Dagger

[quote name='Charles']Any concerns about the forums appearing unwelcoming would hold water if the "Member" rank required a significant amount of posts to attain, but that's simply not the case. One could even argue that your logic is quite contradictory. I'd say that it can seem more unwelcoming, as you put it, to obtain a membership here, post a thread, let's say an introduction thread or a gay marriage thread and have it locked in view of everyone on the main topic listing. Even if it is done so in a friendly way. There's typically a number of normal members that group up within such threads and point out the mistake if staff aren't around discover it immediately, creating a feeling of alienation. Instantly, new members may feel that they've started off on the wrong foot and become discouraged. My measure would be a security blanket to prevent that from happening.[/quote] I understand what you're saying here, and it makes sense, but to me it seems like the most straightforward solution would be warning the people who play mod (which is one of my pet peeves anyway, heh). [quote]If the number of posts required for "Member" status were reduced to twenty-five, I'd hardly call that a[i]mass[/i]ing posts. The language there implies that they're being burdened with the task of enduring a long period of posting before being welcomed fully into the community.[/quote] Eh... we may have to agree to disagree on this. Going by my personal experience, there are times when I've joined forums and only gotten to, say, twenty-five posts after months and months of being a member. Some people just prefer to lurk, only occasionally interjecting comments or really getting involved in a discussion--but often lurkers are the ones who make the best threads. That aside, I personally have a tendency to create more threads when I'm new to a forum than when I've been there for a while. Not having that ability would be sort of annoying. [quote]And, I'd rather they could not create new threads in the Suggestions & Feedback forum because then when we do encounter poor members, they would surely create annoying threads complaining about not being able to create threads elsewhere. I also feel that they should be acquainted with the site for at least a brief while before suggesting changes.[/quote] The thing is, I really think new members should be able to publicly ask questions. That's often the first thing I do when I sign up for a message board, assuming it has a section like this. For example, when I recently joined a different anime-related forum, before posting anything else I made a thread asking how to disable the default smilies in posts. ~Dagger~

You know what's funny... I own the DVD with that extra episode, but I still haven't gotten around to watching it. I saw the entire series piece-meal when it was airing on TV. I didn't plan on revisiting it until I watched Madlax and Noir, which together gave me a bizarre fondness for--or at least desensitized me to--Mashimo's directing style. So I picked up the DVDs on a whim and discovered (shockingly enough) that .hack//SIGN flows a lot better when one watches it in order. :p I haven't made too much progress yet, but buying the DVDs was worth it just to hear the Japanese language track, with my two of my favorite seiyuu playing Tsukasa and Mimiru. Mitsuki Saiga's voice just [i]drips[/i] with youthful angst. It's awesome. :D ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=DarkOtakuBoy]You think so? I dont wanna nit-pick about genre's, but I'm wondering if the creator's intentions of such series as Gravitation, dont have homosexual males in mind (in regards of the fan-base) as well. There are a lot of (including me) gay and bisexual otaku who follow those shows (lol, at least in my college.) I realise though, that its still considered a very small group or fanbase when looking at the big picture. I hope I made this clear. I know anime, but I'm not really good at categorizing things into groups. lol.[/QUOTE] Certainly, gay/bi males are the biggest secondary audience for yaoi/shounen-ai anime. But in Japan, yaoi/s-ai shows and OVAs primarily target women. One of the main reasons so many yaoi-themed anime have been coming out lately (or are scheduled to air soon) is that female fans, who are not normally big spenders when it comes to DVDs and other anime merchandise, tend to buy a lot of yaoi-related goods. So these series and OVAs are heavily marketed toward women, but that doesn't preclude them from being enjoyed by male fans. It's like how Maria-sama ga Miteru has won over an enormous straight male fanbase, thanks to its lesbian undertones, although Marimite is strictly shoujo. :) ~Dagger~

I've always disliked having to attain a certain level to gain more rights at a forum--I can understand why some sites would need to implement a similar system, and I've seen it more far-reaching variations of it used to good effect, but I don't feel that such restrictions are necessary here. From what I can tell, at least, the staff is more than capable of handling our current levels of new-member spam. I agree that this would solve some problems, but at the same time I don't think I'd want to see it implemented. It would have the unintentional side effect of making the entire message board seem more exclusive and less welcoming, at least from my perspective. If I joined a forum that wouldn't let me create threads until I amassed a certain number of posts, I know I would be rather perplexed and irritated. Can I assume new members would still be permitted to create threads in the Suggestions & Feedback forum? Lastly, one thing I definitely would support is disabling the reply & quick-reply buttons for the member who has made the last post in a thread (i.e. to totally block double-posting). ~Dagger~

I'm half-Polish, half-Korean. Some people think I look Asian, some don't--when I was little, strangers often assumed that my mother was my babysitter. I guess the fact that she looked really young then (and still does, actually) probably added to the confusion. I used to understand quite a bit of Korean, but it sort of flew out of my head or something after I began learning to read in English. The race polls on standardized tests are pretty annoying, especially if they don't let you pick more than one option (or if they include bizarre choices like "multicultural"--since when is that an ethnicity!?). ~Dagger~

[quote name='Hittokiri Zero']I visited the official Eureka Seven site today and all I can say is i'm sold on the series. The animation looks like it'll be top-notch and considering the fact I never had the chance to finish Kenran Butou Sai (or Soukyuu no Fafner ;-;) this should be a good pickup to fill the mecha void in my life. Well not that there's a "void" because I just finished downloading episode 15 of Gundam SEED Destiny >_>... But many series produced by BONEs have started to appeal to me over the last few months or so.[/quote] Scandalous! Soukyuu no Fafner's ending (and by that I mean the final few episodes) is easily the best part of the show. ;) Have you seen the [url=http://www.aquarion.info/mov_accs/index.html][u]trailer[/u][/url] for Sousei no Aquarion? It doesn't play too well on my computer, but you might have better luck--just click the button in the center of the page. Even with choppy/erratic video and audio, the clips look pretty amazing; it took me a surprisingly long time to realize that the mecha shown there was CG. If you ever have the chance, be sure to check it out. :) ~Dagger~

Although I referred to [b]Turn A Gundam[/b] in my first post, the show deserves more than just a passing mention. I'm not a Gundam fan, but I'm really enjoying this series (and I feel a bit more qualified to comment on it, now that I've finally started to catch up with the episodes I haven't seen). Turn A's main flaw is its artwork--some of the character designs are great, and some are cartoonishly retro. At times the colors seem to be slightly off; certain characters appear to have bright orange skin, which is kind of distracting. ^_^;; Fortunately, Turn A's actual animation is excellent. It has great characters and great action, and the story packs a punch. Seeing this has made me want to give other Gundam series a second chance. [quote name='Rick Hunter][B]*Edit*[/B']It's just recently come to my attention after looking at animeondvd that Flame of Recca ironically has been picked up by an anime studio. Though I don't understand why they would pick up an incomplete anime.....[/quote] Well, the genre to which it belongs is pretty popular, even though the series itself is obscure. I'm actually surprised that Flame of Recca hasn't gotten on TV, given its similarity to Yu Yu Hakusho. ~Dagger~

On a somewhat unrelated note, it seems that Initial D will be coming to "American TV" in May 2005--which could mean TechTV, but is more likely a reference to The Anime Network or someplace equally obscure. The channel in question will inevitably end up airing the horrible "tricked-out" dub that made me lose all faith in Tokyopop, so I have no real interest in seeing it. As for the Adult Swim news, I'm confident that AS will pick up the FMA movie once it's actually licensed and so forth. Naruto could go to either Toonami or AS--I have no idea how they judge that anymore--but if 4Kids licenses it (heaven forbid), it'll definitely end up on Fox. -_- ~Dagger~

[quote name='Syk3']At this point in time, however, I am willing to admit that some of the things that Champloo has shown so far have been done better in a few other animes. The sword fights in particular, while very cool, don't quite reach to the standard that Kenshin has, but even Kenshin didn't show an amazing fight in the first few episodes, so I'm content with waiting. Even so, it's an interesting thing to take note of and look out for.[/quote] Depends on your definition of a good fight, I guess. ;) I was always underwhelmed by the battles in Kenshin--way too much talking, limited animation, etc. The ones that really stood out for me were Kenshin's first showdown with Saitoh (even though I don't care for the rest of the series, I desperately want to own the DVD that has this episode) and the final fight between Kenshin and Shishio. As far as samurai-style swordfights go, I guess I'd say that I value the fluidity of the animation--and, to a lesser extent, sheer visual style--above everything else. The Rurouni Kenshin OVAs are pretty much the pinnacle of this, in my opinion, although the final few episodes of Peacemaker Kurogane are practically OVA-quality. I would rank the Kenshin/Saitoh and Kenshin/Shishio fights just below the best of Peacemaker, but for me Samurai Champloo and Samurai 7 have a much better ratio of episodes: good fights than Peacemaker or Kenshin TV. Of course, this is all a moot point, as the Kenshin OVAs basically wipe the floor with everything else. :p Whoops, I forgot what I was originally going to say... Oh, yeah. Target finally decided to ship me the "best of" OST. It's mostly forgettable, as expected--or rather, it makes great background music, but it's not the kind of thing that you can listen to without multitasking. My main complaint is that some of the tracks are unnecessarily long; there's no real need to loop the same beats endlessly. However, I do think this is worth getting, if only for the three full-length vocal tracks: the OP, the ED and a song that was either a variant ED or played sometime during the show--I can't remember which. The latter is just fabulous, but I also enjoyed hearing the second verse of the OP. EDIT: Regarding your last point... the episodes that deal with Mugen's background are awesomeness incarnate. :D ~Dagger~

[quote name='Sol-Blade][SIZE=-3']Now that, I did not know. Interesting, I wonder what other kind of series would fall under seinen. I mean, what exactly makes an anime 'adult' anyways? What are the (If there was to be any) standards set? I'm just curious if anyone has an idea.[/SIZE][/quote] From what I can tell, this hinges on the primary audience of the magazine the manga was being serialized in (of course, not everything is closely based on a manga or novel). I see other people use "seinen" from time to time, most often in reference to Cowboy Bebop. Myself, I feel more comfortable just separating everything into anime whose target demographic is male and anime whose target demographic is female, regardless of age. I wish that air-time could factor into this, but in Japan most anime air really late at night anyway, so one can't quite judge by that. ~Dagger~

[quote name='Xander Harris']I know that so-called 'fighting anime' would fall under the Shounen umbrella and would include stuff like Yu Yu Hakusho. Would stuff like Trigun and Cowboy Bebop fall under the 'fighting anime' subgenre as well, or something else? What subgenre would crazy stuff like FLCL fall under? Or do the subgenres only apply to certain animes (like boys love and magical girl), and the rest don't really have a genre beyond Shounen/shoujo/seinen/josei?[/quote] Yeah, there are a limited number of clearly defined sub-genres. Pretty much everything can be filed as either shounen/seinen or shoujo/josei, but beyond that it gets a little more loose. I don't think I've ever encountered an "official" term for school comedies like Azumanga Daioh, Cromartie High School, Sensei no Ojikan and School Rumble, but in my opinion those shows are similar enough to warrant being stuck in the same sub-genre. Vampire anime are often lumped together, as are slice-of-life anime and certain mind-**** anime (i.e. Boogiepop Phantom and Serial Experiments Lain). It's just that once you get beyond stuff as broad and prevalent as "mecha" or "magical girl," there's no real need to worry about precise categories. I don't know that I'd put Trigun with Yu Yu Hakusho, Naruto and the like (simply due to considerations of length), but it is a shounen action anime. Cowboy Bebop's a little more on the seinen side, although it would be kind of silly to nitpick someone for calling it shounen. [quote]Oh, and would you consider Love Hina to be Shounen or Shoujo :confused: ?[/quote] Love Hina is shounen. It's a classic "harem" anime (one guy surrounded by many girls), like El-Hazard, Saber Marionette J or Tenchi Muyo. People tend to assume that romance = shoujo, but there's a huge variety of shounen romance anime out there. [quote]Again, thanks for the info Dagger. You're my new OB heroine ;) James Bierly[/QUOTE] Haha, no problem. My pleasure. ^_^ ~Dagger~

For those interested, I found a scan showing Sakura and Shaoran's new character designs. [IMG]http://www.otakuboards.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=22202&stc=1[/IMG] I'm not really sure what to make of it, honestly... because I've been watching Cardcaptor Sakura lately, seeing this is really jarring. And I can't help thinking that Sakura looks rather like Margaret from Madlax. ~Dagger~

I guess the two major genres are shoujo and shounen. Shoujo is anime aimed at girls, and includes such sub-genres as boys' love and (most) magical girl shows. Shounen is anime aimed at boys, and includes stuff like virtually all mecha series and certain types of romance anime. Another term you might see from time to time is seinen, which is basically shounen, but for an older audience. Berserk, for example, is a well-known seinen anime. Josei (i.e. Gokusen) is the female equivalent of seinen. Generally, however, you won't see people using "seinen" or "josei" nearly as often as shounen and shoujo. It gets a little more complicated than that, though. Magical girl anime--series in which the main character literally transforms into a magical girl for the purpose of either fulfilling her dreams or saving the world--are traditionally shoujo fare. Shoujo magical girl shows include Sailor Moon, Fancy Lala and Pretear. But there are also [i]shounen[/i] magical girl series, such as Magical Project S (a Tenchi Muyo spin-off) and Nurse Witch Komugi (a Soultaker spin-off). As a second example, you can safely assume that all boys' love (yaoi/shounen-ai) anime are shoujo. However, girls' love (yuri/shoujo-ai) anime can be either shounen or shoujo. ^_^;; ~Dagger~

Worst: Sunao from Sukisho. For starters, I don't enjoy being molested in the middle of the night (heh). One of his personalities is lascivious, possessive and bratty; the other is stubborn and likes to beat people up at the drop of a hat. Though cute--almost excessively so--Nao-kun is very much the "psycho roommate" poor Sora started complaining about in episode 1. ~Dagger~

When I found this Fullmetal Alchemist wallpaper, made by the incredibly talented [url=http://ningen.nattoli.net/][u]ningen[/u][/url], I just had to use it. You can visit ningen's site for the full-size version... it's Roy Mustang at his (insanely sexy) best. ;) ~Dagger~

[quote name='Monkey_Orange][COLOR=DarkOrange']LOL! A story that sets in a Pharmacy? What a great coincidence! I absolutely love it. Perhaps I should some day open up my own pharmacy, and call it the Green Drug Pharmacy.[/COLOR][/quote] Haha, that would be so awesome. Especially if you hired a bunch of uber-pretty boys to man the cash registers and restock the shelves. I [i]think[/i] Tokyopop's version of the second volume is going to be released in early February. Well, whatever the case, I'm looking forward to it. ^_^ ~Dagger~

[quote name='EVA Unit 100']To me, Laputa is the perfect anime. Miyazaki's other movies are amazing but are all in some way lacking.[/quote] That's cool. I haven't encountered too many people who value Castle in the Sky over Miyazaki's other movies. It's definitely my favorite anime film (not that I seek out very many to begin with). Of course, I fully expect Howl's Moving Castle to surpass it. Kiki's sort of lost my attention the first time I watched it, but after a while I came to concede that it's the perfect anime for a long, rainy afternoon. Even though slice-of-life is not really my preferred genre, I have to admit that Kiki's version of it is appropriately gentle and heartwarming. It's the movie I watch when I'm simply not in the right mood for anything else. [quote]...Bebop is hip, fun, and has great style. I guess what it all comes down to is that Evangelion is hieght of anime art, while Cowboy Bebop hieght of anime entertainment.[/QUOTE] I have a hunch that you're going to love Champloo & Paranoia Agent. :cool: ~Dagger~

This thread is based on an article that ran in the most recent edition of [i]The Washington Post Magazine[/i]. I'm pretty sure the article isn't available online, but I've quoted bits of it in an attempt to convey its main points. A simple test has been developed that claims to uncover buried prejudices in apparently unbiased or PC-minded people. Basically, this is how it works: one variation of the test shows you a series of black and white faces, and asks you to hit certain keys when you see a black face or a white face. Next, it shows you a series of positive (i.e. "wonderful" and "glorious" and "joy") words and negative (i.e. "nasty" and "awful" and "failure") words, again requiring you to hit certain keys to distinguish between them. After that, the categories are combined. You're asked to hit one key when you see a white face or a positive word, and a different key for a black face or a negative word. Lastly, it's reversed--you hit one key when you see a white face or a negative word, and another key when you see a black face or a positive word. The test purports to quantify unconscious bias by measuring the difference in reaction time--people who take longer to associate positive words with black faces than to associate positive words with white faces are assumed to harbor a bias against blacks. Alternate versions of the test have been developed to measure bias against, say, homosexuals, women and Muslims. [quote]The Implicit Association Test is designed to examine which words and concepts are strongly paired in people's minds. For example, "lightning" is associated with "thunder," rather than "horses," just as "salt" is associated with "pepper," "day" with "night." ... Connecting concepts that the mind perceives as incompatible simply takes extra time. The time difference can be quantified and, the creators of the test argue, is an objective measure of people's implicit attitudes. For years, Banaji [the woman who developed the test] had told students that ugly prejudices were not just in other people, but inside themselves. As Banaji stared at her results, the cliche felt viscerally true.[/quote] [quote]The bias tests, which have now been taken by more than 2 million people, 90 percent of them American, and used in hundreds of research studies, have arguable revolutionized the study of prejudice. In their simplicity, the tests have raised provocative questions about this nation's ideal of a meritocracy and the nature of America's red state/blue state divide. Civil rights activists say the tests have the potential to address some of the most corrosive problems of American society; critics, meanwhile, have simultaneously challenged the results and warned they could usher in an Orwellian world of thought crimes.[/quote] [quote]Overall, according to the researchers, large majorities showed biases for Christians over Jews, the rich over the poor, and men's careers over women's careers. The results contrasted sharply with what most people said about themselves--that they had no biases. The tests also revealed another unsettling truth: Minorities internalized the same biases as majority groups. Some 48 percent of blacks showed a pro-white or anti-black bias; 36 percent of Arab Muslims showed an anti-Muslim bias; and 38 percent of gays and lesbians showed a bias for straight people over homosexuals. "The Implicit Association Test measures the thumbprint of the culture on our minds," says Banaji, one of three researchers who developed the test and its most ardent proponent. "If Europeans had been carted to Africa as slaces, blacks would have the same beliefs about whites as whites now have about blacks."[/quote] [quote]Test takers... are frequently shocked by their results. The tests are stupid, and the results wrong, some say. People have argued that the tests are measures of only hand-eye coordination or manual dexterity. Some have complained about which groups are assigned to the left and right-hand keys, and about how the computer switches those categories. None of these factors has any real impact on the results, but Banaji believes the complaints are a sign of embarrassment. Americans find evidence of implicit bias paricularly galling, Banaji theorizes, because more than any other nation, America is obsessed with the idea of fairness. Most of the people approached for this article declined to participate... But tests do not measure actions. The race test, for example, does not measure racism as much as a race bias. Banaji is the first to say people ought to be judged by how they behave, not how they think. She tells incredulous volunteers who show biases that it does not mean they will always act in biased ways--people can consciously override their biases. But she also acknowledges a sad finding of the research: Although people may wish to act in egalitarian ways, implicit biases are a powerful predictor of how they actually behave.[/quote] Thoughts? Comments? You can take the test online [url=http://implicit.harvard.edu/][u]here[/u][/url] or learn more about it [url=https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/faqs.html][u]here[/u][/url]. ~Dagger~

kaisha: Try to follow the example set by Sugar-chan and Mavado-EX. This thread won't be very interesting if people list their favorites without explaining why they like the shows in question. Further posts (from anyone) that disregard this will be deleted as spam. Thanks. :) When you get down to it, my absolute favorite anime is probably [b]Revolutionary Girl Utena[/b]. It's deeply fulfilling on both an emotional and intellectual level, and it's one of those shows which lends itself to numerous different interpretations. My feelings about the plot, symbolism and relationships presented in the series have subtly shifted every time I re-watch the episodes I like best. It doesn't hurt that the show and the movie both have strong voice acting and very beautiful visuals. It's hard to describe the effect Utena had on me, actually... I guess one could say that I found the anime haunting. And before Melody of Oblivion came around, Utena was one of a kind. My second favorite anime is a somewhat odder choice, I guess. Up until a week or two ago, I would have unhesitatingly said RahXephon. But after finishing [b]Soukyuu no Fafner[/b], that's changed. Fafner isn't as polished or as artistically flawless, but in terms of character development and even (to a certain extent) plot, it outshines RahXephon. While I felt lukewarm about Fafner for the first six or seven episodes, it kept getting better and better and better. The ending is amazing. I really hope the upcoming OVA adheres to that same level of quality. ~Dagger~

[quote name='AzureWolf][FONT=book antiqua][SIZE=2][COLOR=blue]That was, and still is, my favorite episode. ^^ It's a nice, light-hearted break, which ironically pulls the story into darker times. What did you dislike about it the first time, out of curiosity?[/COLOR][/SIZE'][/FONT][/quote] I guess I disliked it because it felt as if nothing really happened. Or maybe I was just craving more darkness and angst. :p Honestly, I have a hard time remembering why it rubbed me the wrong way--I believe it might have been that I just thought the episode diverged too much from the tone & atmosphere created by previous episodes of the series. Now, knowing that [spoiler]all hell breaks loose[/spoiler] shortly afterward, I can look at it as a pleasant breather. Tsukihime accomplishes a lot, even with very few episodes to work with. I became more aware of this when I realized the American release has only one DVD (four episodes) remaining. When I think about how many plot twists popped up and surprised me the first time I watched the show, that's pretty impressive. I'll try to respond to the other parts of your post later (I never suspected Satsuki of that, but if true, it would have made perfect sense!). Must totter off to bed. Don't know if I've said this before, but your FMA banner and avatar are [i]indescribably[/i] cool. ~Dagger~

[quote name='Mavado-EX']Thanks for the info Dagger :D I'm really looking forward to a domestic release of Elfen Lied.[/quote] No problem. Personally I'm kind of concerned that Elfen Lied will get overshadowed by (or treated the same way as) Gantz, another disturbing and ultra-violent anime. This is is almost hysterically ironic, considering that the twenty-six episodes of Gantz are going to be distributed over [i]thirteen[/i] DVDs. Unfortunately, I can't help but think that ADV's marketing technique ("Blood! Boobies! Cheap! Too hot for Japanese TV!") just may work out. I'll be very bitter if they try to pull the same thing with Elfen Lied. *sigh* Oh, I forgot to mention [b]Air Master[/b] and [b]Slam Dunk[/b]. These are the first titles Toei will be directly releasing in the US. From what I've gathered, Air Master is a twenty-six or twenty-seven episode fighting series... Slam Dunk, as the name implies, revolves around basketball. I think it's something of a fan favorite. I'm kind of interested in Air Master, because I've heard that the hand-to-hand combat in the series is pretty much unparalleled, but I'm going to wait and see how Toei handles the release (esp. in regards to its English dub). ~Dagger~

I collect anime DVDs. That's about it, really. Reading manga and picking up the occasional anime-related soundtrack or trinket is just a natural extension of the hobby. [quote name='Shinmaru']Yeah. I actually do stuff with my collections, I don't just collect them for the hell of it. That would be weird. :p[/quote] Same here. If I'm going to spend my hard-earned money on something, it had best be entertaining. ;) ~Dagger~

[quote name='Raid3r']Poor DC has to foot the bill, but poor DC also has to foot the prestige of being the US Capitol, it must deal with the obvious pain of having one of the world's stronger business areas, and, worst of all, poor DC must bear the shame of being the most protected city in the world (except maybe Langley).[/quote] Heh. To my knowledge, this is the first time poor DC has ever been required to pay for inaugural security, using money which was originally intended to continue making it "the most protected city in the world" (although from what I've seen, New York could easily give it a run for its money). If the administration wants to penny-pinch--and I'd be the first to commend them for doing so--I'm sure there are better ways to accomplish that. And frankly I don't see what your other comments have do to with the situation. It's the principle of the thing, really. Besides, being the nation's capital hasn't gotten the District very far... the school system is disastrous, and let's not forget why residents started using those "Taxation without Representation" license plates. ~Dagger~

It looks to me as though this deals more with the OVA's relationship to the game than with its relationship to the series, so I'm moving the thread to Play It. ~Dagger~

What I'm irritated about is the fact that DC has to foot the bill for the inaugural security, which is pretty much unprecedented. It's pretty insulting, in my opinion, to make the District use its own security funds for protecting a ceremony with [i]national[/i] importance. Other than that, I couldn't care less about the inauguration. I actually forgot it was happening until I started listening to the news earlier this evening. :sweat: ~Dagger~