XPost: rec.arts.anime.fandom, rec.arts.anime.misc, aus.arts.anime   
   From: robkelk@deadspam.com   
      
   (continued from Part 3)   
      
      
   S   
      
      SABER MARIONETTE J:  The planet of Terra II is populated only by   
   men, all clones of the six survivors of a crashed colony vessel.  To   
   compensate for the loss of women in their society, robots in female   
   form, called marionettes, were created.  Centuries later, a young man   
   named Otaru comes into the possession of a trio of marionettes (Lime,   
   Cherry and Bloodberry) that exhibit some very un-robotlike behavior:   
   they laugh, cry and argue.  Otaru now faces the challenge of teaching   
   the three marionettes what it means to be human, while struggling with   
   his own growing feelings for them.  (25 episode TV series, from   
   Bandai, US VHS and DVD release by AnimeVillage.)   
      [Entry by Karl Merris]   
      
      SABER MARIONETTE J AGAIN:  In this sequel to SABER MARIONETTE J,   
   Otaru and the marionettes, Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry, take care of   
   some unfinished business from the first series and unexpectedly   
   acquires some new marionette "students" that wish to fully realize   
   their potential to be human.  Dealing with a houseful of lively women,   
   Otaru learns a few new things himself about being human.  As   
   catastrophe looms over the planet of Terra II, the marionettes find   
   that a human heart carries a heavy price: it can be broken.  (6   
   episode OAV series, from Bandai, US VHS and DVD release by   
   AnimeVillage.)   
      [Entry by Karl Merris]   
      
      SABER MARIONETTE R:  This OAV feature was released prior to SABER   
   MARIONETTE J, but is set three centuries after that series.  A young   
   boy, Junior, heir apparent to the throne of the city-state of Romana,   
   is hunted by his mad brother and his army of warrior marionettes.  The   
   boy's only hope for survival lies with three marionettes, Lime, Cherry   
   and Bloodberry, who are dedicated to Junior's defense.  There's plenty   
   of action and surprising revelations as Junior struggles against his   
   brother to determine the fate of Terra II.  (3 episode OAV series,   
   from Bandai, US VHS release by AnimeVillage, 1999, DVD release   
   expected in 2002.)   
      [Entry by Karl Merris]   
      
      SAILOR MOON:  This magical girl show is more suitable for adults than   
   others in the genre; although it offers the standard transformation   
   sequences and monsters of the week, it also has a strong sense of humour   
   that frequently approaches parody of the genre or the show itself, and   
   presents a more interesting cast of characters than many such shows.   
      The third season, SAILOR MOON S, is arguably the strongest - both   
   because of the season's plot and because of the introduction of the   
   series' best characters - and also readily available in an uncut form.   
   It's interesting to note that Ikuhara (later responsible for UTENA) was   
   given more artistic freedom when directing this season.   
      Sadly, the US dub cuts much of the subtext that makes the show worth   
   watching, and makes major changes to the personalities of some   
   characters; in particular, the heroine is presented in a much less   
   positive light.   
      This show is now seen as the first of a new subgenre:  the   
   "magical sentai girl" story, drawing equally on the "magical girl" and   
   "sentai team" (or "fighter team") genres for inspiration.  The dubbed   
   television run from DIC lasted for only the first two of the show's   
   five seasons, but a subsequent dub from Optimum has covered the third   
   and fourth seasons.  Luckily, Optimum went to Cloverway, the same   
   dubbing studio that DiC used, for their dubs.  ADV Films is now   
   releasing the dubs that DIC commissioned from Cloverway, and also has   
   the sub rights for the first two seasons.  Pioneer is releasing the   
   dubs that Optimum commissioned from Cloverway, as well as dubs and   
   subs of all three Sailor Moon movies and subs of the third and fourth   
   seasons.  Fansubs of the fifth season exist, but are becoming very   
   difficult to find.   
      [Entry by David Damerell and Rob Kelk]   
      
      SAINT TAIL (a.k.a. THE MYSTERIOUS THIEF SAINT TAIL): During the day,   
   she is Haneoka Meimi, at St. Paulia school, but when there is a need,   
   during the night she turns into the Magical Girl Saint Tail, with the   
   help of her friend and classmate Seira, who is a nun in training and is   
   the only person that knows the identity of Saint Tail.  Help to steal   
   precious objects, but with the objective to return them to their   
   rightful owners after being stolen by unscrupulous persons.  Saint Tail   
   is chased by Daiki Asuka (Asuka Jr.) who has the mission to catch and   
   discover the real identity of Saint Tail, and also is Meimi's classmate.   
   As part of a private deal between Saint Tail and Asuka Jr., she must   
   tell the young detective when her next attack will occur.   
      Saint Tail is not the normal magical girl, since must of her tricks   
   evolve between illusionism and magician tricks, many of them taken from   
   her father's skills as a professional magician, but is a nice and fun   
   show, with character development and cute romantic moments.   
      SAINT TAIL comprises 43 episodes and are available on DVD from   
   TokyoPop.   
      [Entry by Gerardo Campos de León]   
      
      SAMURAI X:  see RUROUNI KENSHIN   
      
      SAZAN EYES:  see 3x3 EYES   
      
      SECRET OF BLUE WATER:  see NADIA   
      
      SEIKAI NO MONSHOU:  see CREST OF THE STARS   
      
      SERIAL EXPERIMENTS LAIN:  Lain is a shy junior-high girl living in   
   a seemingly normal, not too very far in the future world.  And yet,   
   strange things keep happening.  A classmate commits suicide by jumping   
   off a building ... and the next day, several people receive e-mail   
   from her.  Lain's parents don't behave as you would expect.  Lain   
   starts to become interested in computers and quite naturally and   
   easily demonstrates startling aptitude for them using them and "the   
   wired" - the Internet of her day.  But the real truth of who Lain is   
   will be even more startling yet.  A trippy, surreal, confusing and in   
   my opinion very interesting series.  Decent art and animation.   
   Occasional gore, though very little actual violence.  13 Episodes.   
   From Pioneer Entertainment.   
      [Entry by Ben Cantrick]   
      
      SHIN SEIKI EVANGELION:  see NEON GENESIS EVANGELION   
      
      SHIN TENCHI MUYO:  see TENCHI IN TOKYO   
      
      SHINESMAN: SPECIAL DUTY COMBAT UNIT:  They're a team of   
   superheroes, just like the Power Rangers, except for one little   
   difference:  Most of them don't quite understand what a "sentai" team   
   is supposed to act like.  But that's what happens when the team is   
   corporately funded, and made up of various mid-level office workers   
   (and an OL as the requisite token female) ...   
      AnimeWorks has released both OAVs on one tape.  Both the sub and   
   the dub have their strong points - the dub has some funny one-liners   
   in the dialogue, while the sub makes it quite easy to identify the   
   voice actors - they're given characters with the same family names.   
      [Entry by Rob Kelk]   
      
      SHOUJO KAKUMEI UTENA:  see UTENA   
      
      SILENT MOBIUS: THE MOTION PICTURE and SILENT MOBIUS: THE MOTION   
   PICTURE 2:  Based on the popular manga series by Kia Asamiya, Silent   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)