[continued from previous message]   
      
   it shouldn't be too hard to notice someone in a club that only has   
   five members, even if it is a club for people who can actually cast   
   spells (although the rest of the school thinks it's for people who   
   practice stage magic).   
      Despite the alien and the magic, this is a coming-of-age story   
   about five unusual teenagers, told with compassion and humour.   
      Six OAVs and a sequel TV series (which actually *is* a sequel   
   instead of being a remake), translated by Anime Works.   
      [Entry by Rob Kelk]   
      
      MAISON IKKOKU:  No aliens, demons, magic hot springs, or mermaids   
   here, just Godai and his ever-thwarted love for Kyoto.  Perhaps Rumiko   
   Takahashi's finest pure romantic comedy of errors.  Available from Viz   
   Video.   
      [Entry by Rob Maxwell]   
      
      MAMONO HUNTER YOHKO:  see DEVIL HUNTER YOHKO   
      
      MARIS THE CHOJO (a.k.a. SUPERGIRL MARIS):  Unlike the other "Rumik   
   World" stories by Rumiko Takahashi that have been turned into anime,   
   this OAV is not at all serious.  Maris is a super-strong   
   troubleshooter who just can't stay out of debt.  (She dreams of   
   getting rich, or at least breaking even, but fate conspires against   
   her.)  One day, she's assigned to track down the kidnappers of one of   
   the richest eligible bachelors in the galaxy...  This OAV is one of   
   the few anime to have a Jackie-Chan-style "blooper reel" under the   
   ending credits.  Was available from USMC.   
      [Entry by Rob Kelk]   
      
      MARMALADE BOY:  Miki is your typical teenage anime girl, popular in   
   school, star of the girls' tennis team, happy with her life.  Until   
   the day she came home from school and her parents told her they are   
   divorcing.  Not just divorcing, but also swapping partners with   
   another couple they met on their recent vacation.  And this is just   
   the first 5 minutes of episode 1!  Based on the manga by Yoshizumi   
   Wataru, Marmalade Boy follows Miki, Yu, the teenage son of the other   
   couple in the partner-swap, Meiko, Miki's best friend, Ginta, Miki's   
   tennis teammate, Arimi, with her ever-present group of male followers,   
   Suzu, famous teen model, and others through 76 episodes of high school   
   romantic comedy/drama that often has viewers semi-suicidal with its   
   unexpected plot twists and turns.   
      Licenced by Tokyopop.   
      [Entry by Jeanne Hedge]   
      
      MARTIAN SUCCESSOR NADESICO (a.k.a. MOBILE BATTLESHIP NADESICO):   
   Aliens attacking Martian colonies.  Dead parents leaving orphaned   
   children to defend themselves.  Doesn’t sound funny does it?  How about   
   a mech pilot who keeps hiding from the fights so he can cook?  A Cyber   
   girl with a deep depression?  An anime fanatic who screams battle cries   
   from his favorite anime?  It all makes NADESICO one of the funniest   
   anime around.  There are even some good spoofs on just about every type   
   of fan.  Anime, manga, and even action figure collectors are not spared.   
   Stereotypes are used to enhance the humor and not because the writer was   
   lazy.  A space comedy of the best kind.  Available from ADV Films.   
      [Entry by Shawn Granger, edited by Rob Kelk]   
      
      MASTER OF MOSQUITON:  (OVA, 6 episodes)  This dark comedy set in   
   the 1920s follows the adventures of 17 year old girl named Inaho   
   Hitomebore who continues her now two year search for immortality via a   
   device known as the Opar assisted by the vampire (Alucard von   
   Mosquiton) she has awakened and his two elemental servents Honoo   
   (Fire) and Yuki (Ice).  Complicating her search is Gregoria Rasputin   
   who assisted by Mosquiton's old foe Sangermaine want to use the Opar   
   as a weapon against the Star Lords, and former wife Camille Inaho   
   Camilla who just wants Mosquiton.   
      The OVA is full of little references that fans of 30s' and 40s'   
   horror fans will quickly get (for example Alucard is one of the alias   
   often used by Dracula in films of the period)  The OVA inspired a TV   
   series called MOSQUITON '99 which is set in 1999 and has Inaho after   
   the Opar for monetary gain rather than immortality.   
      The OVA series is produced on three VHS tapes by ADV Films while   
   the TV series only exists as fansubs.   
      [Entry by Bruce Grubb]   
      
      MEGAZONE 23:  MEGAZONE TWO THREE is a three part mecha anime OAV   
   series (with some cyberpunk overtones).  Part One was one of the first   
   anime OAVs ever, and helped spark the OAV trend (in which movies were   
   made directly for video release, instead of first hitting TV or   
   cinema).  Although the MEGAZONE OAVs are numbered Parts One, Two, and   
   Three, they were actually entirely separate productions, related but   
   released several years apart (like the first STAR WARS trilogy).   
      In Part One (aka just plain MEGAZONE 23), a Tokyo teen named Yahagi   
   Shogo (inexplicably changed to "Johnny Winter" in the Carl Macek dub)   
   comes into posession of a huge red motorcycle called variously the   
   Garland, Garand, or Bahamode depending on what source you listen to,   
   and is chased all over town by the military and government agents who   
   want to get it back for their own nefarious purposes.  In the   
   meantime, there is a war going on with a hostile alien force, and the   
   city of Tokyo is not all that it appears to be...   
      This OAV was redubbed and edited into part of the spectacularly   
   unsuccessful ROBOTECH cinematic movie, and has more recently been   
   released to bilingual DVD by Streamline Video.   
      Part Two picks up where the first part left off, but with character   
   designs and animation style so dramatically altered that it is   
   difficult to believe they are the same characters.  This OAV follows   
   the decline and final fall of the Tokyo Megazone as an ancient weapon   
   of last resort comes into play.  Bootlegs of a Macek English dub with   
   Japanese subtitles can occasionally be found.   
      Part Three, the most cyberpunk-influenced, picks up decades or   
   centuries later, with a new generation of rebellious teenagers and new   
   Garland battle bikes piloted by virtual reality.  It is somewhat   
   difficult to understand the storyline of this part, as no official   
   English version was ever made (and even fansubs are nearly impossible   
   to find), but it seems that mankind did not learn its lesson from the   
   Megazones' past.   
      The third MEGAZONE 23 was not very successful, and no further   
   episodes have been made to date.   
      [Entry by Chris Meadows]   
      
      MELLOWLINK:  See the entry for VOTOMS.   
      
      MERMAID FOREST and MERMAID SCAR:  Horror stories released in Japan   
   as part of the "Rumik World" series by Rumiko Takahashi.  Most people   
   who eat the flesh of a mermaid die.  The unlucky ones live forever,   
   most becoming horrendously malformed in the process of gaining   
   immortality.  Two people were lucky enough to gain immortality without   
   being changed.  Now they wander through Japan, searching for others   
   who might eat the flesh of a mermaid...   
      USMC and Viz have released the OAVs, and Viz has collected the   
   translated manga into three volumes.   
      [Entry by Rob Kelk]   
      
      METAL ANGEL MARIE:  see MY DEAR MARIE   
      
      MIGHTY ATOM:  see ASTRO BOY   
      
      MOBILE BATTLESHIP NADESICO:  see MARTIAN SUCCESSOR NADESICO   
      
      MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM:  see GUNDAM   
      
      MOLDIVER:  He has an overdeveloped Sense Of Right And Wrong, an   
   incredible brain, and not much else to recommend him.  So he invents a   
   superhero suit!  Too bad his sister found out and accidentally changed   
   the design...  Now they share the identity of "Moldiver" (although she   
   gets to use it more often than he does) in battle against their   
   arch-enemy - but is the arch-enemy evil, or just misunderstood?   
   Starts as a comedy, but becomes more serious near the end.  A six-OAV   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)