Thanks for bringing that to my attention. It is very nice artwork. I'll have to determine what cost this is in Canadian dollars, and see if it's something I'd be interested in at that price point.

As for the two images you linked - That's a nice pose and an awesome truck.

Thread on Overwatch deleted.

Eri fits Saber really well. Nico fits Rin surprisingly well. Not sure who Nozomi is supposed to be - Sakura? A gender-bent Shiro? Either isn't the best fit for Nozomi really.

On the whole, a very nice pic. Thanks for sharing!

Where is your signature from I want to om nom nom nom it.

Now, as for you and I, our experiences are somewhat different. So what we look for in characters and shows can be somewhat different.

Like yourself, I found Asuka and Rei much more endearing and/or interesting than Shinji. I also tend to prefer more upbeat characters that are able to emotionally express themselves. Because that's what I relate to.

Well, I think there's a couple different things going on here.

One thing that was a bit eye-opening to me was the popularity of WATAMOTE. That was a bit baffling to me at first, because I couldn't relate to the female lead. At all. While I certainly wasn't a "life of the party" guy when I was in high school, I also was nowhere close to this level of socially awkward. It's hard for me to see how WATAMOTE could be as popular as it is unless many viewers could relate at least somewhat to the struggles that the female lead went through.

This suggests to me that a lot of anime fans have probably struggled considerably with social acceptance, and getting along with their age peers (outside of the anime community). I think this could also help explain Shinji's popularity.

I think there are some anime fans who, very unfortunately, really do feel cut off from much of the rest of the world, and who struggle with just basic human interaction with other people outside of their immediate fandom circle. So, for them the world is understandably a hostile and scary place, and this has sadly probably continued on into their adulthood. So the desire for escapist entertainment and the desire to self-insert into a socially active childhood/teenage years that was denied them in reality.


Another thing is an issue in Japan itself, which we've probably talked about before. Adulthood in Japan is probably very tough for most people, given the predominant "Salaryman" lifestyle, the economic stagnation, and a surrounding national culture that probably emphasizes industriousness a bit too much, to the detriment of simply "stopping to smell the roses". I can definitely see how something like K-On would be tremendously refreshing after 10-to-12 hard hours of work. People come home from the drudgery of work, and want to simply melt and escape into something that's as different from it as possible. "Adult male in a boring, demanding job" to "Teenage girls goofing around and eating cake" - That's about as extreme a shift/escape as you can get. And that's the point. They want to absorb something that will make them forget all about their daily work-lives. That becomes harder if the setting is an adult workplace. It perhaps hits too close to home for some anime fans in Japan.

The western world is not without its own cultural/economic issues, but I get the impression our work lives tend to be a bit less demanding, at least when it comes to hours worked.

The shooting in Ottawa was pretty startling, tragic, and disappointing. But Canadians, by and large, are a strong and hardy people (we have to be, to get through our Winters ), so I'm confident we'll pull through again. I guess we'll have to start getting tighter security around certain locations and cities in Canada. Anyway, thanks for the words of support, it's definitely appreciated.

As for what you linked to, it looks great! Thanks for sharing. Now I have a lot of anime to watch today (Shirabako, Yuki Yana, and Psycho-Pass Season 2 episodes all come out today).

A lot of people fail by digging too deep to find depth that doesn't exist, failing to realize that sometimes the gems are on the surface at times.

Some good in-jokes in the image. Hanayo's love or riceballs, popular pairings, Kotori=bird joke... good stuff! Thanks for sharing.

What was your LoL ID again?