Greetings everyone! I am a dedicated Akiba-Kei otaku named Kurai. Also known as Otaku_Kurai. Whose occupations are being a journalist. Aka, an otaku journalist that covers all of it. I am also a content creator, photographer, and influencer. I am the founder and owner of Animangemu, and I talk about anime, manga, video games, toys & games, live action, books, and all that is related to the otaku culture. This is my passion, and I take into it with a great heart. よろしく！！！
Ladies and gentlemen… The most depressing manga news is about to unfold for many manga readers… Today, the manga industry mourns for the passing of Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump mangaka creator Akira Toriyama. Toriyama’s reputation isn’t just big, but arguably, one of the most well known mangakas ever in history. Toriyama was the mastermind responsible for not only creating a revolutionary manga series that became the most famous and well known manga worldwide that created a generation. He also revolutionized a serialization company, a genre, an industry, and a concept that many mangaka follow to this day.
Everyone wants the following in their fantasy life.
A Cool Warrior
A Cool Dragon
A Cute Dog/Cat Companion
These were the words said by my older brother when I showed him my four favorite TCG cards of my collection. Indeed, he is 100% right. When I look at my favorites, it exactly matches what he said. My cool dragons are the Red-Eyes Black Dragon from Yu-Gi-Oh! And the Nillious Ultra from Bakuman, my adorable black cat like companion who is Umbreon from the Pokémon franchise, and my cool Knight, the Knight of Infamy from Magic: The Gathering. These cards are my favorites, and looking back, It’s something that I have always stuck around with. For some reason, I have always loved the dark and edgy looking TCG cards from nearly every franchise.
The Red-Eyes Black Dragon has always been a fan favorite of mines. Ever since its debut in the original Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters, when I saw its first summon by Joey, I instantly fell in love with it. Its slick design, unlimited potential with future cards making it more powerful, and its lore as a potential power for the duelist automatically made it a fan favorite of mines. I would use Red-Eyes Black Dragon on every Yu-Gi-Oh video game, such as The Falsebound Kingdom, World Championship, and Tag Force. When I finally owned my first Red-Eyes Black Dragon card, (a rare limited edition by the way), it felt like a feeling of joy. Years later, I still love it, and even though I love other monsters like Black Wings, Dark Rainbow Dragon, etc., Red-Eyes will always be a favorite of mines.
Then There’s Umbreon, a long favorite of mines and my favorite Pokémon of all time. Since Umbreon is from a video game franchise, which is the Pokémon franchise, anything related to Umbreon will always be an automatic number 1 favorite since it is my favorite Pokémon of all time. So there is no need for a long description of why Umbreon is my favorite of all time. That will be reserved for another time. Despite this awesome looking Umbreon card, I am unsure if it will remain my favorite Umbreon card of all time. As I am aware that there are plenty of more cool looking Umbreon cards, and perhaps more useful in the TCG metagame than this one. Nevertheless, its holographic slick design, beautiful TCG artwork, and nice layout definitely wins an automatic favorite for me.
Nillious Ultra from Bakugan has always been a fan favorite of mines. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a lot of Bakugan models. However, I can’t lie to you that Darkus and Aquous are my favorite elemental types of Bakugan, and in fact, they are my majority collection as I have showed it in the previous article and photo of mines. Of course, I plan to collect more of the others in the future. Nillious Ultra is another favorite of mines simply because he has a dark cool edgy design, an impressive looking Bakugan figure, used by an interesting character who is named Magnus Black, and overall, I just love it. Now, there are more upcoming Bakugan in the future, so, let’s see if it can hold its crown as my number 1 Bakugan favorite.
Then we have The Knight of Infamy. Now, please excuse me for this. I have only recently got into Magic: The Gathering last year. I am a complete noob to Magic and I sincerely hope that I hone my skills with the game more and more as I discover new cards and new things about Magic. Aside from that, Knight of Infamy was a random card that I randomly saw when searching for my first ever MTG purchase. When I saw its design, description, and its element, I couldn’t help but decided that this card will become my favorite. Now, as time goes on, I know Knight of Infamy will be challenged by other MTG cards, and it’s unknown if it will be able to keep his title defended. Aside from that, he’s awesome!
All of these cards are awesome, and I hope to collect some more in the future. Slap in other franchises like Beyblade, Digimon, others, and the edginess is complete!
Well well well, would you look at that? After nearly 12 years since Pokémon X and Y’s release which was on October 13, 2013, we are finally going back to the Kalos region, with the announcement of Pokémon Legends: Z-A which is scheduled for a 2025 release, I can’t help but feel extremely satisfied. Nearly all Pokémon regions have enjoyed their fair share of in depth lore, filled with a wide variety of Pokémon, constantly being mentioned as nostalgia bait, and getting new additions to the region, and it’s Pokémon over and over again. New characters from the region, check! New Pokémon forms from the region, check! Old characters and old mechanics from the region, check!
To my fellow otaku gamers, I have been away for a bit due to the busy, but tremendous start to this year as well. Do you remember the previous photo that I uploaded that showed my console collection? Truth be told, I was pretty unsatisfied with the way they looked, and how i took the photos. Dust was everywhere, the quality was off-putting, taken at the wrong time, and I definitely didn’t enjoy the position they were in. So, I decided to retake the photos again. Since I had to clean house and clean up the areas where my consoles since they take up the most dust, I decided to retake them at the right time. So far, they are in a much better position, and the photos look a lot better. Not only did I make them easier to access and play, but I also put them in a much safer position. While, at the same time, making them look tidier and without to go through the hassle of having consoles and controllers everywhere.
Similar to what I said before with my old photos, these consoles mean a lot to me. In fact, I have three more that are unused, 1 because of no games, and the other two because, unfortunately, they are broken and unusable. Aside from that, it’s hard to believe that I have had these consoles for years. Almost all of them are 10 years, except the PS4 and Nintendo Switch. Honestly, I feel emotional when looking at them. Sadly, I used to have a lot of them in the past, but some disappeared due to system failure, or unknown memories. It’s my sworn quest to recollecting all of them, and also brand-new ones as well that I have never played. Aside from that, I cherish these consoles, and I hope to expand their library soon. Here is how old they are when I bought them.
Wii: 15 Years Old (2009)
PS1: 21 Years Old (2003)
3DS: 11 Years Old (2013)
Wii U: 10 Years Old (2014)
PS4: 8 Years Old (2016)
Switch: 7 Years Old (2017)
Hopefully, I can get more of them soon, and also get a PS5 and Xbox Series X soon.
Ladies and gentlemen, today is an important day for Animangemu. Because exactly on this day, two years ago, and a year ago, something happened that was significant for Animangemu, and those two anniversaries, are pretty much what helped Animangemu being kicked into full gear. The second anniversary was when I launched Animangemu as a website, and believe me, how it looked two years ago looks nothing like the Animangemu that you see today. In fact, when I launched Animangemu in 2022, its logo looked completely different, and this is how it looked.
I have come a long way since reinventing Animangemu’s logo, and at the time when I launched my website, I solely focused on anime, manga, and video games. That’s why if you see a lot of leftovers AMG letters, that’s because I was intending on making Animangemu solely focusing on those three. Of course, as time goes on, I became more educated, more knowledgeable, and developed new passions that were a part of the hemisphere, such as Tokusatsu, electronics, and airsoft. Eventually, other mediums from toys & games, live action, and books that involved the otaku culture, became a part of Animangemu. Finally, the otaku culture, the biggest definer of my brand, was added as a lot of interests of the otaku culture reside in this hemisphere. Looking back, It feels nice to see how much things have changed, and it will only get better.
This you see right here was my first article published on Animangemu, (excluding the previous articles before 2023). If you click on the picture, it will direct you to my first article. Looking back, Animangemu’s early goal was to be the best news source and provider for all things otaku, but, eventually, one of the plans was to expand my brand, and become holder of all narrative of everything otaku. News feeds still exist, but now only as an opinion source rather than a general article, and I did that experiment with the controversial Assassination Classroom ban by a Florida and Wisconsin school, and it was a HUGE success. Everyone became interested in it, and my view count just spiked like crazy. Eventually, I can’t wait to make my own self-published opinion articles on many topics that revolve around the otaku hemisphere. Looking back at this, I can feel like I have come a long way since I first started, and I feel pretty emotional knowing that this was a work of mine that is still running after a year and more. I thank God for this beautiful blessing, and I can’t wait to start more in the future. Don’t worry my fellow otakus, more greatness awaits soon God Willing.
Thank you for reading this article, and going down the memory lane with me. Stay tuned for more!
Animangemu 