Raiyuu

Am the only one that interpreted Karin's sudden 'interest' as [spoiler]a hint at her ability[/spoiler]? She did [spoiler]lock the door, after all - and once Suigetsu broke in she immediately tried to retract her agreement to go with Sasuke, which suggests to me she was only saying it as part of a ruse[/spoiler].

I thought they handled [spoiler]Light's reawakening[/spoiler] incredibly well - even if I did have a little chuckle when L turned around and found [spoiler]Light freeze-framed in mid-scream[/spoiler]. I might have to frame-grab that and use it as a wallpaper. The animation was pretty nice all round in this episode, and I can see it going back to first-episode insane-writing-scene quality next week - [spoiler]it's probably the most important of the series so far, after all[/spoiler]. And the next episode preview? Expertly done.

Up4anime's 'Funny sayings' thread was very similar to this one in content and structure (posting lists of quotes, essentially) so I've merged them together.

[spoiler]Taken care of "so easily"? The Third bravely sacrificed himself to weaken Orochimaru enough that someone else could take him out. The Third and Sasuke: the most time-consuming tag-team in history.[/spoiler]

Shame on you IM / phone people. Those ways just lead to misunderstandings, because you can't read the person's face or body language. Plus, they scream to the person you're asking, "I'm too socially inept to ask you in person!" I cooked her dinner at my place, then we watched a romantic film ([i]Garden State,[/i] if anyone's interested) in my room. And then I made a move at the point where Zach Braff kisses Natalie Portman, it worked, and [i]then[/i] I told her I liked her - though I think I'd already made it kind of obvious.

Is it confirmed that Itachi is [spoiler]blind[/spoiler]? I thought that was just bandied around by Kakashi as a [i]potential[/i] aftereffect of too much Mangekyou Sharingan. The sidetext is likely misleading. It often is, in Jump. So there's also the possibility that [spoiler]both Sasuke and Orochimaru remain intact in some form. Though if it's true and only one has survived then it [i]has[/i] to be Sasuke, otherwise Naruto's entire reason for existing/fighting is negated[/spoiler]. [spoiler]I'm intrigued by the closeup on Orochimaru's severed hand, complete with Akatsuki ring. It'd be interesting if Sasuke's next move were to take the ring and join Akatsuki. Tobi seemed able to join just by finding Sasori's ring, so it's feasible, especially if he says "yo I killed the guy that betrayed you". That would bring him close to Itachi, allow him to prove to his brother that he's harder/better/faster/stronger, and also bring him into conflict with his old Konoha buddies.[/spoiler] And I doubt he'll seek out [spoiler]Naruto as a means to obtaining Mangekyou Sharingan. If he wanted to obtain it that way he had a golden opportunity at the Falls. He even spelled it out for us: "I won't obtain it this way because then I'd just be doing what my no-good brother told me to and I'm better than that", or words to that effect. Kakashi's proven you can get it without Itachi's method, so perhaps Sasuke will go after him in an attempt to discover his method[/spoiler].

[quote name='r2vq']Sex trade can be considered indecent and immoral, but so can eating pigs ... Prostitution is selling ones services in the same way being a maid or garbage man would be. The only difference is that prostitution involves sexual stimulation, something that's taboo amongst many of the religious in the States.[/quote]Maids and bin men aren't forced to wash dishes or take out the rubbish because they can't pay their debts. As far as I know there's no black market trade in maids or bin men, where penniless refugee women are shipped in airtight containers and sold to maid services or waste disposal businesses. Maids and bin men aren't forcibly addicted to class A drugs by their bosses as a way of keeping them tethered. The clientele of maids and bin men aren't likely to smack them around or force them to perform unpleasant dishwashing or bin-emptying favours. Just a couple more differences to add to your 'only' one. And I suppose it's fair to assume that a lot of those unpleasant side-effects of prostitution could be ironed out with close monitoring. But then, if it were a legal trade, with government watchdogs, health and safety posters, etc., it would probably fold for lack of 'raw materials'. Prostitutes are often forced into that line of 'work' through debt, or because they're forced to by pimps. Make it a recognised trade sector and how many women do you think are going to actively [i]volunteer[/i] to sell themselves? I think there are actually a couple of major cities in England now that have a recognised Red Light District, where the police intentionally turn a blind eye to the sex trade.

[i]Yuri?[/i] Did you and I watch the same Blood+? And do we both have the same definition of yuri? If you're talking about [spoiler]Saya and Diva[/spoiler], you're reading waaaay too much into it. I didn't think it was slow-paced, to be honest - though I did watch a good portion of the first arc pretty much back-to-back. It has a very involved storyline, which contains enough material to play out steadily over 50-odd episodes without getting too stodgy (in my opinion). The only times it feels slow are when [spoiler]Saya endlessly debates her reason for existence, motivation to fight[/spoiler], etc. If it was non-stop action / blood / gore / slashing for the whole series it would get old, really quickly.

[quote name='MilleniumChaos']I do feel as though I'm missing out on a bit since I don't know very much about French history or the specifics of Catholicism, but it's easy enough to follow even on limited (or in my case, next to no) knowledge.[/quote]I know nothing about French or Russian history either; [b]not[/b] knowing doesn't diminish the series, but I imagine [b]knowing[/b] would probably enhance it. I did look up the Chevalier D'Eon on Wikipedia ... he was a French spy that was famous for arranging a meeting with the Russian Empress Elizabeth by dressing as a woman and calling himself Lia de Beaumont. So some of the series is grounded in fact, although I'd like to hope the zombies are fanciful.

[quote name='Dagger']Look forward to it...[/quote][spoiler]How can you say such a thing! Honestly. I might cry.[/spoiler] I never worked out who was the [spoiler]third Kira[/spoiler] when I was reading ... I had a quick scratch-the-surface theorising session and settled on [spoiler]Shimura, because he seemed so nervous the whole time ... that was a stupid theory when you remember Rem picked the new Death Note owner herself[spoiler]. It's kind of interesting to watch knowing who it was. [spoiler]It's clear throughout that Higuchi is the most bloodthirsty, but then, translating that into 'likely Kira suspect' is easy to do in hindsight[/spoiler]. EDIT: Enthusiastic Mogi-manager needs his own show. Plus, I don't hate the ending theme so much now I've noticed it contains the phrase "DEATH PIRATES".

Sounds sensible to me. *Does it* Stop picking on Retri, guys. He can't help it if OB doesn't come in Braille.

Now that Otakupedia has its own site, can I delete the sticky thread? It's messying up my spotless forum. :animeknow

I'm divided. I love the new OP and ED sequences but I'm not a fan of the songs. The OP song is okay until the random tempo change F*head mentioned and then I lose all interest. But yes, the animation sequences themselves are off the rails. I'm not such a fan of the multiple wacky Light-heads, but L spinning round on his chair and eating snacks is inspired.

I honestly think I could watch Shikamaru play shogi all day. He should have his own Hikaru no Go-type series where he beats all the bad guys of Naruto at shogi and defeats Akatsuki that way. Well, that's an exaggeration, but he's still my favourite character. It's great that he's had so much exposure over the last couple of big fights. If [spoiler]Sasuke kills Orochimaru now I'll feel short-changed. I anticipate a spectacular if fairly one-sided battle - Orochimaru's pretty crippled, Sasuke's a genius, but I suppose Kabuto might chip in. But it'll end in Orochimaru escaping and maybe heading Konoha-wards. He's pretty unpopular right now - Akatsuki are after him for betraying them, Konoha want him for killing the Third and now his pupil wants him dead too[/spoiler].

Gin certainly is toying with people - it looks like he's [spoiler]moving the corridors around to bring certain people together (Rukia and Kaien, for example)[/spoiler]. And yes, the new chapter throws some doubt on things - but I'm still going to believe [spoiler]Kaien's explanation (i.e. that he is a fusion of Kaien and the Hollow) for the time being. The only variable right now is whether it's Kaien or the Hollow in control, or whether any of Kaien's consciousness remains at all[/spoiler]. The other thing this week: [spoiler]Espada number 8, Zael Apollo Grantz. Not only has KT given us another Espada rank, but this guy's last name is the same as the Arrancar Renji cut up in Night of Sledgehammer (a battle that'll happen in the next couple of episodes of the anime, on a related note). Yet more evidence that Gin is manipulating who fights who? And if he is, is it to give the heroes an easier ride, a harder ride, or simply to amuse himself? Rukia vs. Kaien round 2 and Renji vs. a poentially vengeful member of Ilforte's family would certainly be interesting for him to watch[/spoiler]. And on a side note, I love how unimpressed Renji looks in the final panel. I'd be annoyed if I did my big self-important entrance through the settling dust and got [i]that[/i] reaction.

I did [i]love[/i] the everybody-being-mean-to-Matsuda montage, complete with dramatic music. They really are working to move the plot forward. I keep noticing huge chunks of dialogue cut from the Evil Yotsuba Eight - I think it was in the manga so people could have fun analysing each member's remarks and trying to work out [spoiler]which one has Rem's Note[/spoiler], but I'm pretty glad they've axed it for the show. Looks like we'll get the second arc packaged neat in this season after all.

Semi-off-topic: the pituitary gland is located at the base of the brain, near the brainstem, and controls/regulates the production and release of most of the body's hormones, including growth hormone, testosterone and oestrogen. So what Allamorph was suggesting (a little overly snidely, I might add) was that you, Adahn, are suffering from hormonal imbalance and subsequently from social maladjustment. I'm sure you could have looked that up on Wikipedia, though.

[spoiler]Maybe it was Gin's plan all along? He seems to have a morbid fascination for taunting the poor girl. If it turns out he was an enemy all along and Rukia just kills him, then bringing him back into the story in the first place would be utterly pointless in story terms. He'll survive for a while yet. More importantly, Noitora's going after "some massive reiatsu" ... Ichigo's going to have another dangerous run-in fairly soon, methinks. Unless the Kenpachi parallels continue and Noitora's sense of direction is terrible. But then, he found Chad ...[/spoiler] [color=darkblue][size=1][b]Tsk, tsk. Someone's slipping with the spoiler tag use... -Kei[/color][/size][/b]

Actually, ch263 pretty much clears it up. [spoiler]The Hollow that attacked Kaien was programmed by Aizen to return to Hueco Mundo on dying so he could study it. The Hollow fused completely with Kaien, so he went with it to Hueco Mundo. But it turned out his personality was in the dominant - although that looks to be only a half-truth, as his other persona shows through right at the end there[/spoiler]. The only part of the explanation that bothers me is [spoiler]"so I switched places with one of the Espada". You'd think Aizen would notice, even under the PC-tower mask, and how did he manage to dispose of the previous number 9?[/spoiler] I'm just incredibly glad it wasn't a [spoiler]shapeshifter[/spoiler]. That would have been a hella cheap plot device.

[b]+ Clurr[/b]'s used a nice dynamic angle, if one that's a little overused in rock photography. But then, I choose to see it as taking the photo that suits the subject matter, rather than any kind of lack of originality. I just hope her music career takes off - it's hard to make the big time. [b]+ Boo[/b] just keeps making me laugh - or at least go "whuh?". The birthday cake disguise almost trumps the moose binoculars from round one - [i]almost.[/i] Though there's one downside to the inventive 'job' he's chosen to photograph: without the caption, it's nigh impossible to tell what he's meant to be doing. The price of creativity...? [b]+ sakurasuka:[/b] I don't know whether the soft focus is a result of taking it on a phone camera, but it works well with the extreme close-up. (I'm assuming it's a phone pic because the logo on the hat is flipped...?) She pulls off that coy expression really well, too. Not to mention, she works at Chik-Fil-A, and 'Army' by Ben Folds Five literally [i]just[/i] rotated on my shuffling iTunes, and it mentions the place ... weird or what? [b]+ Vicky is [i]holding a sword[/i].[/b] [b]- Desbreko[/b] captioned his photo 'Angry Tech Support Guy', but I don't think he looks angry. Maybe it's because the mike is hiding his mouth, maybe it's because he's leaning his elbow casually on the desk, maybe it's because I associate that hand gesture with triumph and not with anger. I don't know. It's just not doing it for me.

You guys made me lose the Game. :mad: I think it was Blayze that nominated the Arena Mob, not me - but it's great to see so many things I nominated making it through to the finished product. And severe kudos to the artists. It looks even better than last year. .:EDIT:. Who made the 'OB Intrigue' graphic? Whoever you are, you need a credit in my signature...

Can I put [b]100[/b] on [b]Boo[/b] to take [b]first,[/b] and another [b]100[/b] on [b]Anomaly[/b] to take [b]second?[/b] I like bold...

[b]Erratum![/b] I spelled a character's name wrong the last time I submitted a batch ... so the gallery has two Bleach avatars labelled 'Saraguki Hiyori', which should actually be 'Sarugaki Hiyori'. Sorry! Since I'm posting: [IMG]http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g110/Raiyuu/Avatars/OBNell1.jpg[/IMG] [b]Category:[/b] Bleach [b]Name:[/b] Nell To [IMG]http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g110/Raiyuu/Avatars/OBGrimmjow.jpg[/IMG] [b]Category:[/b] Bleach [b]Name:[/b] Grimmjow Jaggerjack I was in the middle of doing a big batch when I bought a new laptop, and now I'm using GIMP instead of Photoshop and it's taking some getting used to ... may edit this post with more when I work out how to scale stuff without crashing the program...

I don't get what you're on about. No one here "has an OtakuBoard site". We just visit OtakuBoards. Were you talking about myOtaku? Anyway. Unclear opening post riddled with typos and spelling mistakes ("otaku borad" reminds me of Sara's OtakuBorats banner, heh). Try harder in future. [b]Thread locked.[/b]

[i]Blood: the Last Vampire[/i] came first, lol. That's why the series is called [i]Blood [b]Plus[/b][/i]. So the series is an improvement on a fairly shoddy film, rather than there being a shoddy OVA follow-up to a decent series. I agree that it was pretty poor, though.