From: "Pearl Louis" Thank-you, thank-you to everyone who replied to my previous email. All the Owinabanshu answers were very enlightening and Kirsten your remarks about using priests and shrines was very interesting.... Even if its not right hey I've already stuffed up history so many times in my story already, what's one more? () I'm still undecided as to how to make the Owinabanshu headquarters. When I was still thinking that the Aoiya was established before the Bakumatsu I was thinking of a heavily trapped manor (hey they are ninjas). All the surrounding houses and shops would be populated by members of the Owinabanshu so that no-one could approach the house without the Owinabanshu knowing. I'll try looking up some of the sites that people mentioned. The general consensus seems to be that people like the new direction of the story especially the inclusion of Okita. Its hard to write him, he's like a mixture of Soujiro and Kenshin with a healthy dose of madness thrown in. He is very Kenshin-like but there are significant differences in their characters and circumstances that will be more apparant as the story unfolds. He seems to be popular which is good because the way the plot is unfolding he'll probably be the most important character after Kenshin. I wouldn't know what to do if people hated him..... Just as a side thought I'd bet that there really was an Okita fan-club made up of girls in Meiji Japan considering he was the most popular of the Shinsegumi. (Saitou: Okita-kun. Stand aside. Okita: No, there's no need to worry. I, after all, am the captain of the Shinsengumi first unit. Saitou: But you have tuberculosis, don't you? I'm not blind. The captain of the Shinsengumi third unit, Saitou Hajime, will slay the enemy He drops into his characteristic stance; right leg forward, sword held in the left hand parallel to the body, right hand held in front along the blade. Okita: Oh my. Saitou you really should stop being so protective....After all they only want autographs.... A bunch of teenage girls mob Okita. "Okita-chan! Okita-chan!" "Sign my nishiki!" "No! I got here first!" "Can I feel your sword?" "I want a piece of your uniform!" Suddenly the crowd of obsessed girls is brought backwards by tall broad-shouldered figure. It is Saitou in his police-uniform wearing sunglasses. "Saitou.....?" Saitou pulls out another set of shades and sets them on Okita's head. Unfortunately Okita is a lot smaller than Saitou and so he looks like a kid wearing his dad's sunglasses. "If you're going to be a superstar you need to look the part." Saitou suddenly spots some journalists. He frowns and pulls out his katana. "Papparazii.....Aku Soku Zan!" ) For people who are looking for episodes of RK good news! I've found a web site that has WHOLE EPISODES of RK up. They are in Real player format and each episode is about 50MB in size. They have episodes from 1-44 though the links for episodes 29-36 are missing and it seems from messages on the bulletin boards that a lot of the epsiodes between 10-20 also have this problem (they're mostly filler episodes anyway :). However I know for certain 1-7,24,28,37,39-44 are working. You have to have Realplayer G2 to play them and you download all the parts, and run a program that comes with Part 1 and this creates a realplayer file which you can then run. The video quality for episodes 1-7 are excellent, 28's sound is a bit iffy but OK and 39-44 flicker a bit but its OK. The website is http://webmedia.w3.to/. You have to be a member but its easy to join. They don't seem to have any special requirements for membership. Oh and you need somthing to unzip the files too. (This is in response to that statement about the TV station not showing all the episodes of Samurai X (gag, gag I hate that name). I'm sorry but I don't know who wrote it because a can't seem to find the passage in the digest) Sorry for all these questions. Please be patient with me. I only need to ask two more and thats all (well until I need to write the chapter after the one I'm writing right now :). Oh yeah a spoiler alert here for the Revenge Arc and episode 28 of the anime. 1. Is the attack on the Ishin by the Shinsengumi in the beginning of episode 28 the Ideyaka Inn affair? Because it clearly shows Kenshin with the full cross-scar while in the Revenge Arc it says that the affair happened right after he met Tomoe ie. he should have only one half of the scar. 2. Does anyone know how you would say "Blood Demon" in Japanese? yes I know my questions tend to be ridiculous esp that last one and the second one of my last post but all will be revealed. They are part of my quest to find the answer to Life the Universe and Everything. Really. Good-bye for now. Back to physics and end-of-term assignments. Pearl Louis --------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ---------------------------- When you watch a DUBBED film, where do the original VOICES go? Does a lack of BIG BAND music affect the earth's ROTATION? The DR. has answers:Click ------------------------------------------------------------------------