Gigguk
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Gigguk | ||||
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Personal information | ||||
Born | Garnt Maneetapho 31 May 1990[1] Brighton, England[2] | |||
Nationality | British | |||
Education | University of Bristol | |||
Occupation | ||||
YouTube information | ||||
Channels | ||||
Years active | 2006–present | |||
Genre | Anime | |||
Subscribers | 3.08 million | |||
Total views | 479 million | |||
Associated acts |
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Updated: 1 September 2021 |
Garnt Maneetapho (born 31 May 1990), known online as Gigguk, is a Thai-British YouTuber and podcaster who is known for his comedic rants and reviews on anime and otaku culture. He is affiliated with the Kadokawa-backed agency GeeXPlus.[3][4]
Career[]
Maneetapho began his YouTube career with his first anime review, Bleach, on 13 June 2007; the video, and subsequent YouTube career, is thanks to his procrastination from studying for math exams.[5][6] He used the online pseudonym "Gigguk," which was his family nickname, and called his channel The Anime Zone.[7] In October 2009, The Anime Zone hit one thousand subscribers; by June 2012 it had reached 10 thousand subscribers, and by May 2013 it hit 100 thousand subscribers.[8][6][9] It was around this time when Maneetapho expanded outside his channels into other projects, the first of which was dabbling into the anime music videos (AMV) in 2011.[10] This was followed in 2012 as being a producer in abridging popular anime, starting with Evangelion into the EvAbridged series.[11]
Also in 2012, Maneetapho joined with Tristan Gallant (Arkada), Holden Bremley, and Jeanne Jean for the PodTaku podcast. Described as a group of anime critics around an invisible table, the podcast was mostly freeform discussing anything and everything in anime and otaku culture.[12][13] It was joined with the J-Taku podcast in 2013, which a more focused discussion on a particular anime or manga. However, in January 2016 both podcasts ended to which Maneetapho did not agree with but accepted its finality.[14]
In late 2013, after graduating from the University of Bristol, Maneetapho got a job as a subcontractor for the BBC. For the next two years, new video uploads on YouTube dropped considerably as Maneetapho struggled with work–life balance. In early 2016, Maneetapho decided to leave his job and announced on YouTube that he was going full-time as an anime YouTuber and if he could not make something out of it in a year then he was gone, possibly for good.[15][16] Later that same year a Patreon was setup.[17] After returning from self-described hiatus, subscriber count on his main channel grew to half-million subscribers in December of that year, followed by hitting one million subscribers on 30 December 2017.[18][19]
During 2017, Maneetapho retired the Anime Zone moniker for his channel, using just Gigguk. An attempt was also made to go back into podcasting as a co-host for Anime no Yume, alongside Holden Bremley and Jeanne Jean; two episodes were done before it was unceremoniously ended.[20][21] In February 2018, Maneetapho presented the best comedy award at the 2017 Crunchyroll Anime Awards, alongside YouTuber Lily Ki (LilyPichu), live at the Ricardo Montalbán Theatre in Los Angeles.[22]
In November 2019, Maneetapho, along with YouTuber Sydney Poniewaz (Sydsnap), moved to northwestern Tokyo, Japan to begin working as an influencer for GeeXPlus. The effort was to help promote/introduce anime and Japanese culture to the rest of the world through his content.[4] In February 2020, Maneetapho joined alongside Connor Colquhoun (CDawgVA) and Joey Bizinger (The Anime Man) in creating and hosting a weekly audio and video podcast called Trash Taste, where they discuss anime, manga, otaku culture, and their experiences while living in Japan.[23][24] [25] The first episode came out on 5 June 2020 and it, and all episodes since, are available on YouTube, Spotify, and iTunes.[26][27] In August 2020 Maneetapho participated in a tournament hosted by Chess.com for anime YouTubers.[28] The tournament, called the Tournament Arc, was streamed on Twitch. Reaching the finals, Maneetapho beat fellow Trash Taste co-host Connor Colquhoun, the self-described antagonist.[29] In July 2021, Maneetapho successfully defended his title in "Tournament Arc 2," hosted again by Chess.com.[30][31]
Personal life[]
Maneetapho's parents are from Thailand, and he was born and raised in the United Kingdom. He is a practicing Buddhist, and has served as a monk twice in his life.[32] Maneetapho successfully proposed to Sydney Poniewaz on 12 April 2019.[33][34]
References[]
- ^ @GiggukAZ (31 May 2019). "It's my birthday, but I don't need any presents so send me your best memes" (Tweet). Retrieved 29 May 2021 – via Twitter.
- ^ @GiggukAZ (26 March 2013). "@Brandon2469 I was born and bred in Brighton, England. So yes I am" (Tweet). Retrieved 29 May 2021 – via Twitter.
- ^ Powell, Dennis (8 April 2021). "A Normie's Haphazardly Ordered Guide to an Often-Overlooked Art Form". Open for Business. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Kelts, Roland (3 February 2020). "GeeXPlus brings anime YouTubers to Japan". The Japan Times. Tokyo, Japan. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
- ^ Maneetapho, Garnt "Gigguk" (10 June 2011). Anime Zone: Bleach Anime Review. YouTube. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
REUPLOADED Cause someone hacked my account and deleted all my videos. Original Upload date: 13th June 2007
- ^ Jump up to: a b Maneetapho, Garnt "Gigguk" (12 June 2012). AZ: 10,000 Subs Thank You + BLOOPERS. YouTube. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
- ^ Rowland-Dixon, Taye (5 October 2018). "Verge Meets: Gigguk". Verge Magazine. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
- ^ Maneetapho, Garnt "Gigguk" (20 June 2011). Anime Zone: 1000 Subscriber Special. YouTube. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
Original Upload date: Oct 2009
- ^ @GiggukAZ (27 May 2013). "Just reached 100,000 Subscribers....my mind can't comprehend that. Thanks so much, this is a milestone I never expected to hit in my dreams" (Tweet). Retrieved 30 May 2021 – via Twitter.
- ^ "AMV-Video Information: What If the Storm Ends". AnimeMusicVideos.org. 24 October 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
- ^ Trinos, Angelo Delos (20 March 2021). "10 Abridged Series More Popular Than The Actual Anime". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
- ^ "PodTaku". YouTube. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
- ^ "PodTaku - TV Podcast". Podchaser. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
- ^ PodTaku (10 January 2016). A Goodbye to PodTaku. YouTube. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
- ^ Maneetapho, Garnt "Gigguk" (5 May 2016). I'm Coming Back. YouTube. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
- ^ Trash Taste Highlights (7 July 2020). Garnt Quit the BBC to Become an Anituber. YouTube. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
- ^ "Gigguk is creating Anime Videos". Patreon. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
- ^ @GiggukAZ (15 August 2014). "It was a joke guys. I'm on hiatus, I'll be back eventually. Not sure when, but I WILL be" (Tweet). Retrieved 30 May 2021 – via Twitter.
- ^ "Gigguk YouTube Channel Analystics and Report - NoxInfluencer". Retrieved 30 May 2021.
- ^ "Anime no Yume". YouTube. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
- ^ "Anime no Yume". SoundCloud. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
- ^ Pohara, Aron (9 February 2018). "Crunchyroll Anime Awards Update!!". We The Nerdy. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
- ^ "Live 'Podcast' Event: Trash Taste: Japan-based YouTubers" (Press release). Tokyo, Japan: Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
- ^ 日本外国特派員協会 オフィシャルサイトFCCJchannel (17 June 2021). Live 'Podcast' Event: Trash Taste: Japan-based YouTubers. YouTube. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
- ^ Varcoe, Fred (6 June 2021). "Three men in a pub" (PDF). Number 1 Shimbun. Tokyo, Japan: Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan. pp. 13–15. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
- ^ St. Michel, Patrick (9 February 2021). "New trends in 'J-vlogging' allow for a more diverse range of views on Japan". The Japan Times. Tokyo, Japan. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
- ^ Ziegler, Michael (2 February 2020). "Kadokawa holt Anime-YouTuber nach Japan, um dort zu leben und zu arbeiten" [Kadokawa brings anime YouTubers to Japan to live and work] (in German). Sumikai. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
- ^ "Tournament Arc". Chess.com. 7 August 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
- ^ Copeland, Sam (11 August 2020). "Protaganist Vanquishes Villain In Tournament Arc". Chess.com. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
- ^ "Anime Vs. Fighters Battle for $10,000 Chess Prize in Tournament Arc 2". Anime News Network. 16 July 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
- ^ Pedro Pinhata (26 July 2021). "Gigguk Crowned Tournament Arc 2 Champion". Chess.com. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
- ^ Trash Taste Highlights (10 August 2020). Garnt Used To Be A Real Monk. YouTube. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
- ^ @GiggukAZ (12 April 2019). "She said yes. Waifus are real guys" (Tweet). Retrieved 30 May 2021 – via Twitter.
- ^ Poniewaz, Sydney "Sydsnap" (5 May 2019). How Did Gigguk Ask Me To Marry Him? (Answering Your Questions). YouTube. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
External links[]
- 1990 births
- Living people
- Alumni of the University of Bristol
- British expatriates in Japan
- British video bloggers
- English people of Thai descent
- English YouTubers
- People from Brighton
- YouTube channels
- Patreon creators