The Anime Man

Joseph Bizinger (born 28 September 1994),[1] better known as Joey Bizinger and known online as The Anime Man, as well as by his music alias Ikurru, is a Japanese-Australian YouTuber, voice actor, songwriter and rapper. His work focuses on creating videos about anime, manga, Japanese culture, language and gaming.[3]

The Anime Man
Personal information
BornJoseph Tetsuro Bizinger
(1994-09-28) 28 September 1994[1]
Australia
Nationality
  • Australian
  • Japanese
OccupationYouTuber, voice actor
Websitetheanimeman.wordpress.com
YouTube information
Also known asIkuru Kamijou (神城維来),[2] Ikurru, "The Anime Zone" (14 February 2018 – 2 August 2018)
Channel
Years active2013–present
Genre
Subscribers2.54 million
Total views404 million
100,000 subscribers 2015
1,000,000 subscribers 2017
Updated: November 24, 2020

Early life

Joey Bizinger (born Joseph Tetsuro Bizinger aka Joseph Bizinger VI) was born on 28 September 1994,[1] the son of a Japanese born mother and an Australian born father of Hungarian/German descent. His mother wanted to ensure that he would retain his Japanese heritage by speaking the language to him exclusively and started showing him Japanese anime on home video with Doraemon, Sazae-san, and Pokémon being especially prevalent in his early childhood.[4]

He attended the Sydney Japanese School for a few years during primary school, however his parents moved him to Allambie Heights Public School after being dissatisfied with the quality of education the Sydney Japanese School was providing. And at the same time, decided to enroll him (and his younger sister Ellie) in a Japanese language school on Saturdays to ensure they both kept learning the language.

At St. Paul’s Catholic College in Manly, Bizinger was the only student of Japanese descent in his class and was often asked by his peers if he knew about anime, as the genre was beginning to grow in popularity with teenagers in Australia and around the world. This, alongside a school project to create a website, spurred him to make a website where he reviewed anime. He kept making the reviews even after the project ended, but he continued to post the reviews up until when he attended Sydney University. While studying there, he started to make some YouTube videos to be posted on his website, but eventually decided to switch entirely to the platform. Bizinger admitted to having used drugs in his highschool time but claimed he used nothing serious.[5]

Bizinger attended Sydney University, where he graduated in 2016 with a degree in Design Computing.[6]

Career

After graduating from university, Bizinger moved to Japan where he had originally planned to work in information technology, but by then his YouTube channel had grown successful enough that he could work on it full time. He has also done voice acting in the video game Grisaia Phantom Trigger, as well as a role in the Pop Team Epic anime series.[6]

Bizinger has participated in Animecon events in Finland a couple of times, first in Kuopio in 2017[7] and the following year in Helsinki.[8][9] On 18 December 2019, Bizinger released an album entitled A Picture Frame Full Of Memories under the stage name Ikurru, performing both piano and vocals, with references to his late Grandfather Eishiro Suzuki. [10]

On June 5, 2020, Bizinger started a podcast named Trash Taste with Thai-British youtuber Gigguk (Garnt Maneetapho) and Welsh youtuber CDawgVA (Connor Marc Colquhoun).[11]

Bizinger also releases music under the name Ikurru, having released one album, two EPs, and one single as of October 2020.[12] Bizinger sings and raps in both English and Japanese in his music.

Personal life

On April 30, 2016 he announced his relocation to Japan and has lived there since then.[13] On November 4, 2016 he announced in a video called we have a confession... that he and fellow youtuber Akidearest have started dating. They are currently living together in Tokyo.[14]

See also
  •  Japan portal

References
  1. @TheAn1meMan (28 September 2019). "this boi is 25 years old today haha what a loser 🎉 🎈" (Tweet). Retrieved 5 January 2020 – via Twitter.
  2. "Interview with The Anime Man: On Voice Acting in Pop Team Epic and More". grape Japan. 8 August 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  3. Patrick St. Michel (12 July 2017). "Joey Bizinger sees his YouTube following grow amid an 'anime renaissance'". The Japan Times. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn06M3QVrgE&t=88s
  5. https://trashtaste.com/the-real-japanese-nightlife-experience-trash-taste-15/
  6. "Interview with The Anime Man: On Voice Acting in Pop Team Epic and More". grape Japan. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  7. Animecon Kuopiossa lähes loppuunmyyty - katso kuvasarja tapahtumasta - SAvon Sanomat (in Finnish)
  8. YLE: Manga- ja animehahmot heräsivät henkiin Helsingissä – katso värikkäät kuvat Animecon-tapahtumasta (in Finnish)
  9. Bizinger, Joey. "We have a confession..." youtube.com. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  10. "Ikurru - A Picture Frame Full of Memories". DistroKid. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
  11. https://trashtaste.com/the-worst-anime-podcast-has-arrived-trash-taste-1/
  12. https://open.spotify.com/artist/7mu0JnIzCFctvLoVaWE1lq
  13. Bizinger, Joey. "I'm moving to Japan". youtube.com. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUcDMXwtZdQ
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