What Was He Thinking? An Interview With the Amazing Arthifis

There was some exciting news last week as Arthifis unveiled their project they’ve been teasing for some time. The final reveal: a guide book to the Autumn season of anime. Arthifis has taste-tested quite the selection of ‘fall’ anime for those who just don’t have the time to try everything for themselves and written up his findings in a beautifully organised and cleanly laid out format that is a delight to read. And after all of that work and effort and love (and it really is a project filled with love and enthusiasm) he’s made is available for everyone right here.
Now, you can donate to his ko-fi if you want to support him and the work he has done, and you can use his links to Amazon if you are feeling the need to go shopping, but really he’s put this out for free and asked only that we help spread the word. 

When asked if I could do a quick post about the project to help spread the word I was delighted, but more than that, I wanted to try something a bit different (for me) and so I asked if Arthifis would mind answering some interview questions about his project. Arthifis agreed and so I now bring you:

The First Ever 100 Word Anime Author Interview Featuring the Amazing Arthifis!

01. You had mentioned this super secret project for awhile now, what gave you the idea to put together a guide for the anime season?

Uuuh that’s a nice question 🙂 Well, as you know, I’ve said that this season I would be following seasonal Anime, something I have never done before. In the beginning I thought in just doing First Impressions in some of the Anime shows I was following at my blog. However, I am a completionist in everything I do, so the idea of doing a guide with all the shows airing at the moment just felt right.
When the idea came, I just liked it a lot. Then, when I started thinking carefully about it I just thought in how awesome this would be and how much fun it would be doing this. So, I just rolled with it eheh

02. How did you find trying to watch the first three episodes of pretty much everything you had access to? I mean, I watch a lot of anime and even I can’t imagine trying to stick with every show for three episodes. Some don’t last three minutes.

Well, I think that doing a first impressions review with only one episode watched can bite you in the back real fast. One one hand, we have that Anime shows are using over the top first episodes more and more so that they can grab the attention of the viewers in coming back in the next episode. On the other hand, there are also Anime shows which, due to not having so much budget the first episode can be sort of bad and the get better along the time. For example, there were Anime shows who had clear problems in the audio at the first episode and then improved a lot in the following episode.

This way, I think 3 episodes are good enough to get a sense of the show and if I’m going to like it. But, there are some exceptions. Conception is one of those that after watching the first episode I immediately knew where I was going to put it 😛

03. I’m very curious about your three categories you have used in the guide. “Good for the chakra”, “meh”, and “not my cup of noodles”. Were these your first picks, were they inspired by something, or did you spend hours trying to figure out what to call them?

Well, the “Not My Cup of Noodles” just came to me by inspiration. It’s basically a playing of words of “Not My Cup of Tea”. However, the other 2 were not that easy ahah

I really had to thought out about “Good for the Chakra” one. I actually had other thing in mind for that category, but it was not as good. Then I remembered the saying “Good For The Soul” and just added an Anime/Asian twist 😛

“Meh” well that one is actually the feeling I had when I watch something that has a lot of promising and doesn’t seem to actually give what it should give xD

04. Was there any anime you really regret investing the time in to try and write up your first impressions?

Hmmm, to be honest I don’t even know… Let me see… My sister, My writer is probably one of them. It’s just not my genre and I could have done the review with the first episode. Nevertheless, I wanted to give it a chance before reviewing it… Ended up being the same review I would have done in the beginning.

05. Did you discover an anime that you now absolutely love because of this project?

Oh yes! A few to be honest! This way I’ll just put it as a list:

Himote House – I’m sure I wouldn’t watch this if not for the guide. However, the Anime ended up being really fun to watch. And, yes, I know that the 3D characters is a little off putting, but after a while I was able to just go with it.

Release the Spyce – I’m not a big fan of the Cute Girls doing Cute Stuff, so this one was going to be a pass for me. After watching the first 3 episodes I just love it! Clearly this taught me, yet again, to not judge something by its cover.

Karakuri Circus – Another one that was going to be a pass for me because of the more retro animation. Ended up having a lots of fun and not disliking the animation as much as I thought I was going to.

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai – This one I blame MAL for my pass. Basically from the cover and the sinopsis it just felt it wasn’t for me. However, the Anime ends up being way more interesting than what the synopsis tries to sell you.

The others are Anime shows that I was already thinking on trying sooner or later 🙂 (From the ones I love, I mean).

06. I really love the layout and design of each page in the reviews. How did you settle on the look for the guide?

Does, trying out things until I liked suffices as an answer? xD

Now, really, the first thing I had in mind was the font I was going to use. After that was the title for each Anime, meaning the color, size and so on.

Then I already had in mind to have the cover in one side and the basic information on the right. Basically when it came to coloring and so on, it was easier because since I had used purple at the top I had to go with a color that works with that. So, I chose blue.

From there on out it was always going for something that worked with something I did before. I got the template and then just copied the same template to all first impressions.

When it comes to the cover and so on, well, that one took a while to get and a lot of research 😛 I knew that I wanted to do something Autumn-ish, but didn’t know very well how to do it. So I used Pinterest as a way to get inspiration and well, did that ahah

But, in the end, I think, most of the design I tried to create something easy to read and go back and forward, that’s why I have an index with links to all my FIs as I have a back “button” in all of my First Impressions Review 🙂

07. So, super important question, did you have fun working on this project? More importantly, do you intend to do a guide every season (or at least another season)?

Yes, yes I had! To be honest, apart collabs, this was probably the project I had most fun with! It was just great to experience all of these stories and go to Anime shows that I would just pass without even thinking about it! It’s really fun to watch so many different creations, all of them designed and executed in different ways, even if slight ones 🙂

Yes, I am! I mean, it will also depend on how people like this one! It’s something that gives a lot of work. And what I mean when I say a lot, is that it took me almost a month without doing anything else besides… Well, the guide ahah

However, I think I started this one a little bit late in the game. So, for the next season I’m thinking on starting watching all the Anime on day one and following them 1 episode a week. It will probably take more notes from me, but at least I will be able to balance things a little better 🙂

Random bonus question – After trying so many anime and continuing to watch some of them, have you settled on your anime of the season yet or are you waiting to see how they end?

That’s a really hard question! 😛 To be honest, I want to continue on watching most of the Anime shows, even the ones that are in the “Meh” category. The thing is, 3 episodes are great for a First Impressions but, the truth is that Anime shows can go really well (or really wrong) in the middle of the season.
This way, I’ll be following the Anime shows under the “Good for the Chakra” for sure. Then, I have some in the “meh” side that I also am interesting to watch… So, I think instead of helping, just made my watching list to go even wider ahah

End Interview

Remember you can get the guide from here and remember to thank Arthifis for this amazing work and spread the word.

Thanks for reading
Karandi James

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