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      BIG O:  Roger Smith is a Negotiator, an agent for hire in the   
   amnesiac city of Paradigm, enclosed in giant glass domes.  Alongside his   
   mysterious Megadeus (giant robot), the Big O, the deadpan android R.   
   Dorothy Wainwright and his ever reliable butler Norman, he polices the   
   city where the military police cannot.  Yet Paradigm City holds many   
   secrets, "Memories" of what happened forty years ago before all the   
   residents of Paradigm lost them, and there are those who will stop at   
   nothing to gather them - and Roger's Memories may be some of the most   
   important of all.   
      Highly influenced by BATMAN, this odd mecha series owes its success   
   partly to the US Cartoon Network, who funded the second season.  Written   
   by the ever confusing Chiaki Konaka (LAIN), the fairly superfluous   
   (although very well animated) mecha fights take a back seat to the utter   
   madness of the plot, particularly in the superior second season.  High   
   production values and interesting characters - R. Dorothy is a   
   particular fan favourite - contribute to make an intriguing addition to   
   the mecha genre.   
      Available from Bandai in Region 1 on seven DVDs, with two extremely   
   inexpensive collections available of both seasons.   
      [entry by Andrew Hollingbury]   
      
      BIGWARS:  Man has colonised Mars and an alien race doesn't much   
   care for that.  This is a tale of Man's struggle against the odds as   
   the alien, who styles itself as a kind of god, uses awesome weapons to   
   beat back the expansionist humans.  It's now down to one last   
   chance...  (CPM/USMC)   
      [Entry by Chika]   
      
      BLACK HEAVEN: see LEGEND OF BLACK HEAVEN   
      
      BLACK MAGIC M66:  A side story to Masamune Shirow's manga BLACK   
   MAGIC, this movie tells the story of one of the first combat androids   
   ever built.  Unfortunately, the military scientist who designed it   
   used his daughter as the test subject for the android to target.  Even   
   more unfortunately, the android has escaped from the aircraft   
   transporting it from the test facility...  If you liked "The   
   Terminator", you'll probably like M66.  The anime is available from   
   Manga Video, and the collected comic is available from Dark Horse.   
      [Entry by Rob Kelk]   
      
      BLACKJACK:  He's called Blackjack, and he is a practitioner of   
   "underground surgery".  A Tezuka character of old, in this story he is   
   caught up in a mystery concerning the appearance of "Super Humans",   
   and the lethal secret behind it.  Blackjack is based around a manga   
   where he is a character that appears, performs surgery that no   
   legitimate surgeon would consider, charges high fees for it then   
   vanishes.  Released by Manga in North America, and Madman in Australia.   
      [Entry by Chika]   
      
      BLEACH:  How far would you go for your friends?  Would you even   
   challenge the Gates of Heaven?  BLEACH is a Shonen Jump adventure story   
   with well-crafted characters more real than your average shonen anime,   
   great visuals and really interesting ideas.   
      Ichigo Kurosaki is a 15 year old high school student with a penchant   
   for trouble and protective of his little sisters.  One night, a   
   ferocious demon called a Hollow appears, drawn to Ichigo's spirit power.   
   For reasons he does not understand, he can *see* the demon, and more   
   importantly, the Death God (shinigami), Ruchia, pursuing it.  In the   
   fight for his life, Ichigo borrows Ruchia's power, becoming a Death God   
   himself, and defeats the Hollow.  But this just begins a sequence of   
   events that leads him on a journey that will test his spirit to the   
   brink of death and beyond.   
      The series derives its strength from its well written characters.   
   You feel loyalty to Ichigo: a sarcastic delinquint who will literally   
   bleed for his friends.  You care about Ruchia: the young Death God who   
   tries to be a serious professional, but is still an awkward teenage   
   girl.  You want to protect Orihime who is delightfully ditzy, but not as   
   weak as she seems.  Their adventures test them and help you bond with   
   them while leading up to their biggest challenge.  A story more epic   
   than the initial episodes would lead you to believe.   
      Age:  12 and up (if they can handle horror movies, they'll be OK)   
   Parental:  Swordplay, violence and some course language.  Scary scenes   
   for young children.   
      [Entry by Travers Naran]   
      
      BLUE SEED:  Momiji is a high-spirited 15-year-old girl who is the   
   current inheritor of the Kushinada bloodline, and has spent her life   
   being prepared for the possibility that she may have to be sacrificed to   
   protect Japan if the Aragami return to the world.  The Aragami are a   
   kind of monster that is mutated by a "blue seed," called a mitama.  One   
   day, Kusanagi, a strange young man who has many mitamas, appears, tells   
   her a sister she never knew she had is dead, threatens to kill her, and   
   then apparently protects her from some sort of dragon creature.  Two   
   other people from the TAC (Terrestrial Administration Center), the group   
   that had raised her sister in preparation for the return of the Aragami   
   threat, appear and rescue her.  Later, after Momiji's school is attacked   
   by an Aragami, Momiji joins the TAC for protection and to help them   
   fight for the survival of Japan, and possibly the world.   
      Available in North America from ADV.   
      [Entry by "HiEv"]   
      
      BLUE SONNET:  There have been many stories about making a humanoid   
   "ultimate weapon".  This is one of those, in that Sonnet is a cyborg   
   that has awesome psychokinetic powers.  However it is known to her   
   creator that somewhere out there is an even greater power lying   
   dormant.  In fact the person in question becomes a classmate of   
   Sonnet's.  While this girl discovers her hidden power, Sonnet   
   discovers her lost humanity in a background of corporate domination.   
   (USMC)   
      [Entry by Chika]   
      
      BLUE SUBMARINE #6:  The world is at war with aliens.  Most of the   
   world is covered in water.  But not everything is as it seems.  There   
   is a lot of action in this series and some interesting twists.  It's a   
   combination of hand drawn and computer animation which in my opinion   
   worked nicely.  The episodes are short and only one episode per DVD.   
   Still cheaper than the old way of buying a dub and a sub version of   
   the VHS, but in today's DVD age it seems a bit expensive.  An single   
   disk is also available with the violence edited out.  Available from   
   Bandai in North America, and from Siren in Australia.   
      [Entry by Shawn Granger]   
      
      BOOGIE POP PHANTOM:  This is a sci-fi horror story within a story   
   involving an urban legend of a cloaked murderer who's turned the city   
   into a killing field while the inhabitants begin expressing frightening   
   powers that are beyond their control.  The episodes are connected but in   
   a very loose, convuluted chronology and the series is done in   
   washed-out, bleak tones so it's not for everyone.  Still, what the   
   series sets out to do, it does extremely well.  It disturbs by   
   presenting the helplessness of humans in the face of unnatural forces   
   and also in giving a despairing, microscopic view of the uglier side of   
   life and family.   
      [Entry by "IwillneverbeaJedi"]   
      
      BOTTLE FAIRIES (a.k.a. BINZUME YOSEI):  Based on Yuiko Tokumi's   
   "reader-participation manga" in Magi-Cu Premium magazine, this thirteen   
   episode TV series was fansubbed by the Hikari no Kiseki group.  It tells   
   the month-by-month adventures of four tiny naive fairy girls, Sarara,   
   Kururu, Chiriri and Hororo who live in glass jars on the desk of Sensei-   
   san, a young college student.  Each show covers a month in Japanese life   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)