PaganAngel

Hm... this game has me a bit... worried. We all know we're going to be comparing it to The World of fiction we've grown to love from all the series. Can the real thing compare with what the anime and such make it out to be? It's always stated that The World was the most advanced MMORPG ever, so forgive me if I feel a little concerned that Fragment may not live up to expectations. I don't think The World is a dream that can be realized as it is.

[QUOTE=duoikari] But is there a difference between being evil and being a bad ***?[/QUOTE] Yes, yes there is. Being a badass is all about the attitude. You don't have to be a bad guy to be one, I think. There are plenty of badasses on the light side of the force... like, hm, what's a good example... Auron! Auron from Final Fantasy X! That guy is so cool... like when he'll run up to a monster for the finishing blow and he says, "Farewell.." that's one of my favorite lines in the game. He just has that air of, "I could really care less about you."

I'm not a big fan of the silent, mysterious, emotional ones or the badass ones myself. Too cliche. I like the cheerful, energetic, and occasionally perverted ones (and you guys wonder why I like Gravitation...). I would willingly die for a chance to glomp Ryuichi or Tatsuha from Gravi. So energetic and... shiny! I like them when they're funny, me. I also love Tohma from Gravitation! He's so... pretty! Besides a cheerful personality, a little androgyny never hurt anyone. The prettier the guy, the better. Oh my, I might go on and on... behold, this very thread has made my post quality plummet to earth. But I like my bishies. ^^ XD

Another question... one of you (too lazy to pull up the quote) argued that homosexuality should be frowned on because it's "not natural". Well, was not Jesus unnatural? And yet you consider him your Savior. And if God doesn't agree with anything that's natural, there would be no miracles, no divine intervention, thus undermining a great deal of what your church stands for, and it makes you more Deists than Christians. The "unnatural" argument is severely flawed, because the extraordinary is a necessity for everything in life- one of the stages in Darwin's theory of natural selection was mutation. There has to be some change in our world, and not everyone's going to agree with it all. But does the fact that you completely oppose it mean that it will go away? No. I don't care what bills they pass or if some church or another starts a bona fide witch hunt against gays. Homosexuality is here to stay. Welcome to the Age of Aquarius.

Woo... time to make a bunch of Christians yell at me. Goody! This is a fun thread. Now, how is it right for God to consider homosexuality an outrage and a sin? Homosexuals don't become so on free will or choice. That'd basically be like God saying, "Hey, you, you have a birth defect, so you're going to hell." (just an analogy, I'm not in any way suggesting homosexuals are defective.) Yeah... what? How can He punish people for something that wasn't even their choice? I'm sorry, I'd love someone to clarify that.

[quote name='Prons']I don't dig gay marriage or homosexuality. [/quote] [sarcasm]Thanks for, y'know, listing reasons and stuff. Really speaks strongly about how opened minded you are.[/sarcasm] I think this is so ridiculous. Love is love, and the government has no right to interfere with that. If I'm not much mistaken, we are all "endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and [b]the pursuit of happiness[/b]." Ah, but I guess it's not the first time our country's been hypocritical about that. Slavery rings a bell. If it were up to me, I would leave it for the states to decide. There's absolutely no reason for Congress to step in because, simply put, gay marriage isn't hurting anyone. Bush is just diverting all the hate over Iraq and such somewhere else, trying a last-ditch effort to be a hero... but with 47% of Americans supporting gay marriage, don't you think he'd reconsider?

[quote name='Guardian Angel']I'm most like Tohru from Fruits Basket. I like to say that I'm always nice and I never really care if I'm a bit to benevolent or somwhat to generous. I always act a like nothing is wrong but sometimes when I think about it I'm mostly put into a lot of situations that Tohru is put in.[/quote] Same here. Normally I have to be practically dying before I tell my mom I want to stay home from school or go to the doctor. I don't like people worrying about me. I'm a pretty self-sufficient person.

My mom's reaction when she walked in the room while I was watching Gravitation.

What gives me the idea that this thread was inspired by a certain one of mine...? Speaking of, it seems for the first time I have a reputation in a forum, namely the overly stereotypical teenager. Oh goody. But I've been around in big forums before and OB is a lot like one I was in a while back, even though it wasn't anime-based, as far as mod activity, rules, personalities, and whatnot. The difference here is the members for the most part avoid getting in trouble with the law a lot more... the members here just seem a lot more calm and don't get involved with flaming, spamming (with the exception of the occasional new member), and have generally high post quality (once again, there's the occasional newbie). Simply put, it's less chaotic here and a lot of fun.

Funny... I was listening to Predilection by Yamaguchi Keppei just as I stumbled across this thread. I'll usually only listen to J-pop if it's on an anime soundtrack, but I do love it! I think my favorite artist's Kotani Kinya... my, how Gravitation has corrupted me (Nittle Grasper, anyone?). But have you ever seen a picture of the guy? He's so cuddly! And I just love his vocals... they make me all melty. XD

Okay, sorry for disappearing off the face of the planet, but here are the winners... *tears open an envelope* and the Oscar goes to... 3rd place goes to ChibiHorsewoman because there's nothing wrong with a Peach Girl fan: [quote name='"ChibiHorsewoman"']Guy at computer You know Shuichi, I really hate when you do those Sae Kashiwagi impressions.[/quote] 2nd place to Kazuwa Nomura because just the thought of Shuichi as an inflatable playmate makes me giggle a little bit. [quote name='"Kazuwa Nomura"']Guy: Holy Crap! My inflatable play mate is out of air![/quote] 1st place just has to go to r2 for a phenomenal mental image. [quote name='"r2vq"']And that's why you don't play Katamari Damacy in real life.[/quote] Honorable mention to me, cause I rock out loud at this game.... OK, moving on!

It'd be pretty cool if you guys would stop talking about characters' names as the purpose of this thread is titles, not names.... My opinion: Naming it after a character equal a lame title. It feels rather unoriginal and lazy (I'm talking to you, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and Cardcaptor Sakura!). My favorite ways to think up a title are either to take a quote from the story, one that truly encompasses the theme of the story: case in point, Margaret Mitchell's [i]Gone with the Wind[/i] (first example I could come up with as I'm simultaneously typing this post and doing a report on the book, so sorry). Save the naming for last, flip through your work, and find a phrase that just screams out the theme to you. Or you could give a silent prayer of thanks to our good friend Noah Webster and whip out your thesaurus and dictionary and go on- GOODY!- an etymology hunt. Just start jotting down words that appeal to you and that'll catch the reader's attention. For instance, if you're writing a story about werewolves, what's a sicker title than [i]Lycanthropy[/i]? What's also fun is making up your own words from Greek, Latin, and other language elements. Not only is it unique, but it also has something to do with your story, unlike if you just start scribbling down random letters.

Angels & Airwaves- We Don't Need to Whisper: Well, technically, my brother bought it, but I downloaded all the songs to my MP3 player when he wasn't home and I'm sure glad I did. Any opportunity to hear Tom Delonge's voice after Blink 182 broke up is a blessing to me. What's great is that even though the lead singer is the same, AVA has a tremendously different sound than Blink did. A lot less punk-oriented. Last Exile OST vol. 2- Even better than the first one, I thought. As always, the classic tracks are melt-in-your-mouth good, and the vocal tracks are almost painfully catchy. I'm a sucker for soundtracks, I must say. *is currently listening to the theme song from X*

[quote name='Delta][COLOR=#35425E][i]Wha~t? No yaoi?!?[/i'][/COLOR][/quote] Oh my... a thread where I haven't mentioned yaoi once. I feel disappointed in myself. Well, X does have innuendo, so I at least have that consolation.... But steering back on track, I think that Evangelion is a must. It's the godfather of mecha and more thought-provoking than The Da Vinci Code. One of those shows that'll wake you up at night wondering what the heck the ending meant. Despite my severe energy problems, I like a show that can do that.

[quote name='BelovedIris][FONT=Book Antiqua][COLOR=Black]I am debating about getting the Manga... I just want to know how different the manga is from the anime. Is the manga really better?[/FONT'][/COLOR][/quote] It depends which version of the anime you're dealing with. If you're talking about the American version, Cardcaptors, the manga is tremendously better. If you're talking about the Japanese version- Cardcaptor Sakura- of the anime, then my answer becomes a little more muddled. If you've already seen the anime series, I don't think there's any real reason to buy the manga unless you're a Clampaholic such as myself. In fact, almost every chapter of the manga has a nearly identical anime episode. But if you've neither seen the anime nor read the manga, I would pick up volume 1-6 (the Clow Card arc) of the manga as it's so much cheaper, then get the rest of the series (the Sakura Card/Master of the Clow arc) in anime form because Tokyopop didn't do such a hot job translating Master of the Clow and it feels a tad Americanized. If you're into action the anime may be better as there are a ton of episodes that never occured in the manga, ones that focus on just catching cards. But if you simply must have a linear story, I think the manga's more the way you want to go.

[QUOTE=Kita Erindur]Lol :animesmil I've only read one shounen-ai - Fake. And I found that too, you get funny guy thoughts, as well as deepness you sometimes only get in girl focus romance. Fake also had a good storyline to go with it though. Could you recomend me some Pagn Angel??[/QUOTE] Why yes, yes I can: Gravitation, Gravitation, and Gravitation. It's one of the funniest series I've ever seen- where else can you get a pink-haired singer in a banana suit, a 30-year-old toting around a stuffed bunny, and a slightly insane gun-toting American manager with gorgeous blonde hair?- but it's also super heart-wrenching once you get midway into the story, dealing with themes like unrequited love and rape. If you haven't yet, go pick up Gravitation right now without bothering to read the rest of this post. Loveless is also excellent. It gets deep on a psychological level and has so many themes in it- school, fantasy, action, acceptance, and revenge. It's one of those thought-provoking series, but it also has a charming touch of light-hearted humor. Nothing side-stitching like Gravitation or Fake, but still worthy of a few chuckles and well worth the price.

I'm egotistical, so I'm gonna add captions to my own picture! Boo-ya! 1. The doctors told Shuichi he had manic depression, but these days it felt more like [i]panicked compression.[/i] 2. Get your wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube men at Bob's Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man Emporium! (Family Guy joke) 3. Shuichi just finished recording his vocal tracks, but for some reason all his notes seemed to fall flat. (Get it? It's a pun! Get it? Flat? Cause he's flat? Ah, you guys suck. *walks off*) 4. OMG! IT'S LARA FLYNN BOYLE!

A lot of you are posting which character you look most like, so I'll do so as well... I guess I sort of look like Sophia from Last Exile, except I never ever wear my hair up. But I have about the same hair color, skin tone, and facial expressions as her. And I share her "thin line between work and play" mindset, so I guess that's a double. I guess you could also say I kind of look like Lenne from Final Fantasy X-2.

[QUOTE=Dagger] I really would hesitate to make these kind of generalizations, particularly since they don't seem to hold true as you move across the age spectrum. To put it another way... what you've described, PaganAngel, is not atypical as far as adolescent behavior is concerned (just think of it in a high school context; males are nearly always the class clowns). [/QUOTE] Oh, don't get me wrong, I was making no vast generalizations, it was just a trend I've noticed around. So if I sounded too general, forgive me. It was just a pattern I found rather curious and decided to explore if others felt the same way. As far as OtakuBoards goes, the pattern's not as strict, but many other forums can be that way.

Oh, might help you guys to know that the pink-haired guy is Shuichi, and the other guy... is just some miscellaneous techie. o_O

Ooooh, if you loved the fantastic blend of art and action in Last Exile, I would reccomend X in a heartbeat. It's the most masterfully execution I've ever seen in an action series, and the visuals are simply stunning. It rises above the whole "Lots of black lines represent movement" cliche made famous in series like DBZ. X is an absolute classic. There's a myriad of characters, each with his or her own personality that deepens as only Clamp can pull off. You'll instantly find a favorite character among the Dragons of Earth and Heaven. Simply phenomenal. Nothing I say can possibly do X justice. I can't reccomend it enough.

Really? It shows up just fine on my computer, but here's the URL: [url]http://cloverpetals.com/addiction/ep30124.JPG[/url]

I've been in several forums throughout my life here on planet Earth, and I've noticed some general trends about what is expected of each gender in the forums. The guys are usually the boisterous ones, the ones with the hilarious avatars and sigs, the ones who type in leet-speak, the ones who tend to get warned and banned more frequently, and the ones who seem to gather so much more infamy. The females are a lot more timid, tend to have anime-themed avatars and sigs, and have a lot less outstanding natures. They don't generally attract as much notoriety as a lot of the guys. Why do you guys think this is? Is it just a manifestation of gender roles in real life, or is it just that girls aren't really expected to be the same magnitude of nerd as guys? Am I the only one who notices this, or am I just a paranoid freak? (Yes, yes you are...)

Time to go all J-Pop on all y'all. My favorite is in Fake Star by Tomokazu Seki, the part about 3 minutes in where all the instruments drop except the percussion and the chorus is sung and then the instruments kick in and the chorus repeats... it's bliss. It's moments like those you wish a song was on DDR (and you even go so far as to create the steps for it in your head).

Okay, how about I add my own yaoi-crazed imput and say shounen-ai is the best romance? OK, before you guys all go and roll your eyes about my bishie-crazed obsession, I do have a reason! Not only do you get the humor of a guy as the main character, but there's also a sort of sensitivity. Take Gravitation. It's one of the funniest anime I can think of, and yet it's really touching, because in gay anime couples the males can take on a more feminine and sensitive role. Yeah. That's it. Or maybe it's just my alibi... hooray for Brokeback Manga. XD