Ace

I think combining them would be awkward. There would undoubtedly be a big debate over which ranks in each series are stronger than the others.

One feature vB has is that each group can have its own set of ranks. In addition, groups can be marked as "public", so that people can join or leave them as they wish.

So how about this:

-- The DBZ ranks would be the default. If members don't take any special action, that's what they get.
-- Other animes, starting with Naruto and Bleach, would have their own sets of ranks, attached to public groups.
-- Members could freely join those groups.
-- After joining, they would also have to select the option to make that group their "display group".
-- If they did, the group-specific ranks would show up instead of the default ones.
-- Because of the way that vB handles things, another title string also has to be displayed, which would be something like "Naruto ranked" (the same title would be used for everyone in that group). That would be displayed right after joining, but before the user selected the display group setting.

I've made a test group called "Naruto Ranks" to give you an idea what I mean. Go to your User CP and click on the Group Memberships link. Select Naruto Ranks, then select "Identify me as a member of this group". Then go check out your posts. I'll only leave the test group there for another day or two.

I know it's a little klunky -- but do you think it would be useful?