durendal

And surprisingly, the anime is already catching up to the manga. I'm really hoping really hard that they don't end the series pre-maturely like they did the first series. I certainly hope they would respect the author enough to only animate when the manga finishes a story arc, much similar to the way they animated Hunter X Hunter. But the manga is nowhere near the end. It's already in the climax and I'm still waiting to see what will happen on the promised day.

No, no, no. I'm not saying Shanks is siding with the Marines, but rather he would want to keep the status quo of the pirates and marines. I was just guessing that there is a reason why the Marines is the dominant government. Also, regarding Dragon, it's not about helping Luffy, but more on rather giving the finishing blow to the Marines. The situation is already an all out war of Pirates versus Marine, with the addition of revolutionist, the Marines will not stand a chance. All of the important heads of the Marines are gathered there, what would be the most easiest way to crush the marines but to eliminate all the governing bodies at once? Anyway, I do hope that the straw hat crew will be able to catch up to luffy. With the experiences of Luffy, it will be difficult to catch up to him.

Ouch. Believe it or not, I'm playing farmville. No, I still don't have a facebook, I'm playing farmville on another persons account. She let's me manage her farmville. I'm even the highest ranked farmer compared to all the other neighbors if I might add.

Well, whether you like it or not, they have their own destinies. I'm sure Ivankov and Inazuma will return seeing that they are on Dragon's side. You also have to take note of the other straw hat members crew. Anyway, I'm guessing Shanks appearance had something to do with his audience with Whitebeard in the earlier chapters. Perhaps he's siding with the marines? At the current pace, there is a high chance that the Marines be wiped out, since Dragon has not yet appeared. Or maybe that Shanks knows something that the marines are hiding from everyone else. I'm guessing with the current state Luffy is in, he'll be getting more emotionally crushed with what Shanks will be doing. I don't know, the silliness of this title makes it totally unpredictable.

Well, I didn't get to read One Piece for one whole week, but now that I'm back from a business trip, I'm already up to date with the latest chapter. Damn, Impel Down rocks, not to mention funny. And all hell broke lose in Marine Headquarters. Looks like wherever Luffy goes that involves Marine establishments, said establishments turns to chaos. Shanks, now that's one person I didn't expect to see. And I was expecting Dragon to appear. It's very sad about Ace though.

Another song that nobody's probably ever heard of: Hale - The day you said goodnight Accoustic version:

Well, I've updated some of the few things in the page. Although I have only seen 1 episode of W, I hope everyone can help me correct some of the mis-translations that might be enountered. Again, I'm basing all the information I put in this page from the Japanese Wiki of W.

Oh sorry, didn't actually see that. But yeah, right on.

Great. Just great. I got my SIC Kabuto today. That was rather fast. And I didn't even drive to the office today so I'll have to hand carry it home today. I can imagine her getting angry telling me I bought "another one". *sweat* If I could just smuggle it home without her noticing it so I don't have to buy something of equivalent value for her. Again, currently in the office so I can't take a pic of it. Besides, it's useless for me to post a pic since I don't open it, and nobody wants to see the box anyway. But anyway, yay, I got my Kabuto.

Actually, the volume titles are somewhat skewed from the original Japanese text. I didn't translate some of those since the english titles are already printed. Let me start with volume 22 then 22 - Bare Face of the Masked Divine Lord 23 - Inherited Spirit 24 - Roaring Giant Beast God 25 - Daybreaks' Conclusion 26 - War Goddess, comes to Japan 27 - Opening Curtains of the Banquet

Yup, though I don't really consider it a real batle since nobody actually won or lost. But just standing there after that punishment and saying "it's nothing" was really badass. I wonder how many chapters are left before the crew heads to Impel Down. Also, I get the impression that Brook was a great swordsman, but after Thriller Bark, I'd say Zoro is still the greater swordsman. I wonder if they'll get another crew member.

For one thing, Comaradery is more of a cultural thing for the Japanese, not something that you simply put into words. You might say that their usage of "Comrade" is more in line with "Bromance". The non-translation of attack names don't quite bother me like the untranslated "Nakama", which is what really irks me. And the word "Friend" isn't really the direct translation of "Nakama". Like I said, "Nakama" is "Comrade", and to me, I feel that being a comrade has a much more deeper meaning than friend. It's something like "people with the same spirit, goal, ambition etc.", which I think suits their settings. By the way, I'm already up to chapter 500. The wanted poster of Sanji is already hilarious enough, but on the flying fish story arc, it made it much more hilarous.

There is this one thing that's bothering me, mostly the fault of the translator, is that they keep on using the word "Nakama". If you asked someone who has never heard of manga to read One Piece, do you think he will get the part when most of the crew are saying "because he is my Nakama". WTF? They're already translating Japanese into English why the hell do they leave one single word untranslated? What's the difference between "Nakama" and "Comrade". To be completely honest, I find the scanlations of One Piece to be poorly translated. They need to be reminded that not all english readers understand the cultural standing of Japanese. Not to mention leaving attack names untranslated is a little bit confusing. Like all of Zoro's attacks, they leave it like Nitoryu, Santoryu, Yontoryu, etc, what the hell does that mean? Japanese readers will be able to understand that because the Kanji itself gives the meaning. But if you simply romanized those, they will not understand the significance of the attack. In fact, when I read those attacks, I got confused and have to stare at the page a lot longer to figure out what the hell they are talking about. There is a limit when you decide to stick to using the original Japanese names, but this is just overkill. Tsk tsk tsk. Naruto and Bleach are better translated than One Piece. I guess there is a really big disparity regarding quality when it comes to free stuffs. If I wasn't so busy with my current load, I'll do those translations myself. Ok, end gripe.

Well, I practically laughed out loud during the Zoro/Sogeking vs Kaku/Jabura. Specially when Zoro Wielded Sogeking as a sword. Well, the fights were pretty epic.

Yup, and war it is. Stopped at chapter 430 last night. It was a tearful moment yet again, this time for Going Merry.

I used to like Sasuke, but I don't think I like what he's turning into.

In Japan, I think One Piece is number 1 ahead of Bleach and Naruto based on the Oricon Charts. I think the reason why One Piece isn't as popular as Naruto and Bleach in the west was because they butchered the anime. I mean when it reached 4kids, they made massive edits to the anime removing a major chunk of the story. Well, I'm sticking to the manga. I'm currently in Chapter 400 and the rumble is about to start. Straw Hats versus Cipher Pol 9. What a teary flashback for Nico Robin.

Well, let's just say that they're currently in the rocket man. I'm not actually surprised at Robin's decision about the group. I knew something wasn't right when she said and did all those things, which later confirmed my hunch after everything was made clear by Iceburg. I'm surprised that Sanji didn't crack any jokes when Sogeking appeared. The lameness of it is actually what's funny. I see Ussop to be someone who has a potential to be a good member. Since the other members are freakishly strong, Ussop somewhat balances the groups strenght. I like his inventive skills and I'd like to see how he would work with Franky. I'm a spoilsport so I read ahead some bits and info about the future, and I'm looking forward to seeing Dragon and Garp. Expessially the Impel Down Arc.

Really? Seems like I didn't search hard enough for the old topic. Anyway, no, I'm not up to date yet with regards to the latest chapters. I'm still in chapter 371, where they are heading to Enies Lobby. (better not post spoilers for fear that some other readers might want to read this). I like the combination of Zoro and Sanji. They're both funny. It'll probably be a few more days before I reach the latest chapters. At the moment, I'm trending a minimum of 20 chapters a day.

I'm sure everyone has heard of One Piece. But does any of you follow it? I've known One Piece for a long time now, and I've only recently started following it. Mainly because at first I thought that the lead characters were kinda goofy. But after reading a few chapters I got hooked. Even though the characters may look goofy, their actions were kinda cool. Even the story is somewhat non-standard, since it's the silliness that's makes it interesting. With Characters like Buggy the Clown, Wapol, Don Quixote Doflamingo, etc, you can expect anything from it. What got me curious into reading one piece is because of an article I've read that it's latest compilation volume hasover 3 million copies printed, making it one of the best selling manga in Japan alone. In a nutshell, it's about a Pirate Monkey D. Luffy and his crew in search of the treasure of the legendary Gold Rogers, the One Piece. The wacky adventures of the group makes the story interesting, while the drama and action gives the story an intense flow of events. I've only started reading it last week and now I'm up to chapter 371.

I can say that this animated version is way better than the first series. I am also an avid reader of the manga, yet I still enjoy the series. I can guarantee that the anime does not suffer the same difficulty as other anime converted from manga (ie Naruto & Bleach). In fact, it is quite refreshing to see the action scenes animated. It is completely faithful to the manga. And for your info, as of the last episode I watched, Olivier Armstrong is already in Central. If you know what that means. Hint hint.

Hmm.....the first two parts are spot on, but the latter parts needs some tweaking. Here's my take on it: Akarui nichi ni, kurai yoru ni, ookami no hoeru de chikara wo kaihou suru

狼 (ookami / rou) - Wolf. Actually there is no term for werewolf in Japanese except if you spell it in Katakana as werewolf. I believe the term they use is Man Wolf, or Jinrou (人狼). The Kanji "rou" used in Jinrou was pronounced in Onyomi, it's kunyomi reading is Ookami. Ookami Otoko (wolf man) on the other hand sounds somewhat childish (along the lines of Megaman), so the preferred term is Jinrou. Ookami Kakushi means "carried away by wolf" or the vernacular "Wolfed Away". Also, other usage of Ookami is "Garou" 餓狼 which is Hungry Wolf. Hope this clarifies things.

I want all the SIC of the main heisei riders. But unfortunately they are no longer being sold. Huhuhu. I wanted the normal Blade SIC, but can't seem to find it any. So I guess after Kabuto, this leaves W then? I'm not too keen on getting the W SIC if they will be releasing it.

Woot! Got it! Very nice, there are even individual cards for the 9 Heisei riders, which is stored in the ride booker. You can even insert the cards into the Decadriver with push action!! Me happy.