Dagger

[quote name='ceath']Anyway as for my definition I guess I should have been more clear I tend to write heaps so sorry in advance...[/quote] Dude, you and Fasteriskhead are going to get along [i]so[/i] well. :animesmil You may be interested in reading up on Freud's ideas about Eros vs. Death, assuming you haven't already. Also, I think it's worth considering whether you're discussing love as seen in popular culture or actual love. I say this mainly because your blog post was sparked by something you saw while browsing a magazine, and because in your most recent post in this thread, you referenced literature in addition to citing one or two anime character examples. Not that fiction can't accurately reflect real-life emotions, but it's something you should probably be careful about, especially if you have yet to fully work out your own ideas on the matter. ~Dagger~

A quick explanation: I understand that a yuri/BL category might not work out, but I've tried to make it fairly simple and straightforward. All of the images I used are from very minor manga series; many of them are one-shots with little color artwork to begin with. This should prevent overlap (for example, despite the category's name, I wouldn't include avatars from Gravitation, Maria-sama ga Miteru or any other anime/manga that already has or could potentially support its own category). The avatars are named after the manga-ka who created the art, with the sole exception of the two called "Yuri Tengoku." They were taken from different covers of the Yuri Tengoku anthology, and I honestly have no idea what the artist's name is. It might be better to call the category Miscellaneous Yuri/BL, or Yuri/Yaoi. [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/yuri.jpg[/IMG] [SIZE=1][B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name:[/B] Okazaki Mari [B] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/yuri12.jpg[/IMG] Category: [/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name:[/B] Taishi Zaou [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/yuri4.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name: [/B] Hashiba Hayase [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/yuri7.jpg[/IMG] [B][B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL Name:[/B] Tohru Adumi [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/yuri10.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name:[/B] Hayashiya Shizuru [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/yuri1.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category: [/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name:[/B] Yamagishi Ryouko [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/yuri2.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name: [/B] Morinaga Milk [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/yuri3.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name: [/B] Morinaga Milk [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/yuri5.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name:[/B] Hibiki Reine [B] [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/yuri6.jpg[/IMG] Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name: [/B] Hibiki Reine [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/yuri8.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name: [/B] Yuri Tengoku [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/yuri9.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name: [/B] Yuri Tengoku [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/bl.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name:[/B] Sakuragi Yaya [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/bl1.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name:[/B] Keiko Konno [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/bl2.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name:[/B] Keiko Konno [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/bl3.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name:[/B] Akemi Takaido [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/bl4.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name:[/B] Kotobuki Tarako [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/bl5.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name:[/B] Takaku Shouko [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/bl6.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name:[/B] Takaku Shouko [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/bl7.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name:[/B] Sakurako Yamada [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/bl8.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name:[/B] Masara Minase [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/bl10.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name:[/B] Yamakami Riyu [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/bl11.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name:[/B] Yamakami Riyu [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/bl12.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL Name: Yamakami Riyu [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/bl9.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name:[/B] Konami Shouko [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/bl16.jpg[/IMG] [B]Category:[/B] Yuri/BL [B]Name:[/B] Taishi Zaou[/SIZE] I did all of these pretty quickly, so I hope I didn't mess up anywhere. *crosses fingers* ~Dagger~

Volume 3 came in a little while ago, which means that I'm up to episode 12 now. I feel weird about the Albert/Eugenie angle. It's hard to pinpoint why--maybe it's because I sympathize with Albert without actually liking him. Or because while [spoiler]it makes absolute sense for him to really be in love with her (given his personality, his character development so far, etc.), there's more chemistry between them when they're standoffish and when they edge around the issue of romance than when they're doing the star-crossed lovers thing.[/spoiler] On the other hand, it was very telling and symbolic that [spoiler]they could become more open about their emotions only after their arranged engagement was broken.[/spoiler] The more I see of Gankutsuou, the more I love Franz. The poor guy has to put up with a lot of **** from Albert, and he's amazingly un-self-pitying. Two of my favorite "quiet" scenes in this set of episodes were his conversations with Maximilien and Eugenie. ~Dagger~

Well, the final episode airs tonight. I have this plan worked out to maximize my viewing enjoyment, haha--I'm going to watch it on TV as usual, and then wait until tomorrow evening to see the film. Hopefully I'll resist the temptation to pop the movie in right after #51 finishes. :animeswea Among other things, I'm looking forward to finding out how Ed works around [spoiler]being dead.[/spoiler] One would think that it'd throw an itty-bitty wrench in his plans. ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=Retribution][size=1] Your XX-Syndrome males -- give me some citation here. The site I provided had no record of such a thing existing.[/size][/QUOTE] It's been too long since I learned about this stuff, so I can't provide any useful input aside from offering the following links. [url=http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=25059][u]XX male syndrome #1[/u][/url] [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XX_male_syndrome][u]XX male syndrome #2[/u][/url] ~Dagger~

[url=http://www.jhunewsletter.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/02/25/4404ee3cf232f][u]This article[/u][/url] is recommended reading for anyone unable to resist the siren call of snakes, planes and Samuel L. Jackson. ~Dagger~

[b]Kino's Journey:[/b] There are a lot of surprise twists in the series, but I think the one that got to me the most was what happened in episode 13 (the final episode). [spoiler]Obviously I was expecting something bad to happen.[/spoiler] However, it played out in a way that shocked me and really stuck with me. Most of the previous episodes portrayed [spoiler]the darkness in human hearts; episode 13 turned that on its head by introducing Kino to a genuinely good group of people. When the volcano erupted, I shared Kino's horror in a way that made it seem as if all her calm detachment as a character had been building up to that one point.[/spoiler] Although it's actually the other way around, since [spoiler]episode 13 takes place before episode 1.[/spoiler] For whatever it's worth, that's the one and only time I've agreed with the use of the ZOMG COLOR INVERSION technique which gets so over-used in anime. [b]Revolutionary Girl Utena:[/b] Its abundant memorable moments aside, there are a several specific scenes that I can still visualize perfectly just by shutting my eyes. 1. The part in which [spoiler]Juri and Ruka[/spoiler] lose to Utena, and how [spoiler]Juri learns about Ruka's "death" from the shadow girls.[/spoiler] 2. The cantarella scene. 3. The part when Utena slaps Mikage. 4. Anthy's [spoiler]suicide attempt.[/spoiler] 5. Pretty much the entire final episode. ~Dagger~

Out of curiosity, do people normally call him Dick Hayworth, or is that some kind of affectionate nickname? Anyway, I liked the Kenshin dub quite a bit, but there's nothing especially unusual about a woman voicing the lead character in this type of series (as thezerosystem said). In fact, I have to admit that I love hearing female seiyuu in similar roles. ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=Stuart][FONT=Trebuchet MS] My what? I'm frightened :nervous: [/FONT][/QUOTE] [spoiler]You really don't remember anything? Hm, maybe we ought to ease up on the brainwashing.[/spoiler] On a side note, all of the forums I post at regularly started hiding post counts at some point after I joined them. As it happens, OB was the first message board to do so. I still think it's one of the best moves that the staff has ever made. And I love custom titles--even if mine are never particularly clever. ~Dagger~

[quote name='Retribution][size=1]Oh really? I stumbled across [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?p=715715#post715715][b][i]this[/i][/b][/url'] (Read: 64 page thread on how and why fangirls want to have Sesshomaru's babies). I know you love the AL, but let's be honest -- it's the black hole of the boards. *pre-emptive dodge of all coming attacks*[/size][/quote] Actually, the [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showpost.php?p=714986&postcount=11][u]Secret[/u][/url] [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showpost.php?p=635365&postcount=44][u]Staff[/u][/url] [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showpost.php?p=385810&postcount=49][u]Yaoi[/u][/url] forum is the [i]real[/i] black hole of the boards. You still have much to learn, grasshopper... ;) ~Dagger~

I plan on going to see this, and not necessarily because of the brothers Wachowski, bless their hearts. (For the record, I liked the first Matrix film, didn't care for the second, and never got around to seeing the third.) [url=http://www.icv2.com/index.html][u]ICv2[/u][/url] has been plugging V For Vendetta for a while, and the recent Time article about the controversy it might cause ended up piquing my interest. I have yet to see a single trailer, though. It'll come out this weekend, you say? In that case, I'll have to make someone come watch it with me. ~Dagger~

I joined in 2003. I'm still not what most people here would call an oldie, but I've been through a couple of versions and watched various people come and go. And honestly, each time I see a post/thread like this, it astonishes me, because you'd need to be wearing heavily rose-tinted glasses to view the past as being better than what we have now. Post quality has gone up a lot, as has overall activity, thanks in large part to new members. The boards are much better organized, both visually and in terms of how the different sub-forums are arranged. The skins look far sharper and slicker than the skins we had in past versions. I mean, I have nothing against nostalgia, but new members are what keep OB going strong. :) EDIT: Oi, Retri, the Anime Lounge ain't got nothing on [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=52236&page=1][i][u]this[/u][/i][/url]. :p ~Dagger~

[quote name='EVA Unit 100']Funny, I thought the Paradise Kiss anime was one of the better shows of the recent season (Blood+ being the best), but I just could never get into the Nana manga. I don't know what to expect the show to be like.[/quote] I do seem to be in the minority there; the directing style of Paradise Kiss annoyed me, and I didn't like any of the characters enough to continue. Anyway, I feel as though we should know who Nana's director is, but ANN doesn't have him listed yet, and I can't really be bothered to look elsewhere, haha. I guess it could be more like the manga version than the Paradise Kiss anime was, or it could be even more different. I didn't care for the Nana manga either. I've been meaning to watch the live-action movie, though. ~Dagger~

[quote name='Ramen_Mido]... and the [spoiler] zombie[/spoiler'] that were terrible and didnt advance the plot. They were compltely pointless and could have eaisly been cut.[/quote] Ha, I won't argue with you there. When I buy a DVD, I usually make a point of watching every single episode on it, even if it's a recap, and I end up multi-tasking out of boredom. But I just couldn't bring myself to re-watch episode 22--that is, the one with the [spoiler]zombies.[/spoiler] I thought about it for a while, and the mere act of contemplating it depressed me. So I skipped ahead to the highly entertaining baseball episode and thereafter shelved volume 5 with a clean conscience. :animesmil ~Dagger~

I'm going to assume that you double-posted because of space constraints. Otherwise, though, please keep in mind that we normally forbid submitting consecutive posts. It would also have been nice if you offered a little more guidance regarding what you expect from this thread, even if it does seem self-evident. That aside, it must have taken a lot of time to set this up, and I think it's amazingly convenient. It would be particularly nice if we could talk about some of the more niche shows in here, once they actually start airing... a lot of series just aren't well-known enough to support their own threads, but if people used this thread to post mini-reviews or first impressions, that would work out pretty nicely. We'll see, I guess. I'm definitely watching the following series. This doesn't mean I'll stick with them, naturally--it just means that I'll make sure to check them out when they start airing. [SIZE=1][b][url=http://www.strawberrypanic.com/]Strawberry Panic[/url][/b]: Who am I to say no to what looks like high-drama yuri? It seems to be based on a manga made up of short stories, which has me feeling slightly nervous, but hopefully there will be some recurring couples. [b][url=http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/tv/airgear/]Air Gear -Ama Kakeru Tsubasa-[/url][/b]: It looks cool, and if they don't screw it up, Air Gear could become very popular. It has fanservice for both genders. I don't expect a whole lot out of this--as long as it has slick animation and is relatively well-scripted, I'm there. [b][url=http://www.ntv.co.jp/host/]Ouran Kouko Host Club (Ouran High School Host Club)[/url][/b]: The manga is hysterical, the main character is voiced by Maaya Sakamoto, and it's being animated by BONES. It's a win-win-win situation. [b][url=http://www.pri-pri.jp/]Princess Princess[/url][/b]: Taishi Zaou (the manga-ka)! Atsuko Nakajima (the character designer)! I'll watch this even if it turns out to be downright painful. [/SIZE] The next list is made up of anime I might watch, depending on trailers, blog reviews, etc. [SIZE=1] [b][url=http://www.gakuenheaven.com/]Gakuen Heaven[/url][/b]: On the one hand, it's BL. On the other hand, it's almost certainly going to be silly and comedic and just not my kind of thing. [b][url=http://www.simoun.tv/]Simoun[/url][/b]: The gender-bending premise has me kind of interested and kind of turned off. People keep calling it yuri, but will it actually follow through with that? [b][url=http://www.sunrise-inc.co.jp/gintama/]Gintama[/url][/b]: This is some sort of shounen fighting semi-parody thing... right? Has the manga come out in America yet? [b][url=http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/tv/kamisama/]Kamisama Kazoku[/url][/b]: More teenage god stuff--however, the character designs look familiar (in a good way; I want to check whether they were done by Eureka 7's designer), and something about the site made me decide to keep an eye on it. [b][url=http://jyu-oh-sei.com/]Jyuohsei[/url][/b]: More BONES. [b][url=http://www.ntv.co.jp/nana/]NANA[/url][/b]: I disliked the anime adaptation of Paradise Kiss. Perhaps Nana will fare better. [/SIZE] And the rest I'll just buy whenever they're licensed. [SIZE=1][b][url=http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/hack_roots/].hack//Roots[/url][/b] [b][url=http://www.school-rumble.net/]School Rumble Nigakki[/url][/b] [b][url=http://www3.nhk.or.jp/anime/tsubasa/]Tsubasa Chronicle (2nd season)[/url][/b] [b][url=http://www.top2.jp/]Top o Nerae2! Vol.5[/url][/b] [b][url=http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/Animation/hagaren/]Fullmetal Alchemist Premium Collection[/url][/b] [b]Mahou Sensei Negima! Spring Version[/b] [b][url=http://www.tbs.co.jp/holic/]xxxHOLiC[/url][/b][/SIZE] If they're awesome enough, shows from the first two lists will get shifted down into the third (actually, the first list basically overlaps with the third anyway). On a related note, it's vaguely amusing/sad that with all these new anime scheduled to air, Princess Princess is probably my most anticipated series... ~Dagger~

Looks as though [url=http://www.yaoi-manga.com/news][u]Time Lag[/u][/url] has been licensed by DMP. I think it'll suit their line-up rather well, although I don't actually remember much about it at this point. It does offer a look at some of Hotaru Odagiri's older art... at least, I'm going to assume it's older, since it appears a bit looser and not quite as sharply stylized as OTRFK. Still very pretty, though. Another random observation that's only tangentially related to Time Lag: I've learned that I don't really care for all-male love triangle stories, with a couple of exceptions... because much of the time, I end up rooting for the third wheel. :animesigh ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=Sting] [i][b]Uhh.... what can I say...? As much as I do like samurai animes, I was a little disappointed with this one. I guess it's mainly because of those off stories. Those little filler type that're just there for comedy. There were entirely too many of them. But nevertheless, I still liked it overall.[/i][/b] [i]//snip//[/i] [i][b]More fighting. I feel a little jipped mainly because of those episodes that really had nothing to do with the story.[/i][/b][/QUOTE] Well, just like Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo is an episodic series. It's supposed to be structured like that, and to call the comedy episodes filler is very much a misuse of the term. Imagine saying that Kino's Journey or Case Closed has too much filler. Champloo actually spends more episodes wrapping up its one main plot element than Bebop, if I remember correctly. So you can't really praise one of them and then say that the other has too much "filler." Now, if you just didn't like the comedy episodes because of the style of humor or whatever, that's another thing altogether. But they aren't filler--and certainly not any more so than the drama episodes. Interestingly, one of the DVD inserts indicates that Champloo was originally supposed to be a shorter (half-length, I think) series. Because of that, Watanabe had originally planned for it to be mostly crazy and comedic. So in a way, one could say that the light-hearted episodes are the heart/anchor of the show, and not the other way around. ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=Tatsubei Yagyu][COLOR=Navy][FONT=Comic Sans MS] Does anyone have info on the movie coming out in the U.S.? Because the lack of a solid conclusion is killing me...[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE] It'll hit stores on October 3 (nice choice, eh?), which is the same day that volume 13 of the TV series will be coming out. ~Dagger~

Just as we forbid linking to fansub sites and so forth, we don't allow members to post links to scanlation sites, either. Since that's the main focus of this thread, I'm going to close it. Please send a private message my way if you have any questions about OB's policies. Thanks! Thread closed. ~Dagger~

Those aren't "extra volumes," they're doujinshi done by Murakami. That distinction, not Gravi Remix's actual content, is what means that it won't have an American release. Equally explicit BL manga have been available here for a while. ~Dagger~

[quote name='BloodRainShadow'] I think the show is so much better because the manga shows Shuchi looking so much older and HE NEVER HAD A SISTER!![/quote] She was just cut out of the TV series. No need to get all worked up over her appearance in the manga (which [i]is[/i] the original story, I might add). She has a couple of nice scenes in the Gravitation OVA as well. I like her, personally; I wish she had been in the manga more, but I guess she wasn't crazy enough to merit getting more page space. :p Although the artwork at the end of the manga is clearly superior, I prefer the more mature look that Shuichi sports in the initial volumes. But if you dislike it, I guess you'll enjoy the lolita-ization he undergoes as the series continues. ~Dagger~

The original novel series has been licensed by Tokyopop, but I don't think the first book has a release date yet. I really want to read it, though, so hopefully it'll come out sooner rather than later. I wonder how the translators chose to handle the gender pronoun issue... ~Dagger~

I just got volume 5, actually, so that means I'm up to episode 20 or so. Disc by disc, I've become increasingly impressed with Gilgamesh. It's one of the shows that I pop into the DVD player as soon as each new volume arrives, and I can't wait to see what happens next. I wish there had been more time spent on [spoiler]Kiyoko and Novem's relationship,[/spoiler] but there are six episodes left, so it's not as if I've lost hope yet. I really liked the subtlety with which their interactions were portrayed. Not many anime can convey so much without putting any of it into words. Speaking of which, I was surprised to learn that [spoiler]Kiyoko was pregnant,[/spoiler] even though it made sense in retrospect. I really can't wait to watch more (and it's always nice to see more Gilgamesh fans here, too!). ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=xyzxzy] [B]Yatteraneeze! [/B] [/QUOTE] Heh, I've been reading this lately as well. I find it oddly addictive, even though there were quite a few things I didn't like about it at first. I thought some of the early plot developments were a little too mean-spirited, and there were times when Masaki's forcefulness erased any sympathy I might have had for him. Hiroya's personality confused me because he starts off as a mixture of extreme naivete and homophobia--an odd combination. That makes his later growth more striking, I guess. Yatteraneeze! seems to be one of the very few BL manga that addresses [spoiler]the issue of AIDS (even if it does end up being a false alarm).[/spoiler] Masaki's deep fear is well-depicted, and the development of the main characters' relationship is very satisfying... at least in part because it takes so many twists and turns to get there, haha. I probably shouldn't like Kanae, but I do. His smooth, cynical attitude contrasts nicely with his [spoiler]unrequited love.[/spoiler] Amazon has a [url=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1569708940/qid=1142186812/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-9913801-8800134?s=books&v=glance&n=283155][u]listing[/u][/url] for Jazz volume 2, so I'm assuming there's more. I like the cover. In any case, I don't think I've come across the other two manga you mentioned, but I'll try to check them out. ~Dagger~

*spews incoherent gibberish* Okay, now that I've worked that out of my system, I must say that #50 was breathtaking. I was apprehensive about how [spoiler]the connection between our world and Ed's world would play out,[/spoiler] but when I actually saw it, I unreservedly loved how that was handled. Simply amazing. The music which played during the [spoiler]British[/spoiler] scenes was excellent; I really hope it's included on one of the later OSTs. It was so good that it was almost distracting, to be honest. My favorite part was of course everything dealing with Envy-sama and [spoiler]his real identity; it was no secret, naturally, but the way he taunted Edward was riveting anyway.[/spoiler] I'm curious about how [spoiler]he chose the face and body he used throughout most of the show--did he just make it up or something?[/spoiler] I also felt that the already awesome voice acting went to a whole different level this time around. ~Dagger~