Anime and Internal Logic

[Zeras]

Yes, his "coffin" was only present in the anime; his soul - originally - was not able to be brought back, since he used the Shiki Fuujin to re-seal the Nine Tailed Fox and the contract of the jutsu meant that his soul was taken by the Death God.

 

[Ishal]

Ah, Rurouni Kenshin...

I was surprised to learn how much of that story had the air of truth about it, historically speaking. Not all of it, but enough to be very interesting. In any case, I can help you there with some of your confusion. I have sais myself. Samurai armor tends to be a reinforced leather or even wood arranged in a manner by which slicing would be detered. It is somewhat reminescent of the viking buckler shield which is made of wood, but painted in a manner that allows the enemy to believe the stress-patterns are a different way, thus the sword or axe swing doesn't break the shield in two. In the same manner, the katana fails to get by the samurai's armor.

Regarding Saito for a moment, by the by. It is a matter of fact that he could fight, and that he would be given great cause to do so at times. It was largely that his order was committed to the cause of removing dangerous elements so succinctly, that they evolved a 'by any means necessary' tactic. He had a...kind of honor, the kind that is of a zealous patroitism to not a man, but to a people and a way of life. At least, I think so.

Saito's arc was always a bit tricky for me. He was a member of the Shinsengumi, which were essentially samurai who sided with the Tokugawa Shogun regime against the Meiji revolutionaries. His creed of Ak soc zan (Slay Evil Immediately) I'd agree was very much a form of zealous patriotism, it also explains why he became a policeman after the revolution. The medicine peddler disguise was most likely a routine they adopted to move about in secret and find the revolutionaries when they were having secret meetings. I recall them being introduced in that manner in an episode where they attack a hotel room full of Meiji conspirators.

I think he probably the most interesting character in the show. I loved that many of the characters were samurai but the circumstance they were put in (or put themselves in, in Kenshin's case) caused them to act in different ways one might not expect a Samurai to behave. Saito and Kenshin were great characters. I'm going to rewatch that series when I get some free time.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Well, in the defense of "manga" (generlization, hooo...), western storytelling (...ooo!) isn't exactly internally consistent either. Just take Star Trek and its treatment of the Prime Directive. Here's a breakdown of the problems with it: http://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/e113.asp

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! IT HURTS!

...No, that's just the headdesking.

Seriously, interfering with an unknown plan we don't know exists because...Ponies. This argument has always bothered me.

Janeway: We don't know what the consequences could be.
Paris: They have to be better than extinction!
Janeway: Go to your room!

Yeah... It does get a little messed up.

Interesting point though: According to TNG episode 'Angel One', the Prime Directive is limited exclusively to starfleet.

Federation citizens who aren't part of Starfleet (and possibly other government departments), don't have to pay any attention whatsoever to the prime directive...

Which is... Interesting in itself when you think about it.

Can starfleet mess with a technologically primitive planet? No. It goes against the prime directive.

Can a Federation Citizen do it? Sure. Why not. XD

 

[Asuka Soryu]

It occurs to me that we really only have problems with misrepresentations of other people's cultural artifacts, not our own. We don't mind if vampires drink blood or drain life force or just eat like normal people, are immortal or not, age or don't, turn to ash in sunlight, have to be staked through the heart or shot with a silver bullet, turn into demons, have super-strength, or shoot lasers out of their hands, but if ninjas aren't dressed in black and silently assassinate people...well that's just wrong.

maybe, but the point is more about the essence of the archetype or myth in question, vampires are meant to be parasitical in some form and have a weakness for sunlight, among other things, look up Twilight and it's critisisms for referance on that.

although the black pajama's are not the core essence to a ninja (and quite silly anyway), the stealth aspect is, taking a medieval knight and call him a ninja because, "hey, they both fought and killed people" does not make it a ninja.
I thing Naruto comes a lot closer to a fighting monk, focussed on the perfection of his fighting skills for his own noble purposes rather than a code or creed, exposing injustice rather than quelling it in the dead of night.

you know, like a ninja would.

Wait, wait. No. The Twilight argument is invalid. Twilight was hated so much, that 'light' thing was overblown and even then, it wasn't vampires in sunlight as much as it was that they sparkled.

Also, there are vampire designs that had them immune to sun light way before Stephanie. Hell, pretty sure Nosferatu was immune to sun light.

I'm sure if a vampire movie had come out that was good, even if the vampires were able to travel in sun light, the complaints if any would be small.

 

[Asuka Soryu]

I think the thing to realize is that all stories when drawn out for a long period of time, especially when each chapter has a week to be produced, including new story, art, inking, dialogue, editing and publication, you just can't expect nothing to ever be contradicted. Some stories do get away with it, but they usually are smaller or have less things going on at one time.

 

[Combustion Kevin]

Wait, wait. No. The Twilight argument is invalid. Twilight was hated so much, that 'light' thing was overblown and even then, it wasn't vampires in sunlight as much as it was that they sparkled.

Also, there are vampire designs that had them immune to sun light way before Stephanie. Hell, pretty sure Nosferatu was immune to sun light.

I'm sure if a vampire movie had come out that was good, even if the vampires were able to travel in sun light, the complaints if any would be small.

well actually, the whole "can't handle sunlight" is meant to make the vampire this "mysterious outsider" since they can't normally go about in public, but that is only one aspect to vampire lore, albeit a significant part.

the point still stands though, even if the film was good, if it starred a character that didn't suck blood/life force/ magic whathaveyou, walked about in sunlight, died through conventional means but was still called a vampire, people would ***** about it, simply because it lacks the defining features of a vampire.

to coma back to the original point, the same applies to ninja's and samurai, only they fall under less scrutiny because we, as a western audiance, are far less familiar with their background.