Cardcaptor Sakura

Cardcaptor Sakura is a magical girl manga series from the famous all-female artist team CLAMP (creators of Angelic Layer, Magic Knight Rayearth and Tokyo Babylon, among others) .
Cardcaptor Sakura is published in Japan by Kodansha (the largest manga publisher in Japan) and was serialized in Nakayoshi (a shōjo manga magazine).
The manga series consists of twelve volumes.
The Cardcaptor Sakura manga is well-known for its emphasis on the shōjo genre (manga marketed to a female audience roughly between the ages of 10 and 18) of the series, with nearly every page having detailed flowers, bubbles, or sparkles around the main characters.
It won the Seiun Award for Best Manga in 2001, and the anime won the Animage Grand Prix award for best anime in 1999.
The manga was translated into English by Tokyopop.

Cardcaptor Sakura was adapted into an anime television series, animated by Madhouse (Death Note, Chobits, Trigun) and directed by Morio Asaka (who also did Chobits) .
The character designer and chief animation director for the series was Kumiko Takahashi (Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam).
It premiered on NHK from April 8, 1998 and finished airing on March 21, 2000.
Two theatrically released movies (Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie and Cardcaptor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card), and several specials (Tomoyo's video diary 1, 2 and 3) were also produced.
The second season of TV series won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in 1999.
Nelvana produced an English dub of the anime series, titled Cardcaptors, which aired in English-speaking countries.
An unedited English translation, bearing the original title, Cardcaptor Sakura, was broadcast in its English-language networks by the anime television network Animax.
Cardcaptor Sakura has also been released in North America (but not the UK or Australia) on unedited and subtitled DVDs under its original title.

Besides being a very popular anime, Cardcaptor Sakura has another interesting quirk.
Several of the characters from Cardcaptor Sakura have been reworked for use in another Clamp series, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle.
Sakura (The Princess of Clow Country) and "Syaoran" Li (The son of Sakura Kinomoto and Syaoran Li) are two of the cross overs from Cardcaptor to Tsubasa.


The series has been adapted into several video games, developed for Game Boy, PlayStation, WonderSwan, Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance and PlayStation 2.

Ouran High School Host Club

Ouran High School Host Club is a manga and anime series done by Bisco Hatori.
The Manga has been serialized in Hakusensha's LaLa magazine since August 5, 2003.
Ouran High School Host Club follows Haruhi Fujioka, a scholarship student at Ouran High School, and the other members of the host club.
The romantic comedy focuses on the relationships within and without the Club and satirizes the stereotypes that endure in series aimed at girls.
Besides the anime, the manga has been adapted into a series of audio dramas and a visual novel by Idea Factory.

The animated television series, Ouran High School Host Club, premiered April 5, 2006 on Japan's NTV network. The series was directed by Takuya Igarashi and written by Yōji Enokido, who also wrote Revolutionary Girl Utena and The Melody of Oblivion, while the character designer and chief animation director for the series was Kumiko Takahashi, who did Cardcaptor Sakura. It also features a different cast from the audio dramas, with Maaya Sakamoto starring as Haruhi Fujioka and Mamoru Miyano portraying Tamaki Suou. Ouran High School Host Club finished its run on September 26, 2006, totaling to twenty-six episodes.

The series is licensed for distribution in North America by FUNimation Entertainment. The first anime DVD set containing the first thirteen episodes will be released on October 28, 2008 in North America. The second volume will follow in January 2009 containing the last thirteen episodes.

Detective Conan / Case Closed

Detective Conan is a Japanese detective manga and anime series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama and has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Sunday since 1994.
In the English speaking world it is called Case Closed because of legal issues with the Conan the Barbarian franchise.

Case Closed is about the adventures of Jimmy Kudo, a young detective who was investigating a secret criminal organization when he was knocked unconsious and given a drug that was supposed to kill him, but instead it turned him into a prepubescent boy.
The manga and anime versions are both very popular and the series has been adapted into 12 Golden Week movies. Starting on April 17, 1997, one movie a year has been released. Ten of those movies have been in the top ten each year. Nine OVAs (Original video animation released on home video formats) have also been released.

Chibi Vampire

Chibi Vampire was originally released in Japan as Karin.
It is a Japanese manga and anime series written and illustrated by Yuna Kagesaki.
The story is about basically a " reverse vampire"girl , instead of drinking blood, she must inject it into others because she produces too much.
Chibi Vampire first premiered in the shōnen magazine Monthly Dragon Age from October 2003 until February 2008.
The individual chapters of the story were published by Kadokawa Shoten into thirteen collected volumes.

Both the manga and light novel series were released by Tokyopop in English. Tokyopop renamed the manga series Chibi Vampire and the novel series Chibi Vampire: The Novel.

In 2005, an anime adaptation of Chibi Vampire was created by J.C.Staff and directed by Shinichiro Kimura.
Twenty-four episodes were aired in Japan on WOWOW from November 3, 2005 till May 11, 2006.
It was licensed for an English release to Region 1 DVD, under the name Karin, by Geneon USA.
On July 3, 2008, Geneon Entertainment and Funimation Entertainment announced that Funimation had agreed to be the exclusive North American distributer of Geneon titles, including Chibi Vampire.

A guidebook to the Chibi Vampire series, Karin All-Nosebleeds Book, was released in 2006.

Chibi Vampire, Volume 1 (v. 1)

The Prince of Tennis

You know I was really surprised that this anime is still as popular as it is.

The Prince of Tennis is a popular Japanese manga and anime written and illustrated by Takeshi Konomi.
First published in Japan in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump in July 1999, the manga ended publication on March 3, 2008.
A total of 379 chapters were written, comprising 42 volumes. It has sold over 40 million copies in Japan.
The manga is published in English in North America by Viz Media.

It was adaptated into an anime series directed by Takayuki Hamana, animated by Trans Arts and co-produced by Nihon Ad Systems and TV Tokyo.
The anime aired in Japan on the anime satellite television network Animax and the terrestrial TV Tokyo network from October 10, 2001 to March 30, 2005, spanning a total of 178 episodes. There was also a feature movie.
In April 2006, an OVA continuation of the anime began to be released on DVD. The beginning of the second OVA series was released on June 22, 2007. The second OVA ended on January 25, 2008, and the third and final OVA started on April 25, 2008.

Since April 2003, over fifteen stage musicals have been produced for the series. An animated movie was released in 2005, as well as a live action movie in 2006. In addition, a 22-episode-long live-action television drama began airing in China on July 25, 2008. The franchise has also had a long running radio show, several video games, soundtracks, and other assorted merchandise and collectibles.

Chobits

Chobits is a Japanese manga created by Clamp (a Japanese mangaka group).
It was published by Kodansha in Young Magazine from February 2001 to November 2002 and was collected in eight bound volumes.
Unlike most stories by Clamp, Chobits is a seinen (manga that is generally targeted at an 18–30 year old male audience) series, specifically of the magical girlfriend variety, using robotics and computers as a subplot.
Chobits is commonly mistaken for shōjo (manga marketed to a female audience roughly between the ages of 10 and 18) because of its strong romantic themes and flowery art style.
Chobits was adapted as a 26-episode-long anime television series broadcast on TBS and Animax from April to September 2002.
It has spawned a video game as well as merchandise such as figurines, collectable cards, calendars, and artbooks.

The series tells the story of Hideki Motosuwa, who finds an abandoned persocom, or personal computer with human form, that he names Chi after the only word she initially can speak. As the series progresses, together they explore the mysteries of Chi's origin and questions about the relationships between humans and persocoms. The manga is set in the same universe as Angelic Layer, taking place a few years after the events of that story, and like Angelic Layer, it explores the relationship between humans and electronic devices shaped like humans. Chobits branches off as a crossover to many other stories in different ways, such as Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle and xxxHolic.


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Fruits Basket / Furuba

Fruits Basket, sometimes abbreviated Furuba, is a Japanese manga series by Natsuki Takaya. It was serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese magazine Hana to Yume, published by Hakusensha, from 1999 to 2006. The series was also adapted into a 26-episode anime series, directed by Akitaro Daichi. The series tells the story of Tohru Honda, an orphan girl who, after meeting Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure Sohma, learns that thirteen members of the Sohma family are possessed by the animals of the Chinese zodiac and are cursed to turn into their animal forms if they embrace anyone of the opposite gender.

The word "Fruits" in the title is always plural; the spelling originates from the transcription of the English word "fruit" into Japanese, where because there is no "tu" sound, "tsu" is used instead. The title comes from the name of a popular game played in Japanese elementary schools, which is alluded to in the series.

Mushishi

Mushishi is a manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Urushibara and published in Kodansha's Afternoon magazine. It ran from 1999 to August 2008.

The manga was adapted into an animated television series in 2005. The Artland production was directed by Hiroshi Nagahama. Episodes one through twenty aired in stations across Japan between October 2005 and March 2006. Episodes 21 through 26 aired on BS Fuji every Sunday from May 14, 2006 to June 18 of the same year. A live-action feature film adaptation, directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, premiered on March 24, 2007.

The Mushishi manga won an Excellence Prize at the 2003 Japan Media Arts Festival and the 2006 Kodansha Manga Award.

The anime series was animated by Artland and directed by Hiroshi Nagahama and spanned a total of 26 episodes. The first 20 episodes of the series first aired between October 2005 and March 2006 on Fuji TV and its affiliated broadcast networks, including Kansai TV, Tōkai TV, Hokkaidō Bunka Hoso, TV Shinhiroshima, TV Nishinippon. Episodes 21 through 26 aired on BS Fuji every Sunday from May 14, 2006 to June 18 of the same year.

The television series covered every chapter from the first five volumes of the manga and the first story from volume six, but did not adhere to the original order.

At the 5th Tokyo Anime Award competition held at the Tokyo International Anime Fair, held on March 25, 2006, the anime series won grand prizes in the categories of television series and best art direction (for Takashi Waki).

The series has later been aired by the Japanese anime television network, Animax, who have also aired the series later across its respective networks worldwide, including Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea. It has also been licensed for distribution across numerous other regions, including North America by Funimation.

Cowboy Bebop

Cowboy Bebop is an animated Japanese television series. It was directed by Shinichiro Watanabe and written by Keiko Nobumoto and produced by Sunrise. It consisted of 26 episodes. The series followed the adventures of a group of bounty hunters traveling on their spaceship, the Bebop, in the year 2071.

Cowboy Bebop was a commercial success both in Japan and international markets, notably in the United States. After this reception, Sony Pictures released a feature film, Knockin' on Heaven's Door to theaters worldwide and followed up with an international DVD release. Two manga adaptations were serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Asuka Fantasy DX.

Cowboy Bebop has been strongly influenced by American music, especially the jazz movements of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s and the early rock era of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Many of its action sequences, from space battles to hand-to-hand martial arts combat, are set and timed to music. Following the musical theme, episodes are called Sessions, and titles are often borrowed from album or song names (such as Sympathy for the Devil or My Funny Valentine), or make use of a genre name ("Mushroom Samba") indicating a given episode's musical theme.

Cowboy Bebop almost did not appear on Japanese television due to its depictions of violence. It was first sent to TV Tokyo, one of the main broadcasters of anime in Japan. The show had an aborted first run from April 3, 1998 until June 19, 1998 on TV Tokyo, broadcasting only episodes 2, 3, 7 to 15 and 18.

Later that year, the series was shown in its entirety from October 23 until April 23, 1999, on the satellite network WOWOW. With the TV Tokyo broadcast slot fiasco, the production schedule was disrupted to the extent that the last episode was delivered to WOWOW on the day of its broadcast. Cowboy Bebop won the Seiun Award in 2000.

The full series has also been broadcast across Japan by the anime television network, Animax, who has also aired the series via its respective networks across Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Asia. Cowboy Bebop was popular enough that the movie, Cowboy Bebop: Tengoku no Tobira (Knockin' on Heaven's Door), was commissioned and released in Japan in 2001, and later released in the United States as Cowboy Bebop: The Movie in 2003.

In a 2006 poll by TV Asahi, Cowboy Bebop was voted 40th for Japan's all-time favorite anime.

FLCL / Fooly Cooly

FLCL (also Fooly Cooly) is an Japanese anime OVA series co-produced by Gainax and Production I.G. The series was created and directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, and written by Yōji Enokido.

Furi Kuri follows the story of Naota Nandaba, a twelve-year-old boy living in the fictional industrial town of Mabase, and his encounters with the alien life-form Haruko Haruhara. The Japanese suburb houses the Medical Meccanica building, the reason for Haruko's visit.

The American reception for the series, although not widespread, has been enthusiastic following its release on Adult Swim in the summer of 2003. Anime.com also gave the series an enthusiastic review in October of that year, although there was also a minor reference to it in the September "issue". In 2003, it also went on to win third place for Best Animation Film at the Fantasia Festival.

FLCL has garnered both positive and negative reception among reviewers, sometimes diverging to extremes in both directions. Adult Swim occasionally refers to FLCL as "The greatest show we have ever aired". Christopher McDonald of Anime News Network called it "downright hilarious" and "visually superb" with great music, citing the packaging of 2 episodes per DVD as the only weakness of Synch-Point's original release.

On February 24, 2007, FLCL was nominated for "Best Cast", and won "Best Comedy Series" and "Best Short Series" at the first American Anime Awards show.

In the November 2007 issue of Anime Insider, FLCL was ranked 4th in their list of the best English-licensed anime of all time.

Sailor Moon

Sailor Moon(officially translated as Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon)is the title of a huge Japanese media franchise created by Naoko Takeuchi. It's generally credited with popularizing the concept of a sentai (team) of magical girls, as well as the general re-emergence of the magical girl genre itself.

The story of the various series revolves around the reincarnated defenders of a kingdom that once spanned the solar system, and the evil forces that they battle. The major characters—called Sailor Senshi (literally "Sailor Soldiers"; frequently called "Sailor Scouts" in the North American version)—are teenage girls who can transform into heroines named for the moon and planets (Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, etc). The use of "Sailor" comes from a style of girls' school uniform popular in Japan, the sērā fuku (sailor outfit), after which the Senshi's uniforms are modeled. The elements of fantasy in the series are heavily symbolic and often based on mythology.

Creation of the Sailor Moon manga was preceded by another, Codename: Sailor V, which centered around just one Sailor Senshi. Takeuchi devised the idea when she wanted to create a cute series about girls in outer space, and her editor asked her to put them in sailor fuku. When Sailor V was proposed for adaptation into an anime, the concept was modified so that Sailor V herself became only one member of a team. The resulting manga series was a fusion of the popular magical girl and sentai genres of which Takeuchi was a fan, making Sailor Moon one of the first series ever to combine the two.

The manga resulted in spinoffs into other types of media, including a highly popular anime, as well as musical theatre productions, video games, and a live-action (tokusatsu) series. Although most concepts in the many versions overlap, there are often notable differences, and thus continuity between the different formats is limited.

Vulgar Ghost Daydream / Teizokurei Daydream / Ghost Talker's Daydream

Vulgar Ghost Daydream (Teizokurei Daydream) is a shōnen manga by Saki Okuse (story) and Sankichi Meguro (art), set in modern Japan. As of 2006 there are 9 volumes available (ongoing story, with 10 volumes planned) also adapted as a four episode OVA. The English version released by Geneon changed the title to "Ghost Talker's Daydream", which is not a direct translation of the formal manga title.

This story is centered on a main character named Saiki Misaki who has two jobs, neither of which she is particularly happy with. Officially she is a dominatrix in a BDSM club who writes a column for a sex magazine. Additionally she works for a government agency, The Livelihood Preservation Group, as a necromancer. The term necromancer in this story refers to a person who can speak to and see ghosts, and who sometimes can allow the ghosts to speak with their voice to people who cannot see the ghost. Her government job usually entails helping to remove a troublesome ghost. Misaki considers her government job to be less respectable than her work in the sex industry.

There are many smaller story arcs within the story, although in most cases these stories are important to the main narrative. In some cases they introduce important characters, and in others they are used to explain motivations pertaining to the main characters. In general, these smaller story arcs consist of one or two chapters.

There are three major characters, at least one of which is in every chapter with the exception of chapter 16 Dead Mans Hand. In order of introduction they are: Saiki Misaki, Mitsuru and Souichirou. Many reoccurring and often important characters also populate the series.

The Japanese title translates as teizoku = vulgar + rei = ghost. However there is a pun on the word rei, which can also refer to a companion when spoken. In other words it can be said either Vulgar Ghost or Vulgar Companion, and Misaki Saiki is a professional dominatrix who can also speak to ghosts. A dominatrix could be considered a vulgar companion.





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Armitage III

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Armitage III is a 1994 cyberpunk anime series based around Naomi Armitage, a highly advanced "Type-III" android.

The series began with the 4-part Original Video Animation "Armitage III" and spawned two anime movies. The first film is a shortened version of the OVA entitled Armitage III: Poly-Matrix, redubbed in English. The second anime movie, Armitage: Dual-Matrix is a sequel set some years after the original story.

The year is 2179. The overpopulation of Earth has lead to the colonization of Mars - with the aid of the "first type" androids, men were able to begin terraforming the unfriendly environment of Mars and build the city of Saint Lowell. Seventy years after the start of colonisation, the city is completed and inhabited by great numbers of people and "second type" robots, much improved versions of the "first types".

The story begins with a space shuttle nearing the destination of Saint Lowell's space port. On board is Ross Sylibus, a middle-aged cop from Chicago, USA, Earth. Syllibus asked to be transferred to Martian Police Department to escape from his past and haunting memories of his beloved one being murdered by a robot. At the Saint Lowell's space port he is to meet his new partner - a young Naomi Armitage from MPD.


The cover of the DVD release.On the same shuttle as Syllibus, travels Kelly McCannon - "the last country singer in the Universe". As the shuttle nears the terminal, a mysterious man is seen entering the cargo section; soon after this, the intruder is noticed and the alarms go off.

Later, as Ross finally gets off the shuttle, he witnesses a disturbing scene at the airport. First he gets bumped into by the mysterious man with a big suitcase and two guards. Soon after that, a young woman with a gun orders the men to stop and get their hands up. Puzzled, Ross notices a few drops of blood spilling from the mysterious man's suitcase. A shootout between the young woman (who turns out to be Ross's new partner, Armitage) begins. The two robot guards are killed by Armitage and the mysterious man is wounded, but manages to escape. However, he leaves his suitcase behind - inside of which is a dead body of Kelly McCannon. To everybody's surprise and horror, McCannon turns out to be a robot - a new, never-seen-before "third type" android, that cannot be told apart from a real human.

Later, the mysterious man hacks into the public TV system and broadcasts the material taped by shuttle's security cameras. The tape shows the man murdering Kelly McCannon and reveals the fact of her being a robot to the entire city. The mysterious man, who introduces himself as Rene D'anclaude, reveals unbelivable news - the "third types" have been among the regular people for a long time and nobody can tell them apart from humans. He also reveals a list of "thirds" - it turns out, that a lot of well-known people are actually robots. Riots begin in the city as people start to capture and burn all the "thirds" they can find. Meanwhile, Rene D'anclaude proceeds with his extermination of the "thirds". The two main characters start their investigation and eventually find out, that the victims are women... only women.

One of them, in a brief moment just before dying, sends out a message with the list of "thirds" to save them from being slaughtered. Armitage receives it and goes her way to stop D'anclaude - and reveal a few secrets in the process.

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Japanese Anime: Earth Girl Arjuna

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Earth Girl Arjuna is a thirteen episode anime series created by Shoji Kawamori that was originally aired by TV Tokyo between 9 January 2001 and 27 March 2001. The series was also later completely broadcast by the anime satellite television network Animax.

Arjuna is set in Kobe, Japan, where the protagonist, Juna, is attending high school. The story opens on her telling her boyfriend, Tokio, she feels too cramped in the city, and deciding to take a trip to the Sea of Japan. On the drive, they get in an accident, and Juna dies.

As her spirit leaves her body, Juna sees the Earth suffering, visualized by worm-like creatures, the Raaja, entwining the planet. A young boy, Chris, appears to her, and offers to save her life if she will help the planet. She agrees, and is resurrected.

As is clear from the title, Arjuna, the series is highly influenced by Hinduism, as well as Indian culture in general. The story was inspired by the Bhagavad Gita, most notably in the character of Chris, who is modeled after Krishna.

The setting for the show, Kobe, was chosen by creator Shoji Kawamori for his personal fondness of it,[6] and the city itself plays a prominent role, with famous buildings such as the Kobe Meriken Park Oriental Hotel and nearby Ferris wheel showing up as common backdrops. The idea of living in a city is a main theme, with both Juna and the Raaja rebelling against how removed from nature modern life is.

An idea which Kawamori emphasized was natural farming. Not to be confused with the mere absence of chemicals that is often meant by "organic farming", natural farming involves letting nature grow as it will, not removing weeds or bugs, or using any fertilizer. The old man Juna encounters in episode four explains the need for this return to nature in order to sustain life in the long term, a sentiment directly from Kawamori himself.

Another theme of the show is that of the disconnect between emotions, thoughts, words, and actions. In episode seven, "Invisible Words", Juna is able to read the words in the minds of everyone around her, yet still cannot understand their intentions. She sees in Tokio's mind that he has been asking Saiyuri about a ring, and assumes that he has been cheating on her, when in fact the ring had been for her. Juna and Tokio's, feelings never reach each other successfully. In episode eight, while talking on the phone, Juna finds her spirit in the room with Tokio. But despite her even embracing him, he has no understanding when she tries to say that she with him. At the same time, Tokio actually says he loves Juna for the first time, even though he is at the same moment not feeling her love at all. This idea is later visualized in episode 10, when Tokio is having an argument with his father. Juna is able to "see" their angered thoughts flying at each other, and entirely missing, neither of them hearing or understanding the other.

The ninth episode of Arjuna, "Before Birth", was not aired during the series' original run in Japan across TV Tokyo. This episode contains numerous controversial subjects, as well as images that were deemed inappropriate for airing on TV

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Japanese Anime: Aria

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ARIA is an ongoing manga and anime by Kozue Amano. It is serialized in Mag Garden's monthly magazine Comic Blade, and has been collected into nine tankōbon volumes to date with more releases planned in 2006. It is actually a sequel series to the two volume series, AQUA, which is an introductory series to Aria and tells of how Akari comes to AQUA.

ARIA takes place in the twenty-fourth century, on the planet Aqua (formerly Mars), which has been terraformed into a habitable planet covered in oceans and seas. The town of Neo-Venezia, where the story occurs, is based on Venice both in terms of art and feel, and despite the futuristic time period, there is very little science-fiction to the manga at all.

The manga stars Akari, who is an apprentice gondolier with ARIA Company, one of the three most popular gondola companies in the city. She is training to become a full-time gondolier (or undine, as they are called in Neo-Venezia).

The style of ARIA is very laid-back, taking a "slice of life" approach to the story and is not plot driven. Most of it is devoted to the lush expansive art, as Kozue Amano frequently will take pages and pages to draw an environment, showing the wonder of both everyday activities in Neo-Venezia as well as one-of-a-kind events. It is very similar in tone to Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō.

The first three volumes of ARIA were released by ADV Manga in 2003 and 2004; however, the series appears to be on permanent hiatus. In 2006, Tokyopop announced it acquired the licensing for both Aqua and ARIA; the first three volumes of ARIA are to be republished before Tokyopop publishes further unreleased English volumes of the manga.



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Japanese Anime: Air Gear

Air Gear is a shōnen manga and anime by the mangaka Oh! great.

Air Gear has been serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine since 2002. Currently, 16 tankōbon have been released in Japan by Shounen Magazine Comics.

The Air Gear manga was licensed for release in the United States by Del Rey Manga and the first volume was released on July 25, 2006. Subsequent volumes will be released every three months.

ADV Films announced over the October 20, 2006 weekend at Oni-Con, that they had licensed the Air Gear anime for release in the USA. The first volume was released on February 6, 2007. Surprisingly, they will be releasing the Japanese home video version, or the uncensored edition. On January 3, 2007, IGN released a special sneak peek of Episode 1 of the English Dub.

The series has also been made into a musical called Musical Air Gear, which made its debut on January 7, 2007 and ran until January 21, 2007. The musical is loosely adapted from the manga and is similar to the Prince of Tennis musicals in that all female roles are eliminated from the plot. The cast featured Kenta Kamakari, KENN, and Kenjiro Tsuda reprising their roles from the anime respectively as Ikki, Kazu, and Spitfire with Masaki Kaji (who had also starred with Kenta and KENN in the Prince of Tennis musicals), RUN＆GUN, etc. as their co-stars.

Due to the success and popularity of the musical's first run, the musical will have a rerun in May 2007 titled, Musical Air Gear vs. Bacchus Super Range Remix with the entire cast reprising their roles.

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Oh My Goddess!/Ah! My Goddess

Oh My Goddess!, also known as Ah! My Goddess, is a seinen manga series by Kosuke Fujishima currently serialised in Kodansha's monthly Afternoon magazine first published 1988-08-25 (was the September issue however). Originally a typical magical girlfriend romantic comedy, over time it has grown to feature more action and the latest variant has had a greater focus on developing the mystical aspects of the world in which it is set. Since the manga was first published there have been four anime offshoots.

The manga tells the story of college freshman Keiichi Morisato, who, because of his pure heart, has been chosen by Yggdrasil, Heaven's computer system, to receive a single wish. The angelic "goddess" Belldandy is sent down to Earth to ask for his wish, and tells him that he can potentially wish for anything that he wants, from becoming a billionaire to destroying the world in an instant. First, Keiichi thinks that this entire meeting is a prank being played by his senpais, but during their short meeting, he soon realizes that she's the only person who truly understands and appreciates him. Being enchanted by her, Keiichi wishes if her offer is truly valid, for someone like Belldandy to stay with him forever (not knowing what he wished for, was going to become). The manga/anime follows their relationship as they become closer to each other.

The varying anime series feature the main characters and are based on the same basic plotline as the original manga, but each has taken a unique interpretation on this concept and, as such, should be considered separate canons. The only exception to this is the more recent TV series, which follows the plot of the manga closely.

Being a mechanical otaku himself, Fujishima frequently bases whole chapters, or even story arcs, around mechanics, focusing especially on motorcycle mechanics. Most notably, readers discover that Keiichi Morisato is a member of his college's motor vehicle club, which is always under threat of being put out of commission by a rival motor club. There are also several story arcs related to racing found earlier in the manga; the concept of racing is also a significant plot device in each of the anime canons. Both Keiichi and Belldandy are exceptionally gifted at racing (Keiichi because of natural ability and Belldandy because of her ability to "talk" with the machines). Most of the other main characters have exhibited some degree of skill in racing and/or mechanics, making the idea of mechanics a significant device for character development and growth.

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Agent Aika

Agent Aika is an anime OVA series which stars a Japanese woman named Aika Sumeragi (voiced by Rei Sakuma) who works as a salvager for companies that hire her, but gets caught up in a plot for world domination. This OVA anime series is available in North America from Central Park Media.

Tokyo has sunk into the ocean, along with most of the world, during a land subsidence. Aika Sumeragi is a salvager who works for a small company run by a father and daughter tandem. Alas, the company isn't exactly successful, and money is needed desperately. Thus, Aika accepts the very dangerous job of acquiring an artifact called Lagu for a hefty sum. The boss' daughter Aida Rion joins Aika on this particular mission, and the two set off. Later on, Aika and Rion are captured by Rudolf Hagen -- an effeminate but over-sexed man who wants Lagu and Aika (and just about every pretty girl) for himself. Hargen commands a huge battleship manned exclusively by droves of cute girls in mini-skirts (the source for what is often called "fan service"). Alongside Hargen is his obsessive sister Nena, who is jealous of Aika, as well as another salvager named Gusto, who's also after Lagu and has a crush on Aika as well. When Aika's special bustier is activated, she becomes a " superwoman" who can take on whole armies by herself.

The automatic rifles shown and used throughout the series are German StG45(M), a weapon which historically never went past the prototype stage.
The planes Aika flies resemble Russian MiG-21 (episodes 1-4) and MiG-25 (episode 6).
There is about one panty shot every 20 secs in the Agent Aika anime (the first episode alone has about 122 panties in more or less plain view), even more, if you count group-scenes as more than one.

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AD Police

AD Police is a manga series written by Tony Takezaki and illustrated by Senno Knife, which was adapted on screen in an anime science fiction series, composed of the 12-episode long AD Police: To Serve and Protect TV series and the 3-episode long AD Police Files OVA series. AD Police is a spin-off of another anime series: Bubblegum Crisis. The AD in AD Police is short for Advanced, although there are some mistaken translations as Armored Division.

The AD Police are an elite group of highly trained and specially equipped police officers who have been formed to deal with terrorist activities and Boomer robot crimes in the city of Megatokyo. They are more heavily armed and equipped (including power armors like the K-11 and K-12) for a normal police force, but too lightly for a military organization.

The AD Police are offered a great deal of leeway in their activities, often blockading large sections of the city and causing great amounts of property damage in the course of fulfilling their duty. Despite their dedication to their jobs, however, the citizens of Megatokyo tend to dislike and distrust members of the AD Police, seeing them as corrupt and ineffectual.





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Galaxy Express 999

Galaxy Express 999 (銀河鉄道999; Ginga Tetsudō Three-Nine) is a manga written and drawn by Leiji Matsumoto, as well as various anime films and TV series based on it. The manga is published in English by Viz.

Galaxy Express 999 is set in a space-faring, high-tech future, where mechanized people with "machine bodies" are pushing humanity towards extinction. A street urchin named Tetsuro Hoshino wants an indestructible machine body, giving him the ability to live forever and have the freedom that the poor humans on Earth don't have. While machine bodies are impossibly expensive, they are supposedly given away for free on the planet Andromeda, the end of the line for the space train Galaxy Express 999 (Technology has advanced to the point where space-faring vehicles can assume any shape, such as the classical locomotive in the story.).

Tetsuro meets up with a beautiful woman, Maetel (sometimes translated "Maeter", from the Greek mētēr and/or Latin mater, meaning "mother"), who is the spitting image of his dead mother. Maetel offers him passage on 999 if he will be her travelling companion. Tetsuro agrees. Another notable character in both the manga and the anime series is the seemingly strict, mysterious alien conductor, that sometimes gets involved in Tetsuro's and Maetel's adventures.

In 1981, Roger Corman produced an English-language dub of the first GE999 anime, which changed the character names, saddled some with accents, and subverted much of the story.

In 1986, Harmony Gold produced rarely-seen dubs of two of the GE999 TV specials, Galaxy Express 999: Can You Live Like A Warrior? and Galaxy Express 999: Can You Love Like A Mother?

The first movie was dubbed again in 1996 by Viz, titled Galaxy Express 999: The Signature Edition. Released on VHS, this dub was more true to the source material. Viz also released Adieu, Galaxy Express 999 subbed and dubbed on VHS, although having lost the licenses for the two films, they were never released on R1 DVD. The only current official English-language release of Galaxy Express 999 material on DVD are a Korean release of the two movies which utilize Viz's subtitle scripts. The Dubs of both films were run quite regularly on the Canadian channel, Space the Imagination Station, when the station first launched.

Viz later released five volumes of the second Galaxy Express manga, which was the basis for the third film, Galaxy Express 999: Eternal Fantasy. The original manga hasn't translated into English.

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