About

Hi there! You’ve probably noticed by now that this website is a blog primarily dedicated to anime critique. As for me, I usually go by the online moniker of 49 GB, but feel free to call me John.

At the time of writing, I’m a 22 year old guy who has been watching anime for somewhere close to a decade now. Gaming has been a passion of mine for my entire life which is where my initial interest in critique first spawned from; I grew up watching excellent and extremely entertaining independent video game critics like AngryJoe and John “TotalBiscuit” Bain who–especially in the latter case–later became role models and examples for me to follow in trying to pursue an identity as being a serious critic myself. I wrote my first review of an anime when I was roughly 13-14 years old just for fun, and kept up the habit of doing so for each and every show I watched from then on for several years as no more than a hobby, never intending to try and be the best at what I was doing. None of the reviews I wrote during that time period were ever intended for viewing by an audience.

By the time I graduated into adulthood and was forced to grapple with the responsibility to take care of myself and carefully manage my time, I had grown somewhat apathetic towards the aforementioned tradition that I once upheld. When I was far younger, I had dreams of being a professional novelist, but never imagined that I would be interested in writing reviews or taking critique seriously as a literary medium. Roughly a year and a half ago though, I found myself sharing some of my relatively recent material with my best friend, and was motivated for the first time in my life to write something new with effort behind it for the sake of doing right by and providing something to another person they would find genuinely exciting. It would be easy for me to say that particular inciting incident “revived” the passion for writing I lost somewhere along the line, but truthfully I think the newfound passion I’ve developed for writing as a result of that incident is something far greater than what I had before.

Since that time, I have grown steadily better and better at what I do, and far more serious about maintaining a high quality standard in the pages of my work. Above all else, I value honesty and integrity; from the very first moment I wrote a review knowing that it would be read by another person, I made a promise to myself that no matter what, I would maintain completely open transparency at all times. In large part because I made that promise from the start, my reviews have become as much a way for me to personally connect with my audience and openly express myself as they are informative critique of their subject matter. Roughly a month and a half ago, I wrote an opinion piece largely focusing on the dilemma of whether or not it would be worth letting my modern work be seen publicly by a broad audience, and made the decision alongside my closest friends to go through with it; I have no delusions of grandeur whatsoever, but I do truly hope that you’ll enjoy everything I’ll be posting and archiving here!

I call myself a “serious critic”, but don’t make the mistake of assuming that my material is written to be read in a dull monotone; you’ve probably realized already that the branding of this website itself is a little bit ridiculous (#TeamProtag originates from a joke connected to the video game Doki Doki Literature Club which my friends and I have steadily blown out of proportion if you were curious), and the identity of being a dedicated anime critic above all else is something I’d be blind not to recognize makes me look unprofessional. I hope to use this site as a way of providing good anime critique not just to those of you who are already dedicated anime fans or those who see themselves as being part of the broader “anime community” (which I personally do not, something that has become part of my brand), but also to anybody interested and willing to listen even if they know absolutely nothing about the anime industry; if you’ve never so much as heard the term “anime” before in your lifetime, you’re more than welcome here! I do this because I personally enjoy it a great deal, and I want you the reader to share in that enjoyment as much as is realistically possible.

If you’re interested in this site because of the monstrosity that is my 6-hour long “Ranceverse 101” lore lecture available on YouTube, thank you so much for your time and I hope you enjoy! For those of you who have not seen the aforementioned lecture and are interested in watching it, you can do so right here or at the link above, the fact that video has over 3,000 views now is absolutely crazy to me and it’s super cool to see so many other people interested in one of my favorite video game franchises. I will likely be releasing a new video soon that mentions the existence of this website, so stay tuned!