Solo Tremaine

[quote name='Shinmaru']Another thing...I can't believe that a couple of people didn't find this chapter funny. Maybe I'm just a giant nerd, but all of the wordplay made me laugh quite a bit. I don't get why people wouldn't find it funny, but whatever. Different strokes for different folks, after all.[/quote][COLOR=#503F86]Quite a lot of the jokes were ones aimed mostly at Kei, seeing as she was the original intended audience ^_~ Lothar, for example, is a character from the webcomic which Kei and I both read called 'Exterminatus Now', involving characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe. But the next part of it has more universal appeal, I think. There was so much I was trying to work into this chapter it could easily have gone on for another ten pages, but I had to cut a lot of it out. I can give a commentary when I next post, heh. [quote name='DeathBug']Can I have this for my sig? ^__^[/quote]Of course ^_~[/COLOR]

[quote name='Yoruyonaka']I like manga much better than anime. The animation is often better, and the plot often is better. I often find filler episodes and such to be non-essential to the storyline, and a mere waste of time. In manga, the plot doesn't sway from the original ideals, the characters are more detailed (and usually, have more of a backstory to them).[/quote][color=#503f86]Look at it this way: how long would it take for all of the dialogue in your typical manga 'volume' to be read out loud? If all anime series were just as if they were in the manga, the average anime would only be about six episodes long because the episodes would be so drastically condensed. But if the animated episodes moved that quickly people'd get frustrated because some of the better moments would be lost for the sake of moving the plot along. And filler episodes do still appear: in the Trigun Maximum mangas there are plenty of 'filler' chapters which have little bearing on the shifting on the main storyline other than they involve the characters. And they still tend to frustrate me, because I wonder where this has relevence to any other part of the story. I wouldn't personally call the manga artwork (*sees Dagger's post* ^_^; ) 'better' than anime animation, because 'better' is too wide a term. Black and white is effective, but there've been times reading mangas where I've had no clue what the characters are atually doing because the movement isn't clear. Granted, that's mostly with the action scenes, but trying to focus on a tiny (perhaps necessarry) detail in the background is much harder when the pictures are so small. In any case, you either have characters [i]or[/i] background in manga- you don't see everything in its proper context.[/color]

[QUOTE=Adahn][font=Courier New][size=2][color=#0000ff] Also, it protects 16 year olds who aren't ready for that sort of relationship.[/color][/size][/font] [font=Courier New][size=2][color=#0000ff]Of course emotional maturity can't be assessed, but physical maturity can. When someone is sexually mature, is that person still a child?[/color][/size][/font][/QUOTE][color=#503f86]It still seems too hard a plan to try and implement. The main reason so many underage pregnancies happen is lack of proper education about the subject. But even then, having to test wether someone's ready or not just doesn't work, because the standards of the tests won't apply to everyone who takes them, in just the same way that IQ tests only measure your ability to answer IQ tests. [/color][QUOTE][color=#503f86][color=#0000ff][size=2][font=Courier New]The purpose of determining physical maturity is to protect those who aren't ready for sex, and allow those who are ready to have sex to do so.[/font][/size][/color] [font=Courier New][size=2][color=#0000ff]Also, by physically determining whether someone is a child or not, by the definition of pedophilia, it is no longer applicable.[/color][/size][/font][/color][/QUOTE][color=#503f86]Unfortunately as soon as a girl has her first period, it signals the beginnings of her life as a fertile, reproductive person. And the hormones that come with it help facilitate the need to be a reproductive person. Regardless of whether they're ready or not people will be driven to do what their bodies want them to do. Restricting them without any explanation as to what's heppening won't solve the problem- it's just a needless barrier. All they need is to be told in full what's happening and for them to make their own choices and not be pressured into it by those around them, specifically images in the media and false messages sent out by the government. The UK government's handing out cards to allow girls of 11 to get condoms to try and combat underage pregnancies. Eleven. Does that seem right? Regardless of the fact that a girl may be start to be hormonally receptive, what people aren't doing is providing them with the fundamental details about sex and its consequences- they're just trying to stop them from getting pregnant. It's a lack of education that causes the problems, and the fact that everyone want to seem to have everything done for them already. Apathy was recently voted one of the newest 'seven deadly sins'. I wonder why... But trying to keep an Orwellian check on every single person is plain impractical. If children are properly taught about sex and its social and emotional consequences it shouldn't be a problem, because they'll know and understand when they're ready for it, at whatever age they may be. But what on Earth did this have to do with 'idiotic things that people say about relationships'? This is getting heavily off-topic.[/color]

[COLOR=#503F86][b]Tonight at eight:[/b] The secrets behind McDonald's new recipe- the boiled McPeople burger.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]I really don't believe in compensation culture, especially not against someone as close as your brother. Yes, its a problem wih the law and legality, but I don't believe the courts would be the right way to settle it. If he's family I think you should know him well enough to be able to sort things out on a personal level and try and find out what the problem is so it can be dealt with. If nothing else, don't let him near anything else of yours again, even if he does offer to pay you back. But you know both him and the situation better- do what you think is suitable. Even taking him to court may not guarantee that he won't do it again, but either way he should understand what he's done.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]I loved this when I first read it and I still love it now, heh ^_~ It's great to re-read over again. I agree with methuselah- the style is quite unique from most of the other OB fanfics that have arisen over the years, and it's presented in a really enjoyable way. Make sure you get them down quickly, heh (allowing enough time for those who's not seen them to read through it all, mind) ^_^ I want to read them.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]That's something you'd have to take up with the owners of that site directly. If it's your property and you can prove that it is, then they don't really have the right to take or use it without asking. But since people tend to have a rather impersonal relationship with the internet they may just ignore the fact that other people made these things and just take it anyway without any care for the original artist/programmer. If they're directly linking, all you'd need to do is change the URL and they'd have no image, heh. Otherwise it's a case of trying to persuade them to at least give you credit for it.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]Thankies for the feedback, guys ^____^ It's greatly appreciated, heh. And it's such a relief to finally get this up and running again.[/COLOR] [quote name='Kane][size=1']I'm with DragonWarrior on this one, an intriguing story, though I have to admit I didn't notice anything rather humorous about it. I can't wait to see the concluding part, the storyline itself as well as the characters lead to a very shadowy, and perhaps as you've this made, you might a few more chapters while you're at it.[/size][/quote][color=#503f86]That concerns me a little- did you mean this one wasn't as funny? Most of the first part I forced myself to write when I was trying to finish it two months ago and I didn't actually go over it to try refining anything, so it might be a little more lacklustre than the rest. Either way, things really pick up in the second part; at least, I think so. The next new chapter will feature more members, I promise ^_^;[/color]

[QUOTE=Ben] Solo Tremaine on an off-day. :p[/QUOTE][COLOR=#503F86]Nice ^_~ The Penguin Mafia show no remorse in taking their protection money.[/COLOR]

[color=#503f86]Well, it's been a very long time since I last completed a chapter. And now that I haveit wasn't the one I intended on putting up here first ^_^; Still, it's here and the longest chapter to date: 17 pages long. Primarily it only features two OB members, and that's for a very good reason. This chapter was written as a birthday present to Lady Katana, but since I got the date of her birthday wrong and spent so long typing this bloody thing up, it missed by about three months ^_^; Either way, the whole thing's dedicated to her ^__^ And here's the first part of it. [color=#503f86][b]Enter the Net Exclusive: From Here to Katana-ty [Part 1][/b] It was another vaguely abnormal day in OtakuBoards v7. Mods were modding, members were membering (since their dismembering privileges had been limited due to the removal of the Battle Arena and restriction of heated discussions within the Otaku Lounge), and everything was right with the world. Except AzureWolf, who hated v7. The site had undergone considerable changes after H4XX0R?s unprecedented destruction of the Boards- the Series Forums were nowhere to be seen, the various gaming forums had all been forced into one huge gaming plaza and the Anime Forums had been confined to the Archives (with exception to the Yu-Yu-Hakusho forum, which Shy forbade anyone to speak of ever again). In their place was a rather pretty Manga Workshop, headed by the Team Miyazaki member Lady Katana. Since she was the only Moderator of her forum, she enjoyed sitting amongst a library of mangas and reading them from cover to cover (or indeed, other cover to other cover, as mangas were that way inclined), making sure that pointless discussions were dealt with swiftly so she could get back to King of Bandits: Jing. This particular normally abnormal day seemed almost abnormally abnormal, in such a way that was abnormal to the normal. Which was, of course, abnormal. Dismissing the feeling of abnormal abnormality as being down to a stale cookie file she?d eaten earlier, Kei went back to scouring the Internet for Mangaka Corner info. Whilst she searched, the door to the forum swung open, and in strode a mysterious figure- tall, but oddly-shaped as if hiding something underneath his coat. She looked up in surprise- the forum wasn?t exactly a hub of activity, but it wasn?t often that people burst through doors in such a way. "Are you Lady Katana?" the figure asked from under his large Vampire Hunter: D-esque hat. Kei raised an eyebrow. "That?s what the avatar says. Can I help you?" "Yes." The figure?s voice lowered, as if it were break into an evil laugh. "Yes, you can?" Outside the Manga Workshop, passing by with a handful of various n00b-thwacking devices, Solo Tremaine heard a powerfully sinister laugh- as he approached the room a tall, dark man in a large hat ran outside, looking very annoyed. Solo poked his wolfy head around the door. "Everything okay?" Kei?s expression was one of exasperation: her eyes had been reduced to dark slits and a large amount of blue shading had swept down her forehead. "I hate when people ask me to join their forums like that." * * * Some while later, Lady Katana was clearing up her mountain of manga, ready to start drawing some comics of her own when she noticed something on the floor. It was small, round, and glowing. Her curiosity piqued, she moved closer. It was a small button with the words ?Click for Diversion? flashing repeatedly on its surface. She shrugged. What harm could it do? [i]Click.[/i] [/color][color=#503f86][i][i]CRASH![/i] [i][b]" 1 R T3H l3333333337!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111!"[/b][/i] [/i]The huge troll careened blindly through the forum wall, knocking over the leviathan bookcases that held the precious manga to their shelves. Incensed (and managing to do a perfect impression of all four Exterminatus Now characters at once), she raised her ModRod. "Get out of my forum!" Several members had been alerted by the huge noise. Several others had been squished by the huge creature. It was disgusting. Its face was a poorly-animated 8-Bit version of an anime character, with the body akin to that of a cave troll from Lord of the Rings. It swung a huge spam-hammer in its hand and tucked into its (rather less than ample) loincloth were thousands of porn pictures, ready to be plastered over the walls. She sent a frantic PM to James, who appeared almost instantaneously at the forum?s door along with the rest of the Team Leaders. While Kei stepped back from the carnage being caused and began rearranging the manga archives, a sinister-looking pop-up window appeared behind her. A long, dark sinister hand reached out, and? [i][b]"NOOOO! T3H l33337N35555555 15 GOOOON!111!!!"[/b][/i] The troll?s dying words rumbled throughout the forums, sending annoying chills down the spines of everyone who heard them. Adam clicked his fingers and the walls were repaired, the manga rearranged and the coffee stains cleared up. Once again, Solo poked his wolfy head around the door, looking for Kei. As the rest of the Moderators dispersed, he continued searching the extensive Manga Workshop for any signs. "Strange. No scribbling of pencils? not even any silence of concentration" He whispered idly to himself. "Not that silence is easily heard, but there?s something about that [i]kind[/i] of silence that- ow." Solo picked himself up off the floor and looked back at what he?d tripped up on. It was a small pop-up banner that flashed a tirade of eye-burning colours every second. He felt dizzy just looking at it. "Urgh, what?s that?" * * * "n00." "n00." Kei rolled onto her side, gripping the blankets around her. "I don?t want to get up yet?" she grumbled quietly. Whose alarm was that, anyway? "n00." Kei sprang up, leaping to her feet with amazing dexterity- had the low ceiling not been in the way it would have made for a perfect dramatic ascent. She collapsed back down to the makeshift bed, growling in irritation. She chanced a quick look around. Opening one eye was a mistake- the other shot open, and both were almost as wide as frying pans by the time she?d realised where she wasn?t. It was a huge marble room with walls that crept gracefully up to an arched ceiling, from which hung brilliantly-decorated chandeliers and hanging baskets. On the walls were portraits of anime characters, each with extravagant golden frames (although some looked suspiciously like theOtaku?s greeting cards with the text scrubbed off). Two staircases stretched up the walls behind her from the side of the room to a door in the middle of a mezzanine floor, each with a section of red carpet lining their steps. Opposite her, at the other end of the red carpet, stood two huge oaken double-doors. [i]Where did OB go?"[/i] she croaked. Next to her bed was a short, fat Goku look-alike with a short piece of wood. He poked Kei with great interest. "j00 n00!" it garbled in a rather coarse dialect of l33t. Am ominous boom sounded from the end of the room. The Goku-thing scurried away through a small doorway, screeching horribly. The huge double doors at the end swung open and through them strode a handsome (if rather sinister-looking) anime character. His hair was long and dark blue, tied back in an over-indulgent ponytail; his costume was a deep black fantasy costume complete with purple-lined cloak. His boots made a satisfying ?clomp? with each handsome (but sinister) step. She recognised him instantly as Darcia from Wolf's Rain. When he reached the foot of her sofa, he took a gracious bow. "My Lady Katana is awake. We?ve been waiting for you." * * * "Careful with that- it?s a hyperlink image." Adam inspected the object very carefully, being careful not to touch anything but the borders around it to make sure he didn?t accidentally click on the link and get spirited away to some far-off place. Or to make sure he just didn?t get Spirited Away. He already had it on DVD. Solo looked concerned. "Do you think Kei clicked on it?" James wore a grave expression on his face. Mini-James wore gravy on his face. "It looks like it. Have you checked Who?s Online?" Shin nodded. "Twice. And we checked her MyO- we couldn?t find anything." Everyone exchanged concerned looks. Nobody seemed to want to trade, though. "Well, we have to get her back then." Solo said eventually, staring deeply into the banner?s swirling mass of vomit-inducing colours. James nodded. "Of course. But we have to guarantee that we can get back once we use the hyperlink to travel to? wherever it is this sends you to. We could be lost forever." A sly grin spread over jblessing?s face. He disappeared into a backroom for a few seconds, and emerged triumphant with a disc. "Internet Explorer!" he chirruped. "Just type in the address and go. It?s my only copy though, so only one of you will be able to go through." "Are you sure it?ll work?" a voice that chose to remain anonymous said quietly. Justin shrugged. "Well, it might not be as good as Netscape, but it?s all we have at the moment. I just need to install it into your personal profile." Des looked at the circle of faces standing around the banner. "Who?s going?" A tense silence collapsed over the group. They looked at each other, then at themselves, and then at anyone they?d missed. It only took a few seconds before someone stepped forwards. "I?ll go." "Somehow I thought you might." Justin placed the disc carefully into Solo?s control panel and installed it. A small toolbar appeared on his wrist-computer that doubled as IM screen and ModRod Dispenser. He readied himself to click on the hyperlink, giving a last confirmatory look to James. "Good luck," the admirable Admin said, with great majesty. Solo smiled and clicked the link. A strange, sucking sound filled the room- in a flash of light he?d disappeared, leaving only the Banner Ad where he stood. * * * Kei found herself on a lavishly-decorated open-top carriage, two muscular but graceful horses carrying her down an endless corridor filled with extravagant anime wallpapers, statues and what appeared to be forum members dressed in nineteenth century evening dress. Through hidden speakers in the wall, Fairy Fore?s ?VIVID? echoed along the corridors. Her ?host? was sitting opposite her, drinking some liquid that she hoped wasn?t coffee (she?d have been inclined to murder him if it was- although if she hadn?t been treated so gracefully this far she?d have murdered him already for swiping her away from OtakuBoards). Eventually, feeling rather awkward in a large flowing satin dress, she cleared her throat to gain his attention. "Erm, where am I?" Her ?host? looked puzzled. "Why, you?re at your Homepage. These are The AnimeBoards, home of all elite anime and manga fans, such as yourself." Kei frowned. "I?d hardly call myself ?elite?. I like English dubs, for one thing." The host laughed in an indiscernibly un-British way. "Lady Katana, what you watch doesn?t matter- we?ve had our eye on you for some time and we simply want you to be part of our flourishing community. We?re all very friendly here, and you can read and draw manga to your heart's-" "But I could do that at OtakuBoards!" she said out loud, not quite meaning to. The ?host? looked slightly taken aback, then smiled, a flicker of frustration passing through his handsome (but sinister) eyebrows. "It must be disorientating for you to be brought here on such short notice," he said unwaveringly, adjusting his eye-patch. "But at least let me show you around before you decide to stay. I?m sure you?ll like it here." Kei was becoming less and less pleased with this. Her look of growing dissent was mirrored in the Lothar plushie sitting next to her. Not in the mood to wonder where it had come from but somewhat comforted by its presence anyway, she pressed her ?host? for questions. "Where exactly are we going, anyway? This corridor?s huge." "Behind each of these wallpapers is a forum dedicated to their respective animes. Each one has dozens of topics, all bursting with discussion." Their crimson and gold chariot ground to a halt outside a Rouroni Kenshin forum. The tuxedo-clad forum member twitched slightly as the ?host? approached. "Good day sir how are you thanks for coming." It burbled in a monotone voice. With a wave of the ?host?s hand the wallpaper swung away and inside Kei saw hundreds of people all chatting endlessly about Kenshin- the music, the animation, the subtle interaction between the characters? not a hint of thought about who?s hair colour made them more powerful or who?s sword made the best ?schwing? noise. She stepped back, tapping her fingers on her dress. There was something very ?not right? about all this. She knew other forums were bigger then OtakuBoards, but none were free from the most fundamental of discussions about favourite characters. And why exactly did this forum want her so badly? Stepping back into the coach while the ?host? rambled on about the vast extent of his personal anime collection, she sighed and wished she was back in her Manga Workshop reading Ctrl+Alt+Del. * * * [i]THOOM![/i] [i]Crashsplat.[/i] "Ow." Solo rubbed his battered posterior, observing the height from which he?d entered the forum. A large drainpipe hung from a dingy, spam-covered brick wall behind him, dripping bits of HTML. Getting out was going to be interesting. He picked himself up, restored his avatar to Yugo?s beast form and looked around. "This place is a tip," he muttered, somewhat reminded of the state of his own bedroom. Huge chunks of grey wall littered the apparent wasteland he?d been dumped in, looking a lot like the borders of an old forum. Sure enough, with a short amount of exploration he found two separate halves of the same concrete sign that together read: "Welcome to AnimeBoards!" In the distance he could see a large gothic building planted on the centre of a colossal column of rock, looking distinctly unfriendly. Large, ugly, [i]thick[/i]-looking creatures plodded about the rock?s base, holding large wooden clubs. The air stank of rotten spam. Solo could see manholes partially covered by bits of forum and folded taskbars, their links completely broken. As he cautiously progressed towards the castle on the mountain, a slow, regular thudding noise from behind him was growing ominously louder. Whirling round, he came face-to-groin with a troll. [i][i][b]"RRRAAAR! OMFG U FURRY FR34CK!!11!1!"[/b][/i][/i] Solo?s eye twitched. Luckily, he came prepared for an event such as this. Grabbing a sword from underneath his T-shirt, he leapt into the air and clobbered the troll around the head, slamming the flat of the blade into the side of its smelly, slimy, leathery head. Taking a few seconds for the pain to register with its brain, the troll made a sad, almost flatulent groaning noise, then toppled to the ground, green spam oozing from the side of its mouth. Wiping the sword clean, Solo returned it to its holster. Upon turning round, he saw a crowd of dishevelled members. "You offlined a troll!" they gasped in unison, half in awe and half in horror. A sweatdrop appeared behind Solo?s head. "Was I wrong?" The group slowly began advancing on him? * * * Kei had finally managed to prise her ?host? from her right arm and wandered off on her own to explore the forums she was, for the moment at least, having to call home. The anime forums stretched for miles in any direction you cared to walk in, and all of them seemed suspiciously full of activity. Some of the posts were fairly garbled, but every so often she?d overhear one that made vague sense in a typical way that really detailed posts about an anime series that you?ve not looked into much can. The Lothar plushie on her shoulder listened for a few seconds, then went cross-eyed. Fearing the same fate, Kei decided to make her way to the Naruto forums and see what she could find. Some minutes later she came to the conclusion that she was going nowhere at a greatly accelerated rate, which in turn led her to try talking to one of the manservant-esque members standing outside the forum doors. He stood absolutely still, wearing his Roger Smith avatar with perfect precision. Clearing her throat eloquently, she addressed the member in the most polite way she could muster. "Hi, I?m looking for-" "Hi Lady Katana, I?m Member Number 3161! I?m your new friend. I bring you the info you want faster and easier than ever! Click [u]here[/u] to see my privacy policy." A little flustered, Kei went to interject, but was pre-counter-interjected by the member. "I can't wait to show you what I can do, but first I'd like get to know you a little. May I ask you a few general questions? To do this later, type "skip." You can also skip any question." Kei desperately tried to find where she should type ?skip?. Sighing with exasperation, she relented. "Sure." The member smiled a mechanical smile. "Cool. OK, let?s get started. To skip any question, type "skip". To exit the interview, type "exit". [i]Interview?[/i] Kei and Lothar thought in unison. "What?s your first name? If you want me to call you Lady Katana, type "none". "Kei. My name?s Kei." The member smiled its disjointed, robotic smile again. "Cool. I?ll call you Kei My Name?s Kei now." Kei sank to the floor, left eye twitching and grumbling ferociously. * * * "OMFG Taht r be so cool!11" "Were didyu gettit?" "Will u marry me?" Solo shook the bedraggled, wet and rather musty-smelling people from his form and spread his arms out, trying to get himself some space. "I?m looking for a friend of mine. Can anyone tell me where she is?" The room fell silent. Although judging by the state of aforementioned room, it was surprising it didn?t fall down altogether. Its rounded sewer-like walls were covered in green slime, ageing anime posters haphazardly fastened to them by any means possible. Tiny wooden desks lined the edges of the tunnels, leaving barely enough room for people to squeeze past. At the desks huddled groups of anime fans, chanting in low voices the themes to their favourite shows. Every so often a member from a rival anime would sneak past, sparking hisses of disdain to echo through the corridor. A small stream of unhealthy green liquid oozed along the floor, broken only by larger streams of the same liquid spurting noisily from cracks in the walls. Solo looked around cautiously. From the back of the crowd came a member slightly taller than the rest. He wore a black hooded cloak and a Nicholas D. Wolfwood avatar. "I see you have found our [b][u]cosy[/u][/b] little home!" the member said dramatically. "[b][u]Welcome[/u][/b]! Follow me." Carefully, Solo did as he was told. He was led to a dark grey room with a poorly-scrawled banner above it, reading ?AnimeBoards Moderators?. Oddly enough, regular members were running in and out as they pleased- it didn?t exactly look secure. As soon as he stepped inside, he was greeted by even more dark grey walls, into which were carved gutters for the green slime to flow along in interesting shapes. In the centre of the moderately-sized room stood a square table with six or seven Moderators standing about it, all of them wearing the same expression of concern. Solo turned to look back at the tunnel, only to find himself propelled forwards by a vast mass of? Rei. A member with a phenomenally huge avatar of the Evangelion character shoved him forwards, knocking him into the table with an undignified ?crack?. The moderators flinched and retreated to behind the hooded member. "We have been waiting for you." The Nicholas D. Wolfwood-a-like removed his hood and stared grimly at Solo. Solo stared apprehensively back. "For me? Why?" "[b][u]You[/u][/b] are the one who is destined to free these boards from the [i][b][u]EVIL[/u][/b][/i] that has [b][u]enslaved[/u][/b] them so [b][u]cruelly[/u][/b]!" Solo wrung his hands. "Um?" "[b][u]You[/u][/b] are the one sent to us by?" the member froze, his arms spread wide above his head. The others watched him for a few seconds, then sat back around the table. "Heh, you can ignore him, heh. Heh, his connection?s frozen now." a Moderator with a Kaworu avatar said softly, shaking Solo?s hand. "Heh, I?m Kaworu." Another appeared, this time with a Goku avatar, clutching an exclusively-signed copy of a Big O manga sidled up to him and grinned a grin that was only slightly short of psychotic. "DO YOU LIKE BIG O?" he cooed. "Er, what I?ve seen-" "GOOD!" he shouted abruptly before promptly disappearing into the darkness. Kaworu invited Solo to sit at the table, on which sat a large cylindrical device with a handle at one end. It shone a bright gold, even without the aid of decent light to hit it. "Heh, it?s called a SpamMa-Gun, and we think this?ll help us to get into the castle, but we don?t know how to operate it, heh." Kaworu handed it to Solo, who turned it over in his hands and then dumped it on the table, having found a big red button labelled ?Open?. "Heh." * * * TO BE CONTINUED...[/color][/color]

[quote name='Kawaii Seth']Then again, manga at often times gives out MUCH more information then most anime shows. Take Hellsing for example, in the anime, you never actually find out who sent Incongnito after Alucard and Integra... all you know is that Incognito is the bad guy. But in the manga of Hellsing, it explain the whole story. More bad guys, more storyline, and you actually find out who the MAIN bad guy is.[/quote][color=#503f86]It depends when the anime is produced in relation to the manga. Sometimes an anime can be produced before the manga's even finished, which means an ending has to be cobbled together from rough elements due ot be in the rest of the manga. That's what happened with Trigun- while the two storylines contain similarities both are quite different in terms of how the events unfold. But with details of character histories they're pretty much the same. It's down to the writer's discretion as to what they think would make a better show. And you have to remember the difference in communication between the two. Although both use drawings, manga is primarily written, and you can fit more expositionary detail and character emotion monologue into a written medium than an animated one. But with the Digimon Zero Two manga, the story was drastically abridged- there was far more in the actual series than the manga. Although that's probably due to the manga being made after the anime, but it's not always the case that manga has more than anime. I'd have loved for the manga to have shown bits of the series we never saw (specifically bits with Cody and Armadillomon), but all it really abled me to do was look at very nice black-and-white drawings of scenes I'd already seen. [QUOTE]Most anime shows are dubbed horendously and if you can't understand Japanese, then the subtitles are sometimes hard to read because they appear and disappear on the screen twice as fast. I prefer to get the anime in Japanese dialogue though.[/QUOTE]I'd disagree with this too, if only because I get frustrated with the huge amount of people who bash English dubs. Granted there are some really poor ones, and ones aimed at kids tend to come off worse. But I like all of the English dubs I've seen with the exception of two: Final Fantasy Unlimited and the new Castle In The Sky. Otherwise I'll happily watch English or Japanese dubs. Generally I'll watch an anime first, and if the manga interests me I'll take that out too to see if it differs any. Sometimes I've heard that mangas offer far more information about characters or continue the storyline of the series and will buy them accordingly to see if my favourite characters have any more to them than I already know. It's also interesting to see how the story of the anime could have been subtley different and comparing the two to gain a better insight into characters' motivations and histories.[/color]

[COLOR=#503F86]There's a thread where you can discuss dubs [URL=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=43877]here[/URL]. Unless the thread's about a specific anime, ones older than 30 days generally shouldn't be brought back, heh. Topics like this don't take long to pop up again anyway, and I must have seen this one at least five times. Thread closed.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]Okay, let's leave the debate about the title and subject specifics alone- if either of you keep going on about it I'll close the thread. It's ridiculously petty, really.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]DeathBug's the one holding the party, not Domon ^_^; And yes, as far as the RPG goes he is- the party's scheduled for Friday and today's only Monday.[/COLOR]

[quote name='GameGoddess']Anime music is a type of it's own music...Genre or not, you don't find InuYasha soundtracks in the Rock section or the instrumentals. Anime music is just a better way of saying 'InuYasha music', 'Trigun music', 'Cowboy Bebop music' and so on and so forth. I don't know what point of view you are coming from, but in my point of view it makes sense. Sure, anime does have some rock and such, but you don't hear Metallica do a lot of anime songs o.o It's mostly japanese music, so again, anime music is just another way of saying japanese type music[/quote][COLOR=#503F86]You're all over the place here, heh. Okay- Metallica wouldn't do covers of anime themes because most of them are in Japanese and Metallica are a very American rock band. The two languages are so different it'd be almost impossible to try and compare them. There is a huge difference between 'anime' music and 'Japanese' music. Japan has some very successful bands that have nothing to do with anime- the only reason it's called J-Pop/Rock here is because it's from Japan. Most animes are too, but the point is they are two separate sections in a music catalogue. And Japanese [i]traditional[/i] music is separate from both, so it's an unfair generalisation to make. You do get anime soundtracks in with the film and TV soundtracks [i]if[/i] the anime is widely-enough recognised (which usually means it's been show on TV or in the cinemas). I could quite easily get a copy of the Spirited Away, Akira or Princess Mononoke soundtracks a few months ago in HMV. They were all in the soundtracks section. You won't get them in Rock because it's just not where they belong, even if they're a collection of songs. But even then, since anime still isn't mainstream enough a genre by itself, you'd be hard pressed to find them in normal CD retail shops. Anyway, I am a big fan of anime music- I must have at least 35 anime soundtracks from various different series. I love the orchestrals and the songs- the songs even more than a lot of English ones. So much so that I'll generally only buy albums from Japanese bands now. I don't know quite what it is about anime music that appeals to me more than other styles. I guess... one soundtrack can be so diverse depending on the mood of the scene it's trying to accompany. Outlaw Star, for instance, is one of my favourites because the range is so varied but each one isn't any worse off for it. When you get a really talented composer creating all the music, there's something about it that has that much more edge to it than Western scores. Of course, you'd be hard-pressed to beat John Williams. But then, anime tends to use more electric guitars...[/COLOR]

[b]2:55pm[/b] [COLOR=#503F86]Sabre really hadn't been paying attention. He'd heard the noises and general disruption that everyone loved causing and had grunted in indignation when Suzuki bit his tail, and smirked more than a little when Imric nearly blew Mrs. Subamai's face off with a well-placed fireball. He'd never been in a Transformation class before, and in realoty he wasn't sure why or whether he could be bothered with it. He rested his head on his hands, blankly facing the front of the class where the hapless (if rather explosive) teacher had been waffling on at them for the last twenty minutes or so about how unprepared they were for the rigours of 'high-grade' transformation processes. "...and [i]that[/i] is why you should never perform a transformation in school without supervision. Since we can't see you outside school you're [i]more[/i] than welcome to do whatever you want there, but our insurance policies [i]do[/i] state that we can't be held responsible for any injuries that you may and probably will incur." Sabre yawned, making sure his view of the teacher was obscured by the student sitting in front of him so he could fall asleep without her noticing. Unfortunately, she had a tendency to sharply emphasise random words, making any kind of regular sleep cycle impossible to fall into. "Now, after this lesson's [i][b]extraordinary[/i][/b] outburst of disorder, I have decided to take full control of these lessons. I understand that some of you are well-versed with animal transformations already and indeed, some of you may [i]never[/i] be able to take hold of these [i]magnificent[/i] abilities, but you can at least learn from them. Let me explain the lesson structures for this year. "First, we shall look at Transformation theory. The differences between cybernetic, [i]organic[/i] and magical transformations and what these processes entail. Then, we shall study the [i]deep[/i] meditation methods for successful transformations. All of these will be involved with your end of year dissertation, so I [i]hope[/i] you're all paying attention. Finally, in the Summer semester, you will set yourself a goal creature for you to aim to transform into using [i]all[/i] of the techniques we have looked at this year. We will try and organise some experts to come in and lecture you about it, and each week one student will be asked to give a short presentation on what they're learnt or demonstrate a unique transforming ability. Is that clear, everyone?" A general murmur of boredom rumbled around the room. Mrs Subamai smiled, satisfied, and began handing out piles of sheets to the students at the front. "Here is a wordsearch for you all to fill out. I know it's simple, but there are some [i]key words[/i] in it for you to look at- these will be useful throughout..." Finally, Sabre fell asleep.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]I like it- the art and what it represents. Specifically I like the way the angel and demon are sitting together in a sort of sister-like fashion underneath the blood vessels. Their wings are nice ^_^ I like the way the blood vessels frame everything- they look almost like trees in the autumn. Although the child looks a little extraneous just being up in the top left hand corner like that. I suppose that's not really too bad a thing- a child in the womb is like an annex to the mother, in effect. And it also detaches the physical from the metaphysical. But perhaps if the angel and demon were watching it, rather than not looking at each other. As much as they might not like themselves, they are brought together by the child. At the moment the two seem pretty isolated. But anyway, it's a really nice piece ^_^ The colours and hair effects are nice. I can see kalter's point about the base the angel and demon are sat on, but I don't think it matters that much. perhaps if it had a little more definition on the edges so it looked like a piece of flesh with veins in. But then, it shouldn't detract from the main focuses above- doing too much with it might confusing things. Very nice, Karmi ^_^[/COLOR]

[quote name='Dagger IX1']One of my personal favorites is the new English version of Miyazaki's Castle in the Sky. Something about that dub just makes me happy.[/quote][COLOR=#503F86]Strangely, that's one dub I really don't like. The re-writing by Disney just seems far too 'twee' to me, adding in what I'd call pointless dialogue jokes where there aren't any in the Japanese version (for example, when Mom's boys are fighting amongst themselves, or just fighting in general). But then, that might just be my grudge against Disney taking vengeance on anything remotely similar in terms of script. That said, I don't really like James van der Beek's voice in it, either. Something about it just doesn't sit well with me. Billy Crudup as Ashitaka suited well, I thought. Gillian Anderson could have been better-spoken but otherwise they had some lovely rich-sounding voices in it. [i]Spirited Away[/i] was a lovely film, but Chihiro's very much on a monotone pitch all the way through. There's always this slight whine in it, even when she's being happy. That's my only gripe with that dub. Otherwise I'll always tend to watch something in English first, because I can personally identify more with the emotions in an English character's voice than a Japanese one. I prefer [i]Trigun[/i]'s English dub to the Japanese one, as well as [i]Outlaw Star[/i], [i]Evangelion[/i], [i]Nadesico[/i] and [i]RahXephon[/i]. I'll happily listen to the Japanese voice, but I don't find myself connecting and becoming involved with the characters if I do. I enjoy them far more when I can. The worst dub I've heard... would probably have to be some of the older animes I've seen. [i]The Winds of Amnesia[/i], for example, and [i]MADOX-01[/i]. [i]Final Fantasy: Unlimited[/i] had the really irritating children's voices, but apart from that I'm easy to please. I don't bother getting fanatical about how much the script's changed because I can always turn on the subtitles and read it from there instead. The only thing that irks me is overuse of a particular voice actor. Whenever I hear... oh... the actress who plays Megumi in [i]RahXephon[/i], I think of Nene in [i]Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040[/i]. And I get that whenever I hear her voice- the captain in [i]Full Metal Panic[/i], Shiratori's sister in [i]Nadesico[/i]... it's always Nene to me. But that'll happen with anything you watch which reuses the same actors and actresses, really.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]You really only need to look around the forums to see who's interested, and it's not too hard to work out which ones are girls. On the other hand, asking where people live I'd consider a breach of privacy. Since this has little discursive value and could be put into your signature to much greater effect, I'm going to close this thread.[/COLOR]

[quote name='cinnamon][size=1][color=yellowgreen]Well, for starters Baron, it's not very romantic. Going up to someone and saying "I like you... and her and her and her..." Doesn't put past quite the right impression...[/color'][/size][/quote][COLOR=#503F86]Ah, but there are different kinds of affection, and different people show different qualities that you may develop a crush on. In one case, someone may be incredibly bubbly and happy, and the other may be shy but very very sweet. If you had a crush on both and were asked to identify which you preferred, it could be difficult. Generally, one tends to stand above the others for whatever reason, but it's not always intentional, heh. I suppose one of the most idiotic things someone said about their relationship was a friend of mine's ex three years ago, who told me that she was still seeing him [i]and[/i] that they'd had sex at least fifty times in the last three weeks. Yeah, right.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]*points to Dagger's post* Please add more detail to your posts, jedite. I know there's more than one character, but it would be nice if you could at least add a reason as to why each of those characters deserves that sort of present. If this thread gets too un-detailed in its responses it will be closed.[/COLOR]

[b]September 6th, 2:25pm[/b] [color=#503f86]Sabre grimaced at the sound of the familiar voice piercing his ear in a low, mischevious whisper. He wrenched his head round to stare directly into her eyes. Her face lit up for a split second, then were obscured by his large furry hand covering her face. "I'm eating." he growled quietly. "Bweeef!" she mumbled pleadingly. "Wuur fo cute!" "All right, but no hugs. I'm carrying a tray of food and I intend to eat it." Slowly, carefully, he removed his oversized paw from her face and stood upright, extending his figure to his normal six-foot six stance. She paused for a second, smiled at him and whisked her tray to a table on the other se of the cafeteria, sipping and giggling as she went. Giving a puzzled sigh, Sabre sat down heavily on the bench, which creaked loudly in disapproval, threatening to snap under his bulk. He in turn threatened to snap it if it creaked even more, but with it being a bench it couldn't actually he him,or even know who it was that was sitting on it. Thinking better than to get into an argument with an inanimate object, he kept quiet and ate his lunch. * * * It took Sabre approximately thirty seconds to demolish is food, and tother ten minutes he spent glaring at people in other parts of the room. He was sure they were talking about him. They'd disappeared after a while, and Sabre became very conscious of the fact that he was the only one in there. The kitchen staff were all reading their newspapers- the cafeteria looked distinctly closed. Standing up, a little apprehensively, he decided to make his way towards a corridor. As soon as he turned he was met with a furious-faced caretaker Takahashi. "Why aren't you in class? The bell went ten minutes ago!" Sabre froze. Even though the janitor was a few inches shorter than h, he could be incredibly fierce. "Um... I don't have any classes, sir-" "Haven't you read this yet?!" Takahashi jammed a piece of paper right in his face, so close that he had to back away to read it. It read, in big, bold, black letters:[/color] [b][center]Due to a shortage of pupils and staff, all timetabled lessons at the Tokyo Academy are compulsory, and to be taken by all pupils [i]without[/i] exception, starting today.[/center] [/b] [b][left]-Yours [strike]brutally[/strike] sincerely, [/b] [b]Principal Okari[/b] [/left] [color=#503f86]"But I've been banned from Trans-" "[i]Get moving![/i]" Quick as lightning, Sabre disappeared from the cafeteria and hurtled into the Transformation classroom, ignoring both the teacher and the students, parking himself right at the back of the rounded lecture hall.[/color]

[COLOR=#503F86]I think this thread has gone as far as it will get. There's no point keeping it up if all there's going to be is heated, insult-ridden opinion-enforcing. People find and develop relationships in their own way. Trying to prove one is more right than the other is pointless- each approach is subjective to the person and people they're trying to get into a relationship with. As we can see here, there's far too much diversity of opinion for anything to be unequivocally 'correct'. Thread closed.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]Unfortunately this falls in much the same category as your 'This or That' thread, so I'm going to have to close it. Please also try and work on your post quality, Ryoko.jpg- try and use full sentences and check your spelling and grammar where appropriate. Posts that are sub-par will be deleted as spam in future.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]Welcome to OtakuBoards, Ryoko,jpg. Please be aware that the quality of posts and discussion is very important on these boards, so threads like this are generally considered spam unless there's significant thought and discussion put into the replies. Please look over the [URL=http://www.otakuboards.com/rules.php?]Rules[/URL] before posting again. Thread closed.[/COLOR]