Ryo the Tactician

Hey, Thanks a ton, Stark. What you brought up, DDG, made me wonder seriously too. I couldn't figure out. .HACK//Legend of the Twilight is one of my very favorite manga series - I'm read it several times over, great to read at night while listening to all my favorite .Hack music. Anyway, I finally saw an episode of the show on Friday night/Saturday morning on Cartoon Network. And I didn't recognize anything! So...you're telling me that the .hack//LotT branch off at a point in the second story into two very distinct, different series? My one question is, WHY? I see no point in not making an anime adaption of the comic book. At first, I thought they might be happening at different times in the characters' adventures, but if what you say is correct, I simply don't understand it. Do they end the same, with [SPOILER]Zephie and Aura[/SPOILER]? Does the .HACK//LotT anime even have [SPOILER]Zephie[/SPOILER]? On Second thought, don't answer those questions. I'll watch the show one of these days. ~Ryo

I used to be the Pokemon Card Master of my neighborhood. I had a magnificent collection. Sure, there were those 20-25 year olds with all the Japanese cards, and like, thousands of rare japanese cards you would die for - I wasn't that. But for the generic 12ish year old, I ruled. I had tons of cards, from rockets, to originals, to gym leaders. I still have them all perfectly ordered, arranged in League (Gym Leader, Rocket, Original, etc.) and subordered into elemental type (fire pokemon, grass type). Let's see.. I had over 50 holos, including Charizard, Venusaur, Blastoise, Chancey, and original Zapdos - my friends I always called them the big 5 - and who knows what other holographics. I had a few special Rainbow Island japanese cards..etc. I still have each and every one of my Pokemon cards. I would never try to pawn off or *shivers* give away, my collection after I put so much TLC into it. It's gonna stay with me forever ^_^. I always liked trading more than battling. Let's see...I never played Dungeons and Dragons or Warhammer or those..unless you count t4lk1/\/g l33t and playing massive amounts of video games nerdy, that's about it. ~RE

Awesome picture, Hardslash. Personally, one of my favorite Final Fantasy games is Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles. I could probably go on for eons as to why I adore it so..the fantasial, chimerical feel, the music, the brilliantly made world...but I'll leave it at that. The saddest thing is that I cannot have a Gamecube, and so, despite my adoration, I've only played the game twice since it's release. I knew I wanted it the moment I saw the first commercial, years ago. I even bought the soundtrack. I included one of the FFCC pictures I made, below. You can see more at my deviantArt gallery, at [url]http://www.ryo-escalus.deviantart.com[/url]. Be sure to look at the beginning. I have to agree with Desbreko. The chalice just isn't a big deal. Carry it, drop it, fight, adventure on. However, I don't think they give the single-player mode enough credit. I enjoy it as much as multiplayer - probably more. You don't have to worry about carrying the chalice, and it's a great game to get wrapped up in, and end up playing through the night. *sigh* It truly is one of my very favorite video games... Oh, and the sole reason I got my DS was when I heard of FFCCDS. Since I am not able to own a system of any sorts, besides handheld and my PC, I thought that I would finally be able to play my beloved Crystal Chronicles. When that game comes out - and it must, I don't know how much longer I can wait - I can die happy. ~RE

Hello, I dont expect this thread to last long, but I wanted to ask a question that has plagued me for years. .Hack. I watched the show, first of all, and that[s when I fell in love with it. Tsukasa, Mimiru, Bear and BT, and the rest of the .Hackers fighting to save the World. Then, I saw the video game. Kite? Black Rose? Orca? What was going on? Black Rose/Mimiru, and Orca/Bear, they looked exactly the same, yet were different. I could not figure out the correlation between Kite and Tsukasa. So my question. What is up with the video games and .Hack//Sign? Are they alternate universes? Is .Hack//Sign a different show, not about the original .hackers? Or what? Please answer, I'll really appreciate it. ~R.E.

My impressions: All the voices were liveable. I knew they'd have to cut out tons of blood, but I think they did a pretty good job of still keeping the atmosphere. Them removing Wind is the only thing that made me extremely unhappy. All they did was put in another generic opening/ending with some random rockish music in the background and pics and vid clips flashing by. I hated them for taking out Wind, and the crap job they did with the ending. They kept Gundam Seed's japanese ending, why not Naruto's? ~R.E.

Personally, I do not consider Avatar and Teen Titans anime, because of this: We know that technically anime only means animation, or a cartoon. But those that use that to say Teen Titans is an anime are being way to technical. The term "anime" has become more than that. It now refers to Japanese, Eastern made animations of a distinct drawing type/style. Shows like Avatar and Teen Titans are yes, influenced by anime. They are anime-esque. My friends I refer to them as pseudo-animes. But do I think they are actual animes? No, they are western-made cartoons made to resemble anime because of it's popularity. What happened to the good old days when it was called Japanime? This would clear up all the confusion... ~R.E.

Bush..don't get me started on the Kyoto Act.......too late. I cannot believe Bush did not accept it! This epitomizes everything wrong with his sickening administration! To think that he would continue to let big businesses, factories and the like spew God knows how much pollutants into the air just so they wouldn't have to lose some money reforming themselves! I can see no other reason for that pig-headed president to reject the act than to keep businesses from having to do a thing to care about the environment. Heaven forbid they would have to lose money at the expense of Earth. And Harry, of course the Kyoto Act would help! Sure, it needs some changes - I wont' dispute that - but it would cut down on tremendous gas emissions in our country. It seems every day I turn on the Weather Channel the air pollutant warning is getting higher. I can't remember the last time it was in the green (good). Even if it does need renovation, cutting down on the pollutants our businesses are throwing heedlessly into the environment would most certainly have a positive effect. ~Ryo

Hey. Maile...naruto. Dang it to..I'm sorry, but I just don't like girls doing boy's voicing. Naruto is a boy. Therefore his voice should be the voice of a young boy. Not a girl. Not that there's anything horribly wrong with it. Ash from Pokemon sounded fine, I just dont like it, I think their voices should be boys. Just because they're pre-puberty doesn't mean they have to have girl voice actors. I mean, it just seems logical to me. Young Boy Character -> Young Boy Voice Actor. So not happy with Viz right now. I'm actually quite angry, very angry. ~R.E.

What I think was one of the saddest anime moments, surprisingly, nobody's mentioned. It was from that uber-long Kikaider movie. At the very end, as [SPOILER] he's walking away from the chaos and destruction, Bejeender (sp?) dead, the caretaker of the villain's son dead, Jiro's entire family destroyed...and he's walking away, and as the music plays, it says, "I finally gained the ability to be human (or feel like a human, become human, something like that) but at what cost?" And then, Jiro turns his head and tears are streaking down his face.[/SPOILER] Ooooh man, that was sad. I was completely taken in the emotion of the last episode of the Kikaider miniserires/movie. Wow. I'm not certain it was sad, but horrible emotional was this one episode of Evangelion...I want to say 17, when Shinji [SPOILER] fought his friend (name eludes me..the one the class president liked), who's EVA had turned into an Angel. He told his father he couldn't kill him, and they activated the Dummy system. And at the climax, when the insane EVA was holding R-did it start with an R? His friend's capsule, and then squeezed it into pulp.[/SPOILER] I was shocked. Shocked. Just staring at the screen, my arm vaguely outstretched..geez. I mean, that was something. ~R.E.

Amen, Ilium. I can't stand that stuff either. All that dirty rap that's telling teenagers (which I am), "j00 have sex! Have sex now! Do it! Doooo it!". Pisses me off who knows how much...and everone still seems to love it..why? And especially me. You know why? Cause I'm African-American. So of course being a black male teenager, you're [I]supposed[/I] to like 50 cent, curse like a drunken sailor, talk about having sex, and talk like an illiterate hobo. Screw modern teen culture. Especially the stereotypical African-American part. ~R.E.

I called this summer, "The Summer of Dreams" for me. First of all, I was doing a lot of stuff to try to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I went to Aviation Camp early summer (which was a ton of fun), and later on, I went to my much anticipated Robotics Camp. Now that was great. I don't think I've ever not wanted to leave a place so much. Learning how to program a robotic arm coupled with a bunch of soon-friends, playing Halo and Melee until past midnight, then getting up, slumping into the shower, heading down to breakfast and learning how to program a robotic arm again. Repeat. Good times. It was so much fun, I miss them all... Then, later, was Soccer Camp. I'm an academic all the way, and I used to play soccer. I decided to try out. In High School. I was beyond nervous, but I made it, and got on the Junior Varsity team. Schweetzness! In between all this, I hung out with friends, IMed, played video games, read, and occasionally went outside. My family didn't go on any vacations, but that was okay. Everyone was too busy. I think it lived up to my expectations of this summer. And, for the first time, I know what I might want to major in: Either Electric Engineering/Computer Science or Electrical Engineering/Mechanical Engineering. I want to build and program robots. NASA, here I come. ~R.E. PS. Look on the bright side, Retribution. If you can make it through that Sophomore year, you can make it through just about everything. And now, to make my post obscenely long, I'll post the lyrics to Summer's Picture, a Rurouni Kenshine ending theme. It's not extremely pertinent, but it's L33t like that: [i] Ah... at the beach on a quiet afternoon The summer flows by, sprinkling fleecy clouds. The swaying shadow at the wharf we were snuggling softly, too. The couple, still turning it's back Continues to fight playfully. If I could cause just one miracle It would be trapping this moment in a picture Not knowing the noise of a changing era I just want to stare at only you. Ah... the bird that strayed from the flock Disappears into the waves, searching for tomorrow. Why is it that people are Born crying without any reason? With the setting off that will come someday I'll be able to know falling tears well. If there is sadness in the world that won't dissappear There is refuge in a picture painted by an angel. Always feeling the paradise in both our hearts I just want to keep grinning, too. If I could cause just one miracle It would be trapping this moment in a picture Not knowing the noise of a changing era I just want to stare at only you. [/i]

Though slightly less forcefully, I have to go with Ilium. What was this guy thinking?? We should assassinate a leader who doesn't agree with our policies? Saying that we have the ability and we should go ahead and [U]assassinate[/U] him? I mean, what the heck? We're America. I mean, sure, we go into other countries whom we don't like, overthrow their government, steal their oil to pay "for our help" and leave half the people without water or electricity, but at least...well, it's just plain crazy for this guy to call for the assassination of a political leader just because he's not savvy on America's ideals. Sure, I don't agree with Chavez, but there's no way in heck it's our place to kill him just because we don't like him. Might I add, that when Islam was still the new young upstart, and they conquered Christian provinces, they did not kill them. Muhammad thought that, before him, prophets/angels had appeared to the founders of the religions before. They had just got the message wrong. He and his followers believed that Christianity was something of a "impure" slightly off version of Islam. They thought that, however, Christians were still followers of "the Book". They let them live there lives, with little interference but a tax. That's the thing- Submission. In fact, I believe Islam means submit/submission. They didn't kill the Christians, but they made them submit to their authority. ~R.E.

Personally, I've always pronounced it Mayn-Ga. I always thought that it was wrong, but I was just sticking to old beliefs cause that's what I'd always heard. Now, that Mew-Berry says it's actually originally correct, at least in Japan, it makes me pretty happy. I just don't like Mahn-ga, though it doesn't really matter, does it? ~RtT PS. W00t. Mirielle-Chan! .Hack fan!

Hmm, this is a difficult one. I hold allegiance to Shonen Jump, for Naruto, One Piece, and Rurouni Kenshin. I've always liked Shonen Jump, and it was arguably the first company that introducted me to Manga, waaay back in the day when a friend showed me one of their huge comic book. Plus, I like Rurouni kenshine and Naruto, and of course One Piece, so much, I'd have to put my back behind them. At the same time, they seem to release really kiddy and juvenile stuff that doesn't interest me. No, I'm not singling out Hikaru no Go...there was another as well. I thought of Tokyopop as my worst enemy. Then I realized they published one of my most beloved manga of all. .Hack. I'm a big, really big .Hack fan. //Legend of the Twilight I have reread over and over again, and I have a great collection of .Hack music on my computer, which I happen to be listening to now. I like this so much my support for Tokyopop must equal my support for Shonen Jump. So there you have it. ~RtT

I watched the first 5 episodes of Arjuna. I must admit, it surprised me. It was really unique. I mean, I've seen a fair span of anime and I'd seen little like it. See, I have Comcast on Demand, Anime Network. Or was it on Adult Swim...either way, I was really busy (twas the school year), and after a week or trwo it was 3-5 episodes ahead of the last one I'd seen. I'd really like to see it if they loop it. Yeah, Arjuna is trying to stop these beats that Mother Nature/Earth is creating because of the destruction plagued on her by the humans. Last I'd seen, the guy who granted her the powers was trying to get her to realize that there was another way besides killing them. I hope that's not a spoiler, it's really early in the series and doesn't really say anything. I think I came up with a theory: Not really spoilers, cause I'm theorizing. But you won't wanna read if you haven't seen any of the series, probably. [spoiler][I][SIZE=1][COLOR=Black]You see, Arjuna's just trying to kill the monsters to protect the ones she loves. But she has yet to go to the heart of the problem - the devastation of Mother Earth. I think, in order to truly, for good, stop the monsters from arising in the first place or respawning, she must clean up these dumps, stop the poisoning or rivers and streams, and heal the hurt of the Earth. Only then, will the monsters cease to come.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/I][/spoiler] That's all I have to contribute as for now. ~RtT

Hmm..an imaginary friend. I don't think that I ever had or needed one. It seems that imaginary friends would be for those who either don't have any siblings or friends, and basically make up this person as someone to talk to. I have a brother who is very close to me. He's always been there, and I've always been able to talk to him. In my older years, I find that some things you keep to yourself more, and odn't tell everyone everything cause now there are things that you don't want others, or at least those too close to you, to know. It's kinda like how you'd talk to your friends about who you have a crush on, but probably not your parents. If this comes about, I either think about it to myself, my journal, or talk to one of my good friends. Either way, I've never had a need for an imaginary friends. Even though my imagination runs rampant. A teen who still wishes for some type of super/magical/fantasial powers..I know, sad. :o ~RtT PS. Go Funny Bunny! What have I had since I was born? hmm..well, my siblings. I still have them too! They've been cut up, lost, and maybe a little dingy for the wear, but they're still with me!

Hmm...my opinion on the matter: Idealistically, I say marriage. Sex is something I have a differing opinion on. As a teenager, I, along with the rest of my fellow teens, are inundated with natural hormones that are basically screaming, "Do it! Score man! You know you wanna!!" I guess I could have been called naive on the subject a little while ago. Sex is an act that, disturbingly enough, many of my friends have probably already participated in. And I can't really condone this. However, I don't think it's a terrible thing. It's natural. Technically, I believe we have these hormones because when you get down to it, humans are animals. At this time, we, humans, as animals, are reaching sexual maturity, and are therefore being told to reproduce. So basically, our hormones are telling us that at this time (Puberty/teenage years) we are supposed to be reproducing. I couldn't really say what age I would think it "not acceptable" to be a virgin. I find that a terrible sideeffect of modern stereotypes and teenage peer pressure. This was long winded, and it's so late I'm not dictating well. But I think you get my opinion. If you have sex as a teen, it's not the end of the world, but I think you should try your hardest to wait until your married. ~RtT

[QUOTE=Revue][COLOR=#95005E][SIZE=1]Let's see... The time limit is for EVAs which have no Super Solenoid engines. [SPOILER]Shinji's EVA-01 however, has assimilated the S2 organ of an angel, giving his Evangelion a limitless and independent power source.[/SPOILER] As for the armor, the EVAs are indeed capable of generating Absolute Terror fields. AT fields hold through melee, missiles and very heavy arms. The only thing that can seem to break it though, is another AT field. [SPOILER]In one of the episodes, an angel named Arael attacked from [b]space[/b]. Need I say that a single EVA was able to defeat it?[/SPOILER] Inhuman skills, yes, but they were still prone to emotional breakdown which, as many have witnessed, affected their judgment and ultimately their performance in battle. Let us not forget that [SPOILER]EVAs also go to berserk mode at crunch time.[/SPOILER] Perhaps if you had someone like Char Aznable at the controls...[/SIZE][/COLOR][/QUOTE] Of course, in the show, the only thing that could break through an AT field was another, but we're talking about weaponry that is far advanced from the military weapons in Neon Genesis Evangelion. The weapons of the SEED Gundams are leagues ahead of the ordinary missiles the army fired at the Angels and EVA's. So here we are, down to this question: Coordinator SEED Mode vs EVA Berserker Mode. Now that would be one heck of a fight. Point taken about Unit 01, but that's only one of the EVA's that have that advantage.

Hello Chaos, Rurouni Kenshin made me want to try swordfighting (Kendo), but unfortuately, everyone around me either: A. Looked at my like I had lost my mind. or B. Thought I was a wannabe Japanese freak. So that didn't work out really well. :animedepr . Rurouni Kenshin further influenced me to continue following whatever I was doing, and no matter how badly I screw up, there is always a way to make it up and keep on going. He's a good person, never willing to start a fight, always has a smile on his face, but twill stand up for others, himself, and what he believes in. I try to emulate that. .Hack//Sign made me want to play a virtual reality MMORPG more than ever. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, got me interested in air instruments. I currently play the clarinet, and dabble in the more conventional flute, and the Ocarina. Love my ocarina. ;) Fire Emblem peeked my interest in tactics games, though I never read books like Tzu's [I]Art of War.[/I] That's all I can think of right now. Cool topic. ~RtT

Hey, I live relatively close to Sea of Chaos666, Gin, and Retribution. Yes, close to Washington D.C., but not in it. A city outside of it. Suburban. Yep. About 20 minutes away. I don't really have a city community. You guys that live in small towns have something to be happy about. I live in a suburban neighborhood that's not an actual neighborhood, but a "collection of houses located in the same general area." There's not much of a city/town community, just people that live where they live and put X town on their address and envelopes. I still like where I live though. I like my school. Though it is evil. Not making much sense. Sentences soo short. Um, that's about all I have to say. Oh, and it's raining around here too, SoC666. Retribution, try Seattle. I took an awesome picture of it's skyline. Except you like warm weather and it's normally cold and rainy there...but then again, New York isn't exactly heat central either. Maybe those X height WD.C. skyscrapers aren't so bad? Eh? EH? ~A Randomly bored RtT

Rei Ayanami vs. Winry Rockbell?? Oh, this is painful. They're both excellent characters! Strong in their own rights...man, this is a tough decision. I'm going to have to get back to you guys on this one. ~RtT

Before a big event, I normally try to calm myself down to a state of Kurama-esque equilibrium rather than pump myself up ^_^. I like to listen to my Escaflowne songs for that, and..uh...can't really think of much. If I want to get pumped to going somewhere, I might listen to some of my Linkin Park songs..random other stuff. Heh heh..^ _ ^;; Oh! And "Alive" (can't remember the exact name) by P.O.D. is usually running through my head. ~R.E.

What's in mine? Very little. It's a small case: -A Star Wars soundtrack I made. -A MegaMan soundtrack I made. -A Rurouni Kenshin soundtrack I made. - My most beloved, enshrined, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles soundtrack. -Sonic Soundtrack -Probably another Sonic the Hedgehog soundtrack. -A two-cd set of Anime/VG songs I really like that I made. -My one contemporary CD - Linkin Park: Hybrid Theory. My main 15 hours of strange eclectic mix of Anime and Video Games mixed with trace amounts of contemporary is in my Iriver H10 Mp3 Player. ~R.E.

Oh come on, one of them (were there more than 1) had to know about Harry Potter's release date. I know people that aren't big fans, but everyone knows about the upcoming book. They would've had to be reaaaally thick, either way, to put those books on the shelves. Oh, Lord Dante, my aforementioned sister also works in a bookstore, and she's working the shift. I am going to the midnight party as well, of course! I haven't figured out whether I should wear my Dementor costume, but there's no way in heck. Guess I just made up my mind ^_^. OotP's party was so fun! There were so many happy people, etc etc. It was just fun. My sister pre-ordered a copy who knows how long ago. I surely am looking forward to that date. Wait...that's 2 days from now???? I had no idea it was so close, I was still thinking it was a week! :animesigh Woooow. Who knows, maybe I'll unknowingly see some of you at the midnight party ;-). ~R.E.

Well Sapphire, when we say bullying, I think we're talking more about physical and "in your face" bullying then what you said. That's hurtful gossip and rumors, and I don't think "everyone does it" makes it any better. You do have a point - it's inevitable that some people will not like you, and others will. I don't know about hatred though, I think that's a little strong. I know some people that absolutedly nobody hates - they're just too amiable. ~RtT