I'd like to point out, totally off topic, that not all men must die. Not all of us will get this, btw. Much more of an inside joke than anythin else.
For instance, Selmy (as old and perfect a candidate to die as he is) will never really be dead. Even if he's killed in a brutal, nasty fashion, he's super famous and kicks butt. Though, he only kicks butt b/c he serves Daenerys. Who kicks butt b/c she's got da dragons. Which kick butt b/c..... er..... does that really need an explanation?
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Back to the actual topic....
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Personally, I think that computer games HAVE gotten out of control in their blatant, pointless, masculinity. For any otaku out there who have seen Escaflowne (the real version, not the trash the stupid American censors played n TV)- was it not great b/c it was shojo? Was it not one of the best anime ever created simply for the reason that it had character development, emotional maturing AND testosterone-laden battles? IMHO, the gaming industry has a lot to learn from Escaflowne:
1.) Get Yoko Kano to compose all the music for every game anywhere. Period.
2.) Make sure that the plot of the game not only makes sense but is deeply developed, somewhat depressing and very powerful.
3.) The characters get better the more outrageously they deviate from the social norm. Though Alan is obviously the "Noble Knight" dude, he's really abusive in subtle ways and did mess around with a girl he wasn't supposed to.
4.) Put Folken in everything. He's the number 1 coolest character on earth. This rule does totally abandon rule #3, but Folken is just too cool to emit from anything. Especially if you've seen the series the whole way through.
There's probably a lot more than can be learned from Escaflowne by the gaming industry, but it's 10:20 on a schoolnight and my parents are yelling at me. 'Sides: I got a final to study for on Thursday. Ar!