I think the actual look of the forums is perfectly acceptable. While personally I prefer the lighter, cleaner look of a forum such as Anime UK News, the black and gold colour scheme is quite attractive and relatively uncluttered. I would however alter the basic style of the drop-down menus as they look out of place having not been changed along with everything else.
I would question the need for a Google advertisement at the end of each page when your hosting is free, the phpbb software is free and there is no domain name to cover the cost of. Obviously choosing to advertise is entirely up to you, but it detracts greatly from the look and feel of the forums.
I would also agree with the previous posts in this thread that you need to consider streamlining your message boards. While you have clearly had a plan in mind of how you would like your forums to turn out, at this early stage it is entirely unnecessary to spread the various topics of conversation so widely. My advice would be to focus on just 4 or 5 topic areas, and then see how conversation develops over the coming months. That way, you will be able to add or remove different areas depending on their popularity, resulting in a forum that remains active and responsive to the demands of its users.
Finally, though I do admit to not having read many topics, I think it is important for staff to take the time to set an example to users with regards to spelling, grammer and behaviour on any forum. You could even provide a new service to users by installing one of the many free spell checking scripts to your forum.
