If any of you have been following anime for..Well,any amount of time,you should know by now that a staple in the whole medium itself in order increase the impact of Harem,and alot of moe anime,is the idea of fan service.

Now then,if any of you are not familiar with any of our Otaku lingo,let me fill you in.Lets see what urban dictionary has to say.Ahem.

"In general, fan service refers to scenes designed to excite or titillate the viewer. This can include scantily-clad outfits, cleavage shots, panty shots, nude scenes (shower scenes especially), etc. Some broader definitions also include things like cool mecha, big explosions, battle scenes, etc. Basically, if it has little plot-redeaming value, but makes the viewer sit up and take notice, it's probably fan service in one form or another."

A.K.A: T and A

Its something that surely anyone watching anime has noticed by now.Now i'm not really someone who gets annoyed much with fanservice.I just accept it as something that comes along with the medium.Although,it does beg the question,what is the point of fan service anyway? Well,the answer to that is so easy that i'm estimating about 85% of anyone reading this has already got the answer.

"SEX SELLS!"

There is no deep symbolic reasoning behind it,it is for no cultural reason,its simple: Humans like sex!

It does not matter if its in films.


Games


Manga


Or even fast food!


Sex makes money,and money makes the world go round.Its just a fact,especially if its aimed at the male audience.Most of the time we just cant help it,we are subconsciously drawn to the stuff,and we can only blame our hormones for that.Having said all this,of course its obvious why fan serivce exist in most anime.So..What's the problem with fan service anyway? You can almost argue that its something extra you get with the show.And of course i like girls,but you want to know why i watch anime?

1.Story
2.Animation
3.Characters
4.World

I want to be so immersed into the story and characters that i completely forget about everything around me.And its kind of hard to do that,if the show is trying to make me amorous at the same time.

There's only so much fan service someone can take before it starts to break immersion.The more obviously placed the fan service is,the greater the chance that it will break your immersion,and throw you off.Which may be my only problem with fan service.Unless you're expecting it anyway.A.K.A

The Ecchi genre


I have no problem with the genre at all,because..Well..It's not bothering me.I'm not forced to watch it.It sort of sits in its own little realm of madness,while i'm sitting comfortably in a lesser realm of madness.The thing i dislike about it though,is that we are seeing much more fanservice in modern day anime.And its also getting more extreme as time goes on.Regardless of what genre of show it is.Its become so out there in anime right now that you don't really notice it much anymore.Or at the very least,we just accepted things as the way they are.

Just look at older Ecchi shows like Love Hina and Negima.Those are rather tame compared to the things we have now.Then look at everything we have at this day and age.We have over glorified crotch shots.Tentacles fetishes.Oh god..The tentacles.And much more.

In One Piece,you can actually see how much the breast sizes have increased over a decade.


And it seems most of the time we just look over it,and accept as part of the craziness of anime.But looking back i have to ask myself,when did all this happen.In my time of watching anime,it wasn't always like this.It seemed to happen around the 2005-2008 period.Just look at things that came out during that time.You had Ikki Tousen,the extreme sexualization of Yoko from Gurren Lagann,and the subtle shots of females from Code Geass R1-R2.

Now please don't misunderstand,the concept of fan service is not a new idea at all.It's been around since we were living in caves.But never before has it been so predominant as its been now.I mean,has anime become so reliant on these things that compaines fear putting out anything that does not have fan service,because they don't think it will sell well? It just seems that fan service has not just become a normality in anime,but it seems to get more and more extreme as time goes on.And the Otaku community just seems to have excepted any kind of fan service that gets thrown at them.

Is a line ever going to be drawn? Or are the handfull of shows that do not have fan service just die out? I want to get more people into anime,but how can i defend the medium against preconceptions like this when regarding fan service in anime,when the pre conceptions are true.And yes,it can be argued that fan service does not actually do anything to increase,or decrease the quality of a story or character,i would be lying if i said i wanted it to go away completely.I mean,there are still great anime that have fan service in them.
(Ahem.)




All i can ask is that the creators maybe tone it down a bit,and have a bit more dignity in there series.As all things need moderation.Who knows,maybe one day fans will get tired of fan service,and demand something else? Or we are already on the point of no return,so we all just get used to it and move on!

So to finish this,i would like to ask you-The Reader a question: What do you think of the state of fan service in anime?

I'm out of stuff to say,see yah next time.*Waves*

You know,i recently got bored yesterday and decided to re-read all of the arrancar ark in the Bleach manga.And halfway through i noticed something very..Very weird,have you ever noticed that in nearly every anime in the action genre,there will be some sort of group comprised of characters? Just think about it for a second.

Naruto has the Akatsuki.
Bleach has the Espada.
One Piece has the straw hat pirates.
Blue Exorcist has the True Cross Order.
D.Gray Man has the Black Order.
Fullmetal Alchemist has the Homunculus.
Soul Eater has the DWMA.
Akame Ga Kill has Night Raid and the Jaeger's
Tokyo Ghoul has Aogiri.
Fairy tail has..Well,Fairy Tail.

And i'm not talking about something like the military or something,i'm talking about something..Higher,if you will.There always seems to be some sort of elite group,that have there own little agenda to accomplish.And there is always someone leading them to an extent.Giving them orders,etc. 

So lets play a little game.You dear reader,are the leader of a group of 10 anime characters from any anime what so ever.They don't even need to be in an anime with any action in  it,just pick 10.And finally,why did you pick them,out of so many other characters? A bit of a stupid power fantasy,but come on.Haven't you always wanted to see 10 of your favorite anime characters lined up in a fashion similar to this?



And you being the leader sitting at the head of the table? Nobody can deny how awesome that would be...Well,if they are stupid enough to follow your orders that is.As even the weakest of characters from any anime with action in it,could most likely kill you with a single finger.

Anyhow,its your time now!  So tell me,who is your Akatsuki,who is your Espada,who is your Straw Hat Crew!? You only get 10 slots,use em wisely! I'll give you an example,by telling you mine.You don't have to use pictures.I just use them because..Well,i like pictures i suppose.

10.Goku: Done,i don't even need anymore characters after picking him.And since Akira Toriyama confirmed that DBZ: Battle Of Gods is now canon,Goku does not just have godlike powers,he literally is a god.Could you imagine having someone like this guy at your beck and call?



9.Ruby Rose: Alright,alright,lets not get into the argument of if Rwby is even an anime or not.At the very least,Ruby is a character of animation.We can all agree on that,right? Right.Anyhow,while Maka Albarn may have her extremely awesome techniques,Ruby's personality brings in a much needed upbeat feel to the team.Plus,have you ever seen Ruby in action? She basically gives the finger to gravity,and goes all Matrix on the audience.

(Oh yeah,R.I.P Monty..


8.Alucard: You know,i always say that the best way to describe Alucard is like this: "If God had nightmares,Alucard would basically be Freddy Krueger in that instance." He's just..Alucard.He's freaky,somewhat sadistic,and possibly sociopathic.But still,if you can control him..You got yourself one heck of a guard dog.




7.Lelouch: There is a major difference between a character like Light Yagami,and Lelouch.You see,Lelouch is confident,and his methods are less extreme.Light is well..Arrogant.And i'm betting that if he was real,he would be real annoying to be around.And despite what Lelouch does in his show,he actually seems like a generally nice person.I would rather have a nice smart guy as an ally,than an arrogant smart guy.

Alright fine,Lelouch is a bit arrogant.But much less so in comparison.


6.Ulquiorra: As much as i complain about the tropes of anime and manga on occasion,i gotta admit,if there is one trope that i generally like,its the calm cool and collected trope.I'm just drawn to characters like that.It's one of the reason why i watched Naruto as a kid,after seeing Saskue Uchiha for the first time.And a character such as Ulquiorra fits this spot very well.Plus he is,or at least was,one of the strongest characters in the Bleach anime and manga,so he deserves a spot in my round table.




5.Saber: Saber is honestly one of the few strong female characters in anime today.Do to this i look up to her a great deal,she is basically my version of wonder woman.Not much else to say except you rock..And you suck in Fate/Stay Night.



4.Kaneki Ken: One of the character tropes i also enjoy in anime and manga,are characters that have..Well,a few screws loose.And after reading Tokyo Ghoul,Kaneki easily fits into this category.Plus,he can teach me how to crack my fingers the same way he does! Although,i imagine it would hurt the first few times..




3.Sinon: Sinon is most likely the best character in the entire sword art online series.She has a very interesting background,actual character development,and is arguably also one of the few strong female characters in anime.Also,my favorite firearm is the sniper rifle.It requires focus,and training to fire efficiently.Although i can't speak to much about it,i have only used one 3 times in my life at a local firing range.



2.Edward Elric: Alchemy is the Fullmetal Alchemist series is basically magic,but the show explains the rules of the magic.And there is not doubting Edward's skill in alchemy.So he will be able to take down anyone.Although,lets hope we don't have anything similar to conqueror of shamballa here.As all of his powers will be nullified,making him absolutely worthless...

Btw,why isn't this a skin in a fighting game or something? This is awesome.


1.Guts: This guy is Alucard,if he was human with a sword.In all seriousness though,Guts is a character that constantly surpasses human limits,despite what he is facing.And despite how cliche he can seem at times,he actually is a rather interesting character.And somewhat likable.I imagine he would be annoying to be around though.



Anyhow,that's my example/list.Tell me yours.See yah later! *Waves*

Silent Sentinel : Now that i think about it..Yeah,i don't see how they would have two robins in there,if they are the same person.Who knows,perhaps cloning? Different dimension? Or maybe they can just break the fourth wall,and cover up the continuity problem with humor.That trick works alot.

Now that i think about it a bit more..Yeah,i'm about 55% sure this will go badly.As it seems to make no sense if i think about it more.Well,lets see how this plays out.

Silent Sentinel : I think it could go..Well,at least decently.I don't think it could be to bad of a crossover.And at least they give a decent little nudge towards a fallen show.I enjoy when shows do that.Just hope they have some good comedy,as i do laugh at a few jokes Teen Titans go throws in here and there.All i can say is-

Please don't suck,please don't suck,PLEASE DON'T SUCK!

(Oh yeah,on a side note,nice layout! Wish i knew how to make those things,i could think of hundreds of combinations!)

Well,its the month of love,and i love fun facts! Lets get started.
1.Look down for a second.

That is a body pillow of  Yoko,from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.These babies have made over 1 million dollars...I don't want to picture what most of them are being used for..

(Btw,if this goes against site rules,just tell me! Don't want to get banned for this...)

2.Gray,from Fairy Tail can be seen smoking in the manga.He is oddly not seen smoking in the anime.


3.Despite popular belief,Akira is not an original film.It is actually based on a 6 volume manga series.It ran in Young Jump magazine from 1982-1990.

4.Bleach was originally going to be called "Black."As it is the same color of the kimono that the shinigami where.After thinking the name was to generic,Tite Kubo changed the name to Bleach.As a symbolic metaphor of the Shinigami cleansing the hollows.To bad they barely even do that in the series...

5.School days will have its own hentai game,for the oculus rift..I..I don't even..Ugh..

6.Akira Toriyama has written so much,that his hands are permanently damaged,from writing on a weekly basis for so many years.He cannot write a series on a weekly basis,ever again.

7.Alucard from Hellsings design,is inspired by Vash The Stampede from Trigun.

8.Bleach is suspected to end by late 2015-mid 2016.As the Thousand Year Blood War arc is going to be the longest arc in the series,and its going to surpass the amount of chapters the arracnar arc has very soon,which was the longest arc in the series.

9. Eiichiro Oda has said that he wants to draw One Piece for 10 more years..Jesus.I hope he doesn't get to be like Toriyama.

10.Keima Katsuragi is partly inspired by Light Yagami.

11.For those who are watching Fate Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works..Well,the original visual novel,which the fate anime series is based on,has a route called Heavens Feel.This is the route the anime appears to be taking,and if the show continues,it will lead to alot,and i mean alot of sexual scences.When studio Ufo-Table was asked if these scences would be kept in or not,they replied "No comment."

12.In Japan,more paper is used for printing manga than for making toilet paper.

13.Death Note is banned in China.It got so popular there,that kids would import Death Notes online and write the name of all the people they wished would die.

14.It is believed that the first anime of all time,was aired on 1917.It was a two minute video of a samurai sharpening his sword.

15.Orhime from Bleach has said "Kurosaki-Kun" At least over 1000 times in the entire series.

16.Here's a disturbing fact, did you know that the same person who makes Wolfwood's voice (Jeff Nimoy) in the English dubbed version of Trigun is also the same person who makes the voice of Kabuterimon from Digimom!

17.Poliwag’s signature swirl pattern is meant to look like the visible intestines of tadpoles.


18.Yugi's parents are completely cut out of the Yu-Gi-Oh anime series.

19.Kill La Kill officially airs on Toonami,on February 7th.

20.Eiichiro Oda works so much on One Piece,that his assistants tell the stories of how they will occasionally walk into the office,and he will be asleep with his face on a drawing.Once he wakes up,he sees the unfinished drawing and gets right back to work.(Oh yeah,Oda does not drool often.Thank god.)

Here's a hint for the next thing i will be writing about!


Anyhow,see yah later! *Waves*

Brain-Splattered :  

Akira Toriyama-Dragon Ball Z.

Jinsei Kotaoka-Deadman Wonderland.

Hiromu Arakawa-Fullmetal Alchemist.

Kota Hirano-Hellsing.

Tite Kubo-Bleach.

Atsushi Okubo-Soul Eater.

To bad Kubo got sick recently.Hope he can still keep going! 

xxblackwarriorxx :

Ugh,these questions are always a toughy for me.While i do have 10 anime that are my favorites,i don't believe i can rank them,these are just placeholder numbers.Sorry if that's against the rules.

10.Bleach 
(Run of the mill shonen,and it has alot of annoying filler,with some hits and miss arcs.But hey,i still really enjoy it.You can put all the films there to.)

9.Soul Eater.
(Basically the same thing with bleach,but alot less filler.Plus it holds a special place in my heart,it was the first manga series i ever read.)

8.Naruto Shippuden.

(There is literally no way for me to hate it.Its ingrained into my childhood at this point.i just love it.XD)

7.All of Code Geass

(It has its downsides,but i still enjoy it.Plus,Lelouch is awesome...)

6.XxxHolic.

(Yes i know.the first season of the anime kind of..Sucks.But i really love Holic.Its filled with symbolism,interesting concepts,and fascinating beliefs.To be honest,this is my version of Fullmetal Alchemist.)

5.Death Note.

(My god..I love Light Yagami,so much.He is one of my favorite characters.I love the way he plans,i love his speeches,its just pure ecstasy for me.I can re watch,and re read Death Note countless times.)

4.Hellsing Ultimate.

(Hellsing is just..Insane.Its just fun gore.And i love every single character.Dislike the TV series by Gonzo though,ugh...Still i can watch this over and over again.And as you may be able to tell from my layout,i love Seras Victoria!)

3.The Evagelion Rebuild Films.

(Just put all of them there.It has smart writing,good characters,and the animation is amazing.)

2.The Entire Madoka Magica Series.

(The Series,and the films.I love it,with a passion.Its a very good twist on the Magical Girl genre.)

1.Fate/Zero

(What can i say,Fate Zero is awesome.And Fate Stay Night is..Mediocre.)

Once again keep in mind,that these are not ranked.There just my ten favorite anime.I feel like i would need 20 max to express i the things i like though.But whatever.

Anyhow..Wait!

"You can include Manga's if you want. "

Oh,now you have my attention! These are now ranked in a Top 10 list.

10.Bleach.

(Same thing as before.)

9.Hellsing.

(The art of Hellsing is very,very nice.And just apply everything i said before,to this.)

8.Claymore.

(Claymore..Well,its really underrated in my opinion.While the anime is good,the manga is actually really interesting to me.The anime basically covers 2/4th of the manga.And it gets really,really good.)

7.Fairy Tail.

(Hiro Mashima is a really..Really hit and miss writer.But when he does good,he gets a bullseye.)

6.Deadman Wonderland.

(The art of Deadman wonderland is very good.And i enjoy the story,along with the characters.Excellent for me.)

5.Naruto.

(Meh..Don't have to deal with any annoying filler.)

4.Trigun.

(In case you did not know,there is alot of stuff that is censored,and nonexistent in the Trigun anime.The manga is a whole different story.And its awesome.)

3.Tokyo Ghoul.

(Looks like we have something in common here buddy.Awesome,ain't it?)

2.Soul Eater.

(The Soul Eater manga holds a very special place in my heart.Its the first manga volume i ever read.And its pretty fun.I love it.)

1.XxxHolic.

(The XxxHolic manga is my favorite,i love it to death.All for the reasons i said before.) 

Well that was fun.XD

Brain-Splattered : Well technically speaking,the first manga i read was some random volume of Naruto.But i was to young to realize that manga was actually its own little art form,and i barely remember anything about it.However,the first manga i truly read and truly understood was Soul Eater volume 1.

Still have the old thing in my collection,to bad the pages are really yellow and old now...

cless alvein :

"Is Attack on Titan a good anime to watch?"

Yes,very much so.But try not to let the hype get to you,its no masterpiece its just a very good show.I give it an 9.1/10 

You may be disappointed by the ending though,it basically forces you to go out and read the original source materiel if you want anything else.

"Is it better than SAO?"

Yes,i would say so.I still like the first 3 episodes of SAO more than Attack On Titan though.

"Is it overrated?"

You can argue on that one.On one hand,its a very good show,and one of the best things to come out in recent years.But on the other hand,some people praise it as some masterpiece.Very similar thing happened when Death Note came out.

If i could point out a major flaw that happens later on,its that the plot will often repeat it self later in the manga.Something i like to call "The Bleach Effect." But i would recommend anyone watch Titan,just to keep up with the anime community.There are a bit more things i can talk about,but i don't think i want to spoil stuff for ya.Go ahead and watch it!

If you're a fan of anime,or even if you're not,i'm sure you all know by now that anime (At least in the west) is a very odd and niche hobby.Now i must admit,as a long time anime fan,i was not to open about my hobby to other people,even people i trusted.I never used to where any of my anime shirts in public,never used to whistle anime openings,and just tried to keep quiet about it.And to be honest,to an extent..I still am.I do not feel shameful for enjoying anime,but as it stands,not many people in my life has much interest in it.I only can count 1 friend on hand,who actually enjoys the medium.And even he is a rookie in the genre,that i just recently recruited into our lovely little pass time.

Now while many people know of anime,those who watch it are very few.Still,as someone who tries to give discussion on these boards,and spark some conversation about a show or character,or whatever,i constantly keep asking myself the question.

" Is anime finally becoming mainstream in the west? And also,should it?"

You see,those do sound like pretty simple questions,but not as simple as some may think.Anyhow,the first way to figure out if anime can be mainstream in the west,is to figure out why it isn't already.For those who don't know,animation is simply not regarded as a way of telling a mature story in the west.Constantly being shackled to the word "Cartoon." Now tell me,what cartoon is popular in the west,to the point where a huge chunk of people watch it?





*Sigh* Let me rephrase that."Now tell me,what cartoon is popular in the west,to the point where a huge chunk of people watch it? That is still airing!"



...Fine,that can work.Onto the point.If you look at nearly every single mainstream show and movie in the west,you will notice that 95% of them are aimed at a mature audience.Breaking Bad,Dexter,Game Of Thrones.These babies right here are way off from the child friendly zone.For anime to ever be mainstream in the west,i believe that it is this audience that we need to target.I honestly believe that this is what will get anime mainstream in the west.All we need to do is aim at the highest percentage.And what makes the biggest amount of money,based on sales? Mature shows.

But once again,the problem with the western audience is that they see nearly every form of animation,is not good enough to tell a mature story.It will be regarded as a cartoon.Bound to be a child friendly show,or an adult comedy.And to be honest,you can't really blame them.It's basically ingrained into the culture at this point.

Still,i find the notion to be very hilarious,and sad at the time.When i look at the critically alclaimed shows in our genre,i see things that can be compared to mainstream shows in the west.

Black Lagoon and Jormungand being our Breaking Bad.
The Fate series being our Game Of Thrones.
Evangelion..Possibly being our Walking Dead..Come on,you can kind of see it working.It sure as sin is not Highschool Of The Dead...

Anime has proven time and time again that it can tell a mature story.And has some of the most mature animation out there.However,it also has to fight its own childish image that it has gained in the west.This all goes back to the 90's-mid 2000 era.When Pokemon,Yu-Gi-Oh,DBZ,and Sailor Moon ruled the freaking world.And also lets not forget about one of the biggest things,that stops anime from becoming mainstream in the west.

FAN SERVICE BABY! This is the biggest image that anime has to deal with.I said it before,and i will say it again.


"Anime is f*cking crazy!" It is very,very crazy.Even in some of those more toned down things we have here,anime still has a bunch of moe K-On clone fan service blobs.Along with stuff that will make people look at you funny,if you even bother trying to explain the plot to them.This is of course part of the reason we love it,but humans are..Not very logical.If we see downsides in something that is already a bit iffy,even if it has alot of benifits,we will tunnel vision,and focus all of our attention on the negatives,and pretend the positives do not even exist.And the problem is to the west,this is all they see!

All they look at when they think of anime is a league of unsociable neckbeard nerds.Watching some high school fetish show.The public image for anime,is not exactly..Great.It's very similar to what hardcore gamers,or star trek fans had to deal with many years ago.And what another niche fanbase,such as Bronies have to deal with right now.

For anime to even try becoming mainstream,it needs to be unbound by this image that the public has of it.Even one of my inspirations for doing these,Totalbiscut,says that he dislikes anime for this exact reason.Kind of ironic if you think about it.And to be frank,i'm not sure if anime can break away from this image.Unless we get extremely lucky,and have another Attack On Titan-like,break out of another anime,or have a anime movie get very popular in theaters,we will not get anywhere.

I think we need to look at anime as a whole.And i hate to tell you guys,but as much as we may think that there are anime for all ages out there,in reality,its still mostly aimed at teenagers.Its rare for anime not to take place in highschool,or have highschool aged characters as there protagonist.Fan service is more loud and proud then ever.And of course the genre that is still the most popular,is the shonen genre.And even though it may be my favorite genre in anime,i can't deny that it is hurting the chances of anime getting mainstream.Even in terms of movies,theres not much we have that can top what hollywood can throw out.Sure,the Eva films are good.And Akira,in my opinion is brilliant.But it still can't top something like the Lord of the rings trilogies.

And as it stands,anime currently cannot break out of its current image.Its just not mature enough.There is still to many stories that rely on highschool.There's just not enough anime that can appeal to a mature audience.And one huge show like Attack On Titan,will only make a small dent,that's not even the equivalent of 1/4th of a fraction.It cannot change mass opinion alone.I hate to say it,but anime is not ready yet.Still,its not like it ever will be.

So let me ask you guys again,do you even want anime to become mainstream? I mean,i would have never done these threads,if it was more popular,and i had friends to talk about it with.But just think about if for a second,the effect of making something mainstream,is not completely positive.Just look at gaming and what popularity did to it.We saw that the popularity spike,did not mean we would get more creative things.NO! not even close.We now see companies funding the same gritty and realistic war shooter,every.Single.Year! While more of the unique stuff,comes from the little guys.And there are still some amazing games coming out. (Gotta get my Hearthstone fix!)

Still,right now..We are just small club.A cult.A very niche fan base,within an already niche part of nerd culture.And yes,it is cool knowing that our strange little hobby has now exploded in popularity,and is now at the foot of the masses throne,bowing its head and begging for some recognition.But you must admit,if this happens,we may lose the uniqueness we shared when this was just some small thing.That a few people like you appreciated.

Yes,anime is filled with very weird stuff that throws people off,but its those things that we all enjoy in some way.As much as i complain about the cliches in anime on occasion,if it were to go away,i would freaking crave it.

I need my hollow slaying soul reapers! That oddly fight other Soul Reapers alot more,than cleansing the hollows...


My insane Yanderes!


My Kaneki Ken finger cracking awesomeness! (Fun Fact: Do not try this at home,it hurts!)


And while it may be great that we are finally in the spot light,is it really worth it to water down all of these tropes that drew us here in the first place?
I mean...

sop281 : What would happen if awesome Tsundere's like Makise Kurisu stopped existing,to fit the audiences on the west?
Eniitan : How would you feel if series like Sailor Moon were nonexistent,because they don't do so well in the west?
Koda : Even though we both like Fairy Tail,how would you feel if other series in the shonen genre were gutted,because they are aimed at teenagers? And that's not what we need to aim for,if we want to become mainstream.

And finally,what do you guys think? Do you want anime to become mainstream,and if you do or don't,why? Well,this is it for me,see you guys later.*Waves*

Oh yeah,February is coming up soon.That's called the month of love,right? I can think of alot of different things to write about...

Lets get this over with,so i can go back to Heroes Of The Storm!

1.Makise Kurisu,and Rintarou Okabe are the 2 most cosplayed characters in the Steins Gate visual novel,and anime adaptaion.

2.Any D.Gray Man fans out there..? Well if there are,this is basically the beta version of D.Gray Man.
http://mangadoom.co/dgray-man/0/

This is what won Katsura Hoshino a spot in Shonen Jump.She handed it to a shonen jump editor,he liked it,he sent it to the higher ups,they liked it,they released it to the viewers,and BAM! She got a weekly series!

3.In some bookstores in China,you cannot legally buy the light novel or manga series of Oreimo,if you're not 17 and older.This is due to cultural laws.And if you know anything about oreimo and China..You know why.

4.Shukaku is the first tailed beast in the Naruto series to have his true name revealed.

5.Kill La Kill does have a manga series,but it has 2 volumes at this point,and currently has no plans of releasing in the west.

6.Tite Kubo has personally picked every single opening,and ending theme for the Bleach anime.And was present in the recording studio,while the bands were recording there songs.If you haven't guessed by now,Kubo really likes music.

7.Hiro Mashima(The creator of the Fairy Tail manga.) has said that it takes 5 days to complete a single chapter of fairy tail.This includes scripts and storyboards,rough Sketches,and finally drawing and inking.

8.Before creating Fullmetal Alchemist volume 15,Hiromu Arakawa interviewed several veterans from World war 2.

9.Naoshi Komi was inspired to write Nisekoi,due to reading Love Hina.

10.Berserk took about 13 years to finally get translated in English.

11.Rurouni Kenshin does have a live adaptation...But it aint that good.It didn't even go that well in Japan.

12.Eiichiro oda has confirmed that he does have the ending of One Piece planned out.He just wants to keep going for as long as possible,before he gets to the ending.

13.The Monster manga created by Naoki Urasawa is going to have a live adaptation air on HBO in an episodic series.It will be directed by Guillermo del Toro,and the air date is TBA.

By the way,can i just say that i love Monster? Seriously,you thought Death Note was psychological warfare,try Moster on for size.

14.Books Kinokuniya is a Japanese bookstore in New York City,and has the biggest manga and light novel collection in all of  the west.Holding over 2000 manga series,it also has 2 floors.And they have a ton of other goodies.I can personally say that there awesome.On my trip there a few months ago,i got all of the Tokyo Ghoul manga,and the final volume of Naruto Shippuden from there.(Thank god i can speak and read Japanese.I knew this skill would come in handy!)

15.Inyuyasah ran in Shonen Jump magazine from 1996-2008.

16.Ulquiorra's death in the anime and manga series Bleach,was voted the most impactful scene of the year by the fans,and was played on the screen in Jump Festa 2009,with Tite Kubo present.Oh yeah,i just spoiled this for anyone who does not watch or read Bleach..OH WELL!

17.The Deadman Wonderland manga was on Hiatus for 2 years,due to the illustrator.being pregnant.Heck of a long maternity leave if you ask me...

18.Tokyo Ghoul was SO close to being in Shonen Jump.However,they refused Tokyo Ghoul due to being to "To violent for a shonen series.However,the editor who looked over Ishida's work did say that he had talent,and that he should take it to another publisher.

Sui Ishida went to the publisher known as Young Jump,and got himself a spot in a weekly series.Could you imagine what would happen if Tokyo Ghoul became a Shonen series..My god,i can imagine more censoring in the anime,it hurts my head just thinking about it!

19.Speaking of censoring.The anime adaptaion of Trigun is so edited,that it will make your freaking head spin after you read the manga.Lets go over a check list,and see whats cut out.

Heck of a lot more blood
Gore
And Suicide

20.Atsushi Okubo has addressed the thought of an anime reboot of Soul Eater,so that it can follow the manga several times.His answer basically amounts to "I am completely comfortable with the anime adaptation of Soul Eater.I don't want to try and redo something.What's done is done,i need to focus on my current series."

Oh i get it Okubo.You choose to adapt this manga.


But not this one...


You know,the one where the Kishin is not a push over,and is actually intimadating.And does not get defeated by what amounts to as a punch to the face.


The one with Sparoi,which is one of the best Shonen arcs out there.Possibly even better than the Soul Society arc in Bleach.


And one where Crona is even more awesome.


Eh,at least the ending for both are equally dissapointing.So they balance each other out.Okubo..You have a very..Unique way of thinking.
/Rant over

Anyhow that's it for me,see yah later.*Waves.*

Disclaimer: This will be an extremely long wall of text.This may actually be the most i have ever written.So if you can't take reading alot,(Curse you kids and your tweets.) better book it.Now.Other than that,see yah at the end of the thread.

Now,when Kill La Kill first came out,i loved it.And to be honest,i still do..Kind of.It's become a guilty pleasure.Still though..There is sort of this other side of my brain,that keeps telling me that my love is blinded,and that this show is terrible.And i hate to say it,but i am sort of starting to give into that voice.Overall Kill La Kill is not that impressive,and i don't exactly recommend that anyone go out and watch it.And that could just be where it ended.However,my brain has a habit of going extremely overboard with things.For instance,lets say i play a new video game.If i play that game constantly,my brain will force me to study it,and have it down to an art form.What i'm trying to say is,that i'm trying to understand why my brain is telling me,that this show is bad.Especially when there is a part of me,that tells me this show is good.So,it's time for me to dissect Kill La Kill.

Now let me be clear,this is not a review.I'm not a review kind of person.I like to think of myself as a critic,but not a reviewer.A review is where someone takes a piece of entertainment,and judges whether it is worth your time or not.I will be operating under a basis of why i don't recommend it to you,and think of it as..Kind of a waste of time.

A general thing in these threads of mine,is me often dancing around a topic,then giving my opinion on the topic itself.Then capping it off with a wave,and being on my mary way.This time,i will be very direct.There wont be much joking around here,just an annoying guy ranting about pixels and frames on a screen.But before we get to that,i need to discuss Kill La Kill's effect on anime as a whole,and why it was hyped so much.

Kill La Kill was the debut work of studio Trigger.A stuido made up of big names such as,Hiroyuki Imaishi,and Yoh Yoshinari.Both of these guys have key animation credits under there belts.It's obvious that most of the reason for the hype of this show,was because of these heavy hitters.And for the fact that people were expecting an over the top awesomeness,that anime has not seen since 2000-2010.And this is where it gets hard for anyone to discuss this show,at least if you look at it deeper,and really try to dissect the show.

It's almost like trying to review Fullmetal Alchemist,without ever saying Edward Elric.The two are linked so closely,that its impossible to talk about one,without talking about the other.I'm of course talking about the comparison of Kill La Kill,and Gurren Lagann.Which are from the same creators.Now,i don't care if you have not seen Gurren Lagann,and i don't care if you did not like Gurren Lagann.The fact remains that Kill La Kill is trying to be like this show so much,that its not even funny.
When i first sat down to watch Kill La Kill,i'd like to think that my expectations were in check.i was not expecting the next Gurren Lagann,and i was not expecting anything really.It was just a new show,made my people with big names.So,now its time to talk about the design,and animation.

Alright,all non animation geeks listen up.Imaishi is known for a style of animation that makes use of slowing down frames,and stock color values,along with over the top and exaggerated movement.He will often cut between frames to offer more visceral movement.Most of the animation in anime has every single framed filled in.Making it look much more realistic.
Now,did anyone here get what i was talking about..No? Alright,let me simplify it for you.Now do me a favor and watch just a bit of these boxers throw a few punches.You may stop at your leisure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8yoVL8gjxE#t=20

If you have ever seen a punch thrown in real life,you will notice that it will only seem to do extreme impact if it moves very quickly.In animation,certain artist take this to the extreme.Just look at some of the fights hajime no ippo.Certain artist know how to do this very well.They can deliver very exciting motion,while cutting down on the frame rate.Thus boosting efficiency for the audience.

It's why the fights in DBZ look so epic,when in reality most of those frames were animated very poorly.But its lack of fluidity gave it a very stylistic edge,which made it alot more interesting to watch.Shows like Gurren Lagann,and hajime no ippo do this alot.Along with almost every long running shonen series ever.And lets not leave out Kill La Kill,from shows in this category.
From what i can tell,Trigger is basing most of there ideas from this animation.Dropping the frames fluidity,for a more stylistic edge.And to be honest,i am totally okay with that.I love the way hajime no ippo did this.And little witch academia blew me away with its animation.However,i think they really dropped the ball with Kill La Kill.

If you put Kill La Kill in the same category as those shows,while thinking of it as a send up to this style of animation.(And you are,according to studio Trigger themselves.) You will see that it is trying so hard,that its failing.When its not decently animated,its destroyed by disgusting CGI.And when it does not do that,they literally use CUT OUTS! FREAKING CUT OUTS!

I don't care if you think this is not a big deal.The fact is that this is a fully budgeted television series,created in 2014.Cut outs are not exceptable.Especially when they are this relevant in the show.Now i'm not the first person to say this,but the animation is irritatingly sporadic.With the exception of the final episode,which is actually one of the best final episodes i have ever seen,there is no level of consistency in animation.Even Panty And Stocking had better animation then this.And the cutouts used in that show are for comedic effect.And yes,cutouts in Kill La Kill were used for that effect to.But the reason it does not work,is down to the very character design.

Panty And Stocking can get away with hilariously cartoony animation,because of its cool design style.Kill La Kill is designed like a run of the mill anime.But,i will give credit where credit is due.When Kill la Kill is good,it is really,really good.The fights with Ryuko and Satsuki early on in the series,are very good.And the final episode is genuinely a marvel.But here is the thing,those good moments are so few and far between that it almost makes me annoyed that they are even there in the first place.All it shows is that the animators are not completely oblivious on how to make a good show.
Here i am slogging through multiple scences of terrible animation,when something like this pops up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay05HJMr6K4#t=143

And instead of it feeling awesome,it just takes me out of the experience even more.The show gets so incredibly close to a show i want to see,and then it screws it up so bad so many times that it makes me wonder why it just wont be a completely good animated show,or a bad one.Not some abominable half breed.It has its moments of genuinely good animation,but its to inconsistent to be seen as a merit,and instead just takes you out of the experience.

Now i can already here some of you going-"But i don't watch anime for animation,i watch it for a good story." Listen,watching anime for a good story is like only eating food to get full.Yes,that is why its there for you in the first place.But there are alot of other factors that play in for you to enjoy anime.And that leads me to my next point,Kill La Kills story is not that good.
Now,nobody was expecting it to be anything special,well..I know i wasn't.But since in my eyes it failed at the primary aspect it was going for. (A.K.A Shut up,and have good fight scences.) There are not many redeeming qualities.But do not worry,i will explain why i think the story is bad to.Now then,i expect that most people watching this have already seen the show,so i do not believe i need much of a story synopsis.Kill La Kills plot is as basic as they come.

Main Character who is out for revenge arrives at a weird town.She starts looking for trouble with the wrong crowd of people,and ends up uncovering a deeper plot for everything.That oddly,only she can stop.Becuase you know..Plot relevance.
There is alot of shouting,lots of fighting,and lots of angst.A general rule when it comes to story telling,is that when you have a basic plot you make up for it with something else.A good example is a film called Sword Of The Stranger.



The whole story is just there,so they can have the extremely well choreographed fight scences.What i am trying to say is this-"A basic story is not exactly a bad thing.However,if there is nothing else going for it,then we have a problem." One would think we can establish interesting characters,and plot.NOPE! Why would we do that,when we can do Mako's annoying hallelujah sketches?! Or when we can have Ryuko go all edgy and depressed on us,after finding out that she is basically a life fiber crack baby.Kill La Kills story does not have much going for it.Yes,it has some cool plot twist here and there.Yes,some of the characters are genuinely interesting.

(Just a quick little gag.Let me play a game with you.One of these two are the best characters in the entire show.Which one is it?)


However,the story as a whole is just a mess.And i hate to dip into nitpicking territory,but let me tell you one plot point that i really hate.Ever since i was a child,i have always hated the "Destroy the world plot!" Why the heck would you destroy the one place you live? Unless you're an alien species,or you pull a Lelouch card on us and just rebuild the world in your image.We never get a very good reason for why we ragyo wants to hand the world over to the life fibers.
In the character department,you have your typical variety of anime characters.

Big honor bound guy.
The computer nerd.
The hot blooded warrior.
The flat chested chick,with the annoying voice.
The character i like to refer to as,The Big Boss Bit-..Female Dog.
The useless family,that is just there for comic relief.
The useless waste of space for comic relief.
And finally,the edgy main character,that..Oddly reminds me of shadow the hedgehog...

The relationship of the characters can easily be summed up in short sentences.Mako and Ryuko are best friends.Ryuko and Satsuki are bitter rivals,until they find out they are sisters and go all Tsundere for each other.And the rest of the cast does not get enough of time to be extremely talked about.Basically everything i said before about them,is all you need to know.
Now then,are there any deeper messages to this show? And before you throw me that Tumblr image of Kill La Kill being a deep statement of the nature of fan service in anime,and of course "The Male Gaze." Don't you worry your silly little head over that.As i have already factored that in.And let me tell you what i think of that,its stupid.

It sort of reminds me of most religion.You can't prove its right,but you can't prove its wrong either.Which gets everyone stuck in a purgatory of arguments that go back in forth.However,i would be stupid to say that there was at least some deeper sub text.Kill La Kill obviously has some certain ideas it likes to throw out there.And the viewer can gain different symbolic messages in the show.

HOWEVER! (If i had a dollar for the times i have said that in this post.) Knowing that these messages exist is one thing.Does the anime hold its end of the bargain,and follow through with those themes? I mean..I would most likely not be writing this if it did,because it would most likely be alot better,but anyway.Kill la Kill is one of those anime that like to throw certain ideas out there,but does not follow through with them in the end.Lets see what some of the subtext in Kill la Kill talks about.

In the show,your worth is literally based on your appearence.And we have the theme about how in alot anime,everything is based around highschool.Both of these are hinted at,and mentioned a few times in the story,but none of them actually tie into the main plot.And because of this,the central narrative has a very weak foundation.

Ryuko wants to find out who killed her dad.
She finds out who killed her dad.
Then she has no idea what she wants to do.

Then later on the story gives her a stupid reason,for why she now has to save the world.
Kill la Kill fails in this aspect,because at times it feels like there is nothing the characters are fighting against.The only way they were able to fix this,was at the end.With the whole "SHE GONNA BLOW UP THE FREAKING WORLD!" Plot. Still,there are a bit more things i can talk about.

Kill la Kill has this thing with clothing,and how its responsible for the evolution of mankind.The message here is that the clothes,literally make the man.And in all honesty,that is pretty interesting.And the show does have a decent way of keeping this up.The other part of this theme is that the main characters gain strength from these clothes,by being comfortable while wearing them.Early on in the seris,Ryuko is lacking in fighting skills because she feels ashamed by wearing the revealing armor that is senketsu.That is until Satsuki delivers her famous quote,which is most likely the best line in the entire show.

"This is the form in which a Kamui is able to release the most power! The fact that you are embarrased by the values of the masses only proves how small you are!"

The reason i say this show failed with this aspect,is because it is never really talked about later on in the series.It teases you with the idea of this theme.And the reason why the characters where this clothing.But eventually,it just drops that idea.Now for the second thing.The idea that Kill la Kill is a statement of school in anime.I actually think this is one of the best things in the show.At least in the first half.In case you have not noticed by now,anime has this thing where it revolves around high school SO MUCH! Kill la Kill does its best to take this concept,and mock it.

The center of the city,is the academy.Your worth in the city,is tied to your rank in the school.This is shown in episode 7.As it is shown that your living quaters,and basic ways of living are split up based on your star ranking.Characters who are not students are not even given the time of day.

But i must admit,the fact that these themes are here,and can even be discussed are not an automatic merit towards the series.For godsake people,there are themes that can be discussed in the star wars prequels.Or even Spongebob.
And that my friends is a rant...But you know what..I still like this crap.I have know idea why,but i still enjoy this show.I guess you can say that i am a bit of a masochist.Even though it is unfocused,poorly animated,and is constantly trying to follow up the design legacy,of a show that is mostly better than it.But be aware,i am bashing the show,not its fans.And as i said before,i like Kill la Kill.But i have said it before,and i will say it again.

"I feel as if it is best to anaylze both the good,and bad things in any medium.As they help us see why good things work,and why bad things don't."

Anyhow,with that i will be leaving.As i have a friend coming over soon,and i need to find a place to hide my Ryuko body pillow.But before i go,i would like to ask you-the viewer,a question.What do you think of Kill la Kill? Do you think its pretty good,or just mediocre.Anyhow,see yah! *Waves*

Oh yeah,i lied.There is no cookie...

..This is usually the part where i say something clever,as an introduction,to get the audience into the mood for the fun facts..Apologies,i got nothing this time around.Onto the facts.

1.Mekaku City Actors is an anime,based off of a manga,based off of a soundtrack.

2.Freiza from Dragon Ball Z,is said to be what Akira Toriyama thought monsters looked like,as a child.

3. The Tokyo Ghoul anime is now officially called "Tokyo Ghoul Root A." This applies even if you're not talking about the second season.

4.Ichigo Kurosaki,is based off of Tite Kubo when he was a teenager.Kind of obvious if you ask me...

5.Yuuki Kodoma's (The author of the Blood Lad manga.) favorite manga series of all time,is Dragon Ball Z.

6.Certain anime,and manga is not so popular in China,due to cultural laws.They are allowed,but major changes,and censoring has to happen.Although,major changes are only used for the biggest offenders.For instance,if you get a volume of Blue Exorcist from China,the word "Demon",will be replaced with "Monster".EVERY.SINGLE.SENTENCE.Which puts a major flaw in the story,and immersion.

Also,If you get a Death Note volume from China,the word "Shinigami",will be replaced with Reaper.As Shinigami translates into "Death God".

7.Kilik Rung from Soul Eater was added in at the last second.Atsushi Okubo added him in,because he forgot to have an African American character.Even though Kilik is technically African Japanese.Okubo thought people would be offended,by the lack of racial balance.

8.According to official characters polls,Sword Art Onlines most popular female character,is now Sinon.YES! She is so much better than Asuna!

9.Even though the Naruto manga has ended,there are still..Say,20-50 more episodes,for the anime.And that's not counting filler.However,there should be alot less filler,now that the manga has ended.

10.The Devil May Cry anime series,was originally going to have Dante use Devil Trigger,but the studio thought they should save that for the second season.Which does not exist,due to low sales...

11.In case you have not noticed,there are alot of nitpicks you can use,for the psychology of Soul Eater characters.For instance,it is said that the character Black Star,has a mind that is literally not desinged,to lose.So lets say that you beat him in a game of chess,what will he do? Snap your neck?

Death The Kid is obsessed with symmetry.It is said that sometimes he cannot even fight,in an area that is asymmetrical.Well guess what Kid? Did you know that the ground is asymmetrical? Did you know that your skin is asymmetrical? did you know that a few bones in your body,are asymmetrical? There are so many things you can take apart in this world,if you really think about it.

12.Light Yagami in Kanji,means "Moon" and "God".

13.Dragon Ball Z,has SO MANY F**KING CONTIUITY PROBLEMS! Specifically,in the Planet Namek arc.They pull random math,statistics,and estimates,out of there A**.The problem is,they give all these dates,for when specific things are supposed to happen.But then,another estimated time for something else comes in,and screws up the original..Just,watch a few episodes again,or read the manga.I mean really listen,to what they are saying.The math,makes no sense,at all.

NOPE! Screw that,i'm giving an example.It's said at some point,that the Ginyu squad will arrive within in a week.And it's said that Goku will arrive about 1 day1 after them.BUT GUESS WHAT!? Goku comes minutes,after Gohan and Krillin,defeats 1 of them.And arrives in the middle of Vegetas fight with Recoome...WHAT THE HECK!

Goku was not even suppose to arrive,on the same DAY! Now some try to argue that the cycle of time on the planet,is alot faster than earths.But guess what? That does not matter.Goku's ship,is not in Namek's gravitational poll.The planets cycle has no effect on him!

14.On official Fairy Tail character polls,Natsu is the most popular character about 80% of the time.

15.The Mass Effect video games series,has an anime movie.It sucks,don't watch it.You can guess all the major plot points,right when you hit the 30 minute mark.

16.Pokemon Origins was so popular,that there were hundreds of petitions started,to make a full season.The petitions fell on deaf ears.As Pokemon Origins was only a market tool,for Pokemon X and Y.Nintendo..You're getting pretty stupid.

17.Oh wait,time for another Dragon Ball Z fact.The Ginyu Squad is a parody of stupid sentai stuff.Like Power Rangers.

18.Alois and Claude,from Black Butler season 2 were characters that Yana Toboso thought of and drew in her free time.

19.You cannot legally buy a volume of Berserk in a bookstore in certain countries,if you're under 17...So uh..Some of you may be criminals..

20.Little Witch Acedemia did so bad in Japan,that they had to cancel live events due to low tickets sales.


Welp,that's it for me.See yah next time.*Waves*

cless alvein : The simple answer is..No,not really.

The first 3 episodes are great,next 10 are good,and the others are really..Really bad.As someone else in the thread said before,the writing is not very well written,and the romance is awful.It's almost like a teenager wrote this,and just assumed what romance is like.Couple that with a..Possible incest plot,and a terrible final antagonist,and you got yourself something very bad.

However,that's not to say that its all bad.The world is interesting,and the concept is awesome.Also,the boss battles are amazing.

Season 2 suffers from a similar problem,but at least the characters are written a bit better.But i still say you should give it a go.I would never tell someone to never watch something,ever.But if i do..It's most likely really bad,and you should stay far away from it.XD

7.5/10

YAY! Its finally here! And i'm not going to lie,i was a bit skeptical at first,but after seeing the first episode i have a bit of faith.Anyhow,i'll try to go over everything in a quick amount of time.

For starters,the opening theme..Its something i did not really care for,at all.In fact,i'm willing to go beyond that.I legitimately thought it was bad,even if you don't compare it to the previous opening theme.It's not well animated,and just..Boring.There is little to no movement,just art moving in the back round.In fact,lets do a test.

This is a fan made trailer for season 2,watch it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0X_K3yty38

Now tell me which one you would have liked to be an official opening theme..? That trailer,in my opinion,is actually better than the official opening.*Seriously,whoever made this needs to be in the animation industry.*

I mean..Come on,there is more movement,and animation in a fan made trailer,than in an official opening.I just..I don't get it.I don't even care if the song is different,i just care about the movement,and animation quality.

But,i'll just move on to something else to talk about.As i don't want to be to negative.

I noticed that there was no censoring in this episode,thank god.And please continue doing this.This is something that actually hurt the original anime.I'm begging you,just keep that out.This is a Mature Adult series,you do not require this.

I'm also quite interested in this new plot.I really love "What if," Scenarios.That was one of the things that got me into comics a few years ago.Haven't you ever wondered what would happen if Goku actually gave into Vegata's offer,and joined the Saiyans,or perhaps what would happen if Naruto somehow joined the Akatsuki? I love that kind of stuff,its interesting.I cannot wait to see what happens here.What is Kaneki trying to accomplish by doing this? This is going to be a long and terrible 12 weeks..

Now lets move onto comparisons with the Manga.For the first 12 minutes,they followed it..Kind of alright.They changed a few things,and made fights wrap up alot shorter,but i think they did okay.But sadly..Well,i don't want to spoil anything for you anime only watchers.But i'll just say this: We do not get an anatomy lesson,by Dr.Kaneki.

Anyhow,that's all i have to say on it,why don't you guys tell me your thoughts.See yah.*Waves*

Oh yeah,at least this page was in there.

Welp,the holidays are over.Back to the grind...

Alrighty,i don't usually do discussions about specific characters.As i like to focus on controversial topics about the medium of anime,not just anime itself.But hey,eventually i run out of ideas and focus on a specific anime,or anime character.So for all the Naruto fans out there,it's time to get down to buisness.Let's talk Obito Uchiha.

Regarded  as one of the worst,if not the worst villain in the entire Naruto series.And believe it or not..I am having a hard time trying to understand why.I mean sure,he is rather cliche,and his goals are completely deluded,and have a ton of holes in them.However,i would argue that most Naruto villians are that way.Just look at Sasuke,and when he went on a rebellion for years.He got to teen girl levels of B*tching,and complaining about stuff.

But as my grandfather always said,"It's not fair for a lesser evil,to point fingers at a bigger evil.Instead,it's best to focus on what makes the two figures evil in the first place,and fix them." It's like two serial killers saying that they should get less jail time,because another serial killer murdered more people then him/her.The point is,YOU STILL KILLED SOMEBODY!

Man i miss that old man..Anyway,back to the topic.I believe i should get down to the reason why Obito is such a disliked character.As the best way to fix someones problem with something,is to figure out exactly what that person takes offense with in the first place.From what i have read on forums,people tend to dislike him because..Well,to simplify it,"He keeps complaining about how the world sucks,and how much he misses Rin."

And yes,it's very easy to dislike him for that reason.And i admit,i was on that same boat to.However,i have come to the conclusion that Naruto antagonist are..Well,here's my theory.Most of them are VERY stupid,beyond belief.Or they are very well thought out characters,that require you to study there psychology,in order to fully understand.And to be honest,most of the time i go with the ladder.

I have also come to the conclusion that in order to understand Obito,you REALLY need to get inside his mind.Picture yourself as him.Completely think about it,from his point of view.And in my opinion,the best way to do that,is to watch episodes 345-346,back to back.These may be my favorite episodes,in the entire Shippuden series.This will really get you inside Obito's head.This also proves that some filler episodes,are actually worth watching sometimes.
This episode shows you nearly everything about the character.His relationship with Kakashi and Rin,and how he became involved with Madara.It's very interesting to be honest.

The fact is,after Rins death,Obito wanted a world,where she could still be alive again.Where there was nothing but peace.And in my eyes,that's understandable.Being inside your own little world,where you can have whatever you want,whenever you want is intruiguing.However,that is not reality.The way nature is,just isn't like that.The easiest thing to compare this to,is the ecosystem.But hey,we are geeks,not nerds.Since we geeks don't want to hear about that science crap from me,i believe Edward Elric can explain it better than i can.

"Once we die,our bodies become soil.That soil helps plants grow.Those plants will feed herbivores.Those Herbivores will feed carnivores.And once those creatures die,the cycle will repeat.Putting everything back in balance."

Man..I love Fullmetal Alchemist.Anyhow,the point is that reality kind of sucks.But you must realise that nearly every type of painful thing you can think of,will benifit the world.Here's another example.An herbivore getting killed by a carnivore to feed the carnivores children,is benificial.It feeds the young ones,and once the body is decomposed,it will become soil that will grow plants and assist other herbivores.

See? All pain can help something.Maybe not you,but something else.Sadly,Obito does not understand this fact.After Rins death,Obito was dull,bitter,and hurt.Trying to find anyway,to dull the pain.This is where Madara's ideals came in."A perfect world,full of anything you can ever imagine." And i must admit,if i were in a state of such mental pain,i may give into that crap to.

The fact is that that world does not exist,you can only pretend it exist.Though you could argue that Obito could technically create a different plane of reality,that does not require our plane of reality,to even exist....Which makes everything i said here completely nullified..Huh,i just found a plot hole in my entire thread..Moving on.

Obito's actions are the equivalent of someone giving up on there religion,or ideals,in a time of great pain.Resorting to drugs,or drinking.He was basically brainwashed by Madara.Which is exactly why his speeches are so repetitive.He was just recycling everything Madara told him.The best way to describe him,is calling him Madara lite.He has no real care for his speeches,or ideals.He was just clinging onto something,that felt comforting in a time of pain.While also not knowing that the thing be believed to be helpful,was actaully hurting him.
The best way to put it,is..Well,hate to quote another character,but Ciel Phantomhive has some very good quotes!

"Even if all there is to cling to is a thread from a spiders web,i will cling to it for dear life,if it can drag me out of the pits of hell."

And i believe what i said covered 1 out of 2 reasons why people dislike the character,now it's time to get to the 2nd.

"RIN! WAAAAAH! WAAAAAH! I'M GOING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD,AND MAKE IT PERFECT!"

Something i like to call,Light Yagami syndrome.On a more serious note,lets talk about Rin,and how it affected Obito.To put it short,Rin represents Obito's past,and ideals.After he saw her death,all of those fond memories,and ideals,died with her.Believe it or not,Obito did not completely give into Madara's thinking.There was a subconscious part of him,that did cling to the past.This very subconscious,is the thing that made him do all of this.He is giving into the evil he despised,just to get the past back.That does not work out.

Now finally after all of this,i have to ask the question,is Obito Uchiha a bad character? No.In my eyes he is fine.It's just that his psychology and goals were not explained well enough.And once again,he complains,alot! More than Ganta Igarashi.If only he was explained a bit better.Anyhow,i have nothing else to say.I'll just be getting to the outro here.

To end this,i would like to ask you guys what you think of Obito? Do you think he is an underated gem? Or just some stupid wack job? Anyhow,if you excuse me,i have more characters to complain about.See yah next time.*Waves.*

This is what i am going to be talking about next..That thread will be very long,i promise you.

Razor-987 : "I really want to see the movie, but I probably won't get the chance since it takes 4,000 years for anything good in Japan to finally make it to the U.S XD."

Man,i am really about to make your day.*Points down*

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/last-naruto-movie-coming-america-february-and-heres-where-see-it-video-403327

Welp,Lizard Squad has been ruining Christmas,i'm bored,and Naruto has ended.So lets do some more fun facts!

1.Do me a favor,watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQA3EbzTw-Y#t=503 (It should start around 8:23,if the link worked that is.if not,just start at 8:23.Pause around 9:21)

Now,what did you think of the animation in that fight? Pretty cool right? Well guess what,you just got punked!

Allow me to introduce you to something called,"Jagged animation." This is an art form that slows down the animation,to make it more rugged and edgy.The trick is that the animation itself is actually very poor.But they slow down and edge the frames so much,that it looks freaking awesome! It's the same reason why the fights in Dragon Ball Z look so EPIC! When in reality,it's animated very poorly.

This is mostly used in long running shonen series.As they need to spread there budget out,across multiple seasons.

Hey,at least its better than the anime fight with pain...*Shivers*


2.Speaking of pain,lets get into the "How do you spell his name argument." Well,the Japanese word for Pain,is Pein.So..Either way you spell it,you're still saying the exact.Same.THING! Apologies,but i hate hearing people fight over this.

3.The original concept of the Akatsuki,were a group of monsters with little to no human characteristics.This was in extremely early stages of production.Zetsu is the only surviving member of this concept.And even he is extremely changed and edited.

4.Masashi Kishimoto's favorite thing to write in Naruto,is romance.Even though it is barely focused on.

5.It is stated multiple times,that Obito can no longer feel pain.Well then,WHY DOES HE SCREAM OUT IN AGONY WHEN HE GETS SEVERELY INJURED?! Some say this phrase is to be taken symbolically,i say it's just a flaw.Once again,apologies,but i hate when characters contradict themselves.

6.Time for another nitpick,why? Because i love finding small flaws in stuff.At some point in the anime,Sasuke says "Is the Ten Tails goin to change form again?" Howevever,he was not around to see it's form change.And as far as we know,no character has ever directly told him that the ten tails can even transform.He should have no clue that the ten tails can do this.

7.The Ten Tails is inspired by Kaiju monsters.Such as Godzilla,King Ghidorah,and Gamera.

8.For the final character poll,the 10 most popular characters are-

1.Naruto Uzumaki
2.Sasuke Uchiha
3.Kakashi Hatake
4.Gaara (YES!)
5.Itachi Uchiha
6.Minato Namikaze
7.Shikamaru Nara
8.Hinata Hyuga
9.Iruka Umino (B-But you barely did anything...)
10.Sakura Haruno (Well deserved,you finally evolved!)

if you don't want to take my word for it,read the wiki.

http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Naruto_Character_Popularity_Polls
9.Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 BABY! http://www.siliconera.com/2014/12/22/naruto-shippuden-ultimate-ninja-storm-4-big-battles-even-bigger-monsters/

Coming this year! Can't wait.Hopefully they have an actual arcade mode this time...

10.Aoda is the personal summon,of Sasuke Uchiha.It is said that before he met him,he inhabited Ryuchi Cave.The question is,how did Sasuke acquire him?

There is no record of Sasuke ever visiting the cave.Now,alot of the creatures summoned by Shinobi exist across space and time.Possibly in another dimension entirely.Aoda is one of the few creatures,that do not.It is also said,that the snakes of Ryuchi cave have no affiliation to any faction.They are basically neutral.So there are only 2 options.

1.Some time during Sasuke's Training,he went to the cave with Orochimaru.
2.He made a contract with Aoda,via scroll.

Other wise..That's another flaw.
You know,perhaps i should consider changing the title to,"20 nitpicks in Naruto!"

11.In the entire Naruto series,the sound village does..Well,not that much,especially in part 2.And even in part 1,its mostly at the start and end of the series.They don't even have a Hokage,because its not even officially a village.It's gotten to the point where you can take entire chapters that simply talk about them out,and it will do nothing to the story.

12.Training to enter Sage Mode is extremly dangerous.First of all,you need to remain extremely still.Seriously,barely even flinch.This is because the spiritual,and physical energies inside you need to balance out.If they do not,your body will overdose and turn into a toad,and eventually harden into stone.The petrified remains of one-time apprentice Sages who failed to master senjutsu are spread throughout Mount Myoboku.

However,you can be saved.Getting hit by a special staff during the transformation will reverse the toad transformation by knocking all the natural energy out of the gatherer.And still,it is very dangerous to learn how to gather natural energy without the staff because there is no other known way to reverse the toad transformation.Furthermore,if the transformation is completed,not even the staff can reverse it,and the user would become a toad statue forever.

Jeez..I feel sick...Also,how the snakes of Ryuchi Cave train,is unknown.

13.It is said that less than 100 people in the Uchiha clan,have ever gained the ability to form a Susanoo.Most likely even a bit lower than that.

14.Masashi Kishimoto's favorite characters,are Choji and Killer Bee.

15.One of the best characters to write for Kishimoto,was Deidara.And he said,"It was so fun to bring him back to life!"

16.In case you have not figured it out yet,yes.Naruto’s appearance in the war,was designed after the Super Saiyan mode of Goku.

17.Despite Asuma being a heavy smoker,he has never coughed from his habit in the series,even once.If you don't want to take my word for it,go read every single chapter again...I'll wait.

*5 Years later*
..My god..I was wrong.

18.Naruto Shippuden on Disney XD did so bad,that it did not even last 1 season...

19.This right here,is Kishimoto's work station. (If it does not appear in the thread due to its size please copy the image url,and open it in a new tab.My apologies.)

20.I would just like to remind you,through the entire series Naruto has not killed anyone.Even once..Even though he did technically assist in some deaths.Also,this is for canon only.

Bonus Fact: Just one final fact hear.Kishimoto has said multiple times that,"Naruto and Sasuke are not gay for each other!" Okay..I just made up that quote,but he has spoken about this.He basically said that he has a brother,and whenever his brother would feel pain,it almost felt like he shared that exact same pain.

Anyhow,that's it for me.See yah later.*Waves*

Disclaimer: This is going to be a bit of a personal one for me,and it will take a bit of a long time to read.If you can't read something for an extended period of time,(Jesus Christ,why are you even watching anime?!) i suggest you bail,now.Although to be honest,i never got the "T LR excuse." Have we really gotten so addicted to text and tweets,that we can't even sit down ,and read a book anymore?! However,i suppose i'm going on a bit of a personal rampage.Also,this thread has alot of pictures.If you don't enjoy that,also bail now.Do to this,my layout will be turned off.See yah in the end.*Waves*

"Every Comic is someones first."

Stan Lee said this a very long time ago.When i was extremely into comics along time ago,this was my favorite quote ever said.And to this day,it stands as one of my favorite quotes ever.Not just because of how interesting a quote it is for just comics,but because of how true it is for every medium in general.

Every Video Game
Every Book
Every Movie
Every Show

And of course,every anime.And by now you have most likely guessed what i am going to talk about,on one of my favorite days of the year.But anyway,lets exercise the grumpy out of me so i can try have fun on Christmas day.Speaking of grumpy-

My god,i love this cat...Anyhow,onto the discussion.


You know,whenever i look on reddit,crunchyroll,and even Vizzed,i constantly see people asking questions like, "How do i get my mother,brother,girlfriend." Or whatever into anime.And over the years,it seems like everybody already has there own special variety of answers.

There are people who show someone there personal favorites in the genre.
(Just some of mine.)




There are those who try to show them the most critically acclaimed shows.(Evangelion,Fate/Zero,Madoka Magica.) And there are of course those who stick to showing them,what alot of people call,gateway anime.You know what i'm talking about.

The Bebops


The Death Notes


The Fullmetal Alchemist


(Also,any battle Shonen series ever created.)

Yeah,those guys.You may be able to see where i am going with this,correct? Now i don't believe those shows are bad by any stretch of the word. (Bebop is a slow burner until Ballad Of Fallen Angels.Death Note has a great start,dissapointing middle half,and very good ending,in the anime,and manga.And the ending to FMA 2003 is just..Weird.) And if one of these shows have gotten one of your friends into anime,good job.You have done your part.But lets look at that phrase i said at the start again.

"Every Comic is someones first."

Now i would like for you,the reader,to try your hardest to remember the first anime you watched.And i'm not talking about Pokemon,or Digimon,Or Beyblade,or Yu-Gi-Oh.I mean anime you knew was actually anime at the time.Something you knew was its own unique art form,and not just another cartoon.

Now especially those who believe in the gateway anime myth.(Yep,that's what i called it,you will know why by the end of this.) Think to yourself,do you think the show you grew up watching would get anyone into anime? Or did it just make you slightly interested enough,to give the rest of the medium a try?

The thing is,when i hear someone recommend a series to people,i notice that it's mostly always series that are mature,serious,and grown up.And i can obviously see why people think that way.Especially if you're trying to get an older person into anime.Specifically,older people who have a mindset that anything animated is deemed a "Cartoon."

If you feel like your parents will not enjoy something light hearted and fun such as,um..The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya.Or down for some Kishin hunting awesomeness,like in Soul Eater.You could stick to showing them something like Monster for now.But that's where i start to have a problem.You see,i'm not specifically talking about showing your parents anime.I'm talking about showing normal people anime.I don't mean your parents are not regular people,i just mean..Um..Moving on.

I mean teenagers,and young adults.I've heard things like,"You can't show noobies something like Kill La Kill.It's to over the top,and they wont get it." Or "You can't show new people Serial Experiments Lain! They won't get it!"

And i constantly get annoyed with people saying things like this.I mean..Why is it up to us,the people who are already in the "Cool Kids Club." To get other people in? If you have someone you want to share anime with,thats fine.And there is always the Metal Assessment Approach for that.
(A.K.A: Figure out the person's interests,and pick a show based on that.)

But otherwise,why not let someone have there first anime? Let everything,be someones first.You can't hold a childs hand forever.And here's a question for you,what happens when there done with bebop?



Alright,good answer.What about when there done with that?


Ugh..What if they want to see something a bit more modern.In the 2000 era perhaps?



*Facepalm* You know,you can't keep this up forever? Sooner or later,they will have to jump into there first Ecchi Harem.


Or there first mecha
(PFFT! It's so small!)


Or there first overated shonen


Alrighty,for anyone who knows anything about comics here.This is sort of like showing a fan of the Dark Knight Batman films,who REALLY wants to get into the comics,Batman: Court Of Owls.(Which is a freaking masterpiece!)


Then showing him/her,All Star Batman And Robin.*Cringes*


No one here knows comics..? Which makes that entire gag and metaphor a failure..? Fine.Let me tell you something about myself.I consider myself an expert in manga.I can tell you close to everything about the art form.From series,to genres,to art styles,to different techniquies of writing,and design.And chances are,if you show me something i will most likely know about it.The first manga volume i ever read,was the first volume of Soul Eater.And guess what? Soul Eater is F*cking stupid.I'm sorry,it really is.It's just mindless fun.It has a few interesting concepts it likes to throw here and there,but in the end,theres not much of a deeper concept to it.(Although,i should note that anyone can get a different message,out of anything.See my previous discussion- https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=82596 -) This is what got me into manga.And i still have that volume sitting in my collection.Granted,it smells awful now and the pages are yellow.But,that will always be the most prized thing i will ever have,because it got me into the medium.

You see,things like this are what got me into manga.And what made the Shonen battle genre,my favorite genre in anime and manga.And i would have never seen it,if someone was holding my hand.Listen,this is a VERY weird world,that we're in love with.Anime,is F*cking crazy.You cannot deny it.There is so much variety in this medium.New concepts are coming every single season.There are literally hundreds of thousands of anime,that anyone can start with.Any one anime can be a gateway anime.Because a show can mean anything to a person.Even if it does suck.

Well..I mean statistically.As it's near impossible to define something as bad.As anyone can get anything out of a certain way of telling a story,or concept.Now get your thinking rifles ready boys.As this is where things start to get a bit complicated.
You see,Stan Lee used the quote as a Double Edged Sword.It was stating that any comic could be someones first,but because of this comics should not be so obsessed with trying to appeal to as many people as possible.Anime has had this problem,for quite a while.Every single year,more anime is beaing released that appeals to statistics,and not trying to be to unique.

Explaining this can be a bit confusing.And if you have read my threads enough,to know my likes and dislikes,you may be like "OH NO! He's getting the moe,and Battle Shonen hate rifle out again!" Eh..Yes,and no.Shows like Lucky Star,and One Piece,are actually pretty harmless series.Is it completely stupid beyond belief,and is a drug ridden mess? I'll let you guess what i think.

The problem i am seeing with more recent anime right now,is not a lack of quality.And its not like i am saying nothing good has come out in the past few years,but over the past few years,there have been a rise in cash grab,Moe Blob K-On clones.And more Shonen that are built for hormone crazed teens,that love fighting and big breasted woman.
In my eyes,there are two big issues with trying to get people into anime.First of all,people are to scared to show noobs the bare bones of the medium in fear of driving them away.And makers in Japan are to set in there ways,with making things that appeal to as large of an audience as possible.

In my opinion,you should not care what specific show gets someone into the medium.Neither should you care about those,who would not give it a chance in the first place.Why try your hardest to show them the best thing you have possible in the first place? Even if they like what they see,they  most likely will not go watching some other series,because its just anime,that's the way it is to them.

In fact,would you like to know what got me into anime? Comics..May have been able to guess that by know.But allow me to explain.When i was a kid,me and my cousin would often go to our local library,and rent dozens,and i mean dozens of comics.Most likely a little bit over a hundred,and read them constantly.I don't really know why,but i have always been attracted to great villains,with an interesting psychology,and psychosis.People who's minds are just completely screwed up.Someone who has a reason for doing all this,while not aware of the reason itself.Characters like the Joker,The Ridler,and many others.Those characters make want to become a psychologist.In my mind,every persons mind is like it's own unique puzzle that i can solve.

But eventually..I got tired of comics.Not completely though,as i still buy newer comics monthly.And i still enjoy them,while also retaining most of my knowledge about the medium.But i eventually longed for something more.Something similar,but a bit more creative.And with the extreme amount of characters in anime,that have interesting psychologies in there own right,are one of the reasons i still read manga,and watch anime.

"Every Comic is someones first."

To the artistic girl,who watches Madoka Magica,and is blown away by the elegant artwork.


To the son of a family that see's Soul Eater,and is blown away by the care and respect the weapons have for there meisters later on.


To the two brothers in the living room,who see One Piece.And try to emulate Gomu Gomu no Gatling...Or whatever that attack is called.


To the teenager that is blown away by every twist and turn of Bleach's Soul Society Arc


To the lonely teen who witnesses Light Yagami's crusade on the wicked.


To the group of friends,that try to understand Serial Experiments Lain.


To the young woman who sheds a tear in a tragic moment,in Grave Of FireFlies


"Every Comic is someones first."

And hey,maybe a comic wasn't meant for the person in the first place.

Anyhow,i think i got all the grumpy out of me before Christmas day.Thank you for reading my extremely long wall of text.See yah in January,and enjoy the holiday.*Waves*

..WAIT! I forgot to ask the ending question.What do you think,about this topic? What do you think of the mindset,of a gateway anime? Anyhow see yah.*Double Wave*

And finally,this is who i will be talking about in my next discussion.Oh man,the Naruto fans will know why me talking about this character will be tough...

Will1 : The reason Saturday morning cartoons have basically died out,is the same reason why TV will eventually die out.We have the internet.We are not bound by a collar,on a schedule to view a show.The internet allows you to view basically everything you can watch on TV,and more.All it takes is internet,electricity,a computer,and fingertips.

Sad to see them go,but i suppose you can't stay in the past forever!