Back when I had frequent access to the TV, I'd watch the Toonami block on Cartoon Network. I'd come home from school (it occurred in the afternoon at the time) and veg out for two hours.
These were the days before there were hundreds of series available online for viewing. You had to take what the network gave you. So I watched the limited repertoire of anime that Cartoon Network had for viewing. One of those happened to be Tenchi Muyo.
To be honest, I didn't get "Tenchi". There were too many cultural elements that I wasn't familiar with. That, and I wasn't able to catch it everyday. But I still watched it, mostly because of the cat/rabbit/spaceship, Ryo-Ohki. Hey, I got a thing for cute, made-up animals, OK?
Flash forward a decade later, and I found "Tenchi" on Hulu. I thought eventually I'd watch the episodes in order. Well, with the introduction of anime streaming on Anime-Planet, "eventually" happened late last spring (if one could call it spring).
On Anime-Planet, each anime has a series of tags that describes it. For "Tenchi" one such tag was "ecchi".
Wait a sec.
This show aired on TV! During after-school hours! Don't tell me they hacked it to bits like Sailor Moon and DBZ....
I went through a couple subtitled episodes. Nothing too bad. Maybe they didn't water it down as much as I thought. From what I saw, it looked more-less the same.
Then I got to the hot spring episode.
When that episode aired on Cartoon Network, one of the characters, a woman named Ryoko, was wearing a lavender bikini in the hot spring. When I saw the same episode online, she was completely naked. Now, it wasn't graphic or anything. Still it was very apparent that she wasn't wearing any clothes.
Suddenly everything made sense. Except for the fact that Ryoko has a tail at some points, but at other times, she doesn't.
I have spoiled myself to death with Naruto. Every week or so, I go on Leaf Ninja and click on the little manga spoiler updates. Then I read the poorly written fan reactions. Lately, there haven't been many fan comments on the main pages, so I went to the forums. I learned some big news on those forums: Naruto is ending this fall.
Do I believe it? Yeah. From reading the manga synopses, it doesn't seem that it can go on much longer. Besides, I think the fans are losing interest. After all, comments on Leaf Ninja are few and far between. Even the guy running the site hasn't done much updating.
Personally, I think it's time for Naruto to end. It wore out its welcome some years ago. My own interest declined towards the end of the Pain arc. Now I'm over 100 episodes behind in the series, stuck somewhere in a repetitive filler arc.
For those wondering, I don't read the manga due to the inconsistencies in the translation. I'm not fond of fan translations (which are more like transliterations) either 'cause they're illegal. Heck, I find most action manga hard to follow anyway.
I still consider myself a Naruto fan, though nowhere near as hard core as I used to be. After all, it was my favorite anime at one point. Still, I think it's time to let go. I have every intention to finish the series, filler arcs and all. Then I'll have some closure. I'll remember the good times when the characters dreamed of achieving great things, when Naruto wasn't all-powerful, and when the dead characters didn't come back to life.
I still wonder if Naruto will officially advance in ninja rank after all this time. And I still wonder whom each character will wind up with romantically. I guess those answers won't be too far away.
I was thinking about all kinds of ideas for characters, drawings, and World posts. I want to get them all down before I forget. Warning: This could get long, so I'm breaking it up into a bunch of pages.
Character/story ideas...
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'Scuse the dorky title.
Moonlit Dream is hosting a comment spree that starts today! There's a spree going on this weekend too, so you can still sign up here. I'm participating, and I already commented on a few pieces.
Another way to help out is simply to submit stuff. You're bound to get a comment on something.
Anybody know how to give oneself motivation? I find that I'm struggling with that, especially with guitar practice. I have a "gig" (I use the term loosely) coming up on Saturday, and I haven't practiced once this week. I just don't feel like it, and I don't know why.
The worst part about this is that I'm beating myself up over not practicing. That, in turn, makes me want to practice even less. I know it makes no sense. I do know that I've practiced less in a year than some people practice in a week. I shouldn't compare myself to others, but I subconsciously do it anyway.
So, does anyone have any tips on self-motivation and self-improvement? It doesn't have to relate to guitar practice; it could be self-motivation for anything. I'd really appreciate some advice. Thanks.