Wikitubia:Interviews/Digibro

This interview was conducted by JakCooperThePlumber January 16, 2018. Digibro is an Anime YouTuber who has 377,772 subscribers as of January, 2018.

QUESTION 1:  How and when did you discover YouTube?

ANSWER 1:  2006, when someone linked me a video on a forum.

QUESTION 2:  When and why did you decide to become a YouTuber yourself?

ANSWER 2:  I first started making videos in 2007, having seen all of the sketch comedy stuff on the website and decided to give it a try. I later pursued it as a career in 2012 after finding out that it was a full time career for the Game Grumps.

QUESTION 3:  Can you remember what exactly the first YouTube video you ever watched was?

ANSWER 3:  Not at all.

QUESTION 4:  What was the first anime you ever watched?

ANSWER 4:  I’m not sure if I saw any before Pokemon besides maybe an episode or two of Samurai Pizza Cats, but my introduction to anime as a concept was Ninja Scroll.

QUESTION 5:  What was the first manga you ever read?

ANSWER 5:  Tokyo Mew Mew is the first I remember, when a cousin brought it over.

QUESTION 6:  What was the first video game you ever played?

ANSWER 6:  Mega Man X, though I had no idea what a game even was and wasn’t very interested at the time. The first one I played out of personal interest was Diddy Kong Racing.

QUESTION 7:  What was the first band/album that you ever listened to?

ANSWER 7:  I grew up with music all over the place so I have no idea. The arliest albums I was into were Dookie by Green Day and Sublime’s self-titled.

QUESTION 8:  What’s your favorite anime, (it’s Sword Art Online, right!? lol)

ANSWER 8:  Neon Genesis Evangelion.

QUESTION 9:  What’s your favorite manga?

ANSWER 9:  Bakuman.

QUESTION 10:  What’s your favorite video game/video game series?

ANSWER 10:  The Dark/Demon/Blood/Souls/Born Series.

QUESTION 11:  What’s your favorite band/musician/album?

ANSWER 11:  Currently, Death Grips is my outright favorite band, with Exmilitary being my favorite album, but these change every so many years.

QUESTION 12:  What’s the oldest anime you’ve ever watched and when did it come out?

ANSWER 12:  I think Kumo to Tulip from 1943.

QUESTION 13:  What, in your opinion, is the best year for anime so far?

ANSWER 13:  For money money it’s either 2007, 2013, or 2014, but there’s no that much disparity between most anime years.

QUESTION 14:  What were your YouTube influences, (if you had any)?

ANSWER 14:  I have about a million--basically, anyone I watch influences me on some level, and the closer friends I am with them the more influence they have. I’m going to go with Endless Jess as perhaps the single most influential besides maybe Egoraptor.

QUESTION 15:  Does your family watch any of your videos?

ANSWER 15:  Any of the ones about things they might care about or which seem accessible.

QUESTION 16:  Do you have a favorite or least favorite video that you’ve uploaded (and why)?

ANSWER 16:  My least favorite video I’ve uploaded is probably one I did on Zankyou no Terror which was really just assumptive and not well-written. My favorite is The Great Anime Director Who Time Forgot.

QUESTION 17:  APPROXIMATELY how much anime do you own?

ANSWER 17:  Probably like 200 DVD’s and Blu-ray’s, but I stopped buying anime entirely about three years ago.

QUESTION 18:  APPROXIMATELY how much manga do you own?

ANSWER 18:  Maybe around 300 volumes? I resell the ones I don’t like every five years or so.

QUESTION 19:  APPROXIMATELY how many video games do you own?

ANSWER 19:  Probably 150 or more, same story as above, though.

QUESTION 20:  APPROXIMATELY how many music albums do you own?

ANSWER 20:  I probably own like forty vinyl records and about a hundred CDs, but I don’t buy these anymore either.

QUESTION 21:  What’s your favorite music genre? Has that taste evolved over time, or was it always the same?

ANSWER 21:  My taste has always been evolving. As a kid I was all about nu-metal and heavy rock with a sprinkle of TRL pop. I got into metal, post-metal/rock, and prog in my teens. In my 20s I got deep into hip hop, and then basically got into enough music criticism and communities that I listen to almost everything. It just happens that in recent years the best music has come from rap.

QUESTION 22:  What advice would you give anyone who is looking to get into anime/manga?

ANSWER 22:  Don’t listen to what anyone tells you to read--look for stuff that looks interesting to you and watch or read that. If it sucks, drop it as fast as possible and move on. Something you really love will click with you quickly.

QUESTION 23:  Who are some of your favorite YouTubers currently?

ANSWER 23:  Just go to my subscriptions page--it’s always public and I only sub to channels I like (about 144).

QUESTION 24:  Do you enjoy any other artistic mediums besides anime, manga, and the occasional video game, (such as film, for example)?

ANSWER 24:  I like film, though I don’t watch a ton of movies. I’m arguably more into music than anything else--I consume the most of it, followed by YOuTube videos, then anime, then games, manga, film, books, in about that order. Not much else.

QUESTION 25:  How do you get inspiration for a video?

ANSWER 25:  I just think about shit constantly. Anything I consume, I think about, and when I’m not consuming something, I’m thinking about something else. Those thoughts become videos.

QUESTION 26:  Will a topic being discussed in depth by other anime YouTubers prevent you from making a video on it?

ANSWER 26:  It depends on how good a job they do. If someone says what I would’ve said, I’ll tell people to go watch their video. If they do a bad job talking about a subject I’m interested in, I’ll be even more likely to do a video about it.

QUESTION 27:  Have you ever liked the story of an anime, manga, video game, movie, or music album, even if you disagreed with its message?

ANSWER 27:  Absolutely. I would say that about a considerable amount of the music I love.

QUESTION 28:  Currently, your main channel 380,000 subscribers. Did you ever think you would reach this level?

ANSWER 28:  I thought I’d be farther along by now, but my career has had a lot of hiccups--mostly as the result of my own laziness, but also just getting dicked around by the platform all the time.

QUESTION 29:  Currently, the most viewed video on your main channel is How to Recognize a Terrible Anime (in just one episode). Does this surprise you, and also are you surprised that it has almost 3.5 million views?

ANSWER 29:  I’m not too surprised, because it has all of the most important properties--extremely eye-catching thumbnail of a face, ultra-inflamatory title, and long enough for the algorithm to love it. I’m just a little surprised nothing I’ve made sense has hit that hard.

QUESTION 30:  How long do you think YouTube will last?

ANSWER 30:  That depends on what capacity you think of “lasting” in. Knowing how google is, they will probably pull the plug on it if it ever dramatically sinks, but the chances of it getting that broken are slim unless policy changes get really insane or amazing competition arises.

QUESTION 31:  What’s your thoughts on the recent “Advertiser Friendly” guidelines on YouTube?

ANSWER 31:  Fucking bullshit, but totally unsurprising.

QUESTION 32:  How long do you think you will be making videos?

ANSWER 32:  For as long as it remains profitable for me, at least. If not always.

QUESTION 33:  What’s your advice for anyone who wants to make anime, (or other medium), analysis?

ANSWER 33:  Watch what everyone else is doing and try to do it better.

QUESTION 34:  Do you have, (or have ever had), a lifetime YouTube goal?

ANSWER 34:  I had used to want to reach 450k subs because I wanted to match the population of my old city, Virginia Beach. At this point though, I just want to get as big as humanly possible without compromising my identity.

QUESTION 35:  What’s your thoughts on clickbait on YouTube? I know you yourself have promoted it as a reasonable way to get views, but do you think that there’s a limit on how much clickbait someone can use before it’s considered dishonest?

ANSWRE 35:  YouTube is a “buyer beware” medium. If you fall for clickbait, you’re an idiot.

QUESTION 36:  Do you have any other artistic aspirations aside from anime criticism?

ANSWER 36:  If my music ever became successful enough to be the centerpiece of my career, I would make it that in a heart beat, because I love making music way more than making videos. I’m also writing some books, though that’s less of a focus for my passions.

QUESTION 36:  Have you ever done an interview like this before?

ANSWRE 36:  Many, many times!