I happen to be relatively pissed off at life and Kenshin

[El Diablo Rojo]

Agreed. *extends hand in friendship*

Good. *extends hand to meet the hand of friendship*

um, did you pay attention to the series at all? Half of kenshins moves were jumping in the air doing vertical dives 100 feet in the air trying to kick someones ass. Also, you cant shoot fire out of your sword like Shishio, or go as fast as Sojirou in real life. If you would pay more attention while watching, you would have noticed the things I just said. If you want true realism, watch Samurai X instead of Rurouni Kenshin

I didn't say Kenshin was realistic. I said it was based in the realm of reality. I was refering to the fact that there was no magic or sorcery or some form of supernatural powers and what not. It may be unrealistic to jump that high or run that fast, but they are still using swords and not some magic. The show is about people with superior forms of fighting, and that is represented perfectly.

Now on to the shooting fire out of the sword thing. That is actually pretty realistic if you ask me. They did a pretty good job of explaining how that was possible and it does seem logical enough. He's not actually shooting fire, he's igniting the blade and then throwing the fire from the ignited blade. If you've ever sprayed something flammable on metal and then lighted it, you'll see that a little fire has started. It'll go out when it doesn't have anything left to burn. This is the concept behind Shishio's fire manipulation, but he uses human fat to start the fire. Didn't you pay attention to the series at all? I'm so lonely.

[HeavyMetal]

Hey HeavyMetal. Are you a political science major or something? You seem to know a lot about those types of topics and you seem to have some very defined opinions on such things. I was just kind of curious, but whatever.

Actually I am just a sponge for relatively useless information.


Ddramone okay. I just wasn't sure what you meant by skinhead. I didn't think it was neo-nazi. Glad your weren't talking about neo-nazi. I didn't know it was a punk thing to shave your head. Looks good on some people, though.


Kenshin:

Yeah the flaming blade thing would work. (I don't know if human fat would and hopefully nobody will test it.)

Torches used to be soaked in oil made out of fat to burn for extended time periods with a steady flame size.

Fire eaters and K.I.S.S. use kerosene or something close to it. (Please don't try it. Most of these people set themselves on fire at least once. They are lucky if they don't get hurt.)

Shishioh was also in a petroleum rich environment. That helps too.

If you recall back to early episodes, one of Onigumo group used 'magic' to spit fire. It was just a sac full of flammable liquid.

The 'magic' of another member was just the horizontal stripes effect on the eyes ability to judge the distance of a punch.

Most ninja techniques are like that. (Naruto is cool, but open ninja battles didn't really take place to my knowledge.)

Ninjas and Magic Tricks: (In relation to Kenshin and the Onigumo)

Ninja magic was usually just some sort of trick.

News used to travel by mouth and tended to get exaggerated. Ninjas used this to their advantage because fear is an excellent weapon.

Ninjas were something like the ancient Japanese mob. It was often a clan, family, business of assassination. The idea was to kill someone with no trace that you were ever there.

Fighting:
Running away and quick kill techniques were their specialties.

Ninjitsu was a karate style of quick kill techniques to use your opponents strengths against them. Focuses on agility and stealth. (Stuff like how to take someone out with one finger. Well maybe not that extreme.)

Jujitsu is a derivative which specializes in detaining and immobilizing opponents. (This style could allow Shinji from Evangelion to win in a fight against a 300 pound wrestler.)

Ninjas were not far from the game Metal Gear Solid.

Weapon of Choice

Ninja-To
Short swords used for defense, conceal ability, and speed. (Sound familiar in Kenshin.)

Caltrops
Barbs to drop for the feet of those in pursuit.

Smoke and gun powder flash bombs for quick escapes. (If a mistake is made and the Ninja gets seen.)

Blinding Powder
More or less pepper bombs to blind pursuers. (Ninjas will throw dirt in your eye if it gets the job done.)

Shuriken
Shurikens for long distance assassination. Many weren't stars but more like knives with a loop for a handle. (To carry a large number. One of the Onigumo used throwing weapons similar to Shurikens, but more like darts.)

Chain style weapons were common as well. Like Sango's brother on Inuyasha.

Magic tends to be Ninja style traps and techniques. (These include arson, bombs, and psychological war tactics, like disguising yourself as a guard and assassinating people in castle periodically to cause chaos.)

Wow they should make a Metal Gear style game based on ninjas.

Code

Ninjas were extremely loyal to two things, the clan and money.

Typically there was no leaving the clan. These people train from childhood to be good at what they do. (Once again sounds like the Onigumo group.)

Ninjas weren't without honor. They took care of there own.

Ripleys believe it or not

(Not really, but a good heading for this.)

Some of it is hard to believe, but true.

Now of course they couldn’t stand upside down on a tree branch (Naruto), but it is possible to run a brief distance up a wall.

It is also possible to cling to a wall with little in the way of tools. (Clawed gloves.)

It's at an application and direction of friction.

When your life depends on it and you practice every day it can be done. I'm not saying you can run up a castle wall. That's what grappling hooks are for.

Jackie Chan actually does some things like this. If you ever notice he scales walls, even if it is at a corner, by directing the force of his step toward the ground from the wall in a downward direction. It is more natural for people to push away and even with the wall.

Ninjas were given credit for magic, because the they were sort of like Mission Impossible spies. They had tools and preparation on their side.

Just thought I would say where some of the magic type aspects in anime come from.

[El Diablo Rojo]

You really are a sponge for relatively useless information. But it is interesting. I would be very interested to hear any more useless information.

When I refer to magic, however, I am not refering to the tricks that ninjas could do. I'm refering to actual supernatural powers and stuff, like the compass-board thing shooting energy. I know that ninjas knew had to do little tricks and stuff, but they can't do the real magic. Thats all I was saying.

Also would Gogo's chain ball weapon (thats Gogo from Kill Bill) be an example of a chain weapon used by ninjas? I don't know why I asked that, but I guess I'm just curious.

And, I didn't understand what you meant by ninjas were loyal to money. I'm not arguing with you, I just was kind of curious of what that meant. I'm so lonely.

[HeavyMetal]

Ninjas were assassins for hire. I took that as really liking money.

I knew what you went by magic. I just wanted to point out to more skeptical people where some things in anime come from. Some stuff just isn't as far fetched as some might think. I wonder where the idea of hurling energy started, though.

I don't know about Gogo's weapon. Could be. Seems a little medieval to me. Perhaps a little too cumbersome to be a ninja weapon. I'll have to look it up.

[El Diablo Rojo]

That makes more sense- the money liking thing.

Gogo's weapon actually does look a little medieval, now that you mention it. It probably doesn't seem like a ninjas style, but I guess I was just curious.

[Nandez]

The series was like 95 percent real and the real stuff happened every once in a while in the series.The series unrealistic sicne the beginning of it it gust og tmore unrealistic as it goes Samuria X is what followed the past great and happened realistic as it could get.