If you are a fan of Symphony of the Sword, go see the announcement I made in the EPU forums' Marketplace area. You probably won't be disappointed.

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

I wonder how Doug would handle the world of Hunter X Hunter.
It's basically a world that's like ours, only very different. Though it has airplanes, the internet, telephones and what-all, it also has pirate ships and most importantly the magical, martial art "Nen" ability.
It's a world of cheap lives and child killings and killer children.
gon, our hero, is a simple kid who decides to become a Hunter, a supra-legal "hunter" of anything, from rare food to criminals, inspired by his absent father. He meets up with various companions and a dangerous enemy in the brutal Hunter test, a test designed to kill.
There's Kurapica, who is after revenge against a group of robbers who killed his people for their eyes, and Killua, a child of assassins who didn't want to be one himself but doesn't mind casually murdering people who annoy him.
It's a fun series by the creator of Yu Yu Hakusho and the husband of Naoko Takeuchi.

The storyline that OAV2/Volume 13-15 is on is the Greed Island storyline, wherein Gon and Killua are "inside" a video game that Gon's father designed, where they are transported to an island that is modelled on rpg games. If you die in there, you die for real, your body transported back to the "real" world.
I think that Doug, regardless of if he is in the greed island storyline or not, would be both intruiged and horrified by this world that has such a harsh philosophy. I'm sure that he'd try to "reform" Killua and maybe even Kurapica, but how successful he might be, I don't know.
-murmur the fallen
"there is only one man who would dare to give me the raspberry---Lone Star!"

You know, I realize that I never got around to introducing myself.
Gweepings! I am MURMUR THE FALLEN. I am an alien from Nebula M78, coming to Earth to save all of humanity from the giant rubber monsters that plague your peaceful globe.

This is something one or two fanfic authors have made use of, and I can't believe it is a product line that Genom would ignore...
Can't you just see this Buma Puppy (TM) looking up at Doug with those, big, big, puppy dog eyes, and him not being at all sure what to do about it?
Of course, once you Adopt A Puppy, your life can get so much more interesting!
Is this the sort of strategy that Madigan might try? [evil grin]
...
"Buma Kitten! Even if it does get flushed down the toilet, half an hour in the washing machine on 'plush', and it will be as good as new! Guaranteed never to burst out of it's fur in a grusome but effective fashion!"
[grin]
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

I suspect that Doug wont be doing any hacking to the Ysigdril (sp?) system, as that might be considered a bit too typical SI.
However, if he _did_ gain serious access to the system, what do you think he would do with it?
Just trying to start a maybe interesting thread...
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

OK...
As per recomendations I have read the first manga "Kodocha", and may watch the first anime episode or two.
On the basis of reading the manga, I am not sure that I am happy with Doug interacting with that world.
Sure, there are some funny bits (hairdos and chipmunks), but I really don't like the school society shown (reminds me a bit too much of the "fun" I had with bullies in schools, and the seeming inability of anyone to do anything about it).
Also there are overtones in the author's side-panels that set off at least faint alarm bells in my head, to do with where she got her characters from, and how she handles them. It sounds... unhealthy.
I can see what Doug might do, or how he might join the list of adults manipulated by Sana, "for their own good", but I am not sure I am happy with this.
Am I the only one who feels unsure/uncertain about this?
Or, should I invest in a load more therapy sessions! [grin]
Maybe the lack of high tech or magic, or a style of humour that I am happy with, in Sana's world has something to do with it...
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

Does Doug realize that he is, potentialy at the very least, A Paladin?
Does he realize that he might get home faster if he prayed to Wetter Hexxe? At the very least it would provide a Signal Beacon for his goddess to home in on.

...for the first time in what I guess must be 30 years. Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers circus, three rings under a geniune canvas big top. Peg and I met up with Kat "Kat" Avins and Joseph "Dwimanor" Avins and their daughter Nina "I'm only three, I don't have a code name yet" Avins. And we all had a great time.
And I got to remembering the old book/Disney flick "Toby Tyler", and all the other stories about kids who run away to join the circus, and realized, there's a Step in there somewhere. Doug would be a natural in a circus.
I don't know when/if this will blossom into a story, but I don't think I'll be letting go of this idea any time soon.
Just wanted to share, that's all.

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

So titled because, of course, Asuka really isn't.
Now, I was reading a bit of Evafic (Step Beyond the Abyss, by N. T. Martin - reccomended, BTW) and had a... hmm. Revelation? Epiphany? Whatever.
Each of the Eva pilots has certain problems with the way they interact with the rest of the universe, and the way they view themselves. It's interesting, and probably a comment on Anno's state of mind, that the 'internal' problem is much the same - a lack of self respect bordering on hatred. They differ from each other so widely because of the way their 'exterior' damage proceeds from the 'internal'.
Asuka's external problems aren't brattiness or anything... it's just that she only has one tool for dealing with other people - a hammer - so she turns all her problems into nails.
This doesn't mean that she's -happy- about it, but that displeasure over her own actions feeds back into her own self-loathing, which in turn boils over into more "Hammerbitch" and so on in a vicious cycle that she can't escape on her own.
Blessed be.
-n
(This is tangentially related to my biggest problem with Anno - his apparent conviction that personal growth is inherently destructive.)
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

She had hair like Jeannie Shrimpton
Back in 1965
She had legs that never ended
I was halfway paralyzed
She was tall and cool and pretty and
She dressed as black as coal
If she'd ask me to I'd murder
I would gladly lose my soul

Now I lie in bed and think of her
Sometimes I even weep
Then I dream of her
Behind the wall of sleep

Well she held a bass guitar and
She was playing in a band
And she stood just like Bill Wyman
Now I am her biggest fan
Now I know I'm one of many
Who would like to be your friend
And I've got to find a way
To let you know I'm not like them

Now I lie in bed and think of her
Sometimes I even weep
Then I dream of her
Behind the wall of sleep

(bridge)

Now I lie in bed and think of her
Sometimes I even weep
Then I dream of her
Behind the wall of sleep

Got your number from a friend of mine
Who lives in your hometown
Called you up to have a drink
Your roommate said you weren't around
Now I know I'm one of many
Who would like to be your friend
And I've got to find a way to
Let you know I'm not like them

Now I lie in bed and think of her
Sometimes I even weep
Then I dream of her
Behind the wall of sleep
Behind the wall of sleep
Behind the wall of sleep
Behind the wall of sleep
-- Smithereens, Behind the Wall of Sleep

Dedicated to Doug's memory of Shadowwalker

(Edit: Minor corrections to lyrics)

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.