evilpii

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    • February 11, 2014 at 1:36 AM
    • in reply to: Bugs
    evilpii
    Participant
    none

    Nil Admirari wrote:

    (Simpleviewer Firefox issues) Seems to be working at last in Firefox, albeit with slightly different behavior than its Chrome counterpart. Let us know if you’re still seeing the X errors.

    I am still seeing “X” where the images should be in Simpleviewer with Firefox under both Windows 7 and Ubuntu 13. I have used CTRL+F5 to force a reload, but this does not seem to help.

    evilpii
    Participant
    none
    As the title implies, this chapter centers on the final confrontation between the Masaki household and Garyu.

    The battle itself is not too dissimilar from the confrontation between Tenchi and Kagato in OVA series 1 episode 6. Dark Tenchi is unbeatable by anyone else in the Masaki clan, and each falls before him in a very short amount of time, effortlessly, pathetically in many cases. This is not too surprising as Tenchi has been shown on numerous occasions to be ridiculously overpowered. Much like Superman, having him brainwashed or manipulated proves disasterous for the group as there is no contingency or defense against such might. Likewise, his compatriots are conflicted in facing him, needing to stop him but not wanting to harm him. Ryoko seems the only one willing to stand and face him on more deadly terms, perhaps due to her own mind-control experience with Kagato. This could be a point of comparison as Tenchi recovers both physically and mentally from his ordeal.

    However, how Tenchi broke free from Garyu’s thrall was a bit sudden. There is something said about him having a vision race through his mind, though having already demolished Ryoko, nearly terminating Tennyo, and shattering Ayeka in a cold, singleminded path toward Kagabe’s gem, his redemption seems disconnected. We have him briefly “short out” when confronted with Ayeka, but he is not seen to have much overt or inferred resistance to Garyu. He does mention post facto that he wanted and tried to stop. Perhaps, some other signs of hesitation or resistance could be shown, mirroring Ayeka’s situation in her mind control story arc.

    Ryoko’s rise was glorious, very reminiscent of Tenchi’s own ascension when facing Kagato, except that she did not just react so much as willingly act. This was a nice change, having her aware of her new, or restored, abilities and choosing to use them. There was something stated in the stage directions about her power being something new and distinct from the powers of the goddesses and the Light Hawk Wings. While explaining what this means or implies is not pertanent in the middle of combat, this might be substantiated in a later expository chapter.

    Garyu himself slipped into a bit of a villain cliche, just pleasantly standing back while Dark Tenchi did his work. His reactions were not too surprising and started to seem just a plot device by this point, motivating the dementedness of Tenchi’s face-heel turn. Again, much like Kagato, when Ryoko ascended, Garyu was not long for this world. However, much like Ryoko’s newly acquired power, he calls upon Kain when he completes Kagabe. The name-drop itself is interesting, and one wonders what this might entail in future installments.

    As a footnote, Noike’s death seemed a bit tacked on as well. Much like Tasha Yar in Star Trek, she was slapped aside by Dark Tenchi and just died. She had no final words or any memorable finale to her existence. In a word, she just “ended”. Perhaps she could have some more meaningful legacy as Tenchi reflects on his deeds under Garyu’s thumb, or as Mihoshi copes with the loss of her partner.

    evilpii
    Participant
    none
    At first, this chapter would seem to be the throwdown between Tenchi and Garyu, the latter having easily dismantled nearly every other character. However, this is subverted by having Garyu offer the seemingly noble gesture of changing location. Then, the chapter takes an unexpectedly different tone, mirroring TMiL2‘s concept and atmosphere.

    The benefit of this bait-and-switch is that Washu and Garyu have some time for exposition. Washu finally reveals the secrets of Kagabe while Garyu shows Tenchi his ruined world, as well as a more surprising demonstration of his power. The secret of Kagabe and the use of the Helban from Okuda’s NNFT is original and played to nice effect. Garyu’s motives differ from his manga counterpart’s, wanting to resurrect his world rather than die with it, though his methods have not, exchanging Tenchi for Ayeka in the mindwarp scheme. Realistically, given Garyu’s drive in the manga, this seems a more appropriate use of him to revitalize his planet, rather than yield himself to its death. Also, the plans for the Counteractor’s energy through Kagabe opens some new possibilities considering its ability to negate Light Hawk Wings.

    As mentioned above, this chapter mimics the concept for TMiL2, splitting the household to search for Tenchi. After six months, Ryoko and Ayeka leave in Ryo-Ohki, Sasami spends time on Jurai, Washu monitors transdimensional conduits, Noike and Mihoshi seek the aid and resource of the Galaxy Police. This garners some cameos from GXP, which are thankfully nonintrusive. However, while the parallel is apparent, the deep feelings of desperation seen in TMiL2 are not quite achieved here. Ryoko and Ayeka are not shown seeking and failing time and again, pushing them to rely on one another to resist succumbing to hopelessness. Arguably, this might be a missed opportunity to show that side of them, to break them to rebuild them stronger. In this way, this chapter suffers from the same staccato gaps as Chapter 5, though not as severely.

    Yet, the confrontation with “Dark Tenchi” in the chapter’s climax does grab the reader’s attention. The complete “face-heel turn” is not unexpected given Garyu’s original incarnation, but is played to nice effect by having him physically threaten one of his wives, as well as committing other atrocities. As this evil streak will likely not be permanent, how Tenchi handles what he was forced to do could be an interesting character study. It could also serve to develop Ryoko since, as the author noted through her, she was dominated and manipulated by Kagato. Those shared experiences could be explored quite easily from this event.

    • January 31, 2014 at 6:07 PM
    • in reply to: Bugs
    evilpii
    Participant
    none

    Crazed wrote:

    In order to fix the issue with the header press Ctrl + F5 on your keyboard.

    Thanks, Crazed. ^^v That removes the old banner in favor of a solid blue bar, which I assume is the correct rendering.

    http://i1345.photobucket.com/albums/p661/evilpii/Forum/Screenshotfrom2014-01-31113052_zpse1106330.png" />

    However, in testing the manga and novels in the Simple Reader, I noticed that the images seem broken.

    http://i1345.photobucket.com/albums/p661/evilpii/Forum/Screenshotfrom2014-01-31114255_zpsf0ee19bc.png" />

    I also tried this page on my gaming rig, and the same result happened in Firefox, but Internet Explorer rendered the manga correctly.

    http://i1345.photobucket.com/albums/p661/evilpii/Forum/tenchiforum_zps339f63bf.png" />

    Anyone have an idea what is wrong here?

    Technicals for gaming rig:

  • OS: Windows 7

  • Browsers: Firefox 26.0 and Internet Explorer 11.0.2

  • Resolution: 1842×1036

  • Script blocker: NoScript 2.6.8.13

  • Whitelisted domains: tenchiforum.com, googleapis.com, google.com

  • Blacklisted domains: voicecommandcenter.com, jwpcdn.com

    • *ADDENDUM: Simple Reader works fine with Safari.

    http://i1345.photobucket.com/albums/p661/evilpii/Forum/macosx_zps7123ea94.jpg" />

    Technicals for laptop:

  • OS: Mac OS 10.6.8

  • Browser: Safari 5.1.10

  • Resolution: 1280×800

  • January 31, 2014 at 2:26 PM
  • in reply to: Bugs
evilpii
Participant
none
Thanks for the update to the site, guys. The site looks great. ^^V I do not have time at the moment to peruse the entirety of the site, but I did notice something amiss.

http://i1345.photobucket.com/albums/p661/evilpii/Forum/Screenshotfrom2014-01-31080440_zpsa99e6f5a.png" />

Some of the header images for the forum itself do not seem aligned correctly when I view the forum in a large window. Technical details are below.

  • OS: Ubuntu 13.10

  • Browser: Firefox 25.0

  • Resolution: 1280×1024

  • Script blocker: NoScript 2.6.8.13

  • Whitelisted domains: tenchiforum.com, googleapis.com, google.com

  • Blacklisted domains: voicecommandcenter.com, jwpcdn.com

    • evilpii
    Participant
    none
    This chapter centers on the introduction of a new villain, aiming to take down the three goddesses and attain his own godhood.

    Here, the dynamic of the story drastically changes. While the last couple of chapters have been the main trio of Tenchi, Ryoko, and Ayeka, attention now turns to the other members of the household thrown into a conflict they seemingly cannot handle. Character after character attempt to either get help or face the new menace, only to be denied contact with allies or to be swatted aside like mere pests. Notably, Tsunami appears to discuss the situation briefly with her sisters, but then does not interfere when people start falling by the wayside. I am curious as to her inaction during this sequence, perhaps not to draw danger to Sasami.

    However, this sets up the scale of the threat that the villain, Garyu, poses. The name and general description of the foe is clearly taken from Okuda’s NNFT story arc in Volumes 11 and 12, and he does seem to retain the basic backstory of the prince of the dead planet Oku II. However, he does seem to have a more maniacal slant, as well as knowledge and encounters with other previous OVA continuity antagonists. Admittedly, the reader does not see much of his character here aside from demonstrations of power, boasts, and demands. Perhaps once Tenchi engages him, he might show other facets of himself beyond slapping aside other characters.

    While Garyu did chew some scenery and costars, he did represent something the series as a whole has sorely lacked of late, a viable threat. He came to Earth with a purpose and will kill whatever is in his way, be they god or mortal. That kind of singleminded, malicious intent has not been in this continuity really since Kagato. The goddesses fear him, Katsuhito gets smacked down by him, and let’s not even bother with Mihoshi and Noike’s futility. In actuality, he has the stage, just waiting for his adversary to arrive, Vegeta waiting for his Kakarot.

    Likewise, the “gem” and the blade he wields were mentioned again, but not heavily discussed since the combat and fear were running high. Understandably, details of these should be forthcoming once the action calms down a bit.

    Also, bravo on the parallelism to Universe episode 23. Katsuhito takes a dive much like he did against Universe Kagato, and Washu substitutes for Ryoko. Even Mihoshi and Noike can be compared to the knights getting shrugged off. I did like the Tennyo was more proactive than Ayeka in this comparison, but needless to say, she serves as the damsel. The similarity drives even to Tenchi holding Katsuhito as the old man urges him to use the Tenchiken key. I approve.

    evilpii
    Participant
    none
    This chapter centers on the development of the relationship between Tenchi, Ryoko, and Ayeka during the compressed year following the scheme implemented in the previous chapter.

    Overall, I did enjoy seeing the three of them grow closer and more open with one another. Ayeka in particular went through several changes, culminating in the climax of the wedding at the end. Even then, she was quite apprehensive but chose to have faith in her “sister-wife”, which was ultimately rewarded. Tenchi takes time to have a date only with her, showing that he can have exclusive moments with each of them, cherishing each of them separately, yet equally. Also, I really liked that Ayeka used Tenchiken in its naginata form from TMiL. That was a nice touch. Further, the scheming conversations between Ryoko and Ayeka fit very well as they become a tighter unit.

    Likewise, the method used to give Tenchi control of the Light Hawk Wings was nice, reminiscent of how Katsuhito trained him mentally in the first volume of NNFT. As Washu surmised in OVA series 2, Tenchi’s issue is likely mental, calling on the power only in a crisis he cannot solve any other way. The setup of the situation is good, but I found the execution a bit lacking. While Ryoko was verbally describing the circumstances in Tenchi’s head, it might have been helpful to give a set-direction description as well. This essentially would allow to show what Kagato was doing, how desperate the event was, and the need that existed, make it more real, both for Tenchi and the reader.

    The control acquisition scene also leads into my main critique of the chapter, pacing. The chapter covers about eight or nine months of time from the trio’s perspective, but several scenes just suddenly stop and have trouble flowing. Case in point, Tenchi’s acquisition of control over the Light Hawk Wings happens immediately due to the “mental crisis” Ryoko gave him. Then, the two women head to the house while he tills the yard again, and more days pass. Given Tenchi’s troubles manifesting the Light Hawk Wings over three OVA series, he might want to test a little before going back to farm work. This would be a great opportunity for him revisit some of Tenchi’s feats of might with the wings, have him rediscover them as he masters the wings. Moreover, he could find new ways to use them, but like he has with Ryoko’s tutelage, blending his learning from her with Katsuhito’s lessons. Admittedly, this could be tricky as the wings could distort or destroy the Time Saver itself, but that might, in itself, be an interesting point to address.

    Another pacing issue seems to appear when Tenchi finally decides to marry the two women. He just beat them in sparring, and it seems odd that the first thing out of his mouth afterward would be “Let’s get married now”. Granted, he has had months to ponder the whens and hows of this, but the reader has not really been given insight into Tenchi’s mind. Ryoko and Ayeka have been the primary characters of this chapter, mainly discussing Tenchi and each other. Perhaps seeing some more of Tenchi’s thoughts could smooth this transition.

    One last minor note was that while having Ayeka get a good bit of ink this chapter, which is greatly appreciated, Ryoko did not get a date with Tenchi. Granted, she likely has been getting a lot of flirtatious time with Tenchi while sparring, though that might not be really considered “romantic”. It might be interesting to see what Ryoko would consider “romantic” in a moment just between her and Tenchi. Perhaps Tenchi could show her his idea of romance, or vice versa, while adhering to their standing “no erotica until marriage” rule.

    evilpii
    Participant
    none
    This chapter centers almost exclusively on the beginning of the triangle engagement between Tenchi, Ryoko, and Ayeka resulting from the end of the previous chapter.

    This chapter was a welcome change as the attention was placed exclusively on the main three and their budding intimacy. This drastically reduced the number of characters to juggle, which allowed for more depth of each player’s thoughts and emotions.

    This was felt best in the tension between Ryoko and Ayeka, which finally had more focused consideration. A priori, compromises between the two seemed inevitable, and this chapter delivers the pair actually discussing this topic more at length. Much like the last chapter, these two have a mature conversation about how they will work together for the benefit of all. Also, this chapter showed how wide the gulf between the two of them currently is: Ryoko’s very physical sword drills and flirtatious seduction attempts compared to Ayeka’s less aggressive and more apprehensive stance on desire.

    The boon from their disparate natures is that Tenchi becomes the negotiator between the two. Tenchi has a couple moments where he has to be actively inclusive to his other mate, Ayeka when Ryoko is rolling with him on the ground and Ryoko when Ayeka and he are apprehensive about bedding arrangements. While his role has typically been the peacemaker, that role is evolving now that the Contest has ended.

    Needless to say, this chapter was quite enjoyable between the development of the trio, as well as the comedy as they tread into the more intimate. The Time Saver gimmick is not too dissimilar from the Room of Spirit and Time in Dragonball and basically serves to put the other two active conflicts on hold for the moment. The opening the chapter does allude to both, the duel with Katsuhito being the entire reason for this jaunt into accelerated spacetime.

    I am interested to see how the relationship will develop during this compressed year. It seems off to a good start, though naturally rocky. It was refreshing to see that all is not perfect in this relationship at first, like any pair/group of newlyweds.

    evilpii
    Participant
    none
    NOTE: I am commenting on a later edition of this chapter than what is posted above. ^^v

    This chapter handles primarily the fallout of the choice realized in the previous two chapters, which introduces a tertiary conflict within the household.

    The opening to this chapter grabbed my attention right away, as it satisfied one of my issues with Chapter 2, how each of Tenchi’s primary love interests actually react to each other. It was a nice study of Ayeka seeing her emotions race after the conclusion of Chapter 2. For the demure princess, the sequence also seemed appropriate given her pride and self-image. I really enjoyed her portrayal in this chapter.

    I did like Ryoko’s reactions overall, particularly the comedic bits about bedding and sleeping arrangements, but I am a bit surprised that she was not reacting with more jealousy toward Ayeka. Admittedly, the lady pirate is likely still on a high from all the positive emotions rushing her way here, and she did once speak of sharing Tenchi with Ayeka in “Night Before the Carnival”. However, compared to Ayeka’s moment of inner turmoil, Ryoko took the inclusion of the princess very easily.

    Similarly, while I appreciate relegating Mihoshi’s affections for Tenchi to a mere crush, she flipped back to “happy” rather quickly. This might have been a good time for some introspection for Mihoshi, much like you had for Ayeka, analyzing the blonde’s reasons for staying and her feelings toward Tenchi. I do applaud using Washu and Noike for her support, and they did make valid points for her situation.

    Katsuhito’s challenge came rather suddenly, and his point is quite clear. Tenchi has never really learned to use his abilities, nor has he fully thought through the decision he has just made. Kicking Tenchi’s ass in a duel could force the boy to reflect on these things, though it is a bit obtuse from Katsuhito’s abruptness. Then again, he has been known to be less than forthcoming with information.

    I did like the slight mention of the impending doom between Washu and Tokimi. That bit of tease has me interested in what will be developing overall in the near future.

    As a whole, I enjoyed the chapter and found the comedic bits a welcome relief to the rather heavy emotional content that could have easily overwhelmed this chapter.

    evilpii
    Participant
    none
    NOTE: I am commenting on a later edition of this chapter than what is posted above. ^^v

    This chapter centers primarily on Ryoko and Ayeka discovering Tenchi’s choice from Chapter 1 and how they react to it. Also, an overarching threat is mentioned at the end of the chapter, foreshadowing greater trouble ahead.

    Overall, I enjoyed the comedy of Tenchi trying to confess his affections to Ryoko and Ayeka, and failing rather epically, as well as the circuitousness of the two actually finding out his choice. The fact that Tenchi passes out from anxiety, as well as perhaps sleep deprivation due to the dreams mentioned at the end of the chapter, actually perpetuates his indecision. He never actively confesses to either of them, and the two find out from hearsay. While I have usually been in favor of Tenchi finally voicing his mind, the circuitousness does fit his character better as portrayed thusfar in this story and continuity.

    However, the most interesting part of this chapter to me would be the onsen conversation between Ryoko and Ayeka. Not only does this harken back to the “Night Before Carnival” special from the first OVA series, but also it gives some insight into each party’s perspective on the proposed solution to their dilemma. This is probably the most adult that either of them has been in a while, each considering Tenchi’s happiness and even the happiness of her rival. While the mixed feelings are certainly evident, some time might have been good to have each party reflect on the situation individually, perhaps consider her own options and solutions before the ultimate agreement to coexist.

    Again, I would like to mention that the use of Tennyo here as a facilitator has kept the plot moving nicely. She serves as an older sister and confidant to Tenchi without being overly distracting to the other cast members.

    I cannot comment much on the foreshadowing in Tenchi’s dreams beyond that I am interested.

    As to the ending, I am glad to see that all is not perfect with this triangle relationship, despite Ryoko and Ayeka’s onsen agreement. I am interested to see how this relationship progresses and, hopefully, remains balanced.

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