AzureWolf

This probably isn't what you wanted to hear, but yeah, you do sound pretty selfish and, might I add, arrogant. I don't know what kind of society you live in, but those people are also very arrogant for thinking they are better than you for reading the same manga in a different language. :lecture: I don't really understand why you would hate it if an anime or manga was available to other persons besides this "elite" group you refer to. :confused: However, I can perfectly understand you not wanting to wait so long to see what happens next in the series. This wait happens every time an anime/manga is liscensed, and is, in my opinion, the only legitimate reason for not wanting an anime/manga brought over. Still, just get over it. It's a good thing! You know it's a good anime/manga, so now you can finally collect it genuinely! :)

The primary reason I wouldn't post is either: what I was going to say has already posted, or if I don't think anything good will come from what I'll say. I usually do read every post on a thread that I start reading, just for the sake of consistency, and if I think I can contribute something to the discussion, I do. Otherwise, I just watch. :)

[quote]Yay! BT wasn't in it *Does a dance* Thats just as good as her being PKed.[/quote] Haha, those hackers I paid to crash B.T.'s computer seemed to work wonders! Yeah, I kind of had to spend a [I]little[/I] extra of our funds, K.K.C. ;) I think it was worth it, though. Heh, but the treasury's also running kind of low... :D I gave this episode a ten because the level of imagery and symbolism was astounding. My prediction was wrong :( , about [I]Fake Wings[/I] referring to Silver Knight: it was actually Crim. Haha, why didn't I think of something that happen[B]ed[/B], not something in the future? Crim makes [I]so[/I] much more sense than that psycho, Silver Knight. Oh well... Wow, and then the philosophical discussion about the online world, who you are, and what you do in that world. The use for [I]The World[/I] was discussed a lot in this episode, and it was very interesting. Another reason I gave this episode a ten is because, in just thirty minutes, Subaru transformed from a two-dimensional, arrogant angel, into a three-dimensional, respectable human. I mean, I can't believe that the creators were able to make me despise Subaru for 18 episodes, and then, in just one episode, flip all that built-up hate into respect. For this reason, this episode goes above episode 14 ([I]Castle[/I]) in my favorite list. Haha, [I]Recollection[/I] will truly be one to talk about for a long time! Going back to the symbolism and imagery, my favorite ones were the true meaning of [I]Fake Wings[/I], as well as Subaru's fall from her "angelic" state, to humanity. The song, atmosphere, and ending "surprise" were all perfect and powerful, and it was, in my opinion, as shocking as Tsukasa's death in episode 14, maybe even more shocking than that. Hmm... I now like Subaru because she got beaten up and suffered humility. I know that sounds messed up, but I can't explain it any better (no, that doesn't work). Uh, she's better beaten up (idiot! Try again!). I guess it's a guy thing (@#$%!). Alright, I'll just shut up now. :o In all seriousness, though, it's weird how I suddenly respect Subaru because something bad happened to her. Anyone else have a change of heart about Subaru after this episode?

Actually, they explain the current technology in .hack thoroughly via the news in the video games. Technically, you can play just like you do now, but most people use those hip visors. We don't know if Subaru uses them or not, because it seemed like [spoiler]she took off the visors to cry[/spoiler] Hey, I would have done the same. I'm betting she does, since it's a very common thing to have in the .hack age. Keep in mind that everyone we've seen playing has a computer screen even if they have those visors.

[quote]Just so some of you guys, who might not know, know... There is another game that came to the u.s. and it may be the same thing as sc for the dreamcast, but I really dont know. It was for the playstation and it was called "soul blade." It was a great game actually and I am sure it is related to the soul caliber series. Infact, it has all the charactors. So Im sure of it, but I dont know exactly how close the two games are. (sc and sb) Anyway, let me know if you've played soul blade.[/quote] Haha, that's the first part of the series. Originally, it was called Soul Edge, but when it was brought to the States, they changed it, although I'm not sure why... :confused: I loved the game, and I unlocked everything. It was a fairly balanced game, until you got all the weapons. It was still a little too stiff, which is why the Tekken series eclipsed it (but I [I]HATE[/I] Tekken: so slow). Anyway, I preferred the edge master mode in that game, and I don't know why they didn't keep it the same in the future games. You got to know the stories and some extra tidbits while playing! Now, you get a generic story for everyone... Oh well.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Lady Asphyxia [/i] [B][size=1]What do I think of jealousy? Personally I think that, while a destructive emotion, jealousy is something we all feel. We all get that pang of envy deep in our stomachs -- when you see someone who got a better grade, or who has better friends, or better posessions. Thing is, though, that's just plain humanity. We all [i]want[/i] to have expensive cars, and nice houses, and food in our stomachs. Material things -- in my opinion -- are signals of how far we've come in life. We attach memories to things. For instance, you smell something, and you think -- I know that smell. I'd completely forgotten it until then. Material things jog our memories. To do that you need money, and to get money, you need ambition. Jealousy -- to [i]me[/i] -- is another form of ambition, driving you on to greater heights, materialistically, at least.[/size][/B][/QUOTE] Whoa, let's not mix subjects. Jealousy is when you want to keep something all to yourself, while envy is desiring what others have. Envy is great, if you desire bigger and better things, but jealousy is a different story.

[quote]The things about a spell-checker--There are a lot of words it won't recognize. People's names, titles of series, websites, even things like manga or newbie. (or Otaku.) I don't want something suggesting that I really mean mango every time I post about Chobits... [/quote] Although it seems that a spellchecker is going to be unlikely, the "Foreign" word problem could easily remedied by making the spellchecker ignore words that are capitalized.

Two things: First, I never agreed with the idea of importing video games that were coming out domestically in the first place. Keep the domestic game economy strong so it would survive, and, hopefully, bring more and more games to you in the future. Importing hurts the sales of a game, and therefore gives less incentive for companies to translate and care about whatever gaming community there is in your area. Second, the UK is a different story. What the hell are they doing there?! I don't live in the UK, but I've read enough to know that things are getting out of hand. Of course you should import with their "give these dogs scraps" policy. I'm surprised that the gaming community there has tolerated this treatment at all. UK is no different, and there's an equally great market there as anywhere else. Well, at least I think so. I haven't heard anything to the contrary. EDIT: You know, I was just thinking: what if importing is responsible for video game companies' lack of activity in the UK?

I pick Mimiru because I remember the first few episodes with Tsukasa. :D Sora's not really funny, in my opinion: he's more sadistic than humorous. Besides, the only thng that makes him funny is his interaction with Mimiru, and that credit should go to Mimiru for her hilarious responses ("Why me?!"). Haha, Mimiru's #1 in humor.

Haha, that shocker was awesome! It was just as shocking as episode 14's, where Tsukasa got killed at the end. No B.T. killing though, so I was 0.5 disappointed. I mean, really, I knew Subaru was deviating from the Crimson Knights, but I never expected such a thing to happen! What is she going to do now without her "high-and-mighty" status? Maybe she and Crim will become an item again? "Ginkan," Sephiroth? Is that Silver Knight's character's name? I mean, originally, before he joined the Knights? Haha, interesting stuff. He was too tight-:butthead:ed for my tastes, and he took things too seriously. Maybe it's just because of his juxtaposition with Crim: you hate him because Crim is so much cooler, and they force you to compare these two characters together because of their pasts and -cough- "interests" ;), if you know what I mean :more winks:.

Resets? What do you mean by resets? I've never seen anything reset except Tsukasa. [spoiler]It seems that the sound only appears when the Wave or its influence is present. That's what I always thought it to be about. That's just my guess, though.[/spoiler] However, I still want to know what you mean by reset.

[quote][I]Piece from Wiseman (reward in MUTATION):[/I] Unknown where the Cursed Wave was born? After the stars doth cross the heavens, The sky in the East doth darken and air doth fill with mourning, From the chosen land beyond the forest, a sign of the Wave comes. Riding the wave is Skeith, the Shadow of Death, to drown all that stands. Mirage of deceit, Innis, betray all with the flawed image, and did aid the Wave. By the power of Magus, a drop from the Wave doth reach the heavens, and creates a new Wave. With the Wave, Fidchell, the power to tell the dark future: hope darkens, sadness and despair rules. Gorre schemes when swallowed by the Cursed Wave. Macha seduces with the sweet trap. Wave reaches the pinnacle, and escape none can. Tarvos still remains with more cruelty to punish and destroy. And with the turbulent destruction, After the wave, only a void remains And from the deep within the void arrives Corbenik. Perhaps then the Wave is just a beginning as well.[/quote] Well, this piece seems to contain everything but the kitchen sink. From start to finish, it seems to tell a story of destruction, and possibly a new beginning. Anyway, let's get nit-picky. Hmm... Emma doesn't know the origins of the Wave, which [I]could[/I] mean that Harald had nothing to do with its creation. It also means that no one knows how the Wave came to be. However, a [B]sign[/B] of the Wave's arrival came from various events. Maybe, like that e-mail from Helba in .hack//[B]SIGN[/B], the descriptions hint at a location in "The World" (thought I'd bolden those words for you ;) ). East, chosen land, forest: these sound like they could be keywords or directions. Now, we come to the structured part of the epitaph, which is so straightforward that I really don't need to bother with it: Wave part, title, and function. They do this for each part of the Wave until the end. Skeith is the killer, who is basically the first "splash," of the Wave, so to speak. So far, he's been successful in doing his part (server crash after beating Skeith, the Wave begins it's attack). Now, we get to Innis, the one that I'm still wondering what the hell he does. My best guess is that he continue to leads you astray and believe that destroying parts of the Wave is the right thing. Magus' purpose, when you beat MUTATION, is a dead giveaway, not to mention the fact that it says "The propagation" before you fight him. Magus spreads the Wave's deadly effects by multiplying, and we see this dangerous part of the Wave in both the game and in LIMINALITY. Yes, that huge chaotic shutdown/haywire of all computer systems in Yuki's story was because of Kite and friends' defeat of Magus. Also keep in mind that these three "phases," as they are called, are only the beginning of the Wave. Fidchell is like Innis, in that he seems pretty useless. However, I can only imagine if telling a dark future would make everyone lose hope. Yet, a dark future does not necessarily mean the only future. We'll have to see what exactly Fidchell does when Kite faces him, and if there are any effects in the real world. The same goes with Gorre, since I have no guesses on this one. And with the advent of Macha, the Wave reaches it's height. According to a good friend who takes Japanese, Macha in Japanese could also be translated into Maha! Shocker, yes, very much so. What's a greater shocker is what I'm about to guess next: [spoiler]It may be that our friendly Maha in SIGN isn't the true Maha, but only one half of a whole. Maybe Maha of the Wave has two parts, Mia being the second one. I doubt that Mia's voice malfunction was just a simple problem: it was caused after "the incident," which refers to the large server crash after Skeith's defeat. Mia's malfunctioning into true Maha? Maha in SIGN couldn't speak to anyone except Tsukasa, afterall...[/spoiler] Trapping is Maha's cup o' tea, but even that, I'm left with no clues... **************************** Yeah, well, this concludes my analyses of the Epitaph of Twilight pieces. I'm not doing any more on this piece because I've only concerned myself with the immediate future, and Macha is too far already. My apologies to those who find this thread less than post-worthy. I thought I had more clues to go on, but in the end, some of my theories contradicted on another. After sorting things out, I came up with less than I had originally. Another thing: keep in mind that [I]ALL[/I] of these things are my guesses, nothing more (well, my friend's guesses too), so don't think your guess is wrong. Both my friend and I have only experienced what has been released in the US, so we are working with limited stuff. I could be completely wrong about everything, or even completely right. We'll see when the time comes.

[QUOTE][SIZE=1][b]Yu-Gi-Oh: An animation sensation Latest Japanese import dazzling hundreds of thousands of kids[/b] MARIETTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Inside a game store tucked away in a suburban Atlanta strip mall, there's a war of magic and mayhem going on called Yu-Gi-Oh. About 50 boys -- most age 7 to 14, in T-shirts and shorts -- are seated in folding chairs around rows of dingy folding tables. They have their battle weapons in hand: powerful trading cards with names like Armored Lizard, Big Eye and Time Wizard. Marty and Felix face each other in heated battle. Clutching their cards, they carefully devise their attack strategies. "All right, man, BRING it!" shouts Marty, who proceeds to rattle off a series of numbers as he subtracts from his opponent's so-called Life Points. "I'm dead," says Felix. "Yeah, you're dead." Game over. In just 15 months, trading cards featuring colorful Japanese Yu-Gi-Oh characters have succeeded in captivating hundreds of thousands of the nation's younger set -- kids in elementary and middle school who live and "die" by the game's two-word credo, "Let's duel!" The cards -- which can cost anywhere from about $12 to $25 per pack -- contain so-called Monster Cards, Magic Cards and Trap Cards. Each player begins a duel with 8,000 Life Points. Players can lose points during attacks, and the first player with zero Life Points loses the duel. The math involved in the game draws parental approval. "They're doing math and they don't even know it," says Liz Willen, mother of two Yu-Gi-Oh aficionados, ages 6 and 7, in New York City. "They're just having fun. Plus, they're socializing with each other and not watching TV." Even some adults are getting into the game. "I've got a 40-year-old playing," says Steve Frazier, 30, owner of Colossal Games in Marietta, Georgia. "You've got a lot of dads who play the game. But after a while, they find themselves liking it and not just playing to spend time with their kid. It's got good enough mechanics to keep adults interested." [b]The thrill of the duel[/b] Frazier says he currently sells about 100 packs of the cards on a good day. "I would say -- off and on -- 50 percent of our business now involves Yu-Gi-Oh." The 2,100-square-foot store hosts weekly Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments attended by frantic kids with active imaginations. "Our numbers -- as far as tournaments go -- have gone up," Frazier said. "We had 25 last week. On Saturdays we average 40 to 60. "We're actually thinking about expanding to handle these players." Frazier says there are three reasons for Yu-Gi-Oh's popularity. "First, kids [are] watching the cartoon on TV. Second, the parents have got to accept it -- that's key. And third, the game has to be somewhat good to keep interest high." Like Pokemon, the 1990s cultural icon from Japan, Yu-Gi-Oh characters star in an animated television series (which airs on the WB network) and have created an entire cultural niche full of trading cards, video games, Web sites, books and even music. [WB is owned by the parent company of CNN.com.] But unlike Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh characters are more frightening, more sophisticated, mysterious and more educational. Some of the characters are evil, some good. The luck of the draw is less a part of winning than in Pokemon. Yu-Gi-Oh requires learning strategy and skills such as reading, math and interaction with other players. Since the cards were introduced in the United States in March 2002, more than 412,000 kids have registered nationwide to play in Yu-Gi-Oh leagues, according to Upper Deck, the cards' North American distributor. More than 1,300 mall tournaments across the nation draw thousands of duelists every week, according to the card maker. Upper Deck says its national dueling tour recently drew an average of 15,000 kids at only 12 different locations. [b]Expanding reach of anime[/b] Yu-Gi-Oh is just the latest example of Japanese animation, called anime, to be accepted by American culture. Mainstreaming of Japanese anime broke out in the 1980s with the U.S. release of a film called Akira, according to Abe Mark Nornes, associate professor in Asian languages and culture at University of Michigan. Nornes says there is no comparison between the two. "Yu-Gi-Oh is incredibly un-artful compared to most anime," Nornes says. "It's dull. It uses limited animation. Yu-Gi-Oh, like Pokemon, is mostly about making money." In fact, the urge to save money has forced Willen to seek out $5 packs of counterfeit Yu-Gi-Oh decks in New York's Chinatown. "You get the knock-offs cheap," she says. The cards have been banned at her boys' school. "My son had them taken away for a week for bringing them to school in his backpack," Willen says. "It's completely taking over schools, kids, lives. "Last August, my cousin purchased their first pack, much to the chagrin of my husband, who wants to burn them," Willen continues. "He thinks the cards have no educational potential and that they should be reading or studying instead." By Thom Patterson CNN[/QUOTE][/SIZE] I thought this article was interesting enough to post. My apologies if this is considered advertising. It goes to show that something good does not have cultural boundaries. Haha, I agree with that guys view on the anime at the end. Go card game! [SIZE=1][COLOR=purple]Removed link and quoted the article. -Solo[/COLOR][/SIZE]

Hmm... I think I've seen it somewhere before too... :smirk: Anyway, the fuzz out effect doesn't help the picture. I think you should stick with the original, or just use a cleaner border effect like I have. :)

[quote]Hm.. I thought "kaze" meant wind.. Not "Tsukasa".. *shrugs* Maybe Tsukasa is when wind is by itself and kaze is when it's with another kanji...[/quote] Sorry about the confusion. The word I was thinking of was "Tsubasa," not "Tsukasa," so it doesn't even matter.

Meh, dub or sub, if they can get the gist of the show to me, I could care less. However, if an anime is truly deep and intriguing, I prefer to see the sub to check out the creator's original choices for the characters' voices. I want to see what his/her intention for the character was, and get more of an understanding/feeling for the anime in its entirety.

Jealously is healthy in small doses: there should only be a handful of things that you would want to keep all to yourself. The rest of the world, you should be able to share. ;)

Hmm... The longest car trip I've ever had was from Northern NJ to somewhere in Canada (I think it was Toronto). Man, it's funny how exhausted you can get doing nothing... :laugh: Anyway, I usually just look out the window and let my mind wander. I like the view, and I just think about several things that I normally wouldn't get a chance to think about. Time seems to wiz by like that, but I think of so many things... My bro usually plays on some portable gaming device (now it's GBA). I tried that a few times, and I got horribly car sick. And it wasn't even like a normal car sickness: this was really bad. Everytime I tried, I had to just lay back and close my eyes so I wouldn't throw up. I couldn't even talk, or else it felt like I was going to throw up. :blush:

[quote]I remember a pretty neat idea. Replace post count with member number.[/quote] I remember that idea (I think it is also called UserID# or something). Ugh, all that recreates is a superiority complex for people who have been here longer, as if they are better because they joined earlier. It is cool, but some people are way too immature. Simply, this idea results into the same problem the post count creates.

Haha, thank you, and thanks Sara for letting me use the modrod smilie! :) Hmm... I can't close my own thread... Shouldn't we have that ability?

Well, I really didn't know where else to ask (maybe I should have just PMed a moderator, but I wouldn't know which one!). Anyway, as the title suggests, I want to use your smilies for personal use. By personal use, I mean just that: for myself. Specifically, I use an e-mail program (Incredimail) that lets you take and store animations/smilies that you like from a website simply by right-clicking them, and from then on, you can just use a dropdown menu to pop them into e-mails. I really like a lot of the smilies you guys made/have, and I would like to add them. Obviously, I will be using them in e-mails I send here and there, so that is why I am asking. So, is that alright? Thanks in advance for your response.

Hmmm... the Crim vs Tsukasa thread inspired me to create this type of thread. Hopefully, if this thread goes well, there will be other character analysis threads (they don't have to be started by me, but anyone who wants to). Alright, I would like anything questions, comments, and analyses on Sora that you have. Please, people who know things that haven't been shown in the U.S. version, don't spoil it, or at least use spoiler tags if you can't resist. [List] [*]What character type is Sora? [*]Is Sora an honor student, or a really old man (or anywhere in between)? Why do you think so? [*]Pros and cons of Sora? [*]Is Sora a worthy rival for Crim, both physically and mentally (i.e., who is smarter, who is stronger)? Why do you think so? [*]Most of you probably hate Sora (as do I), but what [I]quality[/I] (good thing) of his stands out? [/List] Feel free to makes your own questions, inputs, or whatever on Sora!

[quote]You said in the other thread that you were getting the Xbox version... I don't quite understand, because its triggers are on hinges like the DC version, which was just as unresponsive for digital button presses from my experience. It was always annoying on DC. Maybe it's just me heh.[/quote] Yeah, I am getting the XBox version. My roommate's the one with the GC and the imported SC2 game. I just played his. Hmm, analog... I never thought of that, and that might explain the unresponsive shoulder buttons, but I didn't know that the GC had digital for the triggers. Anyway, the analog worked fine, and was fresh and responsive. Since the XBox controller is the same, there should be no problem with the controls, just like there were none with DC. However, with the GC controller, try synchronizing a direction and a shoulder button: immediately, you will realize that the shoulder button will take a longer time to finally respond (or just that it takes too long to press the should button down to its response point). Sure, you can keep trying to remember to push down the shoulder buttons 2 seconds before the directional, but, in the heat of battle, that's not something you have time to think about. [quote]In any case, I don't get why it matters either way personally, and both L and R are simply block... you can use the B button instead. The controller has 3 block buttons lol.[/quote] Haha, I always configure them for button combinations. [quote]The only real problem this causes is that if you hold the GC controller normally, it's hard to do B+X throws... Which are much easier to do along with the triggers.[/quote] No, see, that's just the problem. If you are going to counter your opponent's throw, you usually snap, in succession, A and then B to cancel. However, believe it or not, the amount of time it takes for the shoulder button to respond on the GC isn't fast enough to counter your opponent's throw should it be the B+G kind. Then again, you could be a mind reader and know which kind he is doing and only need to press A or B. :rolleyes: [quote]Otherwise, I think the layout lends itself to the GC face. I don't think the DC controller was remotely good for thos games anyway, so it's layout doesn't matter to me. I use a Saturn controller to play most fighters on it.[/quote] I don't know what beef you have with the DC controller: it is the PS controller, with two less shoulder buttons. If you don't like the PS controller, well, that's a whole different problem. I think the DC controller blended more with SC than the Saturn, and obviously, GameCube. Four button fighting game, and you want six buttons? That's just plain weird. [quote]Most people I know that are any good at any type of fighter use their index and middle fingers to press all the face buttons anyway... so the triggers wouldn't even be used for them, and B+X throws are eas in this position. So you can get used to it a few different ways.[/quote] Ewww... Well, I guess you are luckier than I: every person who plays like that here (they have obviously been at the arcades too much! :) ), either sucks or uses a joystick. Both of those are the worst. I never understood the joystick for fighting games... Anyway, people who play like that on a console usually have some kind of flaw, and you can usually see them switching their hand position to the norm and back in battle, which is bad if you know your opponent isn't going to wait until you are finished switching...

Alright, I have mixed feelings about SC2 on GC... First, I must say Link is easily the best extra character out of all three systems. And yes, Link's attacks are amazing, and you can see him do his emblem (that's what everyone here calls it) in exhibition mode, just like in the original. However, as cool as they look, don't expect yourself to be using the arrows or bombs too much (well, the bombs are ok). The really cool nostalgic move they have that works really well is Link's downward thrust from part 2 (you know, down+A in the air in SSB), as you can actually chain three in a row if the first connects! It's a treat to watch, and the best crowd pleaser of SC2. With that said, I have to complain about the controller. The shoulder buttons are just too unresponsive for a fighting game. This is twitch gaming, and the amount of time it takes you to press a direction and press a shoulder button is too distinct. According to my roommate, however, the C-stick works fine (you can use the C-stick for four different presets: c-up, c-down, c-right, and c-left). I still don't believe it, but I really haven't played SC2 enough to get used to using it. It's a change, but I'm not familiar with the GC controller for fighting to say whether it's for better or worse.

[quote] LOL But, I really like your banner now Azure Wolf![/quote] Haha, thank you very much! I've been tweaking it ever since I made it. I'm glad people appreciate the work I put into it! :) I like your new banner and avatar too. She looks cool. I also like that nice effect how you put your name in.[quote]Yep, but you usually need a tag so it won't be ruined for other people. All you do is right before you say what should be covered you put a tag like this [ spoiler ] with no spaces and when you are doe put [ /spoiler ] and with no spaces. That way it will be covered over with black. You can go back and edit that last post and cover it also. Well, yeah really no joke, that is what her name stands for![/quote] I don't think we really need to use spoilers at all in this thread. The thread name kind of gives away the fact that you should know B.T.'s meaning before entering: "What [I]did[/I] you all think B.T.'s name stood for?" I admit B.T.'s name was cleverly made, but there's really no deep meaning behind it. It's ok, but I hope the other characters have a cool history behind their character names! Tsukasa means "wind," doesn't it? It's fitting, since he seems to be swept up in the events of .hack//SIGN, and wants to be swept away from the real world.