Return of the Revenge of the Son of Saying Hi to Josiah!

[Silver]

When I first started watching One Piece, I went through at a rate of one episode per day. Towards the end of Alabasta, I cheated and watched two or three episodes at a time just 'cause, you know, it's all big and cool and actiony and stuff. Right at the start of Water 7, it went something like... "[Spoiler]Merry needs to be replaced?! Well... one more episode can't hurt..." "They beat up [spoiler]Usopp?! Stuff's getting serious, I can't just stop now..." "[Spoiler]Luffy... vs. Usopp? What no. No he can't [Spoiler]leave the crew. I'm not going to stop watching until that gets fixed! It won't take more than a few episodes, right?" One week and 80 episodes later... I was all caught up. I think episode 305 was the last one out at that point. The Water 7 arc starts at episode 229. Also that thing I was waiting for that "couldn't take more than a few episodes" didn't happen until 323.

But... I wasn't really a One Piece fan until that week.

See I'll agree with Josiah that Naruto was better at the start. Of the Big Three, Naruto started off the strongest... but it was all downhill after the chuunin exams. Bleach started off pretty good, and mostly remained pretty good, but then arm antelopes and now it kinda sucks compared to back then. One Piece takes a while to get going, but once it does it just doesn't stop,

[Josiah]

Hi! I agree with Silver. Naruto started out great, but just hasn't been as good since Sasuke turned evil. I still like it, but not as much as I did back then. Bleach has been consistantly good, though not amazing, at least when it comes to the manga. Most of the anime's filler arcs aren't all that great, and they start having way too many of them during the Hueco Mundo arc since they kept catching up to the manga. Can't comment on Naruto and One Piece's filler since I already said I've only gotten up to the Grand Line in the One Piece anime and have seen even less of Naruto. And then there's One Piece which starts out pretty good and just keeps getting better and better as it goes.

[Siranae]

Ah, I haven't read Naruto or Bleach, so I can't really add anything to that. But I love One Piece and it is amazing.

I haven't really caught myself up on the anime yet, however. I'm somewhere in the Skypiea arc. When I was watching it I would watch two episodes a day before I went to bed. But then we got Hulu plus and I learned that One Piece was on there, and that I could actually watch it on television with my brother's XBox 360. I just had a ball with that :P

And I am freaking updating Pokemon Blank Version even if it kills me.

[Metalheadz]

Hi! Thanks for all the advice, people. I'm sure looking forward to watching One Piece by now! Though I did find it very interesting to learn all that stuff about Oda and his fillers.

Anywho, I haven't had a really exciting weekend so far. That will change tomorrow, hopefully, if I can make it to Youth Group. That and a long week up ahead, though Election Day on Tuesday will give me a day off.

Peace out!

[BionicleMandi121]

Konbanwa.

What I meant with Oda not trolling us isn't that he never leaves us on a cliffhanger. Everything does that, repeatedly. However, he has not yet introduced a character that makes you want to bang your head on a wall until you've forgotten his/her existence, as the other two of the Big Three have. For example Aizen in Bleach and Sasuke and Orochimaru and Kabuto and Toby AND Nagato/Pain/whatever his name is in Naruto). Even Katekyo Hitman Reborn has done it. Basically he has not yet left us (or at least me) going "WHAT THE (swear word of choice) JUST HAPPENED I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION" and then left us in that state for a month or more. That's what I consider trolling. Sabaody almost counted, but in retrospect it was a good thing to have happened, so I don't consider it a troll.

But yeah, I agree with Josiah and Silver on the other two. The early days of Naruto were cute, what with the friendly rivalry between Sasuke and Naruto, to the point where they eat themselves sick trying to outdo each other. Then Sasuke went emo and everything fell apart. Bleach I guess I liked because it was pretty epic, but then it started dragging. A lot. A lot a lot. Particularly where Aizen is involved. After a certain point, they both went from being among my obsessions to being just "meh."

As for fillers, I've never watched Naruto, only watched 200-something episodes of Bleach, and have watched just about everything related to One Piece other than movie 11. All I can say is, Naruto apparently had 3 seasons of filler. Bleach had at least 2 (that silly Bount arc). Meanwhile the longest filler story arc ever in all of the 500+ episodes of One Piece was approximately 11 episodes long and came right after the longest story arc in the series. I think that says something.

[Josiah]

Hi! So far, the only series I've watched where I really liked the filler was Yu-Gi-Oh. All the filler arcs in it, except for the last one, were pretty awesome and, in my opinion, on the same level as the main arcs. And, for that matter, the last one would have been good as well had it been placed earlier in the series. But it came right before the final arc and was very low key and low stakes compared to the dark, epic, fate of the world arcs that came before and after it.

[Pikachu127]

G'day, mates.

Personally not a big fan of those types of anime/manga... something about pirates and ninjas (and whatever Bleach is, I apologize) that just sets me off... I'm more of a fan of technical stuff, which might explain why I'm in love with StarCraft, Star Wars, and Jurassic Park. All "clean" (except when the zerg/Yuuzhan Vong/raptors come for you). Which actually might explain how I'm doing so well in CompSci. Beginner's Java trembles beneath my feet (but for some reason, I can't handle Alice).

All said and done,
Pika

[Puyon]

Greetings Friends! I think I died a bit here again. Oops.

*hasn't poked her nose in a manga of any kind for a few months* What has become of me...?! *hides in corner* No! Don't look at me! I'm shameful!
I did love One Piece. I loved it a lot. What happened to me? I got too lazy to watch or read any of it. I have no excuse! I have plenty of time in my life compared to you guys. The fact that I'm failing as a fan is no one fault but my own! (not that I blamed any one anyways. *shrug*) I don't even remember where I left off....


Anywho! I got in an argument about what a pencil really is! Someone just said "It's a thing to write stuff with. Nothing but." So I objected and said. "Incorrect! A pencil is a tool of creativity, productivity, and... and... a third word that slipped my mind!" And in the end we all came to an agreement! I should not try to argue without thinking things through!

-Puyon

[Josiah]

Hi! I've got a kind of large to-do list this week. Aside from the regular work stuff I've got a game design test to do as part of a job application (my current job is ok but no great, so I'm keeping an eye out for something better), I need to do some Car Washer related work now that it's moving again, I have some things to do to help out my parents (assorted computer and research stuff), and I said I'd help out with some things on the BA (the RP forum Shadowman and I are members of) so there's that too. And, naturally, all the normal stuff I have to do each week (chores, Pebble Version strips, etc). If I have time, I'd like to work in some work on Aurora's Nightmare and a bit of game playing but that'll really depend on how long that design test takes. Oh well, it could be worse. At least I more or less enjoy doing most of the stuff on that list.

Speaking of the BA, it could always use more members if anyone is interested. It's basically a big mod run RPG (sorta like D&D) where all sorts of crazy stuff happens. For example, three members of my team (a heroic boy, a tempramental cyborg girl, and a magical cat girl otaku) just finished fighting with and against some other PCs (a strange cat thing, a slightly evil directionally challenged doctor riding on a raptor, a cute but very evil clone of a somewhat less evil summoner, Heraclese, and a crazed maestro) in a rather epic quest to retrieve some guy's car from a group of evil robot mariachis. And, along the way, they discovered that the true meaning of love may or may not be a penguin. Updates can be slow at times, but it's a lot of fun especially with the almost anything goes character creation and item combining.

[Pikachu127]

Nin men hao,

Finished up some more java programs, posted here for a bit, then I'm going to complete my insignificant math worksheet. That's it. Woohoo. Screw the Catcher in the Rye.

[Josiah]

Hi! As part of that design test I'm taking, I'm supposed to spend some time playing Empires and Allies on Facebook and write a bit about its design. It reminds me why I don't play Facebook games. While the game itself is fairly well made, it's clearly designed around the goals of keeping you coming back throughout the day, spamming friends with messages, and urging you to spend real money on things (actual fun is a distant fourth). There's a decent (though not great) RTS in there and the social aspect could be fun, but I can't shake the feeling that I could just load up my copy of Age of Empires instead. Not only would I be playing a better RTS, but I wouldn't need to break for several minutes/hours between actions while waiting for units to be created and energy to recharge, I also wouldn't be bombarded with near constant pleas to post on my friends' walls and buy extra resources from the cash shop.

[Blivsey]

Hey.

So my school-issued netbook has a virus. Faaaaaaantastic.

[Saber Knight]

Hey.

Not too much going on right now... school work, college applications... the usual. AP BC Calc test tomorrow, that's a bundle of fun. Ooh, and senior night is this friday, so that should be fun. Weird that I'm the one getting celebrated at senior night, and that I don't have to run around making special decorations for seniors. Huh.

ANYWHO Fiddler on the Roof is next week, and I've got a LOT of practicing to do before then (sob), not to mention a jazz band audition in a week (did I say I didn't have much going on? Well, I lied.) and some interviews to schedule before I run out of time.... ta!

[Josiah]

Hi! You're in Fiddler, Saber? Are you in the band or are you playing a character?

I managed to get a lot done yesterday and it's looking like I may actually be able to take a couple hours tonight to continue my Assassin's Creed II game (for the first time this week). Just need to get that calendar image done for Car Washer and then I can relax a little. Nothing really special going on right now. Since I got back from my weekend trip it's just been work, work, work.

In a completely unrelated note, I'm rather annoyed that the Japanese PSN never seems to have sales like the US one does. Project Diva Dreamy Theater 2 still costs 100 more Yen than I have credit and since you can't use non-Japanese credit cards in the PSN store, I'm kinda stuck. Unless... Hmm... I wonder if I could set it up to work with my Japanese debit card. I've actually got quite a bit of money in that account now since I left before my last couple of paychecks were deposited...

On note vaguely related to the completely unrelated note, Chrono Cross is out on the US PSN! I've still got my original discs, but I highly recommend it for anyone who never played it on the PS1. Actually, I highly recommend most of Square's old PS1 games (quite a lot of which are finally on the PSN). Final Fantasy VII - IX, Final Fantasy Tactics, Front Mission 3, Vagrant Story, Brave Fencer Musashi, Vagrant Story, the ports of FF I, II, IV - VI, and Chrono Trigger... Good times.

[Blivsey]

Hey! I had the netbook checked out, and it's saved! Problem is (and I somehow didn't realize it until it was dangerous), they turned up the brightness by a lot while they were fixing it. So, two hours after getting it back, I reach into my shoulder-bag and nearly burn my hand because my netbook is overheating. It's all good now, though, and I'm glad to have my netbook back.