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      [Entry by Robert Sneddon]   
      
      BRIGADOON:  Marin Asagi is an orphaned outcast living in a tenement   
   building in 60's Japan.  Her life changes when a mysterious glowing   
   world appears in the sky and a giant machine called a Monomakia falls   
   from the sky attempting to kill her - she is only saved by a blue   
   android called Melan Blue that she discovers concealed in a shrine.   
   Together Marin and Melan need to fend off the continuing Monomakia   
   attacks - but why are they after Marin, and why has this strange world -   
   called Brigadoon - appeared?   
      Brigadoon's deceptively cutesy exterior hides an extremely dark show   
   -   
   there seems to be no end to the amount of sorrow inflicted on Marin over   
   the course of the series.  This, plus some slight fanservice which may   
   put off some due to the characters being only 13, means Brigadoon has   
   become something of a niche show - however, it has a lot to recommend   
   it, from its stirring Celtic-influenced score to its excellent animation   
   (the Monomakia fights are particularly well done, and Marin isn't   
   totally passive either, a refreshing change for shows of this type) and   
   likeable characters, although the somewhat erratic switching from   
   hyperactive comedy to dark drama mitigates this somewhat.   
      Available in Region 1 from Tokyopop on 6 DVDs.   
      [entry by Andrew Hollingbury]   
      
      BROTHER, DEAR BROTHER:  see ONIISAMA E   
      
      BUBBLEGUM CRISIS:  A classic cyberpunk tale of a corporation gone   
   rotten and a group of hi-tech vigilantes that seek to bring the worse   
   elements and deeds of that corporation under control.   
      Mega-Tokyo is a corporate town built on and around the ruins of Tokyo   
   which was mostly destroyed some years before the story opens by an   
   earthquake.  The corporation that helped to rebuild the town is Genom, a   
   multi-national that, among other things, builds "Boomers".  These   
   robotic creatures are used for both good and evil, and where the latter   
   is involved, the Knight Sabers will tackle them, especially as their   
   leader, Sylia, has a past connection with these creatures.   
      Often praised for its musical content and some of the designs, the   
   show is seen as styled after the US movie "Blade Runner", and continues   
   to have a following many years after the show was completed, though it   
   has produced spin off shows including AD POLICE, BUBBLEGUM CRASH and   
   BUBBLEGUM CRISIS TOKYO 2040.   
      Available in the US from AnimEigo, in Australia from Madman.   
   Originally available from Anime Projects in the UK, now licenced to MVM.   
      [Entry by Chika]   
      
      BUBBLEGUM CRISIS TOKYO 2040:  BGC2040 is a 26-episode TV series   
   that "borrows" certain elements from the original BUBBLEGUM CRISIS,   
   but changes them enough to make it an alternative retelling of the   
   original story.  The basic concept is the same:  Four women use   
   powered armor to fight a secret war against renegade androids   
   (Boomers) and the shady corporation who makes them (Genom).  Some   
   things (such as Priss being a biker chick and singer of a rock band)   
   remain the same from the original series, but most other aspects are   
   completely different, ranging from the personalities of the characters   
   to the nature of the technology they use.  As a result, the show has a   
   different feel than its predecessor - at times it feels more like   
   EVANGELION than BLADE RUNNER.  Many (but not all) fans of the original   
   series dislike this show intensely.  Much of the criticism has to do   
   with certain plot twists that strike some as implausible.  However,   
   BGC2040 has its own fans as well.  It's probably best to judge the   
   show on its own, rather than comparing it against its famous   
   predecessor.  Available from ADV Films in North America, and Madman in   
   Australia.   
      [Entry by Scott Fujimoto]   
      
      BURN UP W:  Surrounding a group of specially selected (female)   
   police who, when called into action, display special skills (and a lot   
   more in those inevitable skin tight costumes!)  This series runs   
   through a number of side plots but is essentially concerned with an   
   underworld plot to control the minds of various powerful folk using an   
   addictive device.  Available from ADV Films in North America, and   
   Madman in Australia.   
      [Entry by Chika]   
      
   C   
      
      CAMPUS GUARDRESS:  see BAKUEN CAMPUS GUARDRESS   
      
      CARDCAPTOR SAKURA (a.k.a. CARDCAPTORS):  A sweet and charming   
   'magical girl' show by the popular CLAMP team, built on the framework   
   of a collectable card game.  4th grader Kinomoto Sakura accidentally   
   releases a number of magical cards from an ancient book. With the aid   
   of the cards' guardian, Keroberos, who appears as a winged toy bear,   
   and her adoring girlfriend Tomoyo, Sakura must recapture the cards and   
   return them to their book, using the captured cards' powers to help   
   her.  Complications ensue with the appearance of other seekers of the   
   cards.  CARDCAPTOR SAKURA is as much about the joys, vicissitudes and   
   perplexities of growing up, of what friendship really means, of how to   
   be brave in the face of danger, as it is about its frame story of the   
   chase after magical cards.  As with all CLAMP shows, the character and   
   costume designs are utterly charming, and as with all CLAMP shows,   
   there are hints of homoeroticism.   
      This show is commercially available in the US (from Geneon) in two   
   formats:  'Cardcaptor Sakura' has Japanese language and English   
   subtitles only, and has not been edited for content; 'Cardcaptors',   
   with an English dub only, is the version that was shown on American   
   TV, and is heavily edited.  Only the latter is available in Australia   
   (from Madman).   
      [Entry by Slithy Tove]   
      
      CARRIED BY THE WIND:  see TSUKIKAGE RAN   
      
      CASTLE IN THE SKY:  see LAPUTA   
      
      CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO:  see the entry for LUPIN III   
      
      CAT-GIRL NUKU-NUKU:  see ALL PURPOSE CULTURAL CAT-GIRL NUKU-NUKU   
      
      CHAR'S COUNTERATTACK:  see GUNDAM   
      
      CHARCOAL FEATHERS FEDERATION:  see HAIBANE RENMEI   
      
      A CHINESE GHOST STORY:  A naive tax collector is surprised to find   
   that he was assigned to work in the land of ghosts and spirits.  Too   
   late, he already fell in love with a beautiful ghost who wants to   
   harvest his soul for her mistress.  He can resist her spell and wins   
   her love, but now the two lovers find themselves in the middle of a   
   battle between the three best ghostbusters of the land.  Loosely based   
   on the same Chinese fairy tale as the popular live-action Hong Kong   
   movie of the same name.  Beautiful character design and 2D animation,   
   badly mixed with ugly, overdone 3D computer graphics that brings down   
   the overall experience.  Yet the great (very Chinese) humour and a   
   cute story save the film.   
      [Entry by Hanno Mueller]   
      
      CHOBITS:  Can a machine be alive?  Can it have a broken heart?  How   
   does it change us to have our ideal partner, but with none of the   
   challenges that a real person brings?  CHOBITS can be mistaken for a   
   shallow seinen (college student) story about a boy who finds a   
   beautiful "Persocom" girl robot, but this story came from the all-female   
   Osaka manga team Studio CLAMP, and nothing is ever what it seems with   
   them.   
      A country boy, Hideki Motosuwa, moves to the big city to get an   
   education and comes across Chii, a Persocom left in the garbage.  In   
   this near future, Persocoms are walking personal assistants, PCs and   
   cellphones, made to look like beautiful humans, and of course people   
   begin to become obsessed with them.  In finding out the history of Chii,   
   Hideki learns the secret history of Persocoms and that Chii may be the   
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)