Due to plain laziness to run the data, I only ran it during this month and it’s amusing that it is already three months since our last post like this. As usual, we have the battle royale for July, showing you the authors who are doing well, and those lazy punks that need to work harder (j/k). For all authors of THAT Anime Blog, this is all for laughter and self-depreciation. I hope no one will get offended. ^^

Of course, all results are average/means.

Author who has too much time - Impz with 20 posts
Author who forgot about THAT - Lupus with 1 post
Author who is TL;Dr - Crusader with 3516 words per post
Author who cannot fill the space - Extrange with 828 words per post
Author who is loved by readers - Calawain with 25.5 comments
Author who is loved by lurkers - Reverse Vampire with 4 comments
Author who yaks along with chatty readers - Calawain with 6503 words in comments
Author who gets “Thank you for blogging” comments - Reverse Vampire with 223 words in comments
Author with most blogosphere e-penor - Calawain with 6 trackbacks
Author with least blogosphere e-penor - Tie between Extrange, Reverse Vampire and Shokkeru with 0 trackbacks

Support your favorite blogger of THAT, and let him/her crush the other bloggers to smithereens next time! Honestly though, what is Crusader and Calawain freaking doing in those Code Geass entries? Having freaking novel and encyclopedia discussions? They yakked too much!

On site news, we will be ushering in three bloggers who have recently applied to the team. They will be revealed soon when we confirm their entrance to our blog. With these new writers entering the fray, we are not accepting any more applications to our blog until there is an opening available. We also revamped the “About us” page because the old one is just so damn boring that no one will bother to even read them ever. Now, we made it much more interesting that fits the character of the blog, so visit the new page and tell us what you think about it.

Honestly, there couldn’t be a more perfect time for it. Spring is here and Shinigami-sama is busy hauling away all manner of dead things, while fresh ideas and innovation are rolling around the brains of bloggers and readers alike. With no further ado, here’s a preview of the theme along with a couple of pics to stir up a bit of excitement and maybe create some new ideas.

NOTE: I’m writing this both for the bloggers AND the readers. Everything may not apply to you, but it applies to THAT, so I guess in the end, it still matters. What I want to ask you, the reader, as you dive into this new theme is: what do you want out of THAT? What features do you always wish we would get, and which ones do you never even bother with?

I’m going to try to be super concise with all this.

The Basics

• I know it says 2.0 right now. Corrections will guarantee you a nice big *MEGA-ANRGY DRILL!!* to the face.
• The goal: Keep a similar layout to the current THAT theme in order to decrease confusion for…well, everyone. General housekeeping (getting rid of things we no longer want/need), implementation of new features, and going for a more “2008/Web 2.0″ look while still maintaining legibility and remembering that we are, at the heart, a text-driven website.
• After some descusion, we decided to stick with a lighter theme (*cough* Calawain). If I can get a proper theme switcher going without to much trouble, you may see some darker options available in the future.
• POSTS ARE WIDER. While the bulky side bar has been slimed down a bit. The site’s total width remains unchanged. (for bloggers, new post width is 690px)

The Footer

• More distinguished footer.
• Footer now contains all “meta” data (Login, RSS Feeds, etc). This frees up space on the sidebar, and we figure you’re all smart enough to keep up with it. I’ll more than likely add an additional Login link near the top of the page for convenience.

Between Posts

• Just gives you an idea of the space between posts, as well as a better look at the sidebar.
• Fonts are along the same lines as those currently used in THAT (web standard default fonts that should be viewable on any computer).

Single Post

• NOTE: the post content moves up, while the post title, info, and etc move into the sidebar.
• Along with the generic post info, all your RSS options, pings, trackbacks, andetc are also right there with the post title.
• Another added feature is the option to view all post by the current author (aside from the usual implemented option on the normal sidebar).

Comments and Post Navigation

• There are commenting/trackback/rss options at the bottom of the post.
• “Browse Timeline” lets you navigate to the next and previous posts, as indicated by the arrows.
• Comments are effective, but nothing too crazy.

Entries Archive

• Just a quick glimpse of what it looks like when you click to read all entries by a certain author.

I just woke up, and I’ve got a whole days worth of continued work with this theme ahead of me, so my apologies if this doesn’t come across as the most amazing post ever. Just wanted to throw it out there a see what kind of feedback I can get before the theme goes live. When the theme does go live, there will be some site downtime, and as with new technological upgrade, there are bound to be bugs and etc that need to be worked out for a week or two. I’m counting on you guys for help/support.

So post away…rip it apart, praise it, scoff at it, love it, whatever…just comment. You can view a demo of the live version at residualmadness.com!

I’m off to go take a walk before I parasitically attach myself to my computer again. (btw…there may not be a ONE-Shot War this week…I know, I know…don’t cry too hard.)

Welcome to the wall of text. Ugh. Hopefully I’ll have my banners down nice and neat by the time April rolls around. Anywho, on to business…

The second on my list of (two) features I have planned for THAT, is the ONE-Shot War. I originally had this planned to be a somewhat different feature, but the original just came across as too boring or typical to satisfy my eccentric tastes. So I poured a bit of toxic goo on my idea, and the ONE-Shot war was born.

NOTE: The 1SW (for short) is intended to be a looooong post. Why? Because this is something I only plan on doing once a month. See this as the one time a month that I’ll climb down off my high-horse of sarcasm and attempt something semi-serious.

Origins

Back when I was focused on my new Spring 2008 geared blog, I was trying to develop some unique and interesting concepts to use. I mean, everyone does episode summaries and screen shot posts, etc. Sure I was bound to do that too, but I wanted to be different. So a concept popped into my head one day called “Would I Have Watched it Today?”. The premise here was to go back and re-watch the first episode from an older anime from the perspective that it had just come out or was going to come out with the new season. After watching it, I’d rate/judge it with today’s standards and see if it could still hold it’s own against the newer animes that have come out since it’s time.

That’s the concept that I poured toxic goo all over. From that, I decided it’d be more fun if I set things up from a different perspective. Instead of just reviewing the anime, why not do things as if there were TWO similar animes and I was having to choose which one of them I was going to blog/watch during the “upcoming season”. In my opinion, this makes it less of a boring review, and more of a battle to see which anime is going to grab my attention and time based solely upon the first episode. A battle of first impressions, if you will.

How does it work?

The 1SW is composed of 5 parts: Inspiration, Style, Sound, Intrigue, and The Showdown. Inspiration is a quick description of what inspired this month’s battle and why I picked the shows I did. Style, Sound, and Intrigue are rated sections in which each show scores points on three different components that make up each category. The Showdown is the final battle where the points gained from the other sections are tallied along with my personal rating to determine who wins the 1SW.

The rated categories

All rated categories are based on a 10 point scale, with 10 being the highest and 1 the lowest. If more than one thing goes into each component (ie: OP & ED), each item is given an individual score, added to the others, and divided by the number of items (ie: OP score = 5, ED score = 7, then (5+7)/2 = 6 final score).

Category 1: Style (Visual)

The components for the style category are:

• Character Design & Expression (CDE) – The overall appeal of the anime’s characters, and the quality of facial expressions/animation.
• Color and Attention to Detail (CAD) – Are the colors visually appealing, are there a variety of colors used, does the anime show lots of details or the minimum, etc.
• Quality of Animation (QoA) – How much effort went into the actual animation outside of just the artwork.

Category 2: Sound (Audio)

The components for the sound category are:

• OP/ED – How good are the opening and ending themes, am I still singing them? Did they match up to the animation well?
• Voices (VOX) – Appeal of the character/voice combinations.
• SFX/BGM – Sound effects and background music.

Category 3: Intrigue (Story/Plot)

The components for the intrigue category are:

• Memorable Characters (MC) – How many characters did I get attached to within the first episode? How many characters am I interested in seeing more of?
• Setting (SET) – How enjoyable the world that the characters and plot dwell in is.
• Plot (PLT) – Is this story going anywhere? Do I even care after one episode?

Conclusion and Opinions

If you made it through the wall of text, I applaud you. If you didn’t and you just skipped down here so I’d STFU, well…your opinion is wanted as well. The ONE-Shot War is a lot of work and it’s bound to be a big post. It’s an idea I’ve concocted that I’d love to do once a month, just as something different. At the same time, if you, the readers, the people I’m here for, don’t give a rat’s ass about it, I’d rather focus my efforts and attention elsewhere.

This month, I’ve planned a “ONE-Shot War: Fullmetal Alchemist vs. Shakugan no Shana” post, but here’s my question: Do you want to see it?

Since April just won’t come fast enough, I’ve decided to start my own feature or two here so that I have something to blog until the new season rolls around. I also figured that I’d need something to fill the gaps in April while I wait for all the shows I’m interested in to come out. With that in mind, I’ve created the “Friday Ramble”.

The basic premise of the FR (as I’ll be referring to it out of laziness) is pretty straightforward. While browsing around the site, I noticed that there are some shows I watch (some of them quite popular) that were either never blogged, or have been dropped by their previous authors. Now, I don’t intend to pick these up and blog them seriously, but it wouldn’t hurt to drop a quick summary/opinion and a couple of screens for them would it? I didn’t think so.

So, in short, the FR is a bulk blog on a few ongoing series, and maybe a few series that I missed but have been checking out recently. Quick, to the point, but just enough to show you that I (kinda) care. This week, read on for: BLEACH, NARUTO, ROSARIO + VAMPIRE, and D.GRAY-MAN!

Bleach 164: Grimmjow Pees a Little

Obligatory Summary: Renji and Mr. Quincy continue their battle against Szayel. Renji goes all kamikaze to keep him distracted while Ishida does some crazy pentagram Quincy nonsense, suprising Szayel and causing him immense amounts of damage. Like usual, the heroes get cocky thinking they’ve won, but when the smoke clears, Szayel is still alive. Szayel then proceeds to chow down on one of his subordinates like he’s a good Subway sandwich, but instead of losing ten pounds, his wounds fully recover from all damage sustained up until this point. If I were him, I know there’d be a cocky “What now, bitch!?” running through my head. After he’s had his fill and recombed his hair, Szayel tells Renji and Ishida that he’s going to go change his clothes because it’d be embarrassing to fight in his torn up attire.

Meanwhile, Grimmjow brings Inoue to where Ulquiorra left Ichigo either dead or pretty damn close to it. Nel crawls out of the rubble of the fight and starts whining. Grimmjow hears my plea and tells Nel to STFU or he’ll blow her into tiny kibbles ‘n’ bits. Inoue has been direct by Grimmjow to use her powers to heal Ichigo because he wants him at 100% so he can kick Ichigo’s ass, and that he wants it done before Ulquiorra finds out what’s up. Right as he utters the words, Arrancar numero 4 shows up and Grimmjow shits his pants.

Afterthoughts: The animation this episode was great (see pic #5 above), and the battle between Renshida and Szayel was pretty intense. Inoue and Ichigo meet face to face again finally, and next week looks like it’ll start the showdown between Ichigo and Grimmjow. I’m loving this arc, but word is they’ll be going into a filler arc sometime next month. Anyone else think Inoue in the whole “I’m a captive” getup (see pic #3 above) is hawt? 4/5

Naruto Shippuuden 50: More of the usual

Episode Overview: Run run run run run run run. Everyone gets tired and takes a nap. Sai draws pictures in his book, homoeroticism is all over the place. Snake-man shows up to stop Sai from hitting on Naruto. Naruto gets mad and tells Sai to go find Sasuke while he “distracts” Snake-man. Lengthy flashback #1. Tree-guy and Sakura arrive to help Naruto distract the Snake-man. Intent on the destruction of emotionless clowns, Snake-man runs off after Sai. Sai finds Sasuke sleeping…oh yes, you know what happens next. Shake well and pour on top of lots of staring.

So here’s a list of things I didn’t see coming this week:

• Running…since when do characters in Naruto run? And for that long?
• Naruto struggling to stand after he trips. I’m mean, I know he probably can’t read or spell, but he should at least be able to pick himself up off the ground without help.
• Sakura saying something involving the words “But” and “Sasuke”. ie: “But I wish Sasuke was my lover! we have to find Sasuke right away!”
• Sai deciding that even though they were desperately trying to find Sasuke before Orochimaru appears, now would be a good time to get out his coloring book. Stay in the lines Sai! You wouldn’t want to disappoint the 0 people who love you!
• Naruto to use two new attacks: Shadow Clones and Rasengan…oh wait…

This wasn’t the worst Naruto episode I’ve ever seen by far, but let’s face it, it’s still Naruto. Why do I watch it? I love making fun of it…and when they do have an actual battle going, it’s pretty entertaining. 2/5

Rosario + Vampire 09 & 10: It finally gets pretty badass

I was looking around to see if some of these shows already had bloggers, and I noticed that Calawain was blogging R+V, but dropped it around episode 4. I can’t blame him for that, the only thing that kept me from dropping it was the fact that I couldn’t get enough of “Moka-san…Tsukune…Moka-san…Tsukune…Moka-san…Tsukune…Kappachu!” So I’ve sat it out through the formulaic episodes hoping that maybe, just maybe, the show will go somewhere. Enter episode 9…

If you dropped this show, or don’t know whether or not watch it…at least go watch episodes 9 and 10. Holy crap they were badass. The group takes a summer trip to the human world and encounters a crazy witch. Amongst the beach scenes and camping scenes, there’s a TON of action, everyone gets their moment to shine, and Moka doesn’t just 1-shot everything with a kick. The production value is insane, and…seriously, I was NOT expecting anything remotely on this level from this anime. 5/5

GO WATCH NOW! Warning: if you don’t appreciate made crazy action sequences or panty-shots, don’t waste your time.

D.Gray-Man 74: Lenalee is tasty

I’ll admit, there was a point in time where I dropped D.Gray-man…episode 25. How’d I make it this far? A combination of episode summaries and IRC downloads. I skipped episodes 26-51, reading the episode summaries from various sites so I wouldn’t be totally lost, then picked the show back up at episode 52, where the real action started to kick in. 52+ is like watching a whole new anime. Everyone powers up, the plot actually gets pretty serious, and people start dying left and right.

Right now, there’s a massive showdown going on between The Earl/Noah and the remaining exorcists in Edo (Tokyo). Allen has achieved 100% compatibility with his Innocence and finally arrived in Edo to throw down against the Earl. At long last, we get to see Allen actually do something in his Crowned Clown King form, and we no longer have to worry about Lavi trying to mack on Allen’s woman. Hah! 4/5

Wow, it’s amazing how long first posts take. Especially something like this where there are so many different ways to do things and so many different ideas to sort through. I know this post is long, but it’s made with the idea that you’ll only read the segments you’re interested in. If you read it all, that’s your fault.

Please, give any feedback you can. What you liked/didn’t like, which image style you liked best, etc. The Friday Ramble is an ongoing experiment, so expect constant change…it’s my way of working out new ideas for the regular posts I’ll be doing come Spring.