Umbra II

I like the story so far. Its well written, with school humor, and the charactors are well made. I still haven't pegged the genre yet. Is it as it appears to be, a romance/humor,or is it going to take a twist, like from Inu-yasha? Or would that spoil it? Anyway, for either paths, it seems like its going to be preety good.

I like it. There's a lot that implies of a secret organization, or some such, and that adds to the mystery surrounding the samurai. I also like the language you use, German. I may be alone on this, but I love the wzy the German language sounds. So, of course, that was an instant hit with me. I don't know what could be improved on, save the blacksmith. You could have said the blacksmith had a "strong but benevolent face", which makes it more beleivable that he would go out of his way to help some stranger. Thats it for me, anyway. I can't wait to see what happens next.

Not to bad of a poem. The feel of the poem is broken somewhat at "my mind, body, and soul have all become numb" try getting rid of all, or, you could say " my mnd, body, and soul are numb" If you choose that one, though, prepare to add something else in, because it feels kind of short. There you have it, anyway. Like I said before, It's a retty good poem.

It seems that my story didn't take off as I had planned. Ah, well, there's always the next chapter. Speaking of which, here it is. When Umbra awoke from his bidden sleep, his vision had returned. The first thing he saw was a low wooden ceiling made of oak. Casting his gaze around, he determined that he was in a small dwelling, human by design, presumably made by the trees in the forest Umbra had been in. How did I get here? he asked himself. Was I captured by some human from the village? No, surely any of them whom I attacked would have killed me if they had found me. Or do they have something worse stored for me? This last thought came not out of fear, but a chiding, bitter sense of humor. They?ll be surprised when they find that I?m not as easy to break as others of my kind before me. Although most humans weren?t given to torture, word had reached many a demon of the cruel and almost sadistic methods that the Sigurd Preston practiced. The bed I lie in, he thought, although nothing more than a simple layer of sheets, is a far more hospitable accommodation than what I would be given if I were in their custody. When he moved his arms, though, he found he was not bound to anything or tied down. Furthermore, when reaching for his wound to gage the severity of it, he found that someone had wrapped the injured area with bandages, now turned dark red with his blood. Although it pained him to move, he stood up and, finding his scythe resting on the opposite wall, he moved to explore his surroundings and find who had rescued him (for that was the only possible explanation). Using the scythe like a walking stick, he ventured into the next room, which had a small table with two chairs. Limping into the next room, he found a chair and a fireplace connected to a chimney. But more importantly, he found a door standing ajar which sunlight streaked through. When he had first awoken, his internal clock had told him it was morning, and now outside, he could see that by the position of the sun in the sky and the relative coolness in the air, he had been right. A noise startled him. It was a faint noise, that of feet crushing grass, but instead of an attacker as he expected, Umbra was surprised to see a woman tending to a vegetable garden. She was young, had a small frame, fair skin and even fairer hair, and wore the clothes of a commoner, a simple brown shirt and shorts. She had a small and delicate waist, small yet firm breasts, and slender legs. She heard him come out, and turned to look at him, slightly surprised. It was then that he saw her eyes, light hazel, perfectly complimenting the rest of body. But her beauty was diluted by stress that had worn lines into her face, and her hands were covered in the dirt of the garden dirt. And in her eyes there was weariness, deep and profound, mixed with despair. Still leaning on the scythe, Umbra moved toward her in a staggering gait, while she went back to gathering the vegetables in her garden. He stopped when he was at the edge of the garden and stood there, watching her. ?Was it you who rescued me from the river?? he asked eventually, his voice a rich tenor. Without stopping what she was doing, she responded, ?Do you see any one else around here who?d be able to save you?? her voice was a light alto, but it was harsh, as if she resented talking to him. Ignoring her callous remark, he continued. ?Why did you rescue me?? ?You were bloodying up the river where I get my water.? she said, though the coldness of her first answer had died somewhat in her second. ?But why not just leave me there by the river bank to die, why bring me all the way here and treat my wounds?? he pressed, though it was still the same, smooth tone he had used before. ?My conscience wouldn?t leave me alone if I were to just leave some poor fool to die all alone like that.? Now all harshness and disappeared, and a slight smile played at her lips, and for a moment she looked almost radiant, no sign of stress of care diminishing her features. Still smiling slightly, she put all the vegetables she had gathered in her arms and set them in a basket outside the garden, and not six feet away from where Umbra leaned, then, turning back to the garden, proceeded to pick up the remaining vegetables. Without saying anything, Umbra picked up the basket with his free arm and went back to her house to set the basket on a certain table with to chairs. As for the grammer problems and punctuation, this is diectly from Microsoft Word, so go figure. Please tell me what you think of it, and how I can improve.

I'm being misunderstood here. I am not talking about adjetives personality wise, which I can see being witheld. I am talking about descriptions of the outside. Their facial features, beard or no beard, the clothes they wear, ect. You could describe the two men in the begining of the story as "burly men, ones who worked manuel labor for their bread." Yes you describe the samurai in the begining, but I don't think its enough. As for the barkeep, and the man at the bar, they could use more desription to. I hope I made myself clear now. Personality descriptions being withheld could help the story, but I don't think its possible to withhold exterior descriptions and benifet from it. Just my opinion.

The tittle doesn't say continuing thread, and you don't say to add any comments, so I'm confused. I'lll just put what I think, then. You are right, the stiry is good, but your charactors lack depth. Try describing them with adjetives on the outside that give you a glimps of their personlaities on the inside. Especially the samurai. He is your main charactor, after all. (At least I think it is) The same goes for the scenes. Liven them up a little. Other than that your good to go.

[quote name='Beorhun']Well, I do think that, while not all the n00bs are bad, a lot of them just don't look at how you're supposed to post[/quote] [quote name='SunfallE']I agree that not all n00bs are bad.[/quote] [quote name='Baron Samedi']Yeah, I know that you said that newbies and n00bs were different.[/quote] [quote name='Umbra II'] (n00bs) were different to newbies.[/quote] [quote name='Kamuro'] When I say n00bs, I mean it just as Baron does. People who are new, but don't really care to assimilate to the ways of the forum. They spam, post unknowledgable posts, argue and discount others opinions and advice on to become a better forum occupant.[/quote] I don't know were you two have been, but it sounds to me like you're talking abouts newbies, not n00bs. As defined before, n00bs are the sum of everything not to do in a forum, and how long they've been on doesn't affect it(though it is true that n00bs here get banned fast) where as newbies are new people, their skills at grammer and decency irrelevant. Don't confuse the two.

Here is the first chapter of a story I've been working on for a long time now. Its pretty long but, I hope its worth it. Please tell me what you think of it and how I can improve. The first thing Umbra knew as he regained his consciousness was pain. His vision was black, and his ears rang louder than anything that he had ever heard, as if the pain he was feeling had voice. Letting out an involuntary cry that he himself could not hear, he focused his attention on the point on his body where the pain was most severe. The area around his abdomen was on fire, but strangely the abdomen itself had no feeling whatsoever. He pondered this, wondering what it could mean. Searching his memory was a difficult thing to do, for the agony he was in was absolute and overwhelming, but still he tried. And he was rewarded for the effort. He remembered himself; an ancient Demon called Umbra, dressed in black robes and with a cape, which within the society of Demons meant he was high born and powerful, observing a village of humans with great revulsion during the mid-afternoon. He remembered why he hated them, because of their weakness, because of what they had done to him and his race, the Golden Race, treating them as monsters and giving them the vulgar name ?Demon?. ?Think,? he thought to himself. ?None of that matters right now. What happened!?? He thought this with such fury that he surprised himself. But it was for only a moment, and he found himself remembering the things that lead him into this predicament in the first place. His observatory from which he had viewed the village had been a high branch off a particularly old tree on the edge of both a forest and the town, and he could see the village in its entirety. He realized that he had intentions of attacking the village, because he could feel even now in his injured state how much it would please him to watch the buildings burn to the ground. In his memory, he clutched a weapon, which he realized almost by instinct to be a scythe, and leapt upon the unsuspecting village. However, he had only been able destroyed two houses with his Atrum Incendia when a figure emerged from a nearby house, wearing robes that would strike fear into even the most powerful of the Golden Race. The white robes of the Sigurd Preston, the Guardian Priests. ?How could I have been so blind as to not see him?? Umbra thought in his memory and in hindsight. ?Did my pride and my belief that no mortal could harm me caused me to be so careless? Damn it!? he cursed himself. ?That?s a mistake for the younglings, the inexperienced, and the weak, not myself!? He continued to view the memory, but under the current of pain he felt shame burn within him. He recalled distinctly that he ignited the Atrum Contego. His prediction had been true, for no sooner had the barrier appeared between Umbra and the Priest than the attack by the Priest, what Umbra guessed to be the Lumen Levitas, shattered Umbra?s shield. Using the resulting burst of light as cover, Umbra fled behind a large house nearby, and prepared again in one hand the Atrum Incendia, while in his other hand he clutched his weapon. Quieting his thoughts and his heart he listened for either the Priest?s footsteps, or the tell-tale crackling of the spell. It was the latter he heard, so he positioned himself to jump at the right moment. A split-second before the house exploded, he leapt into the air and, turning to confront the priest, unleashed the pent up spell. The spell, which had not been released upon it?s summoning and had therefore gained more energy, was even more powerful than those that had obliterated the two houses. Umbra felt himself become slightly fatigued as it passed from him, but he steeled himself to keep it from affecting his judgment. He saw the fire of the attack draw near to the priest with incredible speed, but as it reached the priest, their was an explosion of white, not black, and to late did Umbra realize that the priest had used the Lumen Consulo, and now his own spell was coming back at him with greater speed and ferocity. With no time to conjure the Atrum Contego and no way to avoid the spell in mid-air, Umbra was defenseless. The spell struck him, causing pain to erupt all over his body. As the resulting explosion rocketed him back toward the jungle toward the forest, he outstretched his arm to take hold of a branch on a tree. Feeling the sturdy limb in his hand, he used his momentum to swirl around the branch once, then leap to the ground, landing on his feet. He placed himself in a defensive stance, expecting the priest to attack any minute, but was instead confronted by the sight of the villagers coming from the town he had just tried to attack, now six yards away and closing the distance fast. ?If that Priest thinks he can finish me off with a mob of farmers, he?s sorely mistaken? he recalled thinking. Umbra saw that they mostly carried pitchforks, while only a few were rich enough to buy a sword. He readied his scythe, which was uniquely crafted for him. Made of a peculiar metal which was lightweight, hard, and pure black, its handle was straight, the blade curved upward, then downward, so the point was at the same level where the blade started. Also, an addition he requested, the tip was fashioned into a point, so as to be ideal for goring. It was this feature he had used against the crowd of people who charged at him. The first one was simple enough, for the human had attempted to put the metal of his pitchfork into a blade lock with Umbra, thereby allowing the others to cut him down as they pleased. Umbra swiftly battered it aside, then let the villager?s own feet, which had not stopped moving forward during the entire encounter, to propel the villager straight into the sharpened tip, killing him instantly. The other villagers, seeing this gruesome death, hesitated, their resolve wavering for a moment. A moment was all Umbra needed. Slashing horizontally, he cut down every villager within his range, spilling their blood on the forest floor. The surviving villagers, after just seeing their friends and family slaughtered in a matter of seconds, stood dazed, then, dropping their weapons, they turned back toward the village, screaming as if they would be spared if they made enough noise. Umbra knew he would have struck them down, if a thought had not occurred to him at that time: Where was the priest? Umbra looked this way and that, imagining every way he could be attacked from any given angle, all the while scolding himself for forgetting the real threat. There, walking through the remaining villagers who parted around him like water flowing past a stone, was the Sigurd Preston, aiming an arrow drawn and pointed at Umbra?s heart. But as he peered at the arrow, he saw a glimmer of light that sent a chill down his spine. It was the light of the Lumen Eradico, fused into the arrow. And now it was well on its way toward him. Digging into his reserves of energy, he summoned the strongest Atrum Contego he could muster. A pitch-black wall appeared between the arrow and himself. He remembered thinking that this wall was much stronger than the previous, but as the Lumen Eradico pierced the wall and continued on its path undeterred, Umbra?s feeling of security instantly turned into white hot pain when the arrow carrying the deadly spell pierced him. Nearly falling to the ground, he caught himself by using his scythe to hold himself up. His vision blurred, but he could still hear the footsteps of the priest drawing nearer, and the crackle of the Lumen Levitas. Letting himself slump over so as make the priest have a false sense of victory while simultaneously hiding from view of the priest his hand, he called up on his last bits of reserved power and summoned a final Atrum Incendia. Because of the blows he had taken, he was not able to muster enough to kill the priest, but even if he had been able to he would not have, for the noise would surely have alerted the priest. Just as the priest came close enough to touch him, Umbra let loose his final attack in the priest?s face, burning his face and blinding him permanently. Umbra could barely recall what had happened next, but he was under the impression that he spun around on the scythe and took off in the other direction, into the forest, arm around the hole in his abdomen. He ran onward, only faintly aware of the screams of the priest, and even less so when the priest stopped. He came across a river, and remembered that he was about to leap it when pain again shot through his entire body, what he now in recollection realized to have been the Lumen Levitas, which the priest hadn?t had a chance to use. He was falling, falling, the water rushing to meet him. Then, just before he hit the fast flowing waters, he blacked out. So, I fell into the river? he thought. Then, why am I not wet? For that matter, why am I still alive? Where am I? He could not think, could not remember what had happened after he had fallen in. His vision had not returned in an amount to see his surrounding, for now he could barely make out shapes, and only when the shifting black thinned over any spot. His coming to had caused the pain in him to increase ten-fold, causing his entire body to tremble rapidly, as one trembles from the cold. Although unsure of the events that had lead him from the rapid waters of the river to this place, wherever he was, he forced himself to sleep. Sorry for the lack of paragraphs but every tim eI try to add some, this stupid computer eats away the previous one.

[quote name='Havokio][COLOR=Indigo']I don't want pity. Nor would I want some one to go easy on me, for any reason. It is, indeed, demeaning. Those two traits show that people don't respect me. I'm expected to believe a lie, which means that they take me for a fool. No matter how much the truth may hurt, it is the only way to go for me.[/COLOR][/quote] I don't know if I'm misunderstanding you or not, but I get the feeling that you think people who say they feel sorry for you are lying. This isn't nessicarily so. In fact, I don't think its ever happened when, if some loved dies, for instance, that someone comes uup to you and says they feel sorry for you and your loss without actually meaning it. Even if its only when they think about how they would feel if some one they loved died that they are able to sympatise with you, and then pity you. Yu said that, since you are a man, and that pity solves nothing, therefore you don't want to hear it. While its true pity itself can't help or ease the burden (think about your state of mind at a funeral. Either your bawling your eyes out, and so in your emotional outburst you really hear the words, or your silent and not letting things sink in, which is, I suppose, the mans way of doing things{at least thats how I do things] and the words of pity wouldn't reach you.) But think of the reverse sid eo fthe coin: what if nobody came to you at the funeral, everybody ignored you, would that make you any happier? I'd much rather people show their respect for me (It IS respect, mind you) by showing they grieve the loss, than to ignore me.

I like Inu-Yasha as much as anybody, but, in a way, it caused me to lose nearly $100. When Inu-Yasha first came on Dvd at Best Buy, I was so glad. (For I had bought the special Eddition Box containing the first three Dvd's ie: first 9 episodes) So, I bought all the first seasons (besides the first three) blindly, so I could watch them. Now, two years later, they come up with the box set for the first season, and I'm already on the third. Although I wouldn't sell the first season because of the special eddition box, this made me think: they're going to have box sets for the other season. trying to keep my cool, I looked at the price for the box set. $100. Then I calculated how much I spent on each individual. 9 dvd's at $22. $198. 198-100=$98!!!. I wasted $98!I know its partially my fault for not seeing this, but still. As for the anime itself, I bought 1-3 seasons, so that should tell you something. The storyline is good, but what I really like is the charactor developement, especially with Inuyasha himself. Its a very drastic change with him, but its believable, an dyou really get to know what he's thinking. The other charactors are good to, but I say they could use a little more development.

Thats amazing! And I don't say that often, either. To bad I can't read the others, though. If what Sage said is true then it'd be like a whole different poem each time. I don't know if I'm wothty enough a writer to critisize that. All I can give it are compliments. I like the mmood it gives off, a mysterious, powerful, and beautifully written. The description makes me feel as if the demon toys with mortals. This thought just occured to me: That would make a beautiful begining of a story.

Actually, that wasn't to bad of a short story. However, there are some things missing .I won't go into grammer (I hate grammer), but I am pretty good at refrasing things to sound better, so here goes: [Quote] It was early moring, The wandering samurai has been walking in the desert for around 4 days with little food and water.[/Quote] How about "The sun dawned on the samuria's fourth day in the desert. With only four rice balls and a canteena to last him on his journey, he had had to ration his suplies, so in the desert sunrise, he was hot, thirsty, and hungry." the next line: Suddenly, breaking the calm monotony of the desert heat, came a blood-curdling sceech. ect. I could go on, but I'd take up half the page. So to be honest with you, you've gota good setting, but the sentences need to be more in detail. As for the figth scenes, explain how he does it, how his arm moves, what position the previous attack put him in and the best course of action given the situation ect. Sorry for going on and on, but I'm wrighting a story too, (though its a novel) and I need practice constructively critisizing others. I hope it helps.

I don't know anything about the manga (except it seems most people like it better than the anime.) But I do watch the anime. I used to watch it because I really did want to know what happed next, but now I'm not sure. Perahps its a combination of a very old habbit and the fact that I never did hate repitious stuff anyway. Although the Waking the Dragons part did seem a bit new. Not the bad guy tries to control/destroy earth part, but because of the reasons. At least I THOUGHT it was different, 'till it was shown that Darts really was good, which sounds alot like Marik. (Here I was hoping that he really was thinking that the human race was evil, but he was just possesed.) I almost decided to quite right there, but as they say, "Old habits die hard." Besides, now that thats out of the way, I'd finnaly like to see the Spirit of the Millenium Ring play his hand. Its gotten so monotonous now that I hope he wins, just to shake things up. Thats it for me.

I don't know if any of you have seen the anime Ajuna, but its a 13 episode series that is mainly about pollution, our treatment of the earth, ect. (Although its vital to the argument, the following IS a spoiler for those who wish to watch it, just to warn you) [spoiler] At the end, the main charactor realizes this revalation; we are all one with the earth, which means that if we poison the earth, we poison ourselves.[/spoiler] I am inclined to agree with this idea. And I agree with x kakashi x, pointing the blame around will solve nothing. America does moe than its fair share of polluting. However, hardly anyone is going to take the advice Godelsensei posted, because no one wants to give up the life that we've grown acustomed to. Think about it. Isn't it the hight of hypocrosy to be complaning about polluters when we ourselves are [I]at this moment[I] using a technology (the Intrenet) which is most likely using fossil fuels? This Idea only just struck me, and I think its cruel irony as well as hypocrosy. By the way, DeathBug, you bring up some valid points, and it is true that we are living in a prosperous time (in America, at least) At the rate we're burning things, if we don't stop now it might be to late (analogy:a car going extremely fast, aka 100+, needs to brake a good deal before he can read the stop sign.) As well, have you ever seen a parabola? Its one of those weird mathematical equations that, when graghed, goes up up, reaches its peak, and goes down. Sorry to get mathematicall on you, but here goes: Let us say that the X variable represents The rate of industrailism, and the Y variable represents the state of the Earth, including atmosphere and the available food. Ata ceatian point in the parabola, the state of the earth will be pretty high, because of al the food, but past that point, as industrialism groes, the state of the earth declines, untill it hits zero agian. (The first zero being when there is no industrialism at all.) I suppose that a guestimation equation could be Y=Xsquared + 100X-X to the third power. I apologize if it confused any of you, but it makes sense to me. Kind of.

[quote name='SunfallE'] I hadn't thought about how dangerous it is to breathe in. Though I know where I live we have haze all the time, and we didn't use to when I was a kid. Everytime I leave the area and come back I am surprised by how the place actually stinks. I just hadn't thought about it for a while. And even if I drive up in the mountains way up above the valley, the haze is still there. [/quote] If you think its dangerous to breathe in the U S A, then wait 'till you hear this: In Mexico City, Mexico, standing around all day out in the open is like smoking a pack of ciggaretts. Speaking of Mexico, I live near the border and I hate it when they burn their fields and polute us here! And China, too. every once in a while, their smog comes over here, yet they continue. Sorry for the short post, but I've got to go.

It does surprise me a bit that anyone would create those "I'm new, how are you?" ect. threads. Do the rules need to have an addition, stating that threads of these nature are not allowed in the otaku boards? Truthfuly, I never learned that creating a thread like that was wrong when I read the rules. It was when I observed some one creating a thread like that, then, minutes later, a moderator shut it down. I just read the rules, and, although one can assume it from reading the restrictions, I didn't find a spot that directly states that threads of that nature are prohibited. That may mean that, even if some one who just joined read the rules, they might not know that it's wrong. Maybe there should be prohibitation specificly for that. This thread really [I]has[/I] deviated from its origanal purpose. I wonder wha'ts to become of it?

[quote name='Baron Samedi][size=1']In regards to the 'class' issue, the internet is all about separation and finding your own niche. Look at the principles behind clans and guilds. Look at the separation between different forums. Look at each group of poeple, as they have made themselves. n00bs are a whole diferent breed to Newbs, and if you cannot make that kind of distinction, then you end up spending 2 pages of thread defining them.[/size][/quote] [quote name='Umbra II']While I agree with you on the fact that we all start out new, and that newer peolple are the life blood of this website, the problem, as stated in the previous pages, lies not with newbies, but "n00bs" which, I believe, has now been defined as a seperated class, so to speak. I say "so to speak" because that, although I can't find a better word for it, I don't like the idea of making "classes" over the internet[/quote] I [I]DID[/I] say that they (n00bs) were different to newbies. Please do not mistake my reluctance to use a word as a denial of the difference between newbies and n00bs. THe only other word I could think of at the time was "breed", and if you know why I don't want to use the word "class", then you can certianly see I I would not choose "breed". But its all moot now, for I've found a better word. Form. n00bs are a different form of newbies, and sometimes not even newbies but semi-senior members. By the way, I stated in a previous post that I thought perhaps I was an anomoly in regards to me being new, because if the fact that I seem to type better and am more in depth than the average newer person. Either that, or I was delusional. Don't leave me in the dark here. (Hmm? Umbra in the dark? without realising it, I've made a joke, which is the first ever on the otaku boards.)[I]Umbra[/I]

I agree. Industrialisim has led to the burning of petro-chemical fuels, mining, the timber industry, ect. It really disgusts me where I live, because the horizon is a fuzzy grey instead of blue. They go and destroy the exterior of the earth, then put it in the air and destroy the atmosphere. I think e should be worried about how we're going to breath in the next 100 years, and not just our vision. Does any one know about chloroflurocarbons? They're compounds that break up hte ozone layer. I believe in the '70's, it was in just about all kinds of cleaners, and that was what caused the hole in the ozone layer over Antartica. Not only are they green house gasses, which means life gets hotter, but now we have skin cancer to worry about. Beautiful prospects. I'm about ranted out now, so I'll just leave you in peace for now.

[QUOTE=elfpirate][b][font=Comic Sans MS I mean, if someone truly is incapable of seeing anything beyond the scope of the negativity of the situation, why do they feel compelled to say anything other than "That's an incomprehensibly bad situation. I don't know what I would have done if that had been me..." or something along those lines--instead of "[/font][/b][font=Comic Sans MS]Oh, you poor dear[b]" ? I guess I can't really explain right now what I mean when I say that pity and sympathy/empathy/sorrow are not all synonymous, and that [i]pity[/i] is demeaning, whereas the others aren't. [/b][/font][b][font=Comic Sans MS] [/font][/b][/QUOTE] I see... Well in that case, I agree with you. Here was I thinking that you resented pity synonomous with sympathy, when really you are resenting people who thnk that you need comfort and decide to suply it, wheras the other, sympathy, is when they truly do feel sorry for you, and wish to make it known. But don't forget, perhaps those who say " Oh, you poor dear." may actually be sorry, or, to help, sympathetic, but are at a loss as to what to say to you. But under the circumstances you described, I can see where you are coming from.

Firstly, to have Naraku from Inuyasha as a roommate would utterly bite. You need a reason besides the fact that he must be evil incarnet? How about the fact that in his true form, there's flesh and parts eveywhere, and they would take up all the space in the room, leaving nowhere for me. Adding to the list, Knives from Trigun hates humans with a passion, so that would never be a good idea. As for those who I wouln't mind, well, I can't think of any. They're all weird in there own way, and I am not a people-person anyway. Thats all I can think of, at any rate.

Unfortunately for me, its seems I'm left out of the loop, because I've only been able to watch Samuri Champloo on Adult Swim, and this coming Saturday will be the third episode. But don't try and point out a place where I can download the episodes, because my computer is obsolete verging on ancient. I hope to get a new one soon. As for the show, its very good, the charactor combinations are funny [spoiler] (when Mugen said that he would dispatch of all the people in the restraunt for 50 dumplings, and when he later miscalculated his math, I couldn't help but laugh[/spoiler]. The begining theme song is pretty good, but I like the show more than the song. Alot more. Anyway, it seems like its going to be a succesfull anime. Or is it already done, and I was correct in assuming that I'm behind the times?

My favorite song, ever since I first heard it on Toonami those many years ago, is Obsession, the opening theme to .hack//SIGN. Even thinking about it now gives me chills down my spine (good music does that to me). Even my second favorite, which is the Outlaw Star theme, doesn't come close. As for the one I despise, that would definetly be the ending theme to Reign the Conquerer, or whatver its called. I didn't ever like that show, nor its song.

While I agree with you on the fact that we all start out new, and that newer peolple are the life blood of this website, the problem, as stated in the previous pages, lies not with newbies, but "n00bs" which, I believe, has now been defined as a seperated class, so to speak. I say "so to speak" because that, although I can't find a better word for it, I don't like the idea of making "classes" over the internet, for therein llies the rise of aristocracy, and then monarchy. But this has nothing to do with this thread, so I'll leave it at this. And if your wondering why I put this post down, its just to tell Havokio whats been said and defined already

I agree with SunfallE. Pity shouldn't be considered an insult unless the person who is giving it is giving it with the intention of it being insulting. If some one is truly piteous of your plight, say, a person close to you died, to resent openly the pity given to you, THAT'S insulting. Truly, in my honest opinion, and with no intention to insult anyone, if you resent honest pity, you must think you don't need it. That is called pride. If I offended anyone, I apologize, but this is an open discusion.

My favorite protagonist is Vash the Stampede from Trigun. This is because, even though he's seen monstrosities commited by people, his brother, and even himself, he is able to keep a sense of humor and be able to forgive everyone and anyone. [spoiler] Like when he finnaly reached his brother and, when Knives asked him how the humans had been treating him, he responded, "It's the best thing that ever happened to me. Yes, I know, its not out-right funny, but I couldn't help but laugh when i first watched it[/spoiler] My favorite antagonist is a tie between Naraku and my avatar, Legato. Both of them torture people by manipulating the main charactors emotions through the death of other people, and both are incredibly disturbing.