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Ask Veronica |
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Ask Veronica, Go See "The Messenger" If You Know What A Good Movie Is - 12:30 CST
Heyas guys. I shoul'dve known better than to use so many animŽ
plugs yesterday, cause that's all I have to work with. Baka!
See? There I go again!
Today's Q & A finally features Val Shrum, the winner of the Q & A Triple Triad contest. She'll be
along to occasionally interject her two cents, so keep your eyes peeled. ;>
And, as you all know, "the new guy" (gal) will be starting tomorrow. I've even taken the liberty
of making "The new guy (gal)" his (her) e-mail addy link... although you might know who it is just by taking
your mouse on a journey of a few centimeters... or will you? >:)
And here are some words from your local Q & A columnist!
Val:
Hello there folks of the Role Playing Gamer world. What can I say other than I
love role playing games, but I haven't been a regular here until recently. It
was my friend Harold who said "Hey, they have this contest to draw this.." and
I was like, okay. I entered, lost. Then there was THIS contest and entered and
won ^^; I'm so lucky! I currently am playing Xenogears, Suikoden, Alundra, Final
Fantasy VIII, Brave Fencer Musashi, and uh... probably some other games I forgot to
finish and are sitting around in my closet. My little NERV playstation works way too hard for it's own good ^^; Anywhos, on with the show!
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Anime Basics 101
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Hey Veronica
ÊÊ I don't have a question about rpgs, but I got a few about anime and I
knew you could help me out.Ê Recently as I was flipping through the channels
I came across Macross II, and it kinda rekindled an interest in anime.
Pretty much my only exposure to anime was the old Saturday morning cartoons
like Voltron (form feet and legs! Form arms and torso! And I'll form... THE
HEAD!!!) ah, nostalgia.Ê I rented Akira one time, but I think I dove in a
little too deep to quickly (that movie had me going "what the hell?" quite
often)Ê Anyway, what would you recommend for an anime newbie?Ê And do you
know if there are any good books on drawing in the anime style?Ê It's just
so cool.Ê And also, what makes anime anime?Ê Is it the style, or that it's
drawn by Japanese artists, or both?Ê If an American animation studio got a
bunch of American artists, and had them crank out something like a Disney
movie (except without all the damn songs, dopey characters thrown in for
comic relief, and cutsy forest dwelling creatures with extreme marketing
potential that crowd around the heroin when she sings, crap like that)voiced
using American voice talent, but done exactly in the same style as Japanese
animation, would it still count as anime?Ê Or if they dared advertise such a
film as anime, would anime purists rise up screaming for blood?Ê Please post
this.Ê I wanna know.Ê If nothing else, just so I can tell what you're
talking about when you refer to < anime character name here >.Ê Thank you.
---- Dias Diem
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Veronica:
What kinds of animŽ do you reccomend for newbies?
---Everyone has his/her own taste in animŽ, and if you ask a room of 100 otakus this
question, you'll receive many mixed answers. My introduction into animŽ started with
Sailor Moon when it aired on the USA Network about 2 years ago before being switched
to Cartoon Network.
In fact, I find many mass otakus started out watching the following:
- Sailor Moon (TV series - English dubbed)
- Dragonball Z (TV series - English dubbed)
- Vampire Hunter D (Saturday Anime - SciFi Channel)
- Iria: Zeiram the Animation (Saturday Anime - SciFi Channel)
- Galaxy Express 999 (Saturday Anime - SciFi Channel)
As you might be able to see, the most inexpensive introduction
to "real" animŽ is to watch Saturday Anime on the SciFi Channel, which runs every
Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m. EST/10:00 a.m. CST. If that's not what you really go for
(or you start seeing repeat episodes after 2 months on Sat. Anime) and you wish to hop into the OAV realm,
make sure you have a lot of cash and try to check out the following:
- Battle Angel
- Queen Emeraldas
- Record of Lodoss War ( All 6 tapes.. you won't be dissapointed.)
- Akira (A bit higher-level than the usual)
- The Slayers
- Neon Genesis Evangelion (High-level)
- Those Who Hunt Elves (For the slapstick comedy enthusiast)
Take it away, Val!
Val:
- Anime Recommendations -
I got started on such series as Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma 1/2 and Izumi Matsumoto's Kimagure Orange Road. Both of which have a HUGE following, but are losing out to the newer
Anime series' on the market today. For beginners though, here are my suggestions:
- Ranma 1/2 (About a bajillion episodes and OVA's to choose from. You can pick it up from the middle and follow along with no problem.
- Kimagure Orange Road (The TV series only made it here in Special order LD format, but you can pick up on what exactly it's about by the OVA series and 2 movies. OVA's and the first movie were picked up by AnimEigo, and the 2nd movie was done by ADVision)
- Tenchi Muyo (A series that has about a hundred different alternate universes, and the different version to prove it < Tenchi Muyo OVA's, Pretty Sammy, Tenchi Universe, Tenchi In Tokyo!, etc >)
- Dragon Half (Funny and interesting One shot OVA)
- Revolutionary Girl Utena (Great series if you're into Magical Girl styled anime with a twist of adventure)
- Fushigi Yuugi (Great story! But sometimes isn't grabbed by the attention of guys so... it might not be the best choice)
- Please Save My Earth (Rather emotional, but VERY touching series. The dub is worth getting for the voice acting alone, but it is available in either subtitled or dubbed format)
-Drawing recommendations-
You know, there isn't just one or two books out that will teach you the style of "Anime". There are unique styles done by the different artists. Like you can tell a Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2, Lum, Maison Ikkoku) as compared to like Kenichi Sonoda (BGC character designs, Gunsmith Cats) Very different styles tend to make it harder to choose what you want to make your 'own' style. My suggestion would be to go down to a local comic book shop, pick up a few comics from the different artists and try immitating those styles. Also at Japanese book stores they carry things like "Art Books" which show the series art, character designs, etc. Everything you need to know about a certain outfit that a character wears in the series IS there. I do believe there is a book out there called "How to draw the Anime Style" or whatnot, but I personally haven't bought it. To better my style, I just look over comics and such and see what works and doesn't work for what my own personal style would be. I hope that helps ^_^;
Veronica: Oh, and if it's American made, no matter how much the style parallels animŽ, its
not animŽ. It's a "dramatic animated series." Go figure. :P
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Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie!
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Howdy Veronica,
It's halfway through novemeber and I have not heard even a rumor about when
Square is going to release Final Fantasy VIII for the PC. Well, that's not
true. Someone told be it would be out this month, and the release has been
slated for Q4 '99 since...well, since a long time ago. I'm starting getting
a little ancy, because I was hoping to score a copy for Christmas. I don't
even know who's publishing it (though the magic eight-ball points to Square
EA).
So, do you know when will it be released and by whom? You'd become my
favorite Q&A person of all time if you could tell me ;)
- Nazhuret
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Veronica:
Well, aww, shucks I'd be glad to tell ya... if I knew. o.o Eidos's
site has nothing on Final Fantasy VIII for the PC (I think they're publishing it again) and
neither does Square EA. Go figure... Rumors have been floating around for a while now, and there's an
interesting little story twist about FF VIII's PC release at Final Fantasy Online. From
the way things look, we might have to wait for a FF VIII PC version into next year.
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CX no tiene mucho dinero
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Let's face it, Thor "Working Designs" Antrim isn't going to be back anytime
soon... Uh... yeah, game question... Compared to Xenogears, do you think
Star Ocean 2 is worth a try? 'Cause I beat Xenogears, and noticed you're
having the same trouble I did with Lunar... (ie couldn't put one down to
play the other) So? Tell me, O goddess of Evas and plushies, what I must
do with my hard(ly)-earned money (aside from buying you presents, of course^_~).
--CX, The Slayer Of Himself
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Veronica:
Letter from CX, huzzah! Well, after playing Star Ocean 2 for about
an hour, I was in love with it. The graphics are beautiful, the music kicks arse, etc. (I want
the voices in battle to go away... far...far away.) I'd reccomend it, but I'm just really
into Xenogears now. I'm not 2 hours into it and I can already see parallels between it and Neon
Genesis Evangelion. *grin*
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I am I. But I am not 'he'.
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Er, hello, Miss Veronica-person.
While reading both yesterday's and today's columns, I have gathered that
Brad is no longer with us. I'm assuming this is because of his... mental
breakdown. Nobody has told us, the general public, who the next
weekday-column-answerng-type-person is gonna be. But I have a good guess.
It's going to be... YOU, isn't it?! Bwaha ha ha!!
~Cid Reincarnate, ya know?!
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Veronica:
Pah. I was waiting for the person who would send in the "You're the
new Daily Q & A person, aren't you?" letter. Well, I'm not being funny or snyde here. I'm not
the new Daily Q & A columnist. If I was, I'd have to drop out of high school and plan my diet
around coffee, bagles, and many Stouffers Baked Chicken Breats instant dinners. That would be
scary...
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Nihongo, anyone?
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Ohayou gozaimasu, Veronica-san! Siggie to moushimasu. Hajimemashite. Ogenki
desu ka? Watashi wa genki de, to juu-roku-sai. Nansai desu ka? Watashi no
ichinensei nihongo o benkyou shiteimasu. Soshite bunpo wa hijo ni mazushii
desu. Anata wa? Ja mata ne, Veronica-san! Siggie
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Veronica:
Oi, anata no bunpo wa amari warui ja arimasen!
Chotto wakarimasu yo! Ooi tsuki de hanashimashita, demo juu-go-sai desu.
o-tegami wo kaite doumo arigatou gozaimasu. ^_^
Don't correct me either, or you shall be subjected to 20 lashes and a
wet noodle.
Val:
MISUTAA SPAAKARU wa sugoi desu ne!
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Gilgamesh ain't so great...
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How could you put Gilgamesh in such a good light? He wasn't just tyrannical,
he was a PLAIN, FREAKIN' IMBECILE. He (if I dare call him such) was
supposedly trying to fight the evil giant of the forest, Humbaba (what a
funny name) with his friend Enkidu (the man from the sky; yeah, they're
friends by what means I have no idea) when Gilgamesh acts all arrogant and
tells Enkidu Humbaba isn't all what he's cracked up to be. Then when Gilgy
actually sees Mr. Baba, he goes crying off to the god Shamash for help. In
fact, when Gilgamesh is about to "kill" Humbaba, the giant tells him to have
mercy while Enkidu forces the communist nazi monkey known as Gilgamesh to
actually chop of Humbaba's head. Needless to say, Gilgamesh gets all the
credit for bumping off Humbaba. Later, Enkidu dies because of this (why not
Gilgamesh?!) and his "friend" Gilgamesh goes on a quest to find the flower of
immortality. He runs into Utnapishtim, the precursor to Noah of Noah's ark,
some crap happens, and Utnapishtim tells Gilgy where to find this immortality
flower. When the king finds it, he immeadiately takes a cool bath, where a
snake eats the flower. What kinda !$#%!$@% takes a bath after finding his
goal? Lastly, Gilgamesh sits down and cries, instead of trying to do
something about this snake which ate the flower. Then he returns to Uruk and
is hailed as a hero. Go figure. ~SmartLaine
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Paul Harvey:
And now you know......the rest of the story.
Veronica's Note:
This letter is in regards to the question of "Who is Gilgamesh?" last
weekend, for the totally clueless.
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Economizers... *bitter*
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Greetings, ye who knows all and sees all.
Ê
... I hope...
Ê
A while ago, I decided to dust off FF6/3 and play it again, but now something's got me stumped. When I was by far too over-obsessed
with the game, I spent about two straight hours in the Collesieum stealing Economizers, so that I had one for everyone in the game.
It was an amazing little trick I found on, uh, some site, where you give Gogo all "Steal" attacks and bet something that I can't
remember what it is. There's about a 5% chance that you'll actually get the Economizer, but if you have as much free time on your
hands as I did, you'll soon be able to beat Kefka in about one shot.
Ê
Anyways, my question is...
Ê
You know what you're supposed to bet to do that trick?
Ê
I've check Gamefaqs and all the RPGamer faqs, but no one's even heard of it! But I have a hell of a lot of Economizers to prove it! The
closest I've found is that you steal it from the Brontosaurus, but I remember discovering that that takes about 2 hours just to get 1
economizer.
Ê
And another thing that isn't it your faqs...
Ê
I didn't read ONE suggestion to equip Setzer with Gengi Gloves and Offering, giving him 2 dice and pumping him up, which, with a
little bit of luck, can deal upwards to 79992 damage! Nuh-uh! No one ever tried the dice because the game made them out to sound
crappy, even though they're the best weapon in the game!
Ê
Err...
Ê
Anyways, you know what you're supposed to bet?
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Veronica:
I had always assumed the "Setzer trick" was common knowledge. Talk about
a walking powerhouse. ^-^
I think the item might be the Gem Box, but it seems an awfully crappy trade for an Economizer. Imagine
an Economizer and a Gem Box equipped on a single character...
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