SCK Team Q&A: Arlandyia

For SCK’s 18 year anniversary, we’re sharing interviews with all the current SCK staff so you can find out a little more about the people behind the blog.

Andy (Arlandyia is a pen name, since we already had an Andi at the time!) joined the team in 2021 and is our only current team member in Asia. She often writes about journaling, video games, beauty and local events. You can read all of Arlandyia’s SCK posts or find her on Instagram @arlandyia (art & journaling) @koh.narak (Animal Crossing) and @dnttsis (figure/toy photography).

Introduce yourself!

Hi there! I’m Arlandyia/Andy, and I work full-time in the L&D (learning & development) field. My daily R&R routine involves reading manga, playing video games, and fangirling over my (many!) fictional husbands. While my real-life husband and I work from home, we’re kept company by our adorably playful tabby and tortie cats all named after characters from HoYo games: Luka, Serval, Yunli, Seele, and Klee.

Where do you live and what’s it’s like there?

I live south of the Philippines’ capital city of Manila, and even with the era of online shopping it’s still very accessible to go to malls to get my kawaii fix—our notorious traffic aside. More and more cute collaboration events and physical stores have been sprouting all over, which is overall great for local enthusiasts like myself.

Tell us something about you that we wouldn’t guess from your SCK posts

I love listening to rock and metal. I like to attribute it to growing up exploring classic rock albums on my dad’s iPod, singing along to WWE entrance themes, and watching School of Rock on repeat.

How did you become interested in kawaii culture? How did you find SCK?

I became interested in kawaii culture at an early age, largely through watching shoujo anime and collecting Sanrio toys and stationery. I discovered SCK during the pandemic through Kaila of Rainbowholic, and I applied to be a writer in 2021. While I didn’t make the initial shortlist, I expressed my interest in becoming a contributor. I eventually transitioned to being a staff writer, and it’s been five years writing about all things cute ever since.

What cute products or characters can you never resist adding to your kawaii collection?

I love collecting figures of my favorite anime characters to the point that I’ve started making shrines for them, haha! I also love seeing my favorite not-typically-kawaii characters in Pop Mart and gachapon form, as I get to have them as cute collectibles. Pop Mart-wise, I already have a small, growing collection of Dimoo World figures.

While not necessarily cute, I recently started taking manga collecting more seriously, and it’s been nice seeing lots of colorful spines on my bookshelf (many thanks to my Hana Kimi omnibus volumes).

What are your favourite crafts or creative hobbies?

I spent a lot of my childhood scrapbooking and drawing on sketchbooks, both of which I’m carrying into my adulthood one step at a time. While I don’t always have time to dedicate to my creative hobbies, I do my best to rekindle my passion whenever I can, more recently when it comes to digital illustration.

I’ve featured a few of my favorite spreads in the journaling guides I’ve posted here and am also sharing a couple of drawings I made of Blade from Honkai: Star Rail and Albedo from Genshin Impact.

Pick 5 posts from your time at SCK that you’re proud of

I have to include my posts on kawaii shops and events in Manila. While the Philippines is more well-known for its beaches, there are lots of cute stores and pop-ups to visit around the city for a kawaii fan. If you ever spend some time in Manila, you won’t be lacking for cute stuff to check out.

I’m also adding my Animal Crossing design ideas, as it was a lot of fun creating and curating designs themed around the four seasons. I also love making journaling guides and sharing cute yet practical things.

Who are your favourite creators to follow?

rainbowholicTV is always a staple as Kaila is one of my personal creative inspirations. Seeing the Rainbowholic Team’s journey with their stationery café is nothing short of amazing, and I’m always cheering them on virtually from miles away.
If you’re a fellow otaku who likes cozy vlogs, littlemikanreads is always a nice watch. She’s influenced me to get more serious with my manga collecting, and it’s been fun slowly filling up my bookshelves with my favorite manga series.
Or if you’re looking to make your kitchen cuter, daycmie’s cooking vlogs are always a relaxing watch. I really like how simple things like restocking and cleaning dishes are romanticized.
S (えす) is a recent discovery, but I’ve pretty much gone through their entire channel at this point. I love how S goes all out for their favorite characters, whether it’s through celebrating birthdays or going to pop-up events, while still making their vlogs cozy and calming.

Got any more questions for Arlandyia? Ask them in the comments. Look out for Q&As from the rest of the team soon, and you can also leave a question for Founder/Editor Marceline.