Ahoy, squirts! Quint here filling in for ol' Father Geek with Scott's regular AnimAICN column. Seems Father Geek's mighty brainwaves were too much for his computer monitor to stand and a sudden spike in brain activity as he found that perfect vintage one-sheet on ebay shorted the damned thing out wiping out his Geek Headquarter's work station. Coding this sucker is a bear for my posting abilities and it has taken a lot out of me. I'm actually having to find a happy place for myself at the moment... I hope you folks enjoy it and are thankful of the hell I went though!

AnimAICN...

by Scott Green

Anime Preview: Paranoia Agent
Based on Japanese Audio with English Subtitles Preview of Episodes 1-3
To Be Released by Geneon October 26th.

Paranoia Agent is the mind consuming anime of the year. The introduction sequence is enough to chew on for days. Cyber thriller Serial Experiments Lain was released almost five years ago and people still talking and thinking about. Expect no less from Paranoia Agent. The first three episodes alone are worth numerous re-watchings.

What's more exciting than the prospect of a long work by a brilliant creator? Few anime creators have been able to paint using the minds of believable characters with the richness of Satoshi Kon, whose works include the theatrical psychological thriller Perfect Blue, tribute to Japanese cinema Millennium Actress, and holiday feel good Tokyo Godfathers.

The trademark qualities evident in all of his works emanate from a skill in capturing the true quality of people in his animated works. His character look, act and often to a disturbing degree, think like us. With a slighter abstraction than the standard his people look more recognizable. They have distinctive features that easily place them among people seen in day to day life. From evolving depictions of the internet to skinned knees, Kon's works are steeped in the small details often lost in story telling.

As a 13 episode television series Paranoia Agent affords Satoshi Kon the ability to greatly magnify the complexity, in this case by at least 11 principal characters including an aged maestro, a trollish investigative reporter, a pair of police investigators, a toy designer, a popular politician or sociopath in training middle schooler and his with an effort affable overweight classmate, bag lady, and an academic young woman at war with her prostitute Tyler Durden.

Paranoia Agent with an introductory theme/animation shames the output ofmost series' as a wasted opportunity. Against a soaring techno incantation, the characters smiles and chuckle with complete abandon as the background transitions in context (the blur of urban life) and out (flooded city to peaceful underwater).At first glance it seems up beat whimsical, but quickly it shifts from disturbingly joyously to joyously disturbing as a backdrop of fatality begins to peak from behind the laughter. Pick it apart or take it face value, the animation and music of this simple concept, brilliantly executed is bound to get stuck in your head.

The series then opens with a new depiction of the increasingly familiar theme of modern isolation. In the bustle of the morning commute everyone is on their cell phones and in particular making excuses to each other. Cut to an old man in a hospital issue outfit, sweating as he chalks out an impossibly complex equation on the pavement of a parking lot. He looks up and sees a departing bus, noticing a young woman with half opened eyes. Both have a moment of recognition as the bus leaves.

The young woman is a prominent toy designer, frequently lost behind her eyes and under great pressure to create a follow-up to last merchandising "cash dog". After an unfruitful day at the office she returns home, and while avoiding a bag lady she is attacked with a baseball bat by an adolescent on inline skates.

The attacker, dubbed "Lil' Slugger" becomes of the obscured epicenter of the series’ episode to episode shifts of focus. Sub sets of the focal characters interact as pieces the story are revealed, and seemingly, each is forced to confront the breaking points in their compartmentalized lives.

From its inception, the psychological phantasmagoria's characters provoke thought. The recognizability of each character, combined with aspects of exceptionality make each a fascinating study. These episodes don't go far in tipping the hand of the series full picture, but what they depict of its full scheme is highly promising.

The criticism from some camps on Satoshi Kon's work is that there is no reason for it to be animated. More often than not the movie or in the case series is working towards mundane look, where people and settings don't deviate from what their physical counterparts. Beyond the simple answer that it is his chosen medium, it does possess properties that lend themselves perfectly to the stories he tells. In the intersection of the mind and reality, animation hides disconnects. The inherit disjoint of animation masks deviations of perception leaving more of an ambiguity of what is meant to be taken literal. Less cinematic trickery or cutesiness is needed to challenge what seem is real.

Anime Spotlight: Super Milk-Chan Show/The Super Milk Chan Show!- 100% Whole (Vol. 1)
Released by ADV Films

Super Milk-Chan is one of the comedies that rattled around in ADV's licensed material closet more than some fans would have liked. The noise had been that the delay was due to ADV seeking a television deal for the series, but now that is out it can be said that at least in terms of oddity, it wildly exceeds expectations.

Milk-Chan's niche approaches the Japanese take on the sentiments of post-Simpson's American adult prime time animated comedies. Locally, despite a few gems, like Duckman or Family Guy, the genre's been full of forgettable and forgotten failures. Against this spotty competition, and against broader expectations, Milk-Chan's idiosyncratic characters and plot holds up well. It has it problems, which ADV's peculiar tries to work around, but it’s an off beat experience worth witnessing. Usually there’s is some line about the drug induced state under which a particularly unusual anime series was developed, and almost always the statement is tired bunk. As manic as Akiroh Daichi's (Fruits Baskets, Kodomo No Omoch, ect) works are, the artist himself seems rather controlled himself and one has to project a meticulous planning to his exploits. FLCL isn't on acid. It isn't even that undecipherable, its Gainax and Production I.G's game of anime Freud. Excel Saga looks like real life Nabeshin, Shinichi Watanabe's anime alter ego on over driver.

On the other hand, Super Milk Chan has a certain baked quality, with waves of lethargy, conversations spiraling nowhere, and impulsive, almost freeform oddity that almost warrants calling its creators’ states of mind into question.

The titular Milk is a blue haired, apple cheeked munchkin in kindof a floppy sleeved space-hoodsie with an antenna. Though she's often compared to a Powerpuff Girl in that she in a stumpy young super hero (presumably she is a super hero, she takes on missions from the plump, lived spotted President), even in terms of appearance she is more of a Frankenstein’s monster from pieces of Junko Mizuno (creator of cute-grotesque fracture fairytales, released domestically by Viz) Space Channel 5, and animation festival subversive or wanna-be subversive shorts.

Her personality is a comic devise gone awry, likeably irritating in a Black Adder sense, with odd mix of young child and burned out college student/aimless post grad twenty something, with the obnoxious mannerisms of both. Playing stupid games (ie answering the phone with inane joke responses, then immediately saying "just kidding") or yelling out phrases at random times ("dumbass" generally) and sitting on a couch apathetically staring or dodging bills. Extended from Milk, the long, meandering plots and sometimes just plain old strangeness are as often grating as they are hilarious. Exacerbating the challenge of keeping track of where the joke is going, there is a large injection of Japanese humor in the series. There are plenty of quirky characters, general appeal humor such as Milk shaking down her house hold ants for rent, playing psychiatrist to wine drunken sea like, or Milk leading the President into an pointless discussion to get out of giving receiving a mission while he is attempting to alter her or remember to alert her to a missile he fired on his own nation in a fit of anger, but there is also alot of humor which appears aimed directly at its original Japanese audience. Some of which incidentally play to an English speaking audience, ie a robot dog that spouts near random phrases, including "suck my dick", in English. Others work for a domestic audience, but not the degree of Japanese viewer. For example a gag involving a mail order handgun has a shock and wrongness factor that would be magnified for a Japanese viewer. However, there many that are difficult to pin down. At times it is an uphill battle trying to spots what is supposed to be clever rather just insane buzzing.

The original Japanese opening and ending sequences are included as bonus features without sound (licensing troubles seems to be the obvious explanation), replaced on the episodes with a club style pulse bop.

An unusual feature of Super Milk Chan is that the content has been changed for the English dub, which has been done before, but here, the content has been VERY changed. To a degree where it appears on a separate disc, packaged along side the disc with English subtitle/Japanese audio version.

The Super Milk Chan Show, as opposed to Super Milk-Chan Show!, features live action interludes with ADV staff and voice actors (Super Milk-Chan Show! features some shorter live action interludes, but good luck ciphering out the joke in them). Not only is the humor is radically localized, laying on the pop culture and current events references, but also the translation is also liberal to also the degree of a redubbed parody. Characters and conversation are almost complete reworkings. Milk Chan herself all attitude rather than her woman-child/child original personality. Still in a very unsitcomish show,the wise cracking doll-creature seems more like a sitcom devise than in her original incarnation.

The English dub successfully caters to the fans of voice workers. It achieves the pop risqué cuteness, that some have a great time with, but the volume level seems to come at the expense of the original's ingenuity. Its true that without a strong familiarity with Japanese language and culture, many of the original's jokes will go over the head of even an avid watcher, but there is a fun complexity to the character's makeup that is lost in translation. The English version is frequently humorous, but its the comedy of a wise ass.

ADV chose a please a please everyone approach for Milk-Chan, which was probably the best way to deal with this troublesome show, that has enough great material to warrant attention, but it presents many problems for a non-Japanese audience. By letting the material stand on its own, and going wild with their on adaptation, room little to grouse about encroaching decision while make a best effort to find an audience.

Released by Bandai Entertainment and Manga Video

In a summer packed with highly anticipated anime releases, Ghost in the Shell may be the king of the hill. Few anime titles have the name cache of Ghost in the Shell, both among ardent followers of the medium and those with passing familiarity. With good reason it is calls up a reputation of an immersive post information age world (and to some degree some degree the controversial extent to which sexual appeals its foisted on its heroine).

Stand Alone Complex goes far to maintain Ghost in the Shell's position in the fore front of the use great ideas in the new, in many cases almost invented, technology to drive plot and action. One criticism of science fiction is how rarely it is able to predict new technologies that are later actualized (apart from radar and Jules Verne there aren’t that many victories), but Ghost in the Shell is one work science seems to be catching up on.

Stand Alone Complex establishes itself in its second episode as imaginative and exciting sci-fi: police procedure strewn with innovative next generation technology, meets cyber-thriller meets Tom Clancy meets Ian Fleming James Bond, a little humor, and metaphysics with style and a wink.

The semi-secret defense force Section 9 act as investigators and special forces in a world where cybernetic replacement have advanced to the point bodies can be replaced. A drunken official can switch bodies with a robot geisha, and a hacker can in turn employ the geisha to perpetrate a hostage situation as a diversion to his own body swap.

In the episode, one of a new generation of AI aided quadruped tanks leaves its testing ground behind heads towards inhabited areas. Section 9 is scrambled to stop the threat. While a number of officers chasing the vehicle in their own mini AI spider tank Tachikomas, others arrange a sniper ambush, interrogate the tanks designers, and negotiate with the corporate officers of its manufacture for details and counter measures.

The episode offers what Stand Alone Complex does best: rare intelligently applied action. Within the context of a group of trained, intelligent and experienced individuals, physically, mentally, and socially applying their skills to solve a problem is the interception of exciting direction and ideas to chew on.

The results are full service anime, just about everything you could ask for. It has visuals you will not see in other mediums: mini tanks chasing a weapon of tangibly scary sophistication down a country road, tension increasing as they approach a metropolis, dodging shells or in some cases not dodging, not to mention nifty techie visuals: big guns, orbital relays, a Sears catalogue of cybernetic implants and modifications; it is the kind of visuals that anime initially become known for, and what it can do better than any other medium.The look is detailed and expansively executed, not limited or set on a small stage. Few televised animation works can complete with its quality.

It has the drama of the police procedural, of the political give and take, and ultimately of something more personal and more ambitious nature. It has new and interesting ideas, explored with a scientific internal logic, thoughtfully examining the intersection of technology and social mechanisms.

It has humor, generally from the Tachikomas, small domed spider, with few comical aspects to their appearance and even fewer human characters. Through voices, mechanical mannerism, the machines are endearingly adorable. (they also star in post episode shorts in which they gripes about humans and their imprecise constructs, such as language.)

For a while the American thought on the Japanese market was that there were no second acts. Hiatuses maybe, but no rebirths, and once a property faded away it was gone. People looking for the next entry in Tenchi Muyo or Slayers that in Japan, once a series has ended the public had moved on.

In the last few years, Ghost in the Shell has undergone a renaissance, turning out a new manga series, the theatrical movie Innocence, the television series Stand Alone, and video games.

The buzz on Innocence is that director Mamoru Oshii turned out another visually and mentally captivating work. Masamune Shirow's new manga Man Machine Interface will please fans of the creator, but better chance of turning off the readers. There's abundant evidence that the reclusive creator has entered into has entered what one Anime Jump forum poster once described as the "Old Pervert Heinlein" phase of his carrier. His art book and poster work has spiraled into distasteful sexual imagery. His old pinups, such as Ghost in the Shell's female lead sprawled backwards of a mechanical core, made Conan pulp covers look feminist, but newer works apply a discomforting creativity to the sexuality: a large chest gunslinger being milked by a humanoid horse, or a blonde Tome Raider type in compromising positions with snakes or mummies. The return to manga storytelling in did not fare well. While he carried over his highly redefined computer color skills to Man Machine Interface, he also brought over his increasing knack for bondage imagery and gratuitous sexuality. An excellent shift in premise, the lead in the position of global manipulator, fully levering the cybernetic world was drowned and bloated by a complete lack of restraint: female characters running around in their undergarments, noise from footnotes and gattling burse of micro-ideas.

Stand Alone Complex has the least creative name recognition power. Beyond music by Yohko Yanno (Cowboy Bebop, Escaflowne, Macross Plus, Arjuna), it is not a gathering of names well known in the US, or names with a laundry list of credits. (some of the less acknowledged staffs have some impressive credits. Art director Yusuke Takeda worked on Giant Robot, Gundam Wing and Evangelion, mechanical design worked on .//Hack and Noir) However, it distinguishes itself in the group as the opportunity to develop on the promise of the world and characters Shirow created. Prior to Stand Alone Complex the most faithful successor to the spirit of the original manga was a Playstation One game.

Stand Alone Complex hits at a point between Oshii's detailed realism and Shirow's distinctive personality. The character design is more abstract than the movie, but less idealized than the manga. The storytelling is similar to the first manga’s progressive mission advance certain points and themes of a central plot.

According to the buzz on the series, the first volume is indicative of the its format: stand alone episodic stories that occasional return to the case introduced in its last episode, the Laughing Man. In the volume’s final episode, Togusa, most traditionally human member of Section 9, no cybernetic replace and a strong family life, is contacted by an old police associative working on the dormant "Laughing Man" hacker case, setting off a string of dominos, exposing a police scandal in which camera are implements in the eyes of those under surveillance, in turn leading to the re-emergence of the "Laughing Man" in a powerful display of what it means to be able to exploit the technology of the Ghost in the Shell's world.

The mast head of Ghost in the Shell is Motoko Kusangi, Section 9's field commander, heavy hitter, and distinguished by being the sole operative with complete replacement body, the titular ghost in the shell. While no not even approaching the hyper-cheesecake level of Masamume Shirow's manga, Stand Alone Complex continues to sexualize Motoko to a problematic degree. It has begun to build some intriguing history to the character, especially dealing with her adaptation to an artificial body, but she in design she stands in stark contrast to her companions. While they look like casually dressed investigators or off duty military-types, augments with a little extra technology, a lot of Motoko is shown, mostly often in a jacket over tight one-piece swim suit like attire. When a tight suit is inarguable a tight suit, called for in a situation camera angles emphasis her chest and posterior.

In the mid 90's seeing the Ghost in the Shell movie introduced and hooked many on anime. With a similar mix of thought and force Stand Alone Complex has the same potential.

Anime Spotlight: Gad Guard
Volume 1: Lightning
Released by Geneon/Pioneer

Occasionally, or maybe even often it seems like the last thing the world needs is another super hero comic, or police detective hour drama, yet a really good and new one always seems to emerge from the dog eared formula. Gad Guard is one of these shifts in the expected, an exceptional giant robot show, and for some reason, no one is talking about it. Buried under the higher profile releases due out this summer, Gad Guard is well worth the same the notice as its more buzzed about contemporaries. Gad Guard takes a well warranted step forward in modernizing the giant robot genre. In the place of school boys commanding their robot surrogates or uniformed pilots under a hierarchical agency or army is a more grounded extrapolation of modern life. With a relatively more street level and punk outlook and some Cowboy Bebop sensibilities Gad Guard adds vigor to a story template which desperately needed something new.

Set in the near futures, where energy deficits have lead to the power being shut off in the poorer cities at midnight, Hajiki Sanada lives with his over worked mother and younger sister, pulling in money as a courier while trying to fit in class at a parochial school. A job leads Hajiki to the acquisition of a Fad, a cubical stone which rearranges near by matter to construct a large robot knows as a Technode.

Beyond the focal Hajiki, Gad Guard offers an abundance of characters and plot threads with little overt exposition. From the opening animation, it is clear that other teens will be acquiring technodes. The viewer has met them all by the end of the volume, and a number have received their robots. The selections hits a spectrum of substantive, but not unrealistically exaggerated economic and social differences. There are few simple stock characters and so far, with the with the possible exception of the somewhat guarded, but earnest Hajiki, few open books. They fits recognizable molds, but each character has their own mystery, and not in the over overblown single event secret history sense, but a personality and an outlook that offers the potential for an interesting perceptive when revealed.

While bringing the giant robot genre forward, Gad Guard maintains its core. The giant robot is still an embodiment of a power fantasy, a grand device for applying will onto the world. The ends are less male centric, less about war or saving the world, and more fixing local problems. The characters seems to be setting themselves up as minor super heroes, in classic spider-man sense.

Guard Guard's visuals are able to keep pace with, and buttress its forward facing plotting. Beyond Gonzo's typically eye-drawing skill is color and lighting, there is an across the board depth in design and motion. The teen characters dress like sane and distinctive teens. While slightly odd in that teens dress like masked fighter pilots when taking to the streets with their mecha (except for rival Katana), their typical attire balances aesthetics, individuality and believability in a way to make the characters interesting sights that may stand out, but aren't distractingly outlandish.

There is a granularity to the cityscape design that underscores the personality of the series. They're close to modern, but a little more run down (a difficult effect with digital animation), and a little more (especially compared the cities depicted in most anime) heterogeneous. If you pause the images you notice some nice touches, such as a shop with the name Jarmusch on its awnings (a reference to director Jim Jarmusch?)

The Technodes themselves are a new twist of giant robot design, oddly fluid, cute, and expressive, with large eges and strange features like flexible exhaust pipes. There is Tezuka-style in the vein of other recent works modeled after tezuka (the recent metropolis, arguably the Power Stone Capcom video games),

Motion is similarly distinctive. A character who boxes moves differently than a character who practices kung fu. A scooter moves differently than a car. The Technodes have their own fluid style, which is different than other non-conventional, utilitarian robots.

Given the cute-ish design of the giant robots, there are a few age appropriateness issue to point out in the series. Dissecting the series by incident it isn't that violent, but the violence more than the sum of its parts. There are several acts that make the series feel a bit dark. Briefer, but more troubling in the content is a few quirks of the translation. The first episode uses the "faggot", which is was blindingly unneeded and inappropriate for a "13+" rated series.

Manga Spotlight: Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga Volume 1
By Koji Aihara & Kentaro Takekuma
Released by Viz

Manga How-To books, both home grown and translated have been prominent in the domestic market for a while, but now that manga is booming how-to are riding the tide. Some of the guides seem good, but many can't even pull off a convincingly skilled cover, and none are like Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga. Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga's gimmick is a parody these how to didactics. In practice, the lessons are more a reverse engineered analyses of the medium that a shot at how-to's. With vulgar irreverence, told as a humor comic with nicely ugly design and plenty of body humor, it deconstructs the creation process of Japanese comics and the industry’s output. The collection's insight and humor make it a must for anyone interested in understanding or analyzing manga.

Told as frequently racy manga, Koji Aihara, whose work hasn't received North American exposure but ranged from serial ninja epics to humorous four panel strips guides Kentaro Takekuma, whose domestic exposure include Nintendo Power's Super Mario comic in the early nineties and a work in the pop culture exploration Superflat art exhibit, through the steps of creating manga.

The series starts pulling the manga format apart, not as Scott Mccloud Understanding level of examining the medium or really at a how to approach of a recommended style, but describing and in many cases lambasting the tropes of its current state in evolution.

Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga starts with choosing a pen name, an amusing little excursion in recognizing and shaping public perception. The topic also quickly illustrates how freely Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga throws in names and references, in one block mentioning Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Rumiko Takahashi and Giant Baba. Most of the references are deeply ingrained in Japanese culture. As the adaptation progresses, more are footnoted.

The next phase deals with the mechanics of illustration, briefly as nuts and bolts as borders, but more dedicated to style in the perspective of the medium, how borrowing works, and how to deal with deficits of ability are hidden.

The most exhaustive discussion in the volume is a dissecting genres, from the popular to the domestically underrepresented (many of later appeared in the canceled Pulp anthology along side Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga). This is really the secrets of manga laid bare. Formalized and insightful, its an amusing breakdown of the psychology of creator and audience. What buttons are pushed for what audience, why it invokes a reaction and why they want to read it.

Scant critical observation is needed to recognized that most shonen (boys) manga series are simply chained strings of fights with progressively more powerful opponents (though some argue when reducing popular series like Ruruoni Kenshin to those terms), but Koji Aihara and Kentaro Takekuma make some interesting conjectures as to which character the reader really identifies with, and why they are drawn to the story.

Currently there is one collected edition of Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga, printed on full size pages. The most frustrating feature of the volume is that is previews a currently unreleased second volume.

Manga Spotlight: Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Volume 1
Art by Masatsugu Iwase
Story by Hajime Yatate and Yoshiyuki Tomino
Released by Del Rey

Generally manga (comics) are the source material from which anime is created, but Gundam SEED is a generally faithful adaptation of the like named anime series. (There is a second Gundam SEED series, Astray, released domestically by TOKYOPOP, which is a spinoff to the anime). To evaluate the prospects of manga adaptations of anime based the ones that have been released domestically, the success rate is only slightly better than novelizations of movies. Gundam SEED ranks as one of the better adaptations, successfully capturing the anime's appeal of mechanized action, teen drama sc-fi and politics, without going out of its way to alter the content or design of the original.

Gundam's story of teens or young adults fighting wars in military produced robots armors is one of anime's most enduring franchises. There are children's series, such as Doraemon, which have run more continuously over the same stretch of time, but few have met Gundam ability to re-invent itself frequently enough to keep its aging fans while attracting new ones.

In the last decade Gundam has shifted away from its original Universal Century continuity in favor or fresh settings. Gundam Wing won over its target of a more female audience, and the outrageousness of the tournament fight G Gundam, and Turn A Gundam's unique setting and production team (including music by Yokho Kanno, design by Syd Mead, and character design by Capcom's Akira Yasuda) had their fans, but arguably the most successful new Gundam universe has been Gundam SEED, whose record setting Japanese video sale were spread across an impressive breath of demographic groups.

Gundam SEED is an exercise in using the lessons of past successes, combining the heated mechanized war of the original Gundam series with Gundam Wing’s appeal of vibrant design, attractive leads and teen relationships the SEED casts its appeal beyond the range of previous entries in the franchise.

In the Cosmic Era, humanity populated orbiting city-satellites known as “plants” with genetically engineered "Coordinators". The tensions between the Earth born "Naturals" and the "Coordinators" were eventually ignited, leading to a war between the Earth Alliance and Coordinator Zaft Alliance.

SEED opens in a technical university of the neutral satellite of Heliopolis. An attack by Zaft forces to capture experimental Earth Alliance battle armors known as Gundams breaks the ivory tower isolation of the school's community of the skilled and connected, dividing former relationships along war's battle lines. Rather than the self-isolated teen pilot, the series features one a lead who possesses and build relationships the for personal development beyond the simple coming of age hero quest.

The manga's faithfulness as an adaptation takes some energy out of the equation. The tension of comfortable teens getting launched into the arena of war, and explosive action of giant robot space are present, but missing some of sheen of newness, especially if the anime has already been seen.

Partially by design and the nature of the plot, partially by projecting colorful anime onto black and white manga, there is some difficulty telling who's who in the early chapters. Thought and attention is required to keep track of alliances and which force is responsible for which action.

Anime Spotlight: Kiddy Grade Volumes 3 and 4
Released by FUNimation

Direct to video is a vehicle that really doesn't do the Kiddy Grade anime series any favors. One of the in vogue of late story telling techniques in anime is to run with an episodic status quo for a while, along the way setting charges. Then after the viewer has comfortablely followed the path, explode the premise and reveal the heart of the plot. If the original stretch has problems, a serialized release can be trying.

Three volumes in Kiddy Grade began to acquire the edge that, other than to the fans of cute girl design, it was missing. In terms of drama and cerebral convolutions, it hold up well against some of the classic, pointed anime sci-fi actions. With the sheen of animation by Studio Gonzo, Kiddy Grade becomes an attractive package. The question for the perspective buyer of the series to ask is whether a third of a series is too long to wait to become substantive. "Worth the wait" boils down to a function of budget and taste for the Keiji Gotoh style design.

Kiddy Grade is introduced as sci-fi adventure with a novel premise: its heroines are one of an economic hegemony's, the Galactic Organization of Trade and Tariffs (GOTT), network of paired special agent teams. However, for a deep stretch, little is offered beyond a showcase for design inspired, but not executed, by the series' director Keiji Gotoh (Sorcerer Hunters, Nadesico, Those Who Hunt Elves). Episodes appeared to be built towards getting buxom super strengthed Lumiere and petite, very young looking and machine controlling Éclair into some uniformish outfit (some brand of attendant, waitress or maid ). Action does take place, but more as mechanical necessity of the genre than as a physical or emotional force.

Volume three builds towards and volume four executes the series' big reveal. It delivers an interesting shift which alters the leads’ relationship to their surrounds in a fundamental way. The new plot landscape succeeds in adding a greatly needed weight to the series. It doesn't suddenly transform itself into a the next dominant psychological socio-political sci-fi, but the shift to open class warfare and struggle between the forces of history and an authority's attempt to dam or route its flow is an attention grabbing use of the series' unique premise. With in the series, the chess board of paired operative teams who may or may not be following their own agendas, handlers, and deep organizational bureaucracies has begun to open out with fascinating complexity. In a larger context, without being an anime discussion of globalization and selling out, there is some real world relevance.

The change in the characters is compelling enough to lower the volumes on the flaws in the series.Despite cheap trick sentimentality and action that given the current state of animation fall flat against the range of possibilities Kiddy Grade has become a series to anticipate.

Design remains a key feature Kiddy Grade despite moving beyond reliance on its appeal. The bold super-hero impracticality along with a tangible groping to cover an almost fetishistic range of preferences is bound to please some and distract others. Though the dress up aspect has been deeply paired back, Kiddy Grade doesn’t'kick that habit of fan service (gratuitous titillating shots). Eclaire's cross shaped cleavage (and cross motif in general), and Luminarie's huge eyes. There is noteworthy and considering the televised origin almost shockingly lengthy and detail nude scene in volume four, which is a little off putting due to the character's apparent ages (though the "older than they look" argument comes into play.

Anime Spotlight: Galaxy Angel Volumes 2 and 3
Released by Bandai

Galaxy Angel has been on the real surprises to be recently released. Not that it was an unknown that turned out to be engaging, but that it was five girl marshmallow sci-fi comedy, created by a company (Brocolli, whose most famous character Digi Charat makes a number of cameos) looking for properties that they could heavily merchandised and adapted/licensed across various mediums (a strategy that seems to be getting more common)... generally the kind of material supposed to a be an unexplainable guilty pleasure at best. Shockingly it is a rare cute and funny comedy that is actually both.

Ultimately Galaxy Angel doesn't transcend the level of mental junk food, but it does offer an inspired inanity in line with the material from Cartoon Network late night Adult Swim: the clever t-shirt rather than the pink bunny slippers of anime.

Galaxy Angel melts the selection of someone to please everything cast and rescasts it into a Swiss army knife to make mundane situations bizarre, and bizarre situations exceptional works of oddity. Any series whose the sardonic Evangelion's Rei like girl who is quietly, but not so secretly a religious zealot, praying to combination of HAL and a Shinto shrine is scores points for originality.

The five member are Angel Brigade are supposed to be galactic society’s elite protectors, and seekers of the Lost Technology. In practice, they just make work for themselves, not even knowing what Lost Technology is.Investigating lost space stations, participating in and or instigating hostage situations, taking freelance work, or applying grotesque amount of energy to some point of random minutia.

Volumes two and three demonstrate that the first volume wasn’t a fluke or quick exhaustive burst of good material. The 15 minute premise bound exploits range from the obvious or been-done (what if the Galaxy Angels landed on a space station with a virus that turned people into monkeys, what if the Galaxy Angels' commander bet that if they lost a baseball game they'd have to parade around in negligees), to wildly bizarre (what if one of the Galaxy Angels receives an un ordered mail order husband that turns out to be a letter bomb, what if the Galaxy Angels landed on a mysterious satellite where food mysteriously appears but when eaten ghosts chase around the consumer, but the station turns out to be a forgotten weight loss program). Almost all quickly run their course in a satisfying exploit of strange potential

With 15 minute episodes, most of the humor consists of short mini-routines, exploiting a jokes as far as it can go then abandoning it before it can get tired. There are several repetitive jokes between episodes, but they are underplayed, self acknowledged with a half wink at best. No one comments the cute blue haired intellectual Mink has fuzzy ears that hiccup when she's excited, or that Normad, the pink stuffed raccoon-thing mascot with the mind of an advanced missile system AI seems to get shot through the head in most episodes, seems to get shot through the head most episodes in which he makes an appearance.

Clichéd jokes are generally eschewed. There are now no chest size jokes, over eating is a marginally exaggerated personality quark rather than expected gorging, even an anti-clumsy chief heroin (not exactly super-competent physically, but not falling all over herself either, and supernaturally lucky).

This Week's Releases

Anime

Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi Vol. 1
Boys Over Flowers Vol.6
Cyber City: The Vampire
Devil Lady: Complete Collection
Fighting Spirit Vol. 1
Final Fantasy Unlimited Vol. 7
Gall Force: New Era
Gungrave Vol. 1
Hyper Speed Grandoll
Nadia, Secret of Blue Water Collection 2
Nuku Nuku TV Vol.4
Patlabor TV Vol. 9
Saikano Vol. #2
Super Milk-Chan Show Vol.1
Wolf's Rain Vol. 1

Anime Soundtracks

Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi Original Soundtrack
Gungrave Original Soundtrack
Neon Genesis Evangelion Original Soundtrack Vol. 3
R.O.D. Original Soundtrack

Manga

Apocalypse Meow Manga Vol 1 Tp
Aria Manga Vol 2 Tp
Boss Manga Vol 1 Tp
Dnagents Vol 1 Born Orphans Tp
Dragonball Z Vol 16 Tp Sj Ed
Gadirok Manga Vol 1 Tp
Nausicaa Of Valley Of Wind Vol 5 Tp 2Nd Ed
Shonen Jump Vol 2 #8 Aug 2004
Sky Blade Sword Of The Heavens Manga Vol 2 Tp
Those Who Hunt Elves Manga Vol 5 Tp
To Heart Manga Vol 2 Tp
Treasure Hunter Book 2 Gn
Xxxholic Vol 2 Gn

Last Week's Releases

Anime

Comic Party - The Big Time (Vol. 3)
Dragon Ball Z: Cell Games: Surrender
Gravitation - Fateful First Encounter (Vol. 1)
Ninja Scroll - The Series (Vol. 3)
R.O.D. The Tv Series - The Paper Sisters (Vol. 1)
Saint Seiya - Rekindled Regrets (Vol.7)
Texhnolyze - Spectacle (Vol. 2)

Manga Excel Saga Vol 7 Tp
Hot Gimmick Vol 5 Tp
Mermaid Saga Vol 1 Gn
Neon Genesis Evangelion Vol 4 Tp 2Nd Ed
Please Save My Earth Vol 5 Tp
Princess Ai Vol 1 Gn (Of 3)
Saikano Vol 1 Gn

Ghibli DVD Wave 2 Delay Less Indefinite

Digital Bits, initially reported that the August 31 release of Disney's second wave of classic Studio Ghibli/Hayao Miyazaki films (Neighbor Totoro, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Porco Rosso) had been delayed indefinitely, is now staying that the release has been postponed to early 2005. The speculative reasoning is that DVD are reschedule to tie in more closely with a release of Howl's Moving Castle (which hasn't been confirmed as licensed).

Howl's Moving Castle Trailer

Nausicaa.net has a trailer of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli adaptation of Howl's Moving castle along with a translation of its audio here

Gunsmith Cat Return

Kenichi Sonoda will be reviving his Chicago tale of young gun wielding bounty hunters, Gunsmith Cats. Gunsmith Cats: Burst will begin the September 2004 issue of the Afternoon manga anthology, which goes on sale July 24th.

New Anime and Manga Licenses

Domestic anime and manga distributors announced the following new licenses at the Anime Expo convention

ADV:

Anime:

Area 88: about mercenary fighter pilot. sparked controversy in Japan by including a brief "subliminal" shot of a naked woman collapsing in its opening animation. Official Japanese site here

Detective Loki: (aka Demon Detective Loki Ragnarok), Norse god of michief Loki is forced to amuse the guise of a human child and solve mysteries. Official Japanese site here

Elfen Lied two students take in a girl whose personality alternates between being a helpless and a killer. Official Japanese site here

Erementar Gerad

Gantz: an anime adaptation of a popular manga series about seemingly random selections of people, copied in the moments before death and forced to play a dangerous game of hunting aliens. Official Japanese sites here, here and here

There had been speculation that the series was licensed by FUNimation, who registered the internet domain Gantz.tv, ADV subsequently registered Gantz-tv.com and tipped their hand by requesting fans that fan translators stop distributing the series.

Gilgamesh: post disaster sci-fi with Sumerian references. Official Japanese site here

Gravion Zwei: follow up to Masami Obari (Fatal Fury, Virus Buster Surge) and GONZO's slick attractive character giant robot nostalgia.

Hello Kitty Animation Theatre

Kurau: Phantom Memory: sci-fi about a girl living on the newly colonize moon, where she becomes the host to two entities. Official site here.

Legend of Moby Dick

Maburaho: below average guy with interesting girls romantic comedy, set in a wizard's school Official sites here and here

Moeyo Ken: Samurai action comedy, based on a video game with design by Ranma 1/2/Inu-Yasha creator Rumiko Takashi. Official site here

Nanaka 6/17: a 17 year old hits and head and thinks she's a six year old Official site here

Saiyuki: Requiem- Saiyuki the Movie

Tactics: cut boy who interacts with supernatural oni and tengu

Tree of Palme: theatrical art film

Yumeria: action/comedy about a boy who provides powers to monster fighting girls in a dream world. Official site here

AN Entertainment

Haré+Guu (aka Jungle Guu or Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu Deluxe)

Bandai

Anime

Dan Doh!!: golf anime, part of a push to introduce sports anime to the American audience. Official site here

Hiro Senki: from Studio Bones Official sites here and here

Mars Daybreak: From Studio Bones. Official sites here and here

Onegai Twins (direct to video final episode)

Scrapped Princess: Fantasy series about a exiled princess (thrown off a cliff to avoid a prophecy) Official site here

According to Anime on DVD Production IG suggested that Bandai had licensed Jubei-chan 2, but Bandai wouldn't make an announcement concerning the series.

CPM

Manga/Manwha
Angel Shop
Armadgeddon
Kung-Fu Jungle Boy
Masca
Mythology of the Heavens
Nambul: War Stories
Princess

FUNimation

Burst Angel (aka Bakeretsu Tenshi): GONZO's cute girl sci-fi western. Official site here

Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki OAV 3: resurrection of the sci-fi action comedy about of Japanese teen who becomes involved with intergalactic intrigue when his house becomes home to a collection of space's most interesting women. Official sites here and here

Geneon

Anime:

The Daichis - Earth Defence Family: Comedy created by Shoji Kawamori (Escaflowne, Arjuna, Macross Plus) Official site here

Mermaid Forest: Horror based on the manga by Rumiko Takahashi. Official sites here and here

Popotan: Adult PC game turned anime about a three sisters and their robot maid living in a teleporting house. Official site here Rumiko Takahashi Theater: Anthology based on the work of the creator of Inu-Yasha and Ranma 1/2. Official site here

Saiyuki Gunlock: Third entry in the cute boy, half-modernized retelling of the Journey to the West legend (basis of early Dragon Ball and many other anime)

Shin Getter Robo: new entry in one of Go Nagai's giant robot franchises.

Submarine 707R

Tetsujin 28: aka Gigantor the live action will be released theatrically before being released on video

Media Blasters

Anime:

Asagiri no Miko: demon fighting priestesses. Official site here.

Eiken: In an immense school, a boy is forced into the mysterious club full of attractive girls. Official site here

Midori no Hibi: Popular currently running comedy about a trouble maker with love troubles who wakes up to find his right hand has been replaced by a miniaturized version of a girl who had a crush on him. Official sites here and here

Otogizoushi: Production IG's new feudal show. Official site here.

Penciled in for a spring 2005 release.

Shura No Toki: Samurai/martial arts action. Official site here. Scheduled to be released in November

Manga/Manwha:

Volcano High

Right Stuf:

Boys Be: Romantic relationships between six high school students.

To Heart: school romance, based on a dating sim video game from the creators of Comic Party. Official site here

Live Action Boggiepop Phantom

The Others

SuperTechoArts

Anime:

Shadow: Ninja anime, official site here

TOKYOPOP

Manga/Manwha

Alichino
Blade of Heaven

CLAMP no Kiseki: The Ultimate Collection: CLAMP's 12 part 15th anniversary collection. Each will look at one of the women manga creator's works (Cxard Captor Sakura, X, Magic Knights Rayearth, ect). Each will also include a chess piece figure. The first is expected to be released Spring 2005. TOKYOPOP has posted information online here

CLAMP North Side

CLAMP South Side (art books)

DearS (Comedy/Romance, Volume 1 Release: 1/11/05)

Beautiful aliens, known as "DearS", are an everyday part of society. High school student Takeya comes to the rescue of Ren, a particularly gorgeous member of the DearS...and thus begins manga-ka Peach Pit's boy-meets-alien-girl story in the tradition of Chobits and Mahoromatic: Automatic Maiden.

Gundam SEED Astray R

Hyper Police (Comedy, Volume 1 Release: 1/11/05)

In the future, demons and monsters have replaced humans! Creator Mee (Kotetsu no Daiboken-"Kotetsu's Great Adventures") tells the story of Natsuki, a powerful but clumsy cat-girl who works as a bounty hunter. Her job is to track down wanted monsters...and bring them back dead or alive!

Lagoon Engine (Fantasy, Volume 1 Release: 1/11/05)

From Yukiru Sugizaki, the best-selling creator of D.N.Angel, comes a supernatural yarn about Yen and Jin, two brothers who are successors to the family craft of defeating evil spirits. Battling ghosts is a game of guessing your opponent's "name." Both Yen and Jin have secret names only they know...and must keep private or risk death!

Master School Olympus (Fantasy/Action, Volume 1 Release: 1/11/05)

Son Hee-Joon (Yureka) delivers an action-packed manga with Master School Olympus. Sang is a fearlessly spunky young girl in search of the Demon School Hades, where only monsters can attend. Intrigue and hijinks unfold as Sang finds a way to become a monster-and begins a fantastic adventure in a devilish domain!

Passion Fruit Hardcover: Sweat and Honey

Peach Fuzz (Comedy, Volume 1 Release: 1/11/05)

An adorable, whimsical narrative by Lindsay Cibos and Jared Hodges, Peach Fuzz tells the story of an unusual odd couple: Amanda, an enthusiastic but lonely young girl, and Peach, a prissy ferret with a royalty complex! The heartfelt tale is based on the creators' winning entry in TOKYOPOP's second Rising Stars of Manga competition.

Sorcerer Hunters unflipped

Soul to Seoul (Drama, Volume 1 Release: 1/11/05)

Ji-Eun Kim presents a hard-hitting, passionate story about Kai, an American student who is half-Korean and half-Caucasian. Kai feels out of place because of his mixed heritage. When his arrogant and obnoxious cousin from Korea comes to study in America, Kai has to sort out his feelings about his family...and himself.

Anime on DVD reports that English language dubbers Bang Zoom indicated that Crispin Freeman is directing Scrapped Princess, and that "Planets", presumably Planetes was being recorded. Other upcoming projects for the company include Samurai Champloo, Please Twins, Overman King-Gainer, Gungrave.

Geneon Release Schedule

From Anime on DVD

Anime:

August 2004

Dokkoida!
Ikki Tousen

September 2004

Gregory Horror Show
Requiem from the Darkness (aka 100 Stories) to be released across 4 volumes
Stellvia

October 2004

Lunar Legend Tsukihime (to be released across 3 volumes)
Paranoia Agent
eX Driver Movie

November 2004

Burn-Up Scramble
Cybuster
Onmyoji 2 (live-action film)
Submarine 707R

December 2004

Submarine 707R
Popotan
Daichis

January 2005

Hankuyo Maid Team (La Verite)
Samurai Champloo (to be released across 7 DVD)

Early 2005

Saiyuki Reload
Shin Getter Robo

Spring 2005

Tenjou Tenge

Mid 2005

Rumiko Theatre
Daphne in the Brilliant Blue

Summer 2005

Mermaid Forest

2006

Saiyuki Gunlock

Sound Tracks

November 2004

Refrain from Eva
Gungrave OST2
ROD TV OST 2

December 2004

Love Hina Again
Sister Princess

Upcoming FUNimation Releases

Anime on DVD reports FUNimation announced at Anime Expo that they will be releasing the first volume of Spiral and tentatively a box set of Fruits Baskets on November 9th.

The first volume of Full Metal Alchemistic will be released January 18th. The series will run on Cartoon Network starting November 6th.

A trailer for Gunslinger Girls was shown at the convention.

ADV Names Theatrical Division Director

ADV Films has announced the hir of Steven Buck to head their Theatrical Division.

With an extensive background in the film industry Buck will be in charge of creating and supervising all aspects of the theatrical distribution process from its headquarters in Houston. He will ensure the implementation and production of everything from the initial stages of the artwork through the development and execution of the appropriate promotional campaign tailored to enhance each individual film.

Buck, a film industry veteran, has spent his career exhibiting, promoting and selling specialized films in major markets across the country. Buck is credited with opening and running the first multi-screen art theatre in Houston, TX, The Greenway 3, and with opening Houston's Angelika Film Center, the first Angelika Film Center located outside of New York City.

Upcoming CPM Release

Anime on DVD reports CPM announced at Anime Expo the following upcoming releases

September

Black Jack: Trauma (Ep7)

November

Black Jack: Parasite (Ep8)
Munto

December

Shootfigher Tekken box set

Upcoming AnimEigo Releases

Anime on DVD reports AnimEigo has confirmed that AD Police and Urusei Yatsura: Lum The Forever (movie 4) will both be released on October 5th.

Anime Game News

From The Magic Box

Bandai will release CyberConnect2's PS2 anime fighting game Naruto: Narutimet Hero 2 in Japan on September 30.

Screenshot of the Playstation 2 game Mobile Suit Gundam Seed: Never Ending Tomorrow, set to feature over 40 minutes of anime clips can be seen here

Konami's Prince of Tennis: Form a Strongest Team for PlayStation 2, described as combination tennis sports + breeding simulation game can be seen here

Sega will be releasing the latest entry in the Sakura Taisen/Wars video game/anime franchise for the Playstation 2, Sakura Taisen V: Episode 0 Kouya no Samurai Musume in Japan on September 22 release in Japan. Screenshots can be seen here

Geneon Redesigns Site

Geneon has update the look of their offical site at www.geneonanimation.com

ICV2 and Video Business report that Geneon's physical locations are also being exampled. In addition to their Long Beach, California site, they are opening offices in in Minneapolis (home of Best Buy) and New York. The New York location is apparently to bring the company closer to dealing hands on with MTV and Cartoon Network in dealing with their shows.

September ADV Releases

ADV will be releasing Aquarian Age: Awakening on DVD on September 14th, the first volume of the new First of the North Star OV will be released on September 21st, and My Dear Marie on DVD on 9/28.

Inu-Yasha Theatrical Tour

According to Jagged Team and Anime News Network the current issue of Shonen Jump USA Magazine includes a tentative list of cities that will host theatrical screenings of the Inuyasha movie.

July 22-24 San Diego
July 31 Baltimore
August 7 Minneapolis
August 13 San Francisco
August 21 Atlanta
August 28 Philadelphia
September 4 New York City
September 11 Toronto
September 18 Dallas

According to Anime on DVD's Anime Expo convention report states showings will be free, by invitation only. Invitations will be made available to subscribers to Viz mailing lists, and each showing will accommodate 200 to 250 viewers, on a first come, first serve basis. Additional information on theaters, dates, and showtimes will be made available at the Viz website. Two of the showings will take place in connection with the San Diego Comic Con and Otakon. Despite previous reports announcing that the movie will air on Cartoon Network on October 23, it is not expected to be shown until at least April 2005. The second Inu Yasha movie is set to be released on DVD in December.

In other Inu-Yasha news, on September 7th Viz will release the first season Inu Yasha boxed set, and the first Inu Yasha movie. In addition to the regular boxed set, there will be a deluxe boxed set that will include an imported Inu Yasha necklace.

At San Diego Comic Com, Viz will conduct open auditions for a role as an extra in a forthcoming episode of Inu Yasha.

ZETA Gundam Box Set Delayed

Anime on DVD reports that Bandai announced at the Anime Expo convention that the anitipated box set collected release of Gundam has been delayed indefinitely, but Tsukasa Kotobuki, character designer of Saber Marionette has been comissioned to illustrate the cover art.

Dragon Ball Z Live Action Not So Dead

Variety reports that Fox's live action adaptation of Dragon Ball Z has received a screenwriter. Ben Ramsey (The Big Hit) has signed a mid six-figure deal to pen a script that will adapt the popular fighting manga and anime series.

Subtitled Steamboy in US Theaters Anime News Network points out

Infoseek Anime reports that the North American release of Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo's Steamboy will be released in North America in subbed and dubbed formats.

Goo has a video of the Japanese premiere of Steam Boy, set to an 19th Century English theme, complete with horse-drawn carriage, here

Hayashibara Megumi Gives Birth

An Anime on DVD forum posters points out a Japanese article reporting that popular Japanese singer and voice actress (Evangelion's Rei, Slayer's Lina Inverse) Hayashibara Megumi gave birth to a daughter on the 28th. Starchild has commerative wallpapers and screensavers here

Trigun Manga Hardcover

Barnes & Noble will be carrying an exclusive hard cover edition of Dark Horse/Digital Manga's Trigun. The first volume 360 page volume will retail for $11.95.

Case Close Manga Name Changes

Anime on DVD has learned Viz has altered their adapation of the Detective Conan manga to use the names employed in the English language dub, which appears on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, and will be released on home video by FUNimation. The series, which has run past its 44th volume in Japan, will be renamed Case Close, and the characters names will be altered ie Shin'ichi to Jimmy and Ran to Rachel.

Domestic Direct to Video Animation Expands

ICV2 reports Hasbro and Paramount have announced a deal in which Paramount Home Entertainment will distribute OAVs that Hasbro will produce. Among properties on which Hasbro will base the OAVs are G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Duel Masters. The first releases include G.I. Joe: Valor vs. Venom in September, and Transformers Energon in October. Hasbro will release OAVs based on other properties next spring.

Dark Horse has announced a strategic partnership with home video producer and distributor Image Entertainment to produce, distribute and share ownership of theatrical features, direct-to-video projects, animated content and soundtrack albums for worldwide distribution. Through the relationship, Image and Dark Horse will produce projects "...ranging from limited theatrical releases to direct-to-video product, spanning genres from horror and science fiction to superhero adventures." The two companies are forming Dark Horse Home Entertainment, a new video imprint, which will release the jointly produced films on DVD.

One of the first joint projects undertaken by Image Entertainment and Dark Horse will be a horror film written and directed by John Landis (Animal House, An American Werewolf in London). Other projects announced, but not detailed, include unnamed directorial efforts by cult favorite actor Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead) and by novelist and comic book scribe Neil Gaiman.

Among the projects is expansion into the direct-to-video business, much of which is concentrated in what is loosely termed "genre" entertainment (fantasy, science fiction, superheroes, etc.). Another area in which the two companies could exploit their strategic agreement could be anime.

New ComicsOne Manga

Comics One has announced the upcoming releases of Yu Aikawa’s zombie-infested Dark Edge and Towa Oshima’s humorous real-life chronicles in High School Girls.

High School Girls #1 will be available in August 2004 and Dark Edge #1 in September. Each 200 page graphic novel will be priced at $9.95. Visit Comicsone.com for more detailed series information.

Covers

High School Girls cover here!