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      NO NEED FOR TENCHI:  see TENCHI MUYO   
      
      NOIR:  NOIR is a 26 episode TV series about two female assassins,   
   and their search to uncover the conspiracy that threatens their lives.   
   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, off-screen   
   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):  A young woman just   
   starting her first job has a bit of an identity crisis and decides to   
   travel to the country in search of happiness, and possibly romance.   
   Interwoven between the lovely scenic shots of rural Japan are flashbacks   
   to the woman's childhood.  Looking back at her past, the young woman   
   wonders why these memories are so important to her, and what relevance   
   they have to the present, and the future.   
      [Entry by Dot Warner]   
      
      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 Dave Baranyi]   
      
      ONEGAI TEACHER! (a.k.a. PLEASE TEACHER!):  Kei Kusanagi seems like an   
   ordinary 15 year old, however he's got an extremely rare condition where   
   his body goes into a "standstill" when he's under extreme pressure.  One   
   night while stargazing, he witnesses a shooting star that seems to be   
   more than just interstellar crud entering Earth's atmosphere.  All of   
   the sudden, a mysterious woman appears before him.  Later, his new   
   teacher definitely looks like the mysterious woman, but how can he   
   explain it without looking like a looney.   
      When he helps her move into her new apartment, he discovers the   
   truth, she is an alien, well, half-alien.  One of her parents was from   
   earth, and she was then ordered to observe Earth by the Galactic   
   Federation.  During a time when her ship computer went wonky, she & Kei   
   were trapped in the gym supplies shed at the school.  After the   
   Principal ended up letting them out, Kei ends up marrying her, so that   
   she can keep her job,  so that she can stay on Earth, and not have to   
   report this as a failure.  However, since a marriage between a student   
   and a teacher is very dangerous, they must now keep the marriage a   
   secret.  What's a boy to do when he's married to a gorgeous teacher and   
   can't tell any of his friends?   
      Available in North America from Bandai.   
      [Entry by Bill Martin]   
      
      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 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   
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)