Cahoots34

To be completely honest, the only reason I watched that anime was to see Haruka and Michiru. The other characters- particularly the Inner Senshi- seemed to be very cliched stereotypes of female characters; the brain, the beauty, the hothead, the ditz, ect. I couldn't relate/to identify with the characters very well, as I'm _hardly_ a staple cliche of feminity, so I gave up on the series (which I has only started watching in its final stages). Perhaps not one of my _best_ descisions, as many of my friends loved it, but still...

I'm nearly always upset by anime deaths (Mourning imaginary people makes an excellent hobby), and am especially disturbed by the demises of characters I truly adore. For example (and yes, these _were_ the best spoiler tags that I could come up with.); [U]Naruto:[/U] [spoiler]When told by his enemy, "If you want to go to the same place as your friend, ...then go," Zabuza responds, "Unfortunately... I don't plan on going to the same place as Haku," as though he is completely oblivious to the various weaponry protruding from his back. "Wha...What? You won't survive...!" "Heh. You and I together are going to Hell." (The fact that I find unsubtle death threats to be somehow sweet isn't abnormal in the least. Right?)[/spoiler] For the sake of my aching fingers, suffice it to say that I find the deaths of the 'offbeat' characters in a series [spoiler](i.e. Nuriko from Fushigi Yuugi, Haku and Zabuza from Naruto(above), Trowa Barton from Gundam Wing (who didn't _really_ die but drifted off into space begging that his supposed killer not be dealt with too harshly), Kaworu from Evangelion, ect.)[/spoiler] to be the most Kleenex-consuming episodes of my life. Or lack thereof.

I have a very minor addiction to, "Flying in the Sky," from G Gundam. Who _can't_ resist bopping their head repeatedly (until brain damage occurs, apparently) to something to that upbeat and incongruous to a mecha show?

Current top of my 40-item long list of favorite pairings? Haku and Zabuza, from Naruto. Not a traditional relationship, by any means, but there's unquestionable devotion between these two. It may (and definately does) sound cliche, but they literally complete each other; Zabuza as the more violent, more driven of the pair, and Haku as the passive and cautious. Somehow they're typically overlooked by fans as the 'token yaoi couple' of the series, so I thought it worthwhile to provide any publicity possible for them, even be it a groggy rant such as this.

Hm. A good catch- I'd completely forgotten Haruka and Michiru, as much as it pains me to admit the fact- but, though I certainly can't speak for Dagger, I myself was looking for a series that was secifically centred around shoujo-ai. I tried to do a bit of research (through the oh-so advanced method of Yahoo! seaching) and came across an editorial of sorts: "http://www.animefringe.com/magazine/02.09/editorial/". It's not particularly enlightening, butit did mention some names I'm not familiar with, such as Rose of Versailles, Dirty Pair, Bubblegum Crisis, Alien 9, and Read or Die (which I could swear that I've seen mentioned somewhere around the forum). No one happens to have any opinions/information on these, do they?

Crest of the Stars? Haven't heard of it. Ever. Can you give me a bit of a plot summary, or something of the sort? (I'm inordinately intrigued by things I haven't the faintest clue about.)

Fansubs? Yum. I haven't seen any in so long, perhaps because any anime is now being tossed into a television lineup as soon as it appears in the US, regardless of quality level. Still, I'd rather spend my time watching any passable fansub than any fraction of the current Toonami lineup.

From what I know of the series, Utena and Anthy _are_ a canon couple. However, Shoujo Kakumei Utena is a series I've delved into very lightly, as I find it largely confusing and hard to read. (I've the classic small brain+bad eyesight combination, and I have the feeling that even if I _didn't_ find the characters to all look very similar after awhile (in the manga), I wouldn't comprehend much of the series.) As to other series, the only others I've heard of are Project A-ko, which got rather bad reviews, and Miyuki-chan in Wonderland, which was said to have shoujo-ai overtones. Otherwise, I'm just as lost and intrigued as the next would-be fan.

Gundam Wing, Rurouni Kenshin and Yuu Yuu Hakusho. I simply can't bring myself to choose. Lovely animation, fast-paced action, heaps of intrigue, well-developed characters... And the shounen-ai innuendo! Well, I'm quite sold.

Perhaps X the Movie was made for the sole purpose of attracting males to the series, and thus the basis on action? Having ached to see anything more than the first episode of the television series, I can only offer the aforementioned theory (and a large puddle of drool, the result of anyone discussing X within my hearing/sight range).

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Dagger IX1 [/i] [B]On a similar note, I don't really understand why .hack//SIGN, Rurouni Kenshin, and Yu Yu Hakusho are airing around midnight on Saturdays.[/B][/QUOTE] This is something that I, too, find fantastically puzzling. Perhaps if the shows were edited less and dubbed more literally, I could understand how they might be airing at all unholy hours of the night. This, however, is not the case. The Rurouni Kenshin and Yuu Yuu Hakusho episodes I watched (bleary-eyed and barely aware) were nearly identical to the child-friendly programmes of Toonami. Is there a point for popular shows to be relegated to showing in the midst of most normal humans' sleeping hours, or is Cartoon Network simply sadistic? I'd go on watching Yuu Yuu Hakusho and Rurouni Kenshin reruns until the end of time if only they were playing during hours I could manage. But that, of course, is due largely to the fact that I am obviously not posessed of a life.

I've heard rumours of shounen-ai implications between the main characters of this series. In your opinion, are there instances within this series that could give proof to such rumours?

If, indeed, we can classify this scarring peice of television waste as a childrens' programme, I do not understand why Cartoon Network is intent on subjecting older and less reasonable viewers (myself definately included) to it through Toonami, a self-styled devotee of everything truly action-oriented. ((And, more to the point, if I had truly wanted to see a misogynistic and malformed version of Heero Yuy's (Wing) Zero Gundam fighting bumbling little Hoover prototype rejects, I would have beaten _myself_ over the head several times with large objects, thank you very much.))

If it's put to a fairly decent, fairly original song, and doesn't remind me of the last 25 AMVs or so I've seen of its particular series, it's at least a mediocre example of an AMV of true quality.

I consider myself to be at least moderately well-versed in yaoi fanfiction, especially where Rurouni Kenshin is concerned; I've sampled nearly everything, from intensely adorable Kenshin/Sanosuke fluff to abstruse and improbable Sanosuke/Saito lemon. In all my rambles through ff.net and related sites, however, not once have I come across Katsuhiro (Tsunan) Tsukioka, Sanosuke's childhood war comerade. If anyone were to cross the best-friend boundary into romance, I would expect it to be these two, and yet I've only glimpsed faint traces of such. Why is this? Is there something I should know about either of the characters before writing a fanfiction about them? Please, enlighten me, if you would.

What happened to Toonami? It ventured off on a tangent, as all enterprises must. The fact that it was the particularly abhorrent tangent of mediocre mecha anime and rehashed hero tales is another point altogether.

Definately Puu. Who _wouldn't_ love a source of comic relief that looks like the love child of a blue duck and a toupee-wearing rabbit? (In all seriousness, though, Puu _is_ the best. He could wipe the floor with that Shoujo Kakumei Utena mouse-thing, anyday.)

I have to love the artist's style, but the plotline lost me somewhere back in the midst of volume one. I think the series' greatest flaw was characters who look vaguely similar (almost all of the light-haired (is it really blonde? I know not.) females are indistinguishable) or simply unrecognisable (Can _someone_ keep their hair colour/style unchanged? Especially Rath. That boy must have more hair dye than Noin and Hilde (Gundam Wing) combined!) In short, it is not a series that appeals to the easily-confused.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Metatron [/i] [B]The question becomes 'How do YOU define anime?' [/B][/QUOTE] An excellent point, Metatron, and the main reason why I asked this question. My definition of anime was previously a very rigid, "if it don't come right outta Japan, it ain't no anime" credo. However, Teen Titans (while not very original in any way save its origin/style relationship) looked very much like an (unappealing) anime. In essence, that is why I have not ventured an opinion on the topic, but instead gone for opinions. Yes, I _do_ like doing things the hard way.

Cartoon Network's newest brainchild mimics Japanese creations but seems to stumble a bit. Shall it be included in the glorious throng of Asian animation, or simply dubbed a "wannabe"? (And why, if you please.)

I would never have started writing (fanfiction), had it not been for the influence of anime. Plus, I believe that I used to be a law-abiding academic-overachiever. I do try to block that out, though....

When is one ever too old for free candy? Said the 13-year-old.

I am a woman of very simplistic tastes. In a series, I look for: 1. Exceptionally cool robots (If there are no robots, great fight scenes will suffice) 2. Deep emotional turmoil and angst 3. Shounen/shoujo-ai innuendo (by the tonne, if possible) Would Gundam Seed meet my requirements, or should I shun it as I shun Medabots and all related programmes?

There is a rumor that several additional Gundam Wing movies may exist, untranslated and rotting somewhere in Japan. The fact that one supposedly features a kiss between Heero and Relena is the only thing keeping me from trekking out to Japan and hunting them down. Believe what you will.

Endless Waltz was simply a shameless ploy to fatten the bank accounts of the Bandai bureaucrats. The fact that all of the die-hard Gundam Wing fans shamelessly enjoyed it is co-incidental. Shamelessly co-incidental.