pseudo

👋 • he/him • 2001 • asian-canadian • PDT (GMT-7)

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me

meandering young adult who recently graduated with two specializations in the social sciences. i'm heading back to a technical college for a year—an IT program in hopes of leveraging some of my past internship experience as my first step into the industry. Myers-Briggs isn't scientific in the slightest, but for the sake of low-stakes fun, i slot in as an ISFP-T.some of my interests beyond media consumption and discussion are as follows:

photography

been picture-taking with a DSLR/mirrorless for nearly eight years and counting. i've got a Flickr for some of what i can show you—most of it is hobby endeavours, which is my typical reprieve—but i also freelance on the side with a portfolio of my work. it's part of why i have this page to begin with; the Carrd plan i host my portfolio through allows multiple sites.

(multiplayer) gaming

for better or for worse, casual competition with friends in games like CS:GO (RIP), CS2, Valorant, and/or Rainbow Six Siege has been a staple of my life for more than a decade. i've been a Tier 2 underager at my peak, and i've also represented my university and made actual prize money—nowadays, though, i just game for fun. even if i hop on much less than i used to, i'll probably always see casual online competition as an outlet one way or another.aside from the aforementioned, i do play GeoGuessr a decent amount. currently, i hover around the lowest ELO range of the highest possible rank.

custom keyboards

i got into the space during the height of COVID lockdowns in Summer 2020, starting with a mill-maxxed (hotswap mod) Anne Pro 2—and from there my journey into the rabbit hole began. i've got a YouTube for some of my sound tests over the years, and i also have some setup photos here. generally, i prefer a higher-pitched sound signature and a solid (but not firm and rigid) bottom-out experience.as of writing, i own 4 boards and 10 keycap sets. total-to-date, i'd estimate that i've owned ~12-15 boards and ~18-25 keycap sets. of course, i've sold a bunch to make room/financial availability for new rotations over the years.

hockey

i regularly keep up with the NHL, and despite being a Canucks fan (sorry), i read and enjoy conversations about other teams as well as the league/sport as a whole. unfortunately, i only watch hockey—i've never played it at a meaningful level; not even beer league.

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anime

my first anime was My Hero Academia, which i watched in March 2020 after looking for new media experiences when COVID first kept us at home. from that point, i remained an on-and-off anime watcher until i stumbled upon Hunter x Hunter (2011) in August 2021. past that, i've mostly been consuming anime/animanga related media.i don't really keep up with currently-airing seasonals all that often; ~three in one cour (and usually less) is the range i naturally gravitate towards. my bread and butter are completed shows i can take at my own pace.

manga/light novels

i largely steered clear of manga and light novels until late 2024. reading just wasn't a habit i was into, so even though i'd give the occasional manga a spin, i never touched a light novel for years. this changed once i read the Saeki Sayaka spinoff series from Bloom Into You.fast forward to today; while i would still say i prefer anime overall, i often have stretches of days or weeks where i read far more than i watch. much like i mentioned above, i do prefer completed series; but the inherent nature of the medium compared to anime means that much of what speaks to my thematic sensibilities (more on that below) can often be ongoing reads.

what i look for in my stories

i try my best to keep an open mind when it comes to themes and genres—but as is the case with everyone, i have my preferences and biases.

a lot of my favourites often combine these elements to some degree.

why do i tend to only watch/read animanga?

long story short, i haven't gotten tired of it so far. that's really all there is to it, and i enjoy sticking with animanga for the time being. i feel no need or desire to diversify for its own sake.that being said, layered within the above are smaller reasons why my habit of mostly consuming animanga has endured:

i'm sure i'll go back to Western media/novels eventually, but i'm not gonna force myself to return if i find zero personal motivation to at the moment.

hey!

(thanks for taking an interest in my CSS—i mean it.)

first off, thanks for visiting this page; promise i won't be (that) long.if you're looking through this preamble in hopes of either borrowing from my CSS or using my layout as a base/starting point for yours, please know that generally, i'm perfectly okay with this. as long as it's made clear somewhere that your code was derived from mine, you don't really need to reach out to me prior to doing so (on the contrary, if you're looking for help, always feel free to message me and i'll get back to ya when i'm not feeling lazy).however—i also have several snippets throughout my CSS which were borrowed/provided to me by other users, and i cannot guarantee that each of them holds the same attitude towards sampling and attribution that i do. they'll generally be listed next to a particular snippet if credit is warranted.as a general best-practice (and basic kindness, after all), please contact individual creators if you borrow/sample my code to a significant extent.with very limited exceptions (and i'll list them if they're present), you're free to borrow anything which is unambiguously mine to your heart's content. as aforementioned, just leave a comment somewhere in your stylesheet. anything that's not, i would recommend reaching out to pertinent users just to keep things above board.feel free to reach out to me with any questions should you have them—click the little arrow in the bottom-right to be taken to my website's landing page, or you can just message me on AL.thanks in advance :)
— pseudo

foreword

(kept this as brief as i could, but i'm a wordy mf; lol)

entries are unordered within their tiers, animanga comprises the first 35 items, all other mediums round out the final 15.i chose this approach because while i certainly do have my favourites and dear-to-my-heart media outside of anime & manga, the fact that i've been so embedded in community-oriented animanga discussion and analysis over the past ~3 years means that the bulk of my current emotional affinity is vested in that space.so while i'd hesitate to say that i'd place any tv/movie/music/etc. entries above my favourites in animanga—i'd also emphasize that they aren't necessarily "completely" below them, either.i (likely) loved them back then equally as much as i love my favourite japanese cartoons now. it's just that this list is a reflection of who i am today—and today's me is ultimately defined by the hundreds of recent hours i've spent consuming and discussing anime and manga with close friends and like-minded strangers alike.sorry for the rambling; let's just get to it:

tier 1

the most pseudo-core stories to (ever) exist

bloom into you (anime, manga, sayaka saeki light novels)

impossibly poignant character drama, a meticulous yet effortless unravelling of the self, the most moving piece that dares distill the depth and dulcet of that bewitched, beautiful four-letter-word——how brightly the shimmering sky shines from where where we stand

hidamari sketch (anime, manga in progress)

its ritualism is its reward; unflinching reverence for the rhythms of sunrise & sundown, the lifetimes’ worth of warmth hand-in-hand, heart-to-heart, etched in mosaic and memory, a canvas (un)changing in all the best ways——tomorrow will be just like today, right?

aria (anime, manga in progress)

“magic in the mundane,” that’s iyashikei’s shtick; and yet aria just does it like no other—the ordinary becomes otherworldly, languid time both unending and unyielding—and when we’re at our fullest, that’s when it lets go——may the stars in our twilight sky shine forevermore

tier 2

the most pseudo-core stories to not be in my first tier

ashita no joe (anime)

is it one man against the world, or is it the world against one man—icarus ought to relate to the solemnity of those caught in joe’s flame, wandering, igniting, burning, the singularity of being and becoming——all that remains is pure white ash

oregairu (light novels, anime)

the most overwrought overdramatization of the banality of adolescence there is; and it’s exactly through such that its most vulnerable, heartfelt, and evocative emotional truths are found, sincerity in every sense of the word——i think this warmth is what “genuine” truly is

mushishi (anime)

haunting yet healing, wondrous and wistful—indescribable in mere words alone, its ethereal, cosmic control over the very life of existence itself is, to say the least, breathtaking and beautiful——everything is only as it is

liz and the blue bird (movie)

if a scream could be silent, it’d be named after the wavering, reckoning, and crystallizing of nozomi and mizore; parting’s not the right word, but neither is eternity in each other’s safety, perhaps it’s somewhere in between——my, how soaring your wings truly are

tamayura (anime)

still-life in motion’s the best way i’d describe it; the pause and legacy of moments in stasis, what it means to relinquish the present to the past, how our lives forthcoming co-exist with both eternity and each other——a thank you to today, and a welcome to tomorrow

tier 3

rounding out my favourites of a lifetime

adachi and shimamura (light novels)

iruma’s prose elevates a gentle, gradual story of withdrawn mutual truths into a shamelessly poetic, brilliantly penned celebration of conjoining souls, an immortalizing of our forever——she takes me to places i thought i could never go——i want to be there to see where that is

non non biyori (anime)

there really is no other story which does “simple” quite like non non biyori, and yet that’s a magic of its own; it’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you smile, and it’ll make you fall in love with life again——i can feel the warmth of the winds, cradled in the smiles by my side

a place further than the universe (anime)

it might be an adventure to the edge of the earth, but it’s also a journey to (re-)kindle the world within ourselves, the willingness to take that one step, to see our surroundings in a broader, brighter light than the day before——i feel like my youth is in motion

hyouka (anime, light novels in progress)

equal parts procedural, low-stakes mystery, equal parts fluttering coming-of-age; the depth of each day and the people around us should we choose to engage with them, the weight of expectations and change, the blinding pink of a rose-coloured-life——isn’t it already spring?

tier 4

what most people would still score a (near-)10/10

chihayafuru (anime, manga)

culture, competition, connection, culminating in a breathtaking cascade of victories and defeats, triumphs and turmoils, the timelessness of passion unearthed within the infinitude of those beside and across us——swift waters parted by jagged rocks are joined at river's end

tamako market/love story (anime, movie)

the incrementality of adolescence contrasted against the pulse of change, future-loathing with future-longing, protecting community and nostalgia within our changing worlds, rivers flow beneath our feet just waiting to burst——so too is this warmth in my hand worth clasping

sonny boy (anime)

whimsical, weird, and wondrous beyond belief; a stream-of-consciousness wandering in places anywhere but here, worlds anyplace but ours, all the mystifying and confounding converge upon the trajectory of our lives——what’s ahead will take just a little bit longer

girls' last tour (anime, manga)

what are our feet for if not to venture, to live the life we’ve been given, to explore the world before us; even if it’s at its wits end, maybe our journey will make its adieu all the more gentle, and may our proof linger forevermore——true meaning is what we make of it

sakura quest (anime)

the alienation of young adulthood and the liminality of one’s purpose molded into earnest, honest truths, allowing change to take us where we need to go, carrying cherished memories & moments with us on our skyward paths——you can find inspiration on your own, wherever you are

shirobako (anime)

an anime about making anime, yet also one of the most honest peeks into the whirlwinds of life once you’re in lockstep with its rhythm, the hardships, the triumphs, and how best to kindle your passions, whatever and wherever they may be——i’m now one step closer to my dream

tier 5

even if it’s not necessarily to death, i wholeheartedly love these

akage no anne (anime, (some of the) books)

blink and you’ll miss it, so close your eyes and take it all in; some of the most painterly the slice-of-life genre’s ever been, one of the most gentle stories of growth and family there is, loving, losing, living——no matter where i go, i’ll always be your little anne

yokohama kaidaishi kikou (manga)

the dwindling swan song of a distant world, where so much can only be called different, yet so too is it all the same; its nostalgia, its anxious hopefulness, its melancholic kindness… its, well, humanity——the eternal remnants of our brief intermingling with time

in this corner of the world (movie)

it’d be strange to call this the most optimistic tragedy i’ve seen, but it’s exactly such; from quaint happenings in faraway not-here’s, to shattering violence in the everywhere-here’s, and at last its plea, its from-here——we still have tomorrow and the day after that

super cub (anime)

it’s cute-girls-ride-motorcycles, but it’s also such a lovingly incremented story of personal growth, the weight of the small (and big) challenges which define our day-to-day, the beauty of seeking out colour in our actions and lives——you can go anywhere with a cub

texhnolyze (anime)

grisly, oppressive, suffocating; yet strangely & somehow one of the most affirming experiences i’ve seen in anime, not without struggle nor sacrifice, but certainly with all the reckoning of and by those at their end——here i stand, walking in the empty age

your name (movie)

forever one of my most cherished comfort watches, a capsule of memory and nostalgia preserved in my everlasting present & future; a starlit sky, a cratered earth, a defying of time & space, all for two names, how inarticulably spellbinding and magical it all is——好きだ

march comes in like a lion (anime)

the dichotomy of competition unravelling the breathtaking, bittersweet, and beautiful gradients of life, the meaning of those by our sides, the radiance of our destined paths, the perfection of its inwards evocation——the world struck in a brighter, brilliant hue

yuru camp (anime)

does so much with so little; from its impossibly placating settings, to its disarming love for simple outdoor comforts, to the warmth of the cast which encircles its heartbeat, there’s always a reason to smile when it comes to this show——one day, let’s go camping again

haibane renmei (anime)

its weightlessness in exposition is what makes its poignance so heavy, the gravity of our sin, the freedom of flight, maybe life isn’t just all about these two extremes, but it’s up to us to get from one end to the other——what are wings for if not to one day fly

tier 6

the last of the animanga i would consider worthy of being on some sort of “top”/”favourites” list of mine

legend of the galactic heroes (anime)

an enrapturing, electrifying converging of convictions; somehow the universe has not the size to contain its ambition nor its scope, so richly characterized and thrillingly written; burn bright, little one, etch yourself in the cosmos——the legend ends, and history begins

perfect world (manga)

one of the best depictions of disability i've personally seen, far more than its wheelchairs and hospitals, it's a recontextualization of the world we take for granted, to view what surrounds us in a newer, kinder light——there's more to our lives than what we can't do

clannad (anime)

even for its (sub)genre, it's easily one of the slowest burns out there; but that patience allows it truly breathtaking climaxes, profound joys and crushing grief in harmonious breaths, and so too, what comes after such——is this the place where wishes come true?

solanin (manga)

desperate yearning for someplace to placate its passions, disillusionment diluted with harsh doses of reality, loss and re-discovery in its most funereal form; which for better or for worse, hits too close to home——you look best when you're smiling, singing, or by my side

hunter x hunter (2011 anime, 1999 in progress)

imaginative, ambitious, and layered beyond belief, it'd be enough to praise its world and power system, but that's before even getting to its richly coloured cast, its breathtaking character writing, and its moving culminations——do you know the depths of the human heart?

nana (anime)

such a powerful, procedural, personal unravelling of what makes us human, perhaps showbiz is its lifeblood, but its tragedies exist beyond the spotlight, tucked away in places made damp from tears spilling out from our hearts——maybe the city's just a little too bright for me

aquatope (anime)

the literal-ness of its cleansing and rebirthing is what makes its reimagining so inspiring; coupling its profound respect for ecology and the world around us with the shaping of its wandering, the cerulean blue of our lives——do what's right, and what's right will come

sousou no frieren (anime)

gentle meandering in forever, eventual farewells in fleeting, journeys but a lifetime in length, meetings and partings earmarking both the brevity of our presence but the eternity of our legacy——if death is but a distant goodbye, i'm sure we'll soon cross paths once again

tier 7

the remaining stories which give me flight (read the foreword)

inception (movie)

my comfort media before i could even grasp the concept of "comfort media;" a thriller, quite simply, done right; tension and catharsis in the dreams which connect us across oh-so-precious time——you know where you hope the train will take you, but you can't know for sure

bloodline season 1 (tv)

if blood is thicker than water, than let it spill, diluted and cleansed; it fell off as it progressed, but the first season remains one of the most engrossing family dramas i've seen, poking and prodding at the depths of the heart——till death do us part, let death do its part

calvin and hobbes (comics)

unmatched joy in the yesterday and unparalleled nostalgia in the today, the whimsies of childhood and the imagination we owe to ourselves, the boredom, the excitement, the annoyance, the happiness, all of it——it's a magical world, hobbes... let's go exploring

mac miller (artist)

outpourings so sincere it'd make most shiver, the vulnerability of a damaged, broken mind, wrapped in brilliant lyricism and unforgettable arrangements, catchy to your ears, resonant to your heart——haven’t seen the sun in a while, but i heard that the sky's still blue

house of cards seasons 1-4 (tv)

such a fiercely characterized, electrifyingly written, fully realized sense of script and scope, the weight of the nation pales in comparison to the weight of its sin, so captivating you forget the final two seasons exist——puts even the most powerful men on their backs

bone (comics)

almost too ambitious for its demographic, but it's that very ambition which makes it so formative, everything from whimsy and gravity to melancholy and tragedy, an adventure imprinted in scars and mending——it's a long ways to go, fone bone

the good place (tv)

of all the acclaimed schur-sitcoms, this one's by far the most affecting for me, it shot for the stars with its premise, setting, and theming; and did it ever deliver, from the purgatory of stasis to the momentum of flight——be kinder today than you were yesterday

brooklyn nine nine (tv)

maybe its charm dwindled a little as time went on, but for what it was, certainly few did it better; layering comedy and accessible sleuthing with surprisingly poignant character moments at its best——as long as we're with the right people, we can handle anything

keshi (music)

admittedly, the lyrics are a bit trite; but there's a sound to his instrumentation and voice which i never stop gravitating to, perhaps the bluntness of his poeticism really is his charm, for it allows his mood & emotion to take center stage——blue moon in different places

the 100 seasons 1-5 (tv)

banal teen melodrama turned unexpectedly and wonderfully written, wielding as complex of morality as you could expect from its showrunners, yet it was resoundingly effective, the pain of yearning for tomorrow——at the foot of the mountain, knocking on heaven's door

portal series (games)

i've played these far more times than i'm willing to admit, even if only for speedrunning purposes; yet even before that, so too for its engaging depth in simplicity, its witty, vibrant characters, and its vast, imaginative setting——this was a triumph; a huge success

dark (tv)

there's a tension and uneasiness to the presentation which makes it equal parts horrifying as it is thrilling, slow-burn catharses cascading across time and space, a search for truth and meaning in worlds both everywhere and nowhere——of yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows

brockhampton (artist)

at their height, they took the world by storm, and even in their forgotten era does their discography still captivate mine, diverse spreads of musical & poetic genius, drill(-like) rap, heartfelt ballads, & everything in between——no one help me when my eyes go red

the office (tv)

the sitcom to define a generation, it made us laugh, it made us cry, and before we knew it, the good old days were behind us; it had some stinkers towards the end, yet it's forever a capsule of nostalgia for me——why in the world does it feel so hard to leave right now?

black mirror (tv)

it has its highs and its (relative) lows, but the consistency of this seven-season-strong anthology is nothing short of remarkable, everything from dystopian despair to utopian wonder, so much breadth in tone and theme——reflections & ruminations warped yet authentic