Well.. I came here because of her, but I think i'm gonna stay on Hubski. I like you guys better.

Under what circumstances would one want to use VPNs or TOR? It seems to me if you are masking your identity you have something to hide, but maybe i'm missing something.

What kind of shoes do ninjas wear? Sneakers.

How much does it cost for a pirate to get his ear pierced? A buccaneer.

Two fish are in a tank. One turns to the other and asks “How do you drive this thing?”

Those are a couple of my go-to lame jokes, hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Alright. So far it seems like that's what the majority want, so i'll go ahead and change it to 7/24/15

I figured I would put my comment separately, for ease of replying.

Wow, what a show. For having absolutely no idea what I was getting into, I don't know what I was expecting, but it was NOT what I watched. Perhaps one of the most intelligently constructed anime I have watched in sometime, I was sucked in by (and this is a first for me) the opening theme. I LOVED the song, and tracked down the artist before I even finished the first episode. For those that are curious [here it is]

On to the show itself. From the very beginning this show has you asking questions, questions, questions. There is suicide, an internet that connects people at a subconscious level, mysterious messages from the dead, all in a world seemingly no different than ours. I find that SE:L is more interested in making one think about what's going on then giving direct answers. In a world of overstated and often overly dramatic anime, this was a refreshing watch, and I quickly devoured it in about two days of binge watching.

The anime itself has more depth than average, but figuring out the main "plot" if you will is not necessarily so hard, it's the extra details that you don't HAVE to understand, but more than likely add a considerable amount of insight into the story. There are several parts of the story I personally don't have a solid theory for, and those are what I'm hoping to talk about with the rest of you once you arrive.

Namely, the alien, who/what her parents and sister were, how the wired connected people. I will try to think of more as the discussion moves on.

But, for now, I am hoping most people remembered and are excited to talk about it today.

I<3U2

It takes a woman like you...

I love Bob Dylan and the Big Lebowski. Thanks for sharing!

My first anime would have probably been Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh, and then graduated to Dragon Ball Z at around age 11. At the time, I had no concept that it was any different than our (American) tv shows, or that anime was a thing. I think the show that got me hooked was the show that, for the first time, I realized there was no way an American had thought it up and made it. That show was FLCL, and I had stayed up passed my bedtime to watch Adult Swim. I was hooked after that, but had no real medium or way to watch anime. I grew up on a farm in rural Missouri, so it wasn't as simple as going to school. None of my friends even knew what anime was. Hell, by the time I graduated only a close circle of my friends were aware of it's existence.

To this day, I will not watch anime in front of other people, unless I am absolutely comfortable with them. There was such a stigma of, I don't know.. I was looked down on for watching cartoons, I think.

Never have read a manga.

I understand the escaping oppressive regimes, but why should I worry about my government spying on me? What is the NSA looking for that I should resort to masking my identity?

ARRRR!

That was a good read, and makes me wonder how common cheating really is.

A bit short, but it was easy enough to read. I like that you provided your sources...

As for the matter at hand, I think that video games (competitive) + anonymity = breeding grounds for bad behavior. I don't think that most people get online with the intentions to become a troll, but I think that being exposed to it will change you and your ideas about it. I have been online gaming since I was 9. I am 21 now, and have spent far too much time online. I have noticed the most toxic communities are in games where skill is a major factor. In non-pvp MMO's, there are relatively few toxic players. Go play a PvP game, say ArcheAge, and I would say half the players are "trolls."

But I guess we gotta talk about what a "troll" is.. Because there is a very large distinction between toxicity and trolling. Toxicity is just a bad attitude and often times unchecked aggression, most of the time these players are just acting out of frustration at events. Trolls, not so much. Trolls are an inclusive group. If you talk to a pre-teen gamer, being a troll is cool. Go on twitch chat, plenty of them there. Here's the deal: it provides a social group for people. I would say the majority of trolls are harmless and just doing it for the "lulz." They have their own sense of humor, while it can be antagonizing, it doesn't mean anything. Most trolls hold the same attitude in person as they do online, because they spend so much time online, the internet is ingrained into the psyche. Which, I feel, plays into the internet confidence from the article. The internet becomes a second home for anyone who spends enough time on it. It's just a playground.

I think you should define what a troll is. Because the trolls I know aren't malignant, they just don't take online interactions seriously. I think cyber-bullying unto itself is a different breed from the troll.

"We don't look at a chest unless it stretches her hulls"

I laughed a bit.

Maybe i'm just dumb, but I didn't really understand why mental health decreases as a nation prospers. Is it due to the fact more people can afford diagnosis or something that money does to society?

I guess im starting to see why this is so hard. Would 2 weeks be better?

I feel the exact same way. I typically go by the three episode rule, if I think it's trash after 3 episodes I drop it.

This kinda creates a problem.. I want to pick a series I haven't watched, and I can't pick one that's too long. So I guess that means we need guidelines, or to run multiple viewings. I know there are GREAT anime, but they are 70+ episodes. It's hard finding amazing content with a 12-25 episode range.

Interesting write up. I'm glad to finally see some short story writing on Hubski. Look forward to seeing more content from you!

Edit: I see that you welcome discussion. What were you going for with the narrator? I feel like the suicide was rushed and perhaps not explained, or was that what you were going for? His only thoughts pertaining to suicide were that no one had the right to judge him. He didn't really ever think about WHY he wanted to die, which I feel someone who is suicidal would lay out methodically.

Botanists! ;)

LOL! I'd never heard that one

Yeah, we don't have that kind of time haha, HxH is great (<3 hisoka)

Alas, we should stick to 1-2 season anime.

I'm actually halfway through Shinsekai Yori right now, it's got me hooked.

Psycho-Pass is very good. I've seen it, but I would watch it again. I'll dot you.

That would be fair, I would lean more towards 2 days myself. It still limits the length of the series, I feel. I would not be opposed to watching something with 50+ episodes, but as a group, that is quite difficult.

What do you guys think the alien represented?

I will probably do it again, but the time constraints will be smaller, and if I do a longer series there will be frequent updates/discussion. I think what happened here was

Oh! I'll watch this, yeah!

A week later they forgot about it because there was nothing to remind them..

So.. Yeah, if I do it again, I have to engage people who participate.

Good luck is all I can say. Judging from what happened here, ten people will tell you they will read the book, and 1 person will read it. This was watching something, not much effort required... Reading something, I have no idea.

That was fantastic! Knowing nothing of Gnosticism I can't really nitpick anything, but if the comparisons are true you have done a great job of putting the pieces together in a way that makes sense.

My personal theory was that, the aliens were her parents, but when I saw her change into the alien herself I had to drop that one.. So, then I had two mysteries on my hands. Who were her parents, and who was the alien. Well, with a sufficient answer for who the alien was, who were her parents?

Her father, from the very beginning, encouraged her to go be apart of the wired. He thought it was another world, and seemed to have dropped endless amounts of money to get her to the point she needed to be to connect to the wired completely. Her father also acknowledged that she and he are separate entities, but he loved her anyway. So, was her father just a human who had been sent there to protect let until she was old enough to discover her true identity, and facilitate her in any way he could? Was he something more? Her parents always seemed so distant and uninterested, but there were moments where I felt her father wanted to be a father, but just didn't know how.

It took me two days, but it looks like only 4 of us finished, when about 10 people said they would. Of course i'm just looking at who commented.

I am currently trying to decide if I'd like to try another series or not. There was a lot of hype but not much in terms of following through. Two weeks was too much time for me, but I have a lot more time than the average hubskier atm