Hi! Could you tell us about yourself?
Hi I'm Bagel! I'm a university student studying data analytics. Outside of Pokemon my main interests include the NBA, building Legos (I should do this more), Anime and thinking about how cool it would be to watch all the movies I know I would love. I become pretty single-minded when I become interested in something and I tend not to focus on many different interests at the same time. I generally only play 1 not-pokemon game at a time (currently Persona 5) and I follow non-NBA sports much more casually. You can see this from the unhealthy amount of ladder games I managed to accumulate this past year.
How did you come to pick your username?
This is so simple that I'll always remember it. So back in the ancient times of Elementary/Middle School I would pack my lunch and almost always bring a bagel, so my "code name" was Bagel (no one actually called me this luckily). Sometime later I would transfer that to only game usernames, Bagel was already taken in Clash of Clans so my genius came up with theyummybagel and I've stuck with the brand ever since.
How did you get into competitive Pokemon and what made you play and stick with Doubles?
When Sun and Moon originally came out my favorite part ended up being grinding the Battle Tree after the game, and I found my way to the Showdown ladder when that was the current gen. I think I played mostly UU because I wanted to use Mimikyu lol. I promptly forgot about comp mons for a while until a Discord Server I joined (totally unrelated to pokemon) hosted for fun tournaments of various formats which I would join. Eventually in 2022
big pichu hosted a DOU tour and I was like yo this is gas. I started off not great but grinded ladder like and eventually won the tour. I eventually joined DOUcord and saw an
emma +
Nails + Redacted
recap of a week of SCL II had been posted. Watching high level DOU with high level discussion kinda exploded my brain and then I was hooked.
Congratulations on winning the coveted Invitationals ribbon in your first year! How does it feel? Did you ever expect to be so successful in your debut year?
Obviously it feels great but I'm not really sure if it has set in yet haha. The only other game I seriously put any sort of effort into playing competitively was Clash Royale (lol) and I wasn't even that good, so it feels weird to have any sort of success in a competitive gaming sphere. I definitely didn't expect to have any sort of success at the start of the year, but as the year progressed and I practiced more I did eventually gain confidence in myself to win games. I think it helped when I started to take everything one game at a time rather than looking at a whole tour or schedule.
bage1 became the seventh Invitationals winner after beating qsns in the finals.
You really went through the gauntlet for Invitationals, can you walk us through some of your thought process and expectations for your sets against Nido-Rus, Feyy, zee, and of course the fated finals against qsns?
vs Nido - I had already come to terms with the fact that I was going to play one of qsns or Nido round 1 and it was going to be annoying either way because I test with both of them a lot. The meta was new and I was convinced the KLIFO archetype was just The Best so I basically went with that 3x. I had some more radical options that I shied away from because I am a coward and they would have turned out better for me lol. This set definitely helped me understand the value of customizing your teams and team selection to your opponent in tournaments. I had a general idea of what Nido might bring but mostly disregarded that and brought stuff I was comfortable with and that made the set much more difficult. I still use "bring what I like" as a baseline but customizing for my opponent is something much more in the forefront of my mind.
vs Feyy - I had lost to Feyy in both OSDT and SCL so I was kinda paranoid lol. It feels arrogant to say but in general I think I'm a better builder than Feyy so I really wanted to make sure I got a jump there. The main things I was keeping in mind with my teams were to make sure I didn't lose to either crazy hyper offense stuff or any weird setup pokemon strategies. I brought Trick Room game 2 because I thought it would be both unexpected coming from me and good into the Tailwind offense that was in Feyy's range. This set gave me a lot of confidence as a player/builder as I felt pretty in control for the entire set.
vs zee - Another good friend that I was not looking forward to playing against. I talked about this in my teamdump but I REALLY didn't want to lose to any crazy Smeargle shenanigans so I wanted my teams to be "cheese-proof" so to speak. I feel like this set was won mostly in the builder. During both games I pretty much got to click buttons without having to make many difficult decisions because I had such a matchup advantage in both games.
vs qsns - Now this felt like some real anime shit lmao. qsns is without a doubt the #1 reason why I've improved so much this year. Basically ever since mid-OSDT time they have been so willing to help/test/share ideas and I can't thank them enough. Naturally this meant playing them was a significant nerf because I didn't have them around to make all my dumb ideas not dumb. This was literally the final boss lmao. We originally scheduled for Saturday but on Monday we were like this sucks ass we have to wait around a whole week and can't talk to each other about mons so we were like ok let's just play early in the week. Fun log:
Bagel — 01/14/2024 4:20 PM
if i block you sometime this week no hard feelings its just to stop myself from sending you the teams im gonna bring
I go over the teams I brought in my team dump but Farfromani was supremely helpful for this set. I had built like 20 teams on Monday and that night they helped me narrow down to 4 ideas and refine the teams into something that won. We have played so many test games and have such a good feel for how the other plays the game that I really had no idea how the set would go. I tried not to get in my head about making plays that qsns wouldn't expect or something like that, and I guess it worked out.
OSDT III was another remarkable high point of success for you, with a major top 16 finish until losing against Feyy. This being your first successful individual tournament, what was the preparation and thought process like throughout? Your set against SMB was voted as Best DOU match of 2023; do you feel in hindsight this was your favorite set, or do you prefer another one?
For OSDT I think I was mostly vibing at the start as I didn't really have many expectations for myself. I beat Mishimono
(link to set) and Ratpacker
(link to set) in rounds 3/4 and after that I was like "wait a second maybe I can do good..." Then after the SMB set I really started to tryhard and aim for top-cut. The SMB set is definitely my favorite of the year, both games were extremely close twists and turns, and really good plays from both sides. All I remember from playing is that I had an insane adrenaline rush. But I think I'll always remember this set as being the first time I beat a truly top-tier player.
What do you feel you did wrong against Feyy to lose in top 16; do you feel like overcoming this loss helped you improve?
So the only thing I remember about this set is that I felt I threw game 1 and then got crit in game 3 which obviously negates all my mistakes and makes me the rightful OSDT champion. (Will now rewatch the set)
Ok I don't really remember the mindset I was in at the time but it does look like I was just in the "bring teams I like and it will be fine" attitude with my team selection and not really considering what Feyy might bring. In game 3 I lost to Feyy using Curse/Iron Head/Dragon Tail/Protect Goodra-H which I don't really blame past-Bagel for not expecting lol. If I'm being honest with myself I don't really think I grew as much as a player as I could have after this set.
With DPL 10 looming around, prospective mock drafts have rated you very high (around a 28k average); how do you feel about this? Does it add on to a pressure to perform, or does it feel good to be rated amongst the most valuable players? What does your optimal DPL team / experience look like?
Seeing the extremely high mock numbers makes me feel a weird combination of terror and pride. It feels great to have my skill appreciated by others but it also puts a lot of pressure on me in what will be just my 2nd DPL. Even though I just won Invis I still view myself as a newcomer that has a lot to learn so it's weird being seen as a top-tier player. A dream DPL team scenario for me has me on a team with people I enjoy talking to, while maintaining an active, upbeat, and competitive environment. Ideally I want to win as much as possible of course, but honestly I'd prefer good vibes and first and foremost.
bage1 ended up getting drafted by previous winners Spikemuth Spectral Thieves for 25k, making him their marquee player, starting round 1 with a massive highlight match against Paraplegic.
Speaking of DPL, one of your breakthrough tournaments was DPL 9 where Memoric drafted you for the Tohjo Tramplers's DUU slot. What was your team tournament first experience like?
I had no idea what I was doing lmao. I was so new that I didn't really know anyone on my team or what the expectations were for team tours. The Tramplers ended up having a bit of an up and down season but it was a good experience overall and it definitely helped me grow as a builder and player.
Your post-DPL team dump made it look like you carried a heavy building burden, combining the duties of delivering several SV DOU teams while also figuring out the nebulous DUU metagame; did you feel satisfied with your building and performance, or do you feel like fewer duties would've made you perform better?
I was still so new to DOU and the community so I'm sure that focusing on less tasks at once would have produced better results wherever I did end up putting the majority of my focus. I do think that I helped our team with my building while still going positive in the DUU slot and I'm satisfied with what I was able to accomplish.
After going 4-3 in DUU for the Tohjo Tramplers for 10.5k, bage1 made two separate post-DPL teamdumps: one for SV DOU and one for SV DUU.
I don't remember the exact timeline but I remember feeling like I was in a bit of a slump around the time of Derby while also thinking 13k was a good deal as a self-buy. I felt like a lot of my value at the time was my familiarity with nearly all the tiers, and I tried to help out with testing and building everywhere I could. I originally slotted into DPP and
got thrashed by GOAT Farfromani which didn't help with my confidence at the time lol as I considered DPP maybe my strongest tier at the time. I slotted into DUU
(vs Actuarily) and DLC
(vs John1240) as a sub when our mains couldn't be there and ended up winning both, but unfortunately lost the
SV DOU playoff tiebreaker vs robjr. As for the draft, pichu and I had a pretty lax spreadsheet covering who we were interested in for each tier and generally how much we wanted to spend, etc. I do think we could have drafted better strategy-wise, but I don't regret drafting anyone on the team at all, everyone was fun to talk to and I thought we had great vibes (I hope everyone else did too). I had a great time managing and hopefully pichu and I are in a place where we can sign up to manage the Turboblaze again for this year's edition of Derby.
What was your SCL experience like, initially starting out as Meminger21's support but being promoted to starter? Did you feel a lot of nerves, or were you confident you could perform on this biggest stage?
I had absolutely 0 expectation that I would be drafted, so I was already the "happy to be there" guy on the team. Meminger is an awesome player and 100% better than their record. I think starting off as support benefitted me a lot, by the time I was promoted to starter I felt a lot less pressure (still a lot I was nervous af for
the JRL game in particular). I think I could have done a lot better as a support for Meminger as I only really realized midway through the main differences between us as players and our preferences in team choice. I wish I did a better job catering to them while I was a player, although I do think there needs to be a balance between yes-man and devils advocate-type support, as not all ideas are gonna work out obviously. I did try to keep this in mind when supporting other players in SCL once my team was eliminated, as well as during DWCOP.
It wasn't just DOU you found success in this year, but your DUU Invitationals win and 17-7 record made you a standout in our premier lower tier as well. What kind of differences are there between DOU and DUU playing- and building-wise; what was the reason you stood out in this field in particular?
I don't think there is much of a difference playing-wise. Mons is mons and the SV DUU power level is really high and has been for most of the gen. In my opinion if a player is generally good at doubles they can be good at DUU given they take the time to explore and learn the meta. Building-wise I think DUU is more flexible than DOU, and rewards identifying meta trends and exploiting those trends more so than in DOU. As I mentioned before I think taking the time to explore the meta is a big thing, which is probably why I did so well
(link to post-DUU Invitationals teamdump). I have no life and was obsessed with Pokemon, so I was able to build with a ton of pokemon, play a ton of games, and flesh out a ton of ideas. For me personally it felt like a brute force method of building at times. DUU can honestly seem kind of overwhelming with so many potentially viable Pokemon to consider, but I generally use the age-old strategy of sorting the builder by BST.
How are you feeling about SV DOU right now, is it in a good place or are there any problematic elements you'd like to see tiering action on? How do you reflect on pre-Home SV DOU; do you feel like the tier has improved since?
I enjoy SV DOU right now, as I enjoy winning and I've been winning recently. However I would really really really love to see a Flutter Mane suspect/ban. I can see the arguments for it not being broken in the past metagame (although I think running a double suspect was a poor idea in hindsight) but now I think the meta-environment is even more favorable to Flutter Mane than before. Compared to pre-home SV DOU this metagame is waaaaaaay better. Once that meta got figured out it was very samey, there were just not enough options to create a fun metagame.
Besides your successes in current generation Doubles, you were also a key figure in especially the starting days of DPP and subsequently got nominated as one of the tier's best players of 2023; what is compelling about DPP specifically and how do you enjoy it when compared to SV DOU?
I love DPP because of how the tier manages to balance a fast pace with low power level as well as its ever changing metagame. Every turn in a DPP game can feel high-leverage because of how important every bit of HP can be. OHKOs are very rare (especially since the Latios ban) due to a good balance of bulk and damage output. Every choice in the builder feels crucial, and the lack of team preview offers a whole other level of gameplay (that I personally feel is more interesting than in ADV but I am biased).
You were also a mainstay in the scheduled old gens room tournaments; can you rank your favorite to least favorite old gens tiers, and explain why? Also what are your favorite Pokemon in every respective oldgen?
DPP - see above
SM - I'm a noob still but I really like the interactions between Z-moves and 50% berries as well as the positional gameplay. It is also the only old gen where tailwind is common and dynamic speed doesn't exist yet.
XY - I consider myself level above noob but like every XY game I watch is a banger and the hyper-centralized dynamic of the meta feels really unique when playing. It's the type of meta where I feel you could have a 5 mon mirror but each team functions in totally different ways (please correct me if wrong).
SS - I Like SS! Just not as much as the other ones. It's like SM-lite but the differences make a big difference. No Megas = SAD, No Z-moves = SAD, Tapu Koko is less viable = SAD, unnerfed Grassy Glide = SAD
BW - I'm even lower than noob so I lose and I don't like losing. Also known as skill issue. I enjoy watching BW but I just have not put in the work to really understand the meta.
(ADV) - this doesn't count because I haven't played a game of post-Latias ADV
Do you recall your first Doubles set, any memory what it was like? Did you fall in love with Doubles from the start?
As I mentioned above my first doubles set was actually in a for fun Discord tour hosted by big pichu, and yes I did fall in love from the start. But for my first forum doubles set I don't actually remember anything about the actual games lmao. I do remember having a box full of banned pokemon and discussing with pichu which ones would be the best. I like to think I played a hard fought 2 games taking each to the wire but I probably got wiped lmao.
Throughout 2023 you played an immense 100 sets and 207 games. What would you say were your favorite matches to play, your favorite ones to prepare for, and the most intimidating players you have faced thus far? If you were to point one set or game in particular, which has been your proudest?
Favorite to play: vs SMB OSDT swiss
Favorite to prep for: vs qsns Invis finals after I got over the immediate depression. I basically just went on a 3-4 hour mons binge.
Most intimidating: I know I was scared af when I played
Actuarily for DPL and it really affected my play I think. SMB and JRL are both players that have built quite a reputation and always are a bit scary to play.
Proudest: Honestly I don't know if I can think of a specific set or game that stands out among the rest in this regard. I can give the cop-out answer of "the whole year" but that is kinda boring so I'll throw out a couple. My set vs SMB in OSDT, Invis finals vs qsns,
DUU invis finals vs Nido, and a huge throwback to a set I had
vs JRL in Winter ssnl where I was still a noob but managed to take a game of of him.
JRL was super encouraging after that set and it really motivated me to improve.
You also won DOU's Best Builder award, have constantly provided influential team dumps, and have been a mainstay in the sample teams rotation. What is your approach to building like that makes you so strong in this part of the game? And what has been your proudest and/or favorite team you've built this year?
I don't think I have a particularly unique approach to team building tbh, I just try to use the Good Pokemon. I sort by BST in the builder a lot lmao. Also for every successful team that I bring there are at least 10 major stinkers that came before it. I think I probably test my teams more than most DOU players and that is probably my biggest advantage. As much as people trash on ladder I think it is a great place to stress-test teams and get an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. Of course I also play a ton of test games with friends as well.
My favorite team that I’ve built this year is probably this:
https://pokepast.es/33696a21bc1c1d7e
It's from pre-home but it was the first team I had serious success with both on ladder and in tournaments that I felt was truly “mine”. I think I topped the ladder for the first time using this team as well as took a game off of JRL with this team in the winter seasonal. Looking back at it is really funny because of course now there is so much I could change, but it really is a quintessential bage1 team. Ultrafat with Glimmora, Ting-Lu, and Gyarados which are 3 of my favorite mons to use. When I first started playing I was obsessed with the Nails hazardstack teams from SCL II and it had a big impact on my building ever sense as you can see here lol.
Awards, ribbons, and trophies came showering down on you this year, as you unsurprisingly were crowned Best New Player. However, quite interestingly you were a major name in all of the ladder categories as well. As you said you managed over 7000+ ladder games this year I'm wondering: how much do you feel like laddering helped you improve as a player? Did it make for a strong basis when you started, and do you feel like you're still improving from it now?
Ladder definitely helped a ton when I was a new player. I think simply playing lots of Pokemon is one of the biggest reasons for my early success. There are good players that play the ladder every day but even just playing against wacky hard TR or mono-water teams can help you understand how to play more polarizing matchups. Now I don't think the DOU ladder is as helpful in developing my skills as a player but as I mentioned above I consider it a valuable tool for testing teams and I recommend everyone use it as an easy place to just grind out games and get familiar with teams. Pretty much every team I brought to an important game had at least an hour of ladder/test games behind it. However I have been playing the VGC bo3 ladder semi-regularly and I do think that has helped me quite a bit recently even if it's a different format. I would highly recommend grabbing a team from somewhere and playing some games, the player quality is really high, even lower on the ladder.
You somehow managed to win Rookie of the Year *and* Most Improved Player; I'm not sure how that works but it does speak on your standing within the community, as do all of the shoutouts in dozens of winposts across the forum. Who and what have been the key influences and helpers that have inspired your meteoric rise to success? If a new player were to try to emulate your success, what would you suggest they do?
Yeah I'm not sure how I get to qualify for both awards either but I do think from last January to now I have gotten waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better as a Pokemon player. Players such as qsns and
Nido-Rus have been extremely helpful over the course of the year by letting me bug them for games and offering high-quality advice. Honestly the biggest thing that helped me was exposing myself to high-level players and gameplay. I mentioned before that I watch
Emma and Nails' weekly SCL II recaps (all of the recaps are linked in that thread) and I seriously think those accelerated my understanding of doubles significantly. Honestly I would recommend people go back to watch those if they are interested. Please watch good players and pay attention to what they are saying. Even non-DOU formats I think have been helpful to me. I consume a lot of VGC and Singles content as well and I think it has all helped me grow as a player.
Despite such a busy first year and ribbon success you're showing no signs of stopping, still gaming on every day. It's clear you want more, so I'm wondering: do you have any set goals for the future?
I've played DOU so much because I love the format first and foremost. I didn't set out to win anything in particular and I would probably be satisfied even without winning anything else (given I play to my best abilities). However I would love to win a team tour eventually, the collaborative team environment is always so fun and it would be a great win as a team.
You've also joined the Doubles council, have become a part of the analysis writing crew, and have been dropping major metagame posts all across the forum. From your positions, do you have any goals for contributing this year?
Once again, nothing in particular. I've just been sharing my thoughts about a made-up Pokemon format that I enjoy. My goal is basically to help steer the tier in a direction that prioritizes the enjoyment of the player base as much as possible, however that may be.
Just over a year doesn't seem that long, but speaking for myself it definitely feels like I've known you for longer than that. It's been a busy year with many achievements for you, so I'm curious about what you feel like were your favorite moments in 2023 Doubles? What have been your favorite parts of being in the community so far? And if you could change anything about Doubles, what would you do?
My favorite moment this year is probably the creation of Doubles Derby. It felt extremely awesome that the community collectively was like "we love pokemon lets play more" and managed to create a highly competitive tournament that spurred growth and development in a multitude of niche tiers.
I do think a lot of the "drama" in DOU this past year could probably have been sidestepped or mitigated with better communication and open-mindedness from all around so I guess that's what I would change?
Are there any other tiers you're interested in playing? I heard rumbles about bagel in VGC :eyes: can we expect you to be poached by that other side of Doubles? And have you ever thought about playing singles tiers?
I've mentioned VGC a bit in this interview and am interested in getting more involved but the thought of getting a legal team in-game kills all motivation for me lmao. I am interested in eventually getting more involved with more online tours however. I don't expect I'll ever leave Smogon Doubles as the unique dynamics of 6v6 Doubles are significantly more interesting to me than bring 6 pick 4. I've played different singles formats very casually on ladder over the year and recently signed up for my first singles tournament on Smogon which I have enjoyed so I expect to join more this upcoming year
if you read this far you owe it to bage1 to give him a like on his RU Seasonals signup and cheer him on!!
What is the best random Pokemon format?
For its competitive merit: Benjamin Butterfree Random Battles
(note: semi-playable on https://rom.psim.us/)
For its enjoyment: [Gen 7] BSS Factory
What are your favorite Pokemon from a competitive and personal perspective, respectively?
Competitive: Glimmora. Love this guy, awesome combination of long-term and short term value as well as having great offensive and defensive utility.
Personal: Aipom. My first exposure to Pokemon ever was playing the TCG with some neighbors that I would babysit and for some reason they had an Aipom card which I thought was cute. Then I watched the Diamond Pearl Platinum anime and was a big Aipom fan there as well.
Unfortunately, amongst all your confusion, it turns out Invitationals doesn't reward a custom avatar anymore. Though if it did, what would your ideal CA look like?
My gut says Fairy Miku + either Sylveon or Scream Tail. But some new custom Dawn Sprite + Aipom also would be very epic. Don't let me fantasize about this too much. I'll give myself too many ideas.
You can usually find theyummybagel using either the Dawn Masters avatar or the SCL III Circuit Breakers custom avatar
As a fan of both the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder, if you had to pick one team to go the distance for a ring, which one do you choose?
This is so painful. There is a higher chance that I would be able to go to a Pacers finals game in person so I will choose them as a tiebreaker. Although if the Thunder make the finals I'd try to find a way to go to that in person as well. Don't take it the wrong way Dad1 I'm sorry. If they played each other in the finals I would root for an intense 7 game series with no injuries and be satisfied with either team winning.
Speaking of which, how do you feel about the recent Pascal Siakam trade, wherein the Pacers gave up Bruce Brown and assets? With Tyrese Haliburton's surge to stardom, would you capitalize now and make win-now trades, or do you believe in the developmental flexibility of the roster?
I'm a fan (given Siakam re-signs). It's really hard for a small market team like the Pacers to get players of his calibur outside of the draft and the picks we gave up aren't that valuable. I don't think this puts us into championship contention or anything but Siakam seems like a perfect fit with our current team. We needed some size and defense at the 4 and Siakam's complementary playmaking is going to be a huge help. I think if Jarace Walker and Ben Mathurin take some steps we could be a real threat.
More importantly, do you believe Kelly Olynyk moves the needle for an OKC championship run? Where do you, as a clearly non-biased viewer, stand on the rookie of the year debate between Wembanyama and Holmgren? What would you like to see the OKC do with their mountain of assets?
I can't get behind the dad1 Olynyk propaganda. Rather than another stretch big I would prefer to get a bigger wing that can give the Luka's and Taytum's of the league a bit more trouble. Re: Wemby vs Chet I think Chet is having a better ROOKIE season as a clear winning player on both offense and defense. I will concede that Wemby has significantly higher upside and expect him to turn out better than Chet in the long run.
Can you present us a 3x3 of your favorite anime, the ones that have made the biggest impact on you, and explain why we all should watch it/what it means to you?
1 - Kyousougiga: At its core this is a very personal family drama that's been dressed up with fantasy/sci-fi shenanigans. Love the characters and their dynamics. This is directed by Rie Matsumoto who is one of my favorite directors and visually the show is filled with a bombastic energy that has become characteristic of her works. Lots of very fun character and action animation throughout the show.
2 - KareKano: GOAT romance anime. The 2 leads are some of my favorite characters of all time and they have great chemistry. KareKano is the kind of show that can jump from serious introspective melodrama to off-the-walls slapstick at the drop of a hat but it manages to navigate the tone perfectly. This show has some of my favorite animation ever, the characters are so expressive and the character animation in particular is constantly inventing new ways to entertain and surprise.
3 - Nijiiro Hotaro: This is like the quintessential summer movie for me. It captures the feeling of “summer vacation in the countryside” perfectly while weaving a compelling multi-layered drama narrative. Once again, visuals are a big reason why I love this film so much, as the flowy, almost messy animation style and gorgeous backgrounds complement the narrative perfectly.
4 - Cowboy Bebop: This is a classic that hopefully I don’t have to shill to put on people’s radars. This was one of the first anime I ever watched and it has really stuck with me. The emotional breadth of the show is kinda insane. I rewatched like 5 minutes to find the screenshot I wanted and I was already hit in the feels. So now I will need to rewatch this show again.
5 - Evangelion: I love stories that can tell deeply personal tales through the backdrop of world-ending drama. Evangelion is one of the GOATs at this for me. The world could end but it's every character's relationships, choices, and growth that really affect the outcome rather than political scheming or military efforts.
6 - Angel’s Egg: The artsiest thing here for sure. Angel’s Egg is the type of story that has a different meaning to just about everyone that watches it. I love its brooding, gothic tone that really nothing else comes close to emulating in anime. There’s barely any dialogue throughout its entire runtime but I still find Angel’s Egg to be one of the most engaging anime I’ve seen from start to finish.
7 - FLCL: This is probably as close as one can get to a stylistically perfect anime in my opinion. FLCL is probably most known for its explosive action animation and wacky concepts, but to me what really makes the show are the quiet moments of introspection and downtime in between the orchestrated chaos. The main themes are very relatable, and I love all of the main cast dearly. This is the anime I have rewatched the most and every time I think I connect more with a different character.
8 - Liz and the Blue Bird: Honestly this is due for a rewatch. I don't think I can do this movie justice right now tbh. This portrays maybe my favorite relationship in anime while being one of the most gorgeous films I’ve ever seen bar none. This is a spinoff to the Hibike! Euphonium series but you don’t really need to watch that to enjoy this (although I recommend it).
9 - SSSS.DYNAZENON: The most recent thing here. The main cast is one of my favorites of all time and I love how the show balances the realism of the characters and their relationships with the fantastical elements of Kaiju and Tokusatsu tropes. This is another story which explores intimate themes and relationships by using big bombastic action which I am a sucker for. Visually the show mirrors this approach with a lot of small, contemplative moments contrasting with big theatrical action sequences. Dynazenon is one of the shows that made me feel “holy shit modern TV anime is still awesome as fuck” and I’m really glad shows like this can still be made. The quasi-prequel SSSS.GRIDMAN is also awesome and I highly recommend it as well.
Similarly, can you make us a 3x3 of your favorite characters? Interpret 'favorite' however you want...
1 -
Yukino from
KareKano
2 -
Asuka from
Evangelion
3 -
Koto from
Kyousougiga
4 -
Rei from
3-gatsu no Lion
5 -
Spike from
Cowboy Bebop
6 -
Yomogi from
SSSS.DYNAZENON
7 -
Phos from
Land of the Lustrous
8 -
Ninamori from
FLCL
9 -
Haruhi from...
Haruhi
What do you think about lesbians?
Why are your Twitter likes what they are?
Because I have impeccable taste.
Madoka?
Madoka is the goat idolmaster character.
(source)
Half the time you're online you're listening to J-rock and stuff; what are your favorite bands we should definitely check out? What's the best music to win Pokemon games to?
I'm kinda a fraud music fan as it's difficult for me to actually pay attention to and digest lyrics which is why I lean towards instrumental Math/Post-rock and foreign language music. I tend to care more about vibes lmao. Some of my favorite artists to listen to right now are
toe,
Kinokoteikouku,
a picture of her,
Parannoul,
Asobi Seksu,
tokyo shoegazer,
Black Country, New Road,
black midi,
Yuragi,
Haru Nemuri,
Mid Air Thief, and
my dead girlfriend.
(note: all links to go Spotify artist pages) There's a bunch more and if I was asked this on a different day I would probably have swapped out half of these.
I think I'm currently undefeated while listening to
"DOKU-EN-KAI" which is a live album by toe.
What is the agriculture like around there? What is your top 4 vegetables? And your top 3 fish?
Everywhere I look I find corn or soybeans staring back at me...
Top 4 veggies in no particular order (culinary sense not botanically hehe): Green Beans / Potatoes / Tomatoes / Bell Peppers
Top 3 fish: I know I said fish is fine but ngl I haven't really had enough fish to have a non-mickey top 3. At restaurants with seafood I usually go for shellfish like crab/lobster/shrimp.
Do you own an airfryer?
Yes!
Arcticblast was wondering: what is your preferred cream cheese?
I'm not really a cream cheese connoisseur tbh, if it tastes like cream cheese I like it. Strawberry cream cheese is quite good though.
Mizuhime was asking: what is your favorite holiday, and why?
Thanksgiving, it's basically dedicated to food which is epic.
Fritz420 is dying to know: bagels or donuts?
Why is this even a question smh...
If you could add one emoji or sticker to DOUcord, what would it be?
:murmstare:
What are your favorite Chirch memes?
hampster
With 2023 wrapping up soon, how do you look back on your year? What do you think has been your best moment, either personally or Pokemon-related?
Honestly this wasn't the greatest year for me irl so I'm glad I was able to find such a fulfilling hobby where I was able to make some great friends.
Who would you like to see get interviewed next?
I’d love to see
Smudge interviewed as he’s been on a tear as a contributor this past year. The qsns interview was a great read so I’d be interested in seeing interviews of other long-time DOUers like
Fangame10,
Nido-Rus, or
DaAwesomeDude1.
sir jelloton and
Farfromani are also newer users that I’d love to see interviewed.
In our closing words I'd like to congratulate and thank you for an incredible year of Doubles OU and also a friendship. It was very exciting to keep up with your rise as a player, seeing all of your hard work pay off with such an immense victory in the end, it honestly got me a bit emotional. So I'll be continuing to root for you next year, and I'm sure everyone in the Doubles community will be rooting for you too! Do you have any closing words, any shoutouts you would give to people, to those in the community?
I’ve shouted out qsns so many times at this point and it won’t hurt to shout them out once more. Also shoutout big pichu again for introducing me to DOU, literally wouldn’t be here without them. And shoutout to you, the interviewer for being extremely awesome and doing this. hampster
(
source 1,
source 2)
i asked bage1 for something iconic to him and he gave me these uwu soft bean arts so here you go
