Gavin

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Hooked on [b]Star Driver[/b] at the minute, reminds me a lot of Gurren Lagann in tone. Bulldozed through sixteen episodes in one go and now it's torture having to wait a week for the next dollop of fabulousness from the Galactic Pretty Boy. Kinda worried that they won't be able to wrap up the plot in the remaining episodes (so many questions left unanswered) but will be on the edge of my seat till the end. [/size][/font]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Looks to be a really great episode this week, shame we're speeding directly into filler (and crap non-filler) at the conclusion of this arc.[/size][/font]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Ugh, yet another new training arc. Riruka is a dumbass who's even less likeable than all of the other girls with a crush on Ichigo. I seriously worry how long this arc is going to take to either make sense or introduce anything even vaguely related to advancing a plot outside of "Ichigo gets new powahs". Spoilers tomorrow better thrill me or I'm considering dropping Bleach for a few months, even Kishi with all his Uchiha-wank at least know how to create some interest for a while.[/size][/font]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Heh if I can sit through the entirety of Gundams SEED and SEED Destiny some repeated animation for a few episodes won't kill me.[/size][/font]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Cool. Might give it a look then, when I finish a few other things.[/size][/font]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Could be just that "soul" is the closest word in English and doesn't properly translate what Kubo's intent is. Maybe we'll get further clarification with next week's chapter.[/size][/font]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"][quote name='Magus' timestamp='1293459410' post='703333'] Fairy Tail is a pretty decent anime until Psyren gets the greenlight. [/quote] I've actually been thinking about getting into Fairy Tail but the art style is a little too similar to OP for my tastes.[/size][/font]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]An interesting but ultimately unsurprising article. Yes, guys like Ed Dante absolutely exist. Off-hand I know at least three people with better GPAs than me because they "outsource" quite a bit of their graded work. Granted they do very average on end of term exams but the vast majority of those are worth 50% or less it doesn't really have a huge effect on the end result. The problem isn't just looking at this as a "students are cheating" point of view, without ghost-writers these kinds of people would find other ways of cheating to get on in life. What struck me at the end of it was that the girl in question in the article was going to graduate, and that she like many others would simply learn how to pass their work on to someone else to get it done and claim credit. I wouldn't even hazard a count at the number of half competent TAs and lecturers in my university who are content to do the same bare minimum of work they put out as undergrads. It's a regressive thing, lazy teachers create lazier students who go on to become even worse teachers ad nauseum. How many of these half-wit teachers and bosses are going to be able to catch people cheating in something they themselves were carried through ? Reform needs to start far, far sooner than university/college. High school is all about regurgitation of correct answers and memorised essays. Original thought and actual "learning" need very rarely apply. Proper comprehension of the subject takes second place to being able to push out consistently high scores in test papers, and yes, even if the work is not your own. Reform at that point sounds a little like trying to correct the lean on the tower in Pisa half way up, even if you do it's still crooked to begin with.[/size][/font]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]*Shrugs* Apparently the title is pretty explicit about the "souls" part but it still makes no sense to me. Souls are something living beings have, part of an overall consciousness and to say inanimate objects possess a soul sounds weird, unless I guess you're looking at it from a Taoist/Jedi perspective and then the overall soul which everything is a part of makes a bit of sense. Still prefer my spirit particles theory. Raises an interesting question regarding the Spirit King as well though, Urahara and Aizen referring to it as "it" and "that thing" doesn't seem so...off. Could be the Spirit King isn't a person but some sort of regulatory device.[/size][/font]

[quote name='Magus' timestamp='1293371877' post='703310'] Ah, so glad I never watched any of Naruto's filler. [/quote] [font="Tahoma"][size="2"]I claim boredom and a lack of good judgement as my excuse. Come on Pysren anime.[/size][/font]

[quote name='Magus' timestamp='1293362358' post='703306'] I've been seeing his/her name a lot lately. Who is that? [/quote] [font="Tahoma"][size="2"][url=http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Raiga]Filler Mist Swordsman[/url].[/size][/font]

[quote name='Magus' timestamp='1293358710' post='703301']Suigetsu and Juugo's appearance is quite disappointing. I'd rather not see them anymore. They should've been done in considering they attacked the meeting. What's with these people?[/QUOTE] [font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Agreed. Waste of page space. [quote name='Magus' timestamp='1293358710' post='703301']The appearance of the previous swordsman made me giddy.[/quote] Indeed, and they all look pretty badass (and thank Christ Raiga has been finally told GTFO). Kinda curious how they'll fight without their swords.[/size][/font]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Not a bad chapter, but then not a great chapter either. Kishi's gigantic open panels which only ever focus on one character or one object take a story could've been condensed into five/six pages without any loss as per usual which is slightly annoying. Fullbring felt like a bit of an ass-pull as well initially but actually makes quite a bit of sense. I don't agree with the idea that objects have "souls" but I do agree that there is some level of spiritual energy within them. Remember that Quincy fight by gathering spirit energy, it's higher in Soul Society and even higher again in Hueco Mundo but there is still a distinct level of spiritual energy in the Living World. When Uryuu released his Quincy Final Form in Seireitei against Kurotsuchi he was literally able to break down distinct physical stone structures into spirit particles (Particle Subjugation as Mayuri termed it) and I would guess that a powerful enough Quincy could do something similar on a much smaller scale to Living World objects and structures. Therefore Fullbring to me seems like an off-shoot Quincy ability (albeit a Bankai-tier one) to manipulate the spirit particles/energy within objects to their own benefit. Small stuff like making alcohol flow from a glass into the mouth while impressive-looking probably isn't that difficult, but completely warping and expanding a small cross into a zweihander is probably more difficult and may even require the pumping of one's own spiritual energy into the object to keep it from becoming unstable (assuming Kubo has any respect for the laws of conservation of energy and matter). I'm actually kind of curious whether this hints at the origins of the Shinigami themselves too, because there is a lot of stuff here which seems like proto-Shinigami abilities. ...Or of course Kubo could be just ripping off FMA this week instead of Psyren and the Fullbringers are alchemists. [/size][/font]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Quite a Christmas chapter, lots of action, some ridiculously h4x new abilities and Kabuto explains why his summons are so fail (in a combat sense) compared to Orochimaru's. And then there was Haku... [img]http://zeitgeistglee.250free.com/Haku.jpg[/img] ...who, making that face, looks eerily like one of my former girlfriends. Kishi, you need to retcon Haku to female. Please, for all of us made slightly unsure of our orientation by dat ass, it needs to happen.[/size][/font]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]I know I said a week Anomaly but study/exams/moving back for Christmas ate up all my anime watching time so I've still not finished WHR yet. I am definitely still intent on joining, just need another few days to finish the series.[/size][/font]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"][center][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNLKLCZN8wc[/media][/center] We've got the trailer, and it's got Max von ******* Sydow narrating. Bethesda you have officially won my loyalty back after Fallout 3. Brothers and sisters of Skyrim our time has come, we shall meet this threat with blood, sweat and steel. We shall drive these wyrms back to the depths that spawned them. We shall know no rest, no pity, no mercy until at last we are victorious. If our swords are shattered we shall fight with our shields, if our shields are broken we shall fight with our bare hands, and if our hands are ruined then with our very teeth we shall tear out the throats of our enemies! For Skyrim! For Shor! [/size][/font]

[quote name='Magus' date='12 December 2010 - 08:11 AM' timestamp='1292141472' post='702672'] The only thing I see that's even remotely close to Psyren is Ichigo calling Xcution (Really, Kubo?) and I really don't see many comparisons in that either. Xcution seems more like an organization, whereas Psyren was the future, at least that's my take on it.[/quote] [font="Tahoma"][size="2"] Really ? Maybe it's just because I've started reading Psyren again recently but the last chapter certainly had a similar feel to the first few chapters of Psyren (though obviously Kubo is nowhere near as talented a mangaka as Iwashiro) with the inherent mystery and the card.[/size][/font]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]This chapter was a bit meh for me. Kabuto and Madara having a spat was vaguely interesting, and he must indeed have some ace in order to be comfortable telling Madara the exact nature of Edo Tensei, I'm still pegging Kabuto as being Madara's superior if they two actually fight. Details of Edo were also somewhat interesting, Nidaime conceptualising rather than creating (or perhaps perfecting) brings him down a bit in power again. If Kabuto has indeed perfected the technique even beyond Orochimaru then I suppose Orochimaru recreated the first two Hokages before actually summoning them against Sarutobi, which of course begs the question as to who exactly was in the final coffin. Madara being cagey about what appeared to be Itachi and Nagato were also a bit telling, perhaps he isn't Madara as some have supposed but merely someone else claiming to be him and Kabuto's trump is indeed the original.[/size][/font]