Reviewer interview: Benelori (April 1st Special)

Hi and welcome to this April 1st Special Reviewer Interview with me, Blai as the interviewer and Benelori as the subject! This interview is a little longer than the regular ones but I hope you'll survive the read. Trust me, it's worth it *smile*

I'm extremely happy that I got the chance to Interview and especially that I got the chance to interview my co-moderator Benelori

Enough of me jabbering. I hope you'll enjoy reading this interview. We certainly enjoyed having it!



I know you, but not everyone in this community does, so let's start with you giving a brief introduction of yourself. Your journey from a Romanian nobody to a reviewer and moderator in less than 500 words... go!

You think you know me huh?
Anyways…I started out with Sailor Moon and the American Version of an anime that I always forgot, in American it was Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs.
I liked Japanese and then got to see the Naruto anime… Later I discovered the manga, then the spoilers, so I decided to join MangaHelpers.

There were some very detailed discussions which attracted me, and people were actually talking about things I like, so I felt awesome. I was a frequent poster in KA and El Campo but then discovered The Underscore and his reviews. He was really thorough with his analysis, so it was really fun reading his reviews.

After I read some other manga, both shounen and seinen, I decided that I have enough insight to start reviews of my own. I started reviewing Bleach on another forum and after a few months I decided I'll try out the big stage that is MH and after sugarcake stopped reviewing, I replaced him.
And a few months later I somehow changed colours to lovely green.

Are you sure you want to mention you were a Sailor Moon fan publicly? Benelori “the Romanian Sailor Moon-loving Vampire/Moderator.” *wink*

Hoho, I guess you don't frequent all the forum, but I did state that that I wanted to be like that masked guy (forgot the name) in the bishies thread. Of course that was most probably related to the fact that I was cosplaying as Zorro when I was little and loved masks. And lol at the custom title, maybe I will change that in the future…Global Vampire…sounds good...

Haha, true! You just recovered your manliness point! Global Vampire... what have I created? *cries*
Anyway, as a reviewer, did you feel that getting moderated made it difficult to make frequent reviews? Or did it give you a greater insight in the manga since you were everywhere in the Naruto section, not only in KA?

Well I'll start by answering to the second part of the question. Some time before I started reviewing and then after it, I was pretty much all over the Bleach and Naruto forums so the activity didn't decrease nor did I gain more insight after getting modded. But I did have a feeling that I won't have as much time, though in the beginning I had lots of it (I mean time), because I was just browsing the Naruto forum. Nowadays it’s a bit harder, but the main issue with the lack of reviews is RL actually.

I could see the problem that occur when having one obligation and then suddenly getting another, and as long as nothing else interfere you'd manage it, but once Uni kicks in you'd get some trouble right?
Pretty much. Basically, when I was modded my bleach activity decreased, so it kind of balanced it out, but in the end uni made it worse

Have you ever reviewed something apart from Naruto (and Bleach), or ever considered it?

I did One Piece for a short while \o/. But I did complete manga reviews: I submitted Naruto, Berserk and Liar Game in the Manga reviews section.

Oh, that actually an interesting combination. I mean, Liar Game, Berserk and Naruto don’t have THAT much in common do they?

Not really, it just that means that I read lots of manga or at least my taste is wide… Liar Game is intelligent and fun, Berserk is epic and heartbreaking and Naruto is favourite shounen. I mean I read the manga many times for entertainment and review purposes and watched part 1 anime a lot because when I got my hands on it, I didn't have anything else to watch since I was just starting the whole manga/anime experience.

Yeah, a lot of people get drawn into the depths of the Manga/Anime world through Naruto. I know I started off with Naruto myself *ashamed*...
Are there any mangas that you're currently reading which you haven’t reviewed and/or would like to review?

Hmm...I don't really know, I would like to review Berserk, but that would be really tough and Berserk is really something to be read in bundles of 3 or 4 chapters or volumes to actually make sense, but I just finished Kenichi so I probably will submit a Kenichi review and The Breaker: New Waves is something really attractive.
In Kenichi the comedy is greater than One Piece I dare say, and the characters are really interesting.

I'm not a big fan of reviews myself (because I like to make my own hypothe...hypo... umm... theories!) but I like your reviews a lot and HSD:Kenichi is a great manga! So please, review Kenichi, and yeah, I'm not a big OP fan myself *inb4bash* because I find it's a little too silly but HSD is just borderline brilliant, and the art is pretty cool.

Well, reviewing doesn't mean just theories U know, and I disagree with the OP comment but agree with the Kenichi one. The story and some themes in OP pawn Kenichi.
However I subscribe to the art comment, (not counting the ecchi, which it's really detailed) sometimes the art is, how should I say this...explosive.

Regarding the gore in Berserk... Somehow feel like it's, not essential but I mean, Berserk wouldn't be berserk without the amount of gore, in a similar way ecchi is to Kenichi?

In berserk's case, the gore is just part of the violent world Gutts lives in and it's just a means to describe this dark world. And in Kenichi's case, the ecchi makes it more natural I think
because if the author wants to draw a great battle scene, there's no way to avoid a lifted skirt
or if Shigure-sensei fights against weapons and gets cut there's no way a breast won't be shown.

Actually, talking about these things with you I get the feeling that you would do rather well in reviewing Berserk as you touch the element of realism to what people would call exaggeration.

But this bumps into a serious issue, reviewers shouldn't just surprise elements that were shown in the manga, commentary is needed and it's pretty obvious that all the fans know these things
There's not much arguing going on between Berserk fans, because the author manages to depict the complex world in a manner that we all understand.
There are some issues about future developments and the alliances of certain characters, but that’s all.

Yeah. My impression of reviewers is that they are the expert commentators, while the members are the commentators. The Reviewers should address the complexity and the other dimensions that pass the user by.

That's true, however a reviewer tends or is trying to find details that might've been missed
and talk about the other dimensions as you mentioned, but when the author makes it obvious
then there's nothing to add, and some chapters are just empty either pure convo, or pure fight
there's nothing much to comment there…except the art

True, is that one of the reasons why you don't review it? The feeling that it isn't necessary and that your review won't bring any further insight to the world of berserk?

Yup, you managed to catch the essence, the developments in Berserk tend to manifest over great deal of time., especially thanks to Miura sensei's release schedule lol

Haha, but let's get back to the oh-so-awesome manga Naruto. You're a reviewer, you've read it again and again, what are the key elements to succeed as much as Kishimoto did when creating a manga? Is it the detailed character developments, the art, the history and world map, the fights, or the contrast between the main characters?

World map and history are a given, those are indeed some great feats, we shouldn't count out the whole theory behind jutsus and stuff, these are probably the main things that made the readers stick with the manga.

The art? I don't think so it was really cartoonish, and even though it was a new style and some character designs were original, overall it wasn't that great, not something to keep the reader going, however there are exceptions of great skill and detail, just take a look at my sig and you'll know what I'm talking about.
But I think the most important is the way characters were developed in relation to the story
It was something new, because I've read some manga before Naruto and there were like, jumping from arc to arct, or saga to saga with little connection between them each character received a new powerup and so on. In Naruto things are much smoother and the flow of the story is not as abrupt.

Let's continue with a couple of quick questions, shall we? :3 Remember to answer from a professional reviewers point of view, okay? Very important that you're a reviewer and not a mod when answering these, okay?

Dog or cat?
Lol…cat…tough I like them both
Green or blue?
blue though
Main dish or desert?
main dish, not too much of a sweets eater
Apple or banana?
apple. Is there any chance that you are doing a seme/uke test?

Haha, I am indeed! ;D….No, not really >,> but still!

Bleach or One Piece?
Tough….Bleach, though it was a tough call, but I enjoy reading bleach more, because art counts a lot in my eyes.
I see, let’s go on. First impression of MH?
Comfortable
Reviewing or reading reviews?
Reviewing
Kaiten or Igotthegoods(./trap!)?
…and isn't the last one obvious? *lolo doesn't fall in the trap*

You should've answered "Blai \o/" -.-, but you survived that indeed ;o

Favourite reviewer?
I have two, The Underscore and sugarcake, even if the latter is not active anymore, because of the sense of humour, and the way they use it in the review…The Underscore is smooth and entertaining and sugarcake is just plain awesome.

What makes a good reviewer... good? Give some tips to the aspiring reviewers out there

Insight, the ability to connect the chapter or a certain event to the general idea of the manga and the ability to phrase it correctly, I know this sounds a bit vague, but a review needs to have a certain flow, to have smooth transitions from one paragraph to another

Ah, I see, a red thread throughout the review to keep the reader alert right?

Another awesome one sentence from you…sasuga Blai

I know. I should be doing like, "the Blai quote of the day" on twitter or something. Followers would increase sky'high *big grin*

A good place to do this is on MH's Twitter and Facebook.

Indeed I should do that sometime to see the reactions *hehe*
Seeing as you're from Romania (Transsylvania ofc). Have being a vampire affected you in any way when trying to find "hard" copies of magnas? Since stores are open day-time and you have... let's say a little trouble, surviving the sun.

Not really, I have good sense of smell and most underground manga dealers operate in clubs and back alleys. Sometimes it's really fun to read some Naruto with the hookers. But when there's a crisis, I never forget to bring my tan protecting super lotion.

In some twisted way that makes perfect sense. Why wouldn't a vampire enjoy reading WSJ with the company of prostitutes?

Right? I mean they are beings of the night as well and the only faithful companions. Some of them are really skinny though, because of job requirements, so they hate reading Toriko.

Hahahaha, I can imagine! Kind of how I dislike to read One Piece. Hate rubber *hurr*

*awkward silence*

I'm planning on starting my own breed using my #TIGERBLOOD to create Tumans. Basically humans who lives a little longer but who has a lot higher capacity in strength and senses. We could maybe collaborate? I take Hungary and serve as your vassal!

Last and not least, do you have anyone you'd like to address, give a shout-out to, or threaten with death?

I don't threaten with death I never did, not even the prostitutes, because they are reading buddies
I would like to thank the MH staff for the welcome in their ranks…also thanks for the members who reply to my reviews, and everyone whom I talk to I really feel like I'm part of a larger community and this is a different sensation and a good one since I'm the only vampire in my district...

And allow me to thank you for wanting to do this, somewhat twisted interview, with a mere mortal such as myself. It's been a pleasure

It was my pleasure as well, but not the least. I would like to ask everyone to post and encourage reviewers to continue their wonderful contribution and nothing stands in your way to submit your own reviews from time to time, be it chapter reviews or general manga ones.

Cheers manga and MH community!!

See you around…Mata ne!

I was just about to add "any last words?" but figured it'd sound a little too paradox~ish when in the presence of a vampire. Sayounara Benelori!