Does anyone else feel...a little bad for some of the Palace Rulers? Sure, you had the obvious pieces of shit, like Kamoshida, Kaneshiro and Shido. <br> <br> Madarame and Okumara, however, were a bit sympathetic to me once we learned more about them. <br> <br> Learning more about Madarame during Yusuke's link made me realize...he was once talented at one point and, he likely was trying to make his name known in the Art World during the 60's and 70's, based his age...which was a time that had a huge turning point in the way Art was looked out and treated, with people like Picasso and Warhol making everyone interested in Abstract art, a time period where no one wanted Japanese Style Art if it wasn't a woodcarving! Madarame had to make up for it by teaching...he got distorted by getting caught up in all the glamour and fame that he wanted, if only a little...and what artist of any form doesn't want to be recognized? <br> <br> Okumara was sympathetic in a more personal sense than Madarame, the fact the his motivation and distortion came from a toy kit that he couldn't receive as a child, that fact that his family was plagued with financial issues growing up...it sort of hits home a little .'( <br> <br> Sorry for the Wall O' Text, but I've been wanting to discuss this with someone other than my big bro for sometime!