interview – OTAKU LOUNGE

Watson Watches: Gankutsuou

Published on March 1, 2021February 23, 2021 by Artemis3 Comments

Way back in 2014, a friend and I collaborated on a series of articles we called Watson Watches, in which I forced enticed Watson to examine a bunch of new-to-him anime shows. Using a basic question/answer format, the general idea was to gain a fresh, non-otaku perspective on some conversely very otaku-friendly titles such as Azumanga Daioh, Kuroshitsuji, and Kill la Kill. While wading through some old files the other day for a long-overdue PC clean-up, I came across one such article that, for whatever reason, never quite made it onto the blog, and Watson was kind enough to allow me to belatedly post it rather than have it remain in a folder titled only: ‘Unpublished’. This is that piece. Continue reading “Watson Watches: Gankutsuou” →

Watson Watches: retro wrap-up party

Published on December 14, 2016December 2, 2016 by Artemis7 Comments

The time has come again – one year and six anime titles later and it’s time to wrap up the (retro) Watson Watches series. In this final post of the project, we look back on the shows I forced requested Watson to take a look at, and hopefully come to a few general conclusions based on his experiences. As a quick reminder, here are the specific shows I chose for Watson over the course of these articles, starting from the late 90s and working our way backwards: Cowboy Bebop, Evangelion, Sailor Moon, Ranma ½, Dragon Ball, and Rose of Versailles. Continue reading “Watson Watches: retro wrap-up party” →

Watson Watches: Rose of Versailles

Published on November 17, 2016October 19, 2016 by Artemis12 Comments

Welcome to the sixth and final main article of Watson Watches (the Retro Edition)! For anyone who’s just joined us and has no idea what’s happening, this is the follow-up to a series of interview-style articles published in 2014. The idea then was to expose Watson – who at that point was totally new to anime – to some specific titles and then ask him some hopefully interesting questions about them. The main difference this time around is that the shows I’ve been getting Watson to watch were all released before 2000. Continue reading “Watson Watches: Rose of Versailles” →

Watson Watches: Dragon Ball

Published on September 8, 2016September 2, 2016 by Artemis24 Comments

Welcome to the fifth article of Watson Watches (the Retro Edition). If you’ve only just joined us and have no clue what’s going on, this is the follow-up to a series of interview-style articles published in 2014. The idea was to introduce Watson – who at that point was totally new to anime – to some specific titles and then ask him some fun and interesting questions about them. It’s the same deal this time around but with one key difference: all the anime I’ll be getting Watson to watch were released before 2000. Continue reading “Watson Watches: Dragon Ball” →

Watson Watches: Ranma ½

Published on July 13, 2016July 8, 2016 by Artemis26 Comments

Welcome to the fourth article of Watson Watches (the Retro Edition). If you’re reading this and have no idea what I’m talking about, this is the follow-up series to a bunch of interview-style articles published in 2014. The idea was to introduce Watson – who at that point was completely new to anime – to some specific titles and then ask him some potentially interesting questions. We’re doing the same thing this time around but with one important difference: all the anime I’ll be getting Watson to watch were released before 2000. Continue reading “Watson Watches: Ranma ½” →

Watson Watches: Sailor Moon

Published on May 5, 2016April 28, 2016 by Artemis17 Comments

Welcome to the third article of Watson Watches (the Retro Edition). As a brief intro to anyone reading this series for the first time, this is actually the follow-up to a bunch of interview-style articles published in 2014. The idea was to introduce Watson – who at that time knew almost nothing about anime and had never watched it himself – to some specific titles and then ask him some hopefully interesting questions about them. This current series is basically the same thing but with one unifying factor: all the anime I’ll be getting Watson to watch were released before 2000.

Just for fun, we’re also going in reverse chronological order. Previously we tackled the 1995 landmark show Evangelion, and this week we’re going with another hugely popular title that even non-anime fans have probably at least heard of: 1992’s Sailor Moon. As usual, Watson watched everything on his own and was told not to look up anything online beforehand. The following questions were given to him afterwards. (Note that as Sailor Moon contains a ton of filler, we ended up agreeing that he watch the episodes introducing each of the main characters – for reference, that’s episode 1, 8, 10, 25, 33, and 34 of the original Japanese version.) Continue reading “Watson Watches: Sailor Moon” →

Watson Watches: Neon Genesis Evangelion

Published on March 22, 2016March 17, 2016 by Artemis14 Comments

Welcome to the second article of Watson Watches (the Retro Edition). As a quick introduction to anyone who may be reading this series for the first time, this is the follow-up series to a bunch of interview-style articles published back in 2014. The idea was to introduce Watson – who knew very little about anime at the time and had seen only bits and pieces of a couple of shows in passing – to some specific titles and then ask him some hopefully interesting questions about them. This current series is the same kind of thing, only all the anime I’ll be getting Watson to watch have one thing in common; they were all released before 2000.

Just for fun, we’re also going in reverse chronological order. Previously we tackled the 1998 show Cowboy Bebop, and this week we’re going with the show that absolutely nobody (but nobody) saw coming: 1995’s Neon Genesis Evangelion. As per usual, Watson watched everything in his own time and did not look anything up online beforehand. The questions were given to him afterwards. (Note that they are based on the first six episodes only.) Continue reading “Watson Watches: Neon Genesis Evangelion” →

Watson Watches: Cowboy Bebop

Published on January 23, 2016January 22, 2016 by Artemis35 Comments

Back in 2014, a friend and I collaborated on a series of interview-style articles called Watson Watches. The idea was to introduce Watson, who knew very little about anime and had seen only bits of a couple of shows in passing, to some specific titles and then ask him some hopefully interesting questions about them. Rather than attempt to get him to love or even like anime, the overall goal was simply to see how the medium appeared to someone who did not have any prior knowledge or involvement. Continue reading “Watson Watches: Cowboy Bebop” →

Watson Watches: the wrap-up party

Published on December 9, 2014 by Artemis27 Comments

It’s been nearly a year since the first Watson Watches article was published, and the time has now come to wrap up this particular series for good. As I wrote back in that first article, the goal was not to attempt to convert Watson to otaku-hood, but simply to gain a different perspective than many of us, after years of watching (and/or writing about) anime, were used to seeing. This final post is to get Watson’s conclusions on the shows that I forced very nicely requested he try out, and also to ask him a few more generalised questions about his experiences. Continue reading “Watson Watches: the wrap-up party” →

Watson Watches: Kill la Kill

Published on November 10, 2014 by Artemis23 Comments

Watson is a New Zealander in his 30s. He knows what anime is, but never watched it growing up and has still seen few titles to date. And a little while ago, I sat him down to watch the first four episodes of Kill la Kill. Continue reading “Watson Watches: Kill la Kill” →