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   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   
   despised daughter of a wealthy writer of pornography.  With innocent   
   Nanako in the middle, the fragile truce between the other girls begins   
   to break down, and Nanako is carried with them into a destructive   
   maelstrom of passion, madness, and unrequited love.   
      This is the dark side of shoujo, much darker than author Ikeda   
   Riyoko's best known work, ROSE OF VERSAILLES.  It is gothic and   
   atmospheric, dramatic bordering on melodramatic, and includes sexual   
   stalking, graphic physical violence, multiple suicide attempts, drug   
   abuse, and lesbian homoeroticism.  It is deadly serious, and becomes   
   unbearably intense as the story passes the midpoint of its 40 TV   
   episodes.  It is not for everyone.  Like it or hate it, you will never   
   forget it.  It has an outstanding score which reinforces the show's   
   emotional tone.  Available only as fansubs of the first 28 episodes;   
   even the original Japanese edition is no longer in print.   
      [Entry by Slithy Tove]   
      
      ORANGE ROAD:  see KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD   
      
      OTAKU NO VIDEO:  A satirical look at the world of the "otaku", the   
   word used to describe obsessive fans in Japan.  Kubo is persuaded to   
   give up his normal life by his friend Tanaka and his friends to pursue a   
   life of devotion to anime, manga and so forth.  We are introduced to all   
   forms of otakudom as Kubo and Tanaka start a company or two with the   
   ultimate goal of the otakunisation of the entire world!  Includes spoof   
   live-action interview segments.  Subtitled release, originally released   
   by AnimEigo in the US and Anime Projects in the UK.   
      [Entry by Chika]   
      
      OUTLAW STAR:  The first show in Sunrise's "Toward Stars" universe,   
   OUTLAW STAR is an old-fashioned space opera writ large.  Gene   
   Starwind, a big fish in the small pond of his home planet, is thrust   
   into a conflict between the Space Forces, the galactic pirates, and   
   the "outlaws" who owe allegiance to neither side as they all try to   
   reach the Galactic Leyline.  Helping Gene are his young partner Jim   
   Hawking, the lovely Melfina, and others who come and go from the plot.   
   If you like "pulp"-era science fiction, you'll like this show.   
      OUTLAW STAR is available uncut on VHS and DVD from Bandai in North   
   America, and an edited version of most of the series has been shown on   
   US television.  The show is available in Australia from Madman.   
      [Entry by Rob Kelk]   
      
   P   
      
      PANDA KOPANDA (a.k.a. PANDA! GO PANDA!):  Hayao Miyazaki's first   
   produced work.  It is two half-hour short pieces.  The first piece was   
   made in 1972, the second a year later.  The main characters are a   
   little girl named Mimiko, a large panda (Pa Panda), and his panda son   
   (Panny).  Mimiko (about 5 years old) lives with her grandmother.  One   
   day, her grandmother has to travel out of town for an extended period,   
   leaving Mimiko alone to take care of things.  By chance, a panda   
   father and his son wander into the town where Mimiko lives, and   
   attracted by the large bamboo garden, come to her house.  Mimiko talks   
   with them and decides to create a family of sorts, wherein she is the   
   little panda's mother, and the large panda is her father.  This piece   
   is generally seen as a precursor to TONARI NO TOTORO (MY NEIGHBOR   
   TOTORO).  It is available on DVD and VHS from Geneon.   
      [Entry by Matt Huber]   
      
      PATLABOR:  Although PATLABOR TV nominally deals with police using   
   mecha ("labors") to combat labor crime, the series is no more a mecha   
   show than a modern-day Western police show is a "car show" or a   
   "truncheon show"; the majority of episodes are comedy based on oddities   
   of modern Japanese culture (apart from the mecha, there are practically   
   no futuristic elements in PATLABOR) or the thoroughly dysfunctional   
   cast.   
      The second OVA series is essentially a continuation of the TV series;   
   but the first OVA series is less well-conceived, and should probably be   
   watched only if you come to like the TV series.  The movies are very   
   different, being serious works not atypical of Mamoru Oshii's direction.   
      Manga Entertainment released the movies both theatrically and on   
   video.  The TV series and OAV series are being released by USMC.   
      [Entry by David Damerell]   
      
      PHANTOM QUEST CORPORATION (a.k.a. YUUGEN KAISHA):  Hard-drinking,   
   hard-shopping Ayaka Kisaragi is the head of the "Phantom Quest   
   Corporation", an eclectic team of ghostbusters whose members include   
   Ayaka with her magical sword, a huge Buddhist priest, a   
   flame-summoning schoolgirl, and a brilliant little boy whose financial   
   acumen is all that keeps Ayaka's shopping from ruining the company.   
   The animation is beautiful and fluid, and the soundtrack songs catchy   
   indeed.  Four OAVs, available from Geneon on two tapes or one DVD.   
      [Entry by Antaeus Feldspar]   
      
      PLANETES:  In the relatively near future, space debris has become a   
   problem to mankind's continuing expansion into the stars.  PLANETES   
   follows the adventures of the Debris Section of Technora Corp, a   
   space-based company, after the arrival of idealistic new recruit Ai   
   Tanabe.  The misfit staff - including the slacker Hachimaki, tragic   
   ferret-obsessed Yuri and the heavy smoker Fee - make the most of their   
   job, which is laughed at by the rest of the company, but Tanabe's   
   arrival catalyses changes which will see the Debris Section become   
   important to mankind's survival in space.   
      PLANETES is basically PATLABOR in space, where the sci-fi setting   
   serves mostly as a background to an excellent character drama laced with   
   wry humour (however, the space aspect is realised more accurately than   
   in many shows - the ships make no sound in a vacuum, for example!).   
   Whilst slow - the first half develops the characters before a real   
   over-arching plot develops about halfway through - the writing is   
   exquisitely judged, with plot developments relying on the series as a   
   whole, and generally winning characters (although some may find Tanabe's   
   optimism wearing at least to begin with).   
      PLANETES is licensed by Bandai for release in Region 1 around June   
   2005, with the manga already available in full from Tokyopop.   
      [Entry by Andrew Hollingbury]   
      
      PLEASE SAVE MY EARTH:  PLEASE SAVE MY EARTH is a shoujo anime that   
   centers on the concept of reincarnation.  Based on the original manga   
   by Saki Hiwatari published in "Dreams and Flowers" magazine, this   
   story follows seven year old Rin Kobayashi who has dreams of another   
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)