[continued from previous message]   
      
   blending of shounen action and shoujo romance pioneered by ESCAFLOWNE of   
   any recent series, although there are some moments when the plot could   
   do with tightening up a little - overall, however, LAST EXILE is an epic   
   adventure that should appeal to most audiences.   
      Available on Region 1 DVD from Geneon, in Australia from Madman, and   
   forthcoming from ADV in UK Region 2.   
      [Entry by Andrew Hollingbury]   
      
      LAUGHING TARGET:  Taken from the "Rumik World" series of short   
   stories, this horror story concerns Yuzuru, who has a childhood   
   sweetheart.  When this girl, Azusa (bethrothed to him as a young boy),   
   returns to his life, strange things start to happen, especially to   
   Yuzuru's current squeeze.  When people start dying and Yuzuru's   
   girlfriend is threatened, Yuzuru has to start to find out about Azusa's   
   past and make some unpleasant decisions.  Was available from USMC.   
      [Entry by Chika]   
      
      LEGEND OF BLACK HEAVEN (a.k.a. KACHOU OOJI):  On the outside, Ooji   
   appears to be a typical Japanese middle-aged middle manager; married to   
   a wife who wants a home of their own, father of a son who wants Dad's   
   attention, working for a boss who just wants things to run smoothly, and   
   so on.  But things were not always this way, and years before Ooji was   
   the lead guitarist in a fairly successful rock band, and the urge to   
   look back and remember is never far away.  Things come to a head when   
   Ooji's wife throws out his old guitar and Ooji becomes despondent over   
   the loss of this final symbol of his youth.  But then a mysterious and   
   beautiful new colleague tempts Ooji with a new guitar and a chance to   
   play.  Ooji is lead off as if in a trance and finds a chance to release   
   his soul through his music.  But there is a very odd catch to this   
   bargain - Ooji's music is the source of power for the weapons of one   
   side of an interstellar war that is going on unbeknownst to Humanity,   
   and soon the very existence of the Earth depends upon Ooji and his   
   ability to play.  This story of a mid-life crisis that turns into a   
   sci-fi adventure is simultaneously funny and poignant and is definitely   
   for the "older" fan who may well also find himself "looking for his old   
   guitar" from time-to-time.   
      Available in North America from Geneon.   
      [Entry by Dave Baranyi]   
      
      LEGEND OF GALACTIC HEROES:  A far-future SF epic in which two vast   
   space-faring governments, the Empire and the Federation, vie for   
   supremacy amid the sea of stars.  Against this backdrop two young   
   heroes on the opposing sides wage war with each other and politics   
   with their peers.   
      
      LENSMAN:  Loosely based around the E.E. "Doc" Smith stories, an   
   ex-patrolman suddenly finds his planet being ripped apart, but all is   
   not lost!  His son inherits a "lens", which because of the nature of   
   the info on it, the enemy would really like back, hence its destruction   
   of the planet and relentless pursuit of the boy from that point onwards   
   through all sorts of weird scenarios.  However, he gathers allies on the   
   way, so the enemy doesn't get it all its own way...   
      [Entry by Chika]   
      [Chika is understating matters - this anime uses little more than   
   some of the names from the original series of novels.  It isn't a bad   
   story, but don't expect it to be anything like "Doc" Smith's   
   masterpiece.  Lensman was available dubbed from Streamline when   
   Streamline was still in business.   - Rob Kelk]   
      
      LOCKE THE SUPERMAN:  An intergalactically famous superbeing lured   
   out of voluntary seclusion helps save Earth from a group of elite   
   ESPers bent on galactic conquest.  The design sense is rather   
   primitive but the story line is lean, exciting and propulsive,   
   revolving around the title character, a powerful female ESPer, and an   
   evil conclave.  Admittedly, these are simple premises, but the action   
   & storytelling are first-rate.   
      
      LODOSS WAR:  see RECORD OF LODOSS WAR   
      
      LOST UNIVERSE:  Lost Universe is done by all the same people who   
   did SLAYERS, and it's pretty much SLAYERS in outer space.  It's a   
   Sci-Fi comedy which follows the adventures of Kain Blueriver, a   
   psychic troubleshooter that hires himself out to solve problems and   
   looks like he could be the child of Lina and Gourry, and his ship the   
   Swordbreaker, which is one of the lost ships belonging to a highly   
   advanced lost civilization.  Joining him is Canal, the holographic   
   image which the ship projects to communicate, and Millie, a dead shot   
   who blows up kitchens cooking and wants to become the best something   
   or other in the Universe (exactly what changes with every episode).   
   Despite some not so great animation, those fuzzy dots that move around   
   are not because of a bad TV, the series is an enjoyable comedy done in   
   SLAYERS fashion, and although it doesn't quite live up to its parent   
   anime it's the closest thing out there to a fourth season of SLAYERS   
   right now.  Available from ADV Films.   
      [Entry by "Sultan Of Swing"]   
      
      LOUIE THE RUNE SOLDIER:  see RUNE SOLDIER   
      
      LOVE YOU BABY:  see AISHITERU ZE BEIBE   
      
      LOVE HINA:  Keitaro Urashima, a 20 year old "ronin" (student who   
   has failed his university entrance exams) gets a job as the caretaker   
   at his grandmother's old hot springs inn.  What he doesn't know is   
   that she has turned it into a girls-only dorm.  The girls aren't   
   pleased at first to have him there, but eventually accept him, and   
   Keitaro starts to fall in love with one of the girls, named Naru.  But   
   Keitaro is haunted by the vague memories of having promised, when he   
   was young, to go to Tokyo U with a girl whose name he has since   
   forgotten.   
      What develops is a romantic comedy, with a fair amount of surreal   
   humor, and a number of fun, memorable characters.  This was a big, big   
   hit in Japan.  Non-Japanese fans of the manga version tend to have   
   real problems with the anime version since it varies a lot from the   
   manga.  I saw the anime first, then read the manga, and tend to like   
   the anime more.   
      Available from Bandai in North America, or Madman in Australia.   
      [Entry by Anthony D. Baranyi]   
      
      LUPIN III:  Gentleman (err, mostly) thief, international man of   
   mystery, exquisite lover (but only in his dreams), Lupin III decides to   
   make a career out of flashy crimes and ridiculous car chases.  The   
   grandson of the infamous Arsene Lupin (without LeBlanc's consent,   
   unfortunately, leading to a bit of a tiff in which the English   
   translations temporarily went under the title of "Rupan"), Lupin travels   
   the world in search of the next big score while being hounded by   
   Inspector Zenigata of Interpol.  His companions are the sharp-shooting   
   Jigen, the noble Goemon, and the occasionally back-stabbing Fujiko, whom   
   Lupin never quite manages to score with.  The quality of the TV series   
   is rather subpar; the OAVs and films are better, but most of them have   
   aged pretty poorly.  Personally, I find it a fun throwback to the 70's   
   "mod" style.   
      Parental Advisories:  Moderate violence (for comedic effect), implied   
   adult situations, and lots of (interrupted) Fujiko beddings   
      [Entry by Dot Warner]   
      
      
   (continued in Part 4)   
   --   
   Rob Kelk  robkelk -at- gmail -dot- com   
     "I'm *not* a kid!  Nyyyeaaah!"  - Skuld (in "Oh My Goddess!" OAV #3)   
   "When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of   
    childishness and the desire to be very grown-up."    - C.S. Lewis, 1947   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)