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himself stowed away on a ship that is captured by the women and
subsequently cast into deep space by a missile, he and a few others must
learn to work together to return without killing each other in the
process.
The series is fraught with wonderful CGI scenes where the man's
mecha-inspired Vanguard fighter merges with the women's
jet-fighter-inspired Dread units to create extremely powerful fighters.
On top of this the sexual tension of two cultures that have never before
encountered each other and so have no concept of "relations" between the
sexes is hilarious to watch.
Available from Geneon.
[Entry by Charlie Smith]
VENUS WARS: A group of racers on Venus and a reporter from Earth
are caught up in the war for the dominance of Venus. A dark film from
the "sand in my spacesuit" view of the future which sees the racers
being turned from a group of stunt racers who defeat a tank by sheer
fluke to hard fighting riders who become instrumental in the war's
conclusion. Available from USMC.
[Entry by Chika]
VIDEO GIRL AI: Youta Moteuchi has a crush on his schoolmate, Moemi
Hayakawa, but she has feelings for his best friend, Takeshi Niimai.
Since Youta is too nice for his own good, he tries to get the two of
them together, despite how sad it makes him. A mysterious new video
store called Gokuraku appears on Youta's path home, and he winds up
renting an adult video entitled "Ai Amano - I'll Cheer You Up." When
he plays it on his defective VCR, Ai pops out of the TV screen into
his life, and promises to help him square things away with Moemi.
There was one thing she hadn't counted on, however: Amongst other
flaws, the broken VCR caused her to eventually fall in love with
Youta, which is forbidden for Video Girls, and causes heartbreaking
complications for both of them. A six-OVA series based on the popular
manga by Masakazu Katsura (who had previously distinguished himself
with WINGMAN). Available domestically from Viz Video, but beware the
over-massaged, over-localized translations, especially in the dub.
[Entry by David Watson]
THE VISION OF ESCAFLOWNE: A sixteen year old girl, Hitomi, who is
magically transported to the land of Gaia, is embroiled in a battle
with the evil Zaibach empire, bent on manipulating destiny. She aids
the boy king Van Fanel, who pilots the mecha Escaflowne, the alluring
knight Allen Schezar, the cat-girl Merle and the willful Princess
Millerna as she discovers latent psychic powers which may be key to
the fate of Gaia. This 26 episode series mixes romance, magic, mecha
and plot in a pacy, beguiling mix, with above average TV animation and
a musical score widely regarded as one of the best in anime. The dub
is either loved or loathed.
Licensed by Bandai in North America - a commercial subtitle,
unedited and cut (Fox Kids) dub are available on VHS, with the DVDs
containing uncut subtitle and dub. In Australia, ESCAFLOWNE has been
released by Madman.
[Entry by Andrew Hollingbury]
VOTOMS: Old TV series of post-WWIII world. The army controls the
world with their mecha, but not everyone goes along. MELLOWLINK is a
related series in the same universe (set before VOTOMS, made after.)
VOTOMS has been licensed by USMC.
W
WAR IN THE POCKET: see GUNDAM
WEATHERING CONTINENT: A sword and sorcery tale in a land fallen to
ruin. Takes its time and tells a small story of three travelers with a
dark, spooky mood, well supported by a fine musical score.
A WIND NAMED AMNESIA: It happened suddenly. One minute all was as
it should be, the next... everyone on Earth had their memory wiped.
Language, social habit, everything. The story surrounds one boy, who
has been retrained to normality by another boy who escaped erasure by
the fact that he was linked to a computer in a radical new way.
Touring the devastation, he is accompanied by a woman who seems also
to have escaped erasure but will not say how. On their journey they
see what Man has made of himself since his memory was wiped, and view
the consequences, all of which leads to the ultimate questions; who
did it, and why? Available from USMC.
[Entry by Chika]
WINDARIA: A lovely fantasy story of two kingdoms at war, and how
that disturbs two pairs of lovers - one peasant, one royal. A
tragedy. Well worth the watch, IMHO. Nice music, too.
[Was available dubbed from Streamline Pictures while Streamline was
still in business. - Rob Kelk]
WINGS OF HONNEAMISE: See ROYAL SPACE FORCE.
WITCH HUNTER ROBIN: (review written after 15 episodes) In
recession-hit modern Japan, a mysterious group called "STN-J" hunts
and captures criminal magic-users. Into the group is transferred a
young woman named Sena Robin. Coming from Europe, she is dourly
dressed, has a mysterious background, and has powers similar to those
of the people the group hunts. The group could use some help, as
morale is low due to unspoken recent events and ineffective
management. Robin, a surprisingly sweet-tempered 15 year old despite
her harsh upbringing, has some learning to do before she can be of
much use. She may also be fronting for a faction opposed to STN-J.
And just what are STN-J doing with their witches after they are
captured?
The series has a very dark, foreboding, humorless feeling. It is
colored almost entirely in black, brown and gray, without even the
flashes of gleeful saturated color that come through in, for example,
HELLSING. The character cel animation is outstanding, with detailed,
naturalistic designs. Much of the grimy urban cityscape is rendered
in 3D CG. This works rather well - it's vastly better than, say,
VANDREAD, almost on par with HOSHI NO KOE, and blends well with the
cel animation. The writing is subtle and deft. We learn a lot about
the characters of the protagonists through their "normal" daily
interaction, without recourse to contrived explanatory dialog. Most
episodes are focused on dialog and investigation, actual violence is
brief and not especially graphic.
The first third of the series is deceptively episodic. As STN-J
struggles to track its targets the characters grow on us almost
unnoticed, until the second third of the series when the major
story-arc kicks in with a vengeance and the secrets of STN-J - and
Robin herself - begin to play out. This business of witches being
hunted down & killed recalls some bitter episodes in Western history,
and sets an expectation of extreme moral ambiguity upon which the
series is delivering well so far.
Recommended for those who like BLADE RUNNER, Lance Henrickson's
MILLENNIUM, or THE X-FILES. The alt-rock OP and ED by Bana and the
BGM are highly recommended also.
ROBIN, from Sunrise, started broadcast on TV Tokyo in July 2002.
Series website:
[Entry by D B Malmquist]
WITCH'S DELIVERY SERVICE: see KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE
X
Y
YOKOHAMA SHOPPING TRIP LOG (a.k.a. QUIET COUNTRY CAFE): This is a
four-volume OAV series based on the manga YOKOHAMA KAIDASHI KIKOU by
Hitoshi Ashinano. It is centred around the character of Alpha, a robot
who runs a coffee shop in the Japanese countryside many years after some
kind of apocalypse has caused the seas to rise and flood the coasts.
The world is in a slow peaceful decline with a much-reduced population
and houses and roads lie abandoned to Nature.
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--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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