Dagger

TRSI just announced that they have secured the rights to the Gravitation OVA (the uncut version, thankfully). It's set to come out sometime in the summer of 2005. I'm glad they've picked it up; hopefully this means that Gravi has proven to be a financial success for the company. ^_^ ~Dagger~

While Tokyopop treats popular or highly anticipated titles with a bit more respect than regular series, I'm still glad Del Rey licensed Tsubasa and Xxxholic. Some of TP's editors are frankly just bad, and even Gravitation (which is a fan favorite and has been selling quite well) contains all sorts of typos that should be totally unacceptable in a professional release. Tokyopop has a ton of great manga and manwha, but given my druthers I'd rather buy something from ADV Manga or Del Rey. That's kind of sad, considering that said companies are both new to the business. Anyway, thus far Del Rey's manga have fantastic print quality, better paper than what most Tokyopop manga uses, and are basically flawless when it comes to dialogue and such. So you shouldn't be too sad. Besides, the long waits between volumes will allow you to start saving up for CLAMP no Kiseki. ^_~ ~Dagger~

All's well that ends well. Thanks for responding, James. ^_^ Now, by "cut" I assume you mean edited for television. When a cartoon or video game is banned, does that mean banned from TV and possibly brick-and-mortar stores, or banned from the country altogether? Would importing the show in question (from, say, America or the United Kingdom) be illegal? This issue has piqued my curiousity. So have your comments about the size of the anime market in Australia--I was vaguely aware that R4 anime products tend to be of rather high quality, but didn't know much about how well they sold. In the US, manga is pretty much the fastest-growing form of popular entertainment currently in existence. Anime, however, has remained fairly obscure. ~Dagger~

Regarding Otakon... it's only Saturday, and two recent anime I've really enjoyed watching have already been announced. ^_^ Geneon has licensed quite a few shows, among them several that most people expected to be picked up by other companies. Their eight acquisitions are Star Ocean Ex, Human Scramble, Tokyo Underground, Ultra Maniac TV, Le Portrait de Petit Cossette OVA, Jubei-Chan: The Ninja Girl 2, Kyou Kara Maou! and Koi Kaze. Bandai's new licenses include PLANETES, Fantastic Children (which, if I recall correctly, has not yet started airing in Japan) and Avenger. ~Dagger~

Haha, I'm so excited about watching this movie. I'm not normally a fan of the genre, but Harold and Kumar has gotten very positive reviews, and the trailers I've seen are just hysterical. It's also nice that the main characters aren't your conventional white kids. ~Dagger~

I like the wallpaper, and I [i]love[/i] the signature. As Ruby said, you might want to make the torn pieces (especially along the top of Hijikata's head) a little deeper and more varied. Other than that, though, the texture of the background looks fantastic. ~Dagger~

Ah, my bad. I'm not sure what's wrong with "asking for a summary on this subject," but I'm glad that he provided one. The thing is, I'm not a citizen of New Zealand and have no familiarity with its government or legal system. Which laws allow (or don't allow) for the banning of specific shows, books, video games or whatever offends parents in NZ? Even the word banning is somewhat unclear; while controversial novels can be "banned" in the United States--and plenty of them are--people are still able to access and read such books. Your main source of alarm seems to be a news show. The media absolutely loves the whole "[insert form of entertainment here] makes killers out of children" shtick. Simply because they ran a feature on violent cartoons doesn't mean the actual government will get involved. Has NZ's current administration taken action against video games, anime, or whatnot in the past? Have they offered any official indication that they're seriously considering banning certain cartoons? What exactly would a ban constitute, anyway? I'd still appreciate more clarification. Anyone who's offended by densuke's remarks should just check out a few of wrist cutter's posts. ;) ~Dagger~

Nice choices, Lady Katana! I have to second just about everything you've said. ^_^ [b]Eerie Queerie[/b] is droll, light-hearted and only four volumes long. This shounen-ai manga could easily be transformed into a twelve or thirteen episode television series. I think that Eerie Queerie would also appeal to more people than, say, Gravitation. Its comedy, which is energetic (yet far from jarring) and almost entirely situational, would translate well from page to screen. There are some serious scenes, but almost no heavy drama. Eerie Queerie's cute, endearing characters keep its delightfully implausible plot twists from ringing false. Unfortunately, few (if any) manwha have ever been made into anime. [b]Demon Diary[/b] has a [i]lot[/i] in common with an ongoing show called Kyou Kara Maou; they're extremely similar in terms of storyline and overall atmosphere. Both Yuuri and Raenef make charming, guileless male leads--although Raenef is definitely much more of a ditz. Demon Diary's plot and humor are more focused than KKM's. It also places a heavier emphasis on action, and features several magical battles that would look absolutely amazing if animated well. This series does a great job of exploiting its characters' shortcomings and quirks. Despite the fact that Demon Diary ends up having a plothole approximately the size of Kansas, the rest of the manwha is good enough to let me overlook it. ~Dagger~

Speaking of the discussion in this thread, it hasn't really gone anywhere. The whole thing is so vague and hypothetical as to be virtually meaningless. I've been hoping that the topic would just die out on its own, but if people refuse to raise new points and continue beating what is essentially a dead horse, I won't hesitate to close it. As I said before, Heero Darkangel hasn't provided his comments with any kind of background or context. ~Dagger~

[quote name='Okita']eg: Legend of Basara, Kare Kano and HxH (though I admit that last redeemed itself through the endless series of OVA that just seems a tag on to the series.)[/quote] Hunter x Hunter simply does not fall into the same category as Legend of Basara or Kare Kano. The entirety of the manga will eventually be animated; so far the OVAs have followed Togashi's original storyline almost as closely as the television series. There aren't any truly serious deviations. The first OVA picks up right where episode 62 left off, with no discernable differences in character design or animation. If you don't want to get into Greed Island (which can't really be called a "tag on," as it only follows the sequence of events presented in the manga), the end of OVA 1 still provides a pretty satisfactory conclusion to the York Shin arc... if not the entire show. The creators switched to OVA format so that the TV series wouldn't catch up with the manga, and then be forced to buy time with filler. I don't think it's really a question of preferring anime to manga; I usually like the animated versions of specific series better. The fact is, there are a lot of high-quality, innovative manga which have not been and may never be made into anime. In other words, dposse, you shouldn't avoid manga in general just because you don't want to double-dip. ~Dagger~

Senorita Grandis (from [b]Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water[/b]), has rapidly become one of my favorite female characters. She's very beautiful and feminine, with hourglass curves and gorgeous red hair. However, Grandis is also coarse, loud and accustomed to giving orders. She single-mindedly pursues whatever objects strike her fancy, whether they're rare jewels or just a rugged-looking middle-aged man. Her infatuation with [spoiler]Captain Nemo[/spoiler] is surprisingly endearing. Grandis is tough and prepared to take control of almost any situation; she demonstrates unusual skill both working in the kitchen and using a gun. In my opinion, Grandis's personality combines a number of desirable female traits without including the timidity and submissiveness which too often accompany them. ~Dagger~

I think that ADV dropped "Kurogane" from the title because they plan on using the original R2 DVD covers (which look magnificently cool). The Japanese logo contains the word "Peacemaker" in English, so they just decided to leave it unaltered and abbreviate the show's name for the sake of consistency. ~Dagger~

An ADV representative released the Peacemaker dub cast list earlier today (a good portion of it, anyway--Ryouma, Heisuke, Yamanani, Akesato and Daddy Ichimura were not included). [B]Tetsu:[/B] Luci Christian. I haven't personally heard her play a male character before, but she's a damn good voice actress. Her previous roles include Kaname Chidori (Full Metal Panic!), Yukari Tanizaki (Azumanga Daioh) and Satoshi Imamiya (Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi). Like Tetsu, Satoshi is also a young boy, and Ms. Christian's performance in Abenobashi has received a lot of praise. [B]Tatsu:[/B] Vic Mignogna. Tatsu is totally unlike most of his past characters (such as Kurz Webber from Full Metal Panic! and Mamoru Torigai from RahXephon). It should be interesting to hear him play such a worrywart. ^_^;; [B]Toshi:[/B] Mike MacRae. Gauron (Full Metal Panic!). [B]Yoshida:[/B] John Gremillion. Jin Kunugi (RahXephon). [B]Kondou:[/B] John Swasey. He's been cast as a middle-aged or elderly old man, usually with some bizarre personality quirk, in everything from RahXephon to D.N. Angel to Chrono Crusade. That aside, Mr. Swasey is a pretty versatile actor and will probably be able to capture Kondou-san's personality. [B]Suzu:[/B] Kevin Corn. Young Makoto (RahXephon), Daisuke Niwa (D.N. Angel). [B]Saizo:[/B] Monica Rial. [B]Saya:[/B] Monical Rial. Saya and Saizo were played by the same Japanese seiyuu, so it makes sense that Peacemaker's English director would choose to duplicate the distribution of roles. Interestingly enough, this won't be Ms. Rial's first time playing a young mute girl. [B]Sanosuke:[/B] Jason Douglas. [B]Shinpachi:[/B] Greg Ayres. His other characters include Kaworu Nagisa (Neon Genesis Evangelion), Son Goku (Saiyuki) and Mannen (Pretear). Mr. Ayres will voice Satoshi Hiwatari in the upcoming D.N. Angel dub. [B]Souji:[/B] Braden Hunt. Cho Hakkai (Saiyuki). [B]Susumu:[/B] Chris Patton. He just happens to be one of my favorite VAs. He has previously provided the voices of Ayato Kamina (RahXephon), Sousuke Sagara (Full Metal Panic!) and Sasame (Pretear). Judging by his perfect portrayal of the smooth-talking but cold and emotionally scarred Sasame, Mr. Patton wil make a fantastic Susumu. [B]Ayu-nee:[/B] Christine Auten. [B]Saito:[/B] Rob Mungle. ~Dagger~

Welcome to OtakuBoards, black heaven. ^_^ While I am exceedingly thankful that you explained why you like Legend of Black Heaven and Rurouni Kenshin, I think we already have too many "favorites" threads floating around the first few pages of this forum. Why don't you try posting in the official Kenshin topic, or creating a new Black Heaven thread (if I recall correctly, it doesn't yet have a topic of its own)? I've been interested in Black Heaven for a while, so I'd love to learn more about the series. If you have any questions about our policies, feel free to private message me or one of the other moderators. Thanks! Thread closed. ~Dagger~

I usually try to channel my.... um, procrastina-tory urges into accomplishing something useful (even if it isn't the one task I really ought to be working on). For example, I like to avoid writing term papers by cleaning my room or washing my car. It makes me feel mildly better about myself--and less stressed out--while still allowing me to put off doing whatever I'm dreading. ~Dagger~

On a related note, to what degree will the students be organized by their year, classes and/or living quarters? My humble apologies if you've answered this question before. ~Dagger~

[b]Death Note[/b] is the most inventive and interesting manga I've read in a very long time. Unlicensed but currently running in the Japanese edition of Shounen Jump, it's the latest offering from the manga-ka of [b]Hikaru no Go[/b]. The main character is a seemingly harmless young sociopath named Right (or Raito, depending on which fan-translation you're reading). Toward the beginning of the manga, he stumbles upon a notebook labelled "Death Note," which contains a set of instructions explaining that its owner can kill any person in the world he desires simply by writing down his or her name. Right is skeptical, but soon realizes that the notebook actually works. It's the misplaced property of a shinigami (god of death) who hopes that Right's antics will provide him with some much-needed entertainment. Right begins methodically killing every single criminal who he sees making an appearance on television or in newspapers. While he's clearly borderline insane, he explains his thinking in such a way that he remains a sympathetic and fascinating character. Death Note's artwork is very clean and appealing. The story moves along quickly, and the dialogue is for the most part quite well-written. I'd recommend this manga to anyone looking for something new and different. ~Dagger~

Yeah, really. Why [i]are[/i] you so obsessed with OtakuBoards? Surely you have better ways to spend your time than hanging around a place you oh-so-obviously hate. ~Dagger~

The official Samurai Deeper Kyo thread is located [URL=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=37257][u]here[/u][/URL]. Please post in that topic if you'd like to discuss any aspect of the show. More importantly, keep in mind that OtakuBoards places a strong emphasis on producing quality discussion--simply asking for fellow fans to declare themselves as such really won't do the trick. Feel free to private message me or one of the other moderators if you come up with any questions, comments or concerns. Thank you very much. ^_^ Thread closed. ~Dagger~

[b]Character Name(s):[/b] Soushi Yoshida [b]Gender:[/b] Male [b]Anime Stereotype:[/b] Effeminate, gentle samurai with multiple personalities. [b]Age:[/b] 18 [b]Year:[/b] Senior [b]Appearance:[/b] [IMG]http://www.otakuboards.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=20324&stc=1[/IMG] [b]Alignment:[/b] Neutral [b]Extra Subjects:[/b] - Bishieology - Kendo - Counselling - Transformation. [b]Accommodation:[/b] As one of the school's top students, Soushi has a room of his own. However, he enjoys sneaking into other people's dorms and tends to become a bit lonely when doing anything by himself. [b]Bio:[/b] Sweet, playful and outgoing, with a fondness for candy and silly pranks, Soushi seems quite harmless. He excels in most subjects without putting out any serious kind of effort, but tends to get in trouble rather often. He has a talent for charming otherwise grumpy teachers, which often helps him slither out of sticky situations. Soushi is acquainted with just about every single student in the school and considers nearly all of them his friends. Despite this, he still encounters many people who mistakenly think that he is female (certain teachers have been referring to him as "Miss Yoshida" ever since he entered in freshman year). He tends to make his male friends feel mildly insecure about their sexuality. All of that changes when Soushi picks up a sword. He instantly transforms into something of a madman, developing an insatiable thirst for violence. Incapable of holding himself back, he must be forcefully stopped from killing his opponents--usually innocent, guileless freshmen who have no idea who they're dealing with. Soushi has been suspended several times for badly injuring fellow students, but so far his stellar grades have prevented him from being expelled altogether. [b]Special Powers/Abilities:[/b] He's very, [i]very[/i] good at kendo. [b]Sworn Enemy:[/b] Soushi professes to like everyone he meets, but will be equally indiscriminate about hurting them if there's a katana in his hands. "Gondo Okari".... Nice one, Solo. :p ~Dagger~

Like Syk said, it would help greatly if you told us where you're from. Culturally speaking, a small town in the United States is naturally bound to be quite different from a large city in the Middle East. Several of the replies in this thread were basically founded upon the assumption that you live in a democracy. ~Dagger~

I didn't watch DN Angel when it first aired in Japan, mainly because I don't like the manga at all. From what little of the anime I've seen recently, I feel somewhat justified in not wanting to buy it whenever it comes out in the States (probably sometime this fall or winter). For a series I didn't think I would enjoy, it's admittedly pretty decent--if Satoshi were the main character, I wouldn't be able to resist watching more. He's [i]insanely[/i] adorable. ^_^;; The CG backgrounds look fantastic, although I can't say I'm terribly fond of the character designs... Krad in particular is much more attractive in the manga. I just have problems with DN Angel's premise; the plot is quite contrived, and unlike some other series which have tested my credulity, it doesn't do a very good job in making the viewer overlook its neat little set-up. The blatantly gratuitous shounen-ai innuendo is sort of amusing, I guess, but also rather counter-productive--considering that the anime's storyline [i]depends[/i] upon several heterosexual crushes. Oh, well. If I want to see cute schoolgirls and even cuter little boys, I suppose I can always turn to Matantei Loki Ragnarok. ~Dagger~

As always, I find myself wanting to second Solo's comments. I never liked the idea of this thread to begin with, and none of the replies posted here (with the possible exception of CHW's) have served to assuage my doubts. The overall topic is way too vague and frankly doesn't have much to do with discussing actual anime. ColourDeaf's post was simply the last straw. Thread closed. ~Dagger~

Well, this topic has obviously run its course. Priss, dear, please stop using so many carriage returns--it makes your replies look rather strange and bloated. I would also greatly appreciate it if you refrained from inserting multiple smilies in a row... that alone can qualify an otherwise so-so post as spam. Thread closed. ~Dagger~

Yep, that's one of the reasons I stopped reading the Chobits manga after finishing the first four or five volumes. Kumiko, the main character of [b]Gokusen[/b], is a really fantastic female lead. For one thing, she's fully capable of beating up just about every every male in the entire show. Her moods swings are amusing but not annoying, and she's portrayed as a natural leader with plenty of courage and common sense. Kumiko's efforts to conceal her Yakuza heritage are consistently hilarious. More importantly, the strength of her personality makes it easy to believe that she's capable of winning her students' respect. ~Dagger~