That Dude in the Suede

"Anime may still be classed in the 'niche' market these days, but it has such variety, such potential, that I'm sure it will make it into the mainstream one day."

—That Dude in the Suede, 2008

"ANIME IS TAKING OVER THE WORLD!"^[1]

—That Dude in the Suede, 2011

William DuFresne is That Dude in the Suede, a laidback, sardonic Otaku in a leather jacket who hails from Christchurch, New Zealand and reviews anime and anime-related things for That Guy With The Glasses. He was one of the first people to join the site, as well as the site's first anime critic.

He left the site for a two-year hiatus in January 2009, in order to do missionary work in Auckland for his Mormon church. His return, which was supposed to occur in January 2011, was pushed back to May, and when he failed to return to the site even then rumors sprang up that he was doubting whether he would return at all--rumors he had no qualms about confirming. In reality, his delayed return was tied to delays in editing TGWTG's third year anniversary special which was meant to provide his He's Back moment. Said moment finally occurred on June 30th, at the end of Suburban Knights part five, shocking everyone who believed the rumors, and pulling off a successful long-term prank.

On July 8, Suede released a trailer announcing that yes, he will indeed return to making video reviews for TGWTG. It shows him wearing his iconic jacket, as well as sporting a Badass Beard, and flanked by the ever-popular pink drapes set to a cover of The Times They Are a-Changin' made by Tomoya Takaishi. He began officially releasing videos again on August 10th, 2011. As of now, the original costume is used only on AMV Heaven and the Video Logs (replaced by more formal attire), his pink drapes replaced by green ones (the result of him moving out of his old home), and "That Dude in the" has been all but eliminated from his name.

Pre-hiatus, he hosted two series--Animenia, where he reviews anime, its tropes and anime culture, and AMV Heaven, where he showcases anime Fan Vids in the style of Masterpiece Theatre. His return added a third, Suede Played, which he describes as being somewhere between a straight-up review and a Let's Play of his favourite (yet silly) games. He also revealed that an episode of Animenia, "Anime Weirdness: Hair", was supposed to be the first in an Anime Weirdness series that was shoved to the side by his more popular shows. Post-hiatus, it's been reinvented as Fandom Stranger.

You can see him on his official blog, Days Of Suede, That Guy With The Glasses, blip.tv, YouTube (he also worked in the videos in these channels, who have a site of theirs.), Twitter, Anime Music Videos, deviantART, Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series forums and blogTV.

Suede's shows provide examples of:

• Arch Enemy: Benzaie.
• All Men Are Perverts: Averted, unlike most of his co-workers, specially his rival Benzaie.
• Badass Beard: Since he returned from his mission, and it looks like Green Arrow's beard.
• Catch Phrase: Uses some kind of variation of "Hi, I'm That Dude in the Suede".
• Double Vision: Shows up in his Top 10 Anime Openings review, his AMV episode of Animenia, his Trigun review (with 3 of him) the third episode of AMV Heaven, his recent Atop the Fourth Wall cameo (see below) and his Top 11 American Anime (twice). Unlike other uses of this trope on TGWTG, he doesn't use this to play different characters, just to show him talking to himself or illustrate gags.
• Dual-Wielding / Katanas Are Just Better: In Suburban Knights (the katana used was actually real and he had to be careful not to accidentally cut anyone with it, though he hit Rob Walker in the forehead and left him with a scar) and his cameo in the "Previously On..." of Atop the Fourth Wall: "Rise of Arsenal #3-#4". In the latter, he's dueling a better-dressed version of himself, who also falls into both these tropes.
• Fan Nickname: Shia LeBadActor for Shia LeBeouf.
• Foe Yay: Spoony's cameo in GYMDK - Wiz'n'Liz: The Frantic Wabbit Wescue, were it reveals that they had drunken sex on halloween was originally meant for Suede, but he declined. In his farewell video to Suede, Benzaie confesses his love for him.
• Follow the Leader: "I'm That Dude in the Suede, I'm a rip-off of That Guy With The Glasses and proud of it."
• Gosh Dang It to Heck: Frequently happens, but unlike Linkara who doesn’t use them to prove that you can be funny without using colourful words, he doesn't use then because he is never angry enough (though he did say that his Mormon upbringing could have been a cause.)
• He's Back: As of Suburban Knights.
• I Have Many Names: even more than PsyWeedle:
  • That Dude In The Suede: His pre-mission name. Still used in his That Guy With The Glasses user account and blogTV account.
  • Ask That Dude In The Suede: Used in the Ask That Guy Episode 31 That Dude In The Suede Edition.
  • Iron Will/Iron Will Productions: His Anime Music Videos moniker. Referenced in the Return Trailer.
  • Aurisath: His YouTube, Deviant ART, Skype, LiveJournal and Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series forums name.
  • SuedeBlade: His Twitter account name.
  • Will DuFrense: His misspelled name in the Suburban Knights credits.
  • Suede: His post-mission name and his blip.tv account moniker.
  • Jareidan: His Playstation Network Tag.
• Legacy Character: He never became one, but he expressed openness to the idea in his farewell video.
• Limited Wardrobe: The suede jacket, though a more formal outfit has been used on occasion post-hiatus.
• Loads and Loads of Roles
• Missing Episode: The video that got the attention of That Guy himself--a rant about the idiocy of YouTube's rationale for taking down The Nostalgia Critic videos--is now lost and gone forever; he saved it on a long-gone college computer and, seeing as he promised to take the video down once the issue was resolved, it's no longer on YouTube.
  • His wife was going to post various photos and videos of the Year 3 Shoot, but the iPod that had all the files on it was stolen and wiped clean.
• Mission from God: Literally--as a Mormon, he was on hiatus due to his scheduled missionary activities.
• Nice Hat: Averted. He thinks that without the hat he can't do justice to his Green Arrow-esque beard.
• No Export for You: New Zealand never received Freeways, Klondike Bars or Exo Squad.
• Perma-Stubble: Had one in his later pre-hiatus videos and Suburban Knights.
• Promoted Fanboy: According to the farewell video, Doug hired him on the strength of a YouTube video he made protesting the removal of The Nostalgia Critic from YouTube.
• The Rival: Suede's is Benzaie.
• Running Gag:
  • "What the Hell is going on? I mean what the HELL is going on?!"
  • Any depiction of his fanbase includes one comment about how awesome his curtains are.
• Schedule Slip: Due to getting ill twice and having a hard to transition into a full-time job.
• Self-Deprecation: Takes several shots at himself for being (In his own words) "a rip-off of That Guy With The Glasses" and a "Bottom-Level, Z-Grade, Intern Class Almost Nearly Semi-Celebrity In Training".
• Series Hiatus: Officially started on January 21, 2009 (though his most recent video at the time was two months old). Ended on August 10, 2011 when he released his new video (a top 11 list, in homage to the first episode of Animenia).
• Sincerest Form of Flattery: His very first video expresses pride at being a rip-off of That Guy With The Glasses.
• Sitcom Arch Nemesis: Benzaie.
• The Stinger: Has had one since his Top 11 American Anime video.
• Twofer Token Minority: He is both the only Mormon and the only Kiwi in Channel Awesome.

Animenia

• Accentuate the Negative: His review of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, which stands out since he's normally one of the most positive reviewers on the site. At the end of the review, he whispers, "Between you and me, I actually didn't hate it that much."
• Action-Hogging Opening: Pointed out as a common trait of animes in his Top 11 Openings video, and he provides the page quote.
• Air Guitar: Does this to Trigun's theme song. He's not very good at it.
• Animesque: His "official" return to the site centers around the best of these.
• Awesome Music: The Batman Of The Future theme song, when he didn't have time to watch Saturday morning cartoons he would still watch the Opening.
• Breaking the Reviewer's Wall: Benzaie at one point kills Suede using Death Note mechanics.
• Brick Joke: In his "Top Ten Anime Villains" video. Yeah, Benzaie having that book is definitely not important...
• Call Back: His "We should make another Star Wars sequel!" line is one to an episode of Ask That Guy With The Glasses were he's asked if glasses make people smarter, proceeds to take his off and utters the "We should make another Star Wars sequel!" line.
• Department of Redundancy Department: "Just be like every other internet reviewer on the internet and be a jerk to your fans!"
• DVD Commentary: His Advent Children review now has one.
• Don't Fear the Reaper: The first Bleach theme seems to have made him believe this.
• Dope Slap: "If you're watching this with someone else and they haven't guessed it, I give you full permission to give them a slap on the back of the head."
• First Installment Wins: Averted in-universe; he prefers Naruto: Shippuden, Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG and Death Note theme songs to the first ones.
• Flat What: Does this over Saban Entertainment's decision to change Tai's last name from Yagami to Kamiya.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the Trigun review to show what the D from Nicholas D. Wolfwood stands for. It's "Dokonokuminomonjawaresumakinishiteshizumetarokakora", though in reality Yasuhiro Nightow has said various other options, such as "Daily Cigarette Intake".
• Gag Dub: In the Advent Children review, in order to sum up otherwise dull and stupid conversations
• Gag Sub: In his AMV video to show the Viewer Gender Confusion with Goku's Japanese voice.
• Gateway Series: In-universe; Suede considers Pokémon to be one for anime.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: Had a case of this in his Trigun review.
• Halloween Episode: Top 11 Anime Villains.
• Heroic BSOD: The end of Elfen Lied sends him into one.
• Inelegant Blubbering: He considers it the correct way of crying, and he provides the page quote.
• Internal Homage: He did the "Top 11 American Anime" for his return to pay tribute to his first video. Totally not out of laziness. Not at all.
• In Name Only: He says that Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is the story of a guy called Cloud that knows the plot of Final Fantasy VII.
• Manly Tears: Beast Warswas the first TV Show that made him shed physical tears, and tries to defend himself saying that he was only 10 years old, though it still causes him to cry to this day. Granted it was over Transmutate, so it's understandable.
• Missing Episode: Suede laments in his "Top 11 American Anime" that, in spite of the entire rest of the series (except Episode 10) being available on line, The Legend of Calamity Jane: Episode 11, "Protégé" (an episode with a plot so powerful it got burned into his brain) is one of these.
• Mood Whiplash: As noted by Suede in the The Girl Who Leapt Through Time review, Mamoru Hosoda's and Mitsuyuki Masuhara's careers are this. And Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island too.
• Money, Dear Boy: His reasoning for Animesque titles flooding the market.
• No Pronunciation Guide: His only complaint with Batman Begins was the pronunciation of Ra's Al Ghul (Roz instead of Raysh).
• Ominous Pipe Organ: In his "Top 11 Anime Villains" episode.
• Only in It For the Money: He half-asses a speech about reviewing Trigun because he likes it and to show that anime is an underrated art form before loudly insisting that this trope is the real reason for the review.
• A Rare Sentence: "...If Bill Murray were a teenage girl" from the The Girl Who Leapt Through Time review. It's also #145 on the list of sentences he thought he would never say.
  • 90% of them were uttered after he joined the site.
• Real Song Theme Tune: Finally revealed to be "How do you have your tea?" by Urbantramper & 10,000 Times Glorious in the The Girl Who Leapt Through Time review.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: Put the Elfen Lied theme song as #10 on his Top 11 Anime Openings because of this. He also admits that the Trigun theme song slowly became this as the series progressed, and that the Neon Genesis Evangelion theme suffers from this.
• Spiritual Successor: Inverted; he believes The Transformers was conditioning us for the oncoming Dragon Ball Z craze.
• Sturgeon's Law: Remarked upon in-universe. He applies to Animesque programs, and goes on to focus on the remaining ten percent.
• Subbing Versus Dubbing: In-universe, Suede prefers subbing except in the case of Cowboy Bebop.
• Suckiness Is Painful: A variation. Rather than causing mental anguish as per the norm for the trope, the American rap openings to Pokémon and One Piece cause Suede actual, physical pain.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Uttered when one of Suede's clones breaks the atmosphere of his Samurai Jack sketch.
• Take That: Various aimed at Dragon Ball Z and one aimed at Mahou Sensei Negima in his Top 11 American Anime Video.
• Talking to Himself: Literally vevery time his clones appear.
• Theme Tune Rap: Hates these not on principle, but because most of them are done poorly. He likes Samurai Champloo's theme, calling it "the exception that proves the rule".
• Top Ten List: Well, Top 11 lists, cataloging anime opening sequences, anime villains. and American anime.

Suede: "Why Top 11? "Because I want to be as much like That Guy With The Glasses as possible, so that other people will watch me."

• Two Words: Obvious Trope: His response to the Trigun theme song: "Two words: air guitar."
• Waxing Lyrical: After showing several clips of angsting cloud in his Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children review.

Suede: Crawling in my skin. These wounds, they will not heal.

• With Lyrics: Does this to Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children's score during that review.
• X Meets Y: Describes Bleach as "Dragon Ball Z crossed with The Grim Reaper."

AMV Heaven

• Metaphorgotten: In the first episode, he goes from speculating on which billionaires the AMV-maker would have to be as rich as to afford the intellectual property in the video to speculating on which billionaires make AMVs.
• Parody Episode: AMV Heaven episode 3 is a parody of Games That You Might Don't Know but That are Still Pretty Damn Sweet.
• Poorly-Disguised Pilot: His Animenia episode on AMVs is one for AMV Heaven.
• "Previously On...": Happens in Episode 3, mocking the instances were Buffy the Vampire Slayer used it.
• Prop Recycling: The cravat he uses in Ask That Dude In The Suede was also his ninja headband in AMV Heaven Episode 3.
• Real Song Theme Tune: Smack My Bitch Up by The Prodigy.

Fandom Stranger

Formerly Anime Weirdness.

• Anime Hair: Dedicated the first episode (then called Anime Weirdness) to it.
• Content Warnings: "Warning: the hairdo you are about to see breaks all known laws of the universe. Be advised."
• Drunk on Milk: During his review of Phoenix Wright: The Truth Reborn, he feels compelled to crack open a case of "Mormon hooch" - that is, Indian tonic water.
• Eye Scream: Played for Laughs in the Phoenix Wright: The Truth Reborn review, were his eyes burn after seeing a few clips of the musical.
• Mondegreen: He named the show Fandom Stranger because Return of the Phantom Stranger sounds like Return of the Fandom Stranger.
• Real Song Theme Tune: Return of the Phantom Stranger by Rob Zombie.
  • And, when it was Anime Weirdness, Let’s Fighting Love by DVDA.
• Stillborn Serial: In spite of liking the concept, Suede spent the last months before the hiatus focusing on Animenia and AMV Heaven, making this his shortest series at the time with only one episode. Understandably, it's listed as an episode of Animenia on TGWTG (possibly due to Channel Awesome's 5 videos rule). Time will tell if the show's resurrection will fix that.
• Suckiness Is Painful: Similar to the Animenia example, his eyes start burning after seeing a few clips of Phoenix Wright: The Truth Reborn.
• Take That: Has one directed at Thom Yorke at the Phoenix Wright: The Truth Reborn video.
• Tempting Fate: "Sweet Justice, how can it go wrong? Oh Crap, why did I just say that?"
• Working Title: The first episode is called Anime Weirdness.

Suede Played

• Designated Hero: In-Universe: He calls Ryu Hayabusa in Ninja Gaiden Σ "Cold-blooded killer of innocent brown ninjas", but he takes it back when he learns that the murdered ninja had "Gaping holes in his defense".
• Early Installment Weirdness: The first version of the first episode was shot in his parents' house, instead of his new one, it also was a normal Lets Play, instead of the second version.
• Extra! Extra! Read All About It!: He recapitulates the first stage of Ninja Gaiden Σ as a news report of Ryu breaking into Murai Mansion.
• Gag Dub: Does it in the more boring parts of the game.
• Groin Attack: "OH MY GOODNESS DID HE JUST! Um... Yeah... Ow."
• Let's Play: Has described the series as somewhere between this and The Spoony Experiment.
• No, Mr. Hayabusa, I Expect You To Dine
• Real Song Theme Tune: Airbrushed by Anamanaguchi.
• Rule of Three: He falls into a trap door three times.
• Trap Door: "Ahh...trap door! My old nemesis. This trap door is evil."

Other Works/Appearances

• Aerith and Bob: When he did a fanart of an evolved Lugia, his main problem was its lack of a name. The ones he thought up were Lugiana, Fulugia and Steve.
• Always Wanted to Say That: He has no real qualm with commenters on his videos, he's just always wanted to rant about them.
• AMV: In addition to showcasing them on AMV Heaven, he created six:
  • Flash Before Your Eyes: Cowboy Bebop And Last Stop This Town (YouTube upload only, made by Cosmic Mule Studio) (Ohayo Con 2002 Best Video Winner)
  • The Advent Children Picture Show: Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children And Don't Dream It, Be It (winner of a unknown Christchurch AMV compilation) (used as an inbetweener in his Top 11 Anime Villains list) (used as Padding to get his Advent Children review to a full half hour)
  • That Crazy Ikari Boy Needs Therapy!: Neon Genesis Evangelion, The End of Evangelion And Crazy Psychiatrist (Submitted to Anime Banzai 2008, results unknown)
  • Flashback: Final Fantasy VIII And Time In A Bottle
  • One Eye On The Past: Cowboy Bebop And Time
  • Wen 10: Cowboy Bebop And Ben 10 Theme Song
  • Wonderboy: Neon Genesis Evangelion And Wonderboy (Co-Created With Galderon17)
  • FLoyd CLash: FLCL And In the Flesh? (Made For Armageddon Expo Christchurch 2008's AMV Contest [Missed Deadline]) (used as an inbetweener in his Top 11 Anime Openings list)
• Anticlimax Boss: In Suburban Knights Part 5.
• Anti-Villain: Type III in Suburban Knights.
• Are You Done Yet?: Seems to be thinking this at one point while fighting Chuck Jaffers in Suburban Knights, as he simply stands unmoving in one spot blocking multiple attacks with his sheath while looking bored.
• Aww, Look! They Really Don't Hate Each Other: Benzaie's greeting to That Dude In The Suede in Suburban Knights. Though Benzaie claims that while he still hates him, Conan loves him.
• The Bus Came Back: In Suburban Knights.
• Call Back: Benzaie making reference to his longstanding rivalry with That Dude in the Suede in Suburban Knights, which had never been brought up since Suede left two years ago.
  • In the Pokémon the First Movie review, there's a Call Back to the climatic battle of Suburban Knights.
• The Cameo:
  • On the Games That You Might Don't Know but That are Still Pretty Damn Sweet Sweet episode on Wiz 'n' Liz: The Frantic Wabbit Wescue, answering Ben's call to anyone play the game with him, wich Ben ignores. Spoony's cameo on the same episode was written for Suede, but he declined.
  • On Paw Dugan's Channel Awesome Dance Spectacular 3, he appears on the background with his back turned when Linkara raises his sword.
  • The "Previously On..." segment on the Atop the Fourth Wall episode on issues #3 and #4 of Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal; fighting with himself over the fans' confusion with his costume change.
  • On the The Spoony Experiment/Atop the Fourth Wall episode on issue #4 of Warrior, as Doctor Insuedeo, a Alternate Universe version of Doctor Insano.
  • On the Atop the Fourth Wall episode of The Electric Tale of Pikachu, returning after The Entity/MissingNo. dies. Annoyed that it was all a Pokémon reference and performing the MissingNo. glitch on his copy of Pokémon Red.
• Clip Show: The visuals for the "Suede's Goodbye" video is just every episode of Animenia sped up.
• Combat Pragmatist: In Suburban Knights, after the The Good Witch Warrior Of The Woods starts shooting lightning during a climactic battle, Suede punches her saying, "I find that quite vexing".
• Crossover: Did an AMV with Galderon17.
• Development Hell: He planned in making an One Piece The Abridged Series and a Kim Possible Doujinshi.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Played for laughs in Suburban Knights.
• Dramatic Unmask: In Suburban Knights.
• DVD Commentary: Did one for Suburban Knights with Noah, Lindsay, Elisa, Bennett, Mathew, Benjamin, Brad, Linkara, Ed Glaser and Justin.
• Eleventh-Hour Ranger: In Suburban Knights he joins Doug's group in the end of Part 5 of 7.
• Fan Character: He created a Pokémon called Dadger and his evolutions Blaxdger and Katanakuma.
• Follow the Leader: "Neon Genesis Evangelion in 5 seconds" was originally made by Suede in 2007 as a tribute to Doug Walker's 5 Second Movies. It was uploaded to the site after he became a contribuitor.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In Ask That Dude in the Suede, when asked who killed the dinosaurs he claims that Kunimitsu Tezuka did it. To prove himself (due to the ridiculus yet true description of the video he gave) the screen flashes a link to a (now taken down) YouTube clip of Tezuka killing dinosaurs.
• Friendly Enemy: Despite being there to stop them from finding Malachite's Hand, he essentially lets the Critic defeat him with a Finger-Poke of Doom before joining the team on their quest in Suburban Knights.
• Furry Fandom: His wife has a fixation on badgers, which lead to this drawing of him as a badger, and you can buy it ^{[dead link]} .
• Here We Go Again: After Linkara convinces Missingno to kill itself and everything is back to what passes for normal in a That Guy With The Glasses show, Suede is seen playing Pokémon Red, talking to the old man who sends you to Cinnabar Island where you can catch Missingno.
• "Hey You!" Haymaker: Does this to The Good Witch Warrior Of The Woods in Suburban Knights.
• Homage Shot: Dedicated an entire series called They're Having An Evangelion Moment! to show clips of anime inspired by a scene in episode 24 of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
• Lying Creator: Asserted repeatedly on his Twitter that he couldn't make it to the Year 3 Shoot and wouldn't appear (though both his wife and his mother blew the cover, but nobody noticed..
• Mad Scientist: Doctor Insuedeo on the review of Warrior issue #4.
• Malevolent Masked Man: Subverted in Suburban Knights.
• Mind Screw: "Neon Genesis Evangelion in 5 seconds" mocks the series' use of this trope.
• Nineteenth Ranger: In Suburban Knights.
• Nostalgia Filter: For Final Fantasy VIII, as admitted in this vlog. Further evidence arises when you look at his wedding invitation.
• Offscreen Teleportation: In Part 6 of Suburban Knights he in NC's left when NC takes Malachite's Hand from him. He then appears in the group shot, the group is in NC's front.
• The Other Katana: The one used in Suburban Knights was a Kill Bill promotional one borrowed from Bhargav.
• Phlebotinum Killed the Dinosaurs: According to Ask That Dude In The Suede, Tezuka did it.
• Punch Clock Villain: The actual obstacle in Suburban Knights got a desk job, he's filling in for him.
• Real Men Are Bronies: According to this video, CR brought him into the herd.
• Real Song Theme Tune
• Reverse Mole: Unintentional yet effective example in Suburban Knights. By getting a job with the obstacles, he was in the position to betray their best-kept secret to the heroes when no one else would.
• Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Trailer: Averted in Suburban Knights. He did the voice-over at the beginning using a gruff american voice and there was a quick close up of him being masked.
• That Makes Me Feel Angry: In Part 6 of Suburban Knights. he calmly walks to The Good Witch Warrior Of The Woods while she's shooting lightning everywhere, calmly and quietly tells her "I find that very vexing", and then punches her out.
• Troubled Fetal Position: As seen in his return trailer, Takarazuka Revue's Phoenix Wright: The Truth Reborn sends him into this.
• The Unexpected: In Suburban Knights.
• Voice Grunting: The dialougue in "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children In 5 Seconds" is this, with the only exception being Sephiroth's "Hello Cloud" line.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Spoony's cameo in GYMDK - Wiz'n'Liz: The Frantic Wabbit Wescue was originally meant for Suede, but he declined.
  • His wife was going to post various photos and videos of the Year 3 Shoot, but the iPod that had all the files on it was stolen and wiped clean.

1. ↑ OF COURSE!