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   little girl who claims to be an android.  Raised by a scientist in a   
   small town, she is forced to strike out on her own when he dies.  His   
   dying words to her are a puzzling "In order to make yourself a real   
   girl, you must make 30,000 friends."  But things only get stranger   
   from there.  Who is the evil Ajo and his henchman "D"?  Why are they   
   interested in Key?  Is Key really an android?  Decent art and   
   animation.  Subbed and dubbed.  13 episodes.  From Viz.   
      [Entry by Ben Cantrick]   
      
      KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE:  Kiki, a 13-year-old witch, leaves her   
   home and family as a rite of passage, and finds a new city in which to   
   live and practice her craft.  She is given a place to live by a   
   friendly woman baker, and finding she has no special skills with which   
   to support herself, decides to use her ability to fly on her broom to   
   run a parcel delivery service.  Kiki and her black cat, Jiji, have   
   many adventures and a few disasters as they explore their new city,   
   grow up, and find their place in the world.  A boy her own age named   
   Tombo offers his friendship, and an older girl artist named Ursula   
   becomes a mentor and confidant.  As the story progresses, Kiki matures   
   from a sometimes callow and uncertain girl into a resilient and   
   capable young woman.  A crisis of confidence in her witchy powers   
   leads to the film's intense and satisfying conclusion.   
      KIKI is a gentle work, devoid of the battles and violence that mark   
   many of Miyazaki's other films.  Like much other anime, it's a story   
   of growing up, of a teenager learning how deal with life's challenges   
   and setbacks, and becoming an adult in the process.  For a non-action   
   film, there's a fair amount of action, often involving Kiki's antics   
   and accidents while flying on her broom, and director Hayao Miyazaki,   
   who loves airships of all kinds, even manages to drag in a dirigible   
   near the end.  The works of Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli are   
   generally considered to be among the finest anime, and KIKI is no   
   exception.  This a famous and much-loved film, and you should make a   
   point to seek it out.   
      Content advisory:  nothing offensive.  Running time:  102 minutes.   
      KIKI is available in the US from Disney/Buena Vista on DVD.   
      [Entry by Slithy Tove]   
      
      KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD:  A TV series, many OAVs, and a movie.   
   Contemporary high school students work out their love triangles and   
   try to grow up, even though one has ESP "powers".  A kindly, comic   
   look at the youth experience, relatively easy to understand.   
   Available from AnimEigo.   
      
      KIMBA THE WHITE LION:  Another old US import from the pen of Osamu   
   Tezuka originally titled JUNGLE TAITEI (Emperor).  Note any similarity   
   to Disney's "Lion King"?   
      
      KINO'S JOURNEY:  A quietly nihilistic series that makes for a nice   
   contrast with the large number of colourful and perky series out there,   
   KINO'S JOURNEY tells the story of a young wanderer and a robotic   
   motorcycle who journey through various countries, staying no more than   
   three days at a time.  Many of the countries and individuals encountered   
   either engage in self-destructive behaviour or have ugly aspirations.   
   Kino, while largely a moral agent, at times skirts the line of amorality   
   in just drifting through these situations.   
      This is a fascinating series with solid storytelling that's chock   
   full of black humour, irony, surrealism and cynicism.  Despite the   
   general downbeat nature of this series, there's a undercurrent of   
   happiness to it (not a little of which is embodied in the very laid-back   
   Kino).   
      Available in North America from ADV Films.   
      [Entry by Michael Lo]   
      
      KISHIN HEIDAN (a.k.a. KISHIN CORPS or GEO-ARMOR):  An interesting   
   admixture of World War II, an Alien invasion, and the giant robots   
   captured alien technology makes possible.  Fast-paced adventure,   
   available from Geneon dubbed or subtitled.   
      
      KODOMO NO OMOCHA (aka KODOCHA; CHILD'S TOY):  Sana Kurata is a   
   child actress renowned for her hyperactivity and her role on the TV   
   show of the title (yes, a show within a show; cute, innit?), and is   
   the adopted daughter of the eccentric author Mariko Kurata.  Despite   
   her stardom, she still goes to a non-exclusive school, in which her   
   class is terrorized by a bully named Akito Hayama, a cold and quiet   
   boy who manages to rally the other boys around him and make the class   
   hell for the teacher.  When Sana decides enough is enough and stands   
   up to him to try to get him to stop, she discovers just how troubled   
   he and his life actually are, and eventually goes from enemy to   
   friend ... or is it even more?   
      Zany comedy and very touching drama exist side by side in KODOCHA's   
   shoujo frame, and it still manages to work very well.  While the TV   
   series still hasn't been announced as licensed yet (and it's hard to   
   say if it ever will, since it's over 100 episodes long and its pace   
   and puns make it difficult to translate), TOKYOPOP is now releasing   
   Miho Obana's manga under the name KODOCHA.   
      [Entry by David Watson]   
      
      KOKO WA GREENWOOD:  see HERE IS GREENWOOD   
      
   L   
      
      LAIN:  see SERIAL EXPERIMENTS LAIN   
      
      LANDLOCK:  Firstly, this is *not* a Shirow story.  It merely uses   
   some character designs.  A typical brother and sister eventually find   
   that they have more to them than meets the eye.  Or two eyes; each one   
   a different colour!  This story is a typical quest to save the world   
   against insurmountable odds and evil mentors.  Available from Manga   
   Video.   
      [Entry by Chika]   
      
      LAPUTA, CASTLE IN THE SKY:  A great fast-moving action adventure   
   by children's film-maker Miyazaki, and features designs Jules Verne   
   would approve (not to mention Swift.)  Two kids flee pirates, the   
   army, and other parties in a race to find the legendary Laputa.  Great   
   soundtrack, too.  A Must See.   
      [Dubbed to English by Streamline, and again by Disney - the latter   
   is available on DVD in North America.  - Rob Kelk]   
      
      LAST EXILE:  A steampunk Sci-Fi/fantasy epic, this is a lavishly   
   beautiful series that once again has a strong director who restrains the   
   worst inclinations of Studio Gonzo.  Set in an alien environment of   
   islands floating in the sky, the main characters of this world are a   
   pair of impoverished orphans who dream of crossing the boundary of the   
   world but wind up caught in the middle of a war for control over a key   
   to immense power.  With more than a few nods to old Miyazaki features   
   involving flight, this is series look at a world that's in the early   
   stages of an Industrial Revolution in the shadow of a futuristically   
   advanced political faction.   
      LAST EXILE treats the "punk" in steampunk as more than just a token   
   word as it looks hard at the idea of chivalry in battle and the schism   
   between the elite nobility and the working poor while staying tight with   
   the story.  The series often carries itself in a larger than life way,   
   especially with the bombastic military march music and grandiose "ship   
   of the line" battles, but it also takes the time to flesh out the   
   characters and peer into their microscopic stories behind the macrosm of   
   the great war and power plays.  Also, one of the major characters gets   
   time by herself, and the animation sequences involving that are strongly   
   reminscent of ones seen in old Disney shorts.   
      This is a beautiful series that strings together a lot of strong   
   moments and doesn't rely on its considerable visual flash.  It may be a   
   shonen adventure, but like KALEIDO STAR it doesn't exclusively pander to   
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)