Interview with Irina, Anime Blogger

Introduction:

Irina is a blogger, who writes about anime. Unlike me, however, she writes about anime only, instead of moving from topic to topic. Also, she writes and publishes a post daily, something which I admire, but do not wish to replicate.

You can check out her blog here.

Interview:

Me: I like to start with a simple question. So, tell us a little about yourself?
Irina: That is not an easy question, it’s very intimidating! My name is Irina. I run a small anime blog on WordPress which is what has earned me the honour to be here today. I hope I don’t disappoint.

Me: When did you begin to develop your interest in anime, and why?
Irina: I would say I was around 4 years old and as far as the logical reasoning I had at that age goes, I probably just liked the colours. I still prefer illustrations to photographs so I must be that type of person.
As to why anime more than other animated media. I don’t think I had a preference back then but in time I just found that anime had a lot more variety to offer and I enjoyed a lot of the tropes and narrative conventions popular in the medium.

Me: What were the early anime you liked the most?
Irina: The first animes I remember watching are the French Version of Rose of Versaille (Lady Oscar), L’oiseau Bleu (I think the original title is something like Tyltyl and Mytyl) and Ulysses 31. When I say remember, it’s more like I remember the images and a vague impression of the shows, I couldn’t actually tell you what happened in them except for Rose of Versailles which I rewatched a bit more recently. But they still have a special place for me just by pure nostalgia. I had no idea that they were anime at the time or what an anime was for that matter, but they were cartoons I liked.
Me: When did you start to write? Did you use to write before you opened your blog?
Irina: I started my blog about 5 years ago and no, I hadn’t written anything before. I never even kept a diary. I’m not a very creative person generally speaking.

Me: What is your daily routine?
Irina: I assume you mean my blogging daily routine. I usually write down post ideas whenever they strike me. In the morning, on my commute to work, I’ll pick one and start writing – if I recently finished a series, I’ll start a review – I can’t usually finish it just on my way in though, so in the evening, on my way back home, I’ll pick up where I left off and finish the post. My evening commute is over an hour so that gives me plenty of time. If I have time, I might start a second post so I’ll end up with anywhere from 5 to 8 posts by the end of the work week.
If I am working from home, I will write on my lunch hour or right after work.
Then I format the posts, get the pictures and schedule everything on weekends. It takes quite a bit of time.
The exception is episode reviews which I will write, format and schedule right after the episode has aired. This is why I don’t need to write on the weekends as well.

Me: Do you write daily? If yes, are there any advantages to it?
Irina: I do write daily. I don’t know that there are any advantages to it, it’s just that if I don’t maintain a routine, I’m probably not going to keep up with my blog. I’m a bit lazy.

Me: When was it when you decided that you wanted to write about anime?
Irina: I don’t know that I really decided that. It was sort of a very organic process. I thought to myself I like anime a lot, I would like to discuss it with folks. Oh, I could start a blog sort of thing.

Me: Did you suffer persecution in your younger days, (or even as an adult), because of what you like to watch?
Irina: Not at all. When I was younger, the only people who would have known or care about my hobbies would be people I do them with or people I’m close enough with to discuss my hobbies. It would have been weird of them to be jerks about it.
As an adult I am sometimes told that it’s a weird hobby or that I don’t look like the type of person who watches anime but that’s far from persecution. It usually varying degrees of polite curiosity.

Me: Any words for those people who dismiss anime as nothing more than shows for children?
Irina: I mean anime is a storytelling medium with images. It’s a functionally the same as paintings are to photographs. I’m not sure if those people would consider illustrations as pictures for children… Some are, sure.
This said, with Marvel superhero movies being one of the most popular form of entertainment in the world right now I think that point of view is getting seriously outdated now.

Me: Is there a specific genre which you like the most? Or do you just pick and choose, and not worry about it?
Irina: Not really. I like to romance a bit less but there are plenty of romance anime I have enjoyed a lot and I certainly don’t avoid it.

Me: Potentially dangerous topic here. What is your opinion on the sub vs. dub debate?
Irina: It’s nice that we have so many new jobs for English voice actors now. As for the consumer side, I think people should watch whatever they enjoy watching most.

Me: I remember how they used to dub the songs in anime in the 90s. Specifically, the opening and endings of Yu Yu Hakusho. Recently, they also dubbed the songs of characters in an episode of the Welcome to Demon School Iruma-Kun. Do you think it is right to do that?

Irina: I’m not sure about right or wrong but it can be really hilarious!

Me: *Gets on dogeza* Please rain the pearls of wisdom down upon me. I want to have a popular blog like you.

Irina: Oh boy, first don’t… I get this question regularly. And sadly I can’t really answer. I think it’s just a question of persistence and luck. I know there are blogs that get a lot bigger a lot quicker through careful SEO and such, I’m rubbish at that stuff so I just keep writing and hope some people will want to read it. I think anyone that has been posting daily for a number or years will get an audience.

Me: Any final words to the readers of this interview?
Irina: First I would like to thank you very much for this interview. It was a lot of fun. If anyone out there is thinking about starting a blog, I say go for it. You can put as much or as little effort into it as you’d like and really, what have you got to lose? It can be a lot of fun!

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