"Ore wa? Ore wa... Rei! Ore wa Nanto Sui-Chou Ken no Rei da!"

'Me... I am... Rei! I am Rei of the South Dipper Waterfowl Technique!'

Strangely enough, Rei's most famous line from the anime was never actually in the manga- TOEI thought it fit because of the fact that Rei first appeared at the end of an episode with a rather odd cutting point (Compared to the manga), and it's since become one of my favorites, along with "Omae wa mou, shinderu." (You are already dead). "Kisama ni wa Jigoku suru na mamerui!" (Hell is too good (a place) for you!) is another personal favorite... There were many wonderfully powerful lines for the manga and anime, and the speech patterns were about as masculine and informal as you could get. I always liked that... It reminded me of Havy Metal Heroes the likes of which died in the 1980's... I miss you guys, you know who you are...

The battle between Rei and Yuda (Or more acurately, Judas... Trust me on this one) was really a show stopper, including the Nanto Sui-Chou Ken Ou Gi (South Dipper Waterfowl Innermost Justice), "Hi Shou Haku Rei" (Flying White Beauty... I really need a better Kanji dictionary... Thanks, 'Hokuto Renkitouza'!). As of yet, I only have teh manga to this, but teh anime has been good to me so far... With the exception of the filler upon filler in the first season. Ah well, every show gets it sooner or later in the Bad Filler department. If you think that the Garlic Jr saga was bad, pick up Episode 14-21 of Hokuto no Ken, and let Garlic Jr step down as lamest filler villian ever... Ken had about 10 in a row of villians so lame they wouldn't have been in a bad Italian Mad Max rip-off.

On the same general note, I finally got to see the new "Souten no Ken" manga- Chapter 2, more specifically. Buronson and Hara Tetsuo felt that the story of Hokuto no Ken was over, and aparently their new 'Hokuto Shinken' project is actually a prequel. I have yet to decipher the plot from just the second chapter on it's own, but I will say it was quite a bit different that I had imagined. The main character is NOT Kenshirou, but instead seems to be one of his ancestors, living in Tokyo, circa 1935. (Ain's ancestor seems to be here too, though I can't be positive. For those who haven't seen him in the second half of the manga and anime, the toy was released as "Ein".) I haven't quite pieced together the overall story, but it looks like Kasumi-san (That will be his name until I actually have one...) is fighting against the Japanese Empire- The villians all have official, millitary looking dress. I wish I knew more about Japan in the 30's... I'm basically grasping at straws, and there's almost no action in the chapter- Buronson is going for a political thriller, I guess. Not bad at all... But not what I expected.

*UPDATE* Yep... I'm an idiot. The final scene this chapter is a School teacher being whisked away by some rather pretty and giggly students of his back to class. The old man laughs, and waves. "Sayounara, Ken-san." So... Now I have NO clue what's going on. This is 'Ken'- Real Ancestor? (Wow he looks different with glasses and his hair combed... I see why it works for Superman now...) Alternate timeline? Now I'm even more confused than I was an hour ago... So, when you read a manga, actually READ it... You might understand something. ^-^

And a fair warning to the meek out there- Souten no Ken in Comic Bunch (The magazine Souten no Ken appears in), was this time around at least, pretty tame. A few images of bodies after Hokuto Shinken has set in, but none of the landmark Kung Fu of the original, or the splashy gore in any real fassion. However, the magazine also does a comic called "Turkey Junkie", a comedy about a boitserous, drug addled and perverted young man named Taki, and his struggle to become a Pro wrestler- Even impersonating a real one to do so. The violence level is around a PG-13, but there was one page where a Mosaic was needed, if you know what I mean... The guy's a real fiend, and the manga isn't afraid to show it, and includes some images that are borderline hentai. I personally didn't have any problem with it- But I did want to warn anyone who would pick up the magazine and flip to a man with his pants around his knees and a legally required blur. (I don't know... Army, the resident Armadillo who is at one point confused for a Pokemon, gave him what for after that... Believe me... YEOWCH!!)

Rei's character design was a good thing, in my opinion. The outfit was a lot less 'Post Apocalypse' (ie Mad Max 2) looking than those before it, mainly, I think, because Hara Tetsuo didn't want the series to be seen as a copy of it, and most costumes were redone from scratch, leaving only the occasional Mad Max biker. It was kind of odd to see him with Silver hair from the start in the anime, though. In the manga, Rei had naturally dark hair, and to prolong his life after Ken-ou mortally wounded him, Toki used an exceptionally painful technique that would extend Rei's final days. When Rei left the tent, his hair had become completely white, and it stayed that way until his death, shortly after the battle with Judas. To keep things easier in the anime, (And maybe to cut out the torture sequence, I'm not sure... I'm waiting for some tapes of episode 48 to 75 or so from a friend as I type... Come on, man, tape faster!), his hair was silver from his first appearance to his death. His outfit changed slightly in the manga after he went to fight Ken-Ou (Different colors and shoulderpads, mostly). Again, I only have up to episode 47 so far, so I can't comment- But I doubt it... Kenshirou's outfit never changed in 108 episodes, and he had a new one every story arc in the manga, roughly ever 2-3 months. (Episode 109-152, Ken is allowed to wear his second TV outfit, his 'Standard' outfit for the beginning of the second series. In the first series, he wears his first outfit, and only wears a second outfit in flashback. To make it even, the Movie let his wear his first TV show for the battle with Shin, and his second for the rest of the movie. He was also allowed the cape he wore when he went to find Jyagi for several scenes.) Either Way, Rei's Movie outfit was the second one.

If there's one thing Rei and Hokuto no Ken taught me, it's this; The Tiger and the Dragon will always fight, and neither can ever truly win.

And I have NO idea why it's always Tigers and Dragons... Anyone have a clue?

*New Side Note*
Oh, now I've gone and done it... Page 14...

I knew that Yuda was also Judas, I personally prefer Yuda. Was his figure ever released in the U.S? I would certainly love to have Yuda and Rei fight again. Or for that matter, Rei and Roah. And trust me, there would be a much diffrent result.

*Side Note* The online web comic that I'm devloping now will have little segments called "Super Masked Otaku Theater!!!" every so often, as a break from the main story. I can gaurentee that the first one will be a spoof of HnK. Here's the rough draft:

TMO is dressed like Kenshiro, only with a smiley face instaed of the big dipper scared into his chest. A fat Mad Max reject stands in front of him.

TMO: Now for my secret technique....the MAKEYOURSPINEFLYOUTHTETOPOFYOURHEADLIKEAROCKET KEN!" (Overtly elaborate janken strikes before stepping back.)

TMO: You have three seconds to live.

(Caption...3 hrs later.)

TMO (Looks frustrated): To Hell with it. Damn tsubo. (Walks off in disgust the second he's gone, the MMR's spine blows out the top of his head in a bloody mess.)

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Ryoga Hibiki: Taking the roads less traveled. Weather he wants to or not.

...You know... I like that!

Personally, I would never do a Hokuto no Ken spoof and show it to the public... Not because I would dislike it, but because I feel it would cast a view of disrespect on Hokuto no Ken. Let's face it- The English speaking world, far and wide, is not a big fan of 'Fist of the North Star'. Part of it was a re-written dub by Carl Macek, part of it was the wrong people gwtting a hold of it, part of it was GARY DANIELS being Ken (THough I'm more forgiving than most... But I still wonder just what they were thinking...), and part of it is just that America doesn't know how to handle a kids story with wanton ammounts of gratuitous violence. It's just not something we ever see...

As for "Masked Otaku Theatre", my only recomendation would be to have TMO-sama have a smiley face made of seven scars when he's using the attack, and a frowny face of seven scars when he walks away in disgust. You might also consider teh timer in teh lower right hand corner of the pannel, the same way Ashida Toyou did the TV show for the deaths of Spade and Diamond. (I liked the Counters, personally...) Honestly, one of my favorite moments from the anime went something like this, while Mamiya and Rei are killing of Nevada's forces to reach Amoeba in Miracle Village. (Nevada the Hokuto no Ken anime villian, not the state...)

Bat: Attah! Omae wa mou, shinderu... (You're already dead...)
Thug: Ho... Hontou ni!? (Re...Really!?)
Bat: Hai... (Yes...)
*Bat explains that he now has 3 seconds to live, and that he'll count down for him... I don't remember the exact dialouge, I'm afraid.*
Bat: San... Ni... Ichi! (3...2...1!)
Thug:Gaaah!... Eh?
Bat: Yeow- Hahahahaha! He he he...

Bat was hilarous in the anime...

As for the Raou (Raoh) and Judas (Yuda) toys, that's something that's bothered me quite a while. When the Hokuto no Ken toys first came out in Japan a few years ago, Previews did a limited run through comic shops that did fairly well, but it was only a limited engagement. They got sets of 4 as far as I can tell- Kenshirou, Rei, Raoh, and Jagi. They ran out fairly quickly, and Previews Magazine decided to try again when teh roster was more complete.

A few years ago, Previews once again offered Hokuto no Ken toys. You could buy a Single Kenshirou, or a case (And save as a retailer), you could buy the "Hero" case (That had , Jyuuza, Shuh, Rei, and Toki) or a "Villian" case (With Jagi, Shin, Spade, Yuda, and Souther.) You also had the option of buying Raoh as a single figure, but if retailers bought a case (10 toys), one had a blood spattered paint job. Kaiyodo did this with Rei in Japan, offering a White haired version on the 199X Rei, one in each case. Unfortunately, something fell through with Kaiyodo and Previews; The details are still sketchy to me, but Raoh was canceled outright, while Yuda was removed from the Villans case. A while later, teh Deluxe Ken and Kaioh toys were offered- Much to my delight. Also, Fudoh and Mamiya would be offered as single toys as they were released. As of now, the 199X line is over, and was replaced with the 200X line shortly thereafter. If you want Raoh, Yuda, or teh White Haired Rei, you'll need to get them as imports- And be warned that even Hobby Link Japan no longer offers the White Haired Rei or Yuda...

The greatest thing about the US release of the Hokuto no Ken toys is that the packages were not changed in the slightest, and nor were the figures. 2 of Fewture Models' Devilman toys were re-sculpted to avoid exposed demon breasts, and the repaint variants differed greatly from their Japanese counterparts. I'm glad to say that Hokuto no Ken 199X line was not changed in any way, due largely to the fact that the boxes are primarily in English anyway. (The only major exception was Fudoh, who featured a sticker on his box written entirely in Kanji.)

Currently, the Hokuto no Ken 200X line is being produced in Japan, and slowly but surely shipped to the US. We have not been given any information on the White Haired Rei, and I assume that America will skip teh toy entirely. This is really a shame, because teh White Haired Rei toy was teh first action figure I've ever seen with removable legs to stand it up on a base of clear plastic, meant to simulate standing in water. The waist articularion allows it to match teh manga perfectly. Currently, Ein is on his way (Complete with a lil' posable Asuka toy ^-^), and we can expect Yuria and Shin in the future. Next on the lineup in Japan is King- Probably Shin in his gorgeous Black spiked suit from when he defeat Kenshirou and stole Julia (Yuria).

Personally, I just want toys of Hyou, Shachi, and a little Bat and Lynne 2 pack. Come on Kaiyodo... We need the kids! You've given us just about everyone else... I never thought I'd see the day we get Spade years before we get Bat. Maybe they could even do 2 packs, child and adult sets. Is it really that hard? And maybe a special edition Bat, from his final appearance with 7 scars in his own chest... Yes, that would make my life truly complete.

And there was 14.

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Kuririn, I like the idea of the counter and the scars changing. The SMOT will spoof lots of diffrent anime, a new one every time (The DBZ one I'm writing now is a killer.) I like HnK in the "cool kung fu movie that is funny and cool because of it's over the top action" way. If it wasn't so violent, it'd be occuping quite a bit of space on my manga shelf. Oh, well, I can always get the figs.

Do you know of anywhere that has a Yuda figure? And for that matter, A Ryuuga?

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Ryoga Hibiki: Taking the roads less traveled. Weather he wants to or not.

*Sigh* I hate to this, I really do, but the lack of posts recently has left me no choice:

Visit my site at: http://lostjuly.homestead.com/Lost_July.html

It takes a long time to load, be warned.

I feel so dirty, doing a shameful site plug.

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Ryoga Hibiki: Taking the roads less traveled. Weather he wants to or not.

*boots post back to top*

Anyway, I was out of town for awhile. I need to go read what was posted here. Indeed I do.

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"Indeed I do"? You've been watching Kenshin I would imagine. Which is commendable.

Anywho, because I'm quite bored, I will be hold a Trigun Q&A tomorrow. Anybody has questions on anythin concerning Trigun, please put them to me and I'll answer to the best of my abilities. And for anyone wondering, no there is NOT a Trigun OVA in the works, to the best of my knowledge.

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Ryoga Hibiki: Taking the roads less traveled. Weather he wants to or not.

...Right...

Anyone ELSE have a Trigun question?

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Ryoga Hibiki: Taking the roads less traveled. Weather he wants to or not.

I kinda like Sailormoon, the series is somewhat entertaining but its too long, try watching all 200 episode you would go insane! It's a fun series, I really liked Uranus and Neptune, that was a cool addition to the series. The starlights are kinda cool in a creepy way...

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*Sigh* Nevermind on the Trigun thing.

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Ryoga Hibiki: Taking the roads less traveled. Weather he wants to or not.

Well, ive got a Trigun question....

Whats the deal with Zazzie the beast? why does he turn into ya know.. Care to explain that to me a bit? seeing as how I will never see him in the anime/manga for a long time

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Ah, Zazie. He really is a intreging character. I will enjoy explaining everything I know about the Beast.

In the manga, Zazie is simply a host body of an intelligent hive mind of insects. This effectivly means Zazie cannot be truely killed, as the insect will just move to another body when the first one is killed. Zazie dosen't really fight much to my knowledge, he mostly acts as a messanger with orders from Knives, or he tries to unnerve people. There are in truth two Beasts. The first one is Zazie and takes the form of a little boy. This one gets most of it's torso taken off by Hopperd before being drilled into the ground. You should see the look on his face. The second Beast is a pretty teenage girl, a few years older than Zazie who appears shortly after his death. She fights a bit more than Zazie, and also does messanger duty. She's still alive, although Wolfwood shot her in the leg.

In the anime, Zazie is just a little kid with a device near his ear that controls sandworms. He holds Vash at gunpoint when he's found out, Vash tries to appeal to his good side, but fails because Wolfwood blows the kid away (causing him much pain and getting him in a very well written discussion of philosophy with Vash).

That's about it for Zazie, hope that helped.

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Ryoga Hibiki: Taking the roads less traveled. Weather he wants to or not.

I'm just getting into Trigun(I bought the first DVD several months ago). So, how many episodes make up the series? How many official manga series are out there?

The Trigun Anime is made up of 26 episodes and is on 8 DVDs/DubbedVHS,SubbedVHS.

The two manga issue is one of the most asked questions on the net. Greg "DBZ God" Werner asked me the same thing. Here's the scoop:

Yasuhiro Nightow started Trigun in a small unknown manga and put out three volumes worth (up to the Fifth Moon Incident)before it was cancelled. Trigun didn't appear for 18 months until the manga magizine Young king Ours contacted Nightow about doing a manga for them. Originaly, they wanted a brand new series, not Trigun, but Nightow wasn't happy that he hadn't finished Trigun and convinced them to let him complete it. To avoid legal issues, Nightow added Maximum to the title, and continued the manga, which is still continuing in Young King Ours.

In short: Trigun Maximum is simply the continuation of Trigun, by the same person, just with a new title and publisher.

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Ryoga Hibiki: Taking the roads less traveled. Weather he wants to or not.

I have a Trigun question...

hat role did Kurenoko <sp?> play in the manga? Was he/she even in there?

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Ok, I just had an idea - why don't we have a good ol' any-anime trivia contest? Anyone can play, and when you get a question wrong, you're out!

1) I ask the first question.
2) The first person to answer correctly asks the next question.
3) So on and so forth.

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I didn't read any of this but........... IT'S TOO DANG LONG!!!!!! I had to put that in there.

goten386

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No matter how hard you try and how far you get, in the end it doesn't even matter!

Tolerance for stupidity is not one of my strong points

What in the hell is patience?

Xajii, to answer your question: Yes, the cat (Kuroneko-sama= Lord Black Cat) does pop up from time to time in the manga.

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Ryoga Hibiki: Taking the roads less traveled. Weather he wants to or not.

Thanks Legato! you're the best when it comes to Trigun!

Now ive got another question.... Can you share a bit of character info on Elindra the crimson nail?

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Hmm, I personally don't know too much about Elendira The Crimsonnail, but I'll share what I do know:

El is a transvesite who carries around a large briefcase that doubles as a large gun that fires 4ft long nails. She is INCRDIBLY fast, and is said to be the last and strongest of the Gung Ho Guns. She answers only to Knives, and holds a mutual distaon with Legato although he fears her a little bit it seems. She is the closest thing Knives has to a confidant in humanity, and she is utterly loyal to him, but unlike Legato, she's capable of free thought. And that's about it, besides the fatc that she has her own airship.

[ 06-22-2001: Message edited by: Legato Bluesummers ]

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Ryoga Hibiki: Taking the roads less traveled. Weather he wants to or not.

Thanks Legato. I was a bit confused as far as the manga series go. Again, thanks.

Darn, I hate being ignored, but I already posted about doing an anime quiz, and nobody seemed to notice it at all. Oh, well.

Anyway, on to some more contructive posts, has anyone seen the series Beserk? It's pretty darn violent, and there's quite a lot of nearly yaoi situations between the main characters Guts and Griffith. Very creepy stuff, but still pretty good.

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I have watched this board for about 18 months and i always wanted to get an account but i was too lazy
until this long anime post. You guys here are pretty cool and have alot of good info.
Is anyone getting collection 0:8 this upcoming tuesday, i can't wait!

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Thanks Legato, I know so much more now... Elindra sounds cool, a shame she never got animated. Im gonna have to pick up the Manga to see her.

Heh.. Ive got another question, Have any info to shae on Chapel the ever green?

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I'm gonna assume you mean Anime Chapel, seeing as manga Chapel is Wolfwood.

Chapel the Evergreen is the man who took Wolfwood in and taught him how to kill. He he has a cross similar to Wolfwood's only his splits into two machine guns. One of his schitks is to have Wolfwood try to grab the green apple out of his hand. Even as an adult, Wolfwood can't. After Wolfwood refused to kill Vash, he and Chapel fight throughout the city, ending in Wolfwood wounding, not killing Chapel. Wolfwood walks over to him, takes the apple, bites it ("Hey, that's a good apple!") and walks away. Wolfwood's parting words with Chapel are "May you go with the protection of Almighty God. Oh yeah, thanks for the apple." Legato forces Chapel to draw on Wolfwood. Wolfwood turns, and we hear gunfire. You know what hapeens to Wolfwood then. The next time we see Chapel, he yells at Legato for making him shoot Wolfwood. Legato bends him backwards. Then Knives comes out and generates some wierd blackhole that consumes Chapel (Middy's face is really funny during this scene.). And that's the last of Chapel the Evergreen. Hope that helped.

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Ryoga Hibiki: Taking the roads less traveled. Weather he wants to or not.

Welcome Toji! Finally someone who doesn't only talk about Trigun or Gundam. Anyway, I'm not too excited about collection 0:8, since ADV screwed up collection 0:1 so badly. I don't know why they felt the need to completely erase the japanese writings and credits, when they kept the originals in the VHS release. I'm not sure how they handled collection 0:2 and on, but I'm inclined to wait for a boxed set, however I don't know when and if it will come out.

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Talk only about Trigun and Gundam? We don't only talk about that. The reason Trigun has been talked about so much is because I'm running a Trigun Q&A for a bit. The thread was steadily dropping on the listings so I came up with this. Where were you with your other anime when this thread was dormant for a week or so? Hmm? Nowhere. So don't complain about us talking only about Trigun and Gundam. We talk about HnK too

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Ryoga Hibiki: Taking the roads less traveled. Weather he wants to or not.

First another good anime is the Big O and I have the scene of gohan goin ssj2 on real .

PS: Anyone heard of The old anime star Blazers ???

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Outlaw star was Messed up in usa They even took out an episode #^%#@$#@#%!

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What episode was taken out?

:side question: How many of you are goin to get the new AKIRA DVD comin out?

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The Akira Special edition Dvd looks pretty good and i'll probably be picking it up. i was on another message board last week and i found a link that took me to an Evangelion Poster that's supposed to be the poster for a new movie that's coming out in Japan.Well i think its bogus, but the poster looks convincing ill try and find the site

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http://www.evangelion.tv:8080/info/evareprise.jpg

That is the link for the picture of the poster of the supposedly new evangelion movie

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The removed outlaw star episode , Bushv , was HOT SPRINGS ON PLANET TURERAI

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I came off a little bit whiny in my last post. My apologies. But anyway, you guys do talk a lot about Trigun and Gundam. It's true. I just feel sad for the other anime that are being left out.

Good Observations. Yeah i haven't watched that many Anime Series, but this summer im gonna be going to an Anime club at a local community college and theyre gonna be screening the Trigun series and Love Hina and some other stuff. Does anyone know what Love Hina is about?

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Love Hina is a great series. Its about a guy who becomes the manager of an all girls inn. Id say more but I dont want to spoil the story. Its a pretty funny/serious series you should watch it.

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Chi Master, I'm sorry too. I came off as a anime fascist, something I've always hated.

Does anyone here read MegaTokyo? It's one of the best webcomic I've seen. It's drawn in a slightly manga style, is very well written, has great characters, uses l33t sp34k, and makes many, many refrnces to Japanese dating sims (if only I could find an American version...*sigh*...). Also, it has Ruri from Nadescio in the game Quake, shooting stuff, which is mad l33t.

For those who don't read it, I shall kindly provide a link: http://www.megatokyo.com/

Speaking of web comic drawn manga style, me and my cousin are working on one right now. I refuse to give many details, other than there's a lot of Rumiko Takahashi and The Masked Otaku spraypainting really obsucure anime refrences. Oh, and it's sort of a shujo mocking shujo (I am really starting to like shujo too much.).

A note about that NGE poster: has anyone else noticed that Shinji appears to be wearing Misato's cross? Just a little detial I thought was neat.

And sinse I'm talking about NGE..."Thermal Expansion" was one of the funniest damn things I have ever seen next to Dr. Slump.

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Ryoga Hibiki: Taking the roads less traveled. Weather he wants to or not.

Yeah the guy who made this poster knew what he was doing, breaking my heart...........
A new movie would be cool
but it would make no sense.

by the way, Is anyone from the East Bay Area on this board other than me?

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