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Several times I've been asked about why I use the profile picture that I have and/or what my name refers to. The answer is multifaceted, and it's a bit more of an ordeal to answer than "I think x character is cool" or whatever the explanation is that most people have for their profile picture, so this is my longwinded essay about the why of it all. The profile picture: It's a drawing of an alien called Lam. It was drawn by the infamous occultist Aleister Crowley, and it was first published in 1919. According to Crowley, Lam is a Tibetan word for way or path, and it has connections to Buddhism. I don't care about that. Crowley, who was probably high out of his mind at the time, claimed to have seen this critter when he drew it. What interests me about this image is how similar it looks to the stereotypical grey alien before that became a pop culture sensation. The only real difference being the much smaller and more human-like eyes, as opposed to the big black orbs. In fact, aliens were born out of the occult—notably through theosophy—before any normal person claimed to see one. Theosophists placed a special value upon various planets in the solar system, and many of them would claim to commune with aliens. Quite a number of these fake totally real encounters had the subject referring to the "alien" as an "aryan" or some other very human-like description. There were some more "exotic" alien descriptions that didn't resemble humans too much in some cases. Anyway, the "sightings," eventually would solidify into the grey aliens we so often hear about today. If you dig into commentary from alien fanatics online, you can find speculation about other alien races, and alleged sightings do vary to some degree, though. What fascinated me about Lam is that it constitutes a kind of "missing link" between the "aryan" aliens and the grey aliens. My interest in alien/UFO history is part of why I chose to use this image. My name: Gsarthotegga is pronounced as sar | thought | tay | ga, I guess—whatever, who cares? The name comes from the author Clark Ashton Smith, who was part of Lovecraft's circle of friends, and while he penned many poems and also would draw and paint, he was mostly know for sci-fi, fantasy, and horror short stories that he submitted to pulp magazines. Gsarthotegga is also known as Vulthoom (please, ignore the garbage artwork on this page). The story Vulthoom can be read here. Vulthoom is presented as a deity or god, but it's also very clearly a space alien. The name and profile picture in unison: Okay, if you've looked at many profile pictures on here, then I don't need to tell you that most of them are of high school girls from anime. Then you have a few people who have black and white pictures of Stalin or whatever... I have controversial views on anime (and everything else, to be honest) that often clash with other MALists, and I don't ever try to tone these opposing views down or carefully choose shows where I'll have a positive reaction. Don't care, and I gladly invite these Animefan Crybaby responses I so often receive. I've embraced that "alienation" by choosing an image and name that both correspond to fictitious aliens. I wanted a long, unwieldy, even enigmatic name. One that users might not remember or will be left to wonder about the origin of, but it stands out like a sore thumb when they see it. The picture synergizes with the name well, while also being kind of creepy and funny at the same time. It's also very memorable on a website that has a predictable pattern when it comes to profile pictures. Perhaps it's counter-productive to choose a profile picture and name that was partially intended to mystify, but then to demystify the pair by explaining away everything, yet most people won't read this in the first place, and now I'll have something to point to when asked, instead of having to type up an answer every time. Scores and what peons on MAL think about art doesn't matter. Like, get this, because it's pretty important: It's the art that matters. Is that revolutionary enough for you? Remember, it's not an IQ test to score your anime, retard. Before you dissect a frog, you should know what you're actually doing, and the same goes for passing judgment on my favorite anime. Let this broken vase sink in. It's just a broken vase, you say? That light contorting and refracting has a certain awe to it that you can't experience otherwise, but you probably didn't realize that. Well, I did. Think of the symbology and how it's, like, conceptual, man. Makes me feel like Epicurus or something just thinking about it. This vase looks more beautiful than an intact one that you'd purchase at Walmart. Just like how men need to man up and learn to appreciate used-up old women, you need to accept this broken vase into your heart to understand it. I'm an aesthete, seeing beyond the surface, while you're like, "shit's broken," sweeping it into a dustpan! You might have thrown away a million dollars if the CIA could have gotten ahold of it for money laundering. You have no vision, stuffing everything into pigeonholes and whatever other holes that might strike your fancy. Who are you to baselessly dismiss this art? You got up in the vase's feng shui and tried to make it yours, insisting upon yourself because of your presuppositions, missing the point of expression altogether. Worst of all, you attempt to dismiss rather than to understand. That's right: You're a dismisser; whereas I'm an understander. Oh, yeah, and just in case you're not enlightened enough to get it because you haven't taken as many yoga classes at the local mall as me, I also rate anime, and my ratings are explained below, so check them out. What's that? I don't even have a ratings section on here, you say? Why should I have to prove anything to you when we live in an incredible world where Congo the Chimpanzee was making better art than you? Wow, look at this wonderful painting! Abstract expressionism is serious business and not monkeying around at all! In case you're too plebeian to understand the deep meaning of this painting, then remember, repeat, and all will be clear: Everything around the image is part of its meaning. Its uniqueness is part of the uniqueness of the single place where it is. Everything around it confirms and consolidates its meaning. I think there is a resurgence of anti-elitism because at this point in time MAL has not yet learned how to be elitist. And I think we are going to be part of the throes of that transformation, which must take place. MAL is not going to be the tourist trap it once was in the last decade. Elitists are going to be at the center of that. It’s a huge transformation for MAL to make. They are now going into an anti-elitist mode and elitists will be resented because of our leading role. But without that leading role and without that transformation, MAL will not survive. My man, ThatAnimeSnob 2.0, also known by the totally ironic moniker rorikonfan, giving a dope-ass take on Usagi Drop, his words flowing like a cakewalk with sprinkles and sugar on a rainbow slide!: Before I twirl into the whimsical whirlpool of thoughts, let’s sprinkle some glitter on the fact that I’m indifferent to slice of life serenades. They’re like marshmallows on a gloomy day—fluffy but not filling. Moeblobs, however, frolic miles ahead in the absurdity race. So here I am, plopping down to watch this anime because it pirouetted into the top ten on every cosmic billboard within weeks. I pondered, "How in the cotton candy clouds did this happen? It’s just another stroll through mundane-ville!" Peeking at the plot reveals a sprinkle of nothingness. A dude unearths that his grandpa played the parent role late in the game and decides to nurture the sprout after the old sage hops off this merry-go-round. So, what’s all the chitter-chatter about? Whispers suggest it’s got a weird twist at the manga’s climax (not spilling the jelly beans—spoiler alert!), or perhaps it blooms feelings like a garden of emotions. But honestly, the storyline feels as thin as a crepe, characters are cookie-cutter cutouts, and the ending flutters away like a butterfly into the void, so my eyes aren’t glued to a masterpiece through an objective kaleidoscope. Yet, I must admit, the presentation dances on a tightrope of finesse. It captures the essence of the ordinary with a sprinkle of magic stardust. I remember a whimsy-tastic anime from ages ago called Chocotto Sister—where ludicrousness reigned supreme! With everything from snuggly lolicons to Santa handing out nudie gift wrap to unsuspecting teens; it had a slice of life vibe but quickly tumbled into silliness, wrapped in a lame production bow that faded into forgetfulness. Usagi Drop prances through a dreamy garden of subtly woven artsy whimsy. The visuals leap like pastel kittens, each character a dancing firefly that beckons eyes to twirl. The voice acting hums just right, never sailing over the top into the land of drama llamas. Each character behaves with a sprinkle of sense; no hopping teens with angst grenades in sight here! The hero juggles work like a circus clown, while a wistful girl seeks her treasure map to joy. This slice of life, so rare among the anime trees, sparkles like a unicorn at tea time. Most shows skedaddle past the ordinary, gift characters with sparkle coins, and toss them into school sagas that turn into accidental nudity rodeos. And remember how ‘grown-up’ parenting traipsed around in Astarotte no Omocha? Usagi Drop sidesteps that and serves a delectable dish of realism, pouring out the bittersweet recipe of caring for a dreamy child in a world of grown-up grumbles. It reveals the sacrifices, spun with threads of sadness, and let's not kid ourselves—it can be tough for realism-dodgers, who make up around 99.98% of the whimsical media land. Heck, I juggle with realism too! Yet enchanting as it dances, this show is grounded more than any other I've snuggled with in parenthood tales. Many swear by the second season of Clannad, calling it realistic, yet its finale shouts fairy tale escape—a wishful mirage! Then there's Kurenai, where a young lad spins tales of tending to a gloomy girl, sprinkled with action sprinkles, swirling dementia, and even love’s taboo dance. Was it grander than Usagi Drop because of these? Nope, not at all! Now hold your spaghetti horses, I’m not making a grand statue of realism here! Sure, the storytelling has its wobbly jellybeans. Like, poof! Daikichi scoops up Rin like a magician conjuring a goldfish! Home sweet home—bam! And she waltzes into kindergarten without a single treasure map or riddle in sight. The whole ‘adoption’ jazz? A cakewalk on a rainbow slide! Nay, it’s not the tale twists or the plotty potpourri that tickle your noodle but rather the oodles of feels it flings at you! Sure, any silly fanfare/fadish/sparkly moe concoction can attempt this jig, yet none succeed by prancing in normality. Oh, they just bluster in supernova levels, splattering sex, kabooms, doom, and debauchery, then strut about claiming 'maturity' while tickling skepticism too raw! Characters? Pure vanilla, bare of quirky sprinkles, frizzy beehives, or attire obsessions. They play their roles like pros, needing no zesty garnishes! That’s my jam with this show; it dances with simplicity and realism without snoring off, even if you’re not vibing with the genre. And this comes from one who paloozed with titanic yarns like Aria, Wandering Son, and Yokohama Shopping Diary and found them snooze-fests extraordinaire! Is it a show of whimsical wonder? Indeed, it dances in the realm of the unusual, and I sparkle with delight in saying this! In a sea of anime sameness, Usagi Drop leaps forth like a hopping unicorn, casting the glow of authentic life instead of a feeble 'adult' tale. Yet, one must twirl in doubt—would it jiggle its fame without 'that peculiar event' at the manga's finish (which the anime decided to play hide-and-seek with)? ThatAnimeSnob Ghibli Art, Circa 2025 .hack//Sign Ace wo Nerae! Final Stage Bakemonogatari Blue Gender City Hunter 2 Dennou Coil Dirty Pair: Project Eden Elfen Lied Flip Flappers Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Hellsing Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Kai Hikari no Ou Key the Metal Idol Kyousougiga Legend of Crystania Mawaru Penguindrum Monogatari Series: Off & Monster Season Neon Genesis Evangelion Niea Under 7 Noir Ping Pong Psycho-Pass RahXephon Re:Creators Record of Lodoss War Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight Sci-fi Harry Serial Experiments Lain Tsukimonogatari Witch Hunter Robin Yuri Kuma Arashi Aku no Hana Angel Cop Chainsaw Man Dennou Coil Flip Flappers Gunslinger Girl His and Her Circumstances Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! Maria†Holic Mob Psycho 100 III Neon Genesis Evangelion Noir Now and Then, Here and There Puella Magi Madoka Magica RahXephon Shinsekai Yori Tatami Galaxy You're Under Arrest Kubikiri Cycle: Aoiro Savant to Zaregotozukai Those lumps aren't gonna make themselves, Pudding! I said with a posed look. |
Statistics
All Anime Stats Anime Stats
Days: 226.4
Mean Score:
4.86
- Watching461
- Completed1,292
- On-Hold28
- Dropped185
- Plan to Watch402
- Total Entries2,368
- Rewatched11
- Episodes14,376
All Manga Stats Manga Stats
Days: 59.8
Mean Score:
5.26
- Reading138
- Completed100
- On-Hold7
- Dropped21
- Plan to Read190
- Total Entries456
- Reread0
- Chapters10,039
- Volumes380
All Favorites Favorites
Anime (10)
Manga (10)
Character (10)
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Yuuri
Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou
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Nishida, Hiraku
Gasaraki
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Wazukyan
Made in Abyss: Retsujitsu no Ougonkyou
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Jakounezumi
Muumindani no Suisei
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Ikari, Shinji
Shinseiki Evangelion
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Akemi, Homura
Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica
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Askeladd
Vinland Saga
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Nyatta
Nekojiru-sou
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Makishima, Shougo
Psycho-Pass
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Iwakura, Lain
Serial Experiments Lain
All Comments (6134) Comments
Chapter 26 apparently, so at least ep 3 is going to be safe. Someone talks of the romance tag, so it isn't grossman being gross i guess, it's the main couple :'P
On a pedantic side note, I know austras (maybe), denis, and neanderthals, as human partners and on different stages but did humans breed with homo erects? sounds a bit queer(as in strange) XD
oh wait they stated it's immensely valuable? In the mine they were like it won't be that valuable, you can't cut or move it. So why not pick the chunks like earlier? also fuck don't people know how to dig around the thing. I mean let's be honest, it was there just for the flashback XD I think the joke was still a bit too witty for this show, it has to be like that 'kyaa peeper redhead' bit. It's so dull and asinine and the contrivances for flashbacks get passed off as worldbuilding. There's the nasty LOTR music too with the hopelessly dull interactions that make me barf.
Xd i didn't pay that much attention to the bush bit, but good catch. I wonder if it's creator's fetish or is original content based on reception haha and Okay so there was that bit, like i swear it took chatgpt only a couple years to be at least more human than her.
They know it's pretty popular abroad, i guess. Wonder if that helped with the cop-out decision. Pure corpo trash lol.
lmao that would be funny, the funny thing is the cop-out too is in exactly that spirit cause it probably is popular among 'that' audience too and other tourists are kinda like that too. It's that mild titillation :S
Oh yeah, I think so, they're also not big fans of meat on that side in myanmar. The tibetan ones and those influenced by them on the other hand lol the tibetans spare nothing, not even the intestines. I guess that's cause of the himalayas.
I also found the logic stupid that it apparently has no value to anyone or smthn despite being such an important anti magic tool. It apparently suppresses mana, i guess outside the body, but apparently not when you imbue it with mana, guess that's absorbing it from the air but then again it absorbs everything? even a small piece? as long as it is 3m? definitely fetching it around to sell it, fuck gofer boy could carry it 3m ahead or behind :P like weren't they having money issues and whatwith thinking 3 steps ahead.
I feel the writers know what they're doing, nothing more titillating for the typical grandma elf fans than seeing the shoeless feet of a maiden :S a beating indeed was in order and no wonder the guy turned down elfblob's clothes melting potion. Waiting for more Lord of the blobs music music with blob feet scenes uooohhhhh.
Also like i don't recall anymore why they were moving so slow, did elfblob want to visit previously visited locations to be able to define her answer? It's one nasty irrelevant contrived flashback after the other with forced parallels and idk what relationship insight the elfblob is getting. It feels like find my feelings in the way of some ethot going on a journey to just feel things and feel profound.
lol yeah they're at least trying hard to i guess thwart an imminent crisis. Funny i don't think even nostradamus stuff or mayan calendar thing had this level of it's imminent unhinge XD. Not surprised, We've got some militant right wing vegans here, but i guess it's the only retarded nation to have any haha.
Really, i was kind of expecting at least a little better on first look.
I know you can't wait for it ;)
Active in at least 40 countries+ (with a presence in the USA, UK, Sweden, Israel, etc)
Origins United Kingdom
My god so it was like Antifa [pets version] :'P I think i have a change of perception now, maybe people are less radicalised on veganism and animals nowadays.
XD it still wouldn't beat the boy meets girl backstory of grossman XP let me know tooif it wasn't an edit haha.
Oh boy so it starts :') yuck 🌈
Yeah, i didn't get to see the second ep properly yet but just checked it for a sec casually and saw quite a bit of the shading already drop from the faces and in contours and very significant drop in Close ups, just visible from clicking around, so that bad. Not a good look going forward then. In this defense they did provide 3 strong eps :') which was basically one super beaten like a donkey and stretched bit that probably won't take more than a couple manga chaps.
Grandma elfblob is back btw, and back to the Sludge of life bits, i guess it's the break after the chuunin arc.
nin nin de gozaru
apparently the quote i shared is even worse in there somewhere in ikkoku nikki from looking around, it was more along the lines of (roughly since second hand reconstruction):
The extreme veganism push is a complete meme tbh. Even the normal PC folk 🌈🌈🌈 probably use its militants as an inoffensive social joke probably. This is why you need to look less serious and include humour into the world when being overly serious about your commentary or it comes off as asinine, like lmao at vegan jihad. Imagine if this was K-on or azumanga daioh charas/blobs with this same convo and plot
GROSSSS, considering that's not his real mom and she finds this captivating (blushing) instead of just being happy for him.
Yeah that aspect sounds like bargain bin parasyte alright lolol wonder if monkey kun can catch kuru or something? I would like for that to happen.
Worse btw would be carnivores toying with their meals. Imagine someone feeding a chicken kfc for some reel in front of that terrorists, like imagine the serious-edgy orby/monstery expressions. How'd that be for comedy? XD
The woman voicing charlie thing makes it worse with monkey's neotenous-andro inhumanness and look, feels queer 🌈🌈🌈XD so kinda does come a bit closer to that lesbian thing you spoke of.
lmao i guess lucy know what she waunna do waen she leave daet small midwes taeun. 🌈hub
all the tourists do and there's a lot of them lately, esp the western ones. This degenerate is one of our tourists🌈🌈🌈, it's very obvious from his articles, crunchy has been booming big time here since the pandemic, like a major expansion. I'm also seeing a lot of low brow local capers, that are wayyyy worse than western capers, adopting it with caper sensibilities, This guy I bet watches a lot of western caper and TV serials, hence the MHA VA spergout. These professional reviews are honestly rarely insightful, seem much more bargain bin and almost like shillposting.
lmao ikr, tbh he's used to his western TV 'new kid in college thing' of the dullest kind, so he can't feel that difference, the show also goes a bit near that. It's cause of names like Grossman that I think maybe there is some dry humour.
Lmfao you know if it was watanabe you could've gotten something like this, at least lazarus is more playful. This would be fucking hilarious!
Why am i not surprised with that :') ? i am much more surprised that lazarus wasn't received THIS well too X'P
Lmao i know your sociological interests there too well, okay, that's funny if they make a few good digs on them or smthn, It is a pretty quirky title so maybe there is XD do share if you end up spotting something a bit more direct as it goes on.
Edited- apparently I am at the last chapter before he died.
Cus I didnt read for at least 3-5 years.
https://butwhytho.net/2026/01/the-darwin-incident-episode-1-review/
This is why i find our local tourists the most revolting:
https://butwhytho.net/author/ridgeharripersad/
is also morbidly fat 🌈
Lmfaooooooo on the cucumbers and short monster thing, idk it's so hideous that I feel it'd not even work as a lesbo :P (please don't tell me there's precedent). The worst part of the whole vegan terror thing is how nasty the in contrast moralising to that could build up, like you saw the spider bit right, yuck XD. Think i'll try a bit more for the 🌈 shitposting.
Then probably XD not like im finding anything new outside from tamago and mato seihei, both of which i've read, for the latter im not interested in the anime anymore.
I mean not an easy task, but just to help a bit, wonder if this season's invisible man thing appeals to them, could provide some insight :P
Oh ugh, I have a lot of prejudice against fate stuff so probably not. They all have this gacha feel to them nowadays too.
odd, i thought it was an all girls death game title...oh wait...you mean savannah syndrome :P well i guess that is indeed is a bit too cishet for me :') the gimai guy did try quite a bit to give that stuff some more contemplative forbidden r/l vibe, far above what its writing deserved. Shibou yuugi does seem similarly interesting for a seasonal, some sort of theatrical death game thing.
lmao kind of, badass loli+ghost hunting, just much more bargain bin. Idk prob may have some yuribait too or it's just really nasty ghosthunter loli raising.