Yeah, the firebombing of Tokyo caused a lot more casualties than the atomic bomb, but I'm sure the atomic bomb is more distinctively remembered for its sheer destructive power and the last radiation effects it had on some people long after the war.

As for dealing with war, get over it. You can't affect everything your government does (I sure as hell didn't vote for Bush :P) and you can't change the past. War sucks and people do stupid shit when it happens. It doesn't necessarily reflect you.

I'm surprised the vote was for big swords. Yes, I wanted swords too, but I thought the thread was overwhelmed by boobs. Guess I was pleasantly wrong.

~

Right..... A. Daioh... I'll say this.

OSAKA FOREVER.

Why Osaka ? Cos' she's eccentric. Simple as that.

She's NieA, minus Tomoe.

She's Haruhi, minus Tomoe.

She's Lain..... minus seriousness, minus aBe, minus Goddess, + SATA ANDAGI

~

And why not Tomoe ? Well, I do like, Tomoe, but she's all hyper and no brain. Same goes for Kagura, except that Kagura is all sports and heart but no brain (Tomoe has less heart)

~

Furthermore, if I ever design an eroge, I'd putr a Fujioka Haruhi in it... and an OSAKA.

Plus, Kyo Kusanagi theme is.... ESAKA.

~

So, lastly:

OSAKA FOREVER

People, you DO know that nuclear bombing was only to frighten Russia, right ? Japan had already said they were going to surrender when the A-bombs were dropped.
And you also know that the "normal" bombing of Tokyo made more casualties than the A-bombing, right ?

On a completely different matter, that Nicholson baker wrote an erotic novel "The Fermata". It's good enough to make a hentai game.

I'd hit it. Us Europeans haven't had a SRW yet.

Amen to that Pathogen!

correction: the /concept/ looks pretty bad.

Uhhhhh....I've never been a HUGE SRW fan (yeah, I know that may be hard to believe if you know me), but this just looks pretty bad....period.

(I'm more of the "Realistic" robot genre rather "Super". I still like a handful of Super robot shows though, but it's just not usually my cup of tea)

@Aoi: wow....they were laughing at Millenium Actress's bombing scene? that's not even funny. Now Grave of the Fireflies bombing scene put to "Burn Baby Burn, Disco Inferno" as in AMV Hell, now that was funny!

(I have a warped sense of humor and I know it, sorry if I offend anyone with it)

KOS-MOS is a fun sight, but I think her presence alone halves the chance of Atlus bringing this game over.

CHIYO CHAAAAAAAN...

I love Chiyo chan more than anything.

The anime part was just horrible, but the combos are sexy.

Sakaki FTW.

Kagura would be like "ja neee !" *swims effortlessly to the closest continent*

well compared to gundam, dbz, sailor moon, yu yu hakusho and the like they are obscure.

We shoot spammers at the door, Nettle, never fear.

I saw Barefoot Gen as a young teen and concluded that we were a bunch of murdering bastards and I should feel terrible to be an American.

That idea has metamorphosed quite a bit since then, most of which Heero and pete have put quite admirably. Still pissed me off when we watched [i]Millennium Actress]/i] with my family and some of my relatives made "Ha ha!" remarks when civilians were fleeing the bombs. Yes, that's right! Pearl Harbor and Manchuria were invaded by the people who own a candy store! Oy.

@Pete: Well spoken!

Shit! I mean latter!!! I am so tired (finals).

Hold the gun, sorry. I did a search on the rest of your posts and you're not just a spammer. But my former question remains.

Wait... who are you and how does this explicitly relate to Japanese pop culture, anime and manga. Did I miss something?

Wow, I'm from Rochester too. Small world, huh?
You have to remember the historical context of the Nuremberg Trials. It was after a devastating war, countless deaths on all sides, the scope of the holocaust was just becoming known... People were calling for vengeance, I'd like to think rightfully so, considering all that went on in WWII. In addition, the people back then didn't have the same level of insight into social human psychology that we possess now. Even for Nazi soldiers, the conclusions of the Nuremberg Trials in regards to war guilt are still being questioned. Just because the Nuremberg Trials made conclusions, doesn't mean they made accurate conclusions. That's more a matter of personal preference and interpretation.

Additionally, at least from my observations, most wartime rulers think strictly on the margin. This is especially evident in WWII. The decision to drop the bombs was based on the simple conclusion from a marginal decision, disregarding the US's belligerence, disregarding the impact of the bomb in the future, but REGARDING the immediate lives saved by the action, even if, in the long run, more lives are lost to nuclear war. The decisions in war are not made by vote, but by leaders. On the flip side, most cases of progress and cases of extraordinary feats of human dignity are assigned to those extraordinary people who spearheaded the efforts. If an ignorant citizenry can be held accountable for the failures of their leaders, it can also be held accountable for the successes of their leaders. Though, in the end, you could become an activist of some kind. At least that way you can claim to have resisted the actions of the government you do not agree with.

The problem with people that write books like these is they've never been on the 'being-shot-at' side of things. We weren't around during WW2, so we don't have a CLUE as to how scary it was living in constant paranoia of a Nazi invasion. WW2 was the last war that a foreign army actually DID set foot on American soil (Japan invaded the Aleutian Islands of Alaska), and in terms of the pacific war, it really was a battle we weren't so sure of a victory, especially since at one point we only had ONE working air craft carrier as the entire active Pacific Fleet while reinforcements from California were thousands of miles away. Plus Japan back then was nowhere near the friendly nation it is today. I'm sure I don't need to remind people about how much more important to the everyday citizen over there about fighting to the death for their country was to them than it was to us. But, just like today with terrorists, if you beat them so far into the ground with an attack so rediculously overwhelming, even the most hardened people will give up.

As for the whole Roosevelt taunting thing, the sending weapons to China was a result of Japan ALREADY invading Manchuria with purely imperialistic intent. He did NOT make the first punch. As for the attack on Pearl Harbor itself, you do realize that both sides had been working together on a possible peace treaty up until the very day of the attack; and 3 hours too late their ambassador from their embassy in DC delivers the ultimatum asking for the US's surrender or else they would attack Pearl Harbor. Now if that isn't a backstabbing then I don't know what is.

So before you go saying that we're being "as bad as them", just remember we weren't the ones picking the fights, and in the case of 'butting into other people's affairs' think of it this way, giving gifts to friends is a nice thing to do right? Well you can look at helping free other countries from corrupt autocracies as basically the same thing on a country level.


And to put that in anime terms for the rest of you:

Think of Shirou Emiya from Fate/Stay Night in the Unlimited Blade Works route, He spent his entire life dedicated to his ideal of saving as many people he could, only to die by some of the very same people he saved and ultimately not achieving anything leaving a very bitter taste in his afterlife as Archer. Quote, "When you fight for an ideal, all you can save is an ideal, but when you fight for yourself, you can save anything you selfishly want." I'm not going expect many of you to understand the meaning they were going for of fighting for others for yourself, but try reading it sometime - it may give you a new perspective on things.

There's so many more things I'd like to say or point out, but I'll stop for now with this.