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   Mireille is a beautiful French professional assassin who is haunted by   
   a childhood tragedy.  Kirika is a Japanese schoolgirl with deadly   
   skills and no memory of her past.  The series takes place in   
   France/Europe, and features a stunning soundtrack, stylish gunplay, a   
   twisting plot, and lots of bodies at the end of each episode.  Despite   
   this, the series isn't graphically violent - the fight scenes usually   
   don't even have blood in them!   
      The series has received raves for being daring and different, as   
   the two main characters willingly kill lots of people (this isn't   
   SAILOR MOON, folks) with minimal angst.  The main complaints are that   
   the pacing is too slow and the show suffers from "main characters gun   
   down bad guys too easily" syndrome.  The pacing and tension do pick up   
   as the series progresses, with a solid ending that asks whether   
   killing can ever be justified in the name of good.  Some people   
   dislike the main characters, due to their seeming coldness, but NOIR   
   has good character development so that you care about these people to   
   a surprising extent in the end.   
      Warning:  If you're looking for fan service, the show is   
   surprisingly free of it, considering what a babe Mireille is.  C'est   
   dommage.   
      Licenced by ADV.   
      [Entry by Scott Fujimoto]   
      
      NOW AND THEN, HERE AND THERE:  Shu is an ordinary, cheerful Japanese   
   boy until one day when he meets a mysterious, ethereal girl named Lala   
   Ru and is accidentally brought to a hellish future.  There he must   
   struggle to survive and keep his ideals through slavery, war, and the   
   tyranny of an insane would-be conqueror.  A deep and powerful but   
   extremely depressing show, which goes into some detail about the inhuman   
   brutality created by war.  Definitely not for children, as there are   
   onscreen depictions of torture, some fairly graphic deaths, rape and   
   other nastiness.  13 episodes, available now from Central Park Media.   
      [Entry by Blade]   
      
      NUKU-NUKU:  see ALL PURPOSE CULTURAL CAT-GIRL NUKU-NUKU   
      
   O   
      
      OH MY GODDESS!:  Keiichi is visited by the lovely goddess   
   Belldandy, who grants him a wish.  He wishes that she become his   
   girlfriend.  Her older sister wants their relationship to progress   
   faster, while her younger sister is dead-set against it.  But why does   
   Belldandy resist them both, insisting that promises must be kept?   
   Based loosely on the manga AH MEGAMI-SAMA by Fujishima Kosuke.   
      The original five-episode OAV series is available from AnimEigo.   
   The manga is available from Dark Horse.   
      (See also AH MY GODDESS! and ADVENTURES OF THE MINI-GODDESSES.)   
      [Entry by Rob Kelk]   
      
      OMISHI MAGICAL THEATER: RISKY SAFETY:  This quiet show is the story   
   of an apprentice shinigami (almost, but not quite, a "personification of   
   Death") named Risky, an apprentice angel named Safety, and a junior-high   
   schoolgirl named Moé who becomes caught up in the destiny of the two   
   supernatural beings.  Risky and Safety have conflicting personalities   
   and conflicting orders from their superiors, and usually work at   
   cross-purposes, which is awkward for them because (for a reason   
   explained halfway through the series) they share the same body.  But   
   when something goes terribly wrong with their corner of the world, they   
   have to decide whether they can work together to set things right ...   
      This is a 24-episode series from the pen of Rei Omishi (the creator   
   of SORCEROR HUNTERS), with each episode being ten minutes long including   
   credits.  It's a twist on the usual "coming of age" story so popular in   
   Japan - the supernatural beings do have an effect on the humans they   
   meet, but the humans have an even greater effect on Risky and Safety.   
   The story takes quite a while to build to the climax, but despite   
   appearances none of the episodes are "filler".   
      Available in North America on three DVDs from AN Entertainment.   
      [Entry by Rob Kelk]   
      
      OMOIDE POROPORO (English title ONLY YESTERDAY):  Contemporary   
   sentimental drama about a yuppie Japanese woman looking back at her   
   youth and life-choices, brilliantly animated by Miyazaki pro Isao   
   Takahata.  Talky, actionless, and stunningly beautiful.  Licenced by   
   Disney.   
      
      ONE PIECE:  This is a grand shounen adventure saga, with humor,   
   action, drama and great characters.  It's based upon a long running   
   and very popular shounen manga.  The anime is well over a hundred   
   episodes and stays amazingly fresh and imaginative.   
      In a strange world of pirates, that is sort of a funky mix of 17th   
   Century Spanish Main and today, Luffy, a teen who has eaten seeds of a   
   cursed rubber plant, has become a "rubber boy", with super powers.   
   Which is useful, because he wants to be the king of all pirates in   
   this world and find the greatest pirate treasure of all time, the "One   
   Piece".  Luffy collects a strange band of associates and they explore   
   this very baroque world, helping many folks in need (mainly by   
   fighting the real pirates), but not actually pirating.   
      Licenced by FUNimation.   
      [Entry by Anthony D. Baranyi]   
      
      ONIISAMA E (a.k.a. BROTHER, DEAR BROTHER):  Teenage Misonoo Nanako   
   enters an exclusive private high school, makes new friends, and is   
   quickly picked to join a snooty sorority.  She is quickly caught up in   
   the emotional whirlwind of the passionate and unstable personalities   
   of her female classmates:  Miya-sama, the wealthy, beautiful, and   
   ruthless sorority president; Saint-Juste, a brilliant pianist, but   
   prone to depression and fits of self-destructive violence; the boyish   
   basketball player Kaoru no Kimi, smart and ethically clear-sighted,   
   but subject to a mysterious illness, and troubled by an undisclosed   
   romantic sorrow; and the beautiful, fiercely loyal, but unstable and   
   obsessed Mariko, the despised daughter of a wealthy writer of   
   pornography.  With innocent Nanako in the middle, the fragile truce   
   between the other girls begins to break down, and Nanako is carried   
   with them into a destructive maelstrom of passion, madness, and   
   unrequited love.   
      This is the dark side of shoujo, much darker than author Ikeda   
   Riyoko's best known work, ROSE OF VERSAILLES.  It is gothic and   
   atmospheric, dramatic bordering on melodramatic, and includes sexual   
   stalking, graphic physical violence, multiple suicide attempts, drug   
   abuse, and lesbian homoeroticism.  It is deadly serious, with scarcely   
   a trace of humor, and as the story passes the midpoint of its 40 TV   
   episodes, it becomes unbearably intense.  It is not for everyone, and   
   may appeal to women more than men.  Like it or hate it, you will never   
   forget it.  It has an outstanding score, which reinforces the show's   
   emotional tone.  Available only as fansubs of the first 28 episodes;   
   even the original Japanese edition is no longer in print.   
      [Entry by Slithy Tove]   
      
      ORANGE ROAD:  see KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD   
      
      OUTLAW STAR:  The first show in Sunrise's "Toward Stars" universe,   
   OUTLAW STAR is an old-fashioned space opera writ large.  Gene   
   Starwind, a big fish in the small pond of his home planet, is thrust   
   into a conflict between the Space Forces, the galactic pirates, and   
   the "outlaws" who owe allegiance to neither side as they all try to   
   reach the Galactic Leyline.  Helping Gene are his young partner Jim   
   Hawking, the lovely Melfina, and others who come and go from the plot.   
   If you like "pulp"-era science fiction, you'll like this show.   
      OUTLAW STAR is available uncut on VHS and DVD from Bandai in North   
   America, and an edited version of most of the series has been shown on   
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)