Sowing the SeeDs: THE OBLIGATORY INFO OMAKE!!! 1. What the hell is an Omake?! To answer simply, "Omake" is the Japanese word for "extra." These usually pertain to added segments that have no actual relation to the story's ongoing plot...save for seeing just how deranged and bent the creators can be with their characters. A good example would be to consult the Blue Seed videos put out by ADV. Just watch out for Go-Go Grandma in the later omake theatres.... As for the "Sowing the SeeDs" omakes, these are just the products of rampant imaginations, really bad puns, and waaay too much time on our authors' hands. So expect excessive silliness which will have no effect whatsoever on the more serious plot. After all, these are just little extras to show you readers how much we care. Or just how nuts we are. Either or. 2. Why put Omake theatres into the fanfic? And just what is Anime? Odds are that a number of you reading the "Sowing the SeeDs" fanfic will be strictly FFVIII lovers. Or else video game lovers. However, the Final Fantasy series has always been created by the Japanese company Square Electronic Arts, L.L.C. As a result, there are a number of gags and nuances in the games that are related to Anime (Japanese animation). We will put forward a slice of personal opinion here and state in no uncertain terms that Anime kicks ass above and beyond North American animation...especially Di$ney. In Japan, Anime is meant for all kinds of audiences: children, teens and adults. These shows range from: -children's shows (almost anything from Studio Ghibli, Hello Kitty) -cutesy magical girls (Sailor Moon, Card Captor Sakura) -strictly testosterone-driven combat (Street Fighter, Tekken) -large robots or mobile suits (Gundam, Mazinger Z) -science fiction (Harlock, Cowboy BeBop, Bubblegum Crisis) -sheer bizarre creations (Idol Project, Blazing Transfer Student) -psychological drama (Lain, Evangelion, Perfect Blue) -romantic comedy/drama (KareKano, Tenchi Muyo!, Marmalade Boy) -fantasy (Mononoke Hime, El Hazard, Slayers, Fushigi Yugi) -hentai, which are X-rated shows with rampant lesbianism & naughty tentacles (La Blue Girl, Urotsuki Doji) And so forth. There are even more titles and even more sub-genres than the ones we've listed here. With any luck, we'll make you all rabid otaku (Japanese for "obsessed fan," usually reserved for lovers of Anime), so you'll go out and buy these great shows. Well...most of them are great. Most hentai anime are just plain stupid though. So what's the deal with our explanation about Anime? Well, as it just so happens the authors behind the "Sowing the SeeDs" omakes are rabid otaku. As a result, there are a number of gags and nuances within the fic that only Anime fans will get. Any of you out there who are limited to the video game world may not be able to figure out what we mean. Hence the reason this obligatory info omake was added. 3. What is SD? And what's a Chibi-Xu? SD is the short form for "super-deformed." It's a sight gag in which a character is reduced to a shrunken, half-pint version of themselves. The end result makes said character look utterly ridiculous and never to be taken seriously. When one is SD, their attitudes tend to go to the extreme, making an SD character a veritable terror. Some characters are born super-deformed, or can switch from normal mode to SD mode at the drop of a hat. An Anime which showcases this very well is Dragon Half. So what happens when you have a very serious character who you could never imagine looking so short and stupid? You shrink them down and toss them into an omake! Many otaku enjoy seeing otherwise serious and well-loved Anime characters kick back and go nuts, doing things they would never be caught dead doing in their actual series. If you haven't already guessed, the SeeDfic omakes fall into this latter category. Can anyone here imagine an SD Xu with a clean conscience? We're sure someone out there can. But the majority of you get this to help you along! The next question you might be asking yourself is: if the term is called SD, then why are all the shrunken FFVIII characters in the omakes called Chibi-so-and-so? The word "chibi" is Japanese for "small", and it's usually a term of endearment or affection. When one is rendered chibi, one tends to be considered rather small and cute at the same time. A chibi version of someone is very close to if not the same thing as being super-deformed. Only the hyperactivity varies. So instead of writing all the omake characters as SD-so-and-so, we opted to write them as Chibi-so-and-so. In conclusion: when Xu is reduced to her half-pint hyperactive size, she's called Chibi-Xu. Quistis becomes a cute li'l Chibi- Quistis. And so forth. 4. What is rapid dialogue mode? Rapid dialogue mode is something His lordship Chaos tends to enjoy playing with a lot in one of his more lunatic-driven series. RDM is when the characters and story suddenly switch into script format as opposed to narration. This tends to help emphasis a really silly or stupid moment. Nine times out of ten you're being set up for a really bad pun. 5. What is a sweatdrop? An eyebrow twitch? A facevault? All these three are physical sight gags in Anime, used to express a character's emotions. The severity of the reaction depends on the mood. Usually when a character does this, he/she is worried, agitated, unimpressed, or just plain surprised. A sweatdrop is literally a large tear-shaped droplet that appears next to a character's head when they are concerned or in disbelief. We are not making this up. Really. An eyebrow twitch is literally an eyebrow twitching up and down in a rapid but rhythmic pattern. This tends to express more annoyance or agitation at someone or something. A facevalt/facefault (depending on whose fic you read) is where someone is startled by incredible disbelief, and trips and falls flat on their faces. This usually results from a character saying something reeeeeaaaally stupid. When in RDM, Emoticons are usually used to add to the portrayal of these sight gags. Emoticons are those funny little faces you make with your various icon keys in emails, in case you were unaware. ; This usually represents a sweatdrop. The more agitated one is, the more sweatdrops they have. ;_; This is a crying face. Used when one is sad or in a great deal of pain. --; Used when someone is unimpressed or in disbelief. Their eyes are narrowed, and the sweatdrop is present. ^-^ A happy character. Nuff said. ^^ Happy character, version 2.0. Anime characters are prone to suddenly becoming all eyes, their noses and/or mouths disappearing altogether. ^-^v A happy character giving the V-sign. It's essentially the peace sign (index and middle fingers held up in a V formation), but in Japan this means "Victory!" or "cool!" o.O; A startled expression, where one eye tends to bug out more than the other. Sweatdrops are optional, added only to amplify the person's shock. x_x A battered li'l character. They're either dead or really got the crap kicked out of them. @.@ A dazed/stunned li'l character. They're not dead, but sufficiently out of it. They either hurt themselves physically (got the crap kicked out of them) or mentally (read a bad Squall and Quistis hentai fanfic, and are now paying for it). >.< The horror! The horror! Someone's squeezing their eyes shut and wincing at the nasty pain caused by something. For example, that bad Squall and Quistis lemon.... ;p Look at this sideways and you'll see someone winking and sticking out their tongue. If a character does this, they're just being playful. :p A happy li'l face sticking their tongue out, sans wink. It still means the same thing, though. >) A character that's plotting something evil. They have a smile on their face while their brows have arched down. >p Someone's making an evil smile whilst sticking their tongue out. Used a lot when characters are taunting each other. 6. What do these strange words mean? Okay, since this is a Japanese-based game, and we're all Anime lovers writing this, you will find a lot of Japanese catch words/phrases we've picked up over the years. This mini-glossary should have every Japanese word we've used, and its significance: Baka: idiot (nothing's more insulting in Japan than being called an idiot). -chan: this suffix comes after a name. It's a term of affection, reserved usually for someone you like, or someone younger than yourself. Kawaii: cute Hentai: pervert (Note: pervertedness has levels in Japan. Ecchi means you're only slightly perverted. Hentai is the next step up. Sukebe means you've got a healthy testosterone level...if you're a herd of male bull elephants during the rutting season). Hai: yes Wai!: yay! Fanservice: more an Anime catch word. It essentially means a nude scene. Literally, you're servicing the fans. Often associated with ecchi or hentai Anime. Shimatta: damn! Kuso: shit! Jo'o-sama: Queen/Mistress. This is generally (and frantically) said by some hapless guy getting chased after and whipped by a dominatrix in black leather who wants him to lick her boots. Used a lot in fics written by His lordship Chaos. Sensei: teacher/instructor Avatar: fanfiction catch word. It's when the author self- inserts themselves into a fic. This incarnation is an avatar, and more often than not used for evil god-like purposes of stroking the author's ego. Ano: literally, "Um...." -san: suffix for Mr. or Mrs., used as a term of respect -sama: suffix for master, someone deserving of your respect...or fear. Look at how it's used in Jo'o-sama, for example. Itai: Ouch! Mame: Bean