AzureWolf

[FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=Blue]*skims through last series of posts* Isn't this exactly what doukeshi did not want this thread to turn into? I apologize for playing mod, but there's no reason anyone should have brought up how they feel about gays and others responding about whether feeling as such is right or not (or how they themselves feel). [quote name='Siren'] Quick literature lesson...[/quote] First off, that was a poor and completely off-topic lesson - with respect with what you quoted. I find it hard to associate the late 1800s with [B]age-old[/B] times than modern day, which is what the 1800s are. If anything, you actually helped to prove my point. By being only able to provide examples of lesbians in more mordern times, you are showing that the concept is a new, emerging trend and NOT an [B]age-old[/B] one. If age-old was not clear enough, I even provided an example of a fairly popular story written around the time of Socrates.[quote name='Siren'] AW, what you're talking about...criticizing, even, falls more along the lines of Slash FanFic amateurs.[/quote] Slash FanFic? What are you talking about? Your entire post... it seems like you read someone else's post in some other thread and tried replying here.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=Blue]In three letters: WOW. What immediately stands out is the irony: the most dynamic thing about this animated banner is the static picture. It is an ingenious design, and, on top of that, the focus of the banner is not the quote, but the blurred background picture. The theme and the font complement each other very well. I don't know if it was intentional, but I find it hard to notice the pictures simply before of what was mentioned above. If it was supposed to be like that, then that's my opinion on what to fix. Otherwise, I have nothing else to say.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=Blue]Ehh... Things aren't as simple as that, haha. I do think it'd be seriously cool if Naruto and Hikaru no Go came over to the US as well, but I'm not sure what you mean by "the American treatment." Are you saying that Cartoon Network doesn't Americanize their shows enough? While I'm not going to quibble about the pros and cons of Americanized anime (simply because, for those two animes, it's not important), I would like to know why you think it'd be bad if Cartoon Network got Naruto and/or Hikaru no Go instead of Fox. Personally, if those two animes air here, I don't care if it's on Playboy [i]I REALLY wouldn't care if it's on Playboy, hehehe...[/i][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=Blue]Excuse me if I ignore any strange comments that have been mentioned, haha. doukeshi is right about the "prominence" of gays over lesbians. In my opinion, the answer is what Godel said, except... less... weird. O_o Anyway, the sexual life of males has always more open than that of females (at least to the general populace). Not even talking about homosexuality yet, there has always been the idea that a woman is refined, and does not delve into such subjects. In history, how often have you seen women mentioned or portrayed in bars? Publicity of women has always been low, and sex life is no different - maybe less. In short, women having any sex or sexual drive is rarely considered. I think the best example would be that of the doctor's relationship with his patients. When a doctor would examine a fellow man, he'd look straight at him and his endowments. With women, however, doctors would "blind" themselves to the woman and check for health only by touch. I'm not sure if there's a direct correlation, but I think the fact that a woman's concern was more about being seen down there (via "the gaze") than being touched has some importance in this topic. Even in literature, you can find age-old tales about gay love, but nothing on lesbians. Take the story of the circle of philosophical wisemen at a bar, discussing the levels of love. One man speaks of loving his apprentice, while the only mention of a woman at the table is by Socrates, comparing a heterosexual love to a part of oneself, thereby raising that love to the highest level. If I remember, the love between the teacher and his apprentice was two levels down from husband-wife love, so it wasn't some type of rare, unaccepted kind of thing. I really (REALLY) have to disagree with the idea that women are just more exploitable. In this day and age, I honestly don't know why lesbians and gays are not being represented equally (but there is a lesbian couple in Friends, right?). If there's anything responsible, I would say it's tradition, and the unease of straying from that tradition.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Book Antiqua][COLOR=Blue][SIZE=2]As far as I can tell, the only people who are allowed to post public events are moderators and special persons. If it makes you feel any better, you can add stuff to your private calender by switching to it using one of the drop-down menus. The unfortunate irony of that only you can see the event yourself, and more than likely, it's an event you don't need to be reminded about. [B]EDIT[/B]: Hmm... How very odd. When I first tried to add an event back when v7 launched, I was only able to do so in the private calender. Now it seems that the public calender is just that: public. To add an event, you can either zoom into a week by clicking on the angle brackets to the left of it and selecting the specific date, or you can click on the "add an event" option at the top right and enter all the data manually.[/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT]

[FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=Blue]Are you two referring to [url=http://www.animecornerstore.com/legofthebkin.html]this show that was released on DVD[/url] a while ago? I too was a long-time fan of the series, and was happy to get my hands on the DVD collection. There's nothing special about the DVDs though: the specials are standard, the previews are unrelated, and the US dubbing isn't the greatest. Aside from never wearing out from overuse, there's little point to switch from VHS to DVD if you are only curious about the ending. Why is this question in the manga area if you are asking about the anime?[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=Blue]Isn't it out already? Maybe they are referring to the DVD version or something? I could have sworn the anime was already brought over... However, this might be something new from Disney. If I remember correctly, Disney wooed Miyazaki into giving them all the US rights to his shows. He was highly worried about his shows being "butchered," but Disney proved their worth with [B]Spirited Away[/B], and the award was icing on the cake. Simply put, after the success of Spirited Away in the states, Miyazaki was more than ready to give Disney all the rights to his entire collection. Maybe the one you heard that was coming out is the Disney-released version or something?[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[QUOTE=Juuthena][color=deeppink][size=1]Yeah, that happens for me too, and I thought it was just me. But I just have to wait for the page to finish loading, and when I click the link again, it pops up as usual. ^^; Or uhm. If the site happens to have a ton of pictures, you could just press 'stop' so the images stop loading and such.[/color][/size][/QUOTE] [FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=Blue]After hearing this description, I'm 100% sure that the problem has to do with pop-up blockers. The same thing happens to me. The reason why it doesn't pop up when the page is loading is due to a standard function of pop-up stoppers. As a website gets read, there is a code to open a pop-up, so pop-up stoppers generally stop any pop-ups that attempt to open while the page is loading. Also, if clicking on it after the page loads still doesn't work, you can add myOtaku to your list of websites where pop-ups are allowed (also called a "white list"). If that doesn't work, the last option is to just disable the sucker. I personally think the google toolbar is perfect: holding ctrl and clicking on a link will allow a pop-up (well, a lot of them do that...), and I've never had a problem with the wrong popup popping up, and never had a problem forcing the right ones showing up.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=Blue]Interesting discussion. Not to intrude, but I have a few comments and questions: -[B]What is the question/topic at hand?[/B] I mean, other people who come in to read this debate will have no clue. I could only get a vague idea of what the subject is: It's [i]something[/i] about evolution, but what? -[B]What is the significance of the arguing "Theory" and other words' meanings?[/B] While it is important to know words have very specific meanings in science (drying and evaporating, for example), I don't see why it was brought up. Still, terms in science cannot be interchanged. Science is more precise with terms than standard english, and the latter is what dictionary.com is for. If it helps any, I've learned ten times over that: [U]Hypothesis[/U] Is simply a conclusion drawn from knowledge and/or experience [B]and can be tested[/b] [I]Example:[/I] "I think, after chemical X is heated, it'll turn green." [U]Theory[/U] is an explanation for any phenomenon in nature and [B]and does not need to be testable[/B] [I]Example:[/I] "Chemical X, after heating, becomes green due to the formation fo conjugated double bonds." [U]Law[/U] is the statement of any phenomenon. In order for something to be a law, it has to not be disproven. [B]Important: It does NOT have to be proven.[/B] [I]Example:[/I] "Chemicals become more stable after heating." Or, a better example would be "The world is flat." Yes, that statement was a law - unproven, but also not disproven for a time. These three terms aren't "ranked," such that a hypothesis can one day rise to become a theory or law. -[B]Arguing terms shouldn't be something necessary in a scientific debate[/B]. Again, all terms have a definite and distinct meaning in science, so I don't think arguments about those terms should be brought up. Right or wrong, none of the definitions being argued seem to be important to the topic (which I'm still not sure of). I'm not taking sides, nor am I participating, but here's stuff I thought the debate could address/use. I apologize if I am out of place to do so.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=Blue]I don't see the big deal: they are just showing you that doing nothing when your friend is smoking right in front of you is the same as letting them drown in front of you or getting hit by a car. If you ask me, it's a pretty nice analogy. I don't see anything wrong with it. The idea of a commercial, in which you only have seconds to convey your message, is 1. to grab your audience's attention as fast as possible, and 2. convey the message as clearly as possible. The Truth commercial succeeds in those respects.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[QUOTE=Deimos]Hmmm...........sounds interesting.How does Miroshi's soul get shattered into peices? Lol, this also reminds me of inuyasha for some reason.Not to much but it kind of reminds me of it.Yutarin is like Miroku and stuff............So back to the idea,is there some special way the demon came to the modern day world.Also why did he attack Miroshi is Miroshi special for some reason?[/QUOTE] [FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=Blue]I too find the entire concept interesting, with a few nuisances. In fact, why does the thing have to start in modern day at all? It would be less "Inuyasha-ish" if you just started from the other dimension and, in some special, rare way, his soul is shattered. In fact, the whole modern day aspect seems a little too underdeveloped and trivial: what's the point of the sword losing it's uniqueness in the modern world? I don't get that part. I think you just need a little more work on the basics. That is, you have to create a solid universe, and make sure everything sticks with the reality you have created. Doing one universe is tough enough, so don't get overzealous and add another one just for the sake of it.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[QUOTE]I thought One Piece was about to debut on the FoxBox (along with Mew Mew Power, or whatever they're calling Tokyo Mew Mew nowadays). Do you mean to say that the FoxBox line-up doesn't have any room for Naruto?[/QUOTE] [font=Book Antiqua][color=blue]Actually, they do seem to be tightly wound. They can only show one of three shows, and they had (or are having?) a poll at their website to see which show people want to see, and that will be the only one that debuts on a certain date. I don't know what happens to the others, heh.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff]As far as ADV's series boxes go, I can't say I've seen anything different from other companies, save for some added textures or shiny film on them.[/color][/font]

[QUOTE=densuke]You seem to imply I am withholding information by only discussing one case because it suits my purposes. What I said was that I heard of exactly one case where an English-language translation script used in an HK bootleg was taken from a fansub group. That is what I mean, and I'd rather you didn't twist my words around to suit your own purposes. Another assumption you seem to make is that pirates have to be "caught" in order to be known as pirates. The fact is that there is plenty of HK bootleg material floating around. It's easy to buy and it's obviously pirated material. And it's not like nobody has ever seen these or seen rips from them. Like I said, these bootleggers have people in-house to cook up English-language subtitles, and that's what they use.[/QUOTE][color=blue][font=Book Antiqua] I'm not implying or twisting anything: I am simply taking what you said and trying to make sense of it. If you don't wish for people to do so, you should pick your words and be more coherent.[/font][/color] [font=Book Antiqua][color=blue]Let's look at my second assumption: you speak of a "case." Now, I admit I did [i]assume[/i] you knew the meaning of "case," and since we are talking about piracy, I had a slim thread of hope that you knew "case" can and is used in investigations, and these reports (i.e., [b]cases[/b]) are released to the public after they are [b]completed.[/b][/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=blue]Anyway, the fact of the matter is [b]you[/b] have heard of one time where pirated material had fansubs, but that doesn't mean, in reality, only one instance has and always will exist. Here is where incomplete facts begin to show.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=blue]Let's face facts, kid: you are not in Hong Kong or Japan, and all you can obtain is secondary information. It doesn't matter if that information is reliable or not because it is limited/incomplete. And living there still doesn't mean you know the going-ons of the underground world. If I were to jump to any conclusion based on what you have presented, I would say you ventured through eBay and found a lot of Chinese/english subtitle products and nothing more. But again, I'm not jumping to conclusions. [/color][/font][QUOTE]How does labelling a fansub as such, ceasing distribution upon licensing etc. equate to "helping to promote" piracy?[/QUOTE][font=Book Antiqua][color=blue] I'll [i]assume[/i] you are stating as much information as you know and enlighten you to the fact that we are talking about fansubbing in general, and not a select few. Therefore, fansubbing does not cease upon licensing. Other, more underground groups pick it up and make the show available. If you didn't know this fact, now you do. If you just like to keep them out of your definition of fansubbers, you cannot because that's what they are, and what everyone - including Greenfield - would see them as. [/color][/font][QUOTE]"Helping to promote" is a far cry from "potentially facilitating," which is the argument you are apparently trying to make. Fansubbers are not offering willing assistance in anything having to do with distributing anime for profit, which is what sets them apart from pirates.[/QUOTE][color=blue][font=Book Antiqua] Ha, now who is assuming? You even quoted the part where I said fansubbers aren't responsible for the actions of those who sell their material. Anyway, what I'm trying to say about promoting is that the solution's design is just common logic: both fansubbing and piracy are illegal. However, if you can't catch the pirates, why not cut the supply and kill the fansubs? It's a perfectly legitimate concept. [/font][/color][QUOTE]I can't see the point of damning fansubbers for the fact that other people sell their fansubs. That's a "blame the gun for the murder" argument. The key player in that scene is ebay, which refuses to do anything about people selling fansubs and bootlegs on their website even in the face of specific complaints about specific individuals. Applying your logic it's just as easy to blame ADV for "promoting" piracy! They sell DVDs of their licensed product to people who then rip them and distribute the rips. If they never licensed and sold the DVDs, there wouldn't be any rips.[/QUOTE][color=blue][font=Book Antiqua] Let's take your gun example and make it more realistic. In this situation, the fansubbers would not be the guns but the arms suppliers. It's well-known that the government tries to stop guns before they get into the hands of those who will use them wrongfully. Prevention is [b]always[/b] better than a cure. (Whoa, and you just talked about eBay, that's pretty cool, haha. I definately should read your entire post before jumping to conclusions!)[/font][/color] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff]You are really all over the place with what I said. So, to clarify, I'll put it simply: Greenfield has a lot of information at his disposal for the subject at hand (yes, more than you). He is taking that information and making a conclusion. If we knew what he was judging this conclusion on, we would be able to say more. Defending fansubs from something they are obviously a part of with only half an eye is foolhardy. It could be that statistics show fansubs will be used in the future for pirating purposes - or not. We just don't know.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff]EDIT: Hmm... prevention is always better than a cure. Maybe that's what Greenfield is going for?[/color][/font]

[font=Book Antiqua][size=2][color=blue]Bleh, Dagger, that's too logical a solution for me. Plus, I'm lazy. :p I'm just kidding, and while it is a great idea, it makes all these functions in this WYSI-whatever editor useless.[/color][/size][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][size=2][color=#0000ff]Which brings me to another question: to those who can go back and forth and not lose their posts, what "message editor interface" (in options) do you use? My posts used to remain before OBv7, but not anymore. I use the Enhanced Interface one, which I like since it works just like MSWord (ctrl+I for italics, ctrl+B for bold!), but I'm not too dumb to switch to another one if it means retaining posts.[/color][/size][/font]

[QUOTE=Dagger IX1]Manga sales have increased drastically each year (according to ICv2, English-adapted Asian comics are the fastest-growing sector of the publishing industry). Generally speaking, manga/manwha also receive a lot more recognition than anime--lately I've seen articles about the popularity of shoujo titles in publications ranging from Time Magazine to The Boston Globe. Of course press recognition won't keep anything from just turning into a fad--in fact, it often indicates the opposite. But I don't think demand for manga is about to flag; it's penetrated mainstream bookstores to an extend that's really quite surprising. The [i]perceived[/i] differences between American comics/graphic novels and Asian comics are significantly greater than whatever actually distinguishes them. Likewise, new American manga (or whatever you care to call it--graphic novels styled after manga, but written and drawn by American citizens) from publishers such as DC Comics frequently outsell their more established titles. Anime, meanwhile, is slowly expanding but continues to be more of a niche market. [url="http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/3006.html"][u]Here's[/u][/url] an interesting (if brief) ICv2 article written in the middle of 2003. [/QUOTE][font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff] Interesting, I really didn't know manga was growing so quickly. However, I still need to emphasize relativity. TV is much more competitve and harsh than the world of books and comics are. To rise quickly in a bookstore only equates to an insignificant rise in TV ratings. What I'm trying to say is while manga is skyrocketing relative to other books and comics, its absolute popularity is most likely lower than the absolute value of anime, even if anime's relative rise is so low.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff]I really don't have any information either way, but I have a new hope for manga now.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff][/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff]EDIT: Oh, to draw parallels, it's like you may be the champ of the Jr. division, but you're still a chump in the Sr. division. Or, a thousand out of a million appears to be small overall, but a thousand out of two thousand seems quite large.[/color][/font]

[font=Book Antiqua][color=blue][QUOTE=Okita]Firstly greenfield stated that fansub are being download off the net and copied to DVD and sold in Asia, this is suppose to be eliminating sales in Asia, yet not in other western country where piracy isn't as rampant.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=blue]Just looking at the quality of their English subtitles is enough clue in that the process of Fansubbing isn't involved.[/QUOTE] I should point out that ripping refers to extraction from a DVD or CD onto a hard disk (i.e., separating the DVD/CD from what's on it, hence the term "ripping"). So, if something was DVD-ripped, that means the original was from a DVD. To prevent further confusion, Okita is actually referring to DVD [i]burning[/i].[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=blue]Anyway, now I'm on track and know what's going on. I understand how removing fansubbing groups could reduce the amount of piracy. I'm not saying fansubbers are responsible for piracy, but they certainly help to promote it. I've seen enough of fansubber logos or "if you paid for this you were ripped off" text on pirated copies to realize this fact. However, I don't know the ratio of fan-made to self-made subtitles in the world of piracy.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=blue]I imagine this Greenfield fellow has some idea about what's going on. Maybe he has those statistics above, and they show strongly that if you cut fansubbing, piracy will suffer significantly. Again, I don't know what the ratio is, but it's possible Greenfield does. [QUOTE]I'm really glad you mentioned RAWs, and I'd love to see a deeper exploration of this issue. Some native English speakers feel that downloading RAWs of licensed series (even if they can't understand spoken Japanese) is more ethical than downloading the corresponding fansubs. Does that make any sense, or is it ultimately just an attempt to feel better about their actions?[/QUOTE] I don't understand. I would need to hear the support for this belief in order to figure it out. I have some idea of how it could be supported, but I'd rather not jump to conclusions. [QUOTE]If I recall correctly, the Japanese government has attempted to limit people's access to RAWs by implementing certain controls on HDTV-compatible television sets. I have almost zero familiarity with the technical aspects of creating RAWs, and I don't know how successful such measures have been. All the same, it might be something worthy of discussion.[/QUOTE] Heh, I'm familiar with those tricks. What happens is anything that's ripped from the TV screen will be translated into a wild array of pixels. While the reciever and/or TV are able to translate the signal properly, anything secondary (i.e., VCR, computer, etc, that's connected past the primary reciever) will only get a garbled mess. I'm not sure of the science behind the trick, but I know that it can be circumvented in many ways, and is only a minor hindrance. One such way is to make the component necessary for capturing the primary reciever, or intercepting the signal before it hits the TV. Don't quote me on any of this, since a lot of this is from personal experience.[QUOTE]...I heard of exactly [b]one case[/b] where an English-language translation script used in an HK bootleg was taken from a fansub group.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=blue][/QUOTE] I don't see how this statement has any relevance, and in fact, it seems to weaken your argument. You've heard of one [i]case[/i], meaning those people doing illegal sales of fansubbed material were caught. I'm assuming that you've heard of more cases where self-made (and most likely, poorer) groups were caught. It is then comparatively safer to assume that the good, richer, and bigger pirating groups (i.e., the harder to catch ones) are using fansubs for their releases.[/color][/font]

[font=Book Antiqua][color=blue]There have been far too many times where I do something stupid while writing a post. I wouldn't be surprised if something happened during my writing of this one.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff][/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff]I'm sure many people have experienced writing a nice, well-thought out, [b]long[/b] post, only to accidentally press back on their browser or hit one of the many possible links, removing up to ten minutes' worth of writing. Doing this over time really adds up, and becomes frustrating.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff][/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff]I'm wondering if it'd be possible to implement something to stop links from working and/or prevent one's browser from going to another site accidentally. Maybe , if that's not possible, at least some type of confirmation (i.e., popup comes up and asks "Are you sure you do not want to submit your post?" with two options, and the choice that corresponds to "cancel" would stop your browser)?[/color][/font]

[font=Book Antiqua][color=blue]The hour special of Naruto (i.e., eps. 95-96) was filled with surprise after surprise. Even before the show had started, there was a shocking development in the fansubbing community: ANBU & AnimeONE disbanded![/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=blue]Before I get to the meat of the topic, I'm wondering how everyone feels about their separate releases; and if anyone has seen both of them so they can compare the two. I've only seen ANBU's version (I went with the version which had the same translator: crustol), but I've never seen any of AnimeONE's work before, giving me no basis to judge them on.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=blue]Anyway, most people who enjoyed the show are going to say something along the lines of "it was great" or "OMG! It was just freakin' awesome!" Well, to those who will say such a thing, [b]don't even try[/b]. None of those descriptors do the hour special justice, but I know of one: orgasmic. Simply orgasmic, or rather, multiply orgasmic. Now needless to say, I was hugely impressed with the developments in Naruto.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=blue]The [spoiler]necklace[/spoiler] story/symbolism is very beautiful, and, consequently, the repeat fight sequence was a brilliant way to end the episode. Haha, the ability to still be fresh, funny, original, AND unpredictable after 90 episodes is the hallmark of a legendary series. I can't say there are many shows where I openly show my emotions to a screen, shouting, "Oh man!" "Alright!" "Whoa!" and literally laughing out loud.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=blue]This show still has not stopped bringing a smile to my face. Here's to Naruto: capable of cloning himself a thousand times over, and yet still one of a kind.[/color][/font]

[quote name='Dagger IX1']As I tend to love anime which follow a similar progression, I'm starting to think I might really like CC once I watch it in its entirety.[/quote] [font=Book Antiqua][color=blue]I still don't understand the logic behind judging a [i]series[/i] without watching it in its entirety. Series are not like movies, which are stand-alone stories: rising action, climax, and resolution are all in one tape. In the same fashion, I rarely hear of people running out of a movie theatre after seeing only the first five minutes unless it's ABSOLUTELY unbearable. Seeing a little of a [i]series[/i] and making a final verdict is no different.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff][/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff]I'd like to move over to the "Big-O," though. I find it interesting that the new O in Chrono Crusade was added in order to remove confusion. If you ask me, it does the exact opposite. Even though their official stance is that the O will help in pronunciation, I'm thinking that there are quite a few Squaresoft/Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross fans that would blindly purchase a disc as long as the term "Chrono" is alongside it.[/color][/font]

[quote name='Okita']I don't get how the fansub community could effect the distribution of anime in Asia, almost all bootleg Asian anime are DVD ripped. Fansubbing rarely enters the equation in this scenario, most of these bootlegs are almost exact replicate of the Japanese release DVD with hastily put together subtitle in duel language. This is piracy and not fansubbing as Greenfield seems to imply. Going after the fansubbing community in this circumstance is like shooting the dog because the wolf stole the chicken...[/quote][font=Book Antiqua][color=blue] I know from my BitTorrent-ing that a lot of my peers are from Japan. I've confirmed such analysis using whoip, so there are - without doubt - some Japanese peers in the downloading community. Since these people in Japan are downloading rather than either watching on TV or buying the show, that hurts both sales and ratings. Then again, I don't know what these people are doing, as they might do both of the things mentioned above [i]AND[/i] download for collection's sake. Nonetheless, there is potential for shows to be stolen due to fansubbers' existence.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff][/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff]Also, even though most, if not all, fansubbers have a private and high-quality source for their RAWs, fansubbing-derived groups have now made RAWs available to the... uh... "public fansub fans?" I mean, everyone with BitTorrent can easily acquire RAWs for any episode on Japanese TV hours after it airs. Certainly, no one in the US and many other countries have use for such untranslated material.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff][/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff]I would like to know where you think Asian anime bootlegs are DVD-ripped. I've never heard or seen that scenario, but I'm not in Asia, haha.[/color][/font]

[font=Book Antiqua][size=2][color=blue]Something's botherin[color=blue]g me: [QUOTE]Manga is now much closer to going mainstream than anime may ever be, and its popularity is continuing to skyrocket.[/QUOTE] How did you arrive at that conclusion? If I'm right, it sounds like you are saying manga is going to be more popular and known than anime? That's impossible, given the state of America and it's integrity to hold on to old things. There's nothing special about graphic novels, nor is there anything that makes it wholly different than the relatively poor-selling books or comics that line stores today (relative to "free" TV ratings).[/color][/color][/size][/font]

[font=Book Antiqua][color=blue]I really have to agree with the [b]Hellsing[/b] idea: now there's an underdeveloped yet great anime. It didn't matter that it didn't match the manga (it was quite different: the Nazis were not in the anime, and the "last boss" of the anime was not in the manga). While both Alucard and Victoria were fully developed, you never learned enough about the other two team members (i.e., Integral and Walter). At the end, you don't have enough information on Integral to figure out [spoiler]whether she desired to turn vampire or if she would make a counterstrike on those who captured her[/spoiler] (if you think otherwise, can you answer those questions?).[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=blue]Last, I wanna see [spoiler]Alexander get owned by Alucard or, more appropriately, Victoria[/spoiler]. I don't know why or how they left that character out of the ring, but the show was definately developing in such a fashion to end him in a battle between "heirs." No more evidence is required than every verbal exchange between Alucard and [spoiler]Alexander[/spoiler], all of which appeared to design such a stage for the finale.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff][b]Outlaw Star[/b] also has potential for another good continuation. While significantly more solid than Hellsing, I would have liked to explore the Outlaw Star world a little more. Maybe the series was not as deep and "1337" for many, but it was light-hearted and well-developed all the same. A series that's able to take a break from the main plot in order to develop a character or two without boring the viewer is certainly a show of merit.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff]Believe it or not, there was a sequel in the works, revolving around a grown-up Jim Hawkins, but it was suspended indefinately.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff][b]Rurouni Kenshin[/b]'s ending was a complete surprise. While it did end on a wonderful note, and the definite ending in the OAV sums many things, the rivalry between Kenshin's old-time rival was never settled. In the end of the anime, it seemed that the cop was prepared to beat Kenshin's [spoiler]unbeatable move[/spoiler]. Truly, I was surprised.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff]I don't feel that either [b]Evangelion[/b] nor [b]Project .hack[/b] need more continuity in order to be complete, and also think that any more development on either would be hurtful to people's outlook towards these legends. While I know Eva is terrible, the story still did finish (thank God), and there was nothing left to develop on: all the characters were predictable and tame: the viewer would be sick of their interactions by the end of the series (and movies). For those who feel the series should continue, I ask, "What would they continue with?"[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff]As for Project .hack, while the anime certainly doesn't answer everything, the final installment of the video game series, QUARANTINE, has all explanations for the series. Thankfully, the answers to the mysterious world of .hack were not convulted or unfulfilling. Quite the opposite, they will satiate almost every fan, leaving no plot hole open.[/color][/font]

[font=Book Antiqua][color=blue]If you are asking for the official medical standing on this question, the answer is simply no. Keep in mind though, that with this statement comes also the fact that over 75% of 18 year old girls are not virgins. Experimentation still counts as sex, but does not brand one with a sexual preference.[/color][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][color=#0000ff]Anyway, the point is, in our sexually weak generations, there is far more experimentation than one would expect normally.[/color][/font]

[font=Book Antiqua][size=2][color=blue][b]Galerians: Rion[/b]? There's a reason why it makes people think of Resident Evil: the first game was based on the RE engine (as far as I could tell). The graphics, the controls - you know, the whole kit and caboodle - mirrored RE, down to the circular shadow.[/color][/size][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][size=2][color=#0000ff]If you aren't aware of it, there was a (surprisingly great) PSX game called [b]Galerians[/b]. The sequel that (solidly) concluded the series is on PS2 (this game was pretty bad, but the story was still top-notch), and it's called [b]Galerians: Ash[/b], Ash being [spoiler]the "backup" Galerian designed to restore Dorothy should anything ever happen to her[/spoiler]. [/color][/size][/font][quote name='J-Bird']The movie is about a boy Rion trying to find a girl Lillia so that they can activate a virus to destroy a computer Dorothy that has declared itself God over the humans and has created its own race of obedient humans Galerians.[/quote] [font=Book Antiqua][size=2][color=#0000ff]This sounds like the first Galerians (the one for PSX). It's very interesting that they are making a movie out of the games, since the stories were very well-thought out.[/color][/size][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][size=2][color=#0000ff]I'm not too interested in [b]Galerians: Rion[/b], though. The thing that drives the first story is sheer originality and surprise. If you remove the latter, the former doesn't stand well alone (it's still original, IMO). However, the second movie (or second part of it?) will definately be one to watch for. Regardless of knowing what is coming ahead, the incredible ingenuity and presentation makes it worthwhile.[/color][/size][/font] [font=Book Antiqua][size=2][color=#0000ff]And the ending to this series makes you think. ^_^[/color][/size][/font]

It sounds to me that your boss was trying to be frank with you instead of telling you the "official" reason. I mean, he did say you were hindering the other employees' progress. Even if it was by just being Wiccan, they were being hindered by you. I think it's a useless case to fight since they can just argue that you were holding others back. I mean, that's the reason. Why were you holding them back (i.e., the reason for the reason), that can be (and is) trivial.