Latest blogs from Anime Vice users

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I really love codes and puzzles. It's one of the aspects that really draws me to the Detective Conan series. I thought I would take some time to introduce some of you to some of the aspects that I enjoy about the series.
 
The fun thing about each one of the movies is that they always put in fun quizzes to try and figure out. Here I will showcase two of the quizzes. I will tell you the challenge and explain the answer in a spoiler panel to give you a chance to try and figure it out yourself.
 
 

Quiz 1

Detective Conan The 14th Target (Movie 2)

 
" Three men were born on different days formed a club together. They were born on New Years, April Fools, and Boys Day. What did they name their club? "
Hint: It's a flying animal like Pegasus.
 

Solution


 

Quiz 2

Detective Conan Last Wizard of the Century (Movie 3)

 " washi ni wa ooku no mago ga iru nansai ka? "
 " washi ni wa ooku no mago ga iru nansai ka? "
Translates to:
" I have a lot of grandchildren, how old are they? "
(Forgive me if my romaji is a bit off. I'm still learning.)
  

Solution


 
Hope you got some fun trying to figure them out. They can be pretty hard, but are a lot of fun to see how they all fit together in the end. Learning the riddles behind these quizzes really has helped me to try and improve my understanding of Japanese.
I may do this again with a few more.

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has anyone noticed almost all the wins for the captains on bleach are purely PIS
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Hope Everyone is Ready!!

 Shiratori went all out for his lady.
 Shiratori went all out for his lady.
The holiday is finally here. March 14th. One month after the passing of Valentine's Day. We now have White Day. Just recently the manga series by Gosho Aoyama, Detective Conan, just finished up celebrating White Day with a heartbreaking murder and some thoughtful romance by the male cast in this who-dun'-it series.
 

What is White Day!?

If you are unfamiliar with White Day. First off, shame on you. White Day is the holiday celebrated one month exactly after Valentine's Day. Also known as "Reply Day" or "Answer Day". If a girl was to give you chocolates on Valentine's Day. This is the day where you return their feelings with a gift to let them know that those feelings reached you. Rather kind to give you a month to work that out.
 
The history of this holiday reaches back to the late 70s in Japan. It was originally called Marshmallow Day, because a confectionery company was pushing marshmallows to their male clientele. Eventually, it became known as White Day. Not all men have to return the feelings. It all depends on the type of chocolate you received. If you got what is called Obligation Chocolate (giri-choko). You are off the hook. These are given out as more part of a polite gesture. You boys who got Favorite Chocolate (honmei-choko). Better get your rears in gear and go get ready for White Day before it passes.
 

Gifts

 White Chocolate
 White Chocolate
If you are unsure what to get. I got you covered. White Day, such as the name suggests, has certain kinds of gifts. If the theme behind Valentine's Day is red. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that the theme of the gifts for White Day are white. They include: 
  • White Chocolate (possibly dark chocolate)
  • White Cookies
  • White Candies
  • Marshmallows
  • Jewelery (preferably white gold)
  • White Lingerie or other kinds of clothing
 
A tip from me. Be observant and think carefully. Try and think about something your girl does every day or possibly something she is in need of. An example, if she is complaining that she feels cold. Get her some gloves or a scarf. Just try and make sure it is white in color to stick to the theme. Being thoughtful in your gifts will earn you bonus points.

Guys, don't be like Sonoko's boyfriend, Makoto; and certainly don't let Shiratori's show you up!! Remember to answer those feelings!!
 
-Kristoffer Remmell ( FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek.-
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By request from John Martone, this review covers a certain 1998 cyberpunk title that is considered by many to be on par with Eva in terms of mind-screwing in its look into the blurring of reality and the wired world. Like the last review I put up, my Lain review is divided up into two halves. The first covers how I got Lain, the chances of getting it on DVD and my thoughts of the series. The second half covers my thoughts of the English dub and the features on the DVDs. I have a special request for April for selecting a review that you can check out at the end of the second part of this review. Here are the videos:
 
Part 1
 
  Part 2
   
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You match well with...

Neji Hyuuga So what if you were born into servitude, you've made something of yourself. Though, that chip on your shoulder almost made you homicidal... almost
100%
Itachi Uchiha Most people think they know you, but they don't. The only thing people actually understand about you is that you "are" awesome. Fact.
97.5%
Jiraiya So what if you are an amazingly powerful ninja, doesn't stop you from pursuing your real goal... Writing dirty novels and spying on women...
95%
Haku Classic, and yet still confusing. No one to this day knows exactly why you dress as a girl and flirt with little ninja boys, but you were cool. In before long series was long.
67.5%

   
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This video from the Associated Press drifted across my desktop just now and I derived a double dose of hilarity from it. First and foremost, the subject of the video is a teacher in SomewhereIdontcareabout, North Carolina who, supposedly as a way of relating to his young students, would write "Loser" on sub par kids' assignments. Clearly this is not so much helping him connect with his students so much as it's annihilating any final vestige of self-confidence they had in these, their most tender years. My personal favorite is his circled and underlined message "-20% for being a LOSER!" Way to go, dude. Way to go... 
 
Like I said though, there was a double helping of mirth there because the name of this school is Enka Middle School. Folks, let me show you what enka is: 
  
   
Ah, my favorite "Yosaku" by Kitajima Saburo. I used to sing that all the time at karaoke in Japan and watch as a room full of businessmen who'd lost virtually all will to live come alive with wonder at Whitey singing about the mountain life. So, yeah, it's Japanese folk singing. Sort of analogous to the country genre here (which is catching on in Japan, but that's another post). Anyways, I'll gladly live it all over again (and maybe even in NC) if I get to go to a middle school that specializes in the enka arts.
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                      After recently reading all this hullabalu surrounding Vampire Bund. I decided to give it a watch. But alas all the sites that stream it, have it edited for "American viewing audiences." Lame.......so I d/l the original content and I gotta say what is all the fuss about. Mina Tepes, seriously she's the Queen of vampires right??? So fictionally speaking she's gotta be like a 1,000 years old. Plus their are vampire drama's on HBO that are more gory and bloody than this show.    

 
And if it's just her size that makes her out to be a loli, anime has been doing it for years......................... 
I mean even when anime wasn't anime but a single shelf in the back of a video rental store labeled as "japanimation." I'm sure they had lol'is it just wasn't in the mainstream as today. And that's where and earlier comment I made in the thread about this I said, "to hell with funimation." I think this is just a stupid marketing scheme, where they are saying, "Oh my gosh, this is too racy for television, but then when we can release it on Blu-ray we're going to rape you up the arse and charge $60-70 bucks." Then it would be like oooooohhh this is exclusive content. When it's something that I dont think should be edited in the first place. I just find Funimation is out more and more to control the anime market. From like a few years back when they cracked down on just about every major fansub group issuing DMCA statements. I'm with the viewpoint that those are necessary to promote animes, because how many titles are out there that dont even get licensed that we are able to enjoy because of fansubbers. Our anime is changing and I'm constantly reminded of that vote in Japan is right around the corner too. And well nothing less of of a super-model girlfriend (and maybe a billion dollars) can make me any less of an anime fan. I just wish outside ppl would stop trying to force their views and ideals onto it when they aren't even fans or ppl that share an interest in anime. And yeah Funi as far as I'm concerned I think they just have ppl that are in the marketing of anime, is the CEO and shareholders otaku's..............I doubt it.   
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  http://www.bungie.net/projects/reach/vidaudio.aspx?c=58&i=24782    
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Hi I'm Karly Oaks and nice to meet you sonata!!!!!
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 Don't  try this at home kids.
 Don't try this at home kids.

The following review is the entire Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei anime series.  This includes:  Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Goku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, and Zan Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei.
 
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is an anime adaptation of the manga of the same name.  There are 12 episodes in SZS, 13 in Zoku SZS, 3 in Goku SZS (OVA series), and 13 and 1 OAD in Zan SZS.  All the seasons and OVAs where produced by Shaft and directed by Akiyuki Shinbo.
 

Brief Overview

 The class of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
 The class of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei is a show about Nozomu Itoshiki and his students.  Nozomu is a very negative person and often wants to commit suicide for being in despair.  During the first episode he tries to hang himself, but ends up failing and meets Kafuka Fuura, one of his students who is the complete opposite of him as she if a very positive person.  This is how the show opens.
 
Since this is an episodic show, there is no consent story.  Each chapter of the episode resolves around an aspect of life, Japanese culture, or a common phrase in the Japanese language.
 
Since Nozomu is a teacher, he has very special students.  Each of his students are named after controversial social issues in Japanese society expect for Kafuka Fuura, whose real name has yet to be revealed.  There are many girls and a few boys in the class.  Since the show mostly focuses on the girls, I'm going talk about the important ones.  Here are their social issues, some worse then others:
 
  • Kafuka Fuura - Sees everything in the most positive way possible.  Even in grim situations like when Nozomu tries hanging himself, she calls it "becoming taller" because her mother did it as well.
  • Chiri Kitsu - She wants everything to be absolutely perfect even if she has to be extremely violent.
  • Abiru Kobushi - A girl who is always heavily bandaged.  Most people think she is like that because she is a victim of domestic violence.  Her injuries are actually due to her pulling the tails of animals, which is a fetish of hers.
  • Kiri Komori - A hikikomori.  She was locked up in here room until one day when Nozomu and Kafuka try to get her to come to school.  Kafuka believes that she is a zashiki-warashi and end up scaring her out of her home.  Now she ends up living at the school.
  • Matoi Tsunetsuki - A stalker.  First she stalks her ex-boyfriend, but ends up stalking Nozomu after misinterpreting something he had said.
  • Nami Hito - A completely ordinary girl who takes offense when you call her normal.
  • Harumi Fujiyoshi - A fan of yaoi and cat ears.
  • Taro Maria Sekiutsu - An illegal immigrant of unknown nationality.
  • Meru Otonashi - A girl who does not talk and only communicates through text messages, which are very abusive.
  • Kaere/Kaede Kimura - Suffers from dissociative identity disorder.  Kaede is an ultimately Japanese woman.  Kaere is a foreigner who is very disgusted with with Japanese culture.  Through out most of the show she is Kaere.  Kaere/Kaede is also the source of all the fan fanservice in the show with many panty shots.
  • Ai Kaga - A very shy and insecure girl who constantly apologizes for trivial matters and things she didn't even do. 
  • Manami Okusa - A married high schooler.
  • Mayo Mitama -  An evil looking girl who always commits horrible acts. Not wanting to be accused of reacting to stereotypes, people simply assume she is a good girl who only looks evil.
 

My Thoughts


Even though the show really bizarre and different from what I have watched before, I really dug it.
Kiri  Komori - A hikikomori
Kiri Komori - A hikikomori

 
The first thing that you have to talk about is the bizarre cast of characters.  Nozomu Itoshiki is the coolest teacher ever, even though he is always in despair.  Besides him, the girls are all great as well.  I really enjoyed Kafuka a lot.  With being super positive about everything, even about death, how could you not love such a cute and sweet girl?  I also loved Kiri because I can relate to her, kinda.  I'm one of this guys who always stays are home and does what she often does, watches anime and surfs the web.  And you gotta love Kaere for all the fanservice she provides through out the show.
 
With a bizarre show like this, how can you not have some enjoyable moments?  One of my favorite chapters is when Nozomu is forced to get married.  Every year his family hosts a marriage even for the whole city.  Once you look are someone's eyes, you are instantly married to the person.  Through the whole night he just looks away and tries to run away.  His students also participate and for this being a harem show, the try to make him look at them, especially Chiri and Matoi.  Another great chapter is when Nozomu write a doujinshi for Comiket.  At the beginning of the episode Harumi bumps into Nozomu while she is on her way to make copies of her doujinshi.  She ends up telling Nozomu about her hobby, but he misunderstands it as literary sense instead of a manga/anime sense.  He ends up writing his own thing, but it doesn't sell at all.
 
 Kaere   and her fanservice.  :)
 Kaere and her fanservice.  :)
There are other great things about the show as well.  The art style for the show is fantastic.  Every once in a while they change up the art style and character models and that's all great.  In Zoku SZS episode 7 they used clay animation.  It was so goofy and weird that it was awesome.  The music in the show as fantastic.  When there was music used, it fitted the moment perfectly.  The OP and ED songs were awesome as well.  Some people my be a little turned off my the rock n roll and somewhat screaming used in some of them, but I really enjoyed them.   Speaking of ED, there are some great endings as well that are used through the show.  At the end of season three episodes, they draw Nozomu's head along with a song they made up.  One neat thing about it is the pictures that are drawn are actually pictures submitted by fans which is really neat.
 
From time to time the show gets really dark, but when it happens, it still really goofy and awesome.  There is a part where there is tons of blood and the students end up dying.  There is also a part where the students tear Nozomu into peaces to divide him evenly between the students.  Besides the dark parts, there were also a lot of cameos as well.  Some note worthy anime cameos are Lucky Star, Haruhi, Negima, Clannad, Death Note, and Detective Conan aka Case Closed.  My favorite one has to be the ones of Negima.  Nozomu talks about that their manga wont sell, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, and talking about how Negima will clearly out sell it, which made me chuckle since I got into Negima in January.  I should note that Shaft worked on Negima!? as well.  There are other cameos as well like Freddy Kruger, Blue Man Group, Star Wars and a few others.
 
Now it's time for a few complaints.  During some of the chapters I thought the pacing was a little to fast and I had slow it down so I could read what was going on.  Some other times when they were talking about some stuff, I was completely lost and didn't understand it completely.
 
All and all, this was a excellent show.  With a few minor complaints, I still really enjoyed the show.  If you are looking for a really bizarre comedy, I recommend this show.  Forewarning though.  If you decide to watch the show, I suggest taking a break between each season so the show wont get stale when you get to the third season.
 

Review in a Nutshell

I liked:
  • The bizarre cast of characters.
  • Stylish Art Style
  • Lots of memorable moments through out the show.
  • I really dug the music.
  • Lots a great cameos
  • I'M IN DESPAIR!
 
I didn't like:
  • Some chapters where a little to fast paced
  • I didn't get some of the chapters.  Left me saying "OK, I don't get it."
 
My Score - 4.5/5

Blog Thing


After finishing this show, I decided to got with another Shaft anime.  This time it's going to be Hidamari Sketch aka Sunshine Sketch.  I've had the radar on my show for while, but I wanted to wait till most of season 3 was done airing.  After listening to Ana talking about the manga on the Squadcast this week I was like "Yep, I'm finally going to watch this show now."  On the video game front I'm waiting till Pokemon SoulSilver comes out this Sunday.  I've been waiting a long as time for and it it's finally going to be released.  I'm really excited to nerd out again with Silver since I haven't played that game in years.
 
JJOR64 signing off.  (Boy this was a long review.   :P)
 
 
EDIT on Mar. 13th :  Fixed some typos.
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When you are considering with black onyx necklaces, score it positive that there are all eccentrics of patterns specially for marriage rings. They can cause a pounded Look, a flat metal band or even a leaf conception or anything that is matchless in a wedding ring. tiffany and co     They can as well feature figures such as an interweave band, a bird or even a cross. tiffany jewellery     The process is reliant upon the ring itself. There are lot of alloys that are included in wedding stripe figure. Platinum, silver, and gold are used in wedding band manufacture. These metals can grapple variant figures in black onyx necklaces from the elementary to the interesting. There is a piece for everyone and all types of budget.     prom dresses    
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Black onyx necklaces too feature plain rings that are hardly stripes of gold, silver, or platinum. These plain bands are a pleasurable view on somebodies hand. They arrive in diverse sizes and in silver, gold, platinum or any color combination of gold, such as rose gold and clean gold. There are many stunning bands that are merely smooth and they are fascinating to lay eyes on.  tiffany and co    here are slender stripes and whopping bands.  tiffany jewellery    hese dont basically signify that they are wedding rings, however. There are standard stripes that are not marriage rings that Count exceedingly pretty. These black onyx necklaces rings are a lovely add-on to any ornaments accumulation. All of these and other rings discussed here are lovely examples of rings in black onyx necklaces. They are amazing to Anticipate at and to attire in and priced right as well. they can be an crowning ambition jewelry for a woman     evening dresses    
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Buying something for the man you love is quite a difficult thing to ponder upon.As you take a tour to a local mall or local jewelry store, you may encounter different kinds of rings made up from different compositions. You may ask, amongst all those rings, why should you get your man a tungsten men’s jewelry ring? The answer is quite simple. Tungsten is a composition that makes one accessory look good and polished at all times. That way, even though the ring is being used daily, it won’t wear out easily. It is also a kind of ring that is scratch free and more durable at the same time. Also, tungsten men’s jewelry rings are easy to maintain, not to mention they look fashionably stylish as well. Evening Gowns    efore you purchase a tungsten jewelry ring for your father, boyfriend or even your husband, there are a few things that you have to put in mind. Here’s the most important thing of all: make sure that you are aware of his ring size. You wouldn’t want to buy the man you love a ring that is too small, or even something that is too big for him right? If you have no idea at all, what you can do is to borrow one of his rings and ask a jeweler what size it is.

One of the most crucial part in buying a tungsten accessory is the composition or the purity of the tungsten.  prom dresses     pure tungsten ring might cost more compared to ones combined with nickel or cobalt. However, the bright side is, pure tungsten rings for men are more durable and won’t wear quickly. Nickel is a composition that is normally combined with tungsten. It won’t do any harmful reactions to the skin; however, it does make the ring weaker. Do not be afraid or shy to ask the personnel at the store what the purity level of the tungsten is. After all, they would be the ones who would know best. At first glance, you might not be able to determine which among the rings are made up of pure tungsten and which among those are with nickel or cobalt. The jeweler is the only person that can help you regarding that matter.

Once you have already decided if you are going after a pure tungsten ring, or something combined with nickel, the last thing that you have to check for is the design of the ring itself. As long as you know what the man wants, you won’t be having trouble choosing the perfect design. There are some tungsten men’s jewelry rings with gemstones and some are that are quite plain and simple. But, no matter what kind of design it is, as long as it came from your heart, a men’s jewelry ring will surely make your special someone’s ordinary day extraordinary.     prom Gowns    

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Gold is one of the most precious chemical elements. The atomic number of gold is 79 and its chemical symbol is Au. From the beginning of the history of mankind gold has been regarded as highly precious and a great status symbol. It was a symbol of wealth long before anything was considered to be rich and precious. Gold coins and gold jewelry are the marks of identity to many civilizations and kingdoms. Gold in its pure form is very soft and flexible. It is therefore alloyed with various other metals like copper and silver to make it string and suitable for use in jewelry. The purity of gold is measured in karats and 24 karat gold is considered to be of high purity used for making jewelry.Gold is used to make almost every kind or ornament or jewelry piece. The gold jewelry in India is famous for its variety and designs. And the Indians were surveyed to be highest users of gold. Gold rings are commonly used in weddings. Mens gold rings are very popular gifts by wives, daughters, sisters. The mens rings are available in a variety of designs and gold blends with every gemstone unlike any other metal. Many metals are best combined with only certain type or stones or certain type of colors like titanium can look good only with diamonds.  prom Gowns    ut gold is one jewelry metal that can take in any gemstone or color to its combination.Gold can be alloyed to form various metals like rose gold, white gold etc. rose gold is an alloy of yellow gold and other metals like silver and copper. White gold is an alloy of yellow gold and metals like nickel and palladium. However both rose gold and white gold are used widely in making jewelry and ornaments. They too define beauty and style but the yellow gold can never be beaten in beauty and preference. There are however other additions to gold to make other less popular alloys like aluminum, manganese, indium and iron.    Gold is one of the most precious chemical elements. The atomic number of gold is 79 and its chemical symbol is Au. From the beginning of the history of mankind gold has been regarded as highly precious and a great status symbol. It was a symbol of wealth long before anything was considered to be rich and precious. Gold coins and gold jewelry are the marks of identity to many civilizations and kingdoms. Gold in its pure form is very soft and flexible. It is therefore alloyed with various other metals like copper and silver to make it string and suitable for use in jewelry. The purity of gold is measured in karats and 24 karat gold is considered to be of high purity used for making jewelry.Gold is used to make almost every kind or ornament or jewelry piece. The gold jewelry in India is famous for its variety and designs. And the Indians were surveyed to be highest users of gold. Gold rings are commonly used in weddings.  prom dresses    ens gold rings are very popular gifts by wives, daughters, sisters. The mens rings are available in a variety of designs and gold blends with every gemstone unlike any other metal. Many metals are best combined with only certain type or stones or certain type of colors like titanium can look good only with diamonds. But gold is one jewelry metal that can take in any gemstone or color to its combination.Gold can be alloyed to form various metals like rose gold, white gold etc. rose gold is an alloy of yellow gold and other metals like silver and copper. White gold is an alloy of yellow gold and metals like nickel and palladium. However both rose gold and white gold are used widely in making jewelry and ornaments. They too define beauty and style but the yellow gold can never be beaten in beauty and preference. There are however other additions to gold to make other less popular alloys like aluminum, manganese, indium and iron.     prom dresses    
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Sex: male 
rank: Lt. 
Position: marines- ODST 3 years in 
 weapons: rifle, sniper rifle, m7- saprest m7, magnum, combat knife 
age: 24- 30's when an ODST 
squad: Hades corp. marine’s 
serves: 2533-2552 
battles:  http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_of_Algolis- battle for planet El Lie 4-  http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_of_Earth

Home world: Mars colony 
birthrate: N/A 
partner: Joe 
hair: blond 
eye's: blue 
height: 5'8" 

 
 
Apperence 

 
 


Joe(left) Xavier(right)

 
 

 
 



 

short history 

 

In the year 2530 Xavier Hosken signed up for the UNSC marines, like his brother Joe they both met up with each other and asked there CO’s if they could stay on the same team. Master Sergeant Jing Lipotori recommended them and they were transfer to Hades squad in the year 2533 and were assigned to the defense forces on planet Algolis. 4 days after transferring, the covenant attacked the base!

Xavier and Joe teamed up and held there ground on the front lines, but were over ruined by the Covenant and the 2 were hit with a plasma round casing an explosion that blew them backwards, Xavier helping Joe up thinking he’s badly hurt, he finds out he’s ok, but the Covenant is advancing in the dissents thinking they were going to die, a large explosion euripus over the prototype hanger and they see the prototype standing right in front of them saying to them, “get out of here ill deal with them equnor the covenant!” Xavier was stunned and wondering quote, “who the hell was driving it”! And Joe said, “He sapost to be destroying it not piloting it”! Soon our Commander “Ghost” told us to go and exape, so we did we made it to the pelican just in time, before the prototype weapon was destroyed!

   

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Who's into Naruto and Scryed and Dragonball Z because I'm a big fan of  it myself I may not know you very well,but you are my best friends forever!!!!!!!!
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Well a list of devolpers who support the sewly named Playstation Move (previos names include The Playstation, Gem, Arc, motion controler, and Penis) and there where some enteresting names, here are some of the supporters
 
 SEGA CORPORATION
 NAMCO BANDAI
 GUST
 ATLUS  
 
First 
SEGA CORPORATION  
While unlikley it would be eneresting to see Yakuza 5 with motion control or hell, even 4.
 
 NAMCO BANDAI
Well i could say Digimon, i think i'll look into what could be in store for the Tales of series, It's been a while since i heard any thing about a new Tales of game, so is it possible that the next one will support the PSM? Will i be able to Demon Fang my TV to oblivion? just another thing to think of
 
GUST
Some of you may have heard of tis little company that makes RPGs, there well know for there Atelier and Mana Khemia series, you als may have heard of this title, i'm pretty sure one one around has said a thing or tow about it Ar Tonelico. While i doub't we can expect a Motion control AT, it's not to far fecthed to think of the Atelier and Mana Khemia franchises with alchemy based mini games
 
Finally ATLUS
Now what title do i want to raise the possiblity for motion control form this company? I don't think they have realsed any titles to popular with otaku... oh right could we see a motion control Persona game, and how would they do it? Would they forsake the dying genra of turn based RPGs for an action RPG, or would you yell persona into the PSM to summon up a persona. Lets move into the realm of never gonna happen, maybe a more interactive P4 game where you can actually Say your resposes into a microphone and the characters will react to the what you said and the tone of it.... ok, that will never happen, but it's a cool idea
 
 
EDIT, to see all the devolpers and publishers supporting the PSM, look here
 http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/703135/Sony-Reveals-List-Of-Publishers-Supporting-PlayStation-Move.html#readmore
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Join me. Let us dance.
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One Man, One Piece #2: Dragon Ball ZzZzZzZ Effect

What a difference ten episodes can make on your opinion of a show. If you read "One Man, One Piece #1" you know that I was enjoying the show, and having one hell of a time with nothing but praises for how it was progressing. Oddly enough though, over the course of the next ten episodes I began to actually actively dislike the show only to come full circle on how I felt about it by the end. One episode in particular, episode #19 about how Zoro became such a great swordsman and why he began his journey, was one of the most moving origin stories I had watched in an anime series in a long time and is hopefully a sign of the quality of future episodes to come. Still, I do foresee a lot of this back and forth happening in future installments of this article. As would be expected with any show as long and varied as One Piece is.

The reason I was starting to dislike One Piece is because I started to see it falling into a very common anime trope, one that I like to call the Dragon Ball ZzZzZzZ Effect. It’s something that many anime that involve stories that incorporate a lot of fighting and trying to give back story, as well as a meaning to major villains, fall into very easily. If you're wondering what I mean by the Dragon Ball ZzZzZzZ Effect, let me explain.

 Goku: Your Stupid! Frieza: Ya, well... you're Stupiderest!
 Goku: Your Stupid! Frieza: Ya, well... you're Stupiderest!

The Dragon Ball ZzZzZzZ Effect: When a TV series, anime, or any form of visual entertainment, begins to slow down and extend time in fight scenes for the sake of story, dialogue or for the sole purpose of artificially extending the length of a story arch. For example in the middle of a fight scene two or more characters may inexplicably stop fighting each other for the sole purpose of: staring menacingly at each other, showing off the effects of a powerful attack, insulting each other, or to make observations about the ongoing battle. 
 
As well, it can often be used as a technique for a director to cut to flash backs of past events of a character as a way to give greater meaning to an individuals actions, or to increase the drama of a situation by showing off great past deeds of adversaries to make them appear to be more powerful or skillful than they originally appeared to be. All of these things are supposed to happen within the passing of mere moments of time in the show, but in actuality can take many full length episodes to complete.

While the use of the Dragon Ball ZzZzZzZ Effect in and of itself is not a bad thing, as many of my favourite moments of anime past are in these very scenes, but the way it was being repeatedly used in a series of episodes made it feel as if it was only included as episode filler. While the content of these events were beneficial to imparting a feeling of importance during the fight scenes, it just felt like it slowed down the pacing and progression of the story that was set by earlier episodes. The show was moving along at a nice pace with every new episode introducing a new character, or situation, only to slow to a crawl for what appeared to be the sake of getting more episodes out of the story arch. 
 
Thankfully this only lasted for three or four episodes, and by the end of this block of ten episodes the show appeared to be back to its normal, and much more enjoyable, pacing of its story.

Well that’s it for “One man, One Piece #2”, I’m off to go fire up Battlefield Bad Company 2 on Steam; watching One Piece for this article has kept me from playing as much of it as I would like to have. I will try to get another installment written over the next couple days, but I want to pace myself with how often i watch the show. Over the years I have learned, after watching the entirety of many series with a comparable number of episodes as One Piece, that it’s very easy to become fatigued with a long show like this; no matter how much you may like it or want to keep watching it.
 
~ Nicholas Totton
 
You can find links to One Man, One Piece #0 and #1 below.