I have never seen any (nor do I really want to), but I have heard about some of the weird things that happen in Japanese (and German) porn. The extent of my seeing anything like this in real life are references to it on <span class="bold">South Park</span> (NSFW).

I used to have those when I was like 14.

South Park tends (always) to exaggerate though. Not saying that such stuff don't exist (rule 43 and rule 34) but it sure would be a niche market.

I know, but it's more fun to exaggerate :-).

Can't argue with that. :D

You didn't imagine it, and I think it was (is?) not a regional thing. But in mixed groups, these lines are quite blurred with the inter-influencing that goes on. I also think that the desire to keep the group together made us play outside of our traditional roles more often than not. Back then, we used to play outdoors a lot, and I remember that we often used to play football (what you call soccer ;-P) all together - mind you, not boys vs girls, but two mixed teams, and the girls were not looked down on as lesser players (some of them were actually a lot better than some of the boys). Or playing "Cowboys vs Indians" and everybody wanted to be a brave Indian warrior.

We also played a lot of board games, and I can't remember that there was a thing as "this particular one is a boy's/ girl's game".

Sure, we had "toys for boys" and "toys for girls", but more often than not they were used in non-traditional ways in our playing. For example, I remember this red stroller with a set of pillow and blanket one girl had; its usual role in our games was that of an ambulance that we used to carry our injured in than of a regular stroller that the girls carried their dolls in. Even with traditional games, like playing house, there was always something more to it due to the boys being included.



Another huge fan of Hayao Miyazaki here.

You could watch them in chronological order, worked well for me. My favourites:

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
Castle in the Sky (1986)
Porco Rosso (1992)
Princess Mononoke (1997)
Spirited Away (2001) (this one is quite intense)
Howl's Moving Castle (2004)



Watched all of them to death as a kid. :-)

I don't think there has been a Studio Ghibli movie that I have not liked. I have a few of them in their manga form as well, one of my favourites is Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, both the film and the lovely two set manga.

http://behindthepanels.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/nausicaa001.jpg

If you want to read the originals, try "Howl's Moving Castle" by Diana Wynne Jones, it's from Wales and excellent, way better than the anime. The story continued, Miyazaki only made a movie based on the first volume.

My favourites from Miyazaki are Princess Mononoke and Nausicaä (which is basically the same universe at a different time, Mononoke in the past and Nausicaä in the future).

PS: Makoto Shinkai beats Hayao Miyazaki. :P

I already own it, and the two other books in the series (House of Many Ways & Castle in the Air). I have quite a few Diana Wynne Jones' books.

I liked the book more, but I thought the anime version was good as well. Like all of the Ghibli films, they are always well animated with beautiful backgrounds and characters and have some wonderful stories. Considering they are a smaller company with a lot less money, Ghibli sure does put Disney to shame, both in the quality of the animation and the epic stories.

Very good, I only read the first one.
For some reason, the second volume came out many years before the first one in Germany, strange.

I forgot:
If you want splendid anime, try "The Place promised in our early days" and "5 centimeters per second", both true masterpieces from Makoto Shinkai.

I....I almost cried at that one. Is it possible for something to be one of my favorite things and at the same time one of my most hated things? That ending.... was just preposterous. I like happy endings. :C

The great and sad thing about this movie is, that it's so damn realistic. :'-(

Which is the effect a good story should have on the viewer/reader. Sadly anime is still looked on as childish and often perverted by many people (a statement which is sadly true for the most part with modern anime). Once you show them some adult and good quality anime, they soon change their minds.

I loathe the movie for exactly this reason.

I wouldn't loathe it if it hadn't purported to be based on Diana Wynne Jones' novel of the same name, but the film name, and the names of a few characters, were the only resemblances between the two. The worst book-to-film adaptation I have ever watched, including "The Wiz".

The film would have been "okay" if the character names and title had been changed, but it wasn't anything earth-shattering. Too ponderous and heavy for my taste.

Not the worst movie adaptation by far, but Sophies unique character and abilities are not shown very well, her personality appears too flat in the movie and a lot of cool dialogues are missing. The whole problem with Howl's constant heart breaking in the real and magical world alike isn't portrayed either.

And Calcifer is shown as way too cute in the anime.
It's a demon, dammit! -.-