Solo Tremaine

[COLOR=#503F86][i]Darkness. He could feel it flowing through his veins, enshrouding his every movement. The dark metal of his armour almost looked invisible in the thick mist, his long cloak billowing into the opaque air behind him. The red edging of his armour made his approach look like that of a dragon striding its way through a smokey veil, searching for the chance to strike at its prey. His sword, with its blade of deep orange, cut a bright path through the mist ahead. He held it tightly in his right hand, his dark shield close to his body in his left. Behind him followed a small platoon of Dark Bladess, all anticipating a quick and bloody battle. The rocky path through the valley was treacherous- a few of his soldiers had already fallen in ambushes -but this mission had to go ahead. This was one of the paths towards Gaia Mountain. If they could destroy the groups of Kione's minions that surrounded the area they could gain a greater control of the villages he'd conquered. A 'crack' echoed through the valley up ahead. He froze. The soldiers behind him quickly arranged themselves into a tight wedge formation. A few tense seconds passed. Flare could see something flowing down the side of the mountain in front of them, towards where the rest of Dain's forces were. Explosions and screams echoed from the valley below- the onslaught had started. "Ready yourselves!" he hissed. Metal footsteps crunched the ground. Through the mist emerged a Giga Gagagigo, surrounded by eight Sea Serpent Warriors of Darkness. As soon as they spotted Flare and his troops, they charged. The Sea Serpent Warriors bunched together in a tight line, holding their axes out in front of them as they moved swiftly towards them. The Giga Gagagigo licked its metallic lips as it lumbered close behind them. "Advance on my mark!" Flare barked, readying his sword and shield. The swordsmen tightened their formation, gripping their swords tightly. The axes of the Sea Serpents were barely metres away now... "Charge!" The wdge formation rammed into the middle two Sea Serpents- Flare broke directly through and the Blades just behind him sliced their blades through their heads with sickening ease. The rest of the serpents split and panicked whilst Flare's soldiers at the back peeled off to attack them inside the range of their axes. Flare and five Blades faced the Giga Gagagigo, whose mechanical fists clenched threateningly. "Time to die, vermin!" Gagagigo roared. Immediately, Flare lunged forwards, narrowly avoiding the punch of the gigantic creature. One of the Blades was hit in the chest and flew into the valley wall, his armour obliterated. Another went for his leg. It sliced open a patch of skin and the creature let out a furious scream, reaching down and impaling him on its claw. Flare swung his sword over his head and plunged it into the unprotected lower back of the leviathan lizard. thrusting it up its spine and into its ribcage. It wretched and whirled around, knocking over a further two Dark Blades and a Sea Serpent Warrior. Eventually, after several moments of thrashing, it collapsed to its knees. The last Sea Serpent was executed and Flare pulled the blade from Gagagigo's flesh. It let out a final sigh, spitting oil and blood from its mouth and fell, dead, onto the ground. The armoured knight looked around him. Six of his unit were left. It wasn't enough...[/i] * * * He watched the Dark Sage lower himself into the field chair and listened to the tactical conversation the Dark Realm leaders were discussing. Their losses were too heavy to try and sustain the front line here. Had the Red Eyes not joined Kione, they might have been able to launch an aerial assault, or at least gain a better view of what Kione's stronghold looked like. "I blundered," he heard Dain murmur, almost spitting it from his teeth like some kind of vile drink. "I should never have ordered a strike with only our Spellcasters. Among our kind, there are few who have worth outside of their magical prowess, and the Lunatite quite effectively rendered everyone useless." "Not everyone." Flare murmured. Flare let his mind wander. He wasn't a tactician, but was happy to follow orders given to him and develop them once he knew the situation. The battles he'd fought in had come at quite high a price. He didn't want to make any more mistakes. He started at Dain's address to the group. "Freed the Matchless is in place near Mount Gaia. We move now under cover of darkness. The Council meets at dawn three days from now." Three days. Would it be enough? Kione's forces grew in intensity by the hour, while with each battle they entered into it grew harder and harder to gain recruits. Whilst the meeting continued, Flare dismissed himself and left the tent, to be greeted by his fellow Lieutenant the Archfiend Soldier. "Long time, no see, Flare..." he hissed.[/COLOR]

[quote name='k9-Girl']It is a pitty that preaching to the choir is just that... preaching to the choir...[/quote][COLOR=#503F86]Welcome to OtakuBoards, k9-Girl. Please be aware that posts this short are generally considered spam at OtakuBoards, even if they put across a decent point. Try and add as much detail into them as possible. And since you're new, I'd best direct you to the [URL=http://www.otakuboards.com/rules.php?]Rules[/URL], too. They're essential reading, heh.[/COLOR]

Saturday 5th September, 11:01am [color=#503f86]A tall, bulky man stepped up to the podium, staring through his tinted glasses a stare that would cause millions to cower in fear. But since nobody could actually see his eyes, the crowd in front of him remained unafraid, continuing to sit in anticipation of their address. Some were chatting amongst themselves, others were battling it out inside 600-feet tall robots. The man straightened his short black hair and pulled his black jacket further over his shoulders. He raised a gloved hand up to his mouth and coughed politely into the microphone- a mere six thousand decibels of noise swept over the gathering of students, sending many of the younger, lighter ones flying over the horizon. Satisfied that he had their attention (if not their hearing), the Principal of the Tokyo Academy for Unusual Students began his speech. ?Welcome all to the Tokyo Academy. Some of you have been here before, some of you haven?t. As always, I trust we shall make this year as? productive a year as we have always done. As you know, this is a very special school, where we can teach you without worrying too much about loss of life, and we may harvest your abilities?? He paused as the students raised suspicious eyebrows in unison. Straightening his hair, he cleared his throat again, hoping nobody noticed the wisps of crimson vapour escaping from his lips. ?Excuse me, [i]nurture[/i] your abilities so that you may live normal, productive lives. For those of you that have just joined us this year, the senior students will show you around the site. Thank you.? With that, the principal disappeared, once again straightening his short black hair.[/color] [color=#503f86][/color] [color=#503f86]The students applauded nervously as a second speaker strode up to the microphone. He looked like a science teacher, but the oversized Y-fronts he was wearing over the top of his jeans didn't do his credability any favours, especially when his lab coat was tucked firmly inside them. Three pairs of glasses hung about his head, and his half-shaven eyebrows jiggled erratically. He let off a brief, dazling smile and laid his hands on the microphone with a vice-like grip.[/color] [color=#503f86][/color] [color=#503f86]"Hello, everyone!" he said, in a distinctly female voice. "Please excuse me and my husband- we're experiencing some technical difficulties at the moment."[/color] [color=#503f86][/color] [color=#503f86]About half of the audience laughed, others looked around with horrified expressions. [/color] [color=#503f86][/color] [color=#503f86]"My name is Jean Kanagi, and I am proud to say I'm the Vice-Principal of this fine Academy. In body, I am also my husband, but you'll all get to meet him later and he'll be glad to fill you all in on why I... er, we look so strange. Please don't be alarmed though. Many unusual and glorious sights await you at the Tokyo Academy, and all of them must be taken with your head held high, chalking each one up to life's fantastic experience."[/color] [color=#503f86][/color] [color=#503f86]Polite applause. The Vice-Principal continued while her left leg began performing a rudimentary tap dance.[/color] [color=#503f86][/color] [color=#503f86]"Needless to say, we're pleased to be seeing so many new faces here, as well as the welcome return of all our older students. I'm sure many will be willing to lend a hand to those who have just arrived so that they can get their bearings."[/color] [color=#503f86][/color] [color=#503f86]The majority of the older students looked around for the ones looking particularly nervous. Others cackled insanely.[/color] [color=#503f86][/color] [color=#503f86]Mrs Kanagi continued: "Before I send you off to the Hall for your Welcome Party, there are some important administration announcements to attend to:[/color] [color=#503f86][/color] [color=#503f86]Firstly- all yeargroups will be grouped together for their classes due to our unfortunate staff shortage. This is going to be rather hard on the teachers, so please try and co-operate as best you can."[/color] [color=#503f86][/color] [color=#503f86]More insane cackling from students- some of the teachers hiding behind the podium looked nervously at each other.[/color] [color=#503f86][/color] [color=#503f86]"Secondly, Student accommodation will be opened after midday today so that you can get yourself settled down. Please be sure to read the janitors' rulesheet before holding any wild parties, though."[/color] [color=#503f86][/color] [color=#503f86]There was a wall of suitcases sitting behind the rows of seating, where everyone had dumped them before grudgingly sitting down to listen to the obligatory address.[/color] [color=#503f86][/color] [color=#503f86]"Thirdly, your lesson timetables will be available from the school's main reception. You [i]must[/i] take a copy with you if you plan on actually taking lessons here."[/color] [color=#503f86][/color] [color=#503f86]A wave of indifference meandered its way across the audience, not that this was really noticeable.[/color] [color=#503f86][/color] [color=#503f86]"And finally, thank you all for coming. I shall leave you in the wonderful company of the Academy's Dance Troupe performing Megumi Utena's [i]'Let Me Be Yours... Or Else'[/i] [/color][color=#503f86]I'm sure we're in for a really great year!"[/color] [color=#503f86][/color] [color=#503f86]Rapturous applause. The Vice-Principal hauled the podium from the stage, adjusting one pair of glasses while another fell to the floor and broke. Two rows of dancers cartwheeled on from either side of the stage and began singing in incredibly high-pitched voices, so dangerously so that by the time they'd finished, there were no windows left in the building behind them, and hardly any of the students could actually hear that they'd finished.[/color] [color=#503f86][/color] [color=#503f86]The male students only noticed when the phenomenally short skirts started disappearing off-stage. After a brief round of applause, everyone followed the neon signposts pointing to the reception awaiting them in the Hall.[/color]

[COLOR=#503F86]Unfortunately I'm going to have to close this thread. This question has been asked many many times before and it always leads to poor discussion. Since the opening post itself was pretty bad I don't see much reason to keep it open, heh. Please try and add more detail to your posts, Sixth Child- one-liners are almost always against the rules. And try and make sure to check your spelling before you submit a reply as well- it's important when all you're communicating in is writing. I suggest you take a look at the Rules as soon as possible- it's essential reading for all new members, heh. Thread closed[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]I haven't put a lot of thought into the actual geography of the campus... um... I guess there's a nearby forest, pedestrian walkways, a car/mecha/spaceship park, bicycle shelter, hospital section and a monument (a bronze statue of the school's founder in a swordfight with someone else in the middle of a fountain) inside the grounds. Apart from that everything's as it goes.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]P.E is standardised- they do a different sport every three or four weeks, and these include soccer, baseball, cricket, American football (i.e. Rugby), gymnastics, athletics, hockey, volleyball and basketball. Extra Sports involves anything Master Ooguchi sees fit to try and demonstrate his own prowess at, which could involve anything from archery to horseriding. Later in the year there'll be a huge Sports Day event, where people from this school compete against each other in teams and against teams from other schools in some events: athletics, gymnastics, hockey, soccer and basketball. There will be other events, but I don't want to give too much away, heh.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]My bedroom was once filled with a swarm of bees which had just come out of hibernation. But I didn't kill them, heh. Bees are lovely creatures and an endangered species in the UK. We got a large cup and a piece of card and shovelled them out of the windows, then blocked up the gaps that they crawled through. Cans of fly-killer aren't that effective unless you're in a small space and you point it directly at the insect in question. Otherwise you're just spraying harmful chemical everywhere. We have an electric fly-swatting device at home- kind of like a tennis racket with electric strings. You hold down both buttons on the shaft and it turns on. Twack it around a bit and if you hit the fly you've stunned it. Hold it to the fly and you have a barbeque, heh. They're very useful Otherwise, you can try and shut the door and all but one windows in each room, draw as many curtains as possible, leaving only one shaft of light near the open window. Since flies are drawn towards light, they should hopefully fly towards it and outside. Or, just try and draw them near one window and hit them from there.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]Welcome to OtakuBoards. Unfortunately, there's an Excel Saga thread already open, so I'm going to close this thread. You can check existing threads by looking in the Official Threads Directory Sticky at the top of the forum or by running a Search. Also, please make sure to use proper punctuation and add as much detail as possible to your posts. Were you not new, I'd be inclined to delete this as spam. Thread closed.[/COLOR]

[color=#503f86]One last detail before we get started, heh. [b]Student Accommodation[/b] I know I said this wouldn't matter too much, but I thought I'd designate on-campus rooms to everyone so that there's less confusion later on. There are two apartment blocks: Kyoto House and Osaka House. Kyoto houses the students and is only a few minutes' walk away from school; Osaka has some of the Staff livingin it, and is about ten to fifteen minutes away. Each has four floors. The higher the floor, the bigger the room and the more luxuries there are. Younger years are more likely to be on the lower floors- older students get priority. This goes by the American definition of 'floors' by the way. Apologies for confusing those from the UK ^_^; The flats themselves consist of a cloakroom, lounge area with storage shelves/cupboards and television/phone, and up to two bedrooms, each en-suite. Some of the second-floor flats might have one toilet between two rooms. The lowest floor on both buildings contains utilities (such as cupboards, water, gas and electricity mains, laundry rooms, shrines, toilets, a small shop), common rooms/lounges, small computer rooms and a reception area. Those on the second and third floors share a kitchen, and communal bathrooms/shower rooms are divided by gender- there aren't any inside the flats. Bedrooms are en-suite, though. On the top floor, only the kitchen is shared except one room, which has its own and four bedrooms linking from it. Dagger IX1: Top floor (shared kitchen and additional Kendo room) Duokeshi03/Ryoko T.D.C: Second floor Kane: Kyoto House, Top floor (has everything) DeathBug: Second floor Shinmaru: Off-campus, I think... Crucifix: Third floor Solo Tremaine: Top floor (shared kitchen) Lady Katana: Off-campus (shrine) Ben: In school (corridor with vending machines) Zidargh: Off-campus (20 minutes away) Arcadia: Third floor Shy: In school (Vending machine hallway) Terra: Third floor The only members of Staff who reside in Kyoto House are ColourDeaf's character (who has a shadowy corridor leading up to a room above the top floor), and Janitor Takashi, who has a flat in the basement. Wondershot's character lives anywhere, since he's inside Paradoxics. I assume 'hEvN's in Osaka House. Master Ooguchi is often seen lurking around both buildings with a ladder and a pair of binoculars/camera.[/color]

[COLOR=#503F86]It's not against the law to privately import stuff into the UK- it's against the law for street shops to sell products that haven't been given a classification (e.g. PG, U, 18+) by the BBFC, which is the British Board of Film Classification. There are few UK internet anime stores that sell region 1 DVDs, but I've never seen them being sold on the street. I think CDs are different- I've seen those about the place. I often order DVDs from other regions. My RahXephon Volume 7 was a Region 4 and Outlaw Star, Spirited Away, Nadesico and Bubblegum Crisis are all Region 1 too.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]You're right Secily, but please bear in mind that arguing about off-topic posts are still also off-topic ^_~ If it's about the games in relation to the series it's alright. But I'm sure there are already .hack gaming threads in the Play It forum. So if you want to discuss game-making/playing/hacking, then you can do so there.[/COLOR]

[color=#503f86]ColourDeaf- since your character floats around pretty much anywhere, he's free to do what he likes. And janitors are still staff, so still command a certain amount of respect. Even though you don't teach or set assignments (to the students' knowledge- if you're abstract enough you could trick them into doing them without knowing it, heh), but you can give out detentions if you feel someone's doing something that warrants one.[/color] [quote name='Crucifix][color=#708090']Although it's going to be kind of strange having PE with a vending machine, lol >.>;[/color][/quote][color=#503f86]Remember, no-one actually knows that he's a vending machine ^_~[/color] [color=#503f86][/color] [color=#503f86]And by the way- if anyone feels like they want to do more subjects, you can. I'm sure there'd be a few students who want to take on everything, heh.[/color]

[color=#503f86]Well, the timetable took less time than I expected ^_^; This thread has (obviously) been created to run in conjunction with the Anime Stereotype High School RPG, which I'll get going soon. In here, participants and readers can post their ideas on characters and discuss the story. If you've been set an interesting piece of homework (like an essay about Bishies), you can post it in here, too ^_^ This is also where a fair amount of the RPG admin will go ahead (i.e. planning school and private events), so be sure to check back regularly if something complicated's going on. If you get lost, you can post in here for help. Or, if you decide you want to drop out, you can say so here so that everyone knows and can be prepared. [b]Participants:[/b] [b][u][color=#0000ff]Students:[/b][/u] [u][b][/color][/u]Dagger IX1:[/b] Soushi Yoshida [b]duokeshi03:[/b] Oberon Ekiragi [b]Kane:[/b] Vegitable [b]DeathBug:[/b] Kiyoshi Hirokazu [b]Ryoko T.D.C:[/b] Suzuki Malizuma [b]Shinmaru:[/b] Jessica Hikari [b]Crucifix:[/b] Imric Kagushi [b]Solo Tremaine:[/b] Sabre Arihyoshi [b]Lady Katana:[/b] Katamaru Fujisawa [b]Ben:[/b] Yabaku28 [b]Zidargh:[/b] Rei-rargh Yargh! [b]Arcadia:[/b] Aya Kunetsu [b]Shy:[/b] Vending Unit 68-BSL2 [b]terra:[/b] Mima Miste [b][u][color=blue]Staff:[/color][/b][/u] [b]'hEvN:[/b] Professor Ken Wu-Fan [b]ColourDeaf:[/b] Yuan-i'TEUR [b]Wondershot:[/b] Uroboros/Paradoxics [b]Getting Started[/b] I've finished the timetable, but there is only one for all students. hence, all of the students will be grouped together. The excuse is that most of the teachers 'retired' after a colossal explosion in the Assembly Hall last year, leaving them incredibly under-staffed. Some teachers have to teach twice the number of students they usually would, and others are teaching things they know absolutely nothing about. With regards to lessons: as well as your specifically-chosen subjects, there is also English, Japanese, History, Maths, Geography and P.E. These are mandatory for all students. When there's a lesson on the timetable that you don't do, you have a free period. Some will have more than others, heh. Wednesday and Sunday are completely free days. Whoo. When posting, it would be nice if you could include a time at the beginning of your post so that everyone else knows what they should be doing. posts don't have to be minutes after each other- if you want to miss a lesson or a day in the interests of story progression then do so, so long as the time of day's displayed. I hope this'll be a long-lasting RPG. I'm not in any hurry to rush things along, heh. So feel free to build up your character as much as you like. This takes place over an entire year ^_~ [b]Staff Roles[/b] Staff are expected to hold some kind of discipline over the students, although not everyone's as obedient as they should be. Teachers also get to set homework assignments, give out detentions and merit awards, and they can decide on the times that these will take place. I hope this doesn't seem too confusing. If anyone has any questions or comments, please say.[/color]

[COLOR=#503F86]Having [i]finally[/i] seen the last few DVDs of RahXephon I can be entirely satisfied in knowing that it's an amazing series. I loved the ending and it's quickly become one of my all-time favourites, heh.[/COLOR] [quote name='Okta']Rahxephon is 'in' genre as far as monster of the week mecha series goes, despite it's depth it follows the age old route establish in the mecha bible just like eva did, if you really want to call it a clone compare it with gekiganger... ~_~[/quote][COLOR=#503F86]It isn't meant to be a slur of either RahXephon or Evangelion. The point that people are trying to make is that if you look at some of the story points of the series there are many similarities to Evangelion, e.g. the Dolems and the Angels, the Vermillions and Evas 6-15, [spoiler]The emrgence of a mechanical God that ultimately recreates the world[/spoiler]. Comparing it to Genkigangar isn't even viable, heh. I think it's much more than your bog-standard mech series. Far from formulaic, anyway. If it were I'd probably have been able to guess what was going to happen at the end of the series by episode 18. There's a lot I want to discuss here but I can't think what exactly to say and people have done it already, heh. Trust me to be late >_

[COLOR=#503F86]Alekx, please try and improve your post quality- try and refrain from using abbreviated words (e.g. 'ppl' instead of 'people')- the full words look much nicer anyway, not to mention overuse of abbreviations is against the rules. Make sure to use as much proper punctiation as you can too, please.[/COLOR]

[color=#503f86]I have decided on the final players to take part in the RPG. It's been a very long, painstaking process- on the whole I've been incredibly impressed by the sign-ups, and I did my best to consider absolutely every single variable I could before putting everyone down. This isn't a split-second decision, heh. It's been on my mind ever since it started. I apologise to all those who didn't get in, but please don't be disappointed. I don't particularly want to receive any angry PMs, heh. Everyone's still welcome to post in the shortly forthcoming Anime Stereotype High School Underground thread once it's up to give feedback, ideas and help if they're called for. Anyway, enough talk:[/color] [b][u][color=blue]Students:[/color][/b][/u] [b]Dagger IX1:[/b] Soushi Yoshida [b]duokeshi03:[/b] Oberon Ekiragi [b]Kane:[/b] Vegitable [b]DeathBug:[/b] Kiyoshi Hirokazu [b]Ryoko T.D.C:[/b] Suzuki Malizuma [b]Shinmaru:[/b] Jessica Hikari [b]Crucifix:[/b] Imric Kagushi [b]Solo Tremaine:[/b] Sabre Arihyoshi [b]Lady Katana:[/b] Katamaru Fujisawa [b]Ben:[/b] Yabaku28 [b]Zidargh:[/b] Rei-rargh Yargh! [b]Arcadia:[/b] Aya Kunetsu [b]Shy:[/b] Vending Unit 68-BSL2 [b]terra:[/b] Mima Miste [b][u][color=blue]Staff:[/color][/b][/u] [b]'hEvN:[/b] Professor Ken Wu-Fan [b]ColourDeaf:[/b] Yuan-i'TEUR [b]Wondershot:[/b] Uroboros/Paradoxics [color=#503f86]As you can see, this is no small affair by any means. Since there are so many characters you'll need to take extra care making sure that no-one gets lost. Thus, I'd like to ask that people post no more than twice per day in the RPG thread. But even then we could still get up to 34 replies a day, which is a [i]huge[/i] amount for a single RPG. I'm not going to worry about post length- make them as short or as long as they need to be (within reason, obviously- six pagers and one-liners aren't practical), so long as they're good quality. The Staff's roles will be slightly different to those of the Students, and although it's a subtle difference its one that should be recognised. I'll go over everything (including timetables) in the Anime Stereotype High School Underground thread once I've made it. Now that that's settled, we'd best get this thing underway ^_^. I'll try and sort out the timetables as soon as possible, but I expect it's going to be fairly difficult so please be patient and don't forget about this in the meantime! Cheers ^_^[/color]

[quote name='Dagger IX1']Anyone who's offended by densuke's remarks should just check out a few of wrist cutter's posts. ;)[/quote][COLOR=#503F86]That's as well as may be, but it's not a terrific example to set, heh.[/COLOR] [quote name='Heero Darkangel']OFF THE SUBJECT:I've always said that people are entitled to their opinions but Densuke don't come here just to shoot bullets in other peoples posts, it aint called for and definately NOT WELCOMED.[/quote][color=#503f86]Okay, l[/color][color=#503f86]et's end this part of the discussion now. Regardless of whether other member's posts are offensive or not, it's still not something that's supported by OtakuBoards Rules. I have given densuke a note which I presume he'll take notice of and I hope that'll be the end of it. Biting back at members who break rules is also against the rules. If you see something you object to, either ignore it, respond to it in a [i]sensible[/i] manner or report it to a Moderator. If there's any more of this I'll close the thread. The Otaku Lounge has enough trouble with debates already- I (and everyone else, I'm sure) wouldn't be pleased to see it spread over here. The End. Now that that's settled: If a show was cut mid-season, it might not mean that it was banned completely. In the UK, the second half of Reboot's third season was cut because I think it got too violent and dark for the censors to permit. They have the biggest say over cuts when a station's bought the rights to broadcast a show. Beast Wars was heavily edited too- even some incredibly mild references and jokes were completely cut. But this was a few years ago, when people weren't used to more sophisticated kids' shows. But even then, they might only have bought the broadcast rights to part of the season and decided not to renew it due to bad ratings. But, if they did actually ban Power Rangers, it stands to reason that they might have a tight grip on others too. It surprises me that they would though, what with NZ being so close to Australia, which has more anime DVDs than the UK could even dream of.[/color]

[color=#503f86]To clarify, Heero darkangel edited his post on July 24th:[/color] [quote name='Heero Darkangel']I edited my thread a bit because of the i got a post from densuke (I think i spelt the name right) claiming that there are too many hotheads which naturally there would be because it is a touchy subject for cartoon lovers, I'm not looking for answers because that ruling is up to the government over here, i can't stop them if they decide to ban violent cartoons...Don't get me wrong I'm not impressed about what they're thinking of doing but as i said I just wanted to see what others thought of this. Now the name of the country i am talking about is NZ, this is where i'm from. A few years ago they were thinking of banning violent cartoons to keep the peace here but then noone heard anything about it until a while ago when the topic resurfaced, they had it on the news and they ran a servey about it on the Good Morning Show, some people agreed and some didn't. The government are still thinking about it and if there is anyone from NZ who is on here then YOU SHOULD KNOW! Now the only thing i wanted to know was what was your opinion on this...I didn't want to cause any conflict between anyone. I didn't want people thinking that this is a joke or someone asking for a summary on this subject all because they thought that there were too many hotheads and that i was looking for Answers! thats not what i wanted.[/quote][color=#503f86]I hope that sensible discussion can spring forth from this new information. So, the country in question is NZ, which I interpret to be New Zealand. There've been a number of scapegoating cases in the UK recently- a boy was found to have murdered another boy in a similar way he'd seen on Manhunt. He was under the game's recommended age range, but it was sold to him anyway. And now, of course, people are asking for the banning of the game and many others like it (UT2004, for example), as if it was the [i]sole[/i] cause of the trouble. Yes, these things can be violent, but for someone to actually go out and commit an act based on what they've seen they would have to have something physically or mentally wrong with them. A murderer would be a hard thing to create with games or anime alone. If you think of how many millions of people play these games and watch these programs- it's the one or two problematic ones that always get seen. The fact that the rest of the (usually sane) population do these things on a day-to-day basis and have no problems is completely ignored because a lot of adults simply think children are children and don't understand that at some point they have to grow into adults, taking with them the vast and often harsh knowledge of the rest of the world that goes with it. I'm not saying overly violent games and anime are necessarily good- I certainly don't watch them simply because I think they're rather tasteless. One problem is the difficulty to regulate what ages people are when they watch them. Obviously, you wouldn't want your ten-year-old watching Urotsukidoji, but some people find it... genuinely entertaining, I guess. I don't think restrictions should be put onto the creation and broadcasting of anime because it is entertainment and a form of art. Besides, some other animations are just as bad, if not worse. You don't want to know some of the things I saw on shelves in Holland o_o; Video games and age restrictions is a slightly different kettle of fish, as it affects people in different ways to anime. But I still think that a lot of this is blown out of proportion. P.S. In future, Heero, it's probably an idea to post again with the new details- it can be hard to spot if a posts's been edited or not- breaking things up into paragraphs should make it clearer.[/color]

[quote name='densuke]After reading this thread, which contains one guy lighting a (dimly flickering) match and 20 people fanning the flames of who-knows-what (they certainly don't - the original poster never said what this was all about), I think that [b]not only should anime be generally banned, but people who want to watch it should be forced to take some kind of test wherein they demonstrate that they can distinguish fantasy from reality[/b'].[/quote][COLOR=#503F86]Densuke, please watch your tone. Regardless of whether the discussion in this thread is well-backed or not, there's no reason to be rude.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]I think it's probably best to stop this thread before it decays much further. Even with the 'and why??' suffix at the end of the title, it's still not generating the kind of discussion we try and encourage at OB. I've no doubt it'll turn up again soon anyway. Thanks to those who put effort into their posts. Reccacool, please try and add more detail to your replies in future- I know the subject doesn't give a huge amount to talk about, but some elaboration would be nice. Thread closed.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]There have been dozens of threads like this in the past, and if people aren't careful they'll all end up the same way- closed. Basically, the question alone isn't enough to generate decent discussion (replies tend to become short, spammy and boring), so I'd like to ask everyone who posts in this thread to at least explain why said villain is the best/worst/dumbest etc. Thanks to ChibiHorsewoman for setting a decent example there, heh.[/COLOR]

[quote name='terra']I have to say I didn't want Alaris to go alone, by the way, but by the two months later when I got to the thread, it was decided for me :p.[/quote][COLOR=#503F86]Heh, sorry about that ^_^; I felt I was being a bit slow in actually getting to the Capital- my next post was going to be Alaris actually arriving and having an argument with some of the Elders about sending more troops down. In the mean time, there's still all the other clones fighting the humans at the front- are they winning or losing the battle right now, or has it evolved into a sort of stalemate until either side brings across more troops? There are only so many beings to kill, heh. I'd expect the humans (unless Kione was too arrogant about his own abilities) to have some kind of reinforcements nearby as a backup in case things did get incredibly hairy (Hah). Perhaps even a missile silo from which to launch a strike?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]When I create an RPG, I usually have a decent idea of where I want it to go and how I want it to end, kind of like a film. I don't direct every character and situation, but I know where I want to take it if things get out of hand or too far from the story. So it's more of a gentle control than a tightly-gripped rein, unless there's something specific I've planned out. There have been times when a post of mine has been about five pages long because I've had to sort out messes that have steered the RPG in completely the wrong direction, or if a lot of people have lost interest and I want to move the story along quickly. I feel a little guilty about taking the adventure away from everyone else, but sometimes you have to do something to keep it going. I tend to prefer having a sort of control, otherwise I find myself at a loss for what I have to do. I personally need some kind of direction, otherwise I end up just being carried along by other people and I don't like that. I find that the ones with greater amounts of control tend to have a greater sense of purpose and direction, and can be much more exciting to play along to. But I've not been in many open-ended RPGs. I suppose it'd be quite nice just to have a character to play and not have to worry about being shepherded into an adventure straight away. I've tried to make Anime Stereotype High School as much the participants' RPG as I can, so I've not decided how everything'll plan out. I have certain story events keyed in already, but it's entirely up to the players how they get to them ^_^ It's quite different to anything I've tried making before, but should be good fun.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]Ah, the bain of my RPGs ^_^; I'm actually very particular about who I take into my RPGs, since I want to be able to finish at least one of them. Some people I know from experience to not be very good with their reliability, others I'll go out of my way to see what they've been like in other adventures- if they posted until the most recent page or not. I don't try to be discriminatory- some of the people who don't post have great writing skill and fantastic imagination, but just lose interest or forget part way through. It disappoints me because I want these stories to develop with that character as part of it, but if they can't continue then there really isn't much I can do and the story suffers. And if people have already started forming ideas about their own character in relation to the other, then they lose out as a result too. Hence, more people tend to drop out and the story suffers further. But having said that, when an RPG is down to about four people it can be a lot more interesting- you have fewer people to worry about and an carry on at a much more leisurely pace. When Humans Are The Enemy had four/five major players for quite some time and it still manages alright. So there are two sides to that coin, I suppose. Just so long as someone integral to the plot/other characters drop out, then it probably doesn't matter too much. It just gets a bit disappointing if everyone forgets.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]Moved into the Manga Workshop. Make sure threads you start are in the correct section, DarkMark. And Thanks Okita- I wouldn't have known where to put it otherwise ^_^;[/COLOR]