I like you already.
Welcome Jiggy to RC!
I am looking forward to see your posts next season and now what kind of shows you will choose. I have been following this blog for 2 years and have tremendous influence in what anime that I watched. For working man like me, I don’t have time to watch entire animes in a season and always go to this blog to see what is worth to watch.
Anyway, welcome again to RC!
Gettin jiggy wit it
Na na na na na na na nana
na na na na nana
Gettin jiggy wit it
Always nice to read a fresh perspective, though I guess I’ll have to wait and see what shows you end up covering.
Just curious, what’s your NBA team? My guess is Dubs based on your reference and apparent location?
You know, I’ve grown up surrounded by Lakers fans, so it’s heresy, but I’ve always been a die-hard Celtics fan.(^8 and yourself?
That’s an interesting choice, do you happen to have a contrarian streak?
I’m a Warriors fan (my local team), finally rejoicing after supporting nearly 2 decades of mostly bad, but entertaining, teams.
So that’s how he got in! Someone just said “Let’s get jiggy” so the did 😀
Jigster? Jigermeister?
whatevr u want bb
Congrats on getting selected!
Welcome Jig, looking forward to getting acquainted with you here in the comments section! That is, if my schedule will allow. This crazy life is devolving me into an RC lurker…XP
Welcome to Random Curiosity!
I love that I got a feeling of nostalgia from just the Initial D picture.
INITIIIAAALLL DDEE
True that animation in the US has evolved into something that is considered only kiddie fare but it didn’t start out that way. It’s partly a product of the TV age and partly from censorship. Some of the early cartoons were rather adult. For example the Betty Boop cartoons.
Does this mean RandomC will return to form and review the weird and random once again?
Sweet Jesus, you’re first tweet is an output code from Java? What’s up with that? hahaha XD
Anyways, congratulations on making the team Jig! RandomC’s got a new water boy now. XD From what you’ve written here, I can’t really describe your writing style, yet. It’s a bit energetic and, well, jiggly. I’m looking forward to your posts and what you’ll be covering this Fall. An additional blogger would mean RC’s gonna be covering more shows, a little ironic though since Fall looks rather bleak.
Oh well. Good job as usual RC. Cheers! 😉
tehe
R U VIRGIN?
welcome to the gang !!!
by the way… WE NEED FALL PREVIEW !!!!
thanks man
I can assure you that the Randomc staff is laboring hard away at the Fall preview, probably as we speak, so don’t worry, it’ll come. 🙂
Welcome to the crew Jig.
Glad to hear you are a fan of Avatar:The Last Airbender, i was hoping we might see it here on RC when it was airing as it’s worth the exception considering how good it is and closer to anime than to normal western cartoons.
That said, there are several western cartoon lately which broke the mold and tried to present something a lot more mature than the kiddy shows and the mature comedy ones, shows like Gravity Falls, Adventure Time and Steven Universe (as well as Over the Garden Wall) offer an experience closer to anime than what we expect from western cartoons, long arching plots, interesting characters, real-life issues and dilemmas .. etc etc .. it would be great if those shows get some coverage here to introduce people to those shows.
===================================
Also, another criminally underrated amazing show that rivals anime in terms of story quality and character complexity is Wakfu, it’s a french cartoon based on an MMO made by a french company called Anakma, thing is .. it might seem all cutesy and “for kids” at first glance, but once you dig into the story you will find the show with great characters, unique animation, great humor, epic fights and a fantastic overarching story, and i dare say some of the best villains in any animated show to date.
The two seasons of the show are now available on Netflix dubbed in English and there are a couple of movies and OVAs that tie all loose ends fantastically (some even dedicated to the villains), all in all if you enjoyed Avatar Wakfu is a MUST WATCH, would be great if you watch it and even greater if you manage to give it some exposure/coverage here (even if it’s just a single post).
Welcome again and will be awaiting your future coverage.
I’ve heard good things about Wakfu, mayhaps I’ll give it a watch in the future, haha
Welcome to the RC family Jiggle-wiggle! Your writing has a very subtle and deliberate feeling to it. There’s a very curious aspect that I cant quite pin down, perhaps it stems from your interest in Philosophy. I love the shout out to ATLA and Dexter’s Laboratory! I look forward to your posts and pass on energy and thanks to the entire staff for working on the new season preview. So much to look forward too! 😀 As a looong time follower, it warms my heart to see RC growing and thriving. :)<3
Can I call you Jigglypuff?
P.S. Welcome! Excited to read what you have in store for us. (Sorry for the double post. My last message was cut off.)
whatever jiggles your wiggle. and thanks 😀