Gowi

Let's talk Anime

I wrote this up a few weeks ago, actually, lol:

What was your first anime?

Most people in my friends group would say Pokemon, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, or Sailor Moon but my actual first anime was either Speed Racer or the sort of amalgamation-thing called Voltron. I’m not even sure where I caught my first glimpses, but as a kid my older brother was a pretty big comic book and trading card game sort of guy and I’d accompany him to these nerd outlets that played anime in the background—though I think I first caught Speed Racer on television.

When did it first resonate with you?

The first Toonami “power hour” that featured Yoroiden Samurai Troopers (known as Ronin Warriors in the states) and Dragon Ball Z. Over time this whole sort of anime boom got me fascinated with this highly stylized sort of imported media and my dad actually bought me boxsets of Ronin Warriors and Neon Genesis Evangelion.

What have you recently finished?

Mikakunin De Shinkoukei (2014)

An energetic slice of comedy that gives me what I call the "K-ON complex" in that I never expected to like this anime and I ended up loving it. I don't think it's characterization or narrative but simply that the bubbly comedy works too damn well. Also it happens to have the best op this season so that helps a lot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLC3VBrldw4

Subtitles, Dubs, or Both?

Definitely both. This is because I really like to see a well done english voiceover and I think we have succeeded more often than we have failed. I prefer my native tongue but I'm not so self-obsessed to acknowledge that sometimes it's just better as it was. But sometimes stuff just doesn't get translated and I have to deal with that of which I'm completely fine with.

Favorite Voice Actors?

Steven Blum and Wendee Lee are pretty much the staples of good voiceover work and I really appreciate both of them for that; I also fancy Brina Palencia, Derek Stephen Prince, Michelle Ruff, Hilary Haag, and Shelley Calene-Black.

Biggest disappointment?

Sonic the Hedgehog (1996)

Why?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VOOPJ8qP5I

Well for one it's one of the worst dubbing in the history of anime, oh and the story/pacing/narrative is horrid in all shapes and forms.

Biggest surprising enjoyment?

K-ON!, as it was described as a "generic, cliche, slice-of-life with a music club that goes nowhere" to me. I found the high energy lightheartedness to resonate with me for some reason and much like dance music it instills a sort of bubblegum candy feeling in me that makes me realize I'm not taking myself completely serious all the time.

What do you currently look for in anime?

Honestly, I think I’m all over the place – but if there’s one thing I can say firmly is I think there’s no shonen that can appeal to me anymore. Shingeki no Kyojin resonated poorly with me and that was probably one of the darkest and most well-crafted anime of the genre of shonen anime. This is weird to me because I still hold the martial arts variant of shonen very close to me, but perhaps its nostalgia or something else that makes me not toss those aside. That said I feel I’ve been more critical of childhood favorites in this media then in any other. But to answer this a little better: I’ve been into slice-of-life comedies (K-ON!), romantic dramas (Nana), thriller (Monster), horror (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai), adventure (Nadia), space opera (Galactic Heroes), slice-of-life drama (Beck), and so forth.

If you could list your favorites, what would they be?

Cowboy Bebop, Beck, Samurai Champloo, Serial Experiments Lain, Allison to Lillia, Last Exile, Ghost in the Shell, Black Lagoon, Baccano!, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Azumanga Daioh, Madlax, Fushigi no Umi no Nadia. – I could probably go on but those are what are exactly coming to mind right now.

MAL?

http://myanimelist.net/animelist/Gowienczyk[

Orange Pop

Independent Comics Universe RPG

“The dark alleys smell of the failure of this society of ‘America’ as those without order wallow in their own filth and shame as they refuse to take what they need to survive, relying on the most basic of subsistence and on the charity of their oppressors. New York City calls them the homeless, but I see the lifeless instead. It pains me to even bear to look at them, but The Shredder has not ordered their deaths nor have they seen something they should not have at this point in time so they are allowed to continue this pitiful existence. There’s a tug of hesitation to despise them so at the center of my body and I am not sure why as I look down upon them, why do I feel so restrained by my own inhibitions?” Karai Oroku looked to her closest ally and only true friend in the clan, Tora Yoshida, as they sat in a room in a warehouse in New York City that had been chosen as one of the Foot’s discreet safe-houses.

Karai’s reservations about her own feelings worried Tora who had obediently followed the Foot as it was request of him by his father before his passing, but even with such obedience he felt something was off in the air of his comrades—like there was something dark and malicious growing in the shadows. With a compassionate frown he attempted to speak to Karai about these feelings of hers as she viewed it important enough to come to him about it.

“I think it’s because you care about their well-being, thinking that if they had order in their life then their purpose wouldn’t be so without vigor and resolve.”

Karai stopped to think on the words from her friend before she raised her head with a confident smile. “You are very wise for your years, my friend.”

Tora chuckled humbly, “I suppose. Is there anything else that is on your mind, Karai?”

“Actually… there’s a lot in my thoughts, ever since we arrived here in New York. I feel like something is calling to me… whispering in my ear, something that I didn’t feel was present in Japan. I feel oddly home but I don’t feel comfortable, and I don’t know why.”

The feeling of restlessness was hard to pin down for the teenaged girl as she tried to understand her thoughts in conversation with her fellow foot clansmen as she pondered what could be creating such uncomfortable nostalgia. She didn’t like New York or so she believed, so how could she feel like it was home? Home was in Japan, not in some overtly unorderly cacophony of complacency and greed. The feeling that something was calling to her somewhere in New York worried her greatly and she did not want her father to feel like she was uncertain or unfocused—as those were traits of the failures of The Foot and not the prodigal examples as she was expected and oftentimes proved she was. But what could she do about such anxiety? She hoped expressing it through speech was what she need to do.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I feel like I need to be here, but not for the reasons we need to be here—like there is a greater reason calling me to a place I’m not fond of, a place where it’s not about the Foot Clan… but about me, like the spirits above are calling out to me trying to make me understand something but I’m not sure what it could be. I refuse to let my father hear of this or see this from me, I need to remove myself from this feeling before our work here begins.”

“I’m not sure I have any thoughts on that.” Tora admitted, feeling Karai’s thoughts were worrying for a plethora of reasons. She was afraid of looking weak in front of her father, yet she felt like she needed to be here for reasons that weren’t connected to the clan, and that it was overwhelming her. Tora didn’t like it one bit and while he wouldn’t dispel such information to her father unless ordered to, he felt like Karai was not ‘whole’ and it was hurting her so immensely that he could not bear to see her continue to do so.

“But I can say that you should be with peace with your feelings.”

“That’s a very simple answer.”

“Sometimes a simple answer is all you need.”

Karai smirked, “Quiet, Tora-kun.”

“If that is your wish.”

It was a joke between Tora and Karai, a sort of respectful statement that when spoken amongst each other signified their friendship and loyalty to one another. It was a phrase that they did not use anywhere else, even amongst the leader of the clan as they would often reply differently in obedience to their master.

“I thank you for your time, regardless, Tora.”

The youthful ninja nodded with a smile. “You are very welcome.” Tora’s eyes shot to a nearby display of time amongst the safehouse. “I believe this idle set of conversation is best ended here, we have company.” He said as his hands reached behind himself, pulling the mask of the foot over his head. Karai did the same—like this they appeared the same as any other member under the clan as they moved into the shadows of the building. Karai’s eyes shot back and forth as a group of men came flocking in—they flew the colors of a local street gang, the 49th Street Stompers. The Stompers weren’t very threatening or important as they were simple competition to another gang called the Purple Dragons. Unfortunately this gang would end up a few members short as it had been decreed by The Shredder—New York was declared as a state of feudal war and all that refused to swear their allegiance to the clan or trespassed in their lands would lose their lives.

Karai and Tora looked to one another as their hands unsheathed their weapons quietly.

The group of stompers had no chance.

Independent Comics Universe RPG

“I hate today.”

The voice of Sonic the hedgehog commented as he took in the sights off a cliff on South Island that overlooked the expansive ocean before them, the ruins of a metal building with the words ‘Metallix’ sprawled on its side in plain view.

The winds of Mobius were something that Sonic usually found great comfort in, a solace that he could close his eyes and lose himself in the velocity of his raw speed. But the truth was that there were days where it’d remind him of all of the negative changes of the last three years and while he gained many friends—he saw other people perish due to the loss of his first friend, Doctor Ovi Kintobor, a “human” from the world outside of Mobius; a world that nobody had ever dreamed that could be real. Kintobor had brought “technology” to Mobius but that wondrous discovery happened to be overshadowed by darkness—darkness that had never been seen in hundreds of years.

How could he tell his friends that he felt guilty for everything that had happened, guilty of helping Kintobor, and guilty of not being strong enough to stop him for good because admittedly he still saw Kintobor underneath the lens of Robotnik’s eyes as he wildly tried to destroy Mobius time and time again. Sonic felt slow, and this feeling of depressive anxiety always occurred on this day. The anniversary of the creation of The Eggman, Doctor Robotnik.

“Things were different then, way different.” Sonic thought aloud as he fought the urge to let his emotions overtake him in a fit of melancholy.

The blue-furred hedgehog took a deep breath as he pocketed his hands in his cloth pants as he turned around. “I’ll stop you, I’ll bring you back to normal… somehow.” The declaration left his breath as he took a long look at the forests around him. Sonic’s thoughts cleared up as best as they could as he tried to look at the rest of the day optimistically and with a straight head—three weeks ago he and Miles “Tails” Prower had destroyed Robotnik’s then base of operations, The Metallix, a shore-locked boat that had been turned into a sort of robot factory that had been plaguing the people of South Island; a plague they no longer needed to fear. Though Sonic knew the truth of the matter was that Robotnik would be back sooner rather than later and he needed to keep on the patrol so no more people lost ones they loved to the madman. That was a promise he made to himself and Mobius, a promise that he couldn’t let go.

But for now… he was needed at a base of resistance against Robotnik that was a few good miles away and one that he was expected to be on time for as people like his friend Tails, Johnny Lightfoot, Amy Rose, and the like had organized a meeting to discuss a way to combat Robotnik himself. Sonic would have liked to tell them the tale of what needed to be done and how he couldn’t do it, but he knew what that would turn into.

Johnny Lightfoot had lost his family to Robotnik’s roboticizer—an invention that turned organic matter into metal, and when done to people turned them into mindless robot drones to serve Robotnik as their master—a process that was irreversible and hard to study due to the fact Robotnik had built a self-destruction mechanism into his “badniks” on their defeat or imminent capture. Robotnik may have been crazy, but he was still as smart as Kintobor was. Kintobor had invented the machine not to create slaves or destroy resources but to create an efficient way to save on time management as well as help injured veterans not be struck as handicapped burdens. However, the invention as Sonic feared it was not completely destroyed with Robotnik likely duplicating the device somewhere in Mobius. A fact he shared with Tails some time ago, a fact that terrified the young two-tailed fox.

“Alright, let’s get this over with.” He muttered under his breath as he clicked his feet and in a wave of sonic energy he was gone from his previous location in an instant.

Fatal Souls | Game of Thrones-esque, Mild Fantasy/Light Fantasy Medieval Sandbox RP

I'm trying to really put together the timeline and overview to make this largely more cohesive but that's easier said than done, haha.

Fatal Souls | Game of Thrones-esque, Mild Fantasy/Light Fantasy Medieval Sandbox RP

http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/28965/posts/ooc

Throwing this in casual as well, since this might get some nods from the high casual crowd. Though I'm not sure if the actual thread will end up in ADV or CAS.

First things first, the idea is not dissimilar to TJByrum's own three months ago, so I do plainly realize that this is hardly an unique idea. I like the Game of Thrones universe but unlike some other writers on this site (of few I have met), I am not as familiar/comfortable as I'd like to be with roleplaying it in any capacity. I was introduced to concurrent/sandbox roleplays a few years ago and I think they have the potential to be the right "mode" so to speak for a concept roleplay like this one. With a few of my previous commuted roleplays seemingly dying I thought I'd see if I could get any bites for this sort of thing. As this is sort of a 'workshop' sandbox, I'm open to ideas, advice, suggestions and the like.



This is the known world and it has seen many changes over the course of nearly three-thousand years of recorded history. The roleplay’s concept is to be central to the continent in the top-left—Orlandis; a place that is very reminiscent of medieval central Europe (Terijas, Gradiar, Reinoa, Veronia, Euritia), Iberia (Antari, Caeli), and Scandinavia (Perhyr, Skavia, Erayis). The kingdoms you see above you were once comprised of many petty kingdoms several hundreds of years ago. The last time Orlandis was unified was over three-hundred years ago (which brought the independent realms as you see them). There is no “Iron Throne” or equivalent as there has nobody strong enough to conquer the realm as you see it. I have a brief timeline if I get enough interest and such.

However, I’ve left only “so much” defined such as: religion, ethnicity, and a degree of history. So there’s a lot of room for a writer to forge.

I can also answer any individual questions on top of hearing out suggestions and thoughts, of course.

As a sandbox roleplay, I don’t want to demand people to all be “kings” as the flavor of the world’s development as a roleplay should show a lot of different walks of life. There could be a sellsword story you want to tell, a political upheaval arc, or something that your imagination has thought about that aren’t those two clearly.

As GM my role outside of telling my own stories, will be helping guide the setting with events from non-playable actions as I doubt we need to have a writer for each individual country. I love multiple perspectives and throwing something out there.

What you write may affect others and what I write likely will as well. This isn’t an authoriatian show, everybody can create a possible outcome that affects things around them. If a former crowned prince is suddenly off in the Atularis Ocean hunting down slavers then there is a likelihood that somebody will hear about it and somebody important will hear about it and so on.

Of course player-on-player interaction is encouraged, etc.

I'm trying to think what else I should say in a general interest check that I might of missed outside of big info stuff a thread's OOC would have.

So.. yeah, there you go?

Fatal Souls | Game of Thrones-esque RP

I'm a big fan of both "dark fantasy" and romanticized variants of the genre, so I imagine this wouldn't be entirely gloomy and cynical in tone or at least from my end.

Resident Evil: Horizon of Despair

St. Albert's Catholic Church, Basement Level

Peter Simpson took a breath as the girl attempted to work on the radio in the dark basement, would it not have been better to work on it upstairs? It was at least a little entertaining to see somebody as impatient as he was and had the nerve to get things done then and there. The whole “sit and wait” thing bored him, which was one of the reasons he became a self-made man and while there was waiting in the realtor business you made your own hours on your time.

“Let’s take it upstairs and see what else can be done with it, no reason to wait down here.”

With that he turned toward the stairwell they had gone down.

---

St. Albert's Catholic Church, Main Floor

Officer Levitski smiled, albeit nervously—despite being six foot one, he had a smaller frame than most and it made his presence as a police officer was something that his fellow officers in the police force mocked him for, and his former partner, Liam Masterson, had always joked with him about how he looked more like a dorky scientist than an officer of the law.

“That’s a good skill.” He said, complimenting Ellie’s ability to get into smaller places before she spoke a comment about the state of the city. He frowned—he had seen his partner die out there today among many others.

“A good question—”

The thumping on the door adjacent to the kitchen caused William Robens to stop almost on instinct. The first thoughts coming to him were that of his instincts and before the voice of a human being came asking for admittance into the church Robens rose his crowbar from his right hand to a defensive position. He would not let this be the end of him—what was it that those damn movies said about this kind of thing? Hit them in the head? He didn’t remember. But all of that defensiveness changed when he heard the voice on the other side of the door.

“Come on... Hello? Please open the door.”

With a distinct frown he pressed his hand on the door. “Are you infected?”

At this point Levitski had moved from his position in the main part of the church to the kitchen after hearing the knocking on the door—he stood in the doorway looking over Will and gave him a sort of cautious look, but in Levitski’s mind a need to protect others made him feel uneasy about Will keeping the door shut. Levitski looked back to Ellie for a moment. If the man outside was infected, he’d risk the safety of the others—and he couldn’t let that happen.

The two men waited for the voice outside’s response.

Mass Effect: Nova

I like the idea of television canon being different from book canon. It's why I like both FMA 2003 and FMA: Brotherhood. Two different stories in the "same" world but different.

Resident Evil: Horizon of Despair

Pudding said
./neverbeentothedentistI was born with great teeth. Lucky me

I don't know what great teeth is like, yknow especially since one of mine collapsed awhile back. =D