Cognition #28: I get paid to write about Naruto
Story of my all time favourite gig!!
Just so you stop being skeptical, the title is not a hook to lure you in.
It is true. LITERALLY.
I understand if you’re doubtful, so let me take you through a series of events to clarify things.
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December 2022
I began watching Naruto. I finished my client work for the year and had no big new year plans. All my friends were away, so I had a lot of free time.
I planned on doing different things, but after I started Naruto, I only wanted to binge the anime.
I loved the story.
I loved the characters.
I loved the writing.
February 2023
By the end of February, I finished Naruto and Naruto Shippuden.
My mind was full of Naruto at this point. I was tweeting about it, talking to my friends, rewatching my favourite scenes on YouTube, sharing reels with friends, and even used Naruto lines in my brand’s meme marketing.
April 2023
All I did previously was vague and random.
I wanted to do something structured and detailed to appreciate the anime and express my love for it. So I moved to the best place to express my thoughts, my personal newsletter: Vikra’s Café.
I was too excited to write about it and wrote everything that hit my mind.
Then I published it the same day.
This was the issue:
May 2023
I got an inmail on LinkedIn with the subject line ‘Naruto Copywriting.’
At first, I thought it was a scam. But when I opened it, this is what it read:
Little Backstory:
The message was from the head of Marketing. He works for the biggest toy-making brand in Germany and France (they also have an international market.)
The brand was planning parkour for its consumers and anime lovers. Think of it as a Takeshi’s Castle game with a Naruto theme.
They needed a few Naruto phrases in English for the event. So they were looking for a person who:
Is a business writer who writes in English
Loves and understands all details about Naruto
Watched Naruto in English
Yours truly ticked all the points.
And how did they get to know about me? The head of marketing read my newsletter and felt I’m the guy they need.
May 16th 2023
I was on a workation in Coorg and took the meeting with the Marketing Head and his team at 6:30 pm.
It was a one-month project, and they asked me to work on a short gig first. If they feel I am good enough, they’ll handover me the entire Naruto project.
But I needed to submit the short gig in a day because two people who need to approve it are going on vacation and won’t be available for two weeks.
One of my non-negotiable policies in my freelance business is:
“Don’t take up urgent work.”
It’s because I want to have more control over my schedule. I don’t want to include new tasks in my calendar in a rush. I realized it disturbs my flow.
But come on, we are talking about Naruto here!!
There is no way I’m gonna miss out on a project like this.
So I made an exception (without a second thought) and said yes to the project.
We finalized the price and all the other formalities that night, and I was all set to work.
May 17th 2023
I woke up, started my day slow, and then got into work mode.
I was supposed to write tattoo phrases for Naruto and Sakura. This is what I did:
Made a list of their strengths
Made a list of the anime’s iconic moments
Made a list of character transformation points
Then I continued working on the phrases
I finished the project and mailed it to them.
Good News:
They loved the phrases, and now we are working together for a month. The brand signed the deal with Naruto Shippuden for three years. So I can expect a few one-time gigs from time to time.
I wrote about how long the gig took and how much I got paid in my previous issue.
I’m linking it here if you want to have a read:
Cognition #27: Brain Dump ft Freelancing
This is interesting. All the issues of Cognition have been detailed case studies—and I enjoy presenting them. But I recently discovered Brain Dump: Your mind randomly hops from one thought to another, and you write everything down. I tried this on my
That’s the story!
This issue is more of me flexing interesting work than providing value, I guess, lol. But I hope this small case study was worth a read.
Before we move to the Non-Technical segment, here are a few issues (loved by our readers) you can check out:
Non-Technical aka Fun Segment
Movies/Shows I loved recently
I watched John Wick 4 yesterday. I love how organized everything is in the Wick series; the fourth part didn’t disappoint. If you love action, you might love John Wick.
PS: I haven’t watched many international films, and I’d love to explore. Do drop me suggestions of your favourite foreign language movies.
If you want to know about my personal side:
I feel the non-technical segment is a good place to speak about it.
I launched my personal newsletter three months ago, and it’s doing crazily well. I thought no one would be interested in reading my stories/perspectives, but I’m glad I was wrong.
I don’t want you to miss out on it.
Do check it out here and subscribe if you want to read more of it:
YouTube Videos I loved
I watched this Puma interview with Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma. As a guy from a sports background, I was glued to Kohli’s words.
I loved Anushka’s views on validation and how parenting changed her.
And yes, should I really mention how adorable Anushka and Virat were together?
My Next Trip
I’m planning to visit Pune at the end of June. If you’re in or around Pune in the last week of June and if you want to catch up, hit me up with a reply to this email.
I’d love to meet.
Song I’m listening to on a loop
Yevade Subramanyam is one of the most underrated and well-crafted Telugu movies to date. Especially if you love travel-based or feel-good films.
And it’s got a beautiful album. This is one of my many favourites:
That’s all from Cognition’s 28th issue.
I was a bit occupied in the first half of May, but I’m glad I published two issues this month as planned. Good to stay on track.
See ya soon in the second week of June!!
Take care, stay safe, and do interesting work!
Love,
Vikra.
Loved how you are scaling while watching your favorite anime! Also, you have so nicely linked the other issues here and I'd like to learn that from you!