Drakli:

<snip whole "alternate lifestyles" spiel.>

LOL! Of course! Why didn't I see it before? They were meant 
to be together--*all* of them! (I hope your life insurance 
is paid up, my friend.)


Shadow:

>>1) Women have always been at liberty to express affection 
>>among themselves, and men have not.

>1. Not true.

I meant in our own culture. I probably should have said so.

>3. You mean Porn when you say "sexy entertainment, right?

More or less. I find it hard to think of anything animated 
as pornographic, because the word connotes some form of 
exploitation, which means live actors, because how can a 
drawing be exploited? And of course, movies which are erotic 
but not outright pornographic work as well for women as for 
men.


Newcomer:

>Ranma would be a bit more respectable as a character if he 
>had to work harder for what he wants....

This begs the question: just what does Ranma want? The main 
thing he seems to want is to be appreciated as a person 
instead of coveted as marriage fodder or despised as an 
enemy of all things good. All his best efforts haven't 
gotten him that.

>For instance, did you know that at a recent game of 
>Werewolf, he tried to convince me that the actual odds of 
>rolling two '0' s on two tensided dice were actual odds of 
>10 to the POWER of 10?

Where did this guy learn probability?


Vyxqui:

>My friend pointed out to me today, Happosai only steals 
>white undergarments, so I suppose that even though he is a 
>dirty old man, he does have purity in his heart.

Then your friend doesn't know what (s)he's talking about. 
I've seen pink, blue, yellow, peach, and lavender in his 
collection, and that's just in the intro to the first movie. 
It's just that the default color for undergarments is white, 
and the animators stick to reality in that regard. Also, 
pastel colors can look white from a distance, which is 
hands-down the best way to view Happosai and anything 
connected with him.


Hotnit:

>But it is really just a story of a bunch of guys saving a 
>princess and they all go against the evil king and his dark 
>knight to save all the peasants from their oppresive rule. 
>All you need is a pumpkin, a poison apple, and a lady in a 
>lake, and you'd have all the cliche' fables throughout 
>history covered

There is a reason why fairy tales tend to follow a pattern--
they are based on archetypes that are ingrained into the 
human subconscious. Most fairy tales are parables of the 
Rite of Passage for a young man or woman, with the 
protagonist suffering terrible trials and even in some cases 
a death followed by a rebirth, all to prove him- or herself 
as a capable adult. The parental figure as a villain is a 
symbol of an adolescent's need to break away from family 
authority in order to become an adult. We can't escape these 
types of stories, because they are part of what we are as a 
species. This psychobabble has been brought to you by 
someone who reads *way* too much.


John:

Of Werewolf:

>The cosmology kicks much ass.

I think that's what draws me to it as well. Also, there's 
more a sense of a higher purpose in that game than in the 
others, where the characters are just striving for their own 
survival and advancement.


Benzaiten the ever melodic
Wielder of the Biwa of Justice
               ____
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I=I==========|==O=I|
              \____|
Master of Anything-Goes Martial Arts Dog
Grooming
Vocalist, Lead Biwa, Translator, and Assistant
Producer for Hammerspace