Thursday, May 18, 2006

Katana's been forced willfuly assigned to do special updates, and you know what that means! No, not chaos - keeping up-to-date on SOAP happenings! First up on the list is SOAP's third collaboration, Soap’s Guide To Article Writing. Just as the title says, SOAPers bellpickle, Ryu-chan, Sangome Wilder, Katana, and Shinkiro give their advice on the Do's and Don't's of article writing. People already seem to be impressed and grateful. Second to come is Taltos's FFVII piece, The Rhetoric Of FFVII And Advent Children. A collaboration between herself and Neoterik, it's a "ridiculously long" and thoughtful look into what makes up the original Finaly Fantasy VII game and Advent Children. Third up is Katana's Furuba article, Zodiac Elemental Nature, which dissects the elements of the Zodiac animals and tells what they mean in Asian tradition. And for the last time, she'd like to say this: "The Zodiac animals of an element and the years of the element are completly different! They have no relation!" Rounding up the batch come's Kastom's first "underdog" article, Underdogs: The Kindaichi Files. In it, he explains the premise and the attributes of The Kindaichi Files, a series which sounds like it would be a treat for Detective Conan (Case Closed) fans. This article marks the first of what he thinks can be an on-going series. And that's it for now - see ya!

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Sunday, May 14, 2006

Sorry that there was no update last week, Ada_Pallas is on hiatus and Shinkiro just started school and in her senility, totally forgot to update. Shinkiro extends her apologies to members and readers alike. Latest Articles Taltos has graced us with another fine piece of work entitled Jenova’s Child. This Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children article analyzes villain, Kadaj and how he's really just a messed up kid. Works in Progress Katsom --Katsom is our newest member and he is brimming with ideas. He is re-reading some Naruto manga in preparation to write a Naruto article on what he expects to be a controversial issue. --He is also writing an article called "The Kindaichi Files" that will be reviewing this little known manga. He expects this to turn into an ongoing series detailing unknown anime and manga and we may even see some SOAP collabs on this topic. Bellpickle's works in progress: --Bell is feverishly working on her ACEN con report. --She is has also started writing an analysis on the series Princess Tutu, though she has decided to keep the specific topic top secret. Such a tease! --She will also be starting on her report from the Play! Video Game concert at the end of May. --Her L article is on hold indefinitely or until she gets some inspiration. Taltos's works in progress: --Taltos has submitted another Advent Children article that is pending approval. Expect to see it very soon. --She has also started an analysis of the impact of .hack//SIGN's original soundtrack on the anime and she expects to have it finished within the next week. Katana's works in progress: The homework monster is consuming all of Katana’s time, but here is a reminder of what she is working on. --Since her quiz is up all that’s left is the article part which may contain a spoiler warning so that people can’t know what questions lead to a certain answer because according to Katana “that’s no fun.”.The quiz will help fans come up with ideas for what they should try on their anime sites and the article will take those things and elaborate on them, discussing issues such as difficulty, amount of HTML skills needed, time, and, obviously, the ever hated question of: Bandwith. - And since she recently got into Furba, there might be a Fruits Basket article in her future. Sangome Wilder’s works in progress: --Her article defending Regal Bryant from Tales of Symphonia has been delayed but she is still working on it. --She is expecting to finish both her analysis of Evangelion's Kaworu Nagisa and her "Differences Between the Hagane Anime and Manga" sometime this week. --She also expects to start on an Advent Children article soon though she hasn’t picked out a topic yet. SunfallE’s works in progress: SunfallE has had a computer problem and lost all of her work so her articles will be coming slowly but surely. Here’s a recap of what she is working on. --Her 2nd wallpaper themed collaboration with her friend, Mariskah. --A Rurouni Kenshin article detailing the sword techniques used in the series. --A Howl's Moving Castle article that looks at the idea that when Howl gained Calcifer he lost the ability to grow up. - Also, she plans to see if she can take the idea of how nothing is evil and only becomes that way through a series of choices and apply that to Princess Monoke Shinkiro's works in progress: --She plans to finish her article about anime galleries online sometime this week. --She would like to start on a couple of more of her articles (see the last update for a full list) but with school, article production for Shinkiro will probably be slowing down. Collaborations in progress - SOAP’s Guide to writing articles should be posted today or very early in the week. --The debate collab is coming along nicely. Members have come up with some great subjects to discuss and will be meeting online to get it started very soon. -- Katsom’s idea for highlighting underdog series will probably be getting started this week. --Sangome Wilder's collab defending anime characters has been extended but should be appearing in the next week or so. --Bellpickle and Katana should be starting their ACEN report as soon as they sort through all their goodies!. --ryu6fw has started a collab idea based off Katana's "If It Were Anime" aricle. This has been put on hold because ryu-san is having computer problems. So be looking forward to some more solid articles and collabs coming your way this week! Members curretnly on Haitus: --Ada Pallas --Ryu-san --Otaku Alchemist

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Sunday, April 30, 2006

For those of you who haven't been peeking around our site this week, take a note of our newest member Taltos (OMG! Another Saiyuki fangirl!)!! And our current junior member has been busy this past week, giving otakudom not one but two new [Saiyuki] articles. The are The Color of Sin: Analyzing Gojyo/Hakkai and Ni Jianyi And The Rabbit Prince. Now, on with the show! ryu6fw's works in progress: - Ryu-chan is just finishing up the outline for an article he is calling "Shaman King: Fact or Fiction" and as you can guess will be an informational about what parts of the anime are real and which ones are not. Taltos's works in progress: - Right now she's working on finishing up a Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children article that's focusing on Kadaj and children. Sangome Wilder’s works in progress: - She'll be defending Regal Bryant from Tales of Symphonia in an article that should appear sometime later this week. - Taking on another character, this time in a character analysis of Evangelion's Kaworu Nagisa, she plans on touching on some of the symbolism associated with the character. - And she also wants to make a continuation of her "Differences Between the Hagane Anime and Manga" but this time focusing more on the story then the characters. SunfallE’s works in progress: - Her 2nd wallpaper themed collaboration with her friend, Mariskah, is coming along. - Her article detailing the sword techniques used in theRurouni Kenshin series is in the process of being tweaked but should be up soon. - She's also planning a Howl's Moving Castle article that looks at the idea that when Howl gained Calcifer he lost the ability to grow up. - Also, she plans to see if she can take the idea of how nothing is evil and only becomes that way through a series of choices and apply that to Princess Monoke Bellpickle's works in progress: - She's made some headway on her article on L from Death Note. - And since our little globe trouter is heading to the Play! Video Game concert at the end of May, she'll be writting a report on that. Shinkiro's personal works in progress are still the same but that's mostly due to the fact that she's been making loads of headway in the collaboration department: - Her Kimi wa Petto article is still in the pre-production stages but she expects to start on it very soon. - Another article in the works and it will revolve around the philosophical lands of Kimo’s Journey. - She’s looking into doing two more comparitive articles: One will pit 12 Kingdoms against Fushigi Yuugi while the other will compare Otogizoushi and Kaidoh Maru. - Lastly, she’s starting up a couple of articles that will look at the history and evolution of anime and the most influential people of anime. Katana's works in progress: - Since her quiz is up all that’s left is the article part which may contain a spoiler warning so that people can’t know what questions lead to a certain answer because according to Katana “that’s no fun.”.The quiz will help fans come up with ideas for what they should try on their anime sites and the article will take those things and elaborate on them, discussing issues such as difficulty, amount of HTML skills needed, time, and, obviously, the ever hated question of: Bandwith. - And since she recently got into Furba, there might be a Fruits Basket article in her future. Collaborations will be coming along easier thanks to big efforts by Shinkiro: - Bellpickle and Katana are also looking into doing an ACEN 2006 report. - Right now members are coming up with ideas on the subjects we'll tackle on the debate collab. - A rough draft has been created for the Article Writing collab so this one should be appearing in the next couple of weeks. - ryu6fw has started a collab idea based off Katana's "If It Were Anime" aricle. - And since Sangome Wilder's enjoys defending characters, she's open the door for other member to defend other not-so-well-liked anime characters. - Shinkiro's also heading up the creation of an article that lists the best anime galleries on the web. Lastly, Ada Pallas will be taking a small hiatus for a bit, so her updates won't be appearing for a while. Hopefully, she'll be able to add some things to the collabs, but that's all she can do for the moment. TTFN everyone!

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Sunday, April 23, 2006

AND now, this week in review! First up this week was the posting of the first part of Katana's quiz-'n-article project. What Type of Anime Site Could You Run? was up and running on the 16th. Sangome Wilder’s article The Differences Between the Hagane Anime and Manga was posted on the 17th. Then ryu6fw’s second article, Anime: Mission Inspiration was posted on the 20th. And rounding out the week was the posting of Bellpickle’s guide to Japanese Pop Culture on the 21st. Here’s what to look forward to in the future . . . Shinkiro's works in progress: - Her Kimi wa Petto article is still in the pre-production stages but she expects to start on it very soon. - Another article in the works and it will revolve around the philosophical lands of Kimo’s Journey. - She’s looking into doing two more comparitive articles: One will pit 12 Kingdoms against Fushigi Yuugi while the other will compare Otogizoushi and Kaidoh Maru. - Lastly, she’s starting up a couple of articles that will look at the history and evolution of anime and the most influential people of anime. Katana's works in progress: - Since her quiz is up all that’s left is the article part which may contain a spoiler warning so that people can’t know what questions lead to a certain answer because according to Katana “that’s no fun.”.The quiz will help fans come up with ideas for what they should try on their anime sites and the article will take those things and elaborate on them, discussing issues such as difficulty, amount of HTML skills needed, time, and, obviously, the ever hated question of: Bandwith. - And since she recently got into Furba, there might be a Fruits Basket article in her future. SunfallE’s works in progress: - If you liked her collaboration with her friend, Mariskah, then you’ll be happy to know that they are working on a second wallpaper themed article. They expect to finish this up during this week. - Her article detailing the sword techniques used in theRurouni Kenshin series is nearly finished and will be up once she gets some other projects out of the way. Bellpickle's works in progress: - Her article on L from Death Note is still coming and with the buzz surrounding the upcoming movie it's eagerly awaited. She’s hoping to start it sometime in the next few weeks. Ada Pallas's works in progress: - A couple of articles called “The Father Complex” are currently being written and will draw references from many popular anime. The first article is almost done and should be up after she’s done with a couple of other school related projects. - A review/analysis of the manga Ghost Hunt is still in production. Sangome Wilder’s works in progress: - Sangome submitted a spur of the moment Top Ten list recently. It’ll be intersting to see what she put into it. Hopefully it’ll be posted in the next few days. - She’s got a Fullmetal Alchemist article that will focus on the differences between the anime series and the manga. Some things she hopes to look at are characters exclusive to the manga or anime, and the different roles characters play between the two mediums, among other things. If things go right, this should be up this week. - Also be on the lookout for a sequels to “You Know You’ve Played to Many Games When . . . and another of her articles, “You Know You’ve Watched to Much Anime When . . . Snow Fox's works in progress: - Miso Soup for the Otaku Soul, Vol. 2. It'll follow the same format of the first one, but this one will essentially be a nostalgia-inducer for the veteran anime-viewer, and a basic guide for those who haven't yet decided whether or not they like anime. - Several (approximately 4) articles about Paranoia Agent are in the (very slow) works. Currently, they're all in various stages of pre-development. She is waiting for a break from school to review the anime. And as for our two new members, ryu6fw and otakualchemist, well they didn’t have much to say. Hopefully by next week they will have something for us to report. Collaborations in progress: - Bellpickle and Katana are also looking into doing an ACEN 2006 report. - Bellpickle has also submitted a great article idea that will something like a transcript between SOAP members as they discuss current hot topics in the anime world. It sounds like a wonderful way to find out more about our members. Emails have already been circulating between SOAP members about how this is going to go down. - And since SOAP is all about articles, SOAPmembers are looking into an article that explains how they come up and produce their articles. - Shinkiro’s also thrown out a couple more collab ideas but we’ll wait to report on those once we have something a bit more solid. Now you are free, go out and have fruit, no waitl, I mean fun!!!!

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Friday, April 21, 2006

This week has been full of updates! Let's see what's been going on. First, Sangome Wilder takes a look at The Differences Between the Hagane Anime and Manga. In it, she takes key topics (mainly characters), and describes just how vastly different they are in the anime and manga. It's an interesting read, and any FMA fan owes it to themselves to read it - but beware of spoilers! Next, ryu6fw comes out with his second article, Anime: Mission Inspirational. No, it's not the title of a new religious book - instead, he takes three popular series (Fullmetal Alchemist, Rurouni Kenshin, and Kingdom Hearts) and describes some powerful lessons and teachings that come from them. Although very thoughtful, it also comes with some heavy spoiler warnings for fans of FMA. Finally, the first part of Katana's quiz-'n-article project has been posted. What Type of Anime Site Could You Run? takes apart the guesswork of website building for fans. The article to come will expand upon the results from the quiz, explaining aspects such as time, HTML skills, and, of course, bandwidth. She also notes that there isn't a forum result. Hmm.

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Sunday, April 16, 2006

This past week has been an exciting one for SOAP. Articles posted this past week include our second collab, The Top Ten Signs That An Otaku is Going Insane 2, Shinkiro’s analysis of the 12 differences between the Howl's Moving Castle novel and anime, and Katana’s If It Were Anime. Also this week we welcome otakualchemist and ryu6fw to the club. And as Katana pointed out, this is no longer an all girls club thanks to addition of ryu6fw. Please girls, no hazing. The updates for these two will start next week. Now, on to the future! Sangome Wilder’s works in progress: - Sangome submitted a spur of the moment Top Ten list recently. It’ll be intersting to see what she put into it. Hopefully it’ll be posted in the next few days. - She’s got a Fullmetal Alchemist article that will focus on the differences between the anime series and the manga. Some things she hopes to look at are characters exclusive to the manga or anime, and the different roles characters play between the two mediums, among other things. If things go right, this should be up this week. - Also be on the lookout for a sequels to “You Know You’ve Played to Many Games When . . . and another of her articles, “You Know You’ve Watched to Much Anime When . . . Katana's works in progress: - Her article-‘n-quiz project is on a role. She’s got part one finished and only needs to code the last question. The quiz will help fans come up with ideas for what they should try on their anime sites and the article will take those things and elaborate on them, discussing issues such as difficulty, amount of HTML skills needed, time, and, obviously, the ever hated question of: Bandwith. - And yet another member is showing interest in FMA! Katana is considering doing a small article that explains the ranks in the hit show/manga. Katana notes that this may be on hiatus. And everyone else, you ask? Well, we’re all plugging along but there’s nothing really new to report. Here’s a reminder on our projects. SunfallE’s works in progress: - If you liked her collaboration with her friend, Mariskah, then you’ll be happy to know that they are working on a second wallpaper themed article. They expect to finish this up during this week. - Her article detailing the sword techniques used in theRurouni Kenshin series is requiring more research than first expected, but it is still in steady progress. *- SunfallE has reviews for Ronin Warriors and Zenk in the works along with a review/article on the manga Eerie Queerie that is still in the planning stages. Note: Apparently reviews are not being accepted right now, so once the option is back up and running, SunfallE will revisit these once she can submit. (We might start taking bets on when submissions will be turned back on) Shinkiro's works in progress: -Her Kimi wa Petto article is still in the pre-production stages but she expects to start on it very soon. Bellpickle's works in progress: - Her article on L from Death Note is still coming and with the buzz surrounding the upcoming movie it's eagerly awaited. She’s hoping to start it sometime in the next week. Ada Pallas's works in progress: - A couple of articles called “The Father Complex” are currently being written and will draw references from many popular anime. The first article is almost done and should be up in the next couple of weeks. - A review/analysis of the manga Ghost Hunt is still in production and since she just got the 4th volume she’s bound and determined to get this article going. Snow Fox's works in progress: - Miso Soup for the Otaku Soul, Vol. 2. It'll follow the same format of the first one, but this one will essentially be a nostalgia-inducer for the veteran anime-viewer, and a basic guide for those who haven't yet decided whether or not they like anime. - Several (approximately 4) articles about Paranoia Agent are in the (very slow) works. Currently, they're all in various stages of pre-development. She is waiting for a break from school to review the anime. Collaborations in progress: - "Formula 4" seems to have hit a snafu. Shinkiro has reported that she has had some trouble applying the formula archtypes to the animes she was looking at. So this will either need to be reworked a bit or this may bcome an article that looks at whether or not there is an exact formula - Bellpickle and Katana are also looking into doing an ACEN 2006 report. Hmm, since Ada Pallas is going too, maybe she’ll add somehting to this. - Bellpickle has also submitted a great article idea that will something like a transcript between SOAP members as they discuss current hot topics in the anime world. It sounds like a wonderful way to find out more about our members. Emails have already been circulating between SOAP members about how this is going to go down. - And since SOAP is all about articles, Shinkiro, Bellpickle, and Ada Pallas are looking into an article that explains how they come up and produce their articles. And that is what to expect in the shinning future of our youthful endevouvers! *cough*

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Saturday, April 15, 2006

And yet another update this week. Firstly, Katana has a new article up called If It Were Anime. A while back Katana posted a series of summaries on her website that took classical stories and turned them into animes. Now she's taken three of those summaries and posted them as an article. In this article she takes apart Romeo and Juliet, Oliver Twist, and And Then There Was One (by Agatha Christie). Its a fun read and highly creative. Secondly, Let's all welcome the newest members to the club; ryu6fw and otakualchemist. Otakualchemist has two new articles up as well and are the third and fourth insallments on her Kingdom Hearts series.

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Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Yeah for the wonderful thing that is SOAP. Our second collab is up and gets its inspiration from The Mask's article, Top Ten Signs That An Otaku Is Going Insane and features SunfallE, Ada Pallas, Katana, and Sangome Wilder. Click here for the SOAP version. ^^

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Monday, April 10, 2006

Shinkiro's analysis of the 12 differences between the Howl's Moving Castle novel and anime is up. It's a very interesting read for those who liked the anime. Warning: It contains a few spoilers.

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Sunday, April 9, 2006

This week will be our first with new member, Sangome Wilder. And what better way to celebrate the new friendship then a humerous article. Sangome Wilder’s You Know You’ve Played to Many Games When . . . is a great read for both gammers and non-gammers. The next few weeks also looks fruitful, and we’ll start off with our newest member: Sangome Wilder’s works in progress: - She’s working on a Fullmetal Alchemist article that will focus on the differences between the anime series and the manga. Some things she hopes to look at are characters exclusive to the manga or anime, and the different roles characters play between the two mediums, among other things. - Also be on the lookout for a sequels to “You Know You’ve Played to Many Games When . . . and another of her articles, “You Know You’ve Watched to Much Anime When . . . Katana's works in progress: - Progress has been made on her article-‘n-quiz project. She’s already created the test for the results and is working her way backwards towards completion. The quiz will help fans come up with ideas for what they should try on their anime sites and the article will take those things and elaborate on them, discussing issues such as difficulty, amount of HTML skills needed, time, and, obviously, the ever hated question of: Bandwith. - And yet another member is showing interest in FMA! Katana is considering doing a small article that explains the ranks in the hit show/manga. And just for the amusement of all those out there that read this here’s what Katana wrote Ada Pallas when she sent her progress report, “It's 10:43 pm here, and I remembered about two minutes ago that I had to submit my SOAP updates. So I bolted from my room, down the hallway, through the family room and kitchen, down the stairs, and am now in the basement.” It still makes Ada laugh. SunfallE’s works in progress: - If you liked her collaboration with her friend, Mariskah, then you’ll be happy to know that they are working on a second wallpaper themed article. They expect to finish this up during this week. - Her article detailing the sword techniques used in theRurouni Kenshin series is requiring more research than first expected, but it is still in steady progress. *- SunfallE has reviews for Ronin Warriors and Zenk in the works along with a review/article on the manga Eerie Queerie that is still in the planning stages. Note: Apparently reviews are not being accepted right now, so once the option is back up and running, SunfallE will revisit these once she can submit. (We might start taking bets on when submissions will be turned back on) The other four members give a resounding “Nothing new to report” but here’s their works in progress to remind you all. Shinkiro's works in progress: - The Howl’s Moving Castle article has actually been split into 2 The first one will be featuring the main differences between the novel and the anime and is currently in post production. The second article, in contrast, looks at the similarities and is in pre-production. -Her Kimi wa Petto article is still in the pre-production stages but she expects to start on it very soon. Bellpickle's works in progress: - Her article on L from Death Note is still coming and with the buzz surrounding the upcoming movie it's eagerly awaited. She’s hoping to start it sometime in the next week. Ada Pallas's works in progress: - A couple of articles called “The Father Complex” are currently being written and will draw references from many popular anime. The first article is almost done and should be up in the next couple of weeks. - A review/analysis of the manga Ghost Hunt is still in production and since she just got the 4th volume she’s bound and determined to get this article going. *- A review/analysis of the anime/manga Bastard! is on hold until she gets all the manga to the series. She should probably try to get the first volume to the anime, too, since that’s the only volume she doesn’t have. Snow Fox's works in progress: - Miso Soup for the Otaku Soul, Vol. 2. It'll follow the same format of the first one, but this one will essentially be a nostalgia-inducer for the veteran anime-viewer, and a basic guide for those who haven't yet decided whether or not they like anime. - Several (approximately 4) articles about Paranoia Agent are in the (very slow) works. Currently, they're all in various stages of pre-development. She is waiting for a break from school to review the anime. Collaborations in progress: - "Formula 4" is finally in the early production stages. For those who haven’t been keeping track, this article will take a look at anime that use the “formula four” blue print and will specifically deal with the four main characters in the anime and the archetypes that they fit in to. So far Ada Pallas, Shinkiro, and SunfallE have reported that they will submit pieces to this article. - The Saiyuki article Shinkiro and Ada Pallas are working on is also finally going in to the early production stages. Right now the girls are trying to work out the direction they want this article to go in. This puppy may separate in more then one article depending on how much of their inner fan girl these two channel. Due to some personal problems and other projects this article is looking like it might take a bit of time. - Bellpickle and Katana are also looking into doing an ACEN 2006 report. - Bellpickle has also submitted a great article idea that will something like a transcript between SOAP members as they discuss current hot topics in the anime world. It sounds like a wonderful way to find out more about our members. So far Ada Pallas, Sangome Wilder, Shinkiro, and SunfallE have signed up for this one. - And since SOAP is all about articles, Shinkiro, Bellpickle, and Ada Pallas are looking into an article that explains how they come up and produce their articles. Until next week…

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