Narrator

Make your PC speak

2014-04-21T05:40:00.001-07:00

Make your PC speak.
copy all the codes below in notepad :-

Dim msg, sapi
msg=InputBox("Enter your text","Talk it")
Set sapi=CreateObject("sapi.spvoice")
sapi.Speak msg

and save it as talk_with_me.vbs remember .vbs is very very important now open the file type your text and enjoy

Share for Share; Share 4 Share; S4s (history, founder and how to do it)

2014-04-12T22:50:00.005-07:00

Share 4 Share (s4s) means that u share one's page (let's call it X) and one shares your page (let's call it Y), when X shares Y the likes of both X and Y increases, the reason behind it is that when one's favorite page shares one page it shows up in fans timeline and they get attracted towards it and likes the shared link

History:-
s4s was started on facebook, specially for anime pages which attract many fb users and gives ones page a huge number of likes. And posts reached to more newsfeeds, and earn likes.

Founder:-
The global trend of s4s was originally started by Niranjan Dev Singh a facebook teen, this idea just struck into his mind about doing so and spread the idea throughout facebook..... and started doing s4s and earned a huge number of likes, and when it got viral and some issues started on facebook regarding s4s he decided to hold back and go into darkness, he didn't let anyone know anyone about the founder of s4s, and now owns a 200k Dortmund page which he got from a trade, he has lost very huge pages ever since he returned but still he is considered as a Big Admin.

How to do it:-
In Share 4 Share (s4s) u share one's page (let's call it X) and one shares your page (let's call it Y), when X shares Y the likes of both X and Y increases. It is mosly done in facebook groups.

Temple Run Online

2013-06-22T22:17:00.001-07:00

One Piece

2013-05-22T03:59:00.001-07:00


Sixty-first volume of One Piece

One Piece (ワンピース Wan Pīsu) is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 4, 1997; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997, and the 69th volume released as of March 2013. One Piece follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a young man whose body gains the properties of rubber after unintentionally eating a Devil Fruit, and his diverse crew of pirates, named the Straw Hat Pirates. Luffy explores the ocean in search of the world's ultimate treasure known as One Piece in order to become the next Pirate King.
The chapters have been adapted into an original video animation (OVA) produced by Production I.G in 1998, and an anime series produced by Toei Animation, which began broadcasting in Japan in 1999. Since then, the still ongoing series has aired over 595 episodes. Additionally, Toei has developed eleven animated feature films, an OVA, and five television specials. Several companies have developed various types of merchandising such as a trading card game, and a large number of video games.
The manga series was licensed for an English language release in North America by Viz Media, in the United Kingdom by Gollancz Manga, and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment. The anime series has been licensed by Funimation Entertainment for an English-language release in North America, although the series was originally licensed and distributed by 4Kids Entertainment.
In 2008, One Piece became the highest-circulating manga series. In 2010, Shueisha announced that they sold over 260 million volumes of One Piece manga so far; volume 61 set a new record for the highest initial print run of any book in Japan with 3.8 million copies (the previous record belonging to volume 60 with 3.4 million copies). Volume 60 was the first book to sell over two million copies in its opening week on Japan's Oricon book rankings. One Piece is currently ranked as the best-selling manga series. It enjoys a very high readership, with more than 280 million volumes of the series sold in Japan as of 2012. One Piece has received wide critical acclaim from reviewers, primarily for its art, characterization, humor and story.

Plot

Monkey D. Luffy

The series begins with the execution of Gol D. Roger, a man known as the King of the Pirates (海賊王 Kaizokuō). Just before his death, Roger announces that his treasure, the One Piece (ひとつなぎの大秘宝 (ワンピース) Wan Pīsu), will be up for the taking, causing the Great Pirate Era (大海賊時代 Dai Kaizoku Jidai) to begin. As a result, countless pirates set out to the Grand Line to look for the treasure.
Twenty-two years have passed since Roger's execution, and Monkey D. Luffy, a young pirate inspired by his childhood idol and powerful pirate Red Haired Shanks, has since set off on a journey from the East Blue Ocean to succeed Roger and find the legendary treasure. In an attempt to organize his own crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, he befriends a swordsman named Roronoa Zoro and together, they sail off to find the One Piece. They soon meet Nami, a navigator and thief; Usopp, a sniper and a liar; and Sanji, a womanizing chef; leading to confrontations with Buggy the Clown, Captain Kuro and Don Krieg. Later, Luffy encounters Arlong, a fishman and member of the former Sun Pirates who thinks that fishmen are superior to humans. After Luffy defeats Arlong, Nami joins Luffy's crew and the Navy places a bounty on Luffy's head. After making their way through the Grand Line, the group meets Nefeltari Vivi, a princess who wants to help save her country, the Alabasta Kingdom, from the crime syndicate Baroque Works. They later befriend the doctor and anthropomorphized reindeer Tony Tony Chopper while in Drum Island.
The Straw Hat Pirates make their way to Alabasta, leading to battles with Baroque Works and their leader, Sir Crocodile. Luffy eventually defeats Crocodile and liberates Alabasta. Soon after, Nico Robin, an archaeologist and former member of Baroque Works joins Luffy's crew. They soon meet Blackbeard, whose dream is also to become Pirate King. After going up to the floating island of Skypiea, the crew gets involved in a war between the Skypieans and the Shandorians, leading to a confrontation against the island's ruler Eneru, who has the power of lightning. Luffy defeats Eneru to save Skypiea and end the war. The crew soon meets the navy admiral Aokiji, who reveals that Robin was involved in searching for Poneglyphs, which are stones with markings left by an ancient civilization. The group goes to Water 7, confronting the cyborg shipwright Franky. However, Cipher Pol No. 9, the World Government's intelligence agency captures Robin, and the Straw Hat Pirates team up with Franky and declare war on the World Government, resulting in battles between CP9 and its minions. The final long battle with CP9 ends when the crew saves Robin, and Franky joins their crew. Soon after, the crew helps a musician skeleton named Brook find his shadow, which has been stolen by Gecko Moriah.

Blackbeard

The crew later prepares to sail off to the New World, the second half of the Grand Line, after landing at the Sabaody Archipelago. While there, they befriend Silvers Rayleigh, a former member of Roger's pirate crew who plans to coat their ship so they can travel underwater. The crew eventually gets separated during a battle with Bartholomew Kuma at the Sabaody Archipelago, with Luffy being sent to the all-female island Amazon Lily. When he learns that his older brother Portgas D. Ace has been detained at the government prison Impel Down, Luffy goes there and liberates several people from the prison, including the fishman Jimbei. Luffy soon learns that Portgas D. Ace is at Marineford to be executed. However, war breaks out between the Navy and a group of pirates led by the legendary pirate, Whitebeard. In the ensuing chaos, Whitebeard and Ace are killed. At Rayleigh's suggestion, Luffy has the Straw Hats undergo rigorous training regimens, some under the tutelage of prominent figures.
Nearly two years later, the crew regroups at Sabaody Archipelago and journeys to Fishman Island to enter the New World. During this time, a group of fishman pirates appear, seeking supremacy against humans, and hold a coup d'état to decide the fate of the island. However, after Nami forgives Jimbei for releasing Arlong into the East Blue, the Straw Hats defeat the fishmen pirates, saving the island. The Straw Hats leave Fishman Island and finally reach the New World, but not before starting a feud with one of the four strongest pirates in the New World, Big Mom. Entering the half-burning and half-freezing island, Punk Hazard, the crew encounters Trafalgar Law, and they form an alliance to take down the four strongest pirates in the New World before being drawn into a battle against Caesar Clown, who plans to use a weapon of mass destruction. After Caesar's defeat, the alliance goes to Dressrosa in an attempt to destroy the Smiles factory as the next step to take down another one of the four strongest pirates, Kaido.
After arriving on Dressrosa, Luffy decided to enter a tournament in the Corrida Colliseum, where the prize is his brother Ace's Devil Fruit, the Flame-Flame Fruit .

Setting

The world of One Piece is populated by humans and numerous other races, including mermen and mermaids, "fishmen," fish-human hybrids, and giants. It is covered by two vast oceans, which are divided by a massive mountain range called the Red Line (赤い土の大陸（レッドライン） Reddo Rain). The Grand Line (偉大なる航路（グランドライン） Gurando Rain), a sea that runs perpendicular to the Red Line, further divides them into four seas: North Blue (北の海（ノースブルー） Nōsu Burū), East Blue (東の海（イーストブルー） Īsuto Burū), West Blue (西の海（ウェストブルー） Uesuto Burū) and South Blue (南の海（サウスブルー） Sausu Burū).Surrounding the Grand Line are two regions called Calm Belts (凪の帯（カームベルト） kāmu beruto), which experience almost no wind and ocean currents and are breeding ground for the huge sea creatures called neptunians (海王類 kaiōrui, lit. "sea kings"). Because of this, the calm belts are very effective barriers for those trying to enter the Grand Line. While marine ships, using sea-prism stone (海楼石 kairōseki) to mask their presence, can simply pass through, most have to use the canal system of Reverse Mountain (リヴァース・マウンテン Rivāsu Maunten), a mountain at the first intersection of the Grand Line and the Red Line. Sea water from each of the four seas runs up that mountain and merges at the top to flow down a fifth canal and into the first half of the Grand Line. The second half of the Grand Line, beyond the second intersection with the Red Line, is also known as the New World (新世界 Shin Sekai).
The currents and weather on the Grand Line's open sea are extremely unpredictable, whereas in the vicinity of islands the climate is stable. What makes it even harder to navigate is the fact that normal compasses do not work there. A special compass called a Log Pose (記録指針（ログポース） Rogu Pōsu) must be used. The Log Pose works by locking on to one island's magnetic field and then locking on to another island's magnetic field. The time for it to set depends on the island. This process can be bypassed by obtaining an Eternal Pose (永久指針（エターナルポース） Etānaru Pōsu), a Log Pose variation that is permanently set to a specific island and never changes.
The world of One Piece is filled with anachronisms, like the Transponder Snails (電伝虫 Den-Den Mushi), snail-like animals that can be attached to electric equipment and function as rotary phones, fax machines, surveillance cameras, and similar devices. Dials (貝（ダイアル） daiaru), the shells of certain sky-dwelling animals, can be used to store wind, sound, images, heat, and the like and have various applications.

Devil Fruit

A Devil Fruit (悪魔の実 Akuma no Mi) is a type of fruit which when eaten confers a power on the eater. There are three categories of Devil Fruit. Zoan (動物系（ゾオン） Zoon) fruits allow the user to fully and partially transform into a specific animal. Logia (自然系（ロギア） Rogia) fruits give control over and allow the user "to change their living body structure into the powers of nature". Paramecia (超人系（パラミシア） Paramishia) is a catch-all category for fruits that give the user superhuman abilities. They are said to be incarnations of the Sea Devil himself, and as a result, Devil Fruit users cannot swim in sea water, as "they are hated by the sea". When even partially submerged in sea water, they lose all of their strength and coordination, although some abilities remain, such as Luffy still being able to stretch after being totally submerged. "Moving" water, such as rain or waves, does not have this effect.
Haki (覇気, lit. "Ambition") is a latent ability every living being in the world of One Piece possesses, though it is quiescent in most. It comes in three varieties: Color of Observation Haki (見聞色の覇気 Kenbunshoku no Haki) allows to sense the presence of other beings and predict their movement. Color of Armament (武装色の覇気 Busōshoku no Haki) allows one to envelop body parts and even inanimate forms with a force akin to an invisible armor that possesses defensive/offensive properties. The rare Color of the Supreme King (覇王色の覇気 Haōshoku no Haki) enables one to intimidate or render beings of weak determination unconscious.

Production

While working as an assistant to Nobuhiro Watsuki, Eiichiro Oda began writing One Piece in 1996. From there, it started as three one-shot stories entitled Romance Dawn—which would later be used as the title for One Piece's first chapter and volume. The two one-shots featured the character of Luffy, and included elements that would later appear in the main series. The first of these short stories was published in August 1996 in a special issue of Shōnen Jump and later in One Piece Red. The second was published in the 41st issue of Shōnen Jump in 1996 and reprinted 1998 in Oda's short story collection, Wanted!.
Oda originally planned One Piece to last five years, and he had already planned out the ending, but he found himself enjoying the story too much to end it in that amount of time and now has no idea how long it will take to reach that point. Nevertheless, the author states, as of July 2007, that the ending will still be the one he had decided on from the beginning and he is committed to seeing it through to the end, no matter how many years it takes.
When creating a Devil Fruit, Oda thinks of something that would fulfill a human desire; he added that he does not see why he would draw a Devil Fruit unless the fruit's appearance would entice one to eat it. The names of many special attacks and other concepts in the manga consist of a form of punning, in which phrases written in kanji are paired with an idiosyncratic reading. The names of Luffy, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, and Franky's techniques are often mixed with other languages, and the names of a number of Zoro's sword techniques are designed as jokes; for example, some of them look fearsome when read by sight but sound like kinds of food when read aloud (like Zoro's signature move, Onigiri, which is rendered as demon's cut but may also mean rice dumpling). Eisaku Inoue, the animation director, has said that the creators did not use these kanji readings in the anime since they "might have cut down the laughs by about half." Nevertheless, Konosuke Uda, the director, said that he believes that the creators "made the anime pretty close to the manga."
Oda was "sensitive" about how it would be translated. The English version of the One Piece manga in many instances uses one onomatopoeia for multiple onomatopoeia used in the Japanese version. For instance, "saaa" (the sound of light rain, close to a mist) and "zaaa" (the sound of pouring rain) are both translated as "fshhhhhhh." Unlike other manga artists, Oda draws everything that moves—including crowds, animals, smoke, clouds, and oceans—himself to create a consistent look while leaving his staff to draw the backgrounds based on sketches drawn by Oda.
When a reader asked Oda who Nami is in love with, Oda answered that there will not likely be any romance among the Straw Hat Pirates. Oda explained that he does not portray romance in One Piece as the series is a shōnen comic, and the young boys who read the comic are not interested in romance. Oda stated that he does not want to incorporate or even be told other people's ideas, whether they be his readers or staff. He explained that he does not want to become dependent on others' ideas and that he derives self-confidence from the fact that his work is his alone.

Media

Manga

One Piece Manga

Written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece has been serialized in the manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump starting on August 4, 1997. The chapters have been published into tankōbon volumes by Shueisha since December 24, 1997. As of April 8, 2013, there are 704 chapters and 69 tankōbon volumes.
The One Piece series was licensed for an English language release by Viz Media publishes its English-language adaptation of the series, chapterwise in the manga anthology Shonen Jump, since the magazine's launch in November 2002, and in bound volumes since June 2003. As of January 7, 2012, 60 English-language volumes have been published. In 2009, Viz Media announced the release of five volumes per month in North America during the first half of 2010, greatly increasing that number. In the United Kingdom, the volumes were published by Gollancz Manga, starting March 2006, until Viz Media replaced it after the fourteenth volume. In Australia and New Zealand, the English volumes have been distributed by Madman Entertainment since November 10, 2008.In Poland, Japonica Polonica Fantastica is publishing the manga – as of June 2011, four volumes have been released.

Original video animations

Three original video animations (OVAs) have been released in Japan. The first, One Piece: Defeat The Pirate Ganzack!, was produced by Production I.G for the Jump Super Anime Tour of 1998 and directed by Gorō Taniguchi. It is 29 minutes in length and features character designs by Hisashi Kagawa. Luffy, Nami, and Zoro are attacked by a sea monster that destroys their boat and separates them. Luffy is found on an island beach, where he saves a little girl, Medaka, from two pirates. All the villagers, including Medaka's father, have been taken away by Ganzack and his crew as forced laborers. After hearing that Ganzak also stole all the food, Luffy and Zoro rush out to get it back. As they fight the pirates, one of them kidnaps Medaka. A fight starts between Luffy and Ganzack, ending in Luffy's capture. Meanwhile, Zoro is forced to give up after a threat is made to kill all of the villagers. The people from the village rise up against Ganzack, and while the islanders and pirates fight, Nami goes and unlocks the three captives. Ganzack defeats the rebellion and reveals his armored battleship. Now it is up to the Straw Hats to "Defeat the Pirate Ganzack!" and prevent him from destroying the island. The Straw Hat team include Luffy, Nami, Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky and Brook.
The second OVA, One Piece: Romance Dawn Story, was produced by Toei Animation in July 2008 for the Jump Super Anime Tour. It is 34 minutes in length and based on the first version of Romance Dawn, the pilot story for One Piece, but includes the Straw Hat Pirates up to Brook and their second ship, the Thousand Sunny. In search for food for his crew, Luffy arrives at a port town, defeating a pirate named Crescent Moon Gally on the way. He meets a girl named Silk in town, who was abandoned by attacking pirates as a baby and raised by the mayor, which has caused her to value the town as her "treasure". The villagers mistake Luffy for Gally and capture him just as the real Gally returns. Gally throws Luffy in the water and plans to destroy the town, but Silk saves him and Luffy goes after Gally. His crew arrives to help him, and with his help, he recovers the treasure for the town, gets some food, and destroys Gally's ship. It was later released as a triple feature DVD with Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! and Tegami Bachi: Light and Blue Night, that was available only though a mail-in offer exclusive to Japanese residents.
The third OVA, One Piece Film Strong World: Episode 0, is the animated version of the One Piece Manga Special called "Chapter 0" which shows how things were before and after the death of Roger. It is also the introductory chapter to the long-awaited tenth film, Strong World.

Anime series

Toei Animation produced an anime television series based on the manga chapters, also titled One Piece. The series premiered in Japan on Fuji Television on October 20, 1999. Since then, the still ongoing series has aired more than 500 episodes and has been exported to various countries around the world.
In 2004, 4Kids Entertainment acquired the license for distribution of One Piece in North America. 4Kids collaborated with Viz Media to distribute the series for home video release. This dub was heavily edited for content, as well as length; reducing the first 143 episodes into 104. Sanji's cigarettes, for example, were turned into lollipops, and "the skin of a black pirate was changed to a tan mulatto / white color." 4Kids originally created an English version of the original opening theme; however, the music was replaced with an alternate score. The series premiered in the United States on September 18, 2004 on the Fox network as part of the Fox Box block, and later aired on Cartoon Network in the Toonami block in April 2005. 4Kids released a statement in December 2006 confirming that it cancelled the project. In July 2010, an interview was conducted between Anime News Network and Mark Kirk, the Vice President of Digital Media for 4Kids Entertainment. In this interview, Kirk explained that 4Kids acquired One Piece as part of a package deal with other anime, and that the company did not actually watch any of the series before acquiring it. However, once 4Kids realized One Piece would not work with their intended demographic, the company decided to edit it into a more child-oriented series until they had an opportunity to legally drop the license. Kirk said the experience on producing One Piece "ruined the company's reputation." Ever since that incident, 4Kids established a more strict set of guidelines, checks, and balances to determine what anime the company acquires.
Following the 4Kids dub in 2007, Funimation Entertainment began production on an English-language release of One Piece. In an interview with voice actor Christopher Sabat, Sabat stated that Funimation had been interested in acquiring One Piece from the very beginning, and produced a "test episode," in which Sabat played the character of Helmeppo and Eric Vale played the part of the main character, Luffy (they would later go on to provide the English voices for Roronoa Zoro and Sanji, respectively). After producing a new English voice dub, which featured minimal edits compared to the 4Kids dub, the company released its first unedited, bilingual DVD box set, containing 13 episodes, on May 27, 2008. Similarly sized sets followed with fourteen sets released as of October 26, 2010. The Funimation dubbed episodes premiered on Cartoon Network on September 29, 2007 and aired until its cancellation on March 22, 2008. The remainder of Funimation's dubbed episodes continued to be aired on Australia's Cartoon Network, and then shifted into reruns of the Funimation dub before being replaced by Total Drama Island. On October 28, 2011, Funimation posted a press release on their official website, confirming the acquisition of episodes 206-263 and the aspect ratio, beginning with episode 207 onwards, will be changed to the 16:9 widescreen format. On May 18, 2013, the uncensored series began airing on Adult Swim's revised Toonami block from episode 207 onwards.
Funimation, Toei Animation, Shueisha, and Fuji TV announced in May 2009 that they would simulcast stream the series within an hour of the weekly Japanese broadcast. This free, English-subtitled simulcast is available at www.onepieceofficial.com. Originally scheduled to begin on May 30, 2009 with episode 403, a lack of security resulted in a leak of the episode. As a result, Funimation delayed the offer until August 29, 2009 at which point it began with a simulcast of episode #415.
In early February 2013, Manga Entertainment announced that they will start releasing the Funimation dub of One Piece in the United Kingdom in 4 disc collection format, starting in late May 2013.

Anime films

Twelve animated films based on the One Piece series have been released in Japan. The films are traditionally released during the Japanese school spring break since 2000. The films feature self-contained, completely original plots or alternate retellings of story arcs with animation of higher quality than what the weekly anime allows for. Funimation Entertainment has licensed the eighth and tenth films for release in North America.

Video games

The One Piece franchise has been adapted into multiple video games published by subsidiaries of Bandai and later as part of Namco Bandai Games. The games have been released on a variety of video game and handheld consoles. The series features various genres, mostly role-playing games—the predominant type in the series' early years—and fighting games, such as the titles of the Grand Battle! sub-series.
The series debuted in Japan on July 19, 2000 with One Piece: Mezase Kaizoku Ou!. As of 2012, the series contains 32 games, not counting Battle Stadium D.O.N, the title One Piece shares with its related manga series Dragon Ball and Naruto.

Troll

2013-03-31T01:15:00.001-07:00

Troll Face

In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as a forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion. The noun troll may also refer to the provocative message itself, as in: "That was an excellent troll you posted."
While the word troll and its associated verb trolling are associated with Internet discourse, media attention in recent years has made such labels subjective, with trolling describing intentionally provocative actions and harassment outside of an online context. For example, mass media has used troll to describe "a person who defaces Internet tribute sites with the aim of causing grief to families."

Etymology

It has been asserted that the verb to troll originates from Old French troller, a hunting term. A verb "trôler" is found in modern French-English dictionaries, where the main meaning given is "to lead, or drag, somebody about". In modern English usage, the verb to troll describes a fishing technique of slowly dragging a lure or baited hook from a moving boat. A similar but distinct verb, "to trawl," describes the act of dragging a fishing net (not a line). Whereas trolling with a fishing line is recreational, trawling with a net is generally a commercial activity.
The noun troll comes from the Old Norse word for a mythological monster. The word evokes the trolls of Scandinavian folklore and children's tales, where they are often creatures bent on mischief and wickedness. The contemporary use of the term is alleged to have appeared on the Internet in the late 1980s, but the earliest known example is from 1992. Early non-Internet related use of trolling for actions deliberately performed to provoke a reaction can be found in the military; by 1972 the term trolling for MiGs was documented in use by US Navy pilots in Vietnam

Early history

The most likely derivation of the word troll can be found in the phrase "trolling for newbies", popularized in the early 1990s in the Usenet group, alt.folklore.urban (AFU). Commonly, what is meant is a relatively gentle inside joke by veteran users, presenting questions or topics that had been so overdone that only a new user would respond to them earnestly. For example, a veteran of the group might make a post on the common misconception that glass flows over time. Long-time readers would both recognize the poster's name and know that the topic had been discussed a lot, but new subscribers to the group would not realize, and would thus respond. These types of trolls served as a practice to identify group insiders. This definition of trolling, considerably narrower than the modern understanding of the term, was considered a positive contribution. One of the most notorious AFU trollers, David Mikkelson. went on to create the urban folklore website Snopes.com.
By the late 1990s, alt.folklore.urban had such heavy traffic and participation that trolling of this sort was frowned upon. Others expanded the term to include the practice of playing a seriously misinformed or deluded user, even in newsgroups where one was not a regular; these were often attempts at humor rather than provocation. In such contexts, the noun troll usually referred to an act of trolling, rather than to the author.

In other languages

In Chinese, trolling is referred to as bái mù (Chinese: 白目; literally "white eye"), which can be straightforwardly explained as "eyes without pupils", in the sense that whilst the pupil of the eye is used for vision, the white section of the eye cannot see, and trolling involves blindly talking nonsense over the internet, having total disregard to sensitivities or being oblivious to the situation at hand, akin to having eyes without pupils. An alternative term is bái làn (Chinese: 白爛; literally "white rot"), which describes a post completely nonsensical and full of folly made to upset others, and derives from a Taiwanese slang term for the male genitalia, where genitalia that is pale white in colour represents that someone is young, and thus foolish. Both terms originate from Taiwan, and are also used in Hong Kong and mainland China. Another term, xiǎo bái (Chinese: 小白; literally "little white") is a derogatory term that refers to both bái mù and bái làn that is used on anonymous posting internet forums. Another common term for a troll used in mainland China is pēn zi (Chinese: 噴子; literally "sprayer, spurter").
In Japanese, tsuri (釣り) means "fishing" and refers to intentionally misleading posts whose only purpose is to get the readers to react, i.e. get trolled. arashi (荒らし) means "laying waste" and can also be used to refer to simple spamming.
In Icelandic, þurs (a thurs) or tröll (a troll) may refer to trolls, the verbs þursa (to troll) or þursast (to be trolling, to troll about) may be used.
In Korean, nak-si (낚시) means "fishing", and is used to refer to Internet trolling attempts, as well as purposefully misleading post titles. A person who recognizes the troll after having responded (or, in case of a post title nak-si, having read the actual post) would often refer to himself as a caught fish.
In Portuguese, more commonly in its Brazilian variant, troll (produced [ˈtɾɔw] in most of Brazil as spelling pronunciation) is the usual term to denote internet trolls (examples of common derivate terms are trollismo or trollagem, "trolling", and the verb trollar, "to troll", which entered popular use), but an older expression, used by those which want to avoid anglicisms or slangs, is complexo do pombo enxadrista to denote trolling behavior, and pombos enxadristas (literally, "chessplayer pigeons") or simply pombos are the terms used to name the trolls. The terms are explained by an adage or popular saying: "Arguing with fulano (i.e. John Doe) is the same as playing chess with a pigeon: the pigeon defecates on the table, drop the pieces and simply fly, claiming victory."
In Thai, the term "krean" (เกรียน) has been adopted to address Internet trolls. The term literally refers to a closely cropped hairstyle worn by most school boys in Thailand, thus equating Internet trolls to school boys. The term "tob krean" (ตบเกรียน), or "slapping a cropped head", refers to the act of posting intellectual replies to refute and cause the messages of Internet trolls to be perceived as unintelligent.

Trolling, identity, and anonymity

Early incidents of trolling were considered to be the same as flaming, but this has changed with modern usage by the news media to refer to the creation of any content that targets another person. The Internet dictionary NetLingo suggests there are four grades of trolling: playtime trolling, tactical trolling, strategic trolling, and domination trolling. The relationship between trolling and flaming was observed in open-access forums in California, on a series of modem-linked computers in the 1970s, like CommuniTree which when accessed by high school teenagers became a ground for trashing and abuse. Some psychologists have suggested that flaming would be caused by deindividuation or decreased self-evaluation: the anonymity of online postings would lead to disinhibition amongst individuals Others have suggested that although flaming and trolling is often unpleasant, it may be a form of normative behavior that expresses the social identity of a certain user group According to Tom Postmes, a professor of social and organisational psychology at the universities of Exeter, England, and Groningen, The Netherlands, and the author of Individuality and the Group, who has studied online behavior for 20 years, "Trolls aspire to violence, to the level of trouble they can cause in an environment. They want it to kick off. They want to promote antipathetic emotions of disgust and outrage, which morbidly gives them a sense of pleasure."
In academic literature, the practice of trolling was first documented by Judith Donath (1999). Donath's paper outlines the ambiguity of identity in a disembodied "virtual community" such as Usenet:

In the physical world there is an inherent unity to the self, for the body provides a compelling and convenient definition of identity. The norm is: one body, one identity ... The virtual world is different. It is composed of information rather than matter.

Donath provides a concise overview of identity deception games which trade on the confusion between physical and epistemic community:

Trolling is a game about identity deception, albeit one that is played without the consent of most of the players. The troll attempts to pass as a legitimate participant, sharing the group's common interests and concerns; the newsgroups members, if they are cognizant of trolls and other identity deceptions, attempt to both distinguish real from trolling postings, and upon judging a poster a troll, make the offending poster leave the group. Their success at the former depends on how well they – and the troll – understand identity cues; their success at the latter depends on whether the troll's enjoyment is sufficiently diminished or outweighed by the costs imposed by the group. Trolls can be costly in several ways. A troll can disrupt the discussion on a newsgroup, disseminate bad advice, and damage the feeling of trust in the newsgroup community. Furthermore, in a group that has become sensitized to trolling – where the rate of deception is high – many honestly naïve questions may be quickly rejected as trollings. This can be quite off-putting to the new user who upon venturing a first posting is immediately bombarded with angry accusations. Even if the accusation is unfounded, being branded a troll is quite damaging to one's online reputation.

Susan Herring and colleagues in "Searching for Safety Online: Managing 'Trolling' in a Feminist Forum" point out the difficulty inherent in monitoring trolling and maintaining freedom of speech in online communities: "harassment often arises in spaces known for their freedom, lack of censure, and experimental nature".
Free speech may lead to tolerance of trolling behavior, complicating the members' efforts to maintain an open, yet supportive discussion area, especially for sensitive topics such as race, gender, and sexuality.
In an effort to reduce uncivil behavior by increasing accountability, many web sites (e.g. Reuters, Facebook, and Gizmodo) now require commenters to register their names and e-mail addresses.

Concern troll

A concern troll is a false flag pseudonym created by a user whose actual point of view is opposed to the one that the user claims to hold. The concern troll posts in Web forums devoted to its declared point of view and attempts to sway the group's actions or opinions while claiming to share their goals, but with professed "concerns". The goal is to sow fear, uncertainty and doubt within the group.
An example of this occurred in 2006 when Tad Furtado, a staffer for then-Congressman Charles Bass (R-NH), was caught posing as a "concerned" supporter of Bass' opponent, Democrat Paul Hodes, on several liberal New Hampshire blogs, using the pseudonyms "IndieNH" or "IndyNH". "IndyNH" expressed concern that Democrats might just be wasting their time or money on Hodes, because Bass was unbeatable. Hodes eventually won the election.
Although the term "concern troll" originated in discussions of online behavior, it now sees increasing use to describe similar behaviors that take place offline. For example, James Wolcott of Vanity Fair accused a conservative New York Daily News columnist of "concern troll" behavior in his efforts to downplay the Mark Foley scandal. Wolcott links what he calls concern trolls to what Saul Alinsky calls "Do-Nothings", giving a long quote from Alinsky on the Do-Nothings' method and effects:

These Do-Nothings profess a commitment to social change for ideals of justice, equality, and opportunity, and then abstain from and discourage all effective action for change. They are known by their brand, 'I agree with your ends but not your means.'

The Hill published an op-ed piece by Markos Moulitsas of the liberal blog Daily Kos titled "Dems: Ignore 'Concern Trolls'". The concern trolls in question were not Internet participants; they were Republicans offering public advice and warnings to the Democrats. The author defines "concern trolling" as "offering a poisoned apple in the form of advice to political opponents that, if taken, would harm the recipient".

Troll sites

While many webmasters and forum administrators consider trolls a scourge on their sites, some websites welcome them. For example, a New York Times article discussed troll activity at 4chan and at Encyclopedia Dramatica, which it described as "an online compendium of troll humor and troll lore". This site and others are often used as a base to troll against sites that their members can not normally post on. These trolls feed off the reactions of their victims because "their agenda is to take delight in causing trouble".

Media coverage and controversy

Mainstream media outlets have focused their attention on the willingness of some Internet trolls to go to extreme lengths in their attempts at eliciting reactions.

United States

On March 31, 2010, the Today Show ran a segment detailing the deaths of three separate adolescent girls and trolls' subsequent reactions to their deaths. Shortly after the suicide of high school student Alexis Pilkington, anonymous posters began trolling for reactions across various message boards, referring to Pilkington as a "suicidal slut", and posting graphic images on her Facebook memorial page. The segment also included an exposé of a 2006 accident, in which an eighteen-year old fatally crashed her father's car into a highway pylon; trolls emailed her grieving family the leaked pictures of her mutilated corpse. In 2012, the subject of trolling was featured on the HBO series The Newsroom.

Australia

In February 2010, the Australian government became involved after trolls defaced the Facebook tribute pages of murdered children Trinity Bates and Elliott Fletcher. Australian communications minister Stephen Conroy decried the attacks, committed mainly by 4chan users, as evidence of the need for greater Internet regulation, stating, "This argument that the Internet is some mystical creation that no laws should apply to, that is a recipe for anarchy and the wild west." Facebook responded by strongly urging administrators to be aware of ways to ban users and remove inappropriate content from Facebook pages. In 2012, the Daily Telegraph started a campaign to take action against "Twitter trolls", who abuse and threaten users. Several high-profile Australians including Charlotte Dawson, Robbie Farah, Laura Dundovic, and Ray Hadley have been victims of trolling.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, contributions made to the Internet are covered by the Communications Act 2003. Sending messages which are "grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character" is an offense whether they are received by the intended recipient or not. Several people have been imprisoned in the UK for trolling. Sean Duffy, who mocked the testimonial page of a dead teenager, was sentenced to eighteen weeks in prison and banned from using social networking sites for five years. Jamie Counsel was sentenced to four years for trying to incite riots. Trolls of the testimonial page of Georgia Varley faced no prosecution due to misunderstandings of the legal system in the wake of the term trolling being popularized. In October 2012, a twenty-year-old man was jailed for twelve weeks for posting offensive jokes to a support group for friends and family of April Jones. Later that month, The Register said there was a viewpoint that "the Crown Prosecution Service needs to reel in cops who are busily collaring trolls more or less at random ... usually responding to public pressure from media or social media".

Usage

Application of the term troll is subjective. Some readers may characterize a post as trolling, while others may regard the same post as a legitimate contribution to the discussion, even if controversial. Like any pejorative term, it can be used as an ad hominem attack, suggesting a negative motivation.
Regardless of the circumstances, controversial posts may attract a particularly strong response from those unfamiliar with the robust dialogue found in some online, rather than physical, communities. Experienced participants in online forums know that the most effective way to discourage a troll is usually to ignore it, because responding tends to encourage trolls to continue disruptive posts – hence the often-seen warning: "Please do not feed the trolls".

Examples

As reported on April 8, 1999, investors became victims of trolling via an online financial discussion regarding PairGain, a telephone equipment company based in California. Trolls operating in the stock’s Yahoo Finance chat room posted a fabricated Bloomberg News article stating that an Israeli telecom company could potentially acquire PairGain. As a result, PairGain’s stock jumped by 31%. However, the stock promptly crashed after the reports were identified as false.
So-called Gold Membership trolling originated in 2007 on 4chan boards, users posting fake images claiming to offer upgraded 4chan account privileges; without a "Gold" account, one could not view certain content. This turned out to be a hoax designed to fool board members, especially newcomers. It was copied and became an Internet meme. In some cases, this type of troll has been used as a scam, most notably on Facebook, where fake Facebook Gold Account upgrade ads have proliferated in order to link users to dubious websites and other content.
The case of Zeran v. America Online, Inc. resulted primarily from trolling. Six days after the Oklahoma City bombing, anonymous users posted advertisements for shirts celebrating the bombing on AOL message boards, claiming that the shirts could be obtained by contacting Mr. Kenneth Zeran. The posts listed Zeran's address and home phone number. Zeran was subsequently harassed.
Anti-Scientology protests by Anonymous, commonly known as Project Chanology, are sometimes labeled as "trolling" by media such as Wired, and the participants sometimes explicitly self-identify as "trolls".

Texts for Facebook chat

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meme

2013-03-30T23:53:00.001-07:00

Description

An Internet meme may take the form of an image, hyperlink, video, picture, website, or hashtag. It may be just a word or phrase, including intentionally misspelling the word “more” as “moar”, “the” as “teh, or "what" as "wat". These small movements tend to spread from person to person via social networks, blogs, direct email, or news sources. They may relate to various existing Internet cultures or subcultures, often created or spread on sites such as 4chan, Reddit and numerous others.
An Internet meme may stay the same or may evolve over time, by chance or through commentary, imitations, parody, or by incorporating news accounts about itself. Internet memes can evolve and spread extremely rapidly, sometimes reaching world-wide popularity within a few days. Internet memes usually are formed from some social interaction, pop culture reference, or situations people often find themselves in. Their rapid growth and impact has caught the attention of both researchers and industry. Academically, researchers model how they evolve and predict which memes will survive and spread throughout the Web. Commercially, they are used in viral marketing where they are an inexpensive form of mass advertising.

Types and uses

Public relations, advertising, and marketing professionals have embraced Internet memes as a form of viral marketing and guerrilla marketing to create marketing "buzz" for their product or service. The practice of using memes to market products or services is known as memetic marketing. Internet memes are seen as cost-effective, and because they are a (sometimes self-conscious) fad, they are therefore used as a way to create an image of awareness or trendiness.
Marketers, for example, use Internet memes to create interest in films that would otherwise not generate positive publicity among critics. The 2006 film Snakes on a Plane generated much publicity via this method. Used in the context of public relations, the term would be more of an advertising buzzword than a proper Internet meme, although there is still an implication that the interest in the content is for purposes of trivia, ephemera, or frivolity rather than straightforward advertising and news.
Examples of memetic marketing include the FreeCreditReport.com singing ad campaign, the "Nope, Chuck Testa" meme from an advertisement for taxidermist Chuck Testa, and the Dumb Ways to Die public announcement ad campaign by Metro Trains Melbourne.

Bleach

2013-03-26T06:51:00.002-07:00

The first volume of Bleach, published in Japan by Shueisha on January 5, 2002

Bleach (ブリーチ Burīchi) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he obtains the powers of a Soul Reaper (死神 Shinigami, literally, "Death God") —a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper—from another Soul Reaper, Rukia Kuchiki. His newfound powers force him to take on the duties of defending humans from evil spirits and guiding departed souls to the afterlife.
Bleach has been serialized in the Japanese manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 2001, and has been collected into 58 tankōbon volumes as of December 2012. Since its publication, Bleach has spawned a media franchise that includes an animated television series that was produced by Studio Pierrot in Japan from 2004 to 2012, two original video animations, four animated feature films, seven rock musicals, and numerous video games, as well as many types of Bleach-related merchandise.
Viz Media obtained foreign television and home video distribution rights to the Bleach anime on March 15, 2006. Cartoon Network's Adult Swim began airing Bleach in the United States on September 9, 2006. Viz Media has licensed the manga for English-language publication in the United States and Canada, and has released 51 bound volumes as of November 2012 as well as published chapters of Bleach in its Shonen Jump magazine since November 2007. Viz Media released the first Bleach film, Bleach: Memories of Nobody, on DVD in North America on October 14, 2008. The second film, Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion, was released on September 15, 2009. The third film, Bleach: Fade to Black, was released on November 15, 2011. In addition, Hulu released subtitled versions of the anime a week after each episode aired in Japan.
Volumes of the manga have sold more than 80 million copies in Japan, and is one of the most sold manga in the United States. The anime adaptation has been similarly received; it was rated as the fourth most popular anime television series in Japan in 2006 and held a position amongst the top ten anime in the United States from 2006 to 2008. The series received the Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen demographic in 2005, and is among the best-selling manga issues in both Japan and the United States.

Plot

Ichigo Kurosaki

Ichigo Kurosaki is a teenager gifted with the ability to see spirits. His life is drastically changed by the sudden appearance of a Soul Reaper—one who governs the flow of souls between the human world and the afterlife—named Rukia Kuchiki, who arrives in search of a Hollow, a dangerous lost soul that absorbs energy from souls. When Rukia is severely wounded defending Ichigo from the Hollow, she attempts to transfer a part of her reiatsu (霊圧, literally, "spiritual pressure") energy to Ichigo so that he can defeat the Hollow. However, Ichigo takes almost all of her energy, transforming into a Soul Reaper and allowing him to defeat the Hollow with ease. With her powers diminished, Rukia is left stranded in the human world until she can recover her strength. In the meantime, Ichigo must take over Rukia's role as a Soul Reaper, battling Hollows and guiding souls to the afterlife realm known as the Soul Society (尸魂界 (ソウル·ソサエティ) Sōru Sosaeti).
As some time passes and Rukia has yet to return to the Soul Society, her Soul Reaper superiors learn about her whereabouts and actions and sentence her to death for performing the illegal act of transferring her powers. A confrontation due to this ends with two high ranking Soul Reapers (Shinigami) injuring Ichigo and taking Rukia to their world The Soul Society. Although he is unable to stop Rukia's departure to the Soul Society, Ichigo resolves to rescue her with the aid of several of his spiritually aware classmates, Orihime Inoue, Yasutora (Chad) Sado, and Uryū Ishida, and the ex-Soul Reapers Yoruichi Shihōin and Kisuke Urahara. Once in Soul Society, Ichigo and company battle against the elites of the Soul Reaper military and strive to reach Rukia before her execution.
It is revealed that Rukia's execution and Ichigo's rescue attempt both had been manipulated by a very high-ranking Soul Reaper, Sōsuke Aizen, who was previously believed to have been murdered, as part of a far-reaching plot to take control of the Soul Society. Aizen betrays his fellow Soul Reapers and allies himself with the strongest of the Hollows, the Espadas, whom he enhances. Aizen thus becomes the main antagonist of the series, and the Soul Reapers form an alliance with Ichigo.
At this point, Bleach chronicles the war between the Soul Reapers, the Espadas, and Aizen. After Aizen defeats the Soul Reaper captains, Ichigo undergoes intense training with his father Isshin, who turns out to be a former Soul Reaper, in order to become strong enough to battle Aizen alone. As Aizen is weakened by his battle with Ichigo, a spell that Urahara had previously hidden within him activates and seals him, thus ending the conflict and leaving the Soul Society to imprison him. As a result of using an incredibly powerful attack in order to defeat Aizen, Ichigo loses all of his Spiritual Pressure and becomes an ordinary human.

Rukia

Seventeen months later, Ichigo meets "Xcution", a group of humans possessing Fullbring powers based on Hollows and want Ichigo to absorb them. Ichigo starts training to regain his Soul Reaper powers by first developing his own Fullbring following the appearance of Shūkurō Tsukishima, the former leader of Xcution who is targeting his friends. After developing his Fullbring, Ichigo is betrayed by Xcution's current leader Kūgo Ginjō, a former Substitute Soul Reaper who had his memories rewritten to act as Tsukishima's enemy and help Ichigo gain powers to steal them. With help from Soul Society, Ichigo regains his Soul Reaper powers and starts fighting Ginjō's group alongside Soul Society's forces. The Soul Society forces end victorious with Ichigo defeating Ginjō and presumably killing Tsukishima.
Following these events, a group of Quincies called the "Vandenreich" declares war on the Soul Society. Ichigo once again ventures to Hueco Mundo, which has also been invaded by the Vandenreich; at the same time, the captains in the Soul Society battle a powerful group in the Vandenreich army known as the "Stern Ritter". During the invasion, several Captains had their bankai stolen by the Stern Ritter. Meanwhile Captain Yamamoto took revenge on the Quincy who stole Sasakibe's bankai and then immediately sought out their leader who he identified as "Juha Bach" who up till now was referred to by the other Quincy as "His Majesty". Despite using his bankai to attempt to kill him, Juha surprises Yamamoto by stealing his bankai, then instantly kills him using his abilities. Ichigo then arrives to take on Juha Bach and has his bankai subsequently destroyed and origins called into question. During the aftermath, the Royal Guard arrive to take Ichigo and several of his comrades to the Spirit Palace where they begin recuperation and training for the next fight against the Vandenreich. After the recuperation, Renji and Ichigo had a test. Renji passed. Ichigo failed and was sent back to Karakura Town. After being told he is not a Soul Reaper, his father reveals that Ichigo's mother was a Quincy.

Production

Shinigami's

Bleach was first conceived from a desire on Tite Kubo's part to draw Shinigami in a kimono, which formed the basis for the design of the Soul Reapers in the series and the conception of Rukia Kuchiki. The original story concept was submitted to Weekly Shōnen Jump shortly after the cancellation of Tite Kubo's previous manga, Zombiepowder, but was rejected. Manga artist Akira Toriyama saw the story and wrote a letter of encouragement to Kubo. Bleach was accepted for publication a short time later in 2001, and was initially intended to be a shorter series, with a maximum serialization length of five years. Early plans for the story did not include the hierarchical structure of the Soul Society, but did include some characters and elements that were not introduced into the plot until the Arrancar arc, such as Ichigo's Soul Reaper heritage. The series was originally meant to be named "Black" due to the color of the Soul Reapers' clothes, but Kubo thought the title was too generic. He later tried the name of "White," but came to like "Bleach" more for its association with the color white and that he did not find it too obvious.
Tite Kubo has cited influences for elements of Bleach, ranging from other manga series to music, foreign language, architecture, and film. He attributes his interest in drawing the supernatural and monsters to Shigeru Mizuki's GeGeGe no Kitaro and Bleach's focus on interesting weaponry and battle scenes to Masami Kurumada's Saint Seiya, manga that Kubo enjoyed as a boy. The action style and storytelling found in Bleach are inspired by cinema, though Kubo has not revealed any specific movie as being an influence for fight scenes. When pressed, he told interviewers that he liked Snatch but did not use it as a model. Kubo has also stated that he wishes to make Bleach an experience that can only be found by reading manga, and dismissed ideas of creating any live-action film adaptations of the series.
Bleach's creative process is focused around character design. When writing plotlines or having difficulties generating new material, Kubo begins by thinking of new characters, often en masse, and rereading previous volumes of Bleach. Kubo has said that he likes creating characters that have outward appearances that do not match their true nature—an element that can be found in many Bleach characters—as he is "attracted to people with that seeming contradiction" and finds an "urge to draw people like that" when he works. The terminology used in Bleach has a variety of inspirations, with each category of characters bearing a different linguistic theme. Many of the names for swords and spells used by Soul Reapers were inspired by ancient Japanese literature. Hollows and Arrancars are often associated with Spanish terms because the language sounded "bewitching and mellow" to him. As for Fullbringers, their Fullbring is associated with the English vocabulary when either releasing or already have released their Fullbring. Finally, Quincy and Bounts have been known to associate with the German language, making Kubo's world of characters diverse in race and language as well.

Fairy Tail

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Fairy Tail is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiro Mashima. It has been published in Weekly Shōnen Magazine since August 2, 2006, and has been published by Kodansha in 30 tankōbon volumes; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Kodansha, with the first released on December 15, 2006, and the 35th volume released on November 16, 2012. Fairy Tail follows the adventures of Lucy Heartfilia, a teenage wizard (魔導士 madōshi), who joins the titular wizards' guild and teams up with fellow guild member Natsu Dragneel as he searches for the dragon Igneel.
The chapters have been adapted into an anime series produced by A-1 Pictures and Satelight, which began broadcasting in Japan in 2009. Since then, the still ongoing series has aired over 174 episodes. Additionally, A-1 Pictures and Satelight has developed four original video animations, an animated feature film, Fairy Tail the Movie: The Phoenix Priestess, and a fifth original video animation, which is the prequel to the movie. The series is scheduled to conclude on March 30, 2013.
The series was originally licensed for an English language release in North America by Del Rey Manga, which began releasing the individual volumes on March 25, 2008 and ended its licensing with the 12th volume release in September 2010. In December 2010, Kodansha Comics USA licensed the series from Del Rey, and has since continued its North American release. The Southeast Asian network Animax Asia aired an English-language version of the series for two seasons from 2010 to 2012. The anime has been licensed by Funimation Entertainment for an English-language release in North America.

Plot

Grey Fullbuster

Lucy Heartfilia is a 17-year-old celestial wizard who runs away from home to join Fairy Tail, a rambunctious wizards' guild whose members are famous for their overly destructive antics. Along the way, she meets Natsu Dragneel, a boy who is traveling the land of Fiore together with his partner Happy, a blue flying cat, in search of his foster parent, a dragon named Igneel who had disappeared seven years earlier. Lucy is soon abducted by a renegade wizard posing as the famous Salamander of Fairy Tail. Natsu rescues Lucy, revealing himself to be the real Salamander and a Dragon Slayer, a wizard with the abilities of a dragon. After defeating the imposter, Natsu invites Lucy to join Fairy Tail.

Natsu

Lucy forms a team with Natsu and Happy, along with Gray Fullbuster, an ice wizard with a habit of accidentally stripping, and Erza Scarlet, an armored female wizard. They are tasked with completing missions requested by people and collect money for rewards, such as hunting monsters and combating illegal guilds called dark guilds. Soon after, the rival guild Phantom Lord attacks Fairy Tail, resulting in a guild war. Fairy Tail defeats the rival guild, and Phantom Lord members Gajeel Redfox, a Dragon Slayer raised by the dragon Metalicana, and Juvia Lockser, a water wizard, join Fairy Tail. The guild also crosses paths with Jellal Fernandez, Erza's childhood friend who is manipulated by Ultear Milkovich to revive the ancient dark wizard Zeref using the Tower of Heaven. Natsu defeats Jellal and the Tower of Heaven is destroyed. Later, Laxus Dreyar, the renegade grandson of the guild's master Makarov Dreyar, stages a battle royal in Fairy Tail and is expelled as a result.

Blue Pagasus Guild

Forming an alliance with the wizard guilds Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale and Cait Shelter, Fairy Tail fights and defeats the dark guild Oración Seis with the help of a reformed Jellal, who is arrested for his previous crimes. Wendy Marvell, a Dragon Slayer raised by Grandine and the sole member of Cait Shelter, joins Fairy Tail along with her flying cat Carla. Lucy, Natsu and the others enter the alternate universe of Edolas when their guild vanishes due to Edolas' powers. The group encounters Faust, the universe's king who intends to bestow a limitless supply of magic for the universe. Happy also discovers his and Carla's heritage as Exceeds sent to Earth-land as infants on the orders of their queen Chagot. Allying with the Exceeds and Faust's son Mystogan, Fairy Tail defeats Faust and restores their guild at the cost of Edolas' magical power being drained. The group returns to Earth-land together with the Exceeds, one of which, Panther Lily, forms a partnership with Gajeel.

Grimoire Heart

Several members of Fairy Tail, including Natsu, Lucy, and their allies, participate in an exam on their guild's sacred ground of Tenrou Island in which wizards can advance to a higher rank and thus take part in more dangerous missions. During the exam, Fairy Tail is drawn into a battle against the dark guild Grimoire Heart; the dark guild is seeking Zeref, who has been living on the island. Aided by a reformed Laxus, Fairy Tail defeats Grimoire Heart, and Zeref kills the guild's leader Hades. However, the incident summons the black dragon Acnologia, which attacks the island. The spirit of Fairy Tail's founding master, Mavis Vermilion, protects everyone on the island from Acnologia's assault with a defensive spell, freezing them in time.
After returning to Magnolia seven years later, the returning members of Fairy Tail discover their guild to be the weakest in the kingdom. The group participates in a tournament called the Grand Magic Games to decide the kingdom's strongest guild. Also participating in the tournament are Sabertooth, the current strongest guild, and Raven Tail, a guild founded by Makarov's resentful son Ivan. Jellal, having escaped from detainment and founded Crime Sorcèrie with Ultear, encounters the source of the magical power. After defeating Sabertooth and Raven Tail, Fairy Tail claims first place in the Grand Magic Games. However, Natsu, Lucy and the others are drawn into a conspiracy involving the Eclipse Plan, which involves the use of the 12 Zodiac Gatekeys so that a person can travel back in time and destroy Zeref before he becomes a threat.

Setting

The world of Fairy Tail is populated by humans and numerous other races, including Exceeds, dragons, celestial spirits, and giant beasts. Earth-land (アースランド Āsu Rando), a vast peninsula, is divided into ten different countries: the Fiore Kingdom (フィオーレ王国 Fiōre Ōkoku), Seven (セブン Sebun), Bosco (ボスコ Bosuko), Iceberg (アイスバーグ Aisubāgu), Minstrel, Midi, Desierto, Joya, Bellum, and the Pergrande Kingdom. Sin and Caelum, two different islands, are also a part of Earth-land. However, in the series thus far, the Kingdom of Fiore remains the only explored country.
Magic (魔法 Mahō) is an ability occurring in every individual for some races, although only 10% of Earth-land's population use this magic.

Production

Hiro Mashima

After finishing his previous work, Rave Master, Hiro Mashima found the story sentimental and sad at the same time, so he wanted the storyline of Fairy Tail to have a "lot of fun [for everyone]". When originally creating the series, Mashima was inspired by magicians and wizards. He based Natsu's motion sickness on one of his friends, who gets sick when taking taxis together. When naming Natsu, Mashima thought western fantasy names would be unfamiliar to Japanese audiences. When writing individual chapters of Fairy Tail, Mashima takes a five day process: on Monday, the script and storyboards are written. On Tuesday, Mashima writes rough sketches. From Wednesday to Friday, he finishes the drawing and inking on the chapters. Mashima usually begins new chapters after completing the previous ones. For the characters of the series, Mashima drew upon people he has known in his life. In establishing the father-son relationship between Natsu and Igneel, Mashima cited his father's death when he was a child as an influence. Mashima based the humorous aspects of the series on his assistants would make jokes about things that gave him ideas, as well as from both his work and daily life.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Hiro Mashima, Fairy Tail has been serialized in the manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Magazine beginning on August 2, 2006. The individual chapters have been collected and published into tankōbon volumes by Kodansha since December 15, 2006. As of January 2013, there are 313 chapters and 33 tankōbon volumes. A special in Weekly Shōnen Magazine featured a crossover with Flunk Punk Rumble, released in 2008. The official fanbook, Fairy Tail+, was released on May 17, 2010 in Japan.
The series was licensed for an English-language release in North America by Del Rey Manga. The company released the first volume of the series on March 25, 2008 and continued until the release of the 12th volume in September 2010. After Del Rey Manga shut down,Kodansha Comics USA acquired the license and began publishing Fairy Tail volumes in May 2011. As of January 2013, 23 English-language volumes have been published.

Anime

Fairy Tail Anime

A-1 Pictures and Satelight produced an anime adaptation of the manga. The anime, also titled Fairy Tail and directed by Shinji Ishihira, premiered on TV Tokyo on October 12, 2009. The series is scheduled to conclude on March 30, 2013, with reruns to begin airing on April 4, 2013 under the title Fairy Tail Best. As of March 6, 2013, 38 DVD volumes containing four episodes each have been released. The Southeast Asian network Animax Asia aired the series locally in English. On January 18, 2011, British anime distributor Manga Entertainment announced on Twitter that the company would release the anime series in bilingual format at the end of the year. On April 21, 2011, they had confirmed that the first volume with 12 episodes would be released in February 2012; however, they later announced that the first volume would be released on March 5, 2012.^{[citation needed]} In 2011, North American anime distributor Funimation Entertainment announced that they had acquired the first season of the ongoing series. The series made its North American television debut on November 22, 2011 on the Funimation Channel.

Original video animations

Four original video animations (OVAs) of Fairy Tail have been produced and released on DVD by A-1 Pictures and Satellite. The first OVA, Yōkoso Fairy Hills!! (ようこそフェアリーヒルズ!!, lit. "Welcome to Fairy Hills!!"), is an adaptation of the manga omake of the same name, and was released together with the 26th tankōbon manga volume on April 15, 2011. The second, Yōsei Gakuen Yankee-kun to Yankee-chan (妖精学園ヤンキー君とヤンキーちゃん lit. "Fairy Academy: Yankee-kun and Yankee-chan"), is also an adaptation of the omake of the same name, and was released together with the 27th volume of the manga on June 17, 2011. The third, titled "Memory Days" (メモリーデイズ Memorī Deizu), was released together with the 31st volume of the manga on February 17, 2012, and features an original story written by series creator Hiro Mashima

Film

Fairy Tail Movie Poster

Kodansha announced on October 12, 2011 an anime film adaptation of Fairy Tail, titled Fairy Tail the Movie: The Phoenix Priestess (劇場版 FAIRY TAIL 鳳凰の巫女 Gekijōban Fearī Teiru: Hōō no Miko^?), it was released on August 18, 2012. It was directed by Masaya Fujimori, and its screenplay was written by anime staff writer Masashi Sogo. Series creator Hiro Mashima was also involved as the film's story planner and designer for guest characters appearing in the film. Funimation has licensed North American distribution rights to the film.

Video games

Fairy Tail Game

An action video game for the PlayStation Portable, titled Fairy Tail: Portable Guild, was unveiled at the 2009 Tokyo Game Show. The game was developed by Konami and was released on June 3, 2010. Two sequels to Portable Guild have also been released for the PlayStation Portable—the first, subtitled Portable Guild 2, was released on March 10, 2011; the second, Fairy Tail: Zeref Kakusei (FAIRY TAIL ゼレフ覚醒 Fairy Tail: Zerefu Kakusei^?, lit. Fairy Tail: Zeref Awakens), was released on March 22, 2012. Two fighting games, Fairy Tail: Gekitō! Madōshi Kessen (FAIRY TAIL 激闘! 魔道士決戦, lit. Fairy Tail: Fight! Wizard Battle) and Fairy Tail: Gekitotsu! Kardia Daiseidō (FAIRY TAIL 激突! カルディア大聖堂 Fairy Tail: Gekitotsu! Karudia Daiseidō^?, lit. Fairy Tail: Attack! The Greak Kardia Cathedral), were released for the Nintendo DS on July 22, 2010 and April 21, 2011, respectively. The characters Natsu and Lucy also appeared in the crossover video game Sunday VS Magazine: Shūketsu! Chōjō Daikessen as playable characters.

Music

Yasuharu Takanashi

The music for the anime was composed and arranged by Yasuharu Takanashi. As of March 2013, four original soundtrack CDs have been released, containing music from the anime: the first soundtrack volume was released on January 6, 2010, the second volume on July 7, 2010, the third soundtrack volume on July 6, 2011, and the fourth soundtrack volume on March 20, 2013. Character song singles were also produced; the first single, featuring Tetsuya Kakihara (Natsu) and Yuichi Nakamura (Gray) was released on February 17, while the second single, featuring Aya Hirano (Lucy) and Rie Kugimiya (Happy), was released on March 3, 2010. Another character song album, entitled "Eternal Fellows," was released on April 27, 2011. Two of the songs from the album, performed by anime cast members Tetsuya Kakihara (Natsu) and Aya Hirano (Lucy), were used for both OVAs as the opening and ending themes, respectively. Other songs on the volume are performed by Yuichi Nakamura (Gray), Sayaka Ohara (Erza), Satomi Satō (Wendy), Wataru Hatano (Gajeel), and a duet by Rie Kugimiya (Happy) and Yui Horie (Carla).

Radio

An internet radio program began airing on HiBiKi Radio Station on February 11, 2012, featuring anime voice actors Tetsuya Kakihara (Natsu) and Mai Nakahara (Juvia) as announcers.

Reception

Manga

In Japan, the fifth volume of Fairy Tail was ranked seventh in a list of the top ten manga, and the series once again placed seventh after the release of the sixth volume. Fairy Tail was in 2011 the 4th best selling manga in Japan (by series). About.com's Deb Aoki lists Fairy Tail as the best shōnen manga of 2008. It also won the 2009 Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen manga. It has also won the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation's Industry Award in 2009 for best comedy manga.

Anime

The anime has also received positive response from critics and viewers alike. In Southeast Asia, Fairy Tail won Animax Asia's "Anime of the Year" award in 2010. In 2012, the anime series won the "Meilleur Anime Japonais" (best Japanese anime) award and the best French dubbing award at the 19th Anime & Manga Grand Prix in Paris, France.
In reviewing the first Funimation Entertainment DVD volume, Carlo Santos of Anime News Network praised the visuals, characters, and English voice acting, as well as the supporting characters for its comedic approach. However, Santos criticized both the anime's background music and CGI animation. In his review of the second volume, Santos also praised the development of "a more substantial storyline," but also criticized the inconsistent animation and original material not present in the manga. In his review of the third volume, Santos praised the improvements of the story and animation, and said that the volume "finally shows the [anime] series living up to its potential."

WWE

2013-03-25T10:15:00.001-07:00

WWE current logo

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as WWE, Inc.;) is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales. It is currently the largest professional wrestling promotion in the world, reaching 13 million viewers in the U.S. and broadcasting its shows in 30 languages to more than 145 countries. Like other professional wrestling promotions, WWE's shows do not feature legitimate sporting contests. Instead, its programs feature storyline-driven combat sport matches with predetermined outcomes and fighting maneuvers that are worked, all promoted as legitimate bouts.
Vince McMahon is the majority owner, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the company. Together with his wife Linda McMahon, and their children Shane McMahon and Stephanie McMahon-Levesque (WWE Executive Vice President of Creative), the McMahons hold approximately 70% of WWE's economic interest and 96% of the voting power in the company. The company's headquarters are located in Stamford, Connecticut with offices in New York City, Los Angeles, London, Shanghai, Tokyo, Singapore, and Mumbai.
WWE holds an extensive library of videos, representing a significant portion of the visual history of professional wrestling. The company began as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation in 1952, which promoted under the banner of the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) and later the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 1982, it was sold to the same family's Titan Sports company, which later changed its name to World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, before becoming World Wrestling Entertainment in 2002, and simplified to WWE in 2011.

Company history

Capitol Wrestling Corporation (1952-1963)

Roderick James "Jess" McMahon was a boxing promoter whose achievements included co-promoting a bout in 1915 between Jess Willard and Jack Johnson. In 1926, while working with Tex Rickard (who actually despised wrestling to such a degree he prevented wrestling events from being held at the third Madison Square Garden in New York City between 1939 and 1948), he started promoting boxing at the Garden. The first match during their partnership was a light-heavyweight championship match between Jack Delaney and Paul Berlenbach.
A few years earlier, around 1920, professional wrestler Joseph Raymond "Toots" Mondt had created a new challenge of professional wrestling that he called Slam Bang Western Style Wrestling to make the entertainment more appealing to spectators. At the time, pro wrestling consisted primarily of mat grappling; and while the sport had flourished a decade earlier under Frank Gotch, the fans had since grown tired of the painfully deliberate pace of the bouts. However, Mondt discovered a solution that would completely transform the industry, as he convinced Lewis and Sandow to implement a new form of wrestling that combined features of boxing, Greco-Roman, freestyle, lumber-camp fighting, and theater into what he deemed “Slam Bang Western-Style Wrestling.” He then formed a promotion with wrestler Ed Lewis and his manager Billy Sandow. They persuaded many wrestlers to sign contracts with their Gold Dust Trio. After much success, a disagreement over power caused the trio to dissolve and, with it, their promotion. Mondt formed partnerships with several other promoters, including Jack Curley in New York City. When Curley was dying, Mondt moved to take over New York wrestling with the aid of several bookers, one of whom was Jess McMahon.
Together, McMahon and Mondt created the Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. (CWC). The CWC joined the National Wrestling Alliance in 1953. In November 1954, Jess McMahon died, and Ray Fabiani, one of Mondt's associates, brought in Vincent James McMahon to replace his father in the promotion.McMahon and Mondt were a successful combination, and within a short time, they controlled approximately 70% of the NWA's booking, largely due to their dominance in the heavily populated Northeast region. Mondt taught McMahon about booking and how to work in the wrestling business. Due to the dominance in the northeast, the CWC was referred to by AWA legend Nick Bockwinkel as the "Northeast Triangle", with its territory being defined by Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., and Maine as points of the triangle.

World Wide Wrestling Federation (1963-1979)

The official WWWF logo from 1963 to 1979

The NWA recognized an undisputed NWA World Heavyweight Champion that went to several different wrestling companies in the alliance and defended the belt around the world. The NWA generally promoted strong shooters as champions, to give their worked sport credibility and guard against double-crosses. While doing strong business in the Midwest (the Alliance's core region), these wrestlers attracted little interest in the Capitol territory. In 1961, the NWA board decided instead to put the belt on bleach blonde showman "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, a much more effective drawing card in the region. The rest of the NWA was unhappy with Mondt because he rarely allowed Rogers to wrestle outside of the Northeast. Mondt and McMahon wanted Rogers to keep the NWA World Championship, but Rogers was unwilling to sacrifice his $25,000 deposit on the belt (title holders at the time had to pay a deposit to insure they honored their commitments as champion). Rogers lost the NWA World Championship to Lou Thesz in a one-fall match in Toronto, Ontario on January 24, 1963, which led to Mondt, McMahon, and the CWC leaving the NWA in protest, creating the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in the process.

In April, Rogers was awarded the new WWWF World Championship following an apocryphal tournament in Rio de Janeiro. He lost the title to Bruno Sammartino a month later on May 17, 1963, after suffering a heart attack shortly before the match. To accommodate Rogers' condition, the match was booked to last under a minute.

Bruno Sammartino

Two years later, NWA president Sam Muchnick and McMahon discussed a unification match between Thesz and Sammartino, with both parties agreeing to Sammartino winning the unified title. The match plans fell apart when Sammartino refused to take on the enlarged schedule and Thesz demanded a high guarantee for doing the job.
The WWWF operated in a conservative matter compared to other pro wrestling territories; it ran its major arenas monthly rather than weekly or bi-weekly, usually featuring a babyface champion wrestling various heels in programs consisting of one to three matches, with the initial meeting often featuring a heel win in a non-decisive manner. Although business was initially rather strong, crowds in Madison Square Garden fell off due to a lack of television exposure. After gaining a television program on a Spanish-language station, and turning preliminary wrestler Lou Albano as a manager for Sammartino's heel opponents, the WWWF was doing sellout business by 1970. Albano was soon joined by fellow managers Ernie Roth and Freddie Blassie, forming the "Triumverate of Terror," managing heel opponents for Sammartino and later champions Pedro Morales and Bob Backlund. Heels such as Ivan Koloff and Stan Stasiak were used to transition the title from one babyface to another; "Superstar" Billy Graham enjoyed a nine and a half month reign as a heel champion, as McMahon felt he would need this much time to build up Bob Backlund as championship material.
Mondt left the company in the late sixties. Although the WWWF had withdrawn from the NWA, Vince McMahon, Sr. quietly rejoined the organization in 1971, although he did not book an NWA world champion in his territory until Harley Race in the late 1970s. At the annual meeting of the NWA in 1983, the McMahons and WWF employee Jim Barnett all withdrew from the organization.
In March 1979, for marketing purposes, the World Wide Wrestling Federation was renamed the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).

Titan Sports, Inc. (1980-1999)

World Wrestling Federation

Vince McMahon, founder of Titan Sports, Inc. and current Majority owner, Chairman, and CEO of WWE.

On February 21, 1980, the son of Vincent J. McMahon, Vincent K. McMahon, founded Titan Sports, Inc.and on June 6, 1982, purchased Capitol Wrestling Corporation Ltd. from his father and other stock holders (Arnold Skaaland, Gorilla Monsoon, and Phil Zacko). The elder McMahon had long since established the northeastern territory as one of the most vibrant members of the NWA. He had long since recognized that professional wrestling was more about entertainment than actual sport. Against his father's wishes, McMahon began an expansion process that fundamentally changed the industry.

The WWF was not the only promotion to have broken ranks with the NWA; the American Wrestling Association (AWA) had long ago ceased being an official NWA member (although like the WWF, they seldom left their own territory). However, neither of the defecting members attempted to undermine the territory system that had been the foundation of the industry for more than half a century.
Other promoters were furious when McMahon began syndicating WWF television shows to television stations across the United States, in areas outside of the WWF's traditional northeastern stronghold. McMahon also began selling videotapes of WWF events outside the Northeast through his Coliseum Video distribution company. He effectively broke the unwritten law of regionalism around which the entire industry had been based. To make matters worse, McMahon used the income generated by advertising, television deals, and tape sales to poach talent from rival promoters. Wrestling promoters nationwide were now in direct competition with the WWF.
Hulk Hogan, due to his appearance in Rocky III, had a national recognition that few other wrestlers could offer, which is what led McMahon to sign him. Roddy Piper was brought in, as well as Jesse Ventura (although Ventura rarely wrestled in the WWF at that point due to the lung disorder that caused his retirement, moving to the commentator booth alongside Gorilla Monsoon). André the Giant, Jimmy Snuka, Don Muraco, Paul Orndorff, Greg Valentine, Ricky Steamboat, and the Iron Sheik (Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri) rounded out the roster. Hogan was clearly McMahon's biggest star, causing some people to debate whether the WWF could have achieved national success without him.

The original logo for the company.

The WWF would tour nationally in a venture that required huge capital investment; one that placed the WWF on the verge of financial collapse. The future of not just McMahon's experiment, but also the WWF, the NWA, and the whole industry came down to the success or failure of McMahon's groundbreaking concept, WrestleMania. WrestleMania was a pay-per-view extravaganza (in some areas; most areas of the country saw WrestleMania available on closed-circuit television) that McMahon marketed as being the Super Bowl of professional wrestling. The concept of a wrestling supercard was nothing new in North America; the NWA had been running Starrcade a few years prior to WrestleMania, and even the elder McMahon had marketed large Shea Stadium cards viewable in closed-circuit locations. However, McMahon's vision was to make the WWF and the industry itself mainstream, targeting more of the general television audience by exploiting the entertainment side of the industry. With the inaugural WrestleMania the WWF initiated a joint-promotional campaign with MTV, which featured a great deal of WWF coverage and programming, in what was termed the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection. The mainstream media attention brought on by celebrities including Muhammad Ali, Mr. T, and Cyndi Lauper at the event helped propel WrestleMania to become a staple in popular culture.
The original WrestleMania, held in 1985, was a resounding success. This event is sometimes credited as the debut of what McMahon called "sports entertainment", in contrast to his father's preference of pure wrestling. The WWF did incredible business on the shoulders of McMahon and his all-American babyface hero, Hulk Hogan, for the next several years, creating what some observers dubbed a second golden age for professional wrestling. The introduction of Saturday Night's Main Event on NBC in mid-1985 marked the first time that professional wrestling had been broadcast on network television since the 1950s. In 1987, the WWF produced what was considered to be the pinnacle of the 1980s wrestling boom, WrestleMania III. A rematch of the Wrestlemania III feature bout, once again pitting Champion Hulk Hogan against Andre the Giant on Main Event, was seen by 33 million people, which is still the record for the most watched wrestling match in North America.

New Generation

The logo used to represent the "New Generation" era between 1994 to 1998.

The WWF hit a low point in the wake of allegations of steroid abuse and distribution made against it in 1994; there were also allegations of sexual harassment made by WWF employees. McMahon was eventually exonerated, but it was a public relations nightmare for the WWF. The steroid trial cost the WWF an estimated $5 million at a time when revenues were at an all-time low. To compensate, McMahon cut the pay of both wrestlers and front office personnel – close to 40% in the latter case (and about 50% for top level managers such as Bobby Heenan and Jimmy Hart, who both left). This helped drive many WWF wrestlers to its only major competition, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), between 1994 and 1997. During this period, the WWF promoted itself under the banner of "The New WWF Generation," featuring Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Razor Ramon, Bret Hart, and The Undertaker. In an effort to promote them and other young talent as the new superstars of the ring, the WWF began to play on the age restrictions which former WWF wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage (who by now were working for WCW) now faced. This is best seen in the "Billionaire Ted" parodies of early 1996 (a reference to WCW's owner and patron, media mogul Ted Turner) which culminated in a "rasslin'" match during the warm-up to WrestleMania XII.

Monday Night Wars

In 1993, the WWF broke new ground in televised professional wrestling with the debut of its cable program WWF Monday Night Raw. After becoming a runaway success, WCW countered in 1995 with its own Monday night cable program, WCW Monday Nitro, in the same timeslot as Raw. The two programs would trade wins in the ensuing ratings competition until mid-1996, when WCW began a nearly two-year domination that was largely fueled by the introduction of the New World Order, a stable led by former WWF performers Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash.

The Attitude Era

The updated logo representing the "Attitude" era was introduced in December 1997 and was used until May 2002.

The feuds and match types developed by the end of the mid-1990s began a new era in wrestling. The fans of WWF seemed to favor what was posed to them as the bad guy instead of the good guy. The creative changes made by the WWF creative board saw wrestling take on a "street fighting", "bad attitude" approach; however, despite the revolutionary changes in sports-entertainment that the WWF founded, 1997 remains the lowest of the WWF's financial income and a heavy loss in fan interest to rival WCW. Through to present day many wrestlers acknowledge that at the time, they were not aware of how close the company came to liquidation. Throughout 1996 and 1997, the WWF lost much of its leading talent to WCW, including Razor Ramon (Scott Hall), Diesel (Kevin Nash), Sycho Sid (Sid Eudy), Alundra Blayze (Debrah Miceli), and Rick Rude (Richard Rood). The WWF replaced them with former WCW talent such as Vader (Leon White), Stone Cold Steve Austin, Brian Pillman, Mankind (Mick Foley), and Faarooq (Ron Simmons). Eric Bischoff's public humiliation of the WWF, criticizing them for signing WCW's sacked wrestlers and bragging that WWF wrestlers were signing for WCW due to higher pay, intensified the Monday Night Wars only for Nitro as the WWF struggled to regain its popularity.
McMahon managed to keep Bret Hart from reverting to WCW, and began a feud with Hart and Steve Austin. In Hart's absence after WrestleMania XII, Steve Austin became the new face of the company, starting with his Austin 3:16 speech, shortly after defeating Jake Roberts in the tournament finals at the 1996 King of the Ring pay-per-view. WrestleMania 13 saw Hart defeat Austin in a critically acclaimed submission match, and shortly after saw Hart reform The Hart Foundation. McMahon revolved the company around Hart, Austin and Shawn Michaels, feuding with each other for the majority of the year, leaving many to admire their impact carrying the business through a difficult time. Despite his strong long running image as a face, the Canadian Hart was turned heel in an anti-USA gimmick, while Steve Austin became cheered by fans despite efforts to design him as the ultimate heel, making him a tweener. Rocky Maivia joined the Nation of Domination stable after fans rejected his good guy image, and Shawn Michaels formed the street gang faction D-Generation X with Triple H and Chyna; similar to the Stone Cold Steve Austin character, DX was designed not to care for what the fans or other wrestlers thought of them. Michaels later stated that the concept of DX was brought about after he persuaded McMahon to take a cruder approach to the company's marketing approach following him fining Michaels $10,000 for putting large ornaments in his shorts and exploiting his crotch around the ring during an on-air interview. The Hell in a Cell match between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker produced a fresh strong foundation for the WWF's creative board.
1997 ended with McMahon facing real life controversy resulting in major ratings and financial losses after becoming widely despised by his employees, wrestling critics, and wrestling fans following Bret Hart's controversial departure from the WWF, later known as the Montreal Screwjob. This proved to be a founding factor in what was to officially kick start The Attitude Era.
By January 1998, the WWF began broadcasting more violence, swearing, and more edgy angles in its attempt to compete with WCW. Following Bret Hart's departure, Vince McMahon used the resulting backlash in the creation of his "Mr. McMahon" character, a dictatorial and fierce ruler who favored heels who were "good for business" over "misfit" faces like Austin. This, in turn, led to the Austin vs. McMahon feud, which, along with D-Generation X who briefly hired Mike Tyson in the buildup to WrestleMania XIV, officially began the Attitude Era. It also featured the established Monday Night Wars, where both WCW and the WWF had Monday night shows that competed against each other in the ratings, and saw the WWF finally beat WCW for the first time in 84 weeks when McMahon made his in-ring debut against Austin. The evolution of more brutal matches with different stipulations to increase viewership worked to a major extent, mainly through the furthering of Hell in a Cell (notably its second appearance featuring The Undertaker vs. Mankind) and the Inferno match (introduced by Kane against The Undertaker). Many wrestlers such as Chris Jericho and The Radicalz (Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko) were drafted from WCW, all publicly claiming on both companies' TV broadcasts that they were extremely unhappy at the storylines and backstage chaos at WCW, and were further intrigued and happier with the structural running of the WWF. The 1996 Olympic gold medalist, Kurt Angle, The Rock (renamed from Rocky Maivia), and Mick Foley (as Mankind, Cactus Jack and Dude Love) were successfully re-invented to compete at the main event level. Notably, Mick Foley's WWF Championship win over The Rock on Monday Night Raw saw WCW lose millions of viewers when WCW President Eric Bischoff instructed announcer Tony Schiavone to give away the result minutes before both main events started, which led to Raw drawing eleven million viewers.

World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. (1999-2002)

Initial public offerings

Smack Down Current Logo

On the back of the success of the Attitude Era, several new advances and products were launched. During this period, the WWF's parent company Titan Sports was renamed World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. (WWFE Inc. or WWFE) and on October 19, 1999 became a publicly traded company, offering 10 million shares priced at $17 each. WWF Entertainment announced its desire to diversify, including creating a nightclub in Times Square, producing feature films, and book publishing.
On April 29, 1999, the WWF made its return to terrestrial television by launching a special program known as SmackDown! on the fledgling UPN network. The Thursday night show became a weekly series on August 26, 1999. The show led to further TV ratings competition with WCW, up against WCW Thunder.
In 2000 the WWF, in collaboration with television network NBC, announced the creation of the XFL, a new professional football league that debuted in 2001. The league had high ratings for the first few weeks, but initial interest waned and its ratings plunged to dismally low levels (one of its games was the lowest-rated prime-time show in the history of American television). NBC walked out on the venture after only one season, but McMahon intended to continue alone. However, after being unable to reach a deal with UPN, McMahon shut down the XFL.

Acquisition of WCW and ECW

ECW Logo

By the fall of 1999, The Attitude Era had turned the tide of the Monday Night Wars into WWF's favor for good. After Time Warner merged with AOL, Ted Turner's control over WCW was considerably reduced, and the newly merged company announced a complete lack of interest in professional wrestling as a whole, and decided to sell WCW in its entirety. Although Eric Bischoff—whom Time Warner fired as WCW president in October 1999—was nearing a deal to purchase the company complete, in March 2001, WWF Entertainment, Inc. acquired WCW from AOL Time Warner for a number reported to be around $7 million. Shortly after WrestleMania X-Seven, the WWF launched the Invasion storyline integrating the incoming talent roster from WCW and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). With this purchase, WWF now became the largest wrestling promotion in the world, and the only one in North America with mainstream exposure. The assets of ECW, which had folded after filing for bankruptcy protection in April 2001, were purchased by WWE in mid-2003.

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. / WWE, Inc. (2002-present)

Brand extension

In March 2002, roughly two months before the name change, WWE decided to create two separate rosters, Raw and SmackDown! due to the overabundance of talent left over from the Invasion storyline. This is known as the WWE Brand Extension. Despite much of the originally drafted talent departing by 2004, WWE has continued to separate the shows, taking on younger talent, and holds a Draft Lottery every year. On May 26, 2006, WWE announced the relaunch of Extreme Championship Wrestling as a WWE brand. The new ECW program aired internationally and on Tuesday nights on Syfy in the United States until February 16, 2010.

Name dispute

The "Get the F Out" marketing campaign

In 2000, the World Wide Fund for Nature (also trademarked WWF), an environmental organization, sued World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc. in the United Kingdom. The Law Lords agreed that the promotion company had violated a 1994 agreement as Titan Sports which had limited the permissible use of the WWF trademark in Europe, particularly in merchandising. The World Wide Fund and World Wrestling Federation used the initials since March 1979. The last televised event to market the WWF logo was the UK based pay-per-view Insurrextion 2002. On May 5, 2002, the company launched its "Get The F Out" marketing campaign and changed all references on its website from "WWF" to "WWE", while switching the URL from WWF.com to WWE.com. The next day, a press release announced the official name change from World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. to World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., or WWE, and the change was publicized later that day during a telecast of Monday Night Raw, which was broadcast from the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut.
Following the case, the use of the WWF "scratch" logo became prohibited on all WWE properties. Additionally, past references to the WWF trademark and initials in 'specified circumstances' became censored. Despite litigation, WWE was still permitted use of the original WWF logo, which was used from 1979 through 1994, as well as the "New WWF Generation" logo, which was used from 1994 through 1998. Furthermore, the company could still make use of the full "World Wrestling Federation" and "World Wrestling Federation Entertainment" names without consequence. In 2003, WWE won a limited decision to continue marketing certain classic video games from THQ and Jakks Pacific that contained the WWF "scratch" logo. However, the packaging on those games had all WWF references replaced with WWE.

WWE logo, retrofitted as the classic logo

Starting with the 1,000th episode of Raw in July 2012, the WWF "scratch" logo is no longer censored in archival footage due to WWE reaching a settlement with the World Wide Fund for Nature. In addition, references to the "WWF" initials are no longer censored when spoken or when written in plain text in archival footage. Since then, full-length matches and other segments featuring the WWF initials and "scratch" logo have been added to the WWE website and the WWE Classics on Demand service. This also includes WWE Home Video releases since October 2012 starting with the re-release of Brock Lesnar: Here Comes The Pain. In exchange, WWE is no longer permitted to use the WWF initials or logo in any new, original footage, with any old-school logos for retro-themed programming now using the original WWF logo, but modified without the F.

Network changes and high-definition

WWE pay per view logo

In late 2005, WWE Raw returned after a five-year stint on TNN (now Spike) to its original home USA Network. In 2006, due to contracts with NBC Universal, parent company of USA Network, WWE revived its classic Saturday night show Saturday Night's Main Event (SNME) on NBC after a thirteen-year hiatus. WWE had the chance to promote the company on a major national network rather than the lower profile CW or cable channels like USA Network. SNME airs occasionally on NBC as a WWE special series. On September 26, 2007, it was announced that WWE would be expanding its international operations. Alongside the current international offices in London and Toronto, a new international office would be established in Sydney.
On January 21, 2008, WWE made the transition to high-definition (HD). All TV shows and pay-per-views after this were broadcast in HD. In addition, WWE also introduced a new HD set that is used for both the Raw and SmackDown brands. A different set, though usually similar to the universal design in layout, is used for pay-per-views. On July 23, 2012, Raw debuted a new, modified HD set which has also become universal for all weekly programming.

Social Media, TV-PG, and Public Service Initiatives

WWE Fan Nation Logo

On November 19, 2008, WWE launched their online social network, WWE Universe. It initially appeared in April as WWE Fan Nation. Similar to Myspace, it offered blogs, forums, and other features for WWE fans. Also the WWE fanbase began being referred to on-air by the announcers and wrestlers as the "WWE Universe", similar to how some sports franchises refer to their own fanbases ("Red Sox Nation", "Raider Nation", etc.). The social network ceased operations on January 1, 2011. The company subsequently launched a WWE page on Facebook, which, as of October 7, 2011, had more than 39 million fans worldwide. In 2012, WWE became an investor in the social media site Tout, which is now heavily promoted on all programming.
Also in 2008, WWE initiated a change in its programming content. The United States parental guidelines rating system now rates most WWE television programs TV-PG. This was done to promote more family-friendly content in the programming than in the past (especially during the Attitude Era) when most content was rated TV-14. As part of this new policy, WWE television programs shift to black-and-white if a wrestler blades in front of the camera. And in 2012, WWE debuted a new Saturday morning program (WWE Saturday Morning Slam) which is rated TV-G and has special restrictions barring the use of holds and moves aimed at the neck. Vince McMahon noted that the change to more family-friendly content is due to the changing demographics in WWE viewership.
With the adjustment made to on-air content, WWE also began to get more involved in public service and community outreach programs, such as in 2011, when WWE (along with several other groups) began the "Be A Star" anti-bullying initiative. And in 2012, WWE formed a partnership with Susan G. Komen for the Cure to promote breast cancer awareness. As part of the campaign, WWE adorned their sets with pink ribbons, put a pink middle rope on the ring, filmed numerous PSAs, and sold special John Cena "Rise Above Cancer" merchandise. All of these efforts culminated in a donation from WWE of $1 Million, which was presented to Susan G. Komen representatives in an in-ring ceremony during the October 29, 2012 episode of Raw. In 2013, WWE became involved in the Nothing But Nets program, which involves providing and distributing mosquito nets in Africa to prevent insect bites which may cause malaria.

Saturday Morning Slam Logo

On April 7, 2011, WWE Corporate announced that the company would be rebranded from "World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc." to simply "WWE, Inc." This orphan initialism occurred to reflect WWE's global entertainment expansion away from the ring with the ultimate goal of acquiring entertainment companies and putting a focus on television, live events, and film production. WWE quoted that their new company model was put into effect with the relaunch of WWE Tough Enough, being a non–scripted program (contrary to the scripted nature of professional wrestling) and with the expected launch of a WWE television network in 2012. However, the legal name of the company remains as World Wrestling Entertainment.
Beginning October 2012, WWE programs SmackDown, NXT, Main Event & Superstars are available in full on Hulu while only half of Raw can be viewed.

"Supershow" format and developmental restructuring

Beginning with the August 29, 2011, episode of Raw, it was announced that Raw would feature talent from both Raw and SmackDown, and would be known as Raw Supershow (the "Supershow" suffix would be dropped on July 23, 2012). The next night, on a special live episode of SmackDown, a similar announcement was made regarding Raw talent appearing on SmackDown. Also, championships previously exclusive to one show or the other became available for wrestlers from any show to compete for, as well as house show cards also featuring a mix of both Raw and SmackDown talent. For all intents and purposes, the "Supershow" format would mark the end of the brand extension, as all programming and live events since the initial announcement was made have featured the full WWE roster.

NXT Tag Team Championship

On March 20, 2012, rumors circulated online reporting that WWE would cease operation of its lone development territory, Florida Championship Wrestling, in three weeks time. However, the next day (March 21) WWE's Executive Vice President of Talent, Paul "Triple H" Levesque, in a statement on WWE.com, revealed that rumors of the impeding closing of FCW were not true, and after WrestleMania XXVIII there would be a big announcement regarding the development system of the company. In August 2012, FCW was revamped by having its name changed to NXT Wrestling (the name of a WWE program which showcases developmental talent), and by establishing new championships for the developmental roster (the NXT Championship and the NXT Tag Team Championship).

Wellness Program

Eddie Gurrero

The Talent Wellness Program is a comprehensive drug, alcohol, and cardiac screening program initiated in February 2006, shortly after the sudden death of one of their highest profile talents, 38 year-old Eddie Guerrero. The policy tests for recreational drug use and abuse of prescription medication, including anabolic steroids^. Under the guidelines of the policy, talent is also tested annually for pre-existing or developing cardiac issues. The drug testing is handled by Aegis Sciences Corporation. The cardiac evaluations are handled by New York Cardiology Associates P.C.
After the double murder and suicide committed by one of its performers, Chris Benoit, with a possible link to steroids abuse encouraged by WWE, the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform requested that WWE turn over any material regarding its talent wellness policy.
In August 2007, the program was defended by WWE and its employees in the wake of several illegal pharmacy busts that linked WWE performers to steroid purchases even after the policy was put into place. Ten professional wrestlers were suspended for violating the Wellness Policy after reports emerged they were all customers of Signature Pharmacy in Orlando, Florida. According to a statement attributed to WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt, an eleventh wrestler was later added to the suspension list.
Because of the Wellness Policy, physicians were able to diagnose one of its performers with a heart ailment that otherwise would have likely gone unnoticed until it was too late. In August 2007, then-reigning United States Champion Montel Vontavious Porter (real name Hassan Assad) was diagnosed with Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome, which can be potentially fatal if gone undiagnosed. The ailment was discovered while Assad was going through a routine Wellness Policy checkup.
On September 13, 2010, WWE updated their list of banned substances to include muscle relaxers.

TNA Entertainment, LLC lawsuit

TNA

In May 2012, TNA filed a lawsuit against WWE and former TNA employee Brian Wittenstein, claiming that he took "confidential trade secrets" to WWE and helped WWE gain an "unfair" competitive advantage in negotiating contracts with TNA talent. According to the suit, TNA was informed of Wittenstein's breach three weeks later by a WWE official, after which the promotion fired Wittenstein. According to TNA, Ric Flair attempted to terminate his TNA contract two days after Wittenstein's firing. The exact allegations filed by TNA in the suit include "interference with existing contracts", breach of duty of loyalty, conversion, breach of contract, civil conspiracy, unfair competition, and violation of the Tennessee Uniform Trade Secrets Act. An injunction hearing is set for July 12

Expansion beyond wrestling

In addition to licensing wrestling and performers' likenesses to companies such as Acclaim, THQ/2K Sports, and Mattel to produce video games and action figures, WWE has moved into other areas of interest in order to market their product.

Active properties

WWE Libraries: A subsidiary of WWE established in 2001 after the acquisition of WCW that owns the largest collection of professional wrestling videos and copyrights.
WWE Studios: A subsidiary of WWE created in 2002 to create and develop feature film properties. Formerly known as WWE Films.
WWE Music Group: A subsidiary that specializes in compilation albums of WWE wrestlers' entrance themes. The group also releases titles that have been performed by WWE wrestlers.
WWE Home Video: A subsidiary that specializes in distributing compilation VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc copies of WWE pay-per-view events, compilations of WWE wrestlers' performances, and biographies of WWE performers.
WWE Books: A subsidiary of WWE that serves to publish autobiographies of and fiction based on WWE personalities, behind-the-scenes guides to WWE, illustrated books, calendars, young adult books, and other general "Nonfiction" books.
WWE Kids: A website and comic set aimed at the children's end of the wrestling market, comics are produced bi-monthly. It was launched on April 15, 2008.
WWEShop.com: A website located at http://shop.wwe.com/

Defunct properties

World Bodybuilding Federation; A subsidiary of Titan Sports launched in 1990 which promoted professional bodybuilding through a television show, magazine, and annual pay-per-view events. Closed in 1992.
XFL: Folded in 2001, a partially owned subsidiary of WWFE launched in 2000 which comprised eight league-owned professional football teams. The league included television broadcasts on NBC (the other co-owners of the league), UPN and TNN.
The World, formerly known as WWF New York: A restaurant, night club, and memorabilia shop in New York City launched in 1999. Closed in 2003. Hard Rock Cafe took the building itself since 2005.
WWE Niagara Falls: A retail and entertainment establishment that was located in Niagara Falls, Ontario and owned by WWE. It was open from August 2002 through March 2011.

List of WWE pay-per-view events

Current pay-per-view events
Month	Event	First year
January	Royal Rumble	1988
February	Elimination Chamber	2010
March/April	WrestleMania	1985
May	Extreme Rules	2009
June	Payback	2013
July	Money in the Bank	2010
August	SummerSlam	1988
September	Night of Champions	2007
Early October	Battleground	2013
Late October	Hell in a Cell	2009
November	Survivor Series	1987
December	TLC	2009

royal rumble winners

Upcoming pay-per-view schedule

Date	Event	Venue	City
October 27, 2013	Hell in a Cell	American Airlines Arena	Miami, Florida
November 24, 2013	Survivor Series	TD Garden	Boston, Massachusetts
December 15, 2013	TLC	Toyota Center	Houston, Texas
January 26, 2014	Royal Rumble	Consol Energy Center	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
February 23, 2014	Elimination Chamber	Target Center	Minneapolis, Minnesota
April 6, 2014	WrestleMania XXX	Mercedes-Benz Superdome	New Orleans, Louisiana

Themed pay-per-views

Pay-per-view	Feature
Current
Royal Rumble	Main event is the Royal Rumble match
Elimination Chamber	One or more of the main events are Elimination Chamber matches
Extreme Rules	Many of the matches will either be "Extreme Rules" matches or will otherwise be variants of hardcore wrestling
Money in the Bank	Two of the main events will be Money in the Bank ladder matches
Night of Champions	Every title must be defended by its respective champion
Hell in a Cell	One or more of the matches will be a Hell in a Cell match
Survivor Series	A focus on elimination-style matches, particularly the traditional Survivor Series elimination tag-team match
TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs	At least one of the matches will be a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match, while individual chair matches, ladder matches, and tables matches may also be present

Former
The Wrestling Classic	The Wrestling Classic was a single-elimination tournament
King of the Ring	The King of the Ring was a single-elimination tournament
Taboo Tuesday, later Cyber Sunday	Fans were able to vote on the matches, such as opponents or stipulations
Breaking Point	Many of the matches were focused on forcing your opponent to give up, either through submission matches or "I Quit" matches
Fatal 4-Way	Many of the matches were fatal-four way matches
Bragging Rights	The Raw and SmackDown brands would compete against one another for a "Bragging Rights" trophy, and a 14-man tag team match between the two brands would take place
Invasion	All of the matches were between the WWF and The Alliance (WCW and ECW)
WWE One Night Stand	The pay-per-views were themed around the old ECW promotion and so consisted of various hardcore matches

Former pay-per-view events

Pay-per-view	Year(s) Active
This Tuesday in Texas	1991
King of the Ring	1993–2002
In Your House	1995–1999
Bad Blood	1997, 2003–2004
Over the Edge	1998–1999
Fully Loaded	1998–2000
Invasion	2001
One Night Stand	2005–2008
December to Dismember	2006
New Year's Revolution	2005–2007
Unforgiven	1998–2008
No Mercy	1999–2008
Cyber Sunday/Taboo Tuesday	2004–2008
Backlash	1999–2009
Judgment Day	1998, 2000–2009
The Great American Bash	The Great American Bash (2004–2008), The Bash (2009)
Breaking Point	2009
Fatal 4-Way	2010
Bragging Rights	2009-2010
Capitol Punishment	2011
Vengeance	2001-2007, 2011
No Way Out	1998-2009, 2012
Over The Limit	2010 - 2012

International pay-per-view events

Event	Year(s) Active	Notes
UK Rampage	1991-1993	Those events took place at London Arena, and were exclusive UK-only pay-per-views.
SummerSlam	1992 only	Summerslam 1992 took place at Wembley Stadium, London, England.
One Night Only	1997 only	The event took place in the UK in 1997. This was available in Europe and Canada only.
Mayhem in Manchester	1998 only	This was exclusive UK-only pay-per-view.
Capital Carnage	1998 only	The event took place in the UK in December of that year.
No Mercy (UK)	1999 only	The event took place in May of that year. Despite being held in the UK, another PPV called "No Mercy" was held the same year in the U.S.
Rebellion	1999–2002	The event took place in the UK in October 1999 and 2002, November 2001 and December 2000.
Insurrextion	2000–2003	The event took place in the UK in May between 2000–2002 and June in 2003.
Global Warning	2002 only	The event took place in Australia on August 10, 2002.

Championships and accomplishments

Championship	Current champion(s)	Date won	Event	Previous champion(s)
WWE Championship	Vacated	September 16, 2013	Raw	Daniel Bryan
World Heavyweight Championship	Alberto Del Rio	June 16, 2013	Payback	Dolph Ziggler
Intercontinental Championship	Curtis Axel	June 16, 2013	Payback	Wade Barrett
United States Championship	Dean Ambrose	May 19, 2013	Extreme Rules	Kofi Kingston
Tag Team Championship	The Shield (Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins)	May 19, 2013	Extreme Rules	Team Hell No
Divas Championship	AJ Lee	June 16, 2013	Payback	Kaitlyn

Other accomplishments

Accomplishment	Latest winner	Date won
Royal Rumble	John Cena	January 27, 2013
Money in the Bank (WWE Championship)	Randy Orton	July 14, 2013
Money in the Bank (World Heavyweight Championship)	Damien Sandow	July 14, 2013

Developmental territory champions

Championship	Current champion(s)	Date won	Event	Previous champion(s)
NXT Wrestling
NXT Championship	Bo Dallas	May 23, 2013	NXT	Big E Langston
NXT Tag Team Championship	The Ascension (Conor O'Brian and Rick Victor)	September 12, 2013	NXT	Adrian Neville & Corey Graves
NXT Women's Championship	Paige	June 20, 2013	NXT	Inaugural

Defunct championships

WWWF united states tag team champion

In its 61 year history, WWE has operated over twenty different championships. The company's first title, the WWWF United States Tag Team Championship, was created in 1958 and retired in 1967. Overall, the company has retired 19 championships with the most recent being the WWE Women's Championship. Created in 1956 and retired in September 2010, the consolidation of the WWE Unified Divas Championship into the WWE's 2008 WWE Divas Championship retired the older title and continued the lineage of the latter.

WWE Championship

WWE world heavyweight championship

WWE intercontinental championship

WWE united states champioship

WWE tag team championship

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Inazuma Eleven

2012-11-11T01:23:00.001-08:00

Inazuma Eleven is a role-playing sports video game for the Nintendo DS developed and published by Level-5. It was released on August 22, 2008 in Japan. A European release was confirmed by Nintendo and was released on January 29, 2011, three years after the Japanese release. The UK release was held back to 26 August 2011 for marketing reasons.

Since the game's launch, it has received two sequels for the Nintendo DS; Inazuma Eleven: Firestorm / Blizzard and Inazuma Eleven 3: Sekai e no Chousen" "[also known in english version - Inazuma eleven 3 - 'The Ogre']" , as well as two spin-offs for the Wii; Inazuma Eleven Strikers and Inazuma Eleven Strikers 2012 XTreme. The third sequel to the main series, which takes place 10 years after the events of the third game, Inazuma Eleven GO, is available on the Nintendo 3DS. An Inazuma Eleven manga based on the games began serialization in CoroCoro Comic on May 15, 2008, while an anime based on the games, produced by OLM, started airing on October 5, 2008. Mitsui has also created a collectible card game tie-in. The game served as the debut of a pop idol group, Twe'lv.

Gameplay

Plot

The main character, Mark Evans , is a very talented goalkeeper and the grandson of one of the strongest goalkeepers in Japan, who supposedly died before Mark was born. Even though his skills and enthusiasm are incredible, his school lacks a real soccer club, as the six other members don't appear very interested even in training. One day, when a mysterious forward named Axel Blaze moves to Mark's town, the young goalkeeper sets out to find and recruit members for his soccer team. There are nearly 1000 playable characters with varying skills that will determine the success of the team. As you play through the story, Mark can recruit various characters on the team and help achieve his ultimate goal of competing!

Gameplay

The game is split into two parts: one resembles an RPG, featuring various locations that Mark and his team have to explore in order to get new items, face several other players in short casual battles or to advance further in the story. The second part is the actual match: using the stylus, the player moves the soccer team around against the opposing team. The player can dodge opponent's attacks, slide-tackle to take the ball away, or use a special ability available to the characters they recruited to kick, steal and catch the ball. The result of any of his players actions are determined by seven skills, the player's affinity, and the total number of players participating in an action. Special abilities can not only be stopped with other abilities, meaning that they will most of the time win against basic tactics but not always. Super shots and Super keeps play simultaneously, which means that unlike defending the ball they always consume

Characters

Mark Evans

Mark Evans

and Toramaru, scoring the winning point against Little Giants. In the Inazuma Eleven movie he can use Mamoru Endōu , known as Mark Evans in the English dub, is the Captain of Inazuma Japan and Raimon Eleven, usually playing as Goalkeeper. Often seen wearing his trademark headband, Mamoru Endou is a soccer-loving, cheerful goalkeeper and captain of the Raimon Junior High Soccer club, the "Raimon Eleven". He never gives up and always thinks of others before himself. Since he was young, he has held great admiration toward his grandfather, Daisuke Endou, and studies the technique-filled notebooks that his grandfather wrote years ago. Because of his positive personality, he manages to bring out the best in other Soccer players, whether they are an ally or foe. His teammates benefit from his mental strength and encouragement and respect him despite his carefree attitude. Endou constantly trains himself in order to face new opponents and increases his stamina by catching a gigantic car tire tied to a tree. Many girls like Aki and Natsumi show some romantic interest in him but he is too naive to understand their feelings. He helps Little Gigant, as Garshield returns with a new team. His special techniques include God Hand which later evolves into Shin God Hand(True God Hand), Nekketsu Punch (Fireball Knuckle) which later evolves into Shin Nekketsu Punch(True Fireball Knuckle) in the match against Team-K, Bakuretsu Punch (Blazing Knuckle), Inazuma Ichigo (Inazuma-1), Inazuma Ichigo Otoshi (Inazuma-1 Drop), Inazuma Break, Tri-Pegasus, The Phoenix, Majin the Hand, Seigi no Tekken (Fist of Justice which is now G5), Megaton Head (which is now G3), Death Zone 2, The Earth with Goenji and Fubuki, Ikari no Tetsui (Hammer of Wrath which is now v2), ljigen the Hand (Outer Dimension The Hand) which evolves into ljigen the Hand Kai (Ijigen the Hand Remastered) which later evolves into Shin Ijigen The Hand (True ljigen The Hand) and later learns God Catch [which is now G5] in the match against Little Gigante. He does Jet Stream with Gouenji Omega The Hand. He graduates from Raimon after FFI. In Inazuma Eleven GO, which takes place 10 years after the original series' end, he replaces Kudou as the coach of Raimon Eleven in Episode 6 of Inazuma eleven GO. In Episode 18 of Inazuma Eleven Go, it is shown that Natsumi has become his wife (Endou Natsumi). He has a character song named "Mamotte Miseru!" (I'll Protect It!). He is voiced by Junko Takeuchi in the Japanese version and Maria Darling in the English version.

Shūya Gōenji (Axel Blaze)

Shūya Gōenji , known as Axel Blaze in the English dub, is a Forward for Raimon and Inazuma Japan. Gouenji is the quiet, collected ace striker of the team with spikey hair and a cool disposition. At his previous school, Kidokawa Seishuu Junior High (Kirkwood in the English dub), Gōenji was the top Soccer player of his club and took his place in the Football Frontier. His little sister, Yūka, was unfortunately in a car accident (which was planned for by Gouenji's opposition) while on the way to his big match and was hospitalized soon after. Feeling responsible, he keeps an amulet made by his sister and makes a promise to stop playing soccer until she wakes up. However, when he realizes that his passion for the game still beats in his heart, he changes that promise to becoming the champion of the Soccer Frontier and joins the Raimon Eleven thanks to some persistence by Endou. He becomes close friends with Endou and the team as the story progresses. His special techniques are the Fire Tornado which later evolves into Fire Tornado Kai (Fire Tornado Remastered), Bakunetsu Storm (Fireball Storm), and then Shin Bakunetsu Screw (True Fireball Screw). He also forms a combo technique with Kabeyama called Inazuma Otoshi (Inazuma Drop), one with Endou called Inazuma Ichigo (Inazuma-1) and a combination of the two called the Inazuma Ichigo Otoshi (Inazuma-1 Drop). Additionally, he performs a combination technique with Toramaru called Tiger Storm, another technique with Fubuki Shirō called Cross Fire, and has a 3-man technique with Toramaru and Hiroto called Grand Fire [which is currently G2]. He does Jet Stream with Endou and Toramaru, scoring the winning point against Little Gigante. In the Inazuma Eleven movie, he can use Maximum Fire and together with Kidou Prime Legend . He graduates from Raimon after FFI. He saved Matsukaze Tenma from injury some time in between after leaving the team [since he kept on messing up the game against Gemini Storm] and before his return [to fight and eventually win against Epsilon] in the Aliea Academy arc, as revealed in the first episode of Inazuma Eleven GO. He has a character song named "Honoo no Riyuu". Unfortunately Ishido Shuuji, the master and current Holy Emperor of Fifth Sector is none other than Gouenji Shūya Himself as revealed in episode 24 by Endou Mamoru, later in the go series he reveals himself to be an intergrue at fifth sector, to protect soccer. In the episode before the last one Gouenji was revealed not as the master of the Fifth Sector but as the normal Gouenji Shuya

Yūto Kidō (Jude Sharp)

Yūto Kidō , known as Jude Sharp in the English dub, is a Midfielder for Raimon and Inazuma Japan. A genius Soccer strategist who wears goggles and a red cape, originally from Teikoku (Royal) Academy Junior High School. As the protégé of Reiji Kageyama, he was forced to win 3 consecutive soccer championships in order to be with his sister again and until then, cuts off all contact with her for 6 years. After a match with the Raimon Eleven to see who will compete in the Footbal Frontier and seeing Kageyama's wrongdoings, he and the rest of the Teikoku Soccer Team quit. Kidou later joins Endou's team, switching to a new blue cape and becomes the team's valuable strategist. His special technique is the Illusion Ball (later evolved into True Illusion Ball). His Combination techniques are the Inazuma Break with Endou and Gouenji, Koutei Penquin No.2 (Emperor Penguin No.2), Twin Boost (with Ichinose), Death Zone (with Endou and Domon, which later evolved to Death Zone 2), Killer Fields with Fudou and Emperor Penguin No.3 [which is currently G3] with Sakuma and Fudou. Kidou does the hissatsu shoot with Fubuki and Hiroto; called Big Bang. He Graduates from Raimon after FFI. In Inazuma Eleven GO he appears as Royal Academy's Coach with Sakuma as his assistant. Then he is found to be the part of Resistance along with Michiya Kudō. Later on, he joins Endou Mamoru as Raimon Eleven's Trainer. He has a character song named "Hitomi no Naka no Shouri" (The Victory Within the Eyes). He is voiced by Hiroyuki Yoshino.

Shirō Fubuki (Shawn Frost)

Shirō Fubuki , known in the English dub as Shawn Frost, is a Defender and Forward for Hakuren, Raimon Eleven, and Inazuma Japan. Shirou is the captain of Hakuren (Alpine) Junior High School's Soccer club in Hokkaido. He is kind, thoughtful, responsible and lovable. He is talented in skiing, ice skating, snowboarding, soccer and is a bear killer. He is both an excellent defender as well as the team's ace striker. He joins the Raimon Eleven during their visit to Hokkaido in order to defeat Aliea (Alius) Academy. On their way to find new members to defeat Aliea Academy, the Raimon Eleven are shocked that Fubuki Shirou is very popular around girls. Fubuki often uses his looks to charm the girls to reveal any information for the team. Owing to a terrible accident with an avalanche as a child, Fubuki is morbidly afraid of the sound of falling snow as well as the sound of thunder. His parents and little brother Atsuya (Aiden) were unfortunately killed in the avalanche, but saved Fubuki at the last moment by pushing him out of the car. Since the accident, Fubuki developed a split personality of his brother whenever he plays offense during Soccer matches. He wanted to become a perfect Soccer player and believed that he could only do so if he "became" his brother (his father's comments right before the avalanche accident led him to believe this). After defeating Gemini Storm, with the help from Fubuki, who has amazing defensive and shooting abilities, the world is saved, or so they think. They realize Gemini Storm is only a second-rank team, and here comes Epsilon. The first battle with Epsilon was a disaster. They met True Teikoku Academy led by Kageyama Reiji. In that battle with Teikoku, Someoka sustained a foot injury and was forced to leave the team. Someoka leaving the team has effected Fubuki's condition, which has gotten worse. During the second match with Epsilon, they manage to tie the score with Fubuki's Eternal Blizzard. But Fubuki is not satisfied to have only a tie with them. They found out there is still Genesis Team to defeat. During that match, Fubuki has lost his mind and tried to block Hiroto's Ryuusei Blade and ends up getting injured and sent to the hospital. In the hospital, Raimon Eleven found out about Fubuki's terrible incident from his past, found out that Fubuki has two personalities within himself. He realized that what his father meant was that he could be perfect only if he played alongside his teammates. Soon, he broke free from both his trauma and his twin brother's personality, merging himself and his brother's spirit as one thus growing stronger as well. His special techniques include the Eternal Blizzard (more powerful when Atsuya (Aiden) does), Wolf Legend (Legendary Wolf), Ice Ground (land Of Ice), and Snow Angel. He performs combination shoots with Gouenji and the others' techniques such as Crossfire with Gouenji (which later evolves into Crossfire Kai (Crossfire Remastered), Thunder Beast with Hijikata, Wyvern Blizzard with Someoka and The Hurricane with Kazemaru. Fubuki does a powerful hissatsu shoot The Earth with Goenji and Endou. Later Fubuki becomes a member of Inazuma Japan for the FFI. However his leg is badly injured in a match with Korea's Fire Dragon during the Asia finals. Due to this injury, he is taken off the team. He returns after his injuries are healed to replace the then injured Kurimatsu. He does a new combination technique with Hiroto called The Birth against Brazil's team the Kingdom. Fubuki does a very powerful hissatsu shoot with Hiroto and Kidou, called Big Bang. Fubuki also does Koutei Penguin No.2 with Kidou and Ichinose. He has a character song named "Ice Road".In GO, he is the coach of the team hakuren only was under the influence of fifth sector. He went to endou for help later in episode 25 GO. Then later on, Shirosaki, who is apart of fifth sector, found Fubuki at night on the field alone. He then introduce Yukimura, Fubuki's successor, to be a seed. Yukimura thought that Fubuki betray him and Hakuren. Fubuki explain that fifth sector separate them apart. In episode 27 go, Yukimura finally realize that Fubuki didn't lie. Fubuki and Yukimura shake hands. After that Fubuki told endou something that make him startled. Fubuki Shirou is voiced by Mamoru Miyano.

Inazuma Eleven GO

Inazuma Eleven GO (イナズマイレブン Inazuma Irebun GO, lit. "Lightning Eleven GO") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tenya Yabuno. It is based on the Level-5 video game series of the same title. The manga has been published by Shogakukan in CoroCoro Comic.

An anime television series based on the game aired on the TV Tokyo network from May 4, 2011. The series was produced by Level-5 in conjunction with TV Tokyo and OLM.

Plot

GO

Set 10 years after the first anime Inazuma Eleven, the soccer system is destroyed and matches a choose even down to the point scoring.

A boy called Matsukaze Tenma loves soccer. However, it is being controlled by Fifth Sector and he is highly against it. In the first episode, he wants to join the Raimon soccer club, but upon arrival, a mysterious team crushes the Raimon soccer club, including the second team. All the second team leaves and Tenma is tested before he joins the team. Now with his new friends, he and Raimon go against soccer being rigged by Fifth Sector and is determined to defend his soccer honor.

Chrono Stone

After Tenma returns from Okinawa from tutoring the local children about soccer, he returns to Raimon, only to discover that the soccer club has never existed. Alpha, a person who comes from El Dorado, a organization from the future hell-bent on destroying soccer, tries to erase Tenma's soccer memories. With the assistance of Fei Rune and Clark Wonderbot, both came from the future, Tenma with his friends must defeat El Dorado in order to return soccer to the world.

Galaxy

Football Frontier International Vision 2(FFI V2) is being held, and all the best school soccer teams gathered in hope to gain a place in Shinsei Inazuma Japan, Japan's new national soccer team. But things are getting out of control when instead of skilled players, 8 soccer players who are new to soccer are selected, along with Tenma, Tsurugi and Shindō. The team is deemed to be a failure by both audience and Shindō himself, so what is happening? Will Shinsei Inazuma Japan be able to shine on the world stage, or is it too bad to even win a match?

Media

Manga

The Inazuma Eleven manga series, based on the video game series of the same name, was written and illustrated by Tenya Yabuno. It began publication in the June 2008 issue of the Shogakukan magazine CoroCoro Comic.

Anime television series

Opening songs

Ten Made Todoke! (eps 1-18), by T-Pistonz+KMC
Naseba Naru no sa Nanairo Tamago (eps 19-33), by T-Pistonz+KMC
Ohayou! Shining Day (eps 34-47), by T-Pistonz+KMC

Ending songs

Yappa Seishun (eps 1-18), by "Sorano Aoi (CV: Kitahara Sayaka)"
Kanari Juujou (eps 19-33), by "Sorano Aoi (CV: Kitahara Sayaka)"
Hajike-Yo!! (eps 34-47), by "Sorano Aoi (CV: Kitahara Sayaka)"

Opening songs (Season 2/Chrono Stone)

Jounetsu de Mune ATSU (eps 1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15 & 17) by T-Pristonz+KMC
Kandou Kyouyuu! (eps 2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16 & 18) by T-Pristonz+KMC
Shoshin wo KEEP ON (eps 19-35) by T-Pristonz
Raimei! Blue Train! (eps 36-) by T-Pristonz

Ending songs (Season 2/Chrono Stone)

Natsu ga Yattekuru (eps 1-18) by Sorano Aoi (CV:Katihara Sayaka)
Te wo Tsunagou (eps 19-35) by Matsukaze Tenma (CV:Terasaki Yuka), Tsurugi Kyousuke (CV: Takashi Oohara) & Sorano Aoi (CV:Katihara Sayaka)

Opening songs (Season 3/Galaxy)

Gachi de Katouze (eps 1-?) by T-Pristonz+KMC

Ending songs (Season 3/Galaxy)

Katte ni Cinderella (eps 1-?) by Sorano Aoi (CV:Katihara Sayaka) and Morimura Konoha (CV:Yūki Aoi )

Anime films

Main article: Inazuma Eleven GO: Kyūkyoku no Kizuna Gurifon

The first animated film, Inazuma Eleven GO: Kyūkyoku no Kizuna Gurifon (イナズマイレブンGO 究極の絆グリフォン), premiered in Japanese theaters on December 23, 2011.

Main article: Inazuma Eleven GO vs. Danbōru Senki W

The July issue of Shogakukan's Monthly Corocoro Comic magazine is revealing an Inazuma Eleven GO vs. Danbōru Senki W film on Friday. More details will be in the following Monthly Corocoro Comic issue on July 14.

Inazuma Eleven GO: Chrono Stone (イナズマイレブンGO クロノ・ストーン) is the latest anime television series based on Level-5's Inazuma Eleven soccer role-playing games. It premiered on April 17.

Danbōru Senki W is the second anime television series based on Level-5's Danbōru Senki "near-future, plastic-model-building role-playing game." It premiered on January 18. Dentsu Entertainment USA announced in August that it is bringing the first Danbōru Senki anime television series to the United States under the name Little Battlers eXperience.

List of Inazuma Eleven characters

Ichirōta Kazemaru

Nathan Swift (風丸一郎太 Kazemaru Ichirōta) is a Defender and Midfielder for Raimon Eleven and Inazuma Japan. Kazemaru is the fastest player on the Raimon Eleven soccer team and has brown eyes and blue hair held back with a ponytail, with long bangs covering side of his face. He also acts as the team's side captain outside the game. Originally a member of the track club team, Kazemaru is convinced by Endou to play on the soccer team for their match against Teikoku. Kazemaru is finally convinced by the promise of fighting a lot of stronger players, as well as Endou's fighting spirit when he bares witness to the goalkeeper's intense training. From their on, Kazemaru becomes a close friend to Endou and a key player for the Raimon soccer team. Later on, during the constant battles against Aliea (Alius) Academy, Kazemaru begins to doubt himself and gains a thirst for power to defeat Raimon's strongest opponents. For a brief while, he leaves the team but later resurfaces in "Dark Emporers", or a team that challenges Endou for becoming the top players. The Aliea (Alius) Rock gives him power. It is broken by Endou's God Hand, and he later returns to the team in the FFI arc. His special techniques are the Shippu Dash (Flurry Dash), Bushin Defense (Clone Defense) (with the power of the Alius rock), Dark Phoenix (with the power of Alius rock), Banana Shoot (Hissatsu Tactic), Fuujin no Mai (Dance of the Wind God), Honoo no Kazamidori (Fire Rooster) in combination with Gouenji, Tatsumaki Otoshi (Tornado Fallen) with Kabeyama and The Hurricane with Fubuki. He Graduates from Raimon after FFI. He has a character song named "Mai Agare!" (Let It Soar!) and also has a part in the song "Mata Ne... No Kisetsu" along with Endou, Gouenji, Kidou, and Fubuki. He is voiced by Yuka Nishigaki.

Heigorō Kabeyama

Kabeyama Heigorō (壁山塀吾郎 Kabeyama Heigorō), known as Jack Wallside in the English Dub, is a Defender. The large, sheepish Defender of the Raimon Eleven and one of the original members of the Soccer club. Despite his shy nature and constantly having to go to the bathroom at crucial moments, Kabeyama cares very much about the Raimon team and strives to become a powerful defender. In tough times, Endou helps Kabeyama overcome his fears, causing him to hold great respect for his captain. In the match against Nosei (Wild) Junior High he and Gouenji perform a move called the Inazuma Otoshi (Inazuma Drop) and a combination of the two called Inazuma Ichigo Otoshi (Inazuma-1 Drop). Later he masters a defensive technique on his own, The Wall. Later on, during a match with Fire Dragon from Korea he creates an upgraded defensive technique called The Mountain and Tatsumaki Otoshi (Tornado Falls) with kazemaru. He is voiced by Megumi Tano.

Ryūgo Someoka

Ryūgo Someoka (染岡竜吾 Someoka Ryūgo), known as Kevin Dragonfly in the English dub, is a Forward. Someoka is the grumpy self-proclaimed "original" ace striker of the team Raimon Soccer club. Because of this pride he holds, Someoka has trouble getting along with Gouenji and Fubuki, who later both join the Raimon Eleven as his fellow ace strikers. Thanks to Endou's words of support, Someoka eventually learns to accept the other newcomers to the team and even develops some combination techniques with him, but hurts his leg and is removed. He resurfaces in Dark Emperors, and Fubuki helps him realize who he was, as well as Endou's God Hand. He later returns in the FFI arc. His special techniques are the Dragon Crash, Wyvern Crash and the Dragon Slayer, and his combination techniques are Dragon Tornado with Gouenji and Wyvern Blizzard with Fubuki, which he suffers an injury from while developing and is forced to leave the team behind for a short while. He Graduates from Raimon after FFI.He is seen as the coach of an Italian pro-team. He is the master of Nishiki Ryouma. He returns from Italy to watch the match of Raimon against Kidokawa in Episode 30. He is voiced by Yasuyuki Kase.

Asuka Domon

Asuka Domon (土門飛鳥 Domon Asuka), known as Bobby Shearer in the English dub, is a Defender. A tall, lanky Defensive player who grew up in America as a child with his friends Aki and Ichinose. He stopped playing Soccer early on due to a car accident with Ichinose, but picked up the game again after moving to Japan as a teenager. Originally, Domon works as a spy for Teikoku Academy under orders from Kageyama to keep tabs on the up-and-coming Raimon Eleven soccer team. After an incident with the team's first coach being revealed as a spy, Domon comes clean and is quick to leave, but Endou defends him and keeps Domon on the Raimon Eleven from there on out. Eventually, Domon takes his leave and comes home to America where he joins the national soccer team "The Unicorn" alongside Ichinose. His special techniques are the Killer Slide (which later evolves into Shin Killer Slide (True Killer Slide)) and Volcano Cut, while his combination techniques are Death Zone 2 with Endou and Kidou, The Phoenix with Endou and Ichinose and The Icarus with Mark in the FFI arc. He is voiced by Jun Konno.

Kazuya Ichinose

Kazuya Ichinose (一之瀬一哉 Ichinose Kazuya), known as Erik Eagle in the English dub, is a Midfielder. Ichinose a Japanese-American who grew up in the US with his childhood friends Domon, Aki and Nishigaki. As an Elementary schooler Ichinose was already a well-known soccer player until the day of a horrible car accident that hospitalized him for several years. Aki and Domon later moved to Japan under the impression that Ichinose had died, but through rehabilitation treatment, he was healed and went to Japan to visit his old friends. On his first day there, he plays against the Raimon Eleven and is soon invited by Endou to join their team for the Football Frontier matches. Later on, after the defeat of Aliea (Alius) Academy, Ichinose moves back to America and joins the national team "The Unicorn" alongside Domon. He enters the Football Frontier International and finally gets to play his desired match against Endou and his team. However, during the match, Endou, Domon, and Aki learn that Ichinose must soon receive another surgery procedure because of his injuries from the car accident years ago still affecting his body. Afterward, Ichinose is forced to fly back to America and get treatment. His special techniques include the Spinning Shot, Spiral Shot, Pegasus Shot and Flame Dance(which later evovles into flame dance remastered). His combination techniques are the Tri-Pegasus with Endou and Domon which later evolves into The Phoenix, Twin Boost with Kidou and later shares the move Gran Fenrir with Dylan and Mark. He is voiced by Yūki Kaji.

Jin Kageno

Jin Kageno (影野仁 Kageno Jin), known as Jim Wraith in the English dub, is a Defender. Kageno is a tall, dark and soft-spoken boy who joins the Raimon Eleven when Endou is out looking for new players. His reasons for joining were to "prove his existence" to people through joining an after-school activity. He has a strange aura surrounding him and a deep, echoing voice that disturbs even his teammates. Kageno turns out to be a valuable asset to the team, especially when developing special techniques, including his help lent to Kazemaru and Gouenji while mastering the Honoo no Kazamidori (Fire Rooster). His individual techniques include Coil Turn and he also has his Creepy Technique and he does a technique with Sugimori from Brainwashing Academy called Dual Smash (with the power of Alius rock). He graduates from Raimon after FFI. He is voiced by Yuichi Nakamura.

Ayumu "Shōrin" Shōrinji

Ayumu "Shōrin" Shōrinji (少林寺歩 Shōrinji Ayumu, known as Tim "Timmy" Saunders in the dub, is a Defender. One of Endou's teammates from the original Raimon Eleven and one of the shortest out of the team. He practices Shaolin Kung-Fu and incorporates his martial arts and agility into his soccer moves. His special techniques are Kung Fu Header and Whirlwind Twisterand Shooting Star with the assistance of Shishido. He is voiced by Masako Jō.

Shin'ichi Handa

Shin'ichi Handa (半田真一 Handa Shin'ichi), known as Steve Grim in the English dub, is a Midfielder. His original techniques are rolling kick and he also does Revolution V with Max (with the power of the Aliea Meteorite). Another of Endou's teammates from the members of the soccer club, acting as a horrible striker depending on what the situation calls for. He is the most "plain" of the group, usually having the least to say during the story, but is always ready for a match. His special technique is abc 123 . He is voiced by Hiro Shimono.

Sakichi Shishido

Sakichi Shishido (宍戸佐吉 Shishido Sakichi), known as Sam Kincaid in the English dub, is a Midfielder. Shishido is another one of Endou's teammates from the original Raimon soccer club. He has a large, red afro and lots of spirit. Shishido is versatile when it comes to playing soccer and often does little of everything. His special technique is called Grenade Shot. He is voiced by Tōru Nara.

Kūsuke "Max" Matsuno

Kūsuke "Max" Matsuno (松野空介 Matsuno Kūsuke), known as Maxwell "Max" Carson in the English dub, is a Midfielder. Max is a boy who attends Raimon Junior High and meets Endou while looking for new members to join the soccer club. He claims to join the team at first merely as a way to "cure his boredom" but turns out to enjoy the sport and stays with the team all the way to the Football Frontier. He's never seen without his trademark striped plush hat with cat ears. His individual special moves are: Cross Drive, Quick Draw. He also knew a combination move together with Handa called Revolution V (with the power of the Aliea meteorite). He is voiced by Yūki Kodaira.

Teppei Kurimatsu

Teppei Kurimatsu (栗松鉄平 Kurimatsu Teppei), known as Tod Ironside in the English dub, is a Defender. Kurimatsu is another one of the original members of the Raimon soccer club, a short, buck-toothed boy with a speech quirk, often saying "deyansu" ("actually") in every sentence. Though often one with a negative attitude and a shaky disposition, Kurimatsu is a skilled soccer player and has remained with the Raimon Eleven for quite a while. His special techniques are Dash Accelerator, Monkey spin and Maboroshi Dribble (Phantom Dribble) Together with Shishido and Kazemaru he had a combination move called Triple Boost in the Dark Emperors team. He becomes the new captain of Raimon junior high in the end after the graduation of Endou, Goenji, Kidou and others. He is voiced by Miho Hino.

Kakeru Megane

Kakeru Megane (目金欠流 Megane Kakeru), known as William "Willy" Glass in the English dub, is a Forward and Manager. He also has a move called Glass Crack were someoka uses dragon crash and then he headers it into the goal, he named it after his glasses cracked. Megane is a bespectacled pretentious boy who attends Raimon Junior High, who offers to join the soccer club by Endou's request, but only in the event of them needing one last member, so he feels he can be the "hero" that saves the day at the last second. During the match against Teikoku Academy, he shows his true colors and runs off in the middle of the game and abandons his uniform, but allows for Gouenji to take his place and pull Raimon out of the fire. With Gouenji officially on board, Megane joins the team permanently and plays alongside Raimon for quite a while. His running joke throughout the series becomes the self-appointed name-giver of the Raimon Eleven, giving cool titles to all of the player's special techniques. Later, during the Football Frontier International, he becomes a manager alongside Aki, Otonashi and Fuyuka. Funnily enough, he also has a younger, sportier twin brother named Kazuto who, while better at sports than him, is very emotional. He is voiced by Nanae Katō.

Keita Kakuma

Keita Kakuma (角馬圭太 Kakuma Keita^?), known as Chester Horse Jr. in the English dub, is a Commentator. A student at Raimon Junior High originally from the Shogi Club who became the commentator for the Soccer Club ever since the exhibition match between Teikoku and Raimon. Kakuma also has a habit of appearing randomly anywhere before a match starts, claiming he is such a big fan of the Raimon Eleven that he go anywhere to commentate on their matches. His father is a commentator for the Football Frontier and the Football Frontier International Asian Preliminaries. He is voiced by Kiyotaka Furushima.

Aki Kino

Aki Kino (木野秋 Kino Aki), known as Silvia Woods in the English dub, is a Manager. Aki is a young girl from America who moves to Japan and attends Raimon Junior High, where she becomes good friends with the soccer club captain, Mamoru Endou. Since the beginning of the soccer club, Aki acts as the team manager and keeps the boys in order. She's a big supporter of Endou's spirit. It's later revealed that she played soccer as a little girl in the US, but gave up the game after her childhood friend Ichinose was in a horrible car accident. She also meets her other childhood friend, Domon. When Ichinose appears in Japan and joins the Raimon Eleven team, she sees remarkable similarities in both him and Endou. She also has a crush on Endou. In Inazuma Eleven GO she owns and runs an apartment where Tenma lives. It is implied in episode 3 [of Inazuma Eleven GO] that she has been receiving long-distance phone calls from America, possibly from Ichinose. She is the coach of Akizora Challengers. She is voiced by Fumiko Orikasa.

Haruna Otonashi

Haruna Otonashi (音無春奈 Otonashi Haruna), known as Celia Hills in the English dub, is a Manager. Otonashi is a cute, peppy girl with red-framed glasses and short hair who works for the Raimon Junior High newspaper. After interviewing Endou and Aki for their first big match against Teikoku Academy, Otonashi becomes such a big fan that she enlists herself as a second manager alongside Aki. It's later revealed she is the sister of Teikoku soccer team's captain, Yuuto Kido, but hasn't had any contact with him for 6 years until he resurfaces as Raimon's biggest rival. After the rematch between Raimon and Teikoku, Kidou is freed from Kageyama's influence and Otonashi is reunited with her brother. Later on, she also acts as a motherly figure towards Kogure, relating to his absence of parents from a very young age. She is also kidnapped after she wears a bracelet given to her by Touko. However after her brother rescues her by playing a match and winning she escapes. In Inazuma Eleven GO she is a teacher and assistant to the Raimon Soccer Club. She is soccer advisor for soccer team. She is voiced by Hinako Sasaki.

Natsumi Raimon

Natsumi Raimon (雷門夏未 Raimon Natsumi^?), known as Nelly Raimon in the English dub, is a Manager. Natsumi is a beautiful red-haired upper-class girl and the school president of Raimon Junior High. She is the daughter of the School Chairman, Yuuichiro Raimon and will often "speak for him" while dealing with the principal and vice principal of Raimon Junior High. At first, she seems very much against the Raimon soccer club and is dead-set on disbanding it, often setting challenges for them to overcome with the threat of being shut down if they fail. After a few matches, Natsumi sees major potential in their team and becomes the third manager after Aki and Otonashi. She also develops romantic feelings for Mamoru as the story progresses. Later on it is revealed that she becomes Little Gigant's manager, because she realizes she is no longer needed by Inazuma Japan. However, after a match between Team Garshield and Inazuma Japan, she returns as manager. In Inazuma Eleven GO Episode 18, it is revealed that she has married Endou. She is voiced by Sanae Kobayashi.

Fuyuka "Fuyuppe" Kudō

Fuyuka "Fuyuppe" Kudō (久遠冬花 Kudō Fuyuka), known as Camelia Travis in the English dub, is a Manager. A young girl who transfers to Raimon Junior High after the defeat of Aliea (Alius) Academy, by way of her adoptive father, Michiya Kudou. After Natsumi travels overseas, claiming to be studying abroad, Aki and Otonashi had brought Fuyuka into the fold and taught her the ropes of being a manager for the Raimon soccer team. As a little girl, Fuyuka was close friend of Endou's in Elementary school. But her parents were killed in a car accident, leaving Fuyuka as the only survivor and put into a tremendous state of shock. Eventually, the hospital put her under hypno-therapy to wipe her memories clean and place Kudou as her new father. Knowing Endou was a childhood friend of hers, Kudou becomes the new coach of the Inazuma Japan national team and hopes that Endou will bring out the secrets of Fuyuka's past. She later remembers her past and find out she's happy how she is. In Inazuma Eleven Go she is a nurse in a hospital.

She is voiced by Haruka Tomatsu.

Seigō Hibiki

Seigō Hibiki (響木正剛 Hibiki Seigō), known as Seymour Hillman in the English dub, is a Coach and Goalkeeper. Hibiki is an old noodle-cooker who runs a ramen shop in Inazuma Town. Previously, he was the goalkeeper of the original Inazuma Eleven and a close friend of Mamoru Endou's grandfather, Daisuke Endou. The first original user of God Hand. After the Raimon Eleven's previous coach, Suguru Fuyukai was revealed to be a spy working for Kageyama to sabotage their rival team, Natsumi fires the fraud and the team becomes in need of a coach for the Football Frontier. Through some persistence by Endou, Hibiki eventually gives in and becomes the Raimon Eleven's go-to coach. Later on, Hibiki hands over the reins to Hitomiko Kira and then Michiya Kudou as his replacements, partially due to his old age, but more so to present new challenges for the Raimon team and better prepare them for fiercer competitions, including the Football Frontier International. Later on in Inazuma Eleven Go he is the boss of The Recistence. He is voiced by Kinryū Arimoto.

Hitomiko Kira

Hitomiko Kira (吉良瞳子 Kira Hitomiko), known as Aqualina "Lina" Schiller in the English dub, is a Coach. Hitomiko is a cold, professional woman who takes over as coach for the Raimon Eleven during the attack of Aliea (Alius) Academy, of which she is obsessed with stopping. Her goal is to prevent any further harm by the Aliea (Alius) soccer teams wreaking havoc on Japan, so Coach Hibiki enlists her as his replacement and Hitomiko becomes the head of the Inazuma Caravan. She is incredibly strict and to the point with Endou's team, but the captain seems to understand her feelings and obeys her decisions throughout their travels across the country. It is later revealed that her goal of stopping Aliea (Alius) Academy ties back to her father, who is responsible for the attacks and commander of the Aliea (Alius) teams. She is responsible for making fubuki fight for battles, even though she knew that fubuki has to suffer. But than she realize with the team's help that human bonds are stronger. After the defeat of Aliea (Alius) Academy and the players of the teams are freed from her father's influence, Hitomiko vanishes and Hibiki is given back coaching duties for the Raimon Eleven. Later on, Hitomiko is approached by former Aliea (Alius) Academy player Osamu Saginuma, to form a new team that will take over as Japan's representatives in the upcoming Football Frontier International. This newly formed team with Hitomiko as the coach becomes "Neo Japan". She is voiced by Junko Kitanishi.

Daisuke Endō

Daisuke Endō (円堂大介 Endō Daisuke), known as David Evans in the English dub, is a supporter and Goalkeeper. Mamoru Endou's Soccer-Superstar grandfather. Years ago, he was a member of the original "Inazuma Eleven" soccer team and then acted as the coach for the Raimon Junior High soccer club. He was thought to have been killed in a car accident set up by his vengeful rival, Reiji Kageyama, but upon inspection of the incident, turns out to have escaped from his life. With his daughter's family in danger of Kageyama's attacks, Endo leaves the country under the guise of being dead, but is discovered to be residing somewhere on Soccer Island where the Football Frontier International is being held. It is later revealed that Garshield was the one who wanted him to die so that he could control the world and controlled Kageyama to kill him. He is voiced by Hiroyuki Yoshino.

Michiya Kudō

Michiya Kudō (久遠道也 Kudō Michiya), known as Percival Travis in the English dub, is a Coach. He is the new coach of Inazuma Japan from season 3 onwards in the FFI tournament. He put Endou on bench in the march versus Fire Dragon due to him not understanding his responsibilities as a captain. he is mostly strict when it comes to the team but very caring. He is the adoptive father of Ono Fuyuka. He is responsible for guiding inazuma Japan to victory in the FFI. Ten years later in Inazuma Eleven GO, he is the coach of the Raimon Eleven but forced to resign for going against Fifth Sector. Now-a-days he is the part of Resistance against the Fifth Sector.He is voiced by Touchi Hiroki.

Terumi "Aphrodi" Afuro

Terumi "Aphrodi" Afuro (亜風炉照美 Afuro Terumi), known as Byron Love in the English dub, is a Forward. Aphrodi and the former captain of Zeus Junior High, a team that Raimon Eleven faced in the Soccer Frontier final. At first Aphrodi and his team are shown to be under the control of Kageyama, drinking a tainted water called "God's Aqua" that greatly increases the physical ability of the drinker. Endou's team manages to defeat the Zeus soccer team in the final match and opens Aphrodi's eyes to the truth, breaking him away from Kageyama's control. Later, he joins the Raimon Eleven in their first match against the diamond dust, a team of Aliea (Alius) Academy, helping them out a great deal against their strongest opponents, until he suffers a leg injury and is hospitalized until after Aliea (Alius) Academy's defeat. Afterward, he joins the Korean national team "Fire Dragon" and played against Inazuma Japan in the Finals of the Asian Preliminaries. His techniques include God Knows (later evolved to True God Knows), Heaven’s Time and God Break. He also has a combination technique with Suzuno and Nagumo called Chaos Break. In Inazuma Eleven Go he appears as the coach of Kidokawa Seishuu and a part of fifth sector. He is voiced by Yūko Sanpei.

Tōko Zaizen

Tōko Zaizen (財前塔子 Zaizen Tōko), known as Victoria "Tori" Vanguard in the English dub, is a Defender and Midfielder. Touko is a peppy, pink-haired girl and the daughter of Japan's Prime Minister, Sousuke Zaizen. She's a huge fan of all things including soccer and is captain of the "SP Fixers" (Secret Service) secret agent team. During the threat of Aliea (Alius) Academy, her team is called into investigate the cause. Touko and the Eleven In Black run into the Inazuma Caravan and suspect Endou and his crew of being with the Aliea (Alius) teams. An incredible match takes place and Touko, attracted to Endou's spirit and love of the game, joins the Inazuma Caravan in their efforts to stop Aliea (Alius) Academy's destructive crusade. Her special technique is The Tower and she also does Butterfly Dream with Rika then later develops a combination technique with Kogure and Tsunami called the Perfect Tower. She is voiced by Ayahi Takagaki. She later becomes the main protagonist of the movie's spin-off Touko Zaizen's Saves the Day (2009) and Once Upon a Touko Zaizen (2011).

Yūya Kogure

Yūya Kogure (木暮夕弥 Kogure Yūya), known as Scott "Scotty" Banyan in the English dub, is a Defender. Kogure is a short, cheeky troublemaker from Manyuuji (Cloister Divinity) Junior High in Kyoto. He's a talented soccer player, but was often kicked out of the team due to his prankster habits and lack of trust towards his teammates. The Inazuma Caravan visits his school during their travels and the Aliea (Alius) Academy team "Epsilon" threatens to destroy Manyuuji if they can't defeat them. After some interaction with Haruna and rethinking his attitude, Kogure wishes to join the Raimon team and help them defeat Aliea (Alius) Academy. He stows away on the caravan and becomes a longtime member of the team, using his impressive agility and shoulin kung fu skills during the game. Kogure's most noted technique is Senpuujin (Whirlwind Force), later does a technique with Touko and Tsunami called The Perfect Tower. In Inazuma Eleven GO, he appears as the captain of Akizora Challengers comprising adult tennis players. He is voiced by Nami Miyahara.

Rika Urabe

Rika Urabe (浦部リカ Urabe Rika), known as Suzette "Sue" Hartland in the English dub, is a Forward. Rika is dark-skinned, blue-haired sassy girl and the captain of an all-girls Soccer team in Osaka called Triple C. She works at an Okonomiyaki restaurant with her mother and first appears when the Raimon Caravan comes to Osaka believing that Aliea (Alius) Academy had a hidden base somewhere in a local amusement park here Rika lives. She,comes across Ichinose and immediately falls head-over-heels for him, claiming him to be her "Darling" husband after he eats her "Lovey-Dovey-Dish" which was just a simple Okonomiyaki that she made. After defeating her team and reclaiming Ichinose, she joined the Inazuma Caravan to help them against their second match with the Aliea (Alius) Academy team, Epsilon. After their match with Epsilon, Rika decides to stay on the team hoping to be with Ichinose. Her techniques include Rose Splash (Bed Of Roses) and Tsutenkaku Shoot (Steeple Shot) and later does a combination technique with Touko called Butterfly Dream (Butterfly Trance). She joins Touko on cheering for the Raimon team during the FFI Asia Preliminaries and eventually comes to visit Soccer Island to see the main tournament. She is voiced by Fujiko Takimoto.

Yūki Tachimukai

Yūki Tachimukai (立向居勇気 Tachimukai Yūki), known as Darren Lachance in the English dub, is a Goalkeeper and Midfielder. Tachimukai is a young boy from Yokato (Fauxshore) Junior High in Fukuoka. Originally a midfielder for his school's soccer team, he eventually switches to being a Goalkeeper due to his admiration and deep respect for Endou. While visiting his school, Tachimukai asks to join the Inazuma Caravan and help them defeat Aliea (Alius) Academy. Like Endou, Tachimukai is a talented goalkeeper and learns many of the same special techniques as his idols, including God Hand and Majin The Hand (In blue). He later learns an ultimate technique from Endou's notebook called Mugen The Hand which evolves to grade 2, 3 and then 4 all in the same match against The Genesis and later develops his own technique, Maou the Hand (Which is now G5). He is voiced by Shinnosuke Tachibana.

Jōsuke Tsunami

Jōsuke Tsunami (綱海条介 Tsunami Jōsuke), known as Hurley Kane in the English dub, is a Defender. Tsunami is a cool, sun-tanned teenager from Okinawa who loves surfing more than anything. While visiting Okinawa, Endou and the team meet Tsunami while he's surfing and saves Megane from drowning after he accidentally went overboard on the boat they were on. They come across Tsunami again while practicing and he decides to join in on the game just for fun. He proves to be an excellent player and shocks the crew when he reveals that he's never played soccer before. While practicing with Endou's team, he creates a special technique and felt a sudden devotion to the sport. He immediately joins the Omihara (Mary Times) Junior High Soccer club to develop his skills even more. Tsunami's team plays a practice match with the Inazuma Caravan team only to be interrupted by Team Epsilon of Aliea (Alius) Academy. He joined the team to help with their match against Team Epsilon and from then on stays with the team to help them defeat Aliea (Alius) Academy. Tsunami's special techniques are Tsunami Boost, The Typhoon and The Tube (Hissatsu Tactic). He also learns a combination technique with Kogure and Touko called The Perfect Tower. He is voiced by Shūhei Sakaguchi.

Toramaru Utsunomiya

Toramaru Utsunomiya (宇都宮虎丸 Utsunomiya Toramaru), known as Austin Hobbes in the English dub, is a Midfielder and Forward. Toramaru is an Elementary School student and the best soccer player in his district. Because of his young age, he is exempt from joining the Football Frontier and playing professionally, but later is brought in by Coach Hibiki to join Japan's national team, "Inazuma Japan". During the day, Toramaru helps part-time at his sickly mother's restaurant, making deliveries all day long that cut into his Soccer practice. When he's chosen to represent Japan for the Football Frontier International, he becomes a valuable player for Endou and his friends. He especially looks up to Gouenji, and eventually Tobitaka as role models. His special techniques are Gladius Arch, Tiger Drive and RC Shoot. He does a combination technique with Gouenji called Tiger Storm and another combination technique with both Gouenji and Hiroto called Grand Fire [which is currently G2]. He does Jet Stream with Endou and Gouenji, scoring the winning point against Little Gigant. He Joins Raimon Junior High as a Forward after the FFI. In Inazuma Eleven Go, he becomes the assistant of Ishido Shuuji(a.k.a. Goenji Shuuya). He is voiced by Rie Kugimiya.

Raiden Hijikata

Raiden Hijikata (土方雷電 Hijikata Raiden), known as Thor Stoutberg in the dub, is a Defender. A Junior High school student from Okinawa who is also a part of the local soccer club. He takes care of five younger siblings, and because of this, declines Endou's invitation to join Inazuma Caravan. He and Gouenji, who at the time has left the Raimon team, meet at Okinawa and become good friends. Hijikata convinces Gouenji to return to his teammates and eventually joins up with Raimon himself to help them defeat Aliea (Alius) Academy. Later, he is brought into the Inazuma Japan national team, so his siblings are left in the care of his neighbors. Hijikata is a talented defense player, his main technique being the Super Shikofumi (Super Four-Legged Stamp), Blade Attack and Thunder Beast that later evolves to Thunder Beast Remastered in combination with Fubuki. He is voiced by Yakkun Sakurazuka.

Jirō Sakuma

Jirō Sakuma (佐久間次郎 Sakuma Jirō), known as David Samford in the English dub, is a Forward. Sakuma is a member of the original Teikoku Academy team and a close friend of Kidou. After Kidou leaves Teikoku and joins Raimon's team, he and Genda are hospitalized during a match with Zeus Junior High and are visited by the mysterious Akio Fudou, who convinces them to join a new soccer team. Bitter against Kidou for leaving his original team, Sakuma accepts Fudou's offer and becomes part of the "Shin Teikoku" (Royal Academy Redux) soccer team, led by Kageyama. After a heated battle which ends in a tie, Sakuma collapses from overusing the dangerous "Emperor Penguin No.1" technique and is taken to the hospital again. However, before that, he apologizes to Kidou for taking things too far and they make peace, promising to play soccer together again sometime. After getting out of the hospital, Sakuma is invited to the FFI recruitment match and eventually goes to the islands with the rest of Raimon's team to represent Japan. He, Kidou and Fudou are shocked to find Kageyama there, and investigate what their old coach is up to. His techniques are the, Emperor Penguin No.1 a forbidden technique created by Kageyama, and his combination techniques are Death Zone and Emperor Penguin No.3 [which is now G3] with Kidou and Fudou. In Inazuma Eleven GO he is Royal Academy`s assistant coach with Kidou. He is voiced by Megumi Tano.

Kōjirō Genda

Kōjirō Genda (源田幸次郎 Genda Kōjirō), known as Joseph "Joe" King in the English dub, is a Goalkeeper. Nicknamed "The King of Goalies", Genda is the longtime Goalkeeper of Teikoku Academy's soccer team. During the attacks of Aliea (Alius) Academy, Genda and his teammate Sakuma are invited to become part of Shin Teikoku Academy's (Royal Academy Redux's) soccer team and is brought back under the influence of Kageyama. After the match, Genda is returned to normal and eventually became the goalkeeper for Neo Japan, to claim the national team spot for the Football Frontier International. His special techniques are Power Shield Which evolves to Full Power Shield, Beast Fang which is a forbidden technique, Drill Smasher V2 and True Infinite Wall. He is voiced by Yuichi Nakamura.

Hiroto Kiyama

Hiroto Kiyama (基山ヒロト Kiyama Hiroto), known as Xavier Foster in the English dub, is a Midfielder and Forward. Hiroto is the captain of Aliea (Alius) Academy's strongest team, Gaia (receiving the title "The Genesis") and reveals himself in secret to Endou. Going under the alien name "Gran (グラン^?)" (Zene), he becomes dead-set on crushing the Raimon soccer team. Though he wasn't inherently evil, Hiroto's devotion to his stepfather led him to become corrupt and carry out the orders of destruction under the guise of Aliea (Alius) Academy. After a climactic battle between the Raimon Eleven and The Genesis, Hiroto is freed from his stepfather's influence and returns to a normal life for a brief while. He is invited to join the national team, "Inazuma Japan" and from there on works alongside his former rivals for the Football Frontier Internationals. His signature technique is the Ryuusei Blade (Meteor Blade) and was able to evolve it till V3. He also performs a combination technique with Goenji and Toramaru called Grand Fire [which is currently G2]. He does a new combination technique with Fubuki called The Birth against Brazil's team the Kingdom. Hiroto does the hissatsu shoot with Kidou and Fubuki, called Big Bang and Tenkuu Otoshi(celestial smash) against Little Gigants. He is voiced by Takahiro Mizushima. He has a character song named "Star Line". Hiroto Kiyama was an orphan, later adopted by the Kira family. It is also revealed that Hiroto was not his real name; when he was adopted, his name was changed. Ten years later in Inazuma Eleven Go, he inherits his stepfather's company and changes his surname to Kira. He is voiced by Takahiro Mizushima.

Haruya Nagumo

Haruya Nagumo (南雲晴矢 Nagumo Haruya), known as Claude Beacons in the English dub, is a Forward. Haruya or Burn (バーン) (Torch) as he is called while working under Aliea (Alius) Academy, is a rebellious and fearless player with fiery red hair. He is the captain and ace striker of the Aliea (Alius) Academy Soccer team "Prominence". He has a strong hatred towards Gran because of their rank differences. Haruya first appeared in Okinawa when the Inazuma Caravan were searching for someone called the "Fire Striker" in which Endou and Kidou thought might be their missing friend Gouenji. He confronts Domon and Fubuki claiming to be the Fire Striker and challenges the team to a match to prove it. After the match, Endou nearly invites Burn to join their team, until Gran interrupts the offer and reveals Burn's true identity. When he and Gazelle (the team captain of "Diamond Dust") heard about Gran's team promotion to be the captain of Aliea's (Alius') strongest team "The Genesis", Gazelle and Burn combine their players forming a new team "The Chaos", hoping to show their leader who's stronger. During the preparation for the Football Frontier International, Haruya and Fūsuke are scouted by Aphrodi to join South Korea's national team, "Fire Dragon". Haruya's main technique is the Atomic Flare, a combo technique with Fūsuke called Fire Blizzard and a technique later with Fūsuke and Aphrodi called Chaos Break. He is voiced by Kiyotaka Furushima.

Fūsuke Suzuno

Fūsuke Suzuno (涼野風介 Suzuno Fūsuke), known as Bryce Whittingale in the English dub, is a Forward. Fūsuke is a calm and arrogant player from Aliea (Alius) Academy and is the team captain and ace striker of "Diamond Dust", going under the name of Gazelle (ガゼル). He seems to be intrigued by Endou's Soccer-playing skills and challenges him to one match. However, Fūsuke's team fails to score a victory thanks to Aphrodi's assistance to the Inazuma Caravan, and the match ends in a draw. Angered by what considers to be a loss, Gazelle convinces his rival Aliea (Alius) captain Burn to join forces and create a new team, "The Chaos", which challenges the Raimon team but is stopped by Gran's interruption. During the Football Frontier International, Fūsuke is invited to the South Korea team, "Fire Dragon" to compete against Inazuma Japan. His main technique is Northern Impact and later does a combo technique with Haruya called Fire Blizzard as well as a technique with both Haruya and Aphrodi called Chaos Break. In the English dub, his gender was changed male to female. He is voiced by Fujiko Takimoto.

Ryūji Midorikawa

Ryūji Midorikawa (緑川リュウジ Midorikawa Ryūji), known as Jordan Greenway in the English dub, is a Midfielder and Forward. Midorikawa was once part of Aliea (Alius) Academy's 2nd rank team, "Gemini Storm", going under his alien name, Reize (レーゼ) (Janus). He leads his team to crush Junior High Schools all across the country by way of destructive Soccer competitions, but is eventually defeated by the Raimon soccer team. After the defeat of Aliea (Alius) Academy, Reize is returned to his original self, Ryūji. He speaks in famous quotes both under the guise of an alien and in his normal personality. He makes the cut to join Inazuma Japan for the Football Frontier International and becomes a longtime player for Endou and company. However he was later dropped out, along with Fubuki, who injured his leg and they were replaced by Someoka and Sakuma. His special techniques are Astro Break and Lightning Accelerate. He is voiced by Yuki Kodaira.

Osamu Saginuma

Osamu Saginuma (砂木沼治 Saginuma Osamu^?), known as Dave Quagmire in the English dub, is a Goalkeeper, Forward, and Midfielder. Saginuma, whose alien name is Dezarm (デザーム^?) (Dvalin), was the captain of Aliea (Alius) Academy's team "Epsilon". He and his team first appeared after the Raimon Eleven defeated Gemini Storm and Dezarm, as punishment "exiles" Reize and his team. Dezarm make their first stop at Manyūji Junior High school and crush the entire soccer team's players, with the exception of Yūya Kogure. The Raimon Eleven played against Epsilon with Kogure, who was able to steal the ball and make them retreat. Later at Osaka, Dezarm and his team tied with Rika Urabe and Raimon Eleven, then Diamond Dust appeared after they were defeated. Soon afterward, in Okinawa, Epsilon reappeared with newly awakened powers and going by the moniker "Epsilon Remastered" (Epsilon Plus). There, Dezarm reveals his ability as a forward player and manages to break through Endou's newly awakened Fist of Justice technique. However, the victory is short lived as Gouenji emerges and aids the Raimon Eleven in the defeat of Epsilon Remastered. Long after the defeat of Aliea (Alius) Academy, Saginuma, who has now returned to his original self, reappears with a newly formed team called "Neo Japan", led by Coach Hitomiko. He has switched positions again, this time becoming a midfielder. He shows that he has gotten stronger, through training with the other players, who hail from various teams Raimon have faced in the past. They play against Inazuma Japan in order to take their place in the Football Frontier International, but ultimately loses in their match. His techniques are Wormhole, Drill Smasher, Gungnir, Illusion Ball Remastered, Dash Storm V2 and God Knows Remastered. He is voiced by Takashi Hikida.

Seiya Tobitaka

Seiya Tobitaka (飛鷹征矢 Tobitaka Seiya^?), known as Archer Hawkins in the English dub, is a Defender. Tobitaka is a slick punk from Raimon Town who leads a street gang and often gets into fights. He made a name for himself with his powerful kick and is discovered by Hibiki in the woods in the midst of another rumble with a rival gang. Hibiki urges Tobitaka to make "better use of that kick" and begins to teach him how to play Soccer in secret. Tobitaka gets a shot at joining the country's national team, Inazuma Japan and manages to get a spot for himself on the team. Slowly but surely, he develops his skills and even becomes a role model of sorts to the young Toramaru. He's never seen without his trademark hair-comb. His special technique is the Shinkuuma (Hollow Demon) and later evolves into Shinkuuma V2 (Hollow Demon V2). In Inazuma Eleven Go, he is the cook at Hibiki's Rairaken Restaurant. He is voiced by Nobuya Mine.

Akio Fudō

Akio Fudō (不動明王 Fudō Akio^?), known as Caleb Stonewall in the English dub, is a Midfielder. He is a player who once as a young boy was told to get stronger and more powerful by his mother. He however, misunderstood it and sided with Kageyama to create Shin Teikoku Academy (Royal Academy Redux). He later joins the good side and now plays in Inazuma Japan. His combination techniques include Killer Fields with Kidou, and Emperor Penguin No.3 [which is now G3] with Kidou and Sakuma. He was supposed to do Jet Stream with Gouenji and Toramaru, but was replaced by Endou. He is voiced by Yūki Kaji.

Edgar Valtinas

Edgar Valtinas (エドガー・バルチナス Edogā Baruchinas^?)In the English dub Edgar Partinus is a Forward. He is the captain of England's national team Knights of Queen. His moves are Excalibur and Paladin Strike. He is voiced by Tomokazu Sugita. He is sarcastic at times.

Teres Torue

Teres Torue (テレス・トルーエ Teresu Torūe^?) known as Tiago Torres in the English dub is a Defender. He's the captain of Argentina's national team The Empire. His main technique is Iron Wall. He is voiced by Junji Majima.

Mark Kruger

Mark Kruger (マーク・クルーガー Māku Kurūgā^?) is a Midfielder. He is captain of America's national team Unicorn. He and Dylan are good friends and are never seen without each other.

He shares the move Gran Fenrir with Ichinose and Dylan, Unicorn Boost with Dylan

only, and does The Icarus with Domon. He is voiced by Yuichi Nakamura.

Dylan Keith

Dylan Keith (ディラン・キース Diran Kīsu^?) is a Forward. He's the ace striker of America's national team Unicorn. Dylan is always seen wearing a set of blue glasses that he never takes off and is never seen without Mark. He does a combination technique with Mark called Unicorn Boost and with both Mark and Ichinose called Gran Fenrir. He is voiced by Chihiro Suzuki.

Fidio Aldena

Fidio Aldena (フィディオ・アルデナ Fidio Arudena^?) known as Paolo Bianchi in the English dub, is a Forward. He is the stand-in-captain of Italy's national team Orpheus while their original captain was traveling during the Football Frontier International. When their captain came back in the second half of the match between Italy and Japan in A Group's finals, Fidio was removed from the captain's position and went back to being a forward. He is nicknamed the White Meteor due to his incredible speed. His main technique is Odin Sword, which later evolves into Odin Sword Kai (Odin Sword Remastered) and further evolves into Shin Odin Sword (True Odin Sword) in the same match. He is voiced by Hiro Shimono.

Hidetoshi Nakata

Hidetoshi Nakata (中田英寿 Nakata Hidetoshi^?), known as Christopher "Chris" Nichols in the English dub, is a Forward. Nicknamed Hide by his fellow players, he is the captain of Italy's national team Orpheus. He returns to his team during the 2nd half of Italy's match with Inazuma Japan and his special technique is the Brave Shot. Hide is based on a real Soccer player from Japan, Hidetoshi Nakata, who is now retired. He is voiced by Hiroshi Tsuchida.

Mac Roniejo

Mac Roniejo (マック・ロニージョ Makku Ronījo^?) known as "Robinga" in the English dub, is a Forward. He is the captain of Brazil's national team The Kingdom, who is influenced by a mysterious project headed by Garshield that turns him into a ruthless soccer player at the sound of a whistle. His family is put in danger by Garshield's evil plans and strives to win the Football Frontier International in order to protect them. His signature technique is the Strike Samba [which reached V3].He is voiced by Shuhei Sakaguchi.

Rococo Urupa

Rococo Urupa (ロココ・ウルパ Rokoko Urupa^?) known as Hector Helio in the English dub, is a Goalkeeper. He is the captain of the Cotarl team, Little Giganto. He trains under Endou Daisuke, the grandfather of Endou Mamoru. His moves are God Hand [red version], God Hand X, X Blast [which is now V3] and Tamashii the Hand [which evolved into G2]. He is voiced by Yuki Kaida.

Sain

Sain (セイン Sein^?), known as Cress Heavens in the English dub, is a Forward. He is the Captain of Heavenly Messengers team and first appears during a practice match between Inazuma Japan and the Captains of various FFI teams, in order to kidnap Rika. Sein's team of angelic Soccer players believe that the great demon king of Liocott Island must be given a wife in order to soothe his rage, so the Heavenly Messengers stake Rika as the prize of a match with Endou and his friends. After their defeat, he and Endou come to an understanding, until Desuta brings Sein under his influence and the angel and devil teams become "Dark Angel". His special techniques are Heaven Drive and later Shadow Ray, which he shares with Desuta. He is voiced by Yuki Kaida.

Reiji Kageyama

Reiji Kageyama (影山零治 Kageyama Reiji^?), known as Ray Dark in the English dub, is a main antagonist of the Inazuma Eleven series. Kageyama is a powerful and dangerous man in the Soccer community, being one of the founders of the Football Frontier and a supposed lover of the sport...however, he is truly bitter against everything Soccer stands for. His father, once a great Soccer player himself, died when Kageyama was still a child and devastated him. Since then, he swore vengeance on Soccer and strove to ruin the sport forever with his evil plan, "Project Z". He eventually became the "commander" of Teikoku (Royal) Academy's Soccer team, using Yuuto Kidou as the captain after discovering him at an orphanage. Kageyama's strong and ruthless strategies push Teikoku Academy to the forefront of the Football Frontier, as they win year after year and leave a wake of destruction in their path, ripping apart any school that loses to a match with them. Kidou, who begins to go against Kageyama's ideals, finally turns his back on him during their match with Raimon, to which Kageyama tries to eliminate Teikoku and Raimon at once by way of a horrible accident. After the match, Kageyama leaves Teikoku and becomes the commander of Zeus Junior High's soccer team, finally making use of the dangerous Project Z on Aphrodi and the others. Kageyama disappears after the Football Frontier, but re-emerges as the commander of "Shin Teikoku Academy" (Royal Academy Redux) with Kidou's former teammates pitted against him. He disappears once again, then re-surfaces as the captain of Italy's Team, Orpheus, under the guise of "Mister K". He realizes he loves soccer through a little girl, Reshe, Fidio, and Kidou. He is later murdered by Garshield. He is voiced by Seiji Sasaki.

Bayhan Garshield

Bayhan Garshield (ガルシルド・ベイハン Garushirudo Beihan) is an antagonist in the Inazuma Eleven series. Garshield is a very dangerous man who is trying to take over the world using Soccer. He acts as the coach of Brazil's "The Kingdom" during the Football Frontier International and the true mastermind behind Kageyama's actions, as well as the stager of Daisuke Endou's supposed death. He fools the Brazilian team's fanbase into thinking he's promoting world peace through Soccer, but in fact he's revealed to not even be the true coach of the team at all. He uses Roneijo as the test subject for the RH Program", which hypnotizes him into an unstoppable Soccer player at the sound of a whistle. During the match between Inazuma Japan and The Kingdom, he's arrested by Detective Onigawara of the Japanese police and the true Coach of Brazil's team takes his rightful place. Later, Garshield escapes his arrest thanks to help of his assistant, Henktacker and uses a team of his own super-powered Soccer players to attack Liocott Island. Inazuma Japan defeats his team with some help from Daisuke Endou (Endou Mamoru's grandfather) and Natsumi and is arrested by the International Police. He is voiced by Yousuke Akimoto.

List of Inazuma Eleven GO characters

Tenma Matsukaze

Tenma Matsukaze (松風天馬 Matsukaze Tenma legend horse Matsukaze And Heavenhorse or Pegasus is a rough translation to his english name^?), known as Arion Sherwind in the English dub, is a Midfielder. He has light brown hair and big blue eyes. He is the protagonist in Inazuma Eleven GO. He is mostly called "Tenma" rather than "Matsukaze". His hair pattern is in the form of swirls to indicate his affinity to the wind. He is not very good at soccer, save for dribbling, but he shows great potential due to his ability to stand up to and stop Kyōsuke's hissatsu shoot, Death Sword, without using a hissatsu technique himself. He was inspired to play soccer after Shūya Gōenji saved him from serious injury by kicking a soccer ball the same way as does Fire Tornado and/or Bakunetsu Screw (without the visual effects), to change the trajectory of a wooden plank that was about to hit the young Tenma. He really loves soccer and is as passionate as Endou Mamoru (Mark Evans) and some noted this resemblance. He has the ability to lessen the damages his body takes by anticipating the ball's trajectory. He shows signs of having an avatar in episode 1, Tsurugi notices and tries to make it appears in episodes 18 and 19 but Tenma finally summons it in episode 20. He tries to get along well with most of his teammates, although at first he mostly annoys them. He refuses to accept Fifth Sector's system and he is often pointed as the one who started the revolution against Fifth Sector, Ishido Shuji commented upon that fact; he changed Raimon and Raimon started changing other schools. Because he gave Raimon its fighting spirit back, he was well accepted as captain when Shindo was injured and unable to lead the team. At some point he was depressive when he learn about Fifth Sector was closing schools that had revolted because he felt responsible for that but eventually Shindo helped him to recover, even after he learnt Ishido Shuji was the one that saved him when he was young. He is close friends with Shinsuke Nishizono and Aoi Sorano. He gets along with most of the team after sometime even though Kurama still teases him. During the second season, Chrono Stone, he is the only one to remember of soccer after the El Dorado's alteration of time, when his teammates do not recognize him and are in other clubs as soccer club never existed. He had a confrontation with Protocol Omega and was helped by Fei Rune that came from future to help him. Tenma traveled through time with Fei Rune and Clark Wondabat to make sure Protocol Omega would not stop Endou from creating Raimon Soccer Club. His hissatsu techniques are Soyokaze Step(Zephyr Step), Mach Wind, Spiral Draw, Wonder Trap and Aggressive Beat. In the movie, he does Evolution with Tsurugi and Shindou. He later developed an avatar called Majin Pegasus which is now evolve to Majin Pegasus Arc in episode 39. In the same episode his avatar creates an Avatar Fusion with Shindo's and Tsurugi's: Matei Gryphon. In Chrono Stone Tenma assumes the role of captain for Tenmas and Raimon, and he is a lot more comfortable with it. He was the only one to remember about soccer. He is shocked when he discovers soccer had disappeared from Raimon and travelled back in time with Fei to save Raimon's football club. Though it was successful, he realized that Tsurugi is absent but Raimon do not know him as Tsurugi Yuichi never had his incident, was never in a wheelchair, continued soccer, becoming one of Raimon sempai but Tsurugi gave up soccer so he never joined Raimon. Eventually they were able to bring back Tsurugi even though it meant Yuichi would be injured. Tenma was saddened by what it meant but was very happy to discover Tsurugi was back to Raimon club. Later on when Raimon time-travelled to King Arthur's era(in a story book) he mixi-maxed with King Arthur and gained Ou no Tsurugi(Sword of the King). When the Ragnarok tournament began, he became the captain of El Dorado Team 03 and later Chrono Storm, and was shocked that Fei was actually part of Feida(Second Staged Children's organization)and that he went back to Feida and became the captain of Garu. Eventually Fei went back to Raimon and joined Chrono Storm, which later defeated The Lagoon(Feida's last team that is led by SARU). In Galaxy, when FFI V2(Football Frontier International Vision 2) started, Kuroiwa Ryuusei did Shinsei Inazuma Japan(the Japan's representative team)'s selection, in which Tenma, Tsurugi and Shindou are the only members that were chosen from Raimon. Tenma is confused but decided to teach the other eight soccer newbies to play soccer. Being the team's captain, Tenma is especially under high pressure between Shindou(who looked down on the new members), the new members who wanted to learn and play soccer(Matatagi, Ibuki)and those who wanted to leave. He is voiced by Yuka Terasaki. He has a character song called "Soyokaze Dream!".

Shinsuke Nishizono

Shinsuke Nishizono (西園信助 Nishizono Shinsuke^?), known as Jean-Pierre "J.P" Lapin in the English dub, is a Defender. He is a very short boy who is typically seen as energetic and optimistic. He is the smallest of the team. He is a first year. He witnessed the match between Kuro no Kishidan and Raimon, he was impressed by Tenma's tenacity and the first appearance of Sousha Maestro, Shindo's avatar. Then he decided to join with Tenma. Both were able to participate in the first match in Team A but he had just begun so he was not very good, he gets better over time and eventually became the team's second goalkeeper. He is a close friend of Tenma. He is very good at jumping. His hissatsu techniques is Buttobi Jump (Full Throttle Jump) and "Majin the hand" (with his kenshin). He is close friends with Tenma Matsukaze and Aoi Sorano. He later develops an avatar called "Goseishin Titanias(Protection God Titanias)". Later on when Raimon time-travelled to Three Kingdoms Era, he mixi-maxed with Ryuu Gentoku and gain Taikoku Ouka(Great Country Eulogize). During the Ragnarok Tournament, he is goalkeeper for both El Dorado Team 03 and Chrono Storm. In Galaxy, whilst listening to Shinsei Inazuma Japan's team selsection, he was shocked that he wasn't chosen for the team's goalkeeper, instead Ibuki Munemasa from Gassan Kunimitsu was chosen. Still, Shinsuke kept on supporting Tenma. Later in the series, it is revealed he will join Earth Eleven, the representative team of Earth. He is voiced by Haruka Tomatsu.

Takuto Shindō

Takuto Shindō (神童拓人 Shindō Takuto^?), known as Riccardo Di Rigo in the English dub, is a Midfilder. He is the captain of the Raimon Eleven team in Inazuma Eleven GO. He has wavy greyish-brown hair and brown eyes. He was a pessimistic boy and who is easy to upset or irritate, and is shown to cry a lot due to frustration. Despite this, he takes soccer very seriously and cares a lot about his team. He is a pianist, and the majority of his hissatsu techniques are based on music. He is close friends with Ranmaru Kirino and gets along well with Taichi Sangoku. At first, he did not liked Tenma because Tenma believed soccer was fun but Shindo's will had somewhat faded because of Fifth Sector's orders, but he eventually gets it back.He felt responsible when Coach Kudou was fired after he disobeyed for the first time and score a goal when Raimon was to lose 3-0, he even left the team but eventually Tenma was able to make him return. He was the first to disobey, taking side with the team's first years, Tenma and Shinsuke, and winning the first match of the Holy Road with help from Sangoku Taichi. He helped Tenma to get over his guilt about Fifth Sector's decision to destroy rebellious schools and his shock over learning Ishido Shuji had saved him by soothing his fears and playing soccer with him. In episode 39 he collapses and it is revealed in the next episode that his leg is broken even though he recovers, after the finals. He decided with their coach Endou Mamoru that Tenma should be captain in his absence. During the match against Dragronlink, he came to the terrain and encouraged Tenma to play his soccer. He was happy when Raimon won. He was able to return to Raimon team in episode 45. His hissatsu techniques are Fortíssimo and Presto Turn. He also attempted to do Ultimate Thunder with his teammates (but eventually Kyousuke Tsurugi did it istead. He has an kenshin (avatar) named Sousha Maestro (musician Maestro). His kenshin shoot is Harmonics.Later on when Raimon time-travelled to Sengoku Era, he mixi-maxed with Oda Nobunaga and gained Setsuna Boost(Spilt-Second Boost). During the Ragnarok Tournament, he became the captain of El Dorado Team 02, in which he considered himself failing for being a captain, he was able to involve his original tatic: Kami no Takuto(God's Baton) into Kami no Takuto FI(God's Baton Fire Illusion) in order to suit Alpha, Beta, Gamma and other fellow El Dorado players' playing style. In Galaxy, him, Tenma and Tsurugi were the only chosen members for Shinsei Inazuma Japan, and he was angry that all eight other members do not really know how to play soccer. He is shown to be not on good term with other eight members, especially Ibuki, the team's goalkeeper, while Shindo regarded himself as the stopper of the shoots, not Ibuki. he also developed Einsatz, a block hissatsu, during the match with Fire Dragon. He is voiced by Saiga Mitsuki. In the movie, he shares a move called Joker Rains with Tsurugi and does Evolution with both Tsurugi and Tenma. He has a character song with Kirino called "Ashita no Field" (Tomorrow's field) and a "Yuuki no Harmony" (Harmony of Courage)

Ranmaru Kirino

Ranmaru Kirino (霧野蘭丸 Kirino Ranmaru^?), known as Gabriel Garcia in the English dub, is a Defender. He is a feminine boy who is said to often get mistaken for a girl due to his girlish appearance and graceful movements. He was the fifth member of Raimon to participate in the revolution. He is generally in a good mood and tries to comfort others when needed. His hissatsu techniques are The Mist and Deep Mist . He is close friends with Takuto Shindō and Taichi Sangoku. He has difficulties with Kariya Masaki, mostly because of Kariya's tricky nature but they work well together. In Chrono Stone, in starts to feel envy of Shindou Takuto, since they were friends in primary school and played soccer together since then, but now, Shindou was strong. He had Oda Nobunanga and gained a Mixi Maxed and had Kenshin Armed. Due to that, he wanted to get stronger too and was able to gain a kenshin in episode 22, Seishiki Brynhilder and gets Mix Max with Jeanne d'Arc, gaining La Flamme, and also gets Kenshin Armed in Episode 45, revealing he is fit to be part of the strongest eleven as a defender that stir his team's heart up. He got along quite well with Jeanne d'Arc. He has a character song with Shindou called "Ashita no Field " (Tomorrow's field) and " B.E.L.I.E.V.E.". He is voiced by Yū Kobayashi.

Taichi Sangoku

Taichi Sangoku (三国太一 Sangoku Taichi^?), known as Samguk Han in the English dub, is a Goalkeeper. He has a determined personality and has been playing soccer since he was very young. He is also helpful around his home and buys supplies when his mother is out. His hissatsu techniques are based on earth, and he gets along well with Takuto Shindō. His techniques are Burning Catch, Fence of Gaia and towards the end of Chrono stone, True god hand X (later evolved to supreme), he also develops Burai Hand in the movie that reappears in Chrono stone. He is voiced by Kensuke Satou.

Kyōsuke Tsurugi

Kyōsuke Tsurugi (剣城京介 Tsurugi Kyōsuke^?), known as Victor Blade in the English dub, is a Forward. He is first shown to be very hostile towards soccer and any of its players, despite being able to play exceptionally well. He was originally the captain of the Black Knights (黒の騎士団 Kuro no Kishidan^?), but later joined the Raimon Eleven team. He hates soccer due to an accident involving it causing his brother, Yūichi Tsurugi, to lose the ability to use his legs. He joined Fifth Sector with on the agreement that they would pay for the expensive surgery needed for his brother's legs to be fixed. Eventually he does become calmer, as shown when he stopped Isosaki, captain of Bannousaka team from trying to break Tenma Matsukaze's legs, which made him think of his brother, unable to play. He eventually switched side and became a true member of Raimon. He was the sixth player to join the rebellion in Raimon even though he definitely sided with them only during the match against Teikoku. He has a strong rivalry with Takuto Shindō. He is not very talkative, talking only when it is needed and it is usually useful. He does not like to be involved with other but he did admit his brother he gets along with his teammates. While he hated Tenma when he met him, due to their opposite view of soccer (he was there to make sure Fifth Sector's orders would be followed and Tenma rejected the fact Fifth Sector could control soccer), they are on good terms. Tsurugi looked after him from far when Tenma was feeling down and left training to go on a walk where he met Yukka (Julia Blaze) who made him met with Ishido Shuji, he stayed far. He went to Ishido Shuji after he left Tenma and told him he knew he was Gouenji Shuya (Axel Blaze) and asked him a favor. He came up with Fire Tornado Double Drive and asked Tenma to train with him on this techniques. He helped both Tenma and Shinsuke summoning their avatar. His techniques are Death Sword and Death Drop. He has an avatar named Kensei Lancelot and his avatar shoots are Lost Angel. His avatar can create an Avatar Fusion with Shindo's and Tenma's: Matei Gryphon.He has a character song with Yuuichi called "Onaji Yume wo Miteru"(Sharing the Same Dream). Later on he will mixi-max with Okita Sōji and gain Kiku Ichimonji. He is voiced by Takashi Ōhara. In the movie 'Ultimate Gryphon Bonds', he does Joker Rains with Shindou and Evolution with both Shindou and Tenma.

Yūichi Tsurugi

Yūichi Tsurugi (剣城優一 Tsurugi Yūichi^?), known as Vladimir Blade in the English dub, is the older brother of Kyōsuke Tsurugi. He is shown to have a kind and caring personality, and cares a lot about his brother; he generally tries to tell him that his broken legs weren't Kyōsuke's fault and that he should stop showing hostility towards soccer, however Kyōsuke refuses to listen. He worried about his brother's apparently depressive mood and eventually learn about his deal with Fifth Sector so he would get the operation for his legs. He was angry at him and send him off. He was happy that Kyosuke chose to help his team and teased him about the possibility Tenma might took his place in the team if he was not careful. In episode 41 someone offers the money for his operation so would be able to walk and play soccer again, making him and his brother happy. He is very supportive of his brother. He watched the finals. He played soccer with Kyōsuke a lot when they were younger, and admires Gōenji Shūya.He has a character song with Kyosuke called "Onaji Yume wo Miteru"(Sharing the Same Dream).He is voiced by Maeno Tomoaki.

Atsushi Minamisawa

Atsushi Minamisawa ((南沢篤志) Minamisawa Atsushi^?) is a Forward. He is a calm and narcissistic boy who only plays soccer to get better grades, and regards Tenma Matsukaze as an annoying and clueless boy. He ends up quitting in episode 11, surprising and upsetting most of the team, especially Kurama, whom he got along well with. He later joins Gassan Kunimitsu in the Holy Road National. His hissatsu techniques are Sonic Shot. He is voiced by Yūki Kaji.

Norihito Kurama

Norihito Kurama (倉間典人 Kurama Norihito^?), known as Michael Ballzack in the English dub, is a Forward. He is short, has dark skin, light blue hair and black eyes. He has a condescending attitude and likes to pick on Tenma Matsukaze. As the series goes on, he starts to hate Tenma more and more, and blamed him for Atsushi Minamisawa leaving the team. Like Minamisawa, he also says that he only plays soccer to get better grades. However he seems to care about the team more. He eventually reconcilied with the thought of the revolution and Tenma though he still pick on him occasionally. Like Shindou, he tries to do Ultimate Thunder with his teammates (but again like Shindou is unable to complete it). His hissatsu techniques are Sidewinder. He is voiced by Ayahi Takagaki.

Tsurumasa Hayami

Tsurumasa Hayami (速水鶴正 Hayami Tsurumasa^?) is a Midfielder. A tall and lanky player who is very pessimistic and always expects the worst. He rarely smiles or shows any sign of happiness, and seems scared of the consequences certain actions might cause. Despite all this, he does enjoy fishing. At first he was very scared of the consequences of the revolution, and thought it was not possible for them to win but after some time he began to be less pessimistic and more cheerful, believing in their goal. His hissatsu technique is Zeroyon He is voiced by Hiroyuki Yoshino.

Kaiji Hamano

Kaiji Hamano (浜野海士 Hamano Kaiji^?) is a Midfielder. He has a bright and outgoing personality, and tends to get along well with most of his peers. Like Tsurumasa Hayami, he enjoys fishing when he isn't playing soccer. His hissatsu techniques are Naminori Piero. He is voiced by Jun Konno.

Gōichi Kurumada

Gōichi Kurumada (車田剛一 Kurumada Gōichi^?) is a Defender. He is very physical and irritable, and doesn't get discouraged easily. He is good at encouraging the team. His hisstasu technique are Dash Train. He is voiced by Hirofumi Nojima.

Daichi Amagi

Daichi Amagi (天城大地 Amagi Daichi^?) is a Defender. He is large and has a quick temper, especially towards things that seem unjustifiable. His hissatsu techniques are Viva! The Great Wall of China and Atlantis Wall. He is voiced by Nara Tōru.

Masaki Kariya

Masaki Kariya (狩屋正樹 Karia Masaki^?)Known as Aitor Cazador in the dub. He is a Defender. He has brown eyes and light teal hair near shoulder length. He is somewhat mischievous, and, according to Hitomiko Kira, he was sent to her father's orphanage by the age of eleven. His parents were broke because their money was all lost to deceitful people, which made it difficult for Kariya to trust others. He clashed with Ranmaru Kirino because he actually told him he was a SEED but it was a lie just to annoy him, they were eventually able to play together. In Chrono Stone he was chosen to go in 1427 to meet Jeanne d'Arc but he feigned a stomach ache and gave his place to Kirino, whom he knows felt some jealousy about Shindou becoming stronger without him. Previously he had been brainwashed to dislike soccer by soccer as well as all Raimon members that did not have a keshin, he came back after Beta annulated the effect of the sphere device. He tends to be very tricky but is not good at naming hissatsu. His hissatsu technique is Hunter's Net. He also does Kattobi Defense with Shinsuke. He has a character song with Kageyama called "Houkago Chemistry". He is voiced by Yūki Tai in Japanese Version.

Kageyama Hikaru

Kageyama Hikaru(影山輝 Hikaru Kageyama), known as Hikaru Dark in the English dub, is a forward. Hikaru has short yet, bluish-purple hair and black eyes which have a white spot and a brown spot at each bottom corner. He has fair skin. His hair sometimes look like a crab pincer. When he first joins raimon, he hesitates to tell his first name because Kageyama(his first name) is a name used by Reiji Kageyama in the previous inazuma eleven series who was notorious for being dangerous and his evil actions. Hikaru is soon revealed to be Reiji's nephew. But his love to soccer makes him a great forward. His hissatsu technique is Extend Zone. He has a character song with Kariya called "Houkago Chemistry ".

Nishiki Ryoma

Nishiki Ryouma (錦龍馬 Ryouma Nishiki) is a midfielder and a forward for Raimon. He has black hair that is long and tied with a blue pony tail. He has dark brown eyes. He is taller compared to most of the Raimon members. He has dark skin and large eyebrows. He was an ace striker in Raimon before Tsurugi. Because of his great ability, he is recruited by the Italian Pro teenager league. There, he changes his formation to a midfielder. He is taught by Someoka Rugo and learns to use keshin in Italy. After he arrived and joined Raimon, Someoka once comes to see his game and gives riceballs which are his favorite food. He often teases Midori Seto. His hissatsu techniques are Denrai Houtou and Acrobat Keep. His keshin is Sengoku Bunshin Musashi and his keshin hissatsu techniques is Bushin Renzan. Later on he will mixi-max with Sakamoto Ryōma and gain Kuroshio Ride. He is voiced by Ryo Iwasaki.

Aoi Sorano

Aoi Sorano (空野葵 Sorano Aoi^?) is a Manager. She is a friendly and helpful person, and likes to encourage the soccer team. She is close friends with Tenma Matsukaze, Shinsuke Nishizono, Midori Seto, and Akane Yamana. She is voiced by Sayaka Kitahara.

Midori Seto

Midori Seto (瀬戸水鳥 Seto Midori^?) is a Manager. She is strict and determined, but still kind. She likes to encourage the soccer team, particularly Tenma Matsukaze. She has known Ryoma Nishiki since seventh grade. She is voiced by Mina.

Akane Yamana

Akane Yamana (山菜茜 Yamana Akane^?) is a Manager. She is a cute girl who is friendly and peaceful, and is almost always shown to be happy. She has a liking for taking pictures and her voice is very quiet. She is a huge fan of Takuto Shindō; she always tries to take pictures of him whenever he's near her and also refers to him as "Shin-sama". She is voiced by Yurin.

Fei Rune

Fei Rune (フェイルーン Fei Rune^?) is a character that appears in the second season of Go, Chrono Stone. He has light turquoise/ green hair and eyes. Fei came from 200 years forward to save soccer from El Dorado's plan of destruction. He is a part of Second Stage Children, apparently an organization made up with the descendants of talented soccer players, and seen as dangerous by El Dorado. He can create Dupli, avatar that can fill up a team, however it is exhausting. When he was young, he was abandoned by his father(his mother, Kinako died giving birth to him), which is also a reason why he never use his Keshin(Avatar), Kousoku Toushi Robin(Light Speed Fighter Robin), which resembled a doll his father sent him. He can mixi max with a tyrannosaurus at which point his hair becomes pink, his eyes red and his skin tanned, doing so also gins him Kodai no Kiba(Ancient Fangs). Not much is known of him but he is well aware of El Dorado's plans and that he is actually not in their data base. Later on he will mixi-max again, this time with a young, blue dinosaur (probably an abelisaurid) named Big, and gain Ouja no Kiba(Fang of the King). In the Ragnarok Tournament,he is originally a midfielder of El Dorado Team 01,but became the captain of Garu(a team of Feida)after SARU(Saryuu Evans) revived his memories as a Second Stage Children.He eventually returned to Raimon and joined Chrono Storm,a team made up with 11 people with the aura of the strongest eleven in history,which later defeated The Lagoon.Fei also learnt that Kinako is his mother,and reunited with her through time-travelling for the last time. He is voiced by Akiko Kimura.

Saryuu Evan

Saryuu Evan (サリュー・エヴァン or simply known as SARU, which is his codename^?) is the leader of Feida, an organization for Second Stage Children, who are regarded as terrifying with their special power. As they are descendants of talented soccer player, El Dorado decided to eliminate soccer in present in order to prevent their appearances in the future. SARU is notable for having a similar look of Tenma, and has violet eyes and white, spiky hair. In the past, he eliminated Fei's memories, but revived them later to bring Fei back to Feida. His team, The Lagoon, confronted Chrono Storm, and was defeated. SARU eventually realized that he has friend alongside him (especially Meia and Griris who joined his team, and helped him to get up when he collapsed). SARU became a friend of Tenma and agreed to take up the vaccine to change the other Second Stage Children back to normal.

Hayato Matatagi

Hayato Matatagi (瞬木隼人 Matatagi Hayato^?) is a Forward for Shinsei Inazuma Japan and Earth Eleven, who was formerly a member of Kaiou Gakuen's athletics club before joining the soccer club and he is new to soccer.^[1] He joined FFI V2(Football Frontier International Vision 2) under the contract that he could afford the money to buy his family a big house.^[2] As shown in the exhibition match with Teikoku Gakuen, he has a speed that surpassed Tenma. When he was younger, his father left his family and his mother was ill and therefore was unable to work. His two younger brothers, Yuuta and Shun, stole food because of their hungers. To protect his brother, Matatagi took up the blame, and therefore the people around him no longer trust him.^[3] He also seemed to conceal a dark side, as he also does not trust people easily. His first hissatsu debuted in episode 7, which is a shoot: Parkour Attack. He is voiced by Kaito Ishikawa.

Sakura Nozaki

Sakura Nozaki (野咲さくら Nozaki Sakura^?) is a Midfielder for Shinsei Inazuma Japan and Earth Eleven, who was formerly a member of Oumihara Junior High's rhythm gymnastics club before joining the soccer club and she is new to soccer.^[1] She joined FFI V2(Football Frontier International Vision 2) under the contract of studying abroad with the best gymnastics team.^[2] It was revealed that Sakura was under high pressure from her parents because they want her to be the best. Sakura therefore always tries to stand out, and may at some points, even hurt people to show off herself.^[4] After the match with Big Waves, she learnt the importance of teamwork within soccer and aimed for herself to become the world's best with her teammates. She is voiced by Aya Endō.

Ryūji Kusaka

Ryūji Kusaka (九坂隆二 Kusaka Ryūji^?) is a Midfielder for Shinsei Inazuma Japan and Earth Eleven. He is new to soccer.^[1] He was mentioned to be a delinquent being expelled from five schools before. As mentioned by Manabe, when he was younger, he was a child who didn't usually dare to start a fight or go in a flare, but when he was trying to save a girl he called Sato-chan, he was beaten up by three bullies and was unable to defend Sato. Therefore he started developing his aggressive side.^[5] His first hissatsu is Kyoubou Head.

Jinichirō Manabe

Jinichirō Manabe (真名部陣一郎 Manabe Jinichirō^?) is a Defender for Shinsei Inazuma Japan and Earth Eleven. He is new to soccer, but is very good at mathematics and usually speak with number and other terms alike. Like Minaho, he is not athletic and usually tire out easily. However, during the match with Big Waves, he accidentally scored a goal with a light flip. He also usually give out information about others, but few things were known about him, except that Mizukawa mentioned that he won the Japan's superhuman computation contest.^[1] It was revealed later that Manabe's parents forced Manabe to study so much, to the point that Manabe felt controlled and had not freedom around his parents. His reason for joining Shinsei Inazuma Japan is to get away from his parents and live alone.^[6] However, after hearing Minaho's background story, he understood that it's actually good to have a father-a target-in his life, and inspired his block hissatsu, Defense Houteishiki (Defense Equation) He is voiced by Hirofumi Nojima.

Shin Tetsukado

Shin Tetsukado (鉄角真 Tetsukado Shin^?) is a Defender for Shinsei Inazuma Japan and Earth Eleven, who was formerly a boxer before joining the soccer club and he is new to soccer.^[1] He joined FFI V2(Football Frontier International Vision 2) under the contract of gaining the money to repair his family's fishing boat.^[2] His hands were injured when he was fending off a robber to help the robbed lady; his right hand was hit by a metal pole.^[7] Therefore he quitted boxing. He is voiced by Yūki Tai.

Konoha Morimura

Konoha Morimura (森村好葉 Morimura Konoha^?) is a Defender for Shinsei Inazuma Japan and Earth Eleven. She is new to soccer.^[1] She is timid and gets scared easily, and she is shown to have compassion and love for animals, occasionally talking and taking care of them.^[8] Her first block hissatsu is Konoha Roll(Leaves Roll). She is voiced by Aoi Yūki.

Kazuto Minaho

Kazuto Minaho (皆帆和人 Minaho Kazuto^?) is a Defender for Shinsei Inazuma Japan and Earth Eleven. He is new to soccer. He likes observing people and predict their actions. Like Manabe, he is not athletic and usually tires out easily. He also presents some information but few things are known about him, except that Mizukawa mentinos that his father is a detective.^[1] He also admires his father very much, leading to the arguments and tensions between him and Manabe. However, later on he revealed that his father died when he was young, thus he lost his target for life, inspiring Manabe.^[9] He also used his first hissatsu in the same episode: Trace Press. He is voiced by Tsubasa Yonaga.

Munemasa Ibuki

Munemasa Ibuki (井吹宗正 Ibuki Munemasa^?) is the Goalkeeper for Shinsei Inazuma Japan and Earth Eleven, who was formerly a basketball player before joining Gassan Kunimitsu Junior High's soccer club and he is new to soccer.^[1] He joined FFI V2(Football Frontier International Vision 2) under the contract of studying abroad with the best basketball team.^[2] He was shown to be a passionate member in learning soccer. Since Shindō and him both argued for being the one to stop the opponent's shoots, they are generally not in good term with each other. In episode 7, his catch hissatsu, Wild Dunk debuted. He is voiced by Tatsuhisa Suzuki.

Minori Mizukawa

Minori Mizukawa (水川みのり Mizukawa Minori^?) is the manager of Shinsei Inazuma Japan, along with Aoi. She is shown to be silent most of the time. It was unknown which school she is from. She is voiced by Ayahi Takagaki.

Potomuri

Potomuri (ポトムリ Potomuri^?) is a mysterious clown-like character. He always has discussions about Kuroiwa's Shinsei Inazuma Japan, and often argue why he has so much confidence about the team. His origin is currently unknown. He is voiced by Shinichirō Miki.

Ryūsei Kuroiwa

Ryūsei Kuroiwa (黒岩流星 Kuroiwa Ryūsei^?) is the coach for Shinsei Inazuma Japan. He is shown to be a very mysterious old man with unknown origins and unknown accomplishments. He was supported by Goūenji and a few others in the soccer association to be coach of Shinsei Inazuma Japan and do the team member selection.

Naruto

2012-11-09T00:08:00.001-08:00

Cover of the first Japanese Naruto manga volume

Naruto (NARUTO—ナルト— NARUTO) is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and dreams to become the Hokage, the ninja in his village who is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of all. The series is based on a one-shot comic by Kishimoto that was published in the August 1997 issue of Akamaru Jump.
The manga was first published by Shueisha in 1999 in the 43rd issue of Japan's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine. Currently, the manga is still being serialized; fifty-nine tankōbon volumes have been released so far. The manga was later adapted into an anime, which was produced by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex. It premiered across Japan on the terrestrial TV Tokyo network and the anime satellite television network Animax on October 3, 2002. The first series lasted 220 episodes, while Naruto: Shippuden, a sequel to the original series, has been airing since February 15, 2007. In addition to the anime series, Studio Pierrot has developed eight movies for the series and several original video animations (OVAs). Other types of merchandise include light novels, video games and trading cards developed by several companies.
Viz Media has licensed the manga and anime for North American production. Viz has been publishing the series in their Shonen Jump magazine, and as well as the individual volumes. The anime series began airing in the United States and Canada in 2005, and later in the United Kingdom and Australia in 2006 and 2007, respectively. The films, as well as most OVAs from the series, have also been released by Viz, with the first film premiering in cinemas. The first DVD volume of Naruto: Shippuden was released by Viz in North America on September 29, 2009, and it started broadcast on Disney XD in October of the same year. Viz Media will begin streaming both series on their upcoming streaming service Neon Alley this fall.
Naruto is one of the best selling manga of all time having sold more than 113 million copies in Japan. Serialized in Viz's Shonen Jump magazine, Naruto has become one of the company's best-selling manga series. The English adaptation of the series has also appeared in the USA Today Booklist several times and volume 7 won the Quil Award in 2006. Reviewers from the series have praised the balance between fighting and comedy scenes, as well as the characters' personalities, but have criticized it for using standard shōnen plot elements.

Plot

Nine-tailed Demon Fox

Twelve years before the start of the series, a powerful creature known as the Nine-tailed Demon Fox attacked the ninja village Konoha, killing many people. In response, the leader of Konoha– the Fourth Hokage– sacrificed his life to seal the demon inside the newborn Naruto Uzumaki. Konoha, however, regarded Naruto as if he were the demon fox itself and mistreated him throughout most of his childhood. A decree made by the current Kage, the Third Hokage, forbade anyone mention the attack of the demon fox to anyone else. This included Naruto, who was not aware of the demon inside of him. Years later, Naruto is tricked by the renegade ninja Mizuki into stealing a forbidden scroll that would teach him a secret ninja technique, but he is stopped by his teacher, Iruka Umino. When Iruka almost dies while protecting Naruto from Mizuki, who also reveals that he is the container of the Nine-Tailed Fox, Naruto uses the Jutsu he learned from the scroll that creates multiple clones of himself, Shadow Clone Technique, to defeat Mizuki.

Akatsuki

Naruto is assigned alongside Sasuke Uchiha, whom he often competes against, and Sakura Haruno to form a four person team named Team 7 under an experienced and severe sensei named Kakashi Hatake. Like all the ninja teams from every village, Team 7 is charged with completing missions requested by villagers, such as doing chores or being bodyguards. After several missions, most notably their mission to Wave Country as Tazuna the bridge builder's guards, Kakashi allows Team 7 to participate in a ninja exam in which they can advance to a higher rank, and thus, take part in more difficult missions. During the exams, Orochimaru, a criminal at the top of Konoha's most wanted list, attacks Konoha and kills the Third Hokage in an act of revenge. This forces one of the three legendary ninja, Jiraiya to search for his former teammate Tsunade, who has been nominated to become the Fifth Hokage. During the search, it is revealed that Orochimaru desires to acquire Sasuke due to his powerful genetic heritage, the Sharingan. Believing Orochimaru will be able to give him the strength needed to kill his brother Itachi, who destroyed his clan, Sasuke eventually joins him after a humiliating defeat at his brother's hands. Tsunade sends a group of ninja including Naruto to make Sasuke return to Konoha, but Naruto is unable to defeat him and bring him back to the village. Naruto does not give up on Sasuke, however, and he leaves Konoha to train for two-and-a-half years under Jiraiya's tutelage in order to prepare himself for the next time he encounters Sasuke.
After the training period, a criminal organization called Akatsuki attempts to capture the nine powerful tailed beasts that are sealed within people—including the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox sealed inside of Naruto. Several ninjas from Konoha, including Team 7, fight against the Akatsuki members and search for their teammate Sasuke. Although they manage to revive Gaara, the host of the One-Tailed beast and Kazekage (Leader of the Sand Village), Akatsuki is successful in capturing the other seven of the creatures (and thus killing the hosts). In the meantime, Sasuke betrays Orochimaru and faces Itachi to take revenge. After Itachi dies in battle, Sasuke is told by the Akatsuki founder and leader Tobi that Itachi was ordered by Konoha's leadership to destroy his clan. Saddened with this revelation, Sasuke joins forces with Akatsuki to kill Konoha's superiors who orchestrated the Uchihas' elimination.
Meanwhile, as several Akatsuki members are defeated by the Konoha ninjas, their figurehead leader, Pain, invades the village to capture Naruto. However, Naruto defeats him and convinces him to abandon the Akatsuki. With Pain's eventual death, Tobi—disguised as one of Konoha's founding fathers Madara Uchiha—announces that he wants to obtain all nine of the tailed beasts in order to perform an illusion powerful enough to control all of humanity. The leaders of the five ninja villages refuse to aid him, and instead, join forces to confront him and his allies. This results into a fourth ninja world war between the unified armies of the Five Great Countries collectively known as the "Ninja Alliance Army" and Akatsuki's forces.

Production

Masashi Kishimoto first created a one-shot of Naruto for August 1997 issue of Akamaru Jump. Despite its high positive results in the reader poll, Kishimoto thought "[the] art stinks and the story's a mess!" Kishimoto was originally working on Karakuri for the Hop Step Award when, unsatisfied by the rough drafts, he decided to work on something different, which later formed into the manga series Naruto. Kishimoto has expressed concerns that the use of chakras and hand signs makes Naruto too Japanese, but still believes it to be an enjoyable read. When asked about what was Naruto's main theme during Part I, Kishimoto answered that it is how people accept each other citing Naruto's development across the series. Kishimoto said that since he was unable to focus on romance during Part I, he was to emphasize it more in Part II, the part of the manga beginning with volume 28, despite finding it difficult.

When originally creating the Naruto story, Kishimoto looked to other shōnen manga as influences for his work, although he attempted to make his characters as unique as possible. He based it off of Japanese culture The separation of the characters into different teams was intended to give each group a specific flavor. Kishimoto wished for each member to be "extreme," having a high amount of aptitude in one given attribute yet be talentless in another." The insertion of villains into the story was largely to have them act as a counterpoint to the characters' moral values. Kishimoto has admitted that this focus on illustrating the difference in values is central to his creation of villains to the point that, "I don't really think about them in combat." When drawing the characters, Kishimoto consistently follows a five-step process: concept and rough sketch, drafting, inking, shading, and coloring. These steps are followed when he is drawing the actual manga and making the color illustrations that commonly adorn the cover of tankōbon, the cover of Weekly Shōnen Jump, or other media, but the toolkit he utilizes occasionally changes. For instance, he utilized an airbrush for one illustration for a Weekly Shōnen Jump cover, but decided not to use it for future drawings largely due to the cleanup required. For Part II, Kishimoto said that he attempted to not "overdo the typical manga style" by not including "too much deformation" and keeping the panel layouts to make it easy for the reader to follow the plot. Kishomoto said his drawing style changed from "the classic manga look to something a bit more realistic."

Kishimoto added that, as Naruto takes place in a "Japanese fantasy world," he has set certain rules, in a systematic way so that he could easily "convey the story." Kishimoto wanted to "draw on" the Chinese zodiac tradition, which had a long-standing presence in Japan; the zodiac hand signs originate from this. When Kishimoto was creating the setting of the Naruto manga, he initially concentrated on the designs for village of Konohagakure, the primary setting of the series. Kishimoto asserts that his design for Konohagakure was created "pretty spontaneously without much thought", but admits that the scenery is based on his home in the Okayama prefecture in Japan. Without a specific time period, Kishimoto included modern elements in the series such as convenience stores, but specifically excluded projectile weapons and vehicles from the storyline. For reference materials, Kishimoto performs his own research into Japanese culture and alludes to it in his work. Regarding technology Kishimoto said that Naruto would not have any firearms. He said he may include automobiles, aircraft and "low-processing" computers; Kishimoto specified the computers would "maybe" be eight-bit and that they would "definitely not" be sixteen-bit.
Regarding the series' length, Kishimoto was surprised when the series reached its tenth volume as a result of its popularity. He has also stated that he has a visual idea of the last chapter of the series, including the text and the story. However, he notes that it may take a long time to end the series since "there are still so many things that need to be resolved." Additionally, he commented that he doesn't know when will the story ends since there are still many things to solve.

Media

Manga

naruto manga

Naruto premiered in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine in 1999. The first 238 chapters are known as Part I, and constitute the first part of the Naruto storyline. Manga chapters 239 to 244 comprise a gaiden series focusing on the background of the character Kakashi Hatake. All subsequent chapters belong to Part II, which continues the storyline in Part I after a three year time gap. Besides the regular Naruto manga, a spin-off series focused in the character of Rock Lee started being published in Shueisha's Super Strong Jump since December 2010.
The Naruto manga is serialized in North America by Viz Media in their manga anthology magazine Shonen Jump, with the first chapter of the English adaptation published in the January 2003 issue. To compensate for the gap between the Japanese and English adaptations of the manga, Viz implemented its "Naruto Nation" campaign, where it released three volumes a month in the last four months of 2007 in order to close said gap. Cammie Allen, Viz's product manager, commented that, their main reason for the schedule was to catch up to the Japanese release schedule to give their readers a similar experience to that of Japanese readers. A similar campaign was planned for 2009, with eleven volumes from Part II of the series being released between February and April in order to catch up to the Japanese serialization. Starting with the release of volume forty-five in July, Viz began releasing Naruto on a quarterly basis.

As of November 2011, 58 tankōbon have been released by Shueisha in Japan, with the first twenty-seven tankōbon containing Part I, and the remaining thirty belonging to Part II. The first tankōbon was released on March 3, 2000. In addition, several tankōbon, each containing ani-manga based one of the Naruto movies, have been released by Shueisha. In Japanese, Shueisha has also released the series for cell-phone download on their website Shueisha Manga Capsule.
Viz has released 57 volumes of the English adaptation of the manga with the first being published on August 16, 2003. In addition, Viz Media released all twenty-seven volumes in a boxed set, thus constituting the entirety of the Naruto storyline before Part II on November 13, 2007. On May 3, 2011, Viz started collecting the series in format in which each volume contains three from the original format.

Anime series

Naruto

Directed by Hayato Date and produced by Studio Pierrot and TV Tokyo, the Naruto anime adaptation premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo October 3, 2002, and ran for 220 episodes until its conclusion on February 8, 2007. The first 135 episodes are adapted from the first twenty-seven volumes of the manga, while the remaining eighty episodes are original episodes that utilize plot elements not seen in the original manga. Beginning on April 29, 2009, the original Naruto anime began a rerun on Wednesdays and Thursdays (until the fourth week September 2009 when it changed to just Wednesdays) in HDTV with new opening and ending themes under the name Shōnen Hen (少年篇^?, "Youth Version").
Episodes from the series have been published in DVD. The first DVD series has been the only one to be collected in VHS format. There are a total of five series, with each of the including four episodes per volume. The series has also been collected in a series of three DVD boxes during 2009. The newest DVD series is Naruto The Best Scene which collects scenes from the first 135 episodes from the anime.
Viz licensed the anime series for broadcast and distribution in the Region 1 market. The English adaptation of the anime began airing on September 10, 2005 and finished on January 31, 2009, with 209 episodes aired. The episodes have been shown on Cartoon Network's Toonami (United States), YTV's Bionix (Canada) and Jetix's (United Kingdom) programming blocks. Beginning on March 28, 2006, Viz released the series on DVD. While the first 26 volumes contain four episodes, since DVD volumes have five episodes.Uncut editions are compiled in DVD Box Sets, each containing 12-15 episodes, with some variation based around story arcs. Other networks make additional content edits apart from the edits done by Cartoon Network, such as Jetix's stricter censoring of blood, language, smoking and the like. The series has also been licensed to the websites Hulu, Joost, and Crunchyroll, which air episodes online with the original Japanese audio tracks and English subtitles. The last Naruto episode aired on YTV's Bionix block on December 6, 2009 at 12:30am ET.

Naruto: Shippuden

Naruto: Shippuden (NARUTO -ナルト- 疾風伝 Naruto Shippūden, lit. "Naruto: Hurricane Chronicles") is the ongoing sequel to the original Naruto anime and covers the Naruto manga from volume twenty-eight on. The TV adaptation of Naruto: Shippuden debuted in Japan on February 15, 2007 on TV Tokyo. It is developed by Studio Pierrot and directed by Hayato Date. ABS-CBN is the first TV network outside Japan to broadcast Naruto: Shippuden; it aired the first 40 episodes of Naruto: Shippuden, running the show through March 19, 2008. On January 8, 2009, TV Tokyo began broadcasting new episodes via internet streaming directly to monthly subscribers. Each streamed episode is made available online within an hour of its Japanese premiere and includes English subtitles. Viz began streaming English subtitled episodes on January 2, 2009, on its official website for the series. The uploaded episodes include both previously released episodes and the new episodes from Japan.Since October 2009, the English dub of Naruto: Shippuden started airing weekly on Disney XD.
The series is being released to Region 2 DVD in Japan with four or five episodes per disc. There are currently four series of DVD releases divided by story arc. There is also a special feature included with the seventh Naruto: Shippuden compilation DVD based on the second ending of the series called Hurricane! "Konoha Academy" Chronicles. Besides the regular DVD series, on December 16, 2009 Kakashi Chronicles: Boys' Life on the Battlefield (カカシ外伝～戦場のボーイズライフ～ Kakashi Gaiden ~Senjō no Bōizu Raifu~) was released featuring episodes 119-120 which are set during Kakashi Hatake's childhood.
The first North American DVD of the series was released on September 29, 2009. Only the first fifty-three episodes were collected in this format that ended with the 12th volume released on August 10, 2010.Following episodes have been released as part of DVD boxes that started release on January 26, 2010 with the first season. In the United Kingdom, the series is licensed by Manga Entertainment who released the first DVD collection on June 14, 2010.

Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals

In February 2012, Shueisha announced that the spin-off manga Rock Lee no Seishun Full-Power Ninden would receive an anime adaptation. Produced by Studio Pierrot, the series premiered in TV Tokyo on April 3, 2012. Crunchyroll simulcasted the series' premiere in their website and will also stream its following episodes.

CDs

Cover of Naruto Shippūden Original Soundtrack

The Naruto soundtracks were composed and arranged by Toshio Masuda. The first, titled Naruto Original Soundtrack, was released on April 3, 2003 and contained twenty-two tracks that appeared during the first season of the anime. The second, called Naruto Original Soundtrack II was released on March 18, 2004 and contained nineteen tracks. The third, called Naruto Original Soundtrack III was released on April 27, 2005 and contained twenty-three tracks.
A series of two soundtracks containing all the opening and ending themes of the series, titled Naruto: Best Hit Collection and Naruto: Best Hit Collection II were released on November 17, 2004 and August 2, 2006, respectively. Of all tracks of the series, eight were selected and released as a CD called Naruto in Rock -The Very Best Hit Collection Instrumental Version- that was released on December 19, 2007. Each of the three movies of the first anime series has a soundtrack that was released near its release date.On October 12, 2011, a CD collecting the themes from Naruto Shōnen Hen was also released. Various Drama CD series have also been released in which the voice actors play original episodes.
The soundtracks of Naruto: Shippuden have been produced by Yasuharu Takanashi. Although in a few Shippuden episodes did feature tracks from the first series. The first, Naruto Shippūden Original Soundtrack was released on December 9, 2007. The second CD, Naruto Shippuden Original Soundtrack II, was published on December 16, 2009. Naruto All Stars was released on July 23, 2008 and consists of ten original Naruto songs remixed and sung by characters from the series. Ten themes from the two series were also collected in the DVD box Naruto Super Hits 2006-2008 released on July 23, 2008. Each of the films from the sequel also had their soundtracks, with the first released on August 1, 2007.

Original video animations

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3

There are five Naruto original video animations (OVAs). The first two, Find the Crimson Four-Leaf Clover! and Mission: Protect the Waterfall Village!, were aired at the Shōnen Jump Jump Festa 2003 and Jump Festa 2004, respectively, and were later released on DVD in Australia under the title "Naruto Jump Festa Collection". The English localization of the second OVA was released on DVD by Viz on May 22, 2007 in USA under the title "Naruto - The Lost Story". The third OVA, Konoha Annual Sports Festival, is a short video released with the first Naruto movie. In North America, the OVA was included in the "Deluxe Edition" DVD from the first film. The fourth OVA, Finally a clash! Jonin VS Genin!! Indiscriminate grand melee tournament meeting!!, was released on a bonus disc with the Japanese edition of the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3 video game for the PlayStation 2. The fifth OVA, Naruto: The Cross Roads, was featured at the Jump Festa 2010. It is focused in Team 7 after their encounter with Zabuza and Haku. A short OVA was also included within the DVD "Naruto x UT Original DVD" released on January 1, 2011 as promoted by UNIQLO.

Films

Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow

The series has also led to eight films; with the first three situated during the first anime series, the remaining from Naruto: Shippūden. The first film, Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow, was released on August 21, 2004 in Japan. It tells how Team 7 is dispatched to the Land of Snow to protect the actors during the shooting of the new Princess Fuun movie, to whom Naruto became a fan. As a bonus, the short original video animation Konoha Annual Sports Festival was included with the Japanese release of the film. It premiered on June 6, 2007 in the United States.

Legend of the Stone of Gelel

It was followed by Legend of the Stone of Gelel, which was released in theaters in Japan on August 6, 2005. The film involves Naruto, Shikamaru and Sakura during a ninja mission in which they are involved in a war between the Sunagakure village and a large number of armored warriors. Unlike its predecessor, Legend of the Stone of Gelel did not see a theatrical release in the United States, and was direct-to-video instead. It aired on Cartoon Network on July 26, 2008 and then was released to DVD July 29, 2008.

Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom

The third film, Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom, was originally released on August 5, 2006. It shows how Naruto, Sakura, Lee, and Kakashi are assigned to protect the future prince of the Land of Moon, Hikaru Tsuki. The English dub of the movie aired on Cartoon Network and was released to DVD on November 11, 2008. On July 3, 2008, Sony released a Japanese DVD Box containing the first three movies.

Naruto Shippuden

The series' fourth film, Naruto Shippuden: the Movie, was released on August 4, 2007, and chronicles Naruto's assignment to protect the priest Shion who starts having visions of his death. The fifth film, Naruto Shippuden The Movie: Bonds, was released on August 2, 2008. It tells how ninja from the Sky Country attack Konoha and to stop them, Naruto and Sasuke join forces although the latter has already left two years ago. The next film is Naruto Shippūden The Movie: Inheritors of the Will of Fire, which premiered in Japan on August 1, 2009. Naruto Shippuden The Movie: The Lost Tower followed it in Japan on July 31, 2010, while Naruto the Movie: Blood Prison is the latest film as of 2012. A new movie, Naruto the Movie: Road to Ninja will be out at July 28, 2012.

Light novels

Naruto: Innocent Heart, Demonic Blood

Three Naruto light novels, written by Masatoshi Kusakabe, have been published in Japan by Shueisha, while the first two were released in English in North America by Viz. The first, Naruto: Innocent Heart, Demonic Blood (白の童子、血風の鬼人), retells Team 7's mission in which they encounter the assassins Zabuza and Haku. It was released on December 16, 2002 in Japan and November 21, 2006 in North America. The second novel Naruto: Mission: Protect the Waterfall Village! (滝隠れの死闘　オレが英雄だってばよ！ Takigakure no Shitō Ore ga Eiyū dattebayo!, lit. The Waterfall Village's Fight to the Death I am the Hero!), based on the 2nd original video animation of the anime, was published on December 15, 2003 in Japan and October 16, 2007 in the United States. A novel titled Naruto: Tales of a Gutsy Ninja (NARUTO―ナルト―ド根性忍伝 Naruto: Dokonjō Ninden) was published on August 4, 2009. It's presented as the in-universe novel written by Naruto's master Jiraiya, and follows the adventures of a fictional shinobi named Naruto Musasabi, who served as Naruto's namesake. Novelizations of the two Naruto films, Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow and Blood Prison, have also been published in Japan.
Viz has also published new novels called Chapter Books written by Tracey West, and with illustrations from the manga. Unlike the series, the novels are aimed to children aged 7 to 10 years old. The first two novels were released on October 7, 2008 and currently at least 11 novel have been published.

Video games

Naruto video game

Naruto video games have appeared on various consoles from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. Most of them are fighting games in which the player controls one of a select few characters directly based upon their counterparts in the Naruto anime and manga. The player pits their character against another character controlled by the game's AI or by another player, depending on the mode that the player is in. The objective is to reduce the opponent's health to zero using basic attacks and special techniques unique to each character that are derived from techniques they use in the Naruto anime or manga. The very first Naruto video game was Naruto: Konoha Ninpōchō, which was released in Japan on March 27, 2003, for the WonderSwan Color. Most Naruto video games have been released only in Japan. The first games released outside Japan were the Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen series and the Naruto: Saikyou Ninja Daikesshu series, released in North America under the titles of Naruto: Clash of Ninja and Naruto: Ninja Council. In January 2012, Namco Bandai announced that they have sold 10 million Naruto games worldwide.

Trading card game

Naruto Trading card

Naruto Collectible Card Game (NARUTOカードゲーム Naruto Kādo Gēmu, lit. Naruto CardGame) is a collectible card game based around the Naruto series. Produced by Bandai, the game was first introduced in Japan in February 2003. Bandai began releasing the game in English in North America in April 2006. The game is played between two players requiring players use a customized deck of fifty cards from the set, a game mat, an item to act as a "turn marker" for noting whose turn it is, and a "Ninja Blade Coin" which is primarily used to flip for making decisions. In order to win, a player must either earn ten "battle rewards" through their actions in the game, or they must cause the other player to exhaust their deck.
The cards are released in named sets, called "series" in the form of four different 50-card preconstructed box sets. Each set includes a starter deck, the game mat, a turn-counter, and one stainless steel "Ninja Blade Coin". Additional cards are made available in 10-card booster packs, and deck sets, primarily for retailers, contain all four box sets available for each series. Cards for each set are also made available in collectible tins, containing several booster packs and exclusive promotional cards in a metal box. By October 2006, seventeen series had been released in Japan spanning 417 unique cards. As of August 2008, ten of these series have been released in North America.

Art and guidebooks

Several supplementary books of the Naruto series have been released. An artbook named The Art of Naruto: Uzumaki contains illustration from the Part I manga and was released in both Japan and the United States. For the Part II manga, an interactive book called PAINT JUMP: Art of Naruto was released by Shueisha on April 4, 2008. The latest artbook was published on July 3, 2009 under the name of Naruto with its English version released on October 26, 2010.
A series of guidebooks for the Part I called First Official Data Book (秘伝·臨の書キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK Hiden: Rin no Sho Character Official Data Book) and Second Official Data Book (秘伝·闘の書キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK Hiden: Tō no Sho Character Official Data Book) were released only in Japan focusing on Part I. The third databook, Character Official Data Book Hiden Sha no Sho (秘伝・者の書 ― キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK Hiden: Sha no Sho - Kyarakutā ofisharu dēta book ) was released on September 4, 2008, and adapted Part II from the manga. These books contain character profiles, Jutsu guides and drafts made by Kishimoto. The third book will be released by Viz on January 10, 2012. For the anime, a series of guidebook called Naruto anime profiles were also released. These books contain information about the production of the anime episodes and explanation of the characters designs. On October 4, 2002, it was released a manga fanbook named Secret: Writings from the Warriors Official Fanbook (秘伝・兵の書 ― オフィシャルファンBOOK Hiden: Hei no Sho - Ofisharu fan book). Viz published it in North America on February 19, 2008 under the name of Naruto: The Official Fanbook. Another fanbook was released to conmemmorate the series' 10th anniversary. It includes illustrations of Naruto Uzumaki by other manga artists, a novel, Kishimoto's one-shot named Karakuri and an interview between Kishimoto and Yoshihiro Togashi.

Manga

Naruto Manga

Naruto has been well received in both Japan and the United States. As of 2007, the manga has sold over 71 million copies in Japan, while in 2008 it increased to 89 million. In April 2010, Shueisha announced Naruto sold 100.4 million copies, becoming the fifth manga from Shueisha that sold more than 100 million. During 2011, the sales increased to over 113 million copies. During 2008, volume 43 sold 1.1 million copies becoming the 9th best-selling comic from Japan. Volumes 41, 42 and 44 also ranked within the top 20, but had smaller sold copies. In total, the manga sold 4.2 million copies in Japan during 2008, becoming the 2nd best-selling series. In the first half from 2009, it ranked as the 3rd best-seller manga from Japan, having sold 3.4 million copies. In such period, volume 45 ranked 5th with 1.1 million sold copies, while volume 46 ranked 9th, having sold 864,708 copies and volume 44 at 40th place.
The Naruto manga series has become one of Viz's top properties, accounting for nearly 10% of all manga sales in 2006. Gonzalo Ferreyra, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Viz, noted that the volumes's sales of Naruto astonished him as the attrition on the series is relatively low. ICv2 has listed it as the top manga property from North America several times. The seventh volume of Viz's release became the first manga win a Quill Award when it claimed the award for "Best Graphic Novel" in 2006. The manga also appeared in the USA Today Booklist with volume 11 holding the title of the highest ranked manga series on the list, until it was surpassed by volume 28, which claimed the 17th rank in its first week of release in March 2008. Volume 28 also had one of the biggest debut weeks of any manga in years, becoming the top selling manga volume of 2008 as well as the second best-seller book in North America. During its release, volume 29 ranked #57, while the volume 28 had dropped to #139. In April 2007, volume 14 earned Viz the "Manga Trade Paperback of the Year" Gem Award from Diamond Comic Distributors. The manga series also became the top manga property from 2008 in the United States with 31 volumes having been published during the chart.Searches for the word "Naruto" were #7 on the Yahoo! web search engine's list of the top 10 most popular search terms of 2008, and #4 from 2007. Responding to Naruto's success, Kishimoto said in Naruto Collector Winter 2007/2008 that he was "very glad that the American audience has accepted and understood ninja. It shows that the American audience has good taste... because it means they can accept something previously unfamiliar to them."
The series has received praise and criticism by several reviewers. A. E. Sparrow from IGN noted how some manga volumes focus only in certain characters to the point the number of fans increases. He also praised the way that Kishimoto manages to make a remarkable combination of fighting scenes, comedy and good artwork. The anime and manga magazine Neo described Naruto's character as "irksome", but attributed the series' "almost sickening addictiveness" to its level of characterization. Carl Kimlinger from Anime News Network (ANN) praised the designs of the characters, since every one shows their unique way of acting and appearance. He also noted how even the "goofiest looking character" can act "damn cool" when he fights. However, Kimlinger noted that in some volumes there are several fights, so the plot is not able to develop, but he praised how each of the battles were emotional. The series has also been praised for remaining enjoyable after several volumes by Javier Lugo from mangalife, who also praised the antagonists as well as the fights scenes from the manga. Kishimoto's artwork was also commented by Lugo as it makes the story "dramatic, exciting, and just right for the story he’s telling". The start of Part II has been praised in another review by Casey Brienza from ANN. She noted how well the characters were developed as they had new appearances and abilities. Brienza also praised the balance between plot and action scenes allowing the readers the enjoy the volume. However, she noted that it is not frequent that all the volumes have the same quality. Briana Lawrence from Mania Entertainment added that in Part II, the manga feels "adult" due to the growth from various of the characters. However, Viz's translations were criticized for being "inconsistent" due to the change of some Japanese terms to English, while other words were left intact.
The Spanish webcomic author Jesús García Ferrer (JesuLink) created the parody webcomic Raruto, based on Naruto. As of 2008 about 40,000 people in Spain read Raruto.

Anime

In TV Asahi's latest top 100 Anime Ranking from October 2006, Naruto ranked 17th on the list. Naruto Shippuden has ranked several times as one of most watched series in Japan. The Naruto anime adaptation won the "Best Full-Length Animation Program Award" in the Third UStv Awards held in the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines. The first of the DVD compilations containing thirteen episodes, released by Viz was nominated at the American Anime Awards for best package design. It also ranked as the third best-seller anime property from all 2008. Naruto was named "Best Full Animated Program" at the USTv Student's Choice Awards 2009 held at the UST Medicine Auditorium on February 19, 2009. In ICv2's "Top 10 Anime Properties" from the first half of 2009, Naruto ranked as the second best anime franchise. The episodes from Naruto: Shippuden have appeared various times in Japanese Anime TV Ranking. DVD sales from Naruto: Shippuden have also been good, having appeared several times in the Japanese Animation DVD Ranking. The freely streamed episodes from Naruto: Shippuden have an average of 160,000 viewers a week. Naruto has also been 20th among shows and channels from Hulu in February from 2009. In Joost, it was first during the same month. In February, Naruto: Shippuden was first among the animated shows on Joost while Naruto stayed second.

The Naruto anime was listed as the 38th best animated show in IGN's Top 100 Animated Series. Reviewers noted that the primary focus of the series was on the fighting since they consider that the fight scenes are more dedicated than backgrounds. The music has also been noted to be a good match with the fighting scenes though it sometimes interferes with the dialogues.Martin Theron from ANN criticized the series for long fights, but he also noted that most of them break the "stereotypical shōnen concepts." The soundtracks have been praised for enhancing the excitement and mood of the storytelling. Although Christina Carpenter of T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews considered the characters from the series as "likeable", she commented that most of them did not surpass the "stereotypics" that appear in shōnen manga. She also considered Kishimoto "an average artist at best" and derided the poor transition of his artistic style into animation. Despite this, the second reviewer from T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews, Derrick L. Tucker, admitted that when the animators were at their best, they produced "artistic renderings that leave little to be desired on the part of fans of the manga", but concluded the animation was "a mixed bag". He also added that while fights were entertaining, due to the large number of them, the plot takes time to continue.
Naruto: Shippuden received a good response from Activeanime's David C. Jones who commented on the new character designs and the improved animation. Jones also felt the series to be more serious and dramatic. The series was noted by ANN to have a more serious tone, and a good balance between comedy and drama in the first original episodes made specifically for the TV series. Unlike the panned fillers from Naruto, Naruto: Shippuden's have been praised thanks to its likable storylines and connection with the main plot. While the pacing for the first episodes has been criticized for being slow, the delivery and development in the interactions between the characters has received positive comments.

Ben 10

2012-08-04T23:53:00.001-07:00

Ben 10 is an acclaimed American media franchise created by "Man of Action" (a group consisting of Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, and Steven T. Seagle), and produced by Cartoon Network Studios.
The franchise is about a boy who acquires a watch-like alien device called the Omnitrix (later the Ultimatrix) attached to his wrist that allows him to turn into alien creatures.
The Ben 10 franchise has grossed over $2 billion in retail sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and has sold 100 million toys worldwide.

Series

Ben 10

Ten year old Ben Tennyson finds a device out in the woods called the Omnitrix, which allows him to turn into ten different aliens species. Throughout his summer vacation, travelling the country in the "Rust Bucket" with his Grandpa Max and his cousin Gwen, Ben fights crime and evil aliens with his new powers, gaining the ability to turn into 6 more aliens along the way.

Alien Force

Five years after the original series, Ben has apparently taken off the Omnitrix, but when his Grandpa Max goes missing, he puts it back on, which reboots it and gives Ben a new set of ten aliens. Ben's old enemy, Kevin Levin, somehow escaped the Null Void, but has become (mostly) reformed and joins Ben's team.

Ultimate Alien

Several weeks after the end of Alien Force, Ben now has the Ultimatrix, which allows him to 'evolve' his aliens into more powerful forms. Even though it was advertised that Ben now has all of his old forms, this doesn't really happen until Ben 10,000 Returns.

Omniverse

A fourth series of the Ben 10 franchise was first announced at Cartoon Network Upfront 2011. The title of the series, Ben 10: Omniverse was later confirmed at the UK Toy Fair 2012. The series is set to premiere around September 2012. Yuri Lowenthal, Greg Cipes and Ashley Johnson will reprise their roles as Ben, Kevin and Gwen from Alien Force and Ultimate Alien.

Elements Of Franchise

Themes

Omintirix/Ultimatrix

Falling accidentally into the hands of Ben Tennyson, the Omnitrix and its later upgrade the Ultimatrix are the central element of the Ben 10 story. They are alien devices (of level 20 technology) developed by Azmuth, that transform the user into an any one of a number of alien beings (initially there are 10 to choose from, but this increases as the series progresses). The Omintrix appears in the first two incarnations of the franchise (Ben 10 and Ben 10: Alien Force) and the Ultimatrix in the third incarnation Ben 10: Ultimate Alien. In the final episode of Ultimate Alien, Azmuth takes the Ultimatrix from Ben and replaces it with a new Omnitrix - the original having been only a prototype.

Characters

The franchise has a variety of kinds of characters: humans, aliens, and also there are magical characters mixed with the alien subject.

The Plumbers

The Plumbers are an intergalactic policing counter-terrorist/black-ops organization, which dealt with extraterrestrial, paranormal, and other situations that many others could not handle by using many high tech alien gadgets and weapons.
The organization is composed with both human and alien members; each one possesses special badges, all badges bear the intergalactic peace symbol, a green hourglass shape. The badges has many features:

Are ommunicator devices
Creates a holographic map that can pin-point the location of another Plumber's Badge.
Is a universal translator.
Access to "Extranet", which is an intergalactic version of the Internet.

In the original series, the Earth's Plumbers are a secret government organization that protects the general public from any alien threat. Their main base is located inside of Mt. Rushmore, where the Null Void projector and the Sub-Energy are stored. Their main adversary was Vilgax. Max was a member in his youth and was ultimately the one who defeated him. Most of the Plumbers had disbanded; however, a few of its members (like Max and his relatives) remain in a semi-active capacity.

Forever Knights

The Forever Knights are a secret British society/paramilitary first formed during the Middle Ages that are dedicating to collect and study alien technology, usually in illegal ways. Any aliens they capture along the way are dissected and studied, and any humans caught with them are immediately deemed worthless and disposed of. It is revealed in "Ben 10: Ultimate Alien" that the reason for their actions is to combat Diagon, an entity from another dimension that nearly conquered Earth in the Middle Ages were it not for the Forever Knights' immortal founder George. However, when George left them, the Forever Knights began to splinter under various self-titled Forever Kings who transformed their knights' duty into a genocidal policy toward anything alien. The Forever Knights also arm themselves with a large variety of medieval weapons enhanced by alien technology, with swords, lances, "laser lances", laser guns and electro shock rods being their most common ones.

Anodites

Anodites are a humanoid race of energy beings from the planet "Anodyne".
They are based on a vital energy called "Mana", that is present in all living things and beings throughout the entire universe, known as the life source energy. For Anodites, is a source of power, they have the ability to control it as well like "magic" (which is confirmed to derived from Mana), a key difference is that this form of magic (or at least magical rituals) relies much more on the use of spoken incantations, spell books, charms and talismans, and even celestial events, to achieve the desired magical and mystical effects the caster desires. Anodites manipulate this, able to create pink-and-magenta-colored shields and force fields of varying shapes and sizes for protection and circular magenta shapes or globes that can be thrown to disable enemies.
Anodites are quite free-spirited and most don't take life as seriously as most humans to the point that some Anodites disregard the morality of their actions and would rather satisfy their own personal pleasures, but that doesn't stop them from helping others.

Osmosians

Osmosians (a play on osmosis) are human-like aliens from the planet "Osmos V".
They has a unique ability to absorb matter and energy from nearly anything and use it in various ways. Osmosians can channel energy through their hands to manipulate technology, discharge it as an energy blast or use it to speed up cellular regeneration to increase their strength or recover from injuries at an accelerated rate. Osmosians are able to absorb and synthesize the mass, properties, and chemical makeup of matter to change their body into a living matter in the shape as the Osmosian, the absorbed matter is as durable as the matter used to make it and can enhance their strength and durability. Osmosians can also extend their matter to anything they are touching.
Osmosians can become mentally unstable if they absorb energy and cannot control it. Storing energy for long periods of time will worsen their instability.

Galvans

Galvans (a play on galvanization) are a small bipedal frog-like beings, originally from Galvan Prime; currently they live in Galvan Mark II.
They are naturally extremely intelligent, and can enter complex machines and operate them from the inside. This allows them to understand and operate virtually any machine, even if they've never seen it before.
The Galvan originally had no empire to speak of, instead they were being first kept as pets and then employed by other species as industrial technicians, spies and saboteurs once their intelligence became known. They were smart enough to keep the best secrets for themselves, eventually amassing enough knowledge to build a powerful empire of their own based on the technology they had kept from the rest of the universe, Galvans are very loyal to keeping their research and technology top secret.

Transports

Rust bucket III

Each series has featured with some kind of main transportation. The wheeled motor vehicles, even appearing like normal cars, they are equipped with several Plumbers' technology, like a turbo engine, laser guns and also an autopilot. And they often are destroyed during the series.
The Rust Bucket, is an old RV owned by Max Tennyson. And despise being old, and even have been destroyed a few times, Max has a great affection for it.
Ship is a Galvanic Mechamorph (Upgrade's species) alien that has the ability to transform himself into fully operational technology he's once touched. And he merged with the Forever Knights spaceship, from this event, he became the space transportation for Ben's team during the season 3 of Ben 10: Alien Force. He was replaced by the Rust Bucket III, a Plumbers' jet that Kevin has upgraded with alien tech.

Running gags

Many characters prefer smashing stuff rather than solving it normally, especially Kevin, who prefers to hit people before talking, but is stopped by Gwen, who is much more sensitive than him. Also, Ben prefers using a big, powerful alien in many situations, but ends up turning into another alien, especially Grey Matter, a really small and less powerful alien.

During the original series, Ben has a lack of hygiene, and this is briefly seen in the other series. Is sometimes mentioned that he rarely takes shower, or uses the same clothes, claiming the shirt that is common on the first series, is the only shirt he used during the entire summer.

Mr. Smoothy is a restaurant that serves mostly smoothies which Ben and his friends are common customers. The titular mascot is a cup with face and legs that cares a smaller cup. It serves the strangest assortment of flavors in its smoothies made to order and a menagerie of strange flavors which Ben is infamous for drinking numerous of them whenever coming to Mr. Smoothy, like: "Chocolate and carrot", "Nectarine", "Mango and blueberry with extra echinacea" and "all-meat flavored smoothies such as lamb and sardine".

Sumo Slammers is a large franchise spawning up to video games, trading card games, TV shows, movies, mp3 players, etc., which appears often in the Ben 10 series. The story similar to anime stories, the details were not shown, but it tells about a warrior called Ishiyama and his archenemy called Kenko with shapeshift abilities, which somehow has joined to Ishiyama. Ben is a huge fan since he was younger, always trying to do something linked with it, like knowing the news about, and pretending that is fighting like them.

Kevin's car is a Muscle car armed with Plumber technology as well as other various alien tech, including guns and offroad capabilities. As it is damaged and/or destroyed a lot, mainly during fights or chase scenes, and Kevin constantly repairs it. The Rust Bucket 3 has also become a part of this running gag. In "Video Game" Kevin seems to think Ben's destruction of Will's car isn't a good way of getting back at Harangue for his rage focused at Ben. Due to Kevin's obsession with own his car; it's likely a joke referencing that.

Recurring elements

Technologies

The advanced technologies shown are both alien and from earth. In the series, they are divided in levels of complication, danger or sophistication. The levels known thus far are 1-20, although some technology is confirmed to be higher than Level 20. Any tech above the allowed level, used on this planet, is considered illegal.
Earth is a level 2 planet, something that is considered very inferior for other aliens, as stated once that Earth is at least 500 years away from being level 3.

Dwayne McDuffie describes some levels:

Level 1 includes use and construction of simple tools.
Level 2 includes remedial energy Manipulation, the use of Fire and/or the use of simple machines.
Level 3 includes intermediate tool use and industrial organization combined with intermediate energy manipulation. Often information management technologies develop at Level 3. This is also the level at which many species accidentally kill themselves.
Level 5 includes remedial manipulation of the fundamental force.

Null Void

The Null Void is a alternate dimension created by the Galvan as a penal colony. It is filled with what look like never-ending floating rocks, and flying creatures as guards. It is showed to be worse than a normal prison, often scares many known people that went there, including Kevin, which made him what he is now: one of the protagonists.

ID Mask

ID Masks are masks that can change someone's appearance holographically, they were often used by DNAliens to take forms of human beings, and is also used by Plumbers' Kids who are obviously part alien to hide their appearance and be able to roam freely on Earth.

Techadon Robots

Techadons are powerful war machines that came from a mass produce developed by a Weapons Technology group known as the "Weaponsmasters of Techadon". They are armed with powerful lasers and nanite based regenerative technologies, able to recreate itself in entirety from a single hand. The custom made ones that are commissioned for a hit are stronger and when one is destroyed, the other ones adapt from the defeated ones.

Time Machine

Entropy Pump is a machine made of quartz crystals developed by Professor Paradox during the 1950s, as a time-traveling experiment. It was experimented in a lab when an assistant Hugo drew back and hit the controls, causing the machine to become a vacuum, pulling Paradox inside of it and hurling him into the event horizon of a virtual wormhole. The result powers the Paradox's time traveling project by generating enough energy to weaken the time-space continuum.

Ascalon

The Ascalon Sword is a weapon also created by Azmuth, with the power to tap into the forces of the universe itself.
The sword is so powerful that it can destroy an entire planet, and can also cause madness to anyone who possesses it. Only the one who is dignified can have such power, that's why Azmuth gave the sword to a human which is immortal, and is battling an extra-dimensional creature, knowing that only "he" needs such power to fight.

Films

Secret of the Omnitrix

The first is a regular animated feature called Secret of the Omnitrix. A trailer of the film was released with the film Billy & Mandy: Wrath of the Spider Queen, and it aired August 10, 2007. The main plot was about during a fight with Dr Animo, Ben's omnitrix accidentally sets off its self-destruct mode and Ben has to find the omnitrix's creator to shut it down and stop the evil Vilgax.

Race Against Time

The second is a live-action film titled Ben 10: Race Against Time which aired November 21, 2007, It revolves around Ben, Gwen and Grandpa Max returning to their hometown of Bellwood and attempting to adjust to being 'normal' again. Unfortunately, their lives are once again disrupted by a mysterious alien known as Eon, who has an unexpected connection to the Omnitrix. It premiered on Cartoon Network on November 21, 2007. The film was directed by Alex Winter. The film was nominated for two Visual Effects Society Awards: Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie or Special - Dina Benadon, Evan Jacobs, Brent Young, Chris Christman; and Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Broadcast Program or Commercial - Brent Young, Michael Smith.

Alien Swarm

The third is a live-action film titled Ben 10: Alien Swarm which aired November 25, 2009. It is about Ben, Gwen, Kevin and Grandpa Max. In the movie the group stumbles upon a hive of alien nanobots using humans as host bodies in order to take over the world. The Nanochips, or "alien swarm", are controlled by a single consciousness and Ben and his friends must work together to stop them.

Ben 10 / Generator Rex crossover

During Cartoon Network's panel at 2011's San Diego Comic-Con, Ben 10 and Generator Rex creators "Man of Action" announced a crossover special between the Ben 10 and Generator Rex series titled Ben 10/Generator Rex: Heroes United. The forty minute special aired on November 25, 2011 as a Generator Rex episode.
A comic book based on the special titled: "Hero Times Two" was released on November 30, 2011, as the sixty-fifth issue of DC Comics's Cartoon Network: Action Pack.

Destroy All Aliens

A CGI animated movie has been announced, titled Ben 10: Destroy all Aliens and was released on March 11, 2012 (Asia / Philippines) and on March 23, 2012 (US). This film had previously been under the working title Ben 10: Alien Dimensions. The film was based on the original series, and featured the original voice cast. The CGI was animated by Tiny Island Productions, in Singapore.

Feature film adaptation

On June 14, 2011, Producer Joel Silver announced that he along with Warner Bros. and Dark Castle Entertainment would bring Ben 10 to the big screen. Albert Torres is attached to the project as screenwriter.

Spin-off media

Merchandise

Further information: List of Ben 10 episodes#DVD releases, List of Ben 10: Alien Force episodes#DVD releases, and List of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien episodes#DVD releases

Following the success of the Ben 10 animated TV series and films, various Ben 10 merchandise has been released for general sale. These items include comic books, card games such as Top Trumps, toys, video games, Lego construction sets, bedding, coloring books, footwear, the watches (the Omnitrix and the Ultrimatrix), and coloring books. All three shows have also been released on DVD, and there are a number of video games.

Games

The game franchise has many different formats. The video games franchise started on 2007 with the release of Protector of Earth.
A video game of Ben 10: Omniverse will be developed for the series for the Nintendo Wii & Wii U, Nintendo DS & 3DS, Microsoft XBOX 360 & Sony PlayStation 3. The player can play as 13 playable alien heroes, including never-before-seen aliens like Bloxx and Gravattack, as they work for either Ben or Rook to defeat the evil plans of a fierce villain, intent on destroying the world. The game is developed by Vicious Style Stydios for all platforms except for the Nintendo DS and the Nintendo 3DS version, which is developed by 1st Playable Productions. The Wii U version will be based off the Xbox 360 port, while the 3DS version will most likely be directly ported from the Wii version. The plot is that Ben's partner Rook goes back in time and meets a 10-year old Ben. You will be able to access both Bens.
There are 7 games, including Omniverse, these are the games released:

Ben 10: Protector of Earth
Ben 10: Alien Force
Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks
Ben 10 Alien Force: The Rise of Hex
Ben 10 Ultimate Alien: Cosmic Destruction
Ben 10: Galactic Racing
Ben 10: Omniverse

Toy Line

Bandai has manufactured a massive amount of Ben 10 toys from the three series.
The series received three McDonald's Happy Meal promotions internationally, as well as one in America in August 2011. The toys are colored translucent dolls of some Omnitrix/Ultimatrix aliens and its Ultimate forms, and inside there is a small photo of Ben. But the Alien Force toys are four rings, each one are an alien (Goop, Jetray, Alien X, Chromastone) and with features linked with their powers.

Comic Books

Developed by Jason Hall, Min G. Kuand and Heroic Age. Ben 10 Comic revolves around Ben's summer vacation along traveling with Gwen and their Grandpa Max traveling in the Rust Bucket. Ben 10: Alien Force Comic revolves around Ben battling the Highbreed and the DNAliens along with Gwen and a reformed Kevin.
The Action Packs are comics made by DC Comics and most of the time they have Ben 10 comics in them accompanied by either Samurai Jack, Codename Kids Next Door, The Secret Saturdays, or Generator Rex. Some of the issues are connected with the franchise, while others are non-canon.

Cartoon Network promotion

Cartoon Network Universe: Fusion Fall

Ben Tennyson appears in Cartoon Network's online MMO FusionFall. The character design for Ben Tennyson was changed when the original Ben 10 series ended and was replaced by Ben 10: Alien Force. In the game, he serves as a "Player Guide" offering guide-based missions and special items.

Cartoon Network Universe: Project Exonaut

In another browser-based game entitled Cartoon Network Universe: Project Exonaut; Ben's aliens, alongside Gwen and Vilgax, appear as "exosuits". The exosuits revolve around protecting the player and giving them unique abilities and powers. The planet Kylmyys (the home of one of Ben's aliens, Big Chill) and the Perplexhedron are featured as battle arenas. Ultimate Kevin and Alien X are currently the new exosuits for Project Exonaut representing Ben 10.

Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion

Ben appears in the game as a playable character. Swampfire, Humungousaur, Big Chill and AmpFibian (with Ultimate Humungousaur as a Punch Time) appear as Ben's playable aliens. Vilgax, the archenemy of Ben Tennyson appears also as a playable character for the first time. Gwen and the Vreedle Brothers are summons in the game. Additionally, Bellwood and the Null Void are included as battle arenas. Kevin also appears as a summon in the game, but is featured as a playable character on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii versions, called Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion XL. Kevin in Ultimate Kevin form appears in the game as a boss. The young version of Ben appears in the console version of the game as a playable character.

Titanic Kungfubot Offensive

Titanic Kungfubot Offensive, also known as TKO is a multiplayer online game featured on the Cartoon Network website. The game features famous and notable Cartoon Network characters in a robot-type form. Big Chill, Swampfire, a DNAlien, Kevin, Vilgax, Rath, Armodrillo, Ultimate Humongousaur, Ultimate Echo Echo and Ultimate Big Chill appear as playable characters.

Than'Q

Carnivorous plant

2012-05-25T05:59:00.001-07:00

Carnivorous plant

Nepenthes mirabilis in flower, growing on a road cut in Palau

Carnivorous plants are plants that derive some or most of their nutrients (but not energy) from trapping and consuming animals or protozoans, typically insects and other arthropods. Carnivorous plants have adapted to grow in places where the soil is thin or poor in nutrients, especially nitrogen, such as acidic bogs and rock outcroppings. Charles Darwin wrote Insectivorous Plants, the first well-known treatise on carnivorous plants, in 1875.
True carnivory is thought to have evolved independently six times in five different orders of flowering plants, and these are now represented by more than a dozen genera. These include about 630 species that attract and trap prey, produce digestive enzymes, and absorb the resulting available nutrients. Additionally, over 300 protocarnivorous plant species in several genera show some but not all these characteristics.

Trapping mechanisms

Five basic trapping mechanisms are found in carnivorous plants.

Pitfall traps (pitcher plants) trap prey in a rolled leaf that contains a pool of digestive enzymes or bacteria.
Flypaper traps use a sticky mucilage.
Snap traps utilize rapid leaf movements.
Bladder traps suck in prey with a bladder that generates an internal vacuum.

The primitive pitchers of Heliamphora chimantensis are an example of pitfall traps.

Lobster-pot traps force prey to move towards a digestive organ with inward-pointing hairs.

These traps may be active or passive, depending on whether movement aids the capture of prey. For example, Triphyophyllum is a passive flypaper that secretes mucilage, but whose leaves do not grow or move in response to prey capture. Meanwhile, sundews are active flypaper traps whose leaves undergo rapid acid growth, which is an expansion of individual cells as opposed to cell division. The rapid acid growth allows the sundew tentacles to bend, aiding in the retention and digestion of prey.

Pitfall traps

Main article: Pitcher plant

Pitfall traps are thought to have evolved independently on at least four occasions. The simplest ones are probably those of Heliamphora, the marsh pitcher plant. In this genus, the traps are clearly derived evolutionarily from a simple rolled leaf whose margins have sealed together. These plants live in areas of high rainfall in South America such as Mount Roraima and consequently have a problem ensuring their pitchers do not overflow. To counteract this problem, natural selection has favoured the evolution of an overflow similar to that of a bathroom sink—a small gap in the zipped-up leaf margins allows excess water to flow out of the pitcher.
Heliamphora is a member of the Sarraceniaceae, a New World family in the order Ericales (heathers and allies). Heliamphora is limited to South America, but the family contains two other genera, Sarracenia and Darlingtonia, which are endemic to the Southeastern United States (with the exception of one species) and California respectively. Sarracenia purpurea subsp. purpurea (the northern pitcher plant) can be found as far north as Canada. Sarracenia is the pitcher plant genus most commonly encountered in cultivation, because it is relatively hardy and easy to grow.

Darlingtonia californica

In the genus Sarracenia, the problem of pitcher overflow is solved by an operculum, which is essentially a flared leaflet that covers the opening of the rolled-leaf tube and protects it from rain. Possibly because of this improved waterproofing, Sarracenia species secrete enzymes such as proteases and phosphatases into the digestive fluid at the bottom of the pitcher; Heliamphora relies on bacterial digestion alone. The enzymes digest the proteins and nucleic acids in the prey, releasing amino acids and phosphate ions, which the plant absorbs.
Darlingtonia californica, the cobra plant, possesses an adaptation also found in Sarracenia psittacina and, to a lesser extent, in Sarracenia minor: the operculum is balloon-like and almost seals the opening to the tube. This balloon-like chamber is pitted with areolae, chlorophyll-free patches through which light can penetrate. Insects, mostly ants, enter the chamber via the opening underneath the balloon. Once inside, they tire themselves trying to escape from these false exits, until they eventually fall into the tube. Prey access is increased by the "fish tails", outgrowths of the operculum that give the plant its name. Some seedling Sarracenia species also have long, overhanging opercular outgrowths; Darlingtonia may therefore represent an example of neoteny.

Brocchinia reducta: a carnivorous bromeliad

The second major group of pitcher plants are the monkey cups or tropical pitcher plants of the genus Nepenthes. In the hundred or so species of this genus, the pitcher is borne at the end of a tendril, which grows as an extension to the midrib of the leaf. Most species catch insects, although the larger ones, particularly N. rajah, also occasionally take small mammals and reptiles. These pitchers represent a convenient source of food to small insectivores. Nepenthes bicalcarata possesses two sharp thorns that project from the base of the operculum over the entrance to the pitcher. These likely serve to lure insects into a precarious position over the pitcher mouth, where they may lose their footing and fall into the fluid within.

The pitfall trap has evolved independently in at least two other groups. The Albany pitcher plant Cephalotus follicularis is a small pitcher plant from Western Australia, with moccasin-like pitchers. The rim of its pitcher's opening (the peristome) is particularly pronounced (both secrete nectar) and provides a thorny overhang to the opening, preventing trapped insects from climbing out. The lining of most pitcher plants is covered in a loose coating of waxy flakes, which are slippery for insects, prey that are often attracted by nectar bribes secreted by the peristome and by bright flower-like anthocyanin patterning. In at least one species, Sarracenia flava, the nectar bribe is laced with coniine, a toxic alkaloid also found in hemlock, which probably increases the efficiency of the traps by intoxicating prey.
The final carnivore with a pitfall-like trap is the bromeliad Brocchinia reducta. Like most relatives of the pineapple, the tightly-packed, waxy leaf bases of the strap-like leaves of this species form an urn. In most bromeliads, water collects readily in this urn and may provide habitats for frogs, insects and, more useful for the plant, diazotrophic (nitrogen-fixing) bacteria. In Brocchinia, the urn is a specialised insect trap, with a loose, waxy lining and a population of digestive bacteria.

Flypaper traps

Pinguicula gigantea with prey

The flypaper trap is based on a sticky mucilage, or glue. The leaf of flypaper traps is studded with mucilage-secreting glands, which may be short and nondescript (like those of the butterworts), or long and mobile (like those of many sundews). Flypapers have evolved independently at least five times.
In the genus Pinguicula, the mucilage glands are quite short (sessile), and the leaf, while shiny (giving the genus its common name of 'butterwort'), does not appear carnivorous. However, this belies the fact that the leaf is an extremely effective trap of small flying insects (such as fungus gnats), and its surface responds to prey by relatively rapid growth. This thigmotropic growth may involve rolling of the leaf blade (to prevent rain from splashing the prey off the leaf surface) or dishing of the surface under the prey to form a shallow digestive pit.

Drosera capensis bending in response to the trapping of an insect

The sundew genus (Drosera) consists of over 100 species of active flypapers whose mucilage glands are borne at the end of long tentacles, which frequently grow fast enough in response to prey (thigmotropism) to aid the trapping process. The tentacles of D. burmanii can bend 180° in a minute or so. Sundews are extremely cosmopolitan and are found on all the continents except the Antarctic mainland. They are most diverse in Australia, the home to the large subgroup of pygmy sundews such as D. pygmaea and to a number of tuberous sundews such as D. peltata, which form tubers that aestivate during the dry summer months. These species are so dependent on insect sources of nitrogen that they generally lack the enzyme nitrate reductase, which most plants require to assimilate soil-borne nitrate into organic forms.
Closely related to Drosera is the Portuguese dewy pine, Drosophyllum, which differs from the sundews in being passive. Its leaves are incapable of rapid movement or growth. Unrelated, but similar in habit, are the Australian rainbow plants (Byblis). Drosophyllum is unusual in that it grows under near-desert conditions; almost all other carnivores are either bog plants or grow in moist tropical areas.
Recent molecular data (particularly the production of plumbagin) indicate that the remaining flypaper, Triphyophyllum peltatum, a member of the Dioncophyllaceae, is closely related to Drosophyllum and forms part of a larger clade of carnivorous and non-carnivorous plants with the Droseraceae, Nepenthaceae, Ancistrocladaceae and Plumbaginaceae. This plant is usually encountered as a liana, but in its juvenile phase, the plant is carnivorous. This may be related to a requirement for specific nutrients for flowering.

Snap traps

The snap traps of Dionaea muscipula

The only two active snap traps—the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) and the waterwheel plant (Aldrovanda vesiculosa)—are believed to have had a common ancestor with similar adaptations. Their trapping mechanism has also been described as a "mouse trap" , "bear trap" or "man trap", based on their shape and rapid movement. However, the term snap trap is preferred as other designations are misleading, particularly with respect to the intended prey. Aldrovanda is aquatic and specialised in catching small invertebrates; Dionaea is terrestrial and catches a variety of arthropods, including spiders.
The traps are very similar, with leaves whose terminal section is divided into two lobes, hinged along the midrib. Trigger hairs (three on each lobe in Dionaea muscipula, many more in the case of Aldrovanda) inside the trap lobes are sensitive to touch. When a trigger hair is bent, stretch-gated ion channels in the membranes of cells at the base of the trigger hair open, generating an action potential that propagates to cells in the midrib. These cells respond by pumping out ions, which may either cause water to follow by osmosis (collapsing the cells in the midrib) or cause rapid acid growth. The mechanism is still debated, but in any case, changes in the shape of cells in the midrib allow the lobes, held under tension, to snap shut, flipping rapidly from convex to concave and interring the prey. This whole process takes less than a second. In the Venus flytrap, closure in response to raindrops and blown-in debris is prevented by the leaves having a simple memory: for the lobes to shut, two stimuli are required, 0.5 to 30 seconds apart.
The snapping of the leaves is a case of thigmonasty (undirected movement in response to touch). Further stimulation of the lobe's internal surfaces by the struggling insects causes the lobes to close even tighter (thigmotropism), sealing the lobes hermetically and forming a stomach in which digestion occurs over a period of one to two weeks. Leaves can be reused three or four times before they become unresponsive to stimulation, depending on the growing conditions.

Bladder traps

The tip of one stolon of Utricularia vulgaris

Bladder traps are exclusive to the genus Utricularia, or bladderworts. The bladders (vesicula) pump ions out of their interiors. Water follows by osmosis, generating a partial vacuum inside the bladder. The bladder has a small opening, sealed by a hinged door. In aquatic species, the door has a pair of long trigger hairs. Aquatic invertebrates such as Daphnia touch these hairs and deform the door by lever action, releasing the vacuum. The invertebrate is sucked into the bladder, where it is digested. Many species of Utricularia (such as U. sandersonii) are terrestrial, growing on waterlogged soil, and their trapping mechanism is triggered in a slightly different manner. Bladderworts lack roots, but terrestrial species have anchoring stems that resemble roots. Temperate aquatic bladderworts generally die back to a resting turion during the winter months, and U. macrorhiza appears to regulate the number of bladders it bears in response to the prevailing nutrient content of its habitat.

Lobster-pot traps

Genlisea violacea traps and leaves

A lobster-pot trap is a chamber that is easy to enter, and whose exit is either difficult to find or obstructed by inward-pointing bristles. Lobster pots are the trapping mechanism in Genlisea, the corkscrew plants. These plants appear to specialise in aquatic protozoa. A Y-shaped modified leaf allows prey to enter but not exit. Inward-pointing hairs force the prey to move in a particular direction. Prey entering the spiral entrance that coils around the upper two arms of the Y are forced to move inexorably towards a stomach in the lower arm of the Y, where they are digested. Prey movement is also thought to be encouraged by water movement through the trap, produced in a similar way to the vacuum in bladder traps, and probably evolutionarily related to it.
Outside of Genlisea, features reminiscent of lobster-pot traps can be seen in Sarracenia psittacina, Darlingtonia californica, and, some horticulturalists argue, Nepenthes aristolochioides.

Borderline carnivores

To be a fully fledged carnivore, a plant must attract, kill, and digest prey; and it must benefit from absorbing the products of the digestion (mostly amino acids and ammonium ions). To many horticulturalists, these distinctions are a matter of taste. There is a spectrum of carnivory found in plants: from completely non-carnivorous plants like cabbages, to borderline carnivores, to unspecialised and simple traps, like Heliamphora, to extremely specialised and complex traps, like that of the Venus flytrap.

Roridula gorgonias

The borderline carnivores include Roridula and Catopsis berteroniana. Catopsis is a borderline carnivorous bromeliad, like Brocchinia reducta. However, unlike B. reducta, which produces the enzyme phosphatase, C. berteroniana has not been shown to produce any digestive enzymes at all. In these pitfall traps, prey simply fall into the urn, assisted by the waxy scales located on the rim. Roridula has a more intricate relationship with its prey. The plants in this genus produce sticky leaves with resin-tipped glands and look extremely similar to some of the larger sundews. However, they do not directly benefit from the insects they catch. Instead, they form a mutualistic symbiosis with species of assassin bug (genus Pameridea), which eat the trapped insects. The plant benefits from the nutrients in the bugs' faeces.
A number of species in the Martyniaceae (previously Pedaliaceae), such as Ibicella lutea, have sticky leaves that trap insects. However, these plants have not been shown conclusively to be carnivorous.Likewise, the seeds of Shepherd's Purse, urns of Paepalanthus bromelioides, bracts of Passiflora foetida, and flower stalks and sepals of triggerplants (Stylidium) appear to trap and kill insects, but their classification as carnivores is contentious.
The production of specific prey-digesting enzymes (proteases, ribonucleases, phosphatases, etc.) is sometimes used as a criterion for carnivory. However, this would probably discount Heliamphora and Darlingtonia, both of which appear to rely on the enzymes of symbiotic bacteria to break down their prey but are generally considered as carnivores. However, discounting the enzyme-based definition leaves open the question of Roridula.

Evolution

Archaeamphora longicervia

The evolution of carnivorous plants is obscured by the paucity of their fossil record. Very few fossils have been found, and then usually only as seed or pollen. Carnivorous plants are generally herbs, and their traps primary growth. They generally do not form readily fossilisable structures such as thick bark or wood. The traps themselves would probably not be preserved in any case.
Still, much can be deduced from the structure of current traps. Pitfall traps are quite clearly derived from rolled leaves. The vascular tissues of Sarracenia is a case in point. The keel along the front of the trap contains a mixture of leftward- and rightward-facing vascular bundles, as would be predicted from the fusion of the edges of an adaxial (stem-facing) leaf surface. Flypapers also show a simple evolutionary gradient from sticky, non-carnivorous leaves, through passive flypapers to active forms. Molecular data show the Dionaea–Aldrovanda clade is closely related to Drosera, but the traps are so dissimilar that the theory of their origin—very fast-moving flypapers became less reliant on glue—remains rather speculative.
There are over a quarter of a million species of flowering plants. Of these, only around 630 are known to be carnivorous. True carnivory has probably evolved independently at least six times; however, some of these "independent" groups probably descended from a recent common ancestor with a predisposition to carnivory. Some groups (the Ericales and Caryophyllales) seem particularly fertile ground for carnivorous preadaptation, although in the former case, this may be more to do with the ecology of the group than its morphology, as most of the members of this group grow in low-nutrient habitats such as heath and bog.
It has been suggested that all trap types are modifications of a similar basic structure—the hairy leaf.Hairy (or more specifically, stalked-glandular) leaves can catch and retain drops of rainwater, especially if shield-shaped or peltate, thus promoting bacteria growth. Insects land on the leaf, become mired by the surface tension of the water, and suffocate. Bacteria jumpstart decay, releasing from the corpse nutrients that the plant can absorb through its leaves. This foliar feeding can be observed in most non-carnivorous plants. Plants that were better at retaining insects or water therefore had a selective advantage. Rainwater can be retained by cupping the leaf, leading to pitfall traps. Alternatively, insects can be retained by making the leaf stickier by the production of mucilage, leading to flypaper traps.
The pitfall traps may have evolved simply by selection pressure for the production of more deeply cupped leaves, followed by "zipping up" of the margins and subsequent loss of most of the hairs, except at the bottom, where they help retain prey.
The lobster-pot traps of Genlisea are difficult to interpret. They may have developed from bifurcated pitchers that later specialised on ground-dwelling prey; or, perhaps, the prey-guiding protrusions of bladder traps became more substantial than the net-like funnel found in most aquatic bladderworts. Whatever their origin, the helical shape of the lobster pot is an adaptation that displays as much trapping surface as possible in all directions when buried in moss.

The traps of Catopsis berteroniana

The traps of the bladderworts may have derived from pitchers that specialised in aquatic prey when flooded, like Sarracenia psittacina does today. Escaping prey in terrestrial pitchers have to climb or fly out of a trap, and both of these can be prevented by wax, gravity and narrow tubes. However, a flooded trap can be swum out of, so in Utricularia, a one-way lid may have developed to form the door of a proto-bladder. Later, this may have become active by the evolution of a partial vacuum inside the bladder, tripped by prey brushing against trigger hairs on the door of the bladder.
Flypaper traps include the various true flypapers and the snap traps of Aldrovanda and Dionaea. The production of sticky mucilage is found in many non-carnivorous genera, and the passive glue traps in Byblis and Drosophyllum could easily have evolved.
The active glue traps use rapid plant movements to trap their prey. Rapid plant movement can result from actual growth, or from rapid changes in cell turgor, which allow cells to expand or contract by quickly altering their water content. Slow-moving flypapers like Pinguicula exploit growth, but the Venus flytrap uses such rapid turgor changes that glue became unnecessary. The stalked glands that once made it and which are so evident in Drosera have become the teeth and trigger hairs—an example of natural selection hijacking preexisting structures for new functions.
Recent taxonomic analysis of the relationships within the Caryophyllales indicate that the Droseraceae, Triphyophyllum, Nepenthaceae and Drosophyllum, while closely related, are embedded within a larger clade that includes non-carnivorous groups such as the tamarisks, Ancistrocladaceae, Polygonaceae and Plumbaginaceae. Interestingly, the tamarisks possess specialised salt-excreting glands on their leaves, as do several of the Plumbaginaceae (such as the sea lavender, Limonium), which may have been co-opted for the excretion of other chemicals, such as proteases and mucilage. Some of the Plumbaginaceae (e.g. Ceratostigma) also have stalked, vascularised glands that secrete mucilage on their calyces and aid in seed dispersal and possibly in protecting the flowers from crawling parasitic insects. These are probably homologous with the tentacles of the carnivorous genera. Perhaps carnivory evolved from a protective function, rather than a nutritional one. The balsams (such as Impatiens), which are closely related to the Sarraceniaceae and Roridula, similarly possess stalked glands.
The only traps that are unlikely to have descended from a hairy leaf or sepal are the carnivorous bromeliads (Brocchinia and Catopsis). These plants use the urn—a fundamental part of a bromeliad—for a new purpose and build on it by the production of wax and the other paraphernalia of carnivory.

Ecology and modelling of carnivory

Carnivorous plants are widespread but rather rare. They are almost entirely restricted to habitats such as bogs, where soil nutrients are extremely limiting, but where sunlight and water are readily available. Only under such extreme conditions is carnivory favoured to an extent that makes the adaptations obvious.
The archetypal carnivore, the Venus flytrap, grows in soils with almost immeasurable nitrate and calcium levels. Plants need nitrogen for protein synthesis, calcium for cell wall stiffening, phosphate for nucleic acid synthesis, and iron for chlorophyll synthesis. The soil is often waterlogged, which favours the production of toxic ions such as ammonium, and its pH is an acidic 4 to 5. Ammonium can be used as a source of nitrogen by plants, but its high toxicity means that concentrations high enough to fertilise are also high enough to cause damage.

Drosophyllum lusitanicum

However, the habitat is warm, sunny, constantly moist, and the plant experiences relatively little competition from low growing Sphagnum moss. Still, carnivores are also found in very atypical habitats. Drosophyllum lusitanicum is found around desert edges and Pinguicula valisneriifolia on limestone (calcium-rich) cliffs.
In all the studied cases, carnivory allows plants to grow and reproduce using animals as a source of nitrogen, phosphorus and possibly potassium. However, there is a spectrum of dependency on animal prey. Pygmy sundews are unable to use nitrate from soil because they lack the necessary enzymes (nitrate reductase in particular). Common butterworts (Pinguicula vulgaris) can use inorganic sources of nitrogen better than organic sources, but a mixture of both is preferred. European bladderworts seem to use both sources equally well. Animal prey makes up for differing deficiencies in soil nutrients.
Plants use their leaves to intercept sunlight. The energy is used to reduce carbon dioxide from the air with electrons from water to make sugars (and other biomass) and a waste product, oxygen, in the process of photosynthesis. Leaves also respire, in a similar way to animals, by burning their biomass to generate chemical energy. This energy is temporarily stored in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which acts as an energy currency for metabolism in all living things. As a waste product, respiration produces carbon dioxide.
For a plant to grow, it must photosynthesise more than it respires. Otherwise, it will eventually exhaust its biomass and die. The potential for plant growth is net photosynthesis, the total gross gain of biomass by photosynthesis, minus the biomass lost by respiration. Understanding carnivory requires a cost-benefit analysis of these factors.
In carnivorous plants, the leaf is not just used to photosynthesise, but also as a trap. Changing the leaf shape to make it a better trap generally makes it less efficient at photosynthesis. For example, pitchers have to be held upright, so that only their opercula directly intercept light. The plant also has to expend extra energy on non-photosynthetic structures like glands, hairs, glue and digestive enzymes. To produce such structures, the plant requires ATP and respires more of its biomass. Hence, a carnivorous plant will have both decreased photosynthesis and increased respiration, making the potential for growth small and the cost of carnivory high.
Being carnivorous allows the plant to grow better when the soil contains little nitrate or phosphate. In particular, an increased supply of nitrogen and phosphorus makes photosynthesis more efficient, because photosynthesis depends on the plant being able to synthesise very large amounts of the nitrogen-rich enzyme RuBisCO (ribulose-1,5-bis-phosphate carboxylase/oxygenase), the most abundant protein on Earth.
It is intuitively clear that the Venus flytrap is more carnivorous than Triphyophyllum peltatum. The former is a full-time moving snap-trap; the latter is a part-time, non-moving flypaper. The energy "wasted" by the plant in building and fuelling its trap is a suitable measure of the carnivory of the trap.


Modelling carnivory in plants: gross photosynthesis, respiration and net photosynthesis as a function of the plant's investment in carnivorous adaptations. Non-zero optimum carnivory occurs in brightly lit habitats with very limiting soil nutrients.

Using this measure of investment in carnivory, a model can be proposed. Above is a graph of carbon dioxide uptake (potential for growth) against trap respiration (investment in carnivory) for a leaf in a sunny habitat containing no soil nutrients at all. Respiration is a straight line sloping down under the horizontal axis (respiration produces carbon dioxide). Gross photosynthesis is a curved line above the horizontal axis: as investment increases, so too does the photosynthesis of the trap, as the leaf receives a better supply of nitrogen and phosphorus. Eventually another factor (such as light intensity or carbon dioxide concentration) will become more limiting to photosynthesis than nitrogen or phosphorus supply. As a result, increasing the investment will not make the plant grow better. The net uptake of carbon dioxide, and therefore, the plant's potential for growth, must be positive for the plant to survive. There is a broad span of investment where this is the case, and there is also a non-zero optimum. Plants investing more or less than this optimum will take up less carbon dioxide than an optimal plant, and hence growing less well. These plants will be at a selective disadvantage. At zero investment the growth is zero, because a non-carnivorous plant cannot survive in a habitat with absolutely no soil-borne nutrients. Such habitats do not exist, so for example, Sphagnum absorbs the tiny amounts of nitrates and phosphates in rain very efficiently and also forms symbioses with diazotrophic cyanobacteria.

Modelling carnivory in plants: gross photosynthesis, respiration and net photosynthesis as a function of the plant's investment in carnivorous adaptations. An optimum carnivory of zero occurs in poorly lit habitats with abundant soil nutrients.

In a habitat with abundant soil nutrients but little light (as shown above), the gross photosynthesis curve will be lower and flatter, because light will be more limiting than nutrients. A plant can grow at zero investment in carnivory; this is also the optimum investment for a plant, as any investment in traps reduces net photosynthesis (growth) to less than the net photosynthesis of a plant that obtains its nutrients from soil alone.
Carnivorous plants exist between these two extremes: the less limiting light and water are, and the more limiting soil nutrients are, the higher the optimum investment in carnivory, and hence the more obvious the adaptations will be to the casual observer.
The most obvious evidence for this model is that carnivorous plants tend to grow in habitats where water and light are abundant and where competition is relatively low: the typical bog. Those that do not tend to be even more fastidious in some other way. Drosophyllum lusitanicum grows where there is little water, but it is even more extreme in its requirement for bright light and low disturbance than most other carnivores. Pinguicula valisneriifolia grows in soils with high levels of calcium but requires strong illumination and lower competition than many butterworts.
In general, carnivorous plants are poor competitors, because they invest too heavily in structures that have no selective advantage in nutrient-rich habitats. They succeed only where other plants fail. Carnivores are to nutrients what cacti are to water. Carnivory only pays off when the nutrient stress is high and where light is abundant. When these conditions are not met, some plants give up carnivory temporarily. Sarracenia spp. produce flat, non-carnivorous leaves (phyllodes) in winter. Light levels are lower than in summer, so light is more limiting than nutrients, and carnivory does not pay. The lack of insects in winter exacerbates the problem. Damage to growing pitcher leaves prevent them from forming proper pitchers, and again, the plant produces a phyllode instead.

Part-time carnivory in Triphyophyllum peltatum

Many other carnivores shut down in some seasons. Tuberous sundews die back to tubers in the dry season, bladderworts to turions in winter, and non-carnivorous leaves are made by most butterworts and Cephalotus in the less favourable seasons. Utricularia macrorhiza varies the number of bladders it produces based on the expected density of prey. Part-time carnivory in Triphyophyllum peltatum may be due to an unusually high need for potassium at a certain point in the life cycle, just before flowering.
The more carnivorous a plant is, the less conventional its habitat is likely to be. Venus flytraps live in a very specialised habitat, whereas less carnivorous plants (Byblis, Pinguicula) are found in less unusual habitats (i.e., those typical for non-carnivores). Byblis and Drosophyllum both come from relatively arid regions and are both passive flypapers, arguably the lowest maintenance form of trap. Venus flytraps filter their prey using the teeth around the trap's edge, so as not to waste energy on hard-to-digest prey. In evolution, laziness pays, because energy can be used for reproduction, and short-term benefits in reproduction will outweigh long-term benefits in anything else.
Carnivory rarely pays, so even carnivorous plants avoid it when there is too little light or an easier source of nutrients, and they use as few carnivorous features as are required at a given time or for a given prey item. There are very few habitats stressful enough to make investing biomass and energy in trigger hairs and enzymes worthwhile. Many plants occasionally benefit from animal protein rotting on their leaves, but carnivory that is obvious enough for the casual observer to notice is rare.
Bromeliads seem very well preadapted to carnivory, but only one or two species can be classified as truly carnivorous. By their very shape, bromeliads will benefit from increased prey-derived nutrient input. In this sense, bromeliads are probably carnivorous, but their habitats are too dark for more extreme, recognisable carnivory to evolve. Most bromeliads are epiphytes, and most epiphytes grow in partial shade on tree branches. Brocchinia reducta, on the other hand, is a ground dweller.

Classification

The classification of all flowering plants is currently in a state of flux. In the Cronquist system, the Droseraceae and Nepenthaceae were placed in the order Nepenthales, based on the radial symmetry of their flowers and their possession of insect traps. The Sarraceniaceae was placed either in the Nepenthales, or in its own order, the Sarraceniales. The Byblidaceae, Cephalotaceae, and Roridulaceae were placed in the Saxifragales; and the Lentibulariaceae in the Scrophulariales (now subsumed into the Lamiales).
In more modern classification, such as that of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, the families have been retained, but they have been redistributed amongst several disparate orders. It is also recommended that Drosophyllum be considered in a monotypic family outside the rest of the Droseraceae, probably more closely allied to the Dioncophyllaceae. The current recommendations are shown below (only carnivorous genera are listed):

Dicotsv

Stylidium turbinatum

Asterales (sunflower and daisy order)
- Stylidiaceae
  - Stylidium (trigger plants, a borderline carnivore)
Caryophyllales, (carnation order)
- Dioncophyllaceae
  - Triphyophyllum (a tropical liana)
- Drosophyllaceae
  - Drosophyllum (Portuguese dewy pine)
- Droseraceae (sundew family)
  - Aldrovanda (waterwheel plant)
    
    Aldrovanda vesiculosa
  - Dionaea (Venus Flytrap)
  - Drosera (sundews)
  - †Droserapollis
  - †Droserapites
  - †Droseridites
  - †Fischeripollis
  - †Palaeoaldrovanda
  - †Saxonipollis
- Nepenthaceae (tropical pitcher-plant family)
  - Nepenthes (tropical pitcher plants or monkey-cups, including Anurosperma)
Ericales (heather order)
- Roridulaceae
  - Roridula (a borderline carnivore)
    
    Byblis liniflora
- Sarraceniaceae (trumpet pitcher family)
  - †Archaeamphora
  - Sarracenia (North American trumpet pitchers)
  - Darlingtonia (cobra plant/lily)
  - Heliamphora (sun or marsh pitchers)
Lamiales (mint order)
- Byblidaceae
  - Byblis (rainbow plants)
- Lentibulariaceae (bladderwort family)
  - Pinguicula (butterworts)
  - Genlisea (corkscrew plant)
    
    Cephalotus follicularis
  - Utricularia (bladderworts, including Polypompholyx, the fairy aprons or pink petticoats and Biovularia an obsolete genus)
- Martyniaceae (all borderline carnivores, related to the sesame plant)
  - Ibicella
Oxalidales (wood sorrel order)
- Cephalotus (Albany pitcher plant)

Cultivation

Cultivated Nepenthes rajah

Although different species of carnivorous plants have different requirements in terms of sunlight, humidity, soil moisture, etc., there are commonalities.
Most carnivorous plants require rainwater, or water that has been distilled, deionised by reverse osmosis, or acidified to around pH 6.5 using sulfuric acid.
Common tap or drinking water contains minerals (particularly calcium salts) that will quickly build up and kill the plant. This is because most carnivorous plants have evolved in nutrient-poor, acidic soils and are consequently extreme calcifuges. They are therefore very sensitive to excessive soil-borne nutrients. Since most of these plants are found in bogs, almost all are very intolerant of drying. There are exceptions: tuberous sundews require a dry (summer) dormancy period, and Drosophyllum requires much drier conditions than most.
Outdoor-grown carnivorous plants generally catch more than enough insects to keep themselves properly fed. Insects may be fed to the plants by hand to supplement their diet; however, carnivorous plants are generally unable to digest large non-insect food items; bits of hamburger, for example, will simply rot, and this may cause the trap, or even the whole plant, to die.
A carnivorous plant that catches no insects at all will rarely die, although its growth may be impaired. In general, these plants are best left to their own devices: after underwatering with tap-water, the most common cause of Venus flytrap death is prodding the traps to watch them close and feeding them inappropriate items.
Most carnivorous plants require bright light, and most will look better under such conditions, as this encourages them to synthesise red and purple anthocyanin pigments. Nepenthes and Pinguicula will do better out of full sun, but most other species are happy in direct sunlight.
Carnivores mostly live in bogs, and those that do not are generally tropical. Hence, most require high humidity. On a small scale, this can be achieved by placing the plant in a wide saucer containing pebbles that are kept permanently wet. Small Nepenthes species grow well in large terraria.
Many carnivores are native to cold temperate regions and can be grown outside in a bog garden year-round. Most Sarracenia can tolerate temperatures well below freezing, despite most species being native to the southeastern United States. Species of Drosera and Pinguicula also tolerate subfreezing temperatures. Nepenthes species, which are tropical, require temperatures from 20 to 30 °C to thrive.

Many Sarracenia

Carnivorous plants require appropriate nutrient-poor soil. Most appreciate a 3:1 mixture of Sphagnum peat to sharp horticultural sand (coir is an acceptable, and more ecofriendly substitute for peat). Nepenthes will grow in orchid compost or in pure Sphagnum moss.
Ironically, carnivorous plants are themselves susceptible to infestation by parasites such as aphids or mealybugs. Although small infestations can be removed by hand, larger infestations necessitate use of an insecticide.
Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) is effective as a topical insecticide, particularly on scale insects. Diazinon is an excellent systemic insecticide that is tolerated by most carnivorous plants. Malathion and Acephate (Orthene) have also been reported as tolerable by carnivorous plants.
Although insects can be a problem, by far the biggest killer of carnivorous plants (besides human maltreatment) is grey mould (Botrytis cinerea). This thrives under warm, humid conditions and can be a real problem in winter. To some extent, temperate carnivorous plants can be protected from this pathogen by ensuring that they are kept cool and well ventilated in winter and that any dead leaves are removed promptly. If this fails, a fungicide is in order.
The easiest carnivorous plants for beginners are those from the cool temperate zone. These plants will do well under cool greenhouse conditions (minimum 5 °C in winter, maximum 25 °C in summer) if kept in wide trays of acidified or rain water during summer and kept moist during winter:

Drosera capensis, the Cape sundew: attractive strap-leaved sundew, pink flowers, very tolerant of maltreatment.
Drosera binata, the fork-leaved sundew: large, Y-shaped leaves.
Sarracenia flava, the yellow trumpet pitcher: yellow, attractively veined leaves, yellow flowers in spring.
Pinguicula grandiflora, the common butterwort: purple flowers in spring, hibernates as a bud (hibernaculum) in winter. Fully hardy.
Pinguicula moranensis, the Mexican butterwort: pink flowers, non-carnivorous leaves in winter.

Venus flytraps will do well under these conditions but are actually rather difficult to grow: even if treated well, they will often succumb to grey mould in winter unless well ventilated. Some of the lowland Nepenthes are very easy to grow as long as they are provided with relatively constant, hot and humid conditions.

Medicinal uses

A study published in 2009 by researchers from Tel Aviv University indicates that secretions produced by carnivorous plants contain compounds that have anti-fungal properties and may lead to the development of a new class of anti-fungal drugs that will be effective against infections that are resistant to current anti-fungal drugs.

Cultural depictions

Ya-te-veo

Carnivorous plants have long been the subject of popular interest and exposition, much of it highly inaccurate. Fictional plants have been featured in a number of books, movies, television series, and video games. Typically, these fictional depictions include exaggerated characteristics, such as enormous size or possession of abilities beyond the realm of reality, and can be viewed as a kind of artistic license. The most famous examples of fictional carnivorous plants in popular culture include the 1960s black comedy The Little Shop of Horrors, the triffids of John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids, and others. Other movies, such as The Hellstrom Chronicle (1971), and television series utilize accurate depictions of carnivorous plants for cinematic purposes.

Audrey Junior

The earliest known depiction of carnivorous plants in popular culture was a case where a large man-eating tree was reported to have consumed a young woman in Madagascar in 1878, as witnessed by Dr. Carl Liche. Liche reported the events in the South Australian Register in 1881. The woman, pictured in an accompanying artwork, was supposed to have been a member of the Mkodos, a "little known but cruel tribe". The account has been debunked as pure myth as it appears Dr. Liche, the Mkodos, and the tree were all fabrications.

Bruce Lee

2012-05-24T05:29:00.002-07:00

Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee (born Lee Jun-fan; 27 November 1940 – 20 July 1973) was a Chinese American Hong Kong actor, martial arts instructor, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement. He is widely considered by many commentators, critics, media and other martial artists to be the most influential martial artist of the 20th century, and one of the biggest pop culture icons. He is often credited with changing the way Asians were presented in American films.
Lee was born in San Francisco to parents of Hong Kong heritage but was raised in Hong Kong until his late teens. Lee returned to the United States at the age of 18 to claim his U.S. citizenship and receive his higher education. It was during this time that he began teaching martial arts, which soon led to film and television roles.
His Hong Kong and Hollywood-produced films elevated the traditional Hong Kong martial arts film to a new level of popularity and acclaim, and sparked a major surge of interest in Chinese martial arts in the West in the 1970s. The direction and tone of his films changed and influenced martial arts and martial arts films in Hong Kong and the rest of the world, as well. He is noted for his roles in five feature-length films: Lo Wei's The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of Fury (1972); Way of the Dragon (1972), directed and written by Lee; Warner Brothers' Enter the Dragon (1973) and The Game of Death (1978), both directed by Robert Clouse.
Lee became an iconic figure known throughout the world, particularly among the Chinese, as he portrayed Chinese nationalism in his films.He initially trained in Wing Chun, but he later rejected well-defined martial art styles, favouring instead the use of techniques from various sources, in the spirit of his personal martial arts philosophy, which he dubbed Jeet Kune Do (The Way of the Intercepting Fist).

Early life

Bruce Lee was born on 27 November 1940 at the Chinese Hospital in Chinatown, San Francisco. According to the Chinese zodiac Lee was born in both the hour and the year of the Dragon which in this cultural tradition is considered a strong and fortuitous omen.His father, Lee Hoi-chuen, was fully Chinese, and his mother, Grace Ho (何愛瑜), was half Chinese and half Caucasian. Grace was the daughter of Ho Kom-tong and the niece of Sir Robert Ho-tung, both notable Honk Kong businessmen and philanthropists. Lee was the fourth child of five children: Agnes, Phoebe, Peter, and Robert. Lee and his parents returned to Hong Kong when he was three months old.

Names

Lee's Cantonese birth name was Lee Jun-fan (李振藩). The name homophonically means "return again"; it was given to Lee by his mother, who felt he would return to the United States once he came of age.Because of his mother's superstitious nature, she originally named him Sai-fon (細鳳), which is a feminine name meaning "small phoenix". The English name "Bruce" was thought to be given by the hospital attending physician, Dr. Mary Glover.
Lee had three other Chinese names: Li Yuanxin (李源鑫), a family/clan name; Li Yuanjian (李元鑒), as a student name while he was attending La Salle College, and his Chinese screen name Li Xiaolong (李小龍; Xiaolong means "little dragon"). Lee's given name Jun-fan was originally written in Chinese as 震藩, however, the Jun (震) Chinese character was identical to part of his grandfather's name, Lee Jun-biu (李震彪). Hence, the Chinese character for Jun in Lee's name was changed to the homonym 振 instead, to avoid naming taboo in Chinese tradition.

Family

Lee's father, Lee Hoi-chuen, was one of the leading Cantonese opera and film actors at the time, and was embarking on a year-long Cantonese opera tour with his family on the eve of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong. Lee Hoi-chuen had been touring the United States for many years and performing at numerous Chinese communities there.

Lee Hoi-chuen

Although a number of his peers decided to stay in the United States, Lee Hoi-chuen decided to go back to Hong Kong after his wife gave birth to Bruce Lee. Within months, Hong Kong was invaded and the Lees lived for three years and eight months under Japanese occupation. After the war ended, Lee Hoi-chuen resumed his acting career and became a more popular actor during Hong Kong's rebuilding years.
Lee's mother, Grace Ho, was from one of the wealthiest and most powerful clans in Hong Kong, the Ho-tungs. She was the niece of Sir Robert Ho-tung, of Eurasian descent and patriarch of the clan. As such, the young Bruce Lee grew up in an affluent and privileged environment. Despite this advantage of his family's status, the Hong Kong neighborhood Lee grew up in became over-crowded, dangerous, and full of gang rivalries because of the mass number of people fleeing communist China to Hong Kong, :

Post-war Hong Kong was a tough place to grow up. Gangs ruled the city streets and Lee was often forced to fight them. But Bruce liked a challenge and faced his adversaries head on. To his parents dismay, Bruce's street fighting continued and the violent nature of his confrontations was escalating.

After being involved in several street fights, Lee's parents decided that he needed to be trained in the martial arts. Lee's first introduction to martial arts was through his father. He learned the fundamentals of Wu-style t'ai chi ch'uan from his father.

Wing Chun

Leaving Hong Kong

After attending Tak Sun School (德信學校) (a couple of blocks from his home at 218 Nathan Road, Kowloon), Lee entered the primary school division of La Salle College in 1950 or 1952 (at the age of 12). In around 1956, due to poor academic performance (or possibly poor conduct as well), he was transferred to St. Francis Xavier's College (high school) where he would be mentored by Brother Edward, a teacher and coach of the school boxing team.

La Salle College

In the spring of 1959, Lee got into yet another street fight and the police were called. From all the way to his late teens, Lee's street fights became more frequent and included beating up the son of a feared triad family. Eventually, Lee's father decided for him to leave Hong Kong to pursue a safer and healthier avenue in the United States. His parents confirmed the police's fear that this time Lee's opponent had an organised crime background, and there was the possibility that a contract was out for his life.

The police detective came and he says "Excuse me Mr. Lee, your son is really fighting bad in school. If he gets into just one more fight I might have to put him in jail".

—Robert Lee

In April 1959, Lee's parents decided to send him to the United States to stay with his older sister, Agnes Lee (李秋鳳), who was already living with family friends in San Francisco.

New life in America

Seattle

At the age of 18, Lee returned to the United States with $100 in his pocket and the titles of 1957 High School Boxing Champion and 1958 Crown colony Cha Cha Champion of Hong Kong. After living in San Francisco for several months, he moved to Seattle in 1959, to continue his high school education, where he also worked for Ruby Chow as a live-in waiter at her restaurant.
Chow's husband was a co-worker and friend of Lee's father. Lee's elder brother Peter Lee (李忠琛) would also join him in Seattle for a short stay before moving on to Minnesota to attend college. In December 1960, Lee completed his high school education and received his diploma from Edison Technical School (now Seattle Central Community College, located on Capitol Hill, Seattle).
In March 1961, Lee enrolled at the University of Washington, majoring in drama according to the university's alumni association information, not in philosophy as claimed by Lee himself and many others. Lee also studied philosophy, psychology, and various other subjects. It was at the University of Washington that he met his future wife Linda Emery, a fellow student studying to become a teacher, whom he married in August 1964.
Lee had two children with Linda Emery, Brandon Lee (1965–93) and Shannon Lee (b. 1969).

Jun Fan Gung Fu

Oakland

Lee began teaching martial arts in the United States in 1959. He called what he taught Jun Fan Gung Fu (literally Bruce Lee's Kung Fu). It was basically his approach to Wing Chun. Lee taught friends he met in Seattle, starting with Judo practitioner Jesse Glover, who later became his first assistant instructor. Lee opened his first martial arts school, named the Lee Jun Fan Gung Fu Institute, in Seattle.
Lee dropped out of college in the spring of 1964 and moved to Oakland to live with James Yimm Lee (嚴鏡海). James Lee was twenty years senior to Bruce Lee and a well known Chinese martial artist in the area. Together, they founded the second Jun Fan martial art studio in Oakland. James Lee was also responsible for introducing Bruce Lee to Ed Parker, royalty of the U.S. martial arts world and organizer of the Long Beach International Karate Championships at which Bruce Lee was later "discovered" by Hollywood.

Jeet Kune Do

Jeet Kune Do originated in 1967. After filming one season of The Green Hornet, Lee found himself out of work and opened The Jun Fan Institute of Gung Fu. A controversial match with Wong Jack Man influenced Lee's philosophy about martial arts. Lee concluded that the fight had lasted too long and that he had failed to live up to his potential using his Wing Chun techniques. He took the view that traditional martial arts techniques were too rigid and formalistic to be practical in scenarios of chaotic street fighting. Lee decided to develop a system with an emphasis on "practicality, flexibility, speed, and efficiency". He started to use different methods of training such as weight training for strength, running for endurance, stretching for flexibility, and many others which he constantly adapted, including fencing and basic boxing techniques.
Lee emphasised what he called "the style of no style". This consisted of getting rid of the formalised approach which Lee claimed was indicative of traditional styles. Lee felt the system he now called Jun Fan Gung Fu was even too restrictive, and eventually evolved into a philosophy and martial art he would come to call Jeet Kune Do or the Way of the Intercepting Fist. It is a term he would later regret, because Jeet Kune Do implied specific parameters that styles connote; whereas the idea of his martial art was to exist outside of parameters and limitations.

Long Beach International Karate Championships

At the invitation of Ed Parker, Lee appeared in the 1964 Long Beach International Karate Championships and performed repetitions of two-finger push-ups (using the thumb and the index finger of one hand) with feet at approximately a shoulder-width apart. In the same Long Beach event he also performed the "One inch punch", the description of which is as follows: Lee stood upright, his right foot forward with knees bent slightly, in front of a standing, stationary partner. Lee's right arm was partly extended and his right fist approximately an inch away from the partner's chest. Without retracting his right arm, Lee then forcibly delivered the punch to his partner while largely maintaining his posture, sending the partner backwards and falling into a chair said to be placed behind the partner to prevent injury, though his partner's momentum soon caused him to fall to the floor. His volunteer was Bob Baker of Stockton, California. "I told Bruce not to do this type of demonstration again", Baker recalled. "When he punched me that last time, I had to stay home from work because the pain in my chest was unbearable".

One inch punch

It was at the 1964 championships where Lee first met Taekwondo master Jhoon Goo Rhee. The two developed a friendship – a relationship from which they benefited as martial artists. Rhee taught Lee the side kick in detail, and Lee taught Rhee the "non-telegraphic" punch.
Lee appeared at the 1967 Long Beach International Karate Championships and performed various demonstrations, including the famous "unstoppable punch" against USKA world Karate champion Vic Moore. Lee told Moore that he was going to throw a straight punch to the face, and all he had to do was to try to block it. Lee took several steps back and asked if Moore was ready, when Moore nodded in affirmation, Lee glided towards him until he was within striking range. He then threw a straight punch directly at Moore's face, and stopped before impact. In eight attempts, Moore failed to block any of the punches

Fight history

Lee defeated three-time champion British boxer Gary Elms by way of knockout in the third round in the 1958 Hong Kong Inter-School amateur Boxing Championships by using Wing Chun traps and high/low-level straight punches.
The following year, Lee became a member of the "Tigers of Junction Street," and was involved in numerous gang-related street fights. "In one of his last encounters, while removing his jacket the fellow he was squaring off against sucker punched him and blackened his eye. Bruce flew into a rage and went after him, knocking him out, breaking his opponent's arm. The police were called as a result". The incident took place on a Hong Kong rooftop at 10 pm on Wednesday, 29 April 1959.

T'ai chi ch'uan (Taijiquan)

In 1962, Lee was challenged by a man who had been holding a grudge against Lee while the two were practicing at a YMCA in Seattle. The man was described by Jesse Glover as a karate man who also had a blackbelt in judo, though Glover, who was a brown belt in judo at the time, claimed to be better than the man in judo. After weeks or months of provocation by the man, Lee agreed to fight the man for three two-minute rounds, with the winner being the one who knocked the opponent down or out in two out of three rounds. The match took place at YMCA's handball court, with Glover as the referee and Ed Hart as the time keeper. Lee wore street clothes and used a Wing Chun stance while his opponent wore a gi and used a karate stance. According to Glover, Lee used his right forearm to deflect an initial kick from the man and simultaneously landed a left punch to the face. Lee deflected more punches using the forearm, controlling the center line and landed more punches to the man's face until he was against the wall. The man attempted to grab Lee's arms, which Lee responded by a double fist punch to the face and chest, followed by a kick to the nose, which produced a nosebleed and a knockout, at which time Glover stopped the fight. Taki Kamura said the fight lasted 10 seconds. Ed Hart stated "the fight lasted exactly 11 seconds – I know because I was the time keeper – and Bruce had hit the guy something like 15 times and kicked him once. I thought he'd killed him".
In Oakland, California in 1964 at Chinatown, Lee had a controversial private match with Wong Jack Man, a direct student of Ma Kin Fung known for his mastery of Xingyiquan, Northern Shaolin, and T'ai chi ch'uan. According to Lee, the Chinese community issued an ultimatum to him to stop teaching non-Chinese. When he refused to comply, he was challenged to a combat match with Wong. The arrangement was that if Lee lost, he would have to shut down his school; while if he won, then Lee would be free to teach Caucasians or anyone else. Wong denied this, stating that he requested to fight Lee after Lee issued an open challenge during one of Lee's demonstrations at a Chinatown theatre, and that Wong himself did not discriminate against Caucasians or other non-Chinese. Lee commented, "That paper had all the names of the sifu from Chinatown, but they don't scare me".

Xingyiquan

Individuals known to have witnessed the match included Cadwell, James Lee (Bruce Lee's associate, no relation), and William Chen, a teacher of T'ai chi ch'uan. Wong and witness William Chen stated that the fight lasted an unusually long 20–25 minutes. According to Bruce Lee, Linda Lee Cadwell, and James Yimm Lee, the fight lasted 3 minutes with a decisive victory for Lee. "The fight ensued, it was a no-holds-barred fight, it took three minutes. Bruce got this guy down to the ground and said 'do you give up?' and the man said he gave up" – Linda Lee Cadwell.
Wong Jack Man published his own account of the battle in the Chinese Pacific Weekly, a Chinese-language newspaper in San Francisco, which contained another challenge to Lee for a public rematch. Lee had no reciprocation to Wong's article, nor were there any further public announcements by either, but Lee had continued to teach Caucasians.
Lee's eventual celebrity put him in the path of a number of men who sought to make a name for themselves by causing a confrontation with Lee. A challenger had invaded Lee's private home in Hong Kong by trespassing into the backyard to incite Lee in combat. Lee finished the challenger violently with a kick, infuriated over the home invasion. Describing the incident, Herb Jackson states,

One time one fellow got over that wall, got into his yard and challenged him and he says 'how good are you?' And Bruce was poppin mad. He [Bruce] says 'he gets the idea, this guy, to come and invade my home, my own private home, invade it and challenge me.' He said he got so mad that he gave the hardest kick he ever gave anyone in his life.

Bob Wall, USPK karate champion and Lee's co-star in Enter the Dragon, recalled one encounter that transpired after a film extra kept taunting Lee. The extra yelled that Lee was "a movie star, not a martial artist," that he "wasn't much of a fighter". Lee answered his taunts by asking him to jump down from the wall he was sitting on. Wall described Lee's opponent as "a gang-banger type of guy from Hong Kong," a "damned good martial artist," and observed that he was fast, strong, and bigger than Bruce.
This kid was good. He was strong and fast, and he was really trying to punch Bruce's brains in. But Bruce just methodically took him apart. Bruce kept moving so well, this kid couldn't touch him...then all of a sudden, Bruce got him and rammed his ass with the wall and swept him up, proceeding to drop him and plant his knee into his opponent's chest, locked his arm out straight, and nailed him in the face repeatedly". – Bob Wall

Acting career

Lee's father Lee Hoi-chuen was a famous Cantonese opera star. Because of this, Lee was introduced into films at a very young age and appeared in several films as a child. Lee had his first role as a baby who was carried onto the stage in the film Golden Gate Girl. By the time he was 18, he had appeared in twenty films.

Bruce Lee in The Kid.

While in the United States from 1959 to 1964, Lee abandoned thoughts of a film career in favour of pursuing martial arts. However, a martial arts exhibition on Long Beach in 1964 eventually led to the invitation by William Dozier for an audition for a part in the pilot for "Number One Son". The show never aired, but Lee was invited for the role of Kato alongside Van Williams in the TV series The Green Hornet. The show lasted just one season, from 1966 to 1967. Lee also played Kato in three crossover episodes of Batman. This was followed by guest appearances in three television series: Ironside (1967), Here Come the Brides (1969), and Blondie (1969).
At the time, two of Lee's martial arts students were Hollywood script writer Stirling Silliphant and actor James Coburn. In 1969 the three worked on a script for a film called The Silent Flute, and went together on a location hunt to India. The project was not realised at the time; but the 1978 film Circle of Iron, starring David Carradine, was based on the same plot. In 2010, producer Paul Maslansky was reported to plan and receive fundings for a film based on the original script for The Silent Flute. In 1969, Lee made a brief appearance in the Silliphant-penned film Marlowe where he played a henchman hired to intimidate private detective Philip Marlowe, (played by James Garner), by smashing up his office with leaping kicks and flashing punches, only to later accidentally jump off a tall building while trying to kick Marlowe off. The same year he also choreographed fight scenes for The Wrecking Crew starring Dean Martin, Sharon Tate, and featuring Chuck Norris in his first role. In 1970, he was responsible for fight choreography for A Walk in the Spring Rain starring Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn, again written by Silliphant. In 1971, Lee appeared in four episodes of the television series Longstreet, written by Silliphant. Lee played the martial arts instructor of the title character Mike Longstreet (played by James Franciscus), and important aspects of his martial arts philosophy were written into the script.

Warner Bros , Inc.

According to statements made by Lee, and also by Linda Lee Cadwell after Lee's death, in 1971 Lee pitched a television series of his own tentatively titled The Warrior, discussions which were also confirmed by Warner Bros. In a 9 December 1971 television interview on The Pierre Berton Show, Lee stated that both Paramount and Warner Brothers wanted him "to be in a modernized type of a thing, and that they think the Western idea is out, whereas I want to do the Western". According to Cadwell, however, Lee's concept was retooled and renamed Kung Fu, but Warner Bros. gave Lee no credit. Warner Brothers states that they had for some time been developing an identical concept, created by two writers and producers, Ed Spielman and Howard Friedlander. According to these sources, the reason Lee was not cast was in part because of his ethnicity, but more so because he had a thick accent. The role of the Shaolin monk in the Wild West, was eventually awarded to then-non-martial-artist David Carradine. In The Pierre Berton Show interview, Lee stated he understood Warner Brothers' attitudes towards casting in the series: "They think that business wise it is a risk. I don't blame them. If the situation were reversed, and an American star were to come to Hong Kong, and I was the man with the money, I would have my own concerns as to whether the acceptance would be there".
Producer Fred Weintraub had advised Lee to return to Hong Kong and make a feature film which he could showcase to executives in Hollywood. Not happy with his supporting roles in the United States, Lee returned to Hong Kong. Unaware that The Green Hornet had been played to success in Hong Kong and was unofficially referred to as "The Kato Show", he was surprised to be recognised on the street as the star of the show. After negotiating with both Shaw Brothers Studio and Golden Harvest, Lee signed a film contract to star in two films produced by Golden Harvest. Lee played his first leading role in The Big Boss (1971) which proved to be an enormous box office success across Asia and catapulted him to stardom. He soon followed up with Fist of Fury (1972) which broke the box office records set previously by The Big Boss. Having finished his initial two-year contract, Lee negotiated a new deal with Golden Harvest. Lee later formed his own company, Concord Productions Inc. (協和電影公司), with Chow. For his third film, Way of the Dragon (1972), he was given complete control of the film's production as the writer, director, star, and choreographer of the fight scenes. In 1964, at a demonstration in Long Beach, California, Lee had met Karate champion Chuck Norris. In Way of the Dragon Lee introduced Norris to movie-goers as his opponent in the final death fight at the Colosseum in Rome, today considered one of Lee's most legendary fight scenes and one of the most memorable fight scenes in martial arts film history. The role was originally offered to American Karate champion Joe Lewis.
In late 1972, Lee began work on his fourth Golden Harvest Film, Game of Death. He began filming some scenes including his fight sequence with 7'2" American Basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a former student. Production was stopped when Warner Brothers offered Lee the opportunity to star in Enter the Dragon, the first film to be produced jointly by Golden Harvest and Warner Bros. Filming commenced in Hong Kong in February 1973. One month into the filming, another production company, Starseas Motion Pictures, promoted Bruce Lee as a leading actor in Fist of Unicorn, although he had merely agreed to choreograph the fight sequences in the film as a favour to his long-time friend Unicorn Chan. Lee planned to sue the production company, but retained his friendship with Chan. However, only a few months after the completion of Enter the Dragon, and six days before its 26 July 1973 release, Lee died. Enter the Dragon would go on to become one of the year's highest grossing films and cement Lee as a martial arts legend. It was made for US$850,000 in 1973 (equivalent to $4 million adjusted for inflation as of 2007). To date, Enter the Dragon has grossed over $200 million worldwide. The film sparked a brief fad in martial arts, epitomised in songs such as "Kung Fu Fighting" and TV shows like Kung Fu.

Bruce Lee's star at the Avenue of Stars, Hong Kong.

Robert Clouse, the director of Enter the Dragon and Golden Harvest revived Lee's unfinished film Game of Death. Lee had shot over 100 minutes of footage, including out-takes, for Game of Death before shooting was stopped to allow him to work on Enter the Dragon. In addition to Abdul-Jabbar, George Lazenby, Hapkido master Ji Han-Jae and another of Lee's students, Dan Inosanto, were also to appear in the film, which was to culminate in Lee's character, Hai Tien (clad in the now-famous yellow track suit) taking on a series of different challengers on each floor as they make their way through a five-level pagoda. In a controversial move, Robert Clouse finished the film using a look-alike and archive footage of Lee from his other films with a new storyline and cast, which was released in 1978. However, the cobbled-together film contained only fifteen minutes of actual footage of Lee (he had printed many unsuccessful takes) while the rest had a Lee look-alike, Kim Tai Chung, and Yuen Biao as stunt double. The unused footage Lee had filmed was recovered 22 years later and included in the documentary Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey.
Apart from Game of Death, other future film projects were planned to feature Lee at the time. In 1972, after the success of The Big Boss and Fist of Fury, a third film was planned by Raymond Chow at Golden Harvest to be directed by Lo Wei, titled Yellow-Faced Tiger. However, at the time, Lee decided to direct and produce his own script for Way of the Dragon instead. Although Lee had formed a production company with Raymond Chow, a period film was also planned from September–November 1973 with the competing Shaw Brothers Studio, to be directed by either Chor Yuen or Cheng Kang, and written by Yi Kang and Chang Cheh, titled The Seven Sons of the Jade Dragon. Lee had also worked on several scripts himself. A tape containing a recording of Lee narrating the basic storyline to a film tentatively titled Southern Fist/Northern Leg exists, showing some similarities with the canned script for The Silent Flute (Circle of Iron). Another script had the title Green Bamboo Warrior, set in San Francisco, planned to co-star Bolo Yeung and to be produced by Andrew Vajna who later went on to produce First Blood.Photo shoot costume tests were also organized for some of these planned film projects.

Physical fitness and nutrition

Physical fitness

Lee was renowned for his physical fitness and vigorous, dedicated fitness regimen to become as strong as he possibly could.
After his match with Wong Jack Man in 1965, Lee changed his approach toward martial arts training. Lee felt that many martial artists of his time did not spend enough time on physical conditioning. Lee included all elements of total fitness—muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance, and flexibility. He tried traditional bodybuilding techniques to build bulky muscles or mass. However, Lee was careful to admonish that mental and spiritual preparation was fundamental to the success of physical training in martial arts skills. In Tao of Jeet Kune Do, he wrote

Training is one of the most neglected phases of athletics. Too much time is given to the development of skill and too little to the development of the individual for participation. ... JKD, ultimately is not a matter of petty techniques but of highly developed spirituality and physique.

Lee in Way of the Dragon in 1972.

The weight training program that Lee used during a stay in Hong Kong in 1965 placed heavy emphasis on his arms. At that time he could perform single biceps curls at a weight of 70 to 80 lb (about 32 to 36 kg) for three sets of eight repetitions, along with other forms of exercises, such as squats, push-ups, reverse curls, concentration curls, French presses, and both wrist curls and reverse wrist curls. The repetitions he performed were 6 to 12 reps (at the time). While this method of training targeted his fast and slow twitch muscles, it later resulted in weight gain or muscle mass, placing Lee a little over 160 lb (about 72 kg). Lee was documented as having well over 2,500 books in his own personal library, and eventually concluded that "A stronger muscle, is a bigger muscle", a conclusion he later disputed. Bruce forever experimented with his training routines to maximise his physical abilities and push the human body to its limits. He employed many different routines and exercises including skipping rope, which served his training and bodybuilding purposes effectively.
Lee believed that the abdominal muscles were one of the most important muscle groups for a martial artist, since virtually every movement requires some degree of abdominal work. Mito Uyehara recalled that "Bruce always felt that if your stomach was not developed, then you had no business doing any hard sparring". According to Linda Lee Cadwell, even when not training, Lee would frequently perform sit ups and other abdominal exercises in domestic living throughout the day, such as during watching TV. She said of Lee, "Bruce was a fanatic about ab training. He was always doing sit-ups, crunches, Roman chair movements, leg raises and V-ups".
Lee trained from 7 am to 9 am, including stomach, flexibility, and running, and from 11 am to 12 pm he would weight train and cycle. A typical exercise for Lee would be to run a distance of two to six miles in 15 to 45 minutes, in which he would vary speed in 3–5 minute intervals. Lee would ride the equivalent of 10 miles (about 16 kilometres) in 45 minutes on a stationary bike.
Lee would sometimes exercise with the jump rope and put in 800 jumps after cycling. Lee would also do exercises to toughen the skin on his fists, including thrusting his hands into buckets of harsh rocks and gravel. He would do over 500 repetitions of this on a given day. An article of the S. China Post writes "When a doctor warned him not to inflict too much violence on his body, Bruce dismissed his words. 'the human brain can subjugate anything, even real pain' —Bruce Lee"

Physical feats

Lee's phenomenal fitness allowed him to perform numerous exceptional physical feats:

Lee's speed in terms of reacting + punching from a distance of three feet away was determined to be around five hundredths of a second (0.05 second); from five feet away it was around eight hundredths of a second (0.08 second).
Lee could take in one arm a 75 lb barbell from a standing position with the barbell held flush against his chest and slowly stick his arms out locking them, holding the barbell there for several seconds.
In a speed demonstration, Lee could snatch a dime off a person's open palm before they could close it, and leave a penny behind.
Lee performed one-hand push-ups using only the thumb and index finger.
Lee performed 50 reps of one-arm chin-ups.
Lee could cause a 300-lb (136.08 kg) bag to fly towards and thump the ceiling with a sidekick.
Lee held an elevated v-sit position for 30 minutes or longer.

Nutrition

According to Linda Lee Cadwell, soon after he moved to the United States, Lee started to take nutrition seriously and developed an interest in health foods, high-protein drinks and vitamin and mineral supplements. He later concluded that in order to achieve a high-performance body, one could not fuel it with a diet of junk food, and with "the wrong fuel" one's body would perform sluggishly or sloppily. Lee also avoided baked goods and refined flour, describing them as providing calories which did nothing for his body.
Lee consumed green vegetables and fruit every day. He always preferred to eat Chinese or other Asian food because he loved the variety that it had. Some of Lee's favorite Chinese dishes were beef in oyster sauce, tofu and steak and liver. He also became a heavy advocate of dietary supplements, including Vitamin C, Lecithin granules, bee pollen, Shilajit, Vitamin E, rose hips (liquid form), wheat germ oil, Acerola – C and B-Folia.

Linda Lee Cadwell

Lee disliked dairy food although he felt that for building muscle he must consume milk. As a result he only ate dairy as part of cereals and protein drinks, usually using powdered milk instead of fresh milk. Lee's diet included protein drinks; he always tried to consume one or two daily, but discontinued drinking them later on in his life. They typically included non-instant powdered milk which is reported to have a higher concentration of calcium than other forms of powdered milk, eggs, wheat germ, peanut butter, banana, brewers yeast for its B vitamins, and Inositol and Lecithin supplements. Linda Lee recalls Bruce Lee's waist fluctuated between 26 and 28 inches (66 to 71 centimetres). "He also drank his own juice concoctions made from vegetables and fruits, apples, celery, carrots and so on, prepared in an electric blender", she said.
According to Lee, the size of portions and number of meals were just as important. He would usually consume four or five smaller meals a day rather than a couple of large meals, and would boost his metabolism by eating small healthy snacks such as fruits throughout the day. Fruit and vegetables provided him with the richest source of carbohydrates; he was particularly keen on carrots which would make up one half of the contents of the drink, with the remaining being split between the other fruits and vegetables. The reason why Lee was so keen on juicing vegetables and fruits is that he believed it allowed the body to assimilate many nutrients more easily. The enzymes in the juiced vegetables acting as organic catalysts which increase the metabolism and absorption of nutrients. Given that most of these enzymes are destroyed when vegetables are cooked, Lee would try to consume them raw.
Lee often consumed a drink of royal jelly and ginseng as they contain B-complex vitamins, including a high concentration of vitamin B₅ (pantothenic acid) and vitamin B₆ (pyridoxine), acetylcholine, hormones, and eighteen amino acids which allow for a quick energy boost. In traditional Chinese medicine, ginseng is also said to improve circulation, increase blood supply, allow quicker recovery times after exhaustion and stimulating the body. In addition, Lee regularly drank black tea, often with honey or with milk and sugar.

Philosophy

University of Washington

Lee is best known as a martial artist, but he also studied drama and philosophy while a student at the University of Washington. He was well-read and had an extensive library. His own books on martial arts and fighting philosophy are known for their philosophical assertions, both inside and outside of martial arts circles. His eclectic philosophy often mirrored his fighting beliefs, though he was quick to claim that his martial arts were solely a metaphor for such teachings. He believed that any knowledge ultimately led to self-knowledge, and said that his chosen method of self-expression was martial arts. His influences include Taoism, Jiddu Krishnamurti, and Buddhism. On the other hand, Lee's philosophy was very much in opposition to the conservative world view advocated by Confucianism. John Little states that Lee was an atheist. When asked in 1972 about his religious affiliation, he replied, "none whatsoever". Also in 1972, he was asked if he believed in God, and he responded, "To be perfectly frank, I really do not".
The following quotations reflect his fighting philosophy.

"Be formless... shapeless, like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You pour water into a bottle; it becomes the bottle. You put water into a teapot; it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow, or creep or drip or crash! Be water, my friend..."
"All types of knowledge, ultimately leads to self knowledge"
"Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it".
"Do not deny the classical approach, simply as a reaction, or you will have created another pattern and trapped yourself there".
"Quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough".
"I always learn something, and that is: to always be yourself. And to express yourself, to have faith in yourself. Do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate him".
"It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential".

Poetry

Robert Frost

Lee’s erudition expanded in any field that required pure human expression. Aside from martial arts and philosophy which focus on the physical aspect; and self consciousness for truths and principles . He also wrote poetry that reflected his emotion and a stage in his life collectively . Many forms of art remain concordant with the artist creating them. Lee’s principal of self-expression was applied to his poetry as well. His daughter Shannon Lee said “He did write poetry, he was really the consonant artist” .His poetic works originally handwritten on paper, later on edited and published. John Little being the major author (editor), for Bruce Lee’s works. Linda Lee Cadwell (Bruce Lee’s wife) shared her husbands notes, poems and experiences with followers. She mentioned “Lee’s poems are, by American standards, rather dark-reflecting the deeper, less exposed recesses of the human psyche” . Most of Bruce Lee’s poems are categorized as anti-poetry or fall into a paradox. The mood in his poems show the side of the man that can be compared with other poets such as Robert Frost, one of many well known poets expressing himself with dark poetic works. The paradox taken from the Yin and Yang symbol in martial arts, also integrated in his poetry. His martial arts, and philosophy contribute a great part to his poetry. The free verse form of Lee’s poetry reflect his famous quote “Be formless... shapeless, like water.”
Bruce Lee’s poems:

Rain, Black Clouds
Down The Western Hill
The Dying Sun
Love Is a Friendship Caught on Fire
Once More I Hold You in My Arms
All Streams Flowing East or West
Boating on Lake Washington
For a Moment
Walking Along the Bank of Lake Washington
Night Rain
Our Togetherness Is Like a Sweet Dream
The Surroundings Utter No Sound
It Is Spring
Things I See
The Humming Bird
The Frost
The Falling Leaf
Though the Night Was Made for Loving
The Silent Flute
Since You Left
Parting

Death

On 10 May 1973, Lee collapsed in Golden Harvest studios while doing dubbing work for the movie Enter the Dragon. Suffering from seizures and headaches, he was immediately rushed to Hong Kong Baptist Hospital where doctors diagnosed cerebral edema. They were able to reduce the swelling through the administration of mannitol. These same symptoms that occurred in his first collapse were later repeated on the day of his death.

Bruce Lee is buried next to his son Brandon in Lakeview Cemetery, Seattle.

On 20 July 1973, Lee was in Hong Kong, to have dinner with former James Bond star George Lazenby, with whom he intended to make a film. According to Lee's wife Linda, Lee met producer Raymond Chow at 2 pm at home to discuss the making of the film Game of Death. They worked until 4 pm and then drove together to the home of Lee's colleague Betty Ting Pei, a Taiwanese actress. The three went over the script at Ting's home, and then Chow left to attend a dinner meeting.
Later Lee complained of a headache, and Ting gave him an analgesic (painkiller), Equagesic, which contained both aspirin and the muscle relaxant meprobamate. Around 7:30 pm, he went to lie down for a nap. When Lee did not turn up for dinner, Chow came to the apartment but could not wake Lee up. A doctor was summoned, who spent ten minutes attempting to revive him before sending him by ambulance to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Lee was dead by the time he reached the hospital.
There was no visible external injury; however, according to autopsy reports, his brain had swollen considerably, from 1,400 to 1,575 grams (a 13% increase). Lee was 32 years old. The only substance found during the autopsy was Equagesic. On 15 October 2005, Chow stated in an interview that Lee died from an allergic reaction to the muscle relaxant (meprobamate) in Equagesic, which he described as a common ingredient in painkillers. When the doctors announced Lee's death officially, it was ruled a "death by misadventure".
Don Langford, Lee's personal physician in Hong Kong, had treated Lee during his first collapse. Controversy erupted when he stated, "Equagesic was not at all involved in Bruce's first collapse".
Donald Teare, a forensic scientist recommended by Scotland Yard who had overseen over 1,000 autopsies, was assigned to the Lee case. His conclusion was "death by misadventure" caused by an acute cerebral edema due to a reaction to compounds present in the combination medication Equagesic.
The preliminary opinion of Peter Wu, the neurosurgeon who saved Lee's life during his first seizure, was that the cause of death should have been attributed to either a reaction to cannabis or Equagesic. However, Wu later backed off from this position, stating that:

Steve McQueen

"Professor Teare was a forensic scientist recommended by Scotland Yard; he was brought in as an expert on cannabis and we can't contradict his testimony. The dosage of cannabis is neither precise nor predictable, but I've never known of anyone dying simply from taking it."

Lee's wife Linda returned to her hometown of Seattle, and had him buried at lot 276 of Lakeview Cemetery. Pallbearers at his funeral on 31 July 1973 included Taky Kimura, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Chuck Norris, George Lazenby, Dan Inosanto, Peter Chin, and Lee's brother Robert.
Lee's iconic status and untimely demise fed many theories about his death, including murder involving the triads and a supposed curse on him and his family. Black Belt magazine in 1985 carried the speculation that the death of Bruce Lee in 1973 may have been caused by "a delayed reaction to a Dim Mak strike he received several weeks prior to his collapse".

Legacy

Certified instructors

Bruce Lee personally certified only three instructors. Taky Kimura, James Yimm Lee, and Dan Inosanto. Inosanto holds the 3rd rank (Instructor) directly from Bruce Lee in Jeet Kune Do, Jun Fan Gung Fu, and Bruce Lee's Tao of Chinese Gung Fu. Taky Kimura holds a 5th rank in Jun Fan Gung Fu. James Yimm Lee held a 3rd rank in Jun Fan Gung Fu. Ted Wong holds 2nd rank in Jeet Kune Do certified directly by Bruce Lee and was later promoted to Instructor under Dan Inosanto; feeling that Bruce would have wanted to promote him. Other Jeet Kune Do instructors since Lee's death have been certified directly by Dan Inosanto, some with remaining Bruce Lee signed certificates.

Dan Inosanto

James Yimm Lee, a close friend of Lee, died without certifying additional students apart from Gary Dill who studied Jeet Kune Do under James and received permission via a personal letter from him in 1972 to pass on his learning of JKD to others. Taky Kimura, to date, has certified only one person in Jun Fan Gung Fu: his son Andy Kimura. Dan Inosanto continued to teach and certify select students in Jeet Kune Do for over 30 years, making it possible for thousands of martial arts practitioners to trace their training lineage back to Bruce Lee. Prior to his death, Lee told his then only two living instructors Kimura and Inosanto (James Yimm Lee had died in 1972) to dismantle his schools.
Both Taky Kimura and Dan Inosanto were allowed to teach small classes thereafter, under the guideline "keep the numbers low, but the quality high". Bruce also instructed several World Karate Champions including Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis, and Mike Stone. Between the three of them, during their training with Bruce they won every karate championship in the United States.
In Japan, Junichi Okada is a certified Japanese instructor in Jeet Kune Do.

Hong Kong legacy

Sculpture of Bruce Lee at the Avenue of Stars, Hong Kong

There are a number of stories (perhaps apocryphal) surrounding Lee that are still repeated in Hong Kong culture. One is that his early 70s interview on the TVB show Enjoy Yourself Tonight cleared the busy streets of Hong Kong as everyone was watching the interview at home. On 6 January 2009, it was announced that Bruce's Hong Kong home (41 Cumberland Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong) will be preserved and transformed into a tourist site by philanthropist Yu Pang-lin.

Awards and honours

Time Magazine

Main article: List of awards and honors received by Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.

Martial arts lineage

Lee was trained in Wu Tai Chi Chuan (also known as Ng-ga) and Jing Mo Tam Tui for the twelve sets. Lee was trained in the martial arts Choy Li Fut, Western Boxing, Épée fencing, Judo, Praying Mantis Kung-fu, Hsing-I, and Jujitsu.

When Bruce arrived in the US he (already) had training in Wu Style Tai Chi, sometimes in Hong Kong called Ng-ga. And he had of course training in western boxing. He had training in fencing from his brother, that's Epee, that goes from toe to head. He had training obviously in Wing Chun. And the other area was the training he had received in Buk Pie, or Tam Toi, he was twelve sets in Tam Toi. And I believe he had traded with a Choy Li Fut man.

—Danny Inosanto

Books authored

Cover of Bruce Lee's Fighting Method

Chinese Gung-Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self Defense (Bruce Lee's first book) – 1963
Tao of Jeet Kune Do (Published posthumously) – 1973
Bruce Lee's Fighting Method (Published posthumously) – 1978

Selected filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1969	Marlowe	Winslow Wong
1971	The Big Boss	Cheng Chao-an	Also known as Fists of Fury
1972	Fist of Fury	Chen Zhen	Also known as The Chinese Connection
1972	The Way of the Dragon	Tang Lung	Also known as Return of the Dragon
1973	Enter the Dragon	Lee	Released posthumously
1978	Game of Death	Billy Lo	Released posthumously
1981	Game of Death II	Billy Lo	Released posthumously (Stock footage)

Television

Year	Series	Role	Notes
1966	The Green Hornet	Kato	26 episodes, 1966–1967
1966	Batman	Kato	3 episodes, 1966–1967
1967	Ironside	Leon Soo	Episode: "Tagged for Murder"
1969	Blondie	Karate Instructor	Episode: "Pick on Someone Your Own Size"
1969	Here Come the Brides	Lin	Episode: "Marriage Chinese Style"
1970	Enjoy Yourself Tonight	Himself	2 episodes, 1970–1972 (Hong Kong)
1971	Longstreet	Li Tsung	4 episodes, 1971
1971	The Pierre Berton Show	Himself	Interview

Games

Year	Game	Platform	Publisher
1983	Bruce Lee	Atari 8-bit family, MSX, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, C64, MS-DOS, Apple II series	Datasoft Inc
1989	Bruce Lee Lives	MS-DOS	The Software Toolworks
1993	Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story	Sega Genesis, Game Gear, Atari Jaguar, Sega Master System, Super NES	Acclaim Entertainment
2002	Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon	Xbox	Universal Interactive Inc.
2003	Bruce Lee: Return of the Legend	Game Boy Advance	Universal Interactive

Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon

Gta 4

2011-09-30T09:53:00.000-07:00

Grand Theft Auto IV is a 2008 sandbox-style action-adventure video game published by Rockstar Games, and developed by Rockstar North, which has been released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles, and for the Windows operating system. The game involves a separate timeline and world than its predecessors in the Grand Theft Auto series, starting the fourth "era" in the series, and is set in fictional Liberty City, based heavily on modern day New York City.^[a] The game follows Niko Bellic, an Eastern European war veteran who comes to the United States in search of the American Dream, but quickly becomes entangled in a world of gangs, crime, and corruption. Like other games in the series, GTA IV is composed of elements from driving games and third-person shooters, and features "open-world" gameplay, in which players can interact with the game world at their leisure. Grand Theft Auto IV also features several online multiplayer modes.
Two expansion packs have been developed for the game, originally released as downloadable content for the Xbox 360 version throughout 2009. Both The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony feature new plots that are interconnected with the main GTA IV storyline, and follow new protagonists. The two episodes have been released together for all platforms as a stand-alone game called Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City. Grand Theft Auto IV: The Complete Edition is a bundle that includes both the original GTA IV game and the Episodes.
As the first game of the critically acclaimed series to appear on seventh generation consoles, Grand Theft Auto IV was widely anticipated. A major commercial and critical success, it broke industry records with sales of around 3.6 million units on its first day of release and grossing more than $500 million in revenue in the first week, selling an estimated 6 million units worldwide.^[12] As of September 2011, the game had sold over 22 million copies.^[13] Grand Theft Auto IV won numerous awards from both gaming and mainstream press, including several recognitions as Game of the Year, and is in the highest ranks on several professional game critic review-aggregating websites, including first place on the all-time list of Metacritic.^[14]

ग्रांड ऑटो चोरी चतुर्थ 2008 के sandbox शैली कार्रवाई - साहसिक वीडियो खेल Rockstar खेलों के द्वारा प्रकाशित है, और रॉकस्टार नॉर्थ, जो प्लेस्टेशन 3 और Xbox 360 वीडियो गेम को शान्ति, के लिए और विंडोज ऑपरेटिंग सिस्टम के लिए जारी की गई है द्वारा विकसित है. खेल एक अलग और अपने पूर्ववर्तियों, ग्रांड चोरी ऑटो श्रृंखला में श्रृंखला में चौथा "युग" शुरू करने की तुलना में इस समय दुनिया शामिल है, और काल्पनिक लिबर्टी सिटी, आधुनिक दिन न्यूयॉर्क शहर पर भारी पर आधारित में स्थापित है [एक] खेल. निको Bellic, एक पूर्वी यूरोपीय युद्ध अनुभवी जो अमेरिकन ड्रीम की तलाश में संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिका के लिए आता है, लेकिन जल्दी गिरोह, अपराध और भ्रष्टाचार के एक दुनिया में उलझा हो जाता है निम्नानुसार है. श्रृंखला में अन्य खेलों की तरह, GTA चतुर्थ ड्राइविंग खेल और तीसरे व्यक्ति निशानेबाजों से तत्वों का बना है, और "खुली दुनिया gameplay, जिसमें खिलाड़ियों को खेल की दुनिया के साथ अपने अवकाश पर बातचीत कर सकते हैं सुविधाएँ. ग्रांड ऑटो चोरी चतुर्थ भी कई ऑनलाइन multiplayer मोड सुविधाएँ.
दो विस्तार पैक खेल, मूल रूप से 2009 में Xbox 360 संस्करण के लिए डाउनलोड सामग्री के रूप में जारी के लिए विकसित किया गया है. दोनों द लॉस्ट एंड डैम्ड और गे टोनी सुविधा नए भूखंडों कि मुख्य GTA IV कहानी के साथ जुड़े रहे हैं, और नए पात्र का पालन करें गाथागीत. दो एपिसोड के सभी प्लेटफार्मों के लिए एक साथ जारी किया गया है के रूप में एक खड़े अकेले खेल ग्रांड चोरी ऑटो बुलाया: लिबर्टी सिटी से एपिसोड. ग्रांड थेफ्ट ऑटो IV: पूर्ण संस्करण एक बंडल है कि दोनों मूल GTA IV खेल और एपिसोड भी शामिल है.
सातवीं पीढ़ी को शान्ति पर प्रदर्शित करने के लिए समीक्षकों बहुप्रशंसित श्रृंखला के पहले मैच के रूप में, ग्रांड ऑटो चोरी चतुर्थ व्यापक रूप से प्रत्याशित था. एक प्रमुख वाणिज्यिक और महत्वपूर्ण सफलता है, यह आसपास 3.6 लाख इकाइयों की बिक्री के साथ जारी है और grossing अधिक से अधिक 500 मिलियन डॉलर राजस्व में पहले हफ्ते में अपने पहले दिन पर उद्योग रिकॉर्ड तोड़ दिया, एक अनुमान के अनुसार दुनिया भर में 6 मिलियन इकाइयों की बिक्री. [12] के रूप में सितंबर 2011, खेल के 22 से अधिक लाख प्रतियां बेच दिया था. [13] ग्रांड ऑटो चोरी चतुर्थ दोनों गेम और मुख्यधारा की प्रेस से इस साल के खेल के रूप में कई recognitions सहित कई पुरस्कार, जीता है, और कई पेशेवर खेल आलोचक समीक्षा पर उच्चतम रैंकों में है कुल वेबसाइटों, मेटाक्रिटिक सब समय की सूची पर पहली जगह सहित [14].

Combat in Grand Theft Auto IV has been reworked to include a cover system.

GTA IV's rendition of Liberty City closely resembles modern New York City [3

The protagonist Niko Bellic with the antagonist Dimitri Rascalov at a seaside amusement park.

Mural ad for the game on a wall in New York City, July 2007.

The cover art for Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City.

The Windows version of GTA IV includes a replay editor. This screenshot shows the Clips interface which is used to capture game footage.

System requirements

	Minimum	Recommended
Windows^[4]
Operating system	Windows Vista Service Pack 1 / Windows XP Service Pack 2 / Windows 7 Service Pack 1
CPU	Intel dual core 1.6 GHz, AMD Athlon X2 64 2.2 GHz	Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4 GHz, AMD Phenom X3 2.1 GHz
Memory	1.5 GB (Windows XP) 2.0 GB (Windows Vista)	3.0 GB (Windows XP) 3.0 GB (Windows Vista)
Hard drive space	16 GB of free space	18 GB of free space
Graphics hardware	Intel GMA 950	512 MB Nvidia 8600 / 512 MB ATI 3870
Sound hardware	100% DirectX 9.0c compliant card
Network	Internet connection required for activation and multiplayer

Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV's box art displays several of the prominent characters featured in the game, including protagonist Niko Bellic and accomplice Little Jacob.
Developer(s)	Rockstar North Rockstar Toronto (PC)^[1]
Publisher(s)	Rockstar Games
Distributor(s)	Take-Two Interactive (retail) Steam and Games on Demand (online)^[2]^[3]
Director(s)	Aaron Garbut (art) Adam Fowler (technical) Alexander Roger (technical)
Producer(s)	Leslie Benzies Imran Sarwar (associate) William Mills (assistant)
Writer(s)	Dan Houser Rupert Humphries
Series	Grand Theft Auto
Engine	RAGE Euphoria Bullet Physics Library
Version	1.06 (PlayStation 3) 1.07 (Xbox 360) 1.0.7.0 (Windows)
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 29 April 2008 Microsoft Windows ^NA 2 December 2008^[4] ^EU 3 December 2008^[4] ^AUS 3 December 2008^[4]
Genre(s)	Sandbox, action-adventure, third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, online multiplayer
Rating(s)	ACB: MA15+ (cut and uncut versions)^[5]^[6] BBFC: 18^[7]^[8] ESRB: M OFLC: R18^[9]^[10] PEGI: 18+^[11] USK: 18
Media/distribution	Optical disc, download
System requirements See Development section for requirements matrix

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned

2011-09-30T09:48:00.000-07:00

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned is the first of two episodic expansion packs developed for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC versions of Grand Theft Auto IV, developed by Rockstar North. It was first released for the Xbox 360 on 17 February 2009^[3] and on PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows on 13 April 2010.^[2] It is the third expansion pack game in the Grand Theft Auto series (the first since Grand Theft Auto: London, 1961, released in 1999), and the twelfth release overall.
The Lost and Damned features a new protagonist, Johnny Klebitz, who is a member of Liberty City's biker gang The Lost, a gang which is featured in missions throughout the course of Grand Theft Auto IV. Dan Houser, vice president of creative development at Rockstar Games, claims the episode will show "a different side of Liberty City".^[4] Jeronimo Barrera, Vice President of Product Development for Rockstar Games, has said that the episodes are experiments because they are not sure that there are enough users with access to online content on the Xbox 360.^[5] Take-Two Interactive's Chief Financial Officer, Lainie Goldstein revealed that Microsoft was paying a total of $50 million for the first two episodes.^[6]
A combined standalone disc-based package titled Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City, which does not require the original Grand Theft Auto IV game to be played, was released and contains both The Lost and Damned and Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony.^[7]

ग्रांड थेफ्ट ऑटो IV: द लॉस्ट एंड डैम्ड दो प्रासंगिक विस्तार पैक Xbox 360, प्लेस्टेशन 3 और ग्रांड ऑटो चोरी चतुर्थ, Rockstar उत्तरी द्वारा विकसित के पीसी संस्करण के लिए विकसित की पहली है. यह पहली बार 17 पर Xbox 360 के लिए जारी किया गया था फ़रवरी 2009 [3] और प्लेस्टेशन 3 और Microsoft Windows पर 13 अप्रैल 2010 [2] यह ग्रांड चोरी ऑटो श्रृंखला में तीसरा विस्तार पैक खेल (पहली ग्रैंड थेफ्ट ऑटो के बाद से है. : लंदन, 1961, 1999 में जारी), और बारहवें रिलीज समग्र.

खोया और मलऊन एक नया नायक, जॉनी Klebitz, जो लिबर्टी सिटी biker गिरोह खोया, एक गिरोह जो मिशन में ग्रांड ऑटो चोरी चतुर्थ के पाठ्यक्रम भर में चित्रित किया है के एक सदस्य है सुविधाएँ. डैन हाउसर, Rockstar खेलों में रचनात्मक विकास के उपाध्यक्ष, का दावा है प्रकरण "लिबर्टी सिटी के एक अलग पक्ष" दिखा देंगे. [4] Jeronimo Barrera, Rockstar खेलों के लिए उत्पाद विकास के उपाध्यक्ष ने कहा है कि एपिसोड प्रयोगों रहे हैं वे क्योंकि यकीन है कि वहाँ Xbox 360 पर ऑनलाइन सामग्री के लिए उपयोग के साथ पर्याप्त उपयोगकर्ताओं रहे हैं नहीं कर रहे हैं. [5] लो दो इंटरएक्टिव के मुख्य वित्तीय अधिकारी, Lainie गोल्डस्टीन पता चला है कि माइक्रोसॉफ्ट के पहले दो एपिसोड के लिए 50 करोड़ डॉलर का एक कुल भुगतान किया गया. [6]

संयुक्त डिस्क आधारित स्टैंडअलोन पैकेज ग्रांड चोरी ऑटो शीर्षक: लिबर्टी सिटी, जो मूल ग्रांड ऑटो चोरी चतुर्थ खेल खेला जा आवश्यकता नहीं होती एपिसोड से जारी किया गया था और दोनों द लॉस्ट एंड डैम्ड और ग्रैंड थेफ्ट ऑटो शामिल: समलैंगिक के गाथागीत टोनी [7]

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned

Developer(s)	Rockstar North Rockstar Toronto (PC)
Publisher(s)	Rockstar Games
Distributor(s)	Take-Two Interactive
Series	Grand Theft Auto
Engine	RAGE Euphoria (motion engine)^[1]
Platform(s)	Xbox 360 Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3
Release date(s)	Xbox 360 17 February 2009PlayStation 3, Windows ^NA 13 April 2010^[2] ^EU 16 April 2010^[2]
Genre(s)	Open world, third-person shooter, action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ACB: MA15+ BBFC: 18 ESRB: M PEGI: 18
Media/distribution	Optical disc, download

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

2011-09-30T09:45:00.000-07:00

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is a video game for Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable,[2] and iOS,[3][4] developed by Rockstar Leeds in conjunction with Rockstar North. It is the thirteenth game in the Grand Theft Auto series, and the very first for Nintendo DS and iOS.

Cognoscenti being stolen with a 3 star wanted level

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Developer(s)	Rockstar Leeds, Rockstar North^[1]
Publisher(s)	Rockstar Games
Series	Grand Theft Auto
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS PlayStation Portable^[2] iOS^[3]^[4]
Release date(s)	Nintendo DS ^NA 17 March 2009^[5] ^AUS 19 March 2009^[6] ^EU 20 March 2009^[5] PlayStation Portable ^NA 20 October 2009^[7] ^EU 23 October 2009^[8] ^AUS 28 October 2009 iOS (iPhone, iPod Touch) 17 January 2010^[3]^[4] iOS (iPad) 9 September 2010^[9]
Genre(s)	Action-adventure, Sandbox^[10]
Rating(s)	ACB: MA15+ Apple: 17+ BBFC: 18^[11] ESRB: M^[12] PEGI: 18
Media/distribution	Nintendo DS Game Card, UMD, Download

Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony

2011-09-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony के गाथागीत दो प्रासंगिक विस्तार के दूसरे है Xbox 360, प्लेस्टेशन 3 और ग्रांड ऑटो चोरी चतुर्थ, जो Rockstar उत्तरी द्वारा विकसित किया गया था और पहली बार 29 पर Xbox 360 के लिए जारी की पीसी संस्करण के लिए उपलब्ध पैक अक्टूबर 2009 [2] यह फिर 13 पर था अप्रैल 2010 दोनों प्लेस्टेशन 3 के लिए और माइक्रोसॉफ्ट विंडोज के लिए जारी है. यह ग्रांड चोरी ऑटो श्रृंखला में चौथा विस्तार पैक है, श्रृंखला पर चौदहवें जारी है और वर्तमान में ग्रांड ऑटो चोरी चतुर्थ युग के अंतिम खेल है.
Eponymous "गे टोनी" गे टोनी के गाथागीत एक नया नायक, लुइस फर्नांडो लोपेज, डोमिनिकन ड्रग डीलरों के हाल के एक सदस्य और एंथोनी राजकुमार निजी अंगरक्षक के कारनामे के बाद. राजकुमार लिबर्टी सिटी के भीतर दो सबसे बड़े नाइटक्लब के मालिक है और यह भी एक उच्च स्थिति सोशलाइट है. Rockstar खेलों अपनी प्रेस विज्ञप्ति में दावा "है कि खिलाड़ियों के परिवार और दोस्तों के प्रतिस्पर्धा वफादारी के साथ संघर्ष करेंगे, और के बारे में अनिश्चितता जो असली और कौन है के साथ कि इस प्रकरण" बंदूकें, glitz और अपराध के एक ज्यादा के साथ लिबर्टी सिटी injects " जो दुनिया में हर कोई एक कीमत होती है नकली है. "[4]
संयुक्त डिस्क आधारित स्टैंडअलोन पैकेज ग्रांड चोरी ऑटो शीर्षक: लिबर्टी सिटी, जो मूल ग्रांड ऑटो चोरी चतुर्थ खेल खेला जा की आवश्यकता नहीं है से एपिसोड, दूसरा विस्तार के साथ - साथ जारी किया गया था और दोनों द लॉस्ट एंड डैम्ड और समलैंगिक के गाथागीत शामिल टोनी [5] [6]

Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony

Developer(s)	Rockstar North Rockstar Toronto (PC)
Publisher(s)	Rockstar Games
Distributor(s)	Take-Two Interactive
Series	Grand Theft Auto
Engine	RAGE Euphoria (motion engine)^[1]
Platform(s)	Xbox 360 Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3
Release date(s)	Xbox 360 29 October 2009^[2]PlayStation 3, Windows ^NA 13 April 2010^[3] ^PAL 16 April 2010^[3]
Genre(s)	Open world, third-person shooter, action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ACB: MA15+ BBFC: 18 ESRB: M PEGI: 18
Media/distribution	Optical disc, download
System requirements Grand Theft Auto IV

Gta SA

2011-09-30T09:37:00.000-07:00

ग्रैंड थेफ्ट ऑटो: सैन एंड्रियास एक खुले दुनिया कार्रवाई साहसिक वीडियो खेल रॉकस्टार नॉर्थ द्वारा विकसित और Rockstar खेलों द्वारा प्रकाशित है. यह ग्रांड चोरी ऑटो वीडियो खेल मताधिकार, पांचवें मूल सांत्वना रिलीज और आठवें समग्र खेल में तीसरे 3 डी खेल है. मूल रूप से अक्टूबर 2004 में प्लेस्टेशन 2 के लिए जारी है, [2] खेल के बाद जून 2005 में किया गया है Xbox और माइक्रोसॉफ्ट विंडोज (पीसी) के लिए जारी है, और व्यापक और सभी तीन प्लेटफार्मों पर प्रशंसा उच्च बिक्री के आंकड़े प्राप्त है, और सबसे अच्छा है प्लेस्टेशन 2 पर सभी समय का खेल बेच. यह भाप पर उपलब्ध 4 जनवरी, 2008 को बनाया गया था [11] ग्रैंड थेफ्ट ऑटो: सैन एंड्रियास ग्रैंड थेफ्ट ऑटो से सफल हो गया था: लिबर्टी सिटी स्टोरीज़ और ग्रैंड थेफ्ट ऑटो से पहले किया गया था: वाइस सिटी.
लॉस एंजिल्स, सैन Fierro, सैन फ्रांसिस्को और लास Venturas पर आधारित है, लास पर आधारित पर आधारित लॉस सैंटोस: खेल सैन एंड्रियास, जो नेवादा, कैलिफोर्निया और एरिजोना पर आधारित है, जिसमें तीन महानगरों की काल्पनिक राज्य में सेट कर दिया जाता है वेगास, रेगिस्तान, नदियों, जंगलों, और एक पहाड़ अलग शहरों के साथ. [12] सैन एंड्रियास, देर से 1992 में सेट गिरोह के सदस्य कार्ल "CJ" जॉनसन लिबर्टी सिटी से घर में अपनी माँ की हत्या के सीखने के बाद लॉस सैंटोस, सैन एंड्रियास, लौटने के आसपास घूमती है. मुख्य न्यायाधीश अव्यवस्था में अपने पुराने दोस्तों और परिवार पाता है. खेल के दौरान, मुख्य न्यायाधीश धीरे - धीरे अपनी माँ की हत्या के पीछे साजिश unravels जबकि अपने स्वयं के व्यवसाय की खोज.
श्रृंखला में अन्य खेलों की तरह, सैन एंड्रियास ड्राइविंग खेल और तीसरे व्यक्ति निशानेबाजों से तत्वों का बना है.

The player driving towards the Grove Street cul-de-sac in Los Santos during dusk.

The player has a gunfight with members of an enemy gang, the Front Yard Ballas.

Los Santos, as seen from the ghetto district of Idlewood.

Gant Bridge, modeled after San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.

A casino on the Old Las Venturas strip.

The Welcome to Fabulous Las Venturas sign.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Developer(s)	Rockstar North
Publisher(s)	Rockstar Games
Distributor(s)	Take-Two Interactive (retail) Valve Corporation/Microsoft (download)
Series	Grand Theft Auto
Engine	RenderWare
Version	1.01 (PC retail) 2.0 (PS2/XBOX retail) 3.0 (Steam)
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2 Microsoft Windows Xbox Xbox 360^[1] Mac OS X
Release date(s)	PlayStation 2^[2] ^NA October 26, 2004 ^EU October 29, 2004 ^AUS October 29, 2004 ^JP January 25, 2007 Microsoft Windows^[3] ^NA June 7, 2005 ^EU June 10, 2005 ^Steam January 4, 2008^[4] ^{Games for Windows Marketplace} June 8, 2010^[5] Xbox^[6] ^NA June 7, 2005 ^EU June 10, 2005 ^AUS June 10, 2005 Xbox 360 (Download) October 20, 2008 Mac OS X^[7] ^NA November 12, 2010
Genre(s)	Action-adventure, open world
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	ACB: MA15+ BBFC: 18 ESRB: M OFLC: R18^[8] PEGI: 18 USK: 16 (Edited)
Media/distribution	Optical disc, download
System requirements PlayStation 2 Memory card Xbox Memory unit with 38 blocks free Microsoft Windows^[9] 1 GHz Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon CPU 256 MB RAM 8x DVD drive 3.6 GB hard disk space 64 MB DirectX 9.0-compatible graphics card DirectX 9.0-compatible sound card Windows 2000/XP. Macintosh^[10] Intel Core 2 Duo CPU 1 GB RAM 8x DVD drive 9 GB hard disk space ATI X1600, NVIDIA 7300GT or Intel X3100 graphics card Mac OS X 10.5.8

Gta VC

2011-09-30T09:33:00.000-07:00

इस अनुभाग साजिश सारांश बहुत लंबा है या जरूरत से ज्यादा विस्तृत हो सकता है. यह अनावश्यक विवरण हटाने और इसे और अधिक संक्षिप्त बनाने के द्वारा सुधार करने के लिए मदद करो. (अगस्त 2011) डाउनटाउन की दिशा में भोर में एक मोटरसाइकिल (600 PCJ) राइडिंग. GTA III के विपरीत, वाइस सिटी सेटिंग एक क्लीनर और sunnier रिसॉर्ट शहर है.
खिलाड़ी टॉमी वर्सेट्टी, लिबर्टी सिटी माफिया है जो सिर्फ 1986 में किया गया है ग्यारह पुरुषों को मारने के लिए केवल 15 साल की सेवा के बाद जेल से जारी एक मानसिक सदस्य की भूमिका पर ले जाता है. [4] टॉमी पुराने मालिक, सन्नी Forelli, आशंका है कि टॉमी लिबर्टी सिटी में उपस्थिति तनाव बढ़ और अपने संगठन की आपराधिक गतिविधियों के लिए अवांछित ध्यान लाएगा. [5] इसे रोकने के लिए, सन्नी जाहिरा तौर पर "को बढ़ावा देता है" टॉमी और उसे माफिया वकील केन Rosenburg के संरक्षण के तहत वाइस सिटी के लिए अपने खरीदार के रूप में कार्य भेजता कोकीन सौदों की एक श्रृंखला. [6] टॉमी ड्रग डीलरों, एक टॉमी अंगरक्षक, हैरी और ली, और कोकीन डीलर, विक (वैन्स की मौत में एक अज्ञात पार्टी परिणाम द्वारा घात के साथ पहली बैठक के दौरान ग्रांड चोरी के मुख्य चरित्र ऑटो: वाइस सिटी स्टोरीज़). टॉमी अपने जीवन के साथ बाल बाल बच, लेकिन वह दोनों Forelli पैसे और कोकीन खो देता है. [7]
टॉमी अपने होटल के कमरे और फोन लला देता है उसे इस समझौते के परिणाम के बारे में सूचित. लला, खबर पर गुस्से में, अपने संगठन के साथ खिलवाड़ के परिणामों के बारे में टॉमी का खतरा है. टॉमी के लिए पैसे और कोकीन को पुनः प्राप्त करने और को मारने के लिए जो भी घात के लिए जिम्मेदार था का वादा किया [8] यह अंत की ओर, टॉमी फिर Forelli वकील केन रोसेनबर्ग, जो टॉमी सुराग के साथ मध्य स्तर के एक दवा व्यापारी और पूर्व सैनिक संपर्क मिलता है. कर्नल जुआन गार्सिया कोरटेज नाम दिया है. कोरटेज टॉमी बुरा सौदा के बारे में खेद व्यक्त किया और वादा किया है कि जांच के अपने ही लाइनों किए जा रहे हैं. टॉमी भी कोरटेज बेटी मर्सिडीज, जो टॉमी प्रेमिका उसके बाद शीघ्र ही हो जाता है मिलता है.
जबकि टॉमी वह ब्रिटिश रिकार्ड निर्माता केंट पॉल, अचल संपत्ति मुग़ल एवरी Carrington और स्थानीय मुक्त लांस आपराधिक लांस वेंस मिलता कोरटेज जांच के परिणाम के लिए इंतजार कर रहा है [9] लांस अंततः टॉमी मदद से पता चला है क्योंकि उनके भाई और व्यापार भागीदार था व्यापारी जो घात में मारा गया था, और वह भी बदला मांग है [10].
जैसे समय गुजरता है, टॉमी दोस्ती कर्नल कोरटेज और उसे एक चपरासी और hitman के रूप में नियमित रूप से काम करना शुरू होता है. कोरटेज के लिए अपनी नौकरियों की एक क्यूबा गिरोह लॉस Cabrones है, जो Haitians के एक गिरोह द्वारा हमला है के साथ एक सौदे के दौरान एक दवा प्रभु रिकार्डो डायज़ के लिए सुरक्षा प्रदान करना है. टॉमी अपने काम करता है और Diaz जीवन बचाता है, Diaz अपने स्वयं के एजेंडे के लिए टॉमी की भर्ती शुरू करने के लिए अग्रणी. टॉमी इस काम लेता है क्योंकि यह अच्छी तरह से Diaz के चरित्र के लिए अपनी अरुचि के बावजूद भुगतान करता है.
टॉमी कोरटेज से सीखता है कि कोरटेज खुद लेफ्टिनेंट, गोंजालेज, टॉमी कोकीन समझौते पर घात, और कोरटेज टॉमी पूछता है एक एहसान के रूप में एक chainsaw के साथ गोंजालेज को मारने के लिए आंशिक रूप से जिम्मेदार था. बाद में कोरटेज Diaz पर घात संदेह देता है. टॉमी शुरू करने के लिए यथास्थिति जारी रखने के अपने ही हमले के लिए तैयार करने की योजना है, लेकिन उसके हाथ जब लांस वेंस Diaz पर खुद के द्वारा बदला लेने का प्रयास विफल रहता है और मजबूर है. लांस और कब्जा कर लिया है और अत्याचार हो junkyard को ले जाया गया. टॉमी शहर भर जाती है और उसे बचाता है. मरने के कलाकारों के साथ, दो कदम जल्दी से हमला लांस द्वारा प्रदान की राइफलों के साथ Diaz हवेली छापे. वे घाव और फिर अपने कार्यालय के बाहर Diaz निष्पादित. Diaz, मर चुका है, और कर्नल कोरटेज उसकी गिरफ्तारी बच नाव पर देश भागने के साथ, वाइस सिटी में स्थापित दवा साम्राज्य जल्दी उखड़ जाती हैं और टॉमी और लांस व्यक्तिगत पर ले, वाइस सिटी कोकीन kingpins बनने.
टॉमी अपने संगठन, वर्सेट्टी अपराध परिवार है, और अधिक शक्तिशाली और अमीर हो जाता है टॉमी के सिर हो जाता है, और अधिक लांस पागल और sociopathic व्यवहार एक्ज़िबिट शुरू होता है, कहना है कि वह अपने ही अंगरक्षकों का दुरुपयोग करने के लिए शुरू होता है और लगातार में टॉमी कॉल हिस्टीरिया के राज्यों.
टॉमी भी चाची Poulet है Haitians के खिलाफ अम्बर्टो Robina लॉस Cabrones के साथ गठबंधन बना देता है, भले ही वह एक ही Haitians मदद में Poulet जादू से सम्मोहित समय है. टॉमी और Poulet हिस्सा तरीके के बाद वह बंद हाईटियन मैदान पर एक क्यूबा हमला, जिसके बाद वह अपने पड़ोस के निकट अनिष्ट हो जाता है से लड़ने में मदद करता है. हालांकि अंत में, टॉमी और Cubans हाईटियन दवा हाईटियन गिरोह कारों में प्रच्छन्न कारखाने में विस्फोटकों चुपके और इसे उड़ा, प्रभावी रूप से हाईटियन गिरोह शक्ति समाप्त.
के रूप में उसकी दवा के कारोबार का विस्तार, टॉमी एक कार बहुत, एक टैक्सी डिपो, एक स्ट्रिप क्लब, एक रात के क्लब, Boathouse, नकली पैसे के लिए एक प्रिंट की दुकान, कि पता चला है एक कंपनी के आइसक्रीम के रूप में लगभग दिवालिया कंपनियों में assests खरीदता है दवाओं के लिए एक सामने है, और एक वयस्क फिल्म कंपनी है, जो सभी के वह प्रतिस्पर्धी व्यवसायों में वापस जाता है. उन्होंने यह भी एक रॉक बैंड के लिए एक निजी अंगरक्षक, एक biker गिरोह के एक मानद सदस्य बन जाता है, और एक प्रमुख बैंक डकैती खींचती है.
अंततः Forelli परिवार को पता चलता है कि टॉमी पर ले लिया है लला के लिए एक कट भेजने के रूप में आवश्यक बिना वाइस सिटी में कार्रवाई की ज्यादा है. सन्नी कलेक्टरों टॉमी संपत्ति के बाहर पैसे के बल भेजता है, लेकिन टॉमी उनमें से disposes. एक नाराज लला Forelli mafiosi की एक छोटी सेना के साथ वाइस सिटी में आता है, बल द्वारा उनके श्रद्धांजलि लेने पर आमादा है. जब सन्नी और उसके गुर्गे वर्सेट्टी एस्टेट पर पहुंचें, टॉमी उन्हें नकली पैसे में अपनी श्रद्धांजलि देने के प्रयास, और हिट वह एक आदमी है कि एक ग्यारह आदमी हत्या होड़ में बदल गया पर पुल चाहिए था पर सन्नी का सामना. हालांकि, लांस, टॉमी अपने लाभ का एक बड़ा हिस्सा क्रोध आ, टॉमी को पता चलता है कि वह वापस कमरे Forelli के साथ एक सौदा वर्सेट्टी परिवार गिराने, और सन्नी बताते हैं कि श्रद्धांजलि पैसे नकली है. खेल चरमोत्कर्ष में, टॉमी लांस, सन्नी, और सन्नी गुर्गे छापे टॉमी हवेली के रूप में अकेला खड़ा है.
टॉमी पहला खिल्ली उड़ाते हैं, पीछा, और अंत में छत हेलीपैड पर लांस मारता है, तो नीचे तूफान जहां वह सन्नी के साथ बंद चेहरे. मुठभेड़ के दौरान, सन्नी से पता चलता है वह जो सेट टॉमी पंद्रह साल पहले, उसे भेजने के लिए ग्यारह पुरुषों जो उसे उम्मीद कर रहे थे मार है. टॉमी अंततः अपनी संपत्ति के मुख्य हॉल में सन्नी को मारता है. के साथ अपने दुश्मनों को परास्त, टॉमी वाइस सिटी के निर्विवाद अपराध सरगना के रूप में खुद को स्थापित. केन रोसेनबर्ग, जो टॉमी के साथ खेल की घटनाओं के दौरान काम किया है उसका दाहिना हाथ बन जाता है.

Attacking a Haitian gang in Little Haiti. The game was accused of inviting people to harm immigrant Cubans and Haitians, and featuring anti-Haitian and anti-Cuban phrases.

A screenshot depicting the player flying the Skimmer, one of three flyable aircraft in Vice City.

Riding a motorcycle (PCJ 600) towards Downtown at dawn. In contrast to GTA III, Vice City's setting is a cleaner and sunnier resort city.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Developer(s)	Rockstar North (PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, Macintosh) Rockstar Vienna (Xbox)
Publisher(s)	Rockstar Games
Distributor(s)	Take-Two Interactive
Series	Grand Theft Auto
Engine	RenderWare
Release date(s)	PlayStation 2 ^JP May 20, 2004 ^NA October 27, 2002 ^EU November 8, 2002 ^AUS November 8, 2002 Windows ^JP September 25, 2003 ^NA May 1, 2003 ^EU May 5, 2003 ^AUS January 6, 2006 Xbox ^JP July 29, 2004 ^NA October 31, 2003 ^EU January 2, 2004 ^AUS January 2, 2004 Mac OS X ^NA November 22, 2010 ^EU November 12, 2010
Genre(s)	Action-adventure, open world
Rating(s)	ACB: MA15+ BBFC: 18 CERO: Z ELSPA: 18+ ESRB: M OFLC: R18+^[1] PEGI: 18+

Gta Games

2011-09-30T09:27:00.001-07:00

Games

Year	Title	Developer(s)	Platform(s)				Era
Year	Title	Developer(s)	Sony	Microsoft	Nintendo	Other	Era
1997	Grand Theft Auto	DMA Design, Tarantula Studios	PS1	Windows, MS-DOS	Game Boy Color		First
1999	London, 1969	DMA Design, Tarantula Studios, Rockstar Canada, Runecraft	PS1	Windows, MS-DOS
	London, 1961	DMA Design, Tarantula Studios, Rockstar Canada, Runecraft		Windows
	Grand Theft Auto 2	DMA Design, Tarantula Studios	PS1	Windows	Game Boy Color	Dreamcast	Second
2001	Grand Theft Auto III	DMA Design, Rockstar Vienna	PS2	Windows, Xbox		Mac OS X	Third
2002	Vice City	Rockstar North, Rockstar Vienna	PS2	Windows, Xbox		Mac OS X
2004	Advance	Digital Eclipse			Game Boy Advance
2004	San Andreas	Rockstar North	PS2	Windows, Xbox		Mac OS X
2005	Liberty City Stories	Rockstar Leeds, Rockstar North	PSP, PS2
2006	Vice City Stories	Rockstar Leeds, Rockstar North	PSP, PS2
2008	Grand Theft Auto IV	Rockstar North, Rockstar Toronto	PS3	Windows, Xbox 360			Fourth
2009	The Lost and Damned	Rockstar North	PS3	Windows, Xbox 360
	Chinatown Wars	Rockstar Leeds, Rockstar North	PSP		DS	iOS
	The Ballad of Gay Tony	Rockstar North	PS3	Windows, Xbox 360

gta

2011-09-30T09:26:00.000-07:00

Hindi
ग्रांड थेफ्ट ऑटो (सामान्यतः संक्षिप्त GTA) एक वीडियो बहु पुरस्कार विजेता खेल श्रृंखला डेव जोन्स द्वारा यूनाइटेड किंगडम में बनाया, भाइयों डैन हाउसर और सैम हाउसर और खेल डिजाइनर Zachary क्लार्क द्वारा फिर बाद है. यह मुख्य रूप से रॉकस्टार नॉर्थ (पूर्व DMA डिजाइन) द्वारा विकसित की है और Rockstar खेलों द्वारा प्रकाशित. श्रृंखला का नाम भव्य चोरी ऑटो, मोटर वाहन चोरी के लिए चर्चा करते हुए शब्द से व्युत्पन्न है.
श्रृंखला काल्पनिक भारी अमेरिकी शहरों पर modeled लोकेल में सेट कर दिया जाता है, जबकि मूल के लिए एक विस्तार लंदन में आधारित था. Gameplay एक खुली दुनिया जहां खिलाड़ी मिशन को चुनने के लिए एक समग्र कहानी है, के रूप में के रूप में अच्छी तरह से साइड गतिविधियों में संलग्न प्रगति कर सकते हैं पर ध्यान केंद्रित, सभी कार्रवाई, साहसिक, से मिलकर, ड्राइविंग, सामयिक भूमिका खेल, चुपके, और रेसिंग तत्वों. खेल का विषय आम तौर पर अमेरिकी संस्कृति का एक हास्य व्यंग्य है, लेकिन श्रृंखला अपने वयस्क प्रकृति और हिंसक विषयों के लिए विवाद प्राप्त की है. श्रृंखला के कई अलग अलग पात्र जो आपराधिक अंडरवर्ल्ड के रैंकों के माध्यम से वृद्धि करने का प्रयास के आसपास केंद्रित है, हालांकि ऐसा करने के लिए अपने इरादों प्रत्येक खेल में भिन्नता है. गरम सामान्यतः अक्षर जो नायक या उसके संगठन, या अक्षर जो सबसे नायक प्रगति impeding प्रभाव है धोखा दिया है.
वीडियो गेम डेवलपर DMA डिजाइन 1997 में श्रृंखला शुरू किया, और यह वर्तमान में दस खड़े अकेले खेल और चार विस्तार पैक है. तीसरे कालानुक्रमिक शीर्षक, ग्रैंड थेफ्ट ऑटो III, व्यापक रूप से प्रशंसित किया गया था, के रूप में यह एक 3 डी सेटिंग और अधिक immersive अनुभव श्रृंखला लाया, और एक मील का पत्थर शीर्षक है कि बाद में कई अन्य खुले दुनिया कार्रवाई खेल को प्रभावित किया है माना जाता है और लेबल करने के लिए नेतृत्व " इसी तरह के खेल पर ग्रैंड थेफ्ट ऑटो क्लोन ". बाद खिताब का पालन करें और ग्रैंड थेफ्ट ऑटो III में स्थापित अवधारणा पर निर्माण होगा. माइकल Madsen, रे Liotta, बर्ट रेनॉल्ड्स, डेनिस कूदनेवाला, डैनी Trejo, गैरी Busey, शमूएल एल जैक्सन, क्रिस पेन, जेम्स वुड्स, जो Pantoliano, Jenna जेमिसन, फ्रैंक विन्सेन्ट, रॉबर्ट Loggia, केली MacLachlan, फिल कोलिन्स जैसे दिग्गजों फिल्म और पीटर फोंडा आवाज उठाई कई किश्तों में सभी प्रमुख पात्रों, और समीक्षकों बहुप्रशंसित और वाणिज्यिक सफल श्रृंखला है.
English

Grand Theft Auto (commonly abbreviated GTA) is a multi-award-winning video game series created in the United Kingdom by Dave Jones, then later by brothers Dan Houser and Sam Houser, and game designer Zachary Clarke. It is primarily developed by Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design) and published by Rockstar Games. The name of the series is derived from grand theft auto, a term referring to motor vehicle theft.
The series is set in fictional locales heavily modelled on American cities, while an expansion for the original was based in London. Gameplay focuses on an open world where the player can choose missions to progress an overall story, as well as engaging in side activities; all consisting of action, adventure, driving, occasional role-playing, stealth, and racing elements. The subject of the games is usually a comedic satire of American culture, but the series has gained controversy for its adult nature and violent themes. The series focuses around many different protagonists who attempt to rise through the ranks of the criminal underworld, although their motives for doing so vary in each game. The antagonists are commonly characters who have betrayed the protagonist or his organization, or characters who have the most impact impeding the protagonist's progress.
Video game developer DMA Design began the series in 1997, and it currently has ten stand-alone games and four expansion packs. The third chronological title, Grand Theft Auto III, was widely acclaimed, as it brought the series to a 3D setting and more immersive experience, and is considered a landmark title that has subsequently influenced many other open world action games and led to the label "Grand Theft Auto clone" on similar games. Subsequent titles would follow and build upon the concept established in Grand Theft Auto III. Film veterans such as Michael Madsen, Ray Liotta, Burt Reynolds, Dennis Hopper, Danny Trejo, Gary Busey, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Penn, James Woods, Joe Pantoliano, Jenna Jameson, Frank Vincent, Robert Loggia, Kyle MacLachlan, Phil Collins and Peter Fonda have all voiced major characters in many installments, and the series is critically acclaimed and commercially successful.
Grand Theft Auto (commonly abbreviated GTA) is a multi-award-winning video game series created in the United Kingdom by Dave Jones, then later by brothers Dan Houser and Sam Houser, and game designer Zachary Clarke. It is primarily developed by Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design) and published by Rockstar Games. The name of the series is derived from grand theft auto, a term referring to motor vehicle theft.
The series is set in fictional locales heavily modelled on American cities, while an expansion for the original was based in London. Gameplay focuses on an open world where the player can choose missions to progress an overall story, as well as engaging in side activities; all consisting of action, adventure, driving, occasional role-playing, stealth, and racing elements. The subject of the games is usually a comedic satire of American culture, but the series has gained controversy for its adult nature and violent themes. The series focuses around many different protagonists who attempt to rise through the ranks of the criminal underworld, although their motives for doing so vary in each game. The antagonists are commonly characters who have betrayed the protagonist or his organization, or characters who have the most impact impeding the protagonist's progress.
Video game developer DMA Design began the series in 1997, and it currently has ten stand-alone games and four expansion packs. The third chronological title, Grand Theft Auto III, was widely acclaimed, as it brought the series to a 3D setting and more immersive experience, and is considered a landmark title that has subsequently influenced many other open world action games and led to the label "Grand Theft Auto clone" on similar games. Subsequent titles would follow and build upon the concept established in Grand Theft Auto III. Film veterans such as Michael Madsen, Ray Liotta, Burt Reynolds, Dennis Hopper, Danny Trejo, Gary Busey, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Penn, James Woods, Joe Pantoliano, Jenna Jameson, Frank Vincent, Robert Loggia, Kyle MacLachlan, Phil Collins and Peter Fonda have all voiced major characters in many installments, and the series is critically acclaimed and commercially successful.

Grand Theft Auto (series)

2011-09-30T09:23:00.000-07:00

Grand Theft Auto
Grand Theft Auto series logo, which has been used since Grand Theft Auto III
Genres	Action, sandbox
Developers	Rockstar Games Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design) Rockstar Leeds Rockstar Toronto Rockstar Lincoln
Publishers	Rockstar Games
Creators	David Jones Dan Houser Sam Houser
First release	Grand Theft Auto October 1997
Latest release	Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City October 2009

Facebook

2011-09-12T03:21:00.001-07:00

Facebook, Inc.

Type	Private
Founded	Cambridge, Massachusetts^[1] (2004)
Founder	Mark Zuckerberg Eduardo Saverin Dustin Moskovitz Chris Hughes
Headquarters	Palo Alto, California, U.S., currently being moved to Menlo Park, California, U.S.
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Mark Zuckerberg (CEO) Chris Cox (VP of Product) Sheryl Sandberg (COO) Donald E. Graham (Chairman)
Revenue	US$2 billion (2010 est.)^[2]
Net income	N/A
Employees	2000+ (2010)^[3]
Website	facebook.com
IPv6 support	www.v6.facebook.com
Alexa rank	2 (September 2011)^[4]
Type of site	Social networking service
Advertising	Banner ads, referral marketing, casual games
Registration	Required
Users	750 million ^[5] (active in July 2011)
Available in	Multilingual
Launched	February 4, 2004
Current status	Active

HISTORY

Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc.^[1] As of July 2011, Facebook has more than 750 million active users.^[6]^[7] Users may create a personal profile, add other users as friends, and exchange messages, including automatic notifications when they update their profile. Facebook users must register before using the site. Additionally, users may join common-interest user groups, organized by workplace, school or college, or other characteristics, and categorize their friends into lists, e.g. "People From Work", or "Really Good Friends". The name of the service stems from the colloquial name for the book given to students at the start of the academic year by university administrations in the United States to help students get to know each other. Facebook allows any users who declare themselves to be at least 13 years old to become registered users of the website.
Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow computer science students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes.^[8] The website's membership was initially limited by the founders to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. It gradually added support for students at various other universities before opening to high school students, and, finally, to anyone aged 13 and over. However, based on ConsumersReports.org on May 2011, there are 7.5 million children under 13 with accounts, violating the site's terms.^[9]
A January 2009 Compete.com study ranked Facebook as the most used social networking service by worldwide monthly active users, followed by MySpace.^[10] Entertainment Weekly included the site on its end-of-the-decade "best-of" list, saying, "How on earth did we stalk our exes, remember our co-workers' birthdays, bug our friends, and play a rousing game of Scrabulous before Facebook?"^[11] Quantcast estimates Facebook has 138.9 million monthly unique U.S. visitors in May 2011.^[12] According to Social Media Today, in April 2010 an estimated 41.6% of the U.S. population had a Facebook account.^[13] Nevertheless, Facebook's market growth started to stall in some regions, with the site losing 7 million active users in the United States and Canada in May 2011

Mark Zuckerberg wrote Facemash, the predecessor to Facebook, on October 28, 2003, while attending Harvard as a sophomore. According to The Harvard Crimson, the site was comparable to Hot or Not, and "used photos compiled from the online facebooks of nine houses, placing two next to each other at a time and asking users to choose the 'hotter' person".^[15]^[16]

Mark Zuckerberg co-created Facebook in his Harvard dorm room.

Chris Hughes

Dustin Moskovitz

Sean Parker

Cameron Winklevoss

To accomplish this, Zuckerberg hacked into the protected areas of Harvard's computer network and copied the houses' private dormitory ID images. Harvard at that time did not have a student "facebook" (a directory with photos and basic information). Facemash attracted 450 visitors and 22,000 photo-views in its first four hours online.^[15]^[17]
The site was quickly forwarded to several campus group list-servers, but was shut down a few days later by the Harvard administration. Zuckerberg was charged by the administration with breach of security, violating copyrights, and violating individual privacy, and faced expulsion. Ultimately, however, the charges were dropped.^[18] Zuckerberg expanded on this initial project that semester by creating a social study tool ahead of an art history final, by uploading 500 Augustan images to a website, with one image per page along with a comment section.^[17] He opened the site up to his classmates, and people started sharing their notes.
The following semester, Zuckerberg began writing code for a new website in January 2004. He was inspired, he said, by an editorial in The Harvard Crimson about the Facemash incident.^[19] On February 4, 2004, Zuckerberg launched "Thefacebook", originally located at thefacebook.com.^[20]
Six days after the site launched, three Harvard seniors, Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra, accused Zuckerberg of intentionally misleading them into believing he would help them build a social network called HarvardConnection.com, while he was instead using their ideas to build a competing product.^[21] The three complained to the Harvard Crimson, and the newspaper began an investigation. The three later filed a lawsuit against Zuckerberg, subsequently settling.^[22]
Membership was initially restricted to students of Harvard College, and within the first month, more than half the undergraduate population at Harvard was registered on the service.^[23] Eduardo Saverin (business aspects), Dustin Moskovitz (programmer), Andrew McCollum (graphic artist), and Chris Hughes soon joined Zuckerberg to help promote the website. In March 2004, Facebook expanded to Stanford, Columbia, and Yale.^[24] It soon opened to the other Ivy League schools, Boston University, New York University, MIT, and gradually most universities in Canada and the United States.^[25]^[26]
Facebook incorporated in the summer of 2004, and the entrepreneur Sean Parker, who had been informally advising Zuckerberg, became the company's president.^[27] In June 2004, Facebook moved its base of operations to Palo Alto, California.^[24] It received its first investment later that month from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.^[28] The company dropped The from its name after purchasing the domain name facebook.com in 2005 for $200,000.^[29]

Total active users^{[N 1]}
Date	Users (in millions)	Days later	Monthly growth^{[N 2]}
August 26, 2008	100^[30]	1,665	178.38%
April 8, 2009	200^[31]	225	13.33%
September 15, 2009	300^[32]	160	9.38%
February 5, 2010	400^[33]	143	6.99%
July 21, 2010	500^[34]	166	4.52%
January 5, 2011	600^[35]^{[N 3]}	168	3.57%
July 6, 2011	750^[36]	182	2.54%

Facebook launched a high-school version in September 2005, which Zuckerberg called the next logical step.^[37] At that time, high-school networks required an invitation to join.^[38] Facebook later expanded membership eligibility to employees of several companies, including Apple Inc. and Microsoft.^[39] Facebook was then opened on September 26, 2006, to everyone of age 13 and older with a valid email address.^[40]^[41]
On October 24, 2007, Microsoft announced that it had purchased a 1.6% share of Facebook for $240 million, giving Facebook a total implied value of around $15 billion.^[42] Microsoft's purchase included rights to place international ads on Facebook.^[43] In October 2008, Facebook announced that it would set up its international headquarters in Dublin, Ireland.^[44] In September 2009, Facebook said that it had turned cash-flow positive for the first time.^[45] In November 2010, based on SecondMarket Inc., an exchange for shares of privately held companies, Facebook's value was $41 billion (slightly surpassing eBay's) and it became the third largest US web company after Google and Amazon.^[46] Facebook has been identified as a possible candidate for an IPO by 2013.^[47]
Traffic to Facebook increased steadily after 2009. More people visited Facebook than Google for the week ending March 13, 2010.^[48]
In March 2011 it was reported that Facebook removes approximately 20,000 profiles from the site every day for various infractions, including spam, inappropriate content and underage use, as part of its efforts to boost cyber security.^[49]
In early 2011, Facebook announced plans to move to its new headquarters, the former Sun Microsystems campus in Menlo Park, California.^[50]^[51]
Release of statistics by DoubleClick showed that Facebook reached one trillion pageviews in the month of June 2011, making it the most visited website in the world.^[52] It should however be noted that Google and some of its selected websites are not counted in the DoubleClick rankings.

Company

Entrance to Facebook's current headquarters in the Stanford Research Park, Palo Alto, California.

Ownership

Mark Zuckerberg owns 24% of the company, Accel Partners owns 10%, Digital Sky Technologies owns 10%,^[53] Dustin Moskovitz owns 6%, Eduardo Saverin owns 5%, Sean Parker owns 4%, Peter Thiel owns 3%, Greylock Partners and Meritech Capital Partners own between 1 to 2% each, Microsoft owns 1.3%, Li Ka-shing owns 0.75%, the Interpublic Group owns less than 0.5%, a small group of current and former employees and celebrities own less than 1% each, including Matt Cohler, Jeff Rothschild, Adam D'Angelo, Chris Hughes, and Owen Van Natta, while Reid Hoffman and Mark Pincus have sizable holdings of the company, and the remaining 30% or so are owned by employees, an undisclosed number of celebrities, and outside investors.^[54] Adam D'Angelo, chief technology officer and friend of Zuckerberg, resigned in May 2008. Reports claimed that he and Zuckerberg began quarreling, and that he was no longer interested in partial ownership of the company.^[55]

Management

Key management personnel comprise Chris Cox (VP of Product), Sheryl Sandberg (COO), and Donald E. Graham (Chairman). As of April 2011, Facebook has over 2,000 employees, and offices in 15 countries.^[56]

Revenue

Most of Facebook's revenue comes from advertising. Microsoft is Facebook's exclusive partner for serving banner advertising,^[57] and therefore Facebook serves only advertisements that exist in Microsoft's advertisement inventory.

Revenues
(estimated, in millions US$)
Year	Revenue	Growth
2006	$52^[58]	—
2007	$150^[59]	188%
2008	$280^[60]	87%
2009	$775^[61]	177%
2010	$2,000^[2]	158%

Facebook generally has a lower clickthrough rate (CTR) for advertisements than most major websites. Banner advertisements on Facebook have generally received one-fifth the number of clicks compared to those on the Web as a whole.^[62] This means that a smaller percentage of Facebook's users click on advertisements than many other large websites. For example, while Google users click on the first advertisement for search results an average of 8% of the time (80,000 clicks for every one million searches),^[63] Facebook's users click on advertisements an average of 0.04% of the time (400 clicks for every one million pages).^[64]
Sarah Smith, who was Facebook's Online Sales Operations Manager, confirmed that successful advertising campaigns can have clickthrough rates as low as 0.05% to 0.04%, and that CTR for ads tend to fall within two weeks.^[65] Competing social network MySpace's CTR, in comparison, is about 0.1%, 2.5 times better than Facebook's but still low compared to many other websites. Explanations for Facebook's low CTR include the fact that Facebook's users are more technologically savvy and therefore use ad blocking software to hide advertisements, that users are younger and therefore better at ignoring advertising messages, and that MySpace users spend more time browsing through content, while Facebook users spend their time communicating with friends and therefore have their attention diverted away from advertisements.^[66]
On pages for brands and products, however, some companies have reported CTR as high as 6.49% for Wall posts.^[67] Involver, a social marketing platform, announced in July 2008 that it managed to attain a CTR of 0.7% on Facebook (over 10 times the typical CTR for Facebook ad campaigns) for its first client, Serena Software, managing to convert 1.1 million views into 8,000 visitors to their website.^[68] A study found that, for video advertisements on Facebook, over 40% of users who viewed the videos viewed the entire video, while the industry average was 25% for in-banner video ads.^[69]

Mergers and acquisitions

Main article: List of acquisitions by Facebook

On November 15, 2010, Facebook announced it had acquired the domain name fb.com from the American Farm Bureau Federation for an undisclosed amount. On January 11, 2011, the Farm Bureau disclosed $8.5 million in "domain sales income", making the acquisition of FB.com one of the ten highest domain sales in history.^[70]

Operations

A custom-built data center with substantially reduced ("38% less") power consumption compared to existing Facebook data centers opened in April 2011 in Prineville, Oregon.^[71]

Website

Main articles: Facebook features and Facebook Platform

Facebook's homepage features a login form on the top right for existing users, and a registration form directly underneath for new visitors.

Profile shown on Facebook in 2011

Facebook profile shown in 2007

Profile shown on Thefacebook in 2005

Users can create profiles with photos, lists of personal interests, contact information, and other personal information. Users can communicate with friends and other users through private or public messages and a chat feature. They can also create and join interest groups and "like pages" (called "fan pages" until April 19, 2010), some of which are maintained by organizations as a means of advertising.^[72]
To allay concerns about privacy, Facebook enables users to choose their own privacy settings and choose who can see specific parts of their profile.^[73] The website is free to users, and generates revenue from advertising, such as banner ads.^[74] Facebook requires a user's name and profile picture (if applicable) to be accessible by everyone. Users can control who sees other information they have shared, as well as who can find them in searches, through their privacy settings.^[75]
The media often compare Facebook to MySpace, but one significant difference between the two websites is the level of customization.^[76] Another difference is Facebook's requirement that users give their true identity, a demand that MySpace does not make.^[77] MySpace allows users to decorate their profiles using HTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), while Facebook allows only plain text.^[78] Facebook has a number of features with which users may interact. They include the Wall, a space on every user's profile page that allows friends to post messages for the user to see;^[79] Pokes, which allows users to send a virtual "poke" to each other (a notification then tells a user that they have been poked);^[80] Photos, where users can upload albums and photos;^[81] and Status, which allows users to inform their friends of their whereabouts and actions.^[82] Depending on privacy settings, anyone who can see a user's profile can also view that user's Wall. In July 2007, Facebook began allowing users to post attachments to the Wall, whereas the Wall was previously limited to textual content only.^[79]

Facebook mobile graphical user interface

On September 6, 2006, a News Feed was announced, which appears on every user's homepage and highlights information including profile changes, upcoming events, and birthdays of the user's friends.^[83] This enabled spammers and other users to manipulate these features by creating illegitimate events or posting fake birthdays to attract attention to their profile or cause.^[84] Initially, the News Feed caused dissatisfaction among Facebook users; some complained it was too cluttered and full of undesired information, others were concerned that it made it too easy for others to track individual activities (such as relationship status changes, events, and conversations with other users).^[85]
In response, Zuckerberg issued an apology for the site's failure to include appropriate customizable privacy features. Since then, users have been able to control what types of information are shared automatically with friends. Users are now able to prevent user-set categories of friends from seeing updates about certain types of activities, including profile changes, Wall posts, and newly added friends.^[86]
On February 23, 2010, Facebook was granted a patent^[87] on certain aspects of its News Feed. The patent covers News Feeds in which links are provided so that one user can participate in the same activity of another user.^[88] The patent may encourage Facebook to pursue action against websites that violate its patent, which may potentially include websites such as Twitter.^[89]
One of the most popular applications on Facebook is the Photos application, where users can upload albums and photos.^[90] Facebook allows users to upload an unlimited number of photos, compared with other image hosting services such as Photobucket and Flickr, which apply limits to the number of photos that a user is allowed to upload. During the first years, Facebook users were limited to 60 photos per album. As of May 2009, this limit has been increased to 200 photos per album.^[91]^[92]^[93]^[94]
Privacy settings can be set for individual albums, limiting the groups of users that can see an album. For example, the privacy of an album can be set so that only the user's friends can see the album, while the privacy of another album can be set so that all Facebook users can see it. Another feature of the Photos application is the ability to "tag", or label, users in a photo. For instance, if a photo contains a user's friend, then the user can tag the friend in the photo. This sends a notification to the friend that they have been tagged, and provides them a link to see the photo.^[95]
Facebook Notes was introduced on August 22, 2006, a blogging feature that allowed tags and embeddable images. Users were later able to import blogs from Xanga, LiveJournal, Blogger, and other blogging services.^[40] During the week of April 7, 2008, Facebook released a Comet-based^[96] instant messaging application called "Chat" to several networks,^[97] which allows users to communicate with friends and is similar in functionality to desktop-based instant messengers.
Facebook launched Gifts on February 8, 2007, which allows users to send virtual gifts to their friends that appear on the recipient's profile. Gifts cost $1.00 each to purchase, and a personalized message can be attached to each gift.^[98]^[99] On May 14, 2007, Facebook launched Marketplace, which lets users post free classified ads.^[100] Marketplace has been compared to Craigslist by CNET, which points out that the major difference between the two is that listings posted by a user on Marketplace are seen only by users in the same network as that user, whereas listings posted on Craigslist can be seen by anyone.^[101]
On July 20, 2008, Facebook introduced "Facebook Beta", a significant redesign of its user interface on selected networks. The Mini-Feed and Wall were consolidated, profiles were separated into tabbed sections, and an effort was made to create a "cleaner" look.^[102] After initially giving users a choice to switch, Facebook began migrating all users to the new version beginning in September 2008.^[103] On December 11, 2008, it was announced that Facebook was testing a simpler signup process.^[104]
On June 13, 2009, Facebook introduced a "Usernames" feature, whereby pages can be linked with simpler URLs such as http://www.facebook.com/facebook as opposed to http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=20531316728.^[105] Many new smartphones offer access to Facebook services through either their web-browsers or applications. An official Facebook application is available for the iPhone OS, the Android OS, and the WebOS. Nokia and Research In Motion both provide Facebook applications for their own mobile devices. More than 150 million active users access Facebook through mobile devices across 200 mobile operators in 60 countries.
On November 15, 2010, Facebook announced a new "Facebook Messages" service. In a media event that day, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, "It's true that people will be able to have an @facebook.com email addresses, but it's not email". The launch of such a feature had been anticipated for some time before the announcement, with some calling it a "Gmail killer". The system, to be available to all of the website's users, combines text messaging, instant messaging, emails, and regular messages, and will include privacy settings similar to those of other Facebook services. Codenamed "Project Titan", Facebook Messages took 15 months to develop.^[106]^[107]
In February 2011, Facebook began to use the hCalendar microformat to mark up events, and the hCard microformat for the events' venues, enabling the extraction of details to users' own calendar or mapping applications.^[108]
Since April 2011 Facebook users have had the ability to make live voice calls via Facebook Chat, allowing users to chat with others from all over the world. This feature, which is provided free through T-Mobile's new Bobsled service, lets the user add voice to the current Facebook Chat as well as leave voice messages on Facebook.^[109]
On July 6, 2011, Facebook launched its video calling services using Skype as its technology partner. It allows one to one calling using a Skype Rest API.^[110] For a brief period of time earlier that day, the URL "facebook.com" led to a Swedish website that was hosted through Google Sites. On July 14 Facebook wouldn't allow access.

Reception

Facebook popularity. Active users of Facebook increased from just a million in 2004 to over 750 million in 2011.

Facebook - Users by Age.

According to comScore, Facebook is the leading social networking site based on monthly unique visitors, having overtaken main competitor MySpace in April 2008.^[112] ComScore reports that Facebook attracted 130 million unique visitors in May 2010, an increase of 8.6 million people.^[113] According to Alexa, the website's ranking among all websites increased from 60th to 7th in worldwide traffic, from September 2006 to September 2007, and is currently 2nd.^[114] Quantcast ranks the website 2nd in the U.S. in traffic,^[115] and Compete.com ranks it 2nd in the U.S.^[116] The website is the most popular for uploading photos, with 50 billion uploaded cumulatively.^[117] In 2010, Sophos's "Security Threat Report 2010" polled over 500 firms, 60% of which responded that they believed that Facebook was the social network that posed the biggest threat to security, well ahead of MySpace, Twitter, and LinkedIn.^[118]
Facebook is the most popular social networking site in several English-speaking countries, including Canada,^[119] the United Kingdom,^[120] and the United States.^[121]^[122]^[123]^[124] In regional Internet markets, Facebook penetration is highest in North America (69 percent), followed by Middle East-Africa (67 percent), Latin America (58 percent), Europe (57 percent), and Asia-Pacific (17 percent).^[125]
The website has won awards such as placement into the "Top 100 Classic Websites" by PC Magazine in 2007,^[126] and winning the "People's Voice Award" from the Webby Awards in 2008.^[127] In a 2006 study conducted by Student Monitor, a New Jersey-based company specializing in research concerning the college student market, Facebook was named the second most popular thing among undergraduates, tied with beer and only ranked lower than the iPod.^[128]
On March 2010, Judge Richard Seeborg issued an order approving the class settlement in Lane v. Facebook, Inc., the class action lawsuit arising out of Facebook's Beacon program.
In 2010, Facebook won the Crunchie "Best Overall Startup Or Product" for the third year in a row^[129] and was recognized as one of the "Hottest Silicon Valley Companies" by Lead411.^[130] However, in a July 2010 survey performed by the American Customer Satisfaction Index, Facebook received a score of 64 out of 100, placing it in the bottom 5% of all private-sector companies in terms of customer satisfaction, alongside industries such as the IRS e-file system, airlines, and cable companies. The reasons why Facebook scored so poorly include privacy problems, frequent changes to the website's interface, the results returned by the News Feed, and spam.^[131]
In December 2008, the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory ruled that Facebook is a valid protocol to serve court notices to defendants. It is believed to be the world's first legal judgement that defines a summons posted on Facebook as legally binding.^[132] In March 2009, the New Zealand High Court associate justice David Gendall allowed for the serving of legal papers on Craig Axe by the company Axe Market Garden via Facebook.^[133]^[134] Employers (such as Virgin Atlantic Airways) have also used Facebook as a means to keep tabs on their employees and have even been known to fire them over posts they have made.^[135]
By 2005, the use of Facebook had already become so ubiquitous that the generic verb "facebooking" had come into use to describe the process of browsing others' profiles or updating one's own.^[136] In 2008, Collins English Dictionary declared "Facebook" as its new Word of the Year.^[137] In December 2009, the New Oxford American Dictionary declared its word of the year to be the verb "unfriend", defined as "To remove someone as a 'friend' on a social networking site such as Facebook. As in, 'I decided to unfriend my roommate on Facebook after we had a fight.'"^[138]
In April 2010, according to The New York Times, countries with the most Facebook users were the United States, the United Kingdom, and Indonesia.^[139] Indonesia has become the country with the second largest number of Facebook users, after the United States, with 24 million users, or 10% of Indonesia's population.^[140] Also in early 2010, Openbook was established, an avowed parody (and privacy advocacy) website^[141] that enables text-based searches of those Wall posts that are available to "Everyone", i.e. to everyone on the Internet.
Writers for The Wall Street Journal found in 2010 that Facebook apps were transmitting identifying information to "dozens of advertising and Internet tracking companies". The apps used an HTTP referrer which exposed the user's identity and sometimes their friends'. Facebook said, "We have taken immediate action to disable all applications that violate our terms".^[142]

Political impact

The stage at the Facebook – Saint Anselm College debates in 2008.

Wikinews has related news: Egyptian man names daughter 'Facebook'

Facebook's role in the American political process was demonstrated in January 2008, shortly before the New Hampshire primary, when Facebook teamed up with ABC and Saint Anselm College to allow users to give live feedback about the "back to back" January 5 Republican and Democratic debates.^[164]^[165]^[166] Charles Gibson moderated both debates, held at the Dana Center for the Humanities at Saint Anselm College. Facebook users took part in debate groups organized around specific topics, register to vote, and message questions.^[167]
Over a million people installed the Facebook application 'US politics' in order to take part, and the application measured users' responses to specific comments made by the debating candidates.^[168] This debate showed the broader community what many young students had already experienced: Facebook was a popular and powerful new way to interact and voice opinions. An article by Michelle Sullivan of Uwire.com illustrates how the "facebook effect" has affected youth voting rates, support by youth of political candidates, and general involvement by the youth population in the 2008 election.^[169]
In February 2008, a Facebook group called "One Million Voices Against FARC" organized an event in which hundreds of thousands of Colombians marched in protest against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, better known as the FARC (from the group's Spanish name).^[170] In August 2010, one of North Korea's official government websites and the official news agency of the country, Uriminzokkiri, joined Facebook.^[171]
In 2010 an English director of public health, whose staff was researching syphilis, linked and attributed a rise in cases of the disease in areas of Britain to Facebook. The reports of this research were rebuked by Facebook as "ignoring the difference between correlation and causation".^[172]
In 2011 a controvesial ruling by French government to uphold a 1992 decree which stipulates that commercial enterprises should not be promoted on news programs. President Nicolas Sarkozy's colleagues have agreed has said that it will enforce a law so that the words 'Facebook' will not be allowed to be spoken on the television or on the radio.^[173]

Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone

2011-07-22T22:55:00.001-07:00

now i will write a review on Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone this is the first movie of Harry Potter this all starts from a bad person named voldemort in this part he is in a teachers body a important part is a mirror which shows that which you want.A red stone is sorcerer's stone which can make voldemort more powerful in last Harry faught with voldemort first time and his adventure started
I will give 3stars on this movie

2 know more watch Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone