[continued from previous message]
they spend more time arguing and eating all the food than helping) and
her not so meteoric rise to stardom. Her alter ego's name is Lala,
for short (Fancy Lala in full). She's got powers that every little
girl would want: growing older, drawing all the cool clothes you
could ever want with a magic pen (just say Dabu Dabu and the clothes
become real!) and meeting all your favorite stars (in Miho's case it's
the fabulous male idol, Aikawa Hiroya).
However, this show's best aspect is its unusual realness. Lala's
rise to stardom is no instant success. It's a lot of hard work full
of bright lights, pushy stars, and time spent away from friends. Her
time as Miho isn't all sugar sweetness wrapped in a candy cane either.
Miho's a rather real little girl, genki or not, and she gets
frustrated and tired. An interesting point is the depth of character
is actually accentuated by Miho having two forms. Seeing how
characters react to each form shows their characters in more detail
than otherwise would be possible. That's it, except for maybe that
mysterious guy... (Fushigi-san, called 'Mystery Man' in the
commercial version). Maybe he has something to do with Miho's
spectacular transformation? This 26 episode series was on Japanese TV
in 1998, and now is released in the US by Bandai Entertainment. An
extra note: it's a homage to CREAMY MAMI, a 1983 magical girl show
along the same lines (both done by Studio Pierrot).
[Entry by Hana no Kaitou]
FIGURE 17: Some young anime girls get wands or pens that let them
transform into powerful fighters. Tsubasa got a twin sister.
This anime takes place in rural Hokkaido, a quiet place just right
for slow character development, quiet childhood life, and the occasional
fight against an alien menace that could destroy the planet. And shy,
out-of-her-element Tsubasa is caught in the middle of it all when her
father moves there and an alien spacecraft crashes. After getting that
"twin sister" (actually an alien AI), who names herself Hikaru, Tsubasa
spends most of her screen time learning how to open up to her new
classmates, and about close friendship. However, there's still the
alien menace to be dealt with, and it seems that only Hikaru and
Tsubasa, working together as "Figure 17", are up to the challenge.
FIGURE 17 will seem familiar to old-school anime fans; the show was
originally presented as one 50-minute episode every month, so the pacing
is very much like the original OAV anime series of the 1980s. (However,
the anime was first released to cable television, not to video.) The
production values are state of the art for the turn of the millennium,
though. The show also doesn't pigeonhole into convenient genres; it's
roughly equally a "coming of age" story and an "intense battle" story.
Parental advisory: There is some violence, and people do die.
Please preview the show before letting pre-teens watch it.
13 episodes, available in North America on six DVDs from Anime Works.
[Entry by Rob Kelk]
FIRE TRIPPER: One of the more serious of the "Rumik World" stories
by Rumiko Takahashi. A young woman gets sent back in time to feudal
Japan, but how? And what happened to the young boy that was with her?
Was available from USMC.
[Entry by Rob Kelk]
FLCL: What makes a boy a man: older women, baseball and rock and
roll. FLCL is a hilarious, surreal comedy from GAINAX (NEON GENESIS
EVANGELION, KARE KANO).
Naota is a 12-year old boy in a boring town that has the steam-iron
shaped Medical Mechanica factory as its most distinguishing feature. He
lives in the shadow of his older brother, a local baseball star who went
to America, and his life is going nowhere. He spends most of his time
hanging around with his brother's ex-girlfriend, Mamimi, and being
manipulated by Ninamori, the class president.
Then SHE comes to town, Haruko Harurura. Riding an Italian Vespa
scooter and carrying a wicked electric guitar she starts like a
chainsaw, she enters Naota's life and turns it and the town upside down.
Just what is it she wants with Medical Machinica and why do robots keep
bursting from Naota's head!?
Visually, it is as if Chuck Jones decided to make anime. It's wild,
frenetic and full of hilarious sight gags, but it's also a coming of age
story. It will remind you of your awkward "tween" years as you
discovered the opposite sex, feeling cynical about adults and the
question, "Where do you want to go with your life?"
Age: 12+ Warning: Suggestive scenes, fan service, no nudity.
Available in North America from Synch-Point.
[Entry by Travers Naran]
FRUITS BASKET: This is a shoujo story about an orphaned girl who is
taken in by a wealthy clan that has been cursed to transform into
animals from the Chinese zodiac. While there are the usual tropes of
growing up in the face of loss and dealing with being an outsider,
FRUITS BASKET treats it with a wry sense of humour, an excellent cast of
characters and genuine warmth. But despite the overall cheeriness of
the series, there are darker undercurrents to the story and some
powerful moments when the characters utterly break down in the face of
something they can't deal with.
[Entry by "IwillneverbeaJedi"]
FULL METAL ALCHEMIST (a.k.a. HAGANE NO RENKINJUTSUSHI): In a world
where Alchemy developed as a science, Ed and Al Elric, sons of a
powerful but shadowy and vanished alchemist, set off on a quest to find
the secret for creating the Philosopher's Stone in order to attempt to
right a terrible mistake that they made. But this is a dangerous land
in turmoil, with rebellious factions, military government and mysterious
puppet masters all conspiring to unknown ends. FMA is a grand fantasy
adventure-drama of, on one hand hubris and Faustian bargains, and on the
other hand love and loyalty. Great characters, intricate and
intelligent plotting, humor interspersed with drama, a classic sound
track and a powerful conclusion make this one of my all time favourite
anime.
[Entry by Dave Baranyi]
FULL METAL PANIC: Popular high school girl Chidori Kaname,
unbeknownst to her, is one of a group of people called the Whispered.
The Whispered are people who have buried in their memories knowledge of
something called Black Technology. Black Technology is military
technology so advanced and powerful that the nations of the world will
go to any extreme to get their hands on it. To protect Kaname from
falling into the wrong hands a covert anti-terrorist organization called
Mithril assigns a bodyguard to watch over and protect Kaname without her
knowledge. Unfortunately the person they select for the job is Sagara
Sousuke, a teenager who has spent his entire life on battlefields and
military camps. Consequently he has no concept of how to cope with
ordinary civilian life. Needless to say Sousuke's reactions to even the
merest perception of a threat are extreme. As a result he proceeds to
turn Kaname's life completely upside down while defending her against
some of the nastiest terrorists ever to appear in anime. This has the
apparent effect of having Kaname start to fall in love with him. Anyway
Sousuke's military skills are unparalleled and he is expert in this
world's preferred combat mech, the Arm Slave.
[Entry by Kyle Thomas Pope]
[Trailer available at
- Rob Kelk]
[continued in next message]
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
|
