Behind Zero’s Mask: The Story of This Blog

Lelouch remving his mask

Secret Origins

  • I am a life long anime fan who grew up watching Sailor Moon, Digimon, YuGiOh, Pokemon, and Escaflowne.
  • There was no cable in my house so FoxKids and KidsWB were all I had.
  • YuGiOh was one of my main hobbies from middle school throughout college. Even now I play every now and then.
  • I collected the old Digimon transformer toys, unfortunately, most of which were broken by yours truly.
The essence of my blog is to express my anime experiences through reviews, discussions, lists, and answering common questions.
My goal is for my readers to share what I write about to their non-anime friends in hopes to get them to watch anime.
Anime is something that everyone needs to experience and it’s worth their time.
The only challenge is finding the right one.

I original started this blog in 2019 as a place to share my passions of anime and the like.

I had no idea what I was doing or what I wanted to cover.

So I tried the shogun approach; posting articles on my favorite anime in the usual formats people expect like listicles.

These articles started off covering general topics like sub vs dub and other common faqs involving anime.

I also posted these articles around the web hoping to gauge some attention.

Unfortunately this didn’t happen that was until,

Okabe and the rest of the future gadget laboratory

What Got Me Started on this Journey?

Anime is something that I can’t stop talking about. When I finish a series I have a perspective that I want to share. Since I have no outlet to discuss these ideas it consumes my head at night.
I always wanted to blog and create videos but I had confidence issues.
I still sometimes experience those same issues today despite my “success” in doing this.
There were always people out there on the internet that are already doing what I want to do. So why even try?
However, I realized something important and that’s they all started at the bottom. They may be polished and established but that only came through years of hard work.
Through talking about anime with my friends I learned that my opinions were valuable. So I took some courses, purchased a domain, set up my site, and here we are.
What a journey it has been so far.
Batman putting on his mask for the first time.

© 2013 5pb./Nitroplus STEINS;GATE MOVIE PROJECT Licensed by Funimation® Productions, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Why Me?

As alluded earlier there are hundreds of Anime YouTubers and Bloggers out there (probably thousands by now). So what makes me different and credible?
  1. Every successful person doing this has their own voice, opinion, and means of expressing it. This applies to me as well.
  2. My ideas come through my perspectives which only I have. Just going through my content will show you that I write articles in my own way. (This perspective has also pissed people off as well so there’s that).
  3. I only take inspiration from others but at the end of the day, this stuff comes straight from me.
  4. Also, there are many areas in this “industry” that are I believe to be untapped. These areas will become some of my focus points for articles, freebies, and other great stuff.
As for credibility I have watched over 180 ANIMES in my lifetime. I have a working knowledge of over 300 ANIMES.
I own and have read many Encyclopedia and academic books written on anime.
During my free time, I consume the content from the hundreds of Anime YouTubers and Bloggers that I follow. That way I can keep up with current trends and latest news.
When it comes to anime like Code Geass I have consumed various Manga, Films, OVAs, and played the games.
I have been talking about this IP for half a decade and have been fan for over a decade.
Suffice to say I know what I am talking about.

The 8K+ subscribers on my YouTube channel don’t hurt either.

Lelouch after using his Geass for the first time

The Day a New Demon was Born

I decided to talk about Code Geass, an anime that was part of my introduction to mature anime content. Prior to this, I watched anime on KidsWB and Fox Kids. If you want to learn more about it, check out this article.

To figure out what to cover, I looked to Google to figure out the common questions people had about this series. I wasn’t an expert on this series (even now I still have much to learn), but I had enough information to answer these questions.

ulquiorra's first appearance in Bleach

CBR is Trash

One observation when writing articles on Code Geass was discovering the sites CBR and Screen Rant that hosted articles of their own. Except their articles were rushed garbage; created to stir the pot and nothing more. So I decided to make my own counter articles debunking some of their factually incorrect statements and lazy points.

My favorites were making my own top ten fact lists for my favorite characters in the series. Later on I made videos and livestreams going over the stupidity of these articles. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Roze & Ash talking to Haruka in the theater

The Code Geass Watch Order

While Lelouch’s love life is one of the most searched questions online, it isn’t the most searched one. That honor goes to the Code Geass watch order, and for good reason. The universe has grown so much since the anime’s debut in 2006. There are films, OVAs, alternative timelines, and so forth.

So it has been gratifying to help people navigate this IP, including a later article that discusses the differences between the anime films and the OG anime. This article is what started driving traffic to the site on a larger basis than anything before or since. I realized from that point on that people not only respect my opinions but that more people would as well.

Lelouch uploading the recording.

YouTube

So I decided to start posting YouTube video versions of my most popular articles. These videos initially performed horribly, but they eventually started to gain traction, which included topics like: discussing if Kallen loved Lelouch, the Code Geass watch order, and who Lelouch loved.

From there, I started to post more videos on Code Geass, hence why my channel and brand have been tied to this IP. In the future, I am going to cover other IPs that fans of Code Geass probably also enjoy. The channel has had its ups and downs, including copyright strikes and demonetization, but it has been a fun ride.

Batman and Robin trying to watch Its a Wonderful Life

The Anime Streaming Guide

Back on the blog it was becoming too time consuming to upload videos and articles so I started to gear the blog towards covering what anime was streaming on the different platforms.
I even made a nice guide to help people.
Unfortunately given how immense this was and due to a lack of interest, I disconnected this service.
The blog wouldn’t see another article for a long time but that’s going to change.

Flash getting the factory workers to evacuate

Quitting Time?

As of writing this I haven’t posted an article since 2022 and considered closing down the website.
After all between work, my main YouTube, mygaming chops (yes I even started a second channel), running my Discord Server, and my work on Reddit there just wasn’t any time for blogging.
Sometimes I have even felt this way about uploading videos to YouTube.
But I finally found a solution to my problem.

Lelouch after the events of Lelouch of theRe;surrection

The Future of Mymediachops

Making videos is time consuming.
Writing articles is time consuming.
But what if I combined the two?
My solution is to write an article covering a topic and then adapted it to a video.
The video will be shorter and won’t go into the same level of granularity.

By doing this I won’t feel bad if the videos aren’t thorough enough or don’t state all of my thoughts on the manner.
Instead, if you want the full story, the article will be there waiting for you.
This will be an ongoing process until I am able to come up with something that works best for all of us.
To all those that have been supporting me since day 1 or recently subscribed to either of my channels, thank you so much.
Through coming back to this blog, I have a better opportunity to work in public and keep all of you in the loop.

At the end of the day, while I love making this content, your experience is more important.

The Justice League deciding on their future post Hawgirl leaving the team.

What Do You Go From Here?

While I will be changing the format of how I write my articles going forward feel free to checkout my past works.
If you are new to anime start with My Anime 101 Content
For anime suggestions anime reviews
For anime essays read my past essays
One More Thing
Even though I write a wide range of topics in my articles there are still many things that never get discussed.
Joining my newsletter by signing up on the form below will give you access to content that never made it to a post.
Most of it will be follow up on older posts or interesting ideas about what anime I am watching.
Speaking of anime I am watching you will get my initial thoughts on anime that I am watching in my newsletter.
There is a ton of value here for anyone who loves the content of this blog.
If you sign up you will also receive a comprehensive list of key terms you find in both anime and anime discussions.