================================================================= IV. Commercially unavailable anime: ================================================================= 83 Aishite Night Margaret ? (Embrasse-moi Lucile) (Besame Liccia). *** t The story is about a love triangle of a bright young girl named Yaeko(a.k.a. Yakko-chan) (Liccia) and two guys (vocalist Gou and keyboardist Satomi) from a rock group called Bee-Hive. Gou's little brother-in-law Hashizou, also a band member, has a big fat cat called Juliano... (ZAM) A popular, fun show in Japan and Europe. (HBV) 83 Georgie ? IGARASHI Kumiko/ INOTAKU Izawa ***** t Georgie is the daughter of an aristocrat who was accused of conspiracy, and died while trying to escape. A farmer takes care of baby Georgie. The story later developed into a triangle love between Georgie and her two foster brothers, Abel and Benjamin Georgie will learn later that she is an orphan, and she will try to find the truth of the innocence of her father...(RIV) In the manga original, Georgie did have sex with Abel and bore him a son, but Abel died before his birth. So Georgie returned to Australia to live with Benjamin. Abel's mother prevent him from getting on with Georgie because she is the child of a prisoner. Very different ending compared with the anime. (CSP) 79 Hana no ko LunLun ? ? (Lydie et la cle magique) *** t Lun-Lun is a princess the Land of Flowers and has to find the 7-colored rose to prove her birthright before the main villainess (who also wants to be queen) does. Lun-Lun has a flower-shaped amulet and occasionally receives help from a prince. (TC) Character designed by Shingo Araki and Michi Himeno. In an old interview I remember, Araki said that he wanted to make the heroine, LunLun, `bijin'(beautiful lady) and thus gave traditional shoujo-manga looks with triangular shape of face. (AAK) 81 Hello, Sandy Bell! ? ? (Sandy Jonquille) ** t An orphan girl who becomes Journalist and gets into many troubles. (RIV) Sandy Bell has a good story. I did not like the animation quite, but I think that if it was the only Japanese anime at the time in Mexico worthy to watch. (IVM) 88 Hikari no Densetsu Margaret ASOU Izumi (Cynthia ou le rythme de la vie) (Piruetas) ***** t A 19 episodes anime (aired during the Seoul Olympics) about a girl who will become a champion at Rhythmic and Artistic Gymnastic. (RIV) Here we see some collaboration between manga and anime: Mao Natsukawa, a musical partner of the heroine (Hikari) appeared on anime first, and then on manga. (AAK) 85 Hi Step! Jun ? ? (Vas-y Julie !) *** t The story of a little girl (9-10 years old), very intelligent (She made two robots that became her friends... and she went on by many others inventions). But she falls in love with a boy very older than her (18-19). This boy's passion is riding motorcycles. (RIV) The character designs, robots and motorcycles are just not shoujo stuff for me. (CSP) 77 Joou Heika no Petite Ange ? ? (Angie, detective en harbe) * t It's the story of a little girl in England who becomes friend of her majesty thanks to her talent of detective. (RIV) Poor (RIV) 75 La Seine no Hoshi ? ? (La Tulipe Noire) ** t Its story takes place on France, and the heroine was a flower girl in daytime, turns masked fencer at night(a rare fighting heroine, long before "Sailor Moon" was created!). (AAK) It is still aired on private channel in France. The French Title "La Tulipe Noire" (The Black Tulip) refers to the name of the friend (Francois in French) of the heroine (Mathilde Pasquier in French) when he is masked. The name of Mathilde when she is masked is "L'epee de la liberte" (The Freedom Sword). (RIV) 94- Magic Knight Rayearth Nakayoshi CLAMP **** t Three junior high school girls, Hikaru(light), Umi(ocean), and Fuu(wind), have been called to another world, Sephiro, by Princess Emerald. The Princess, who is supposed to maintain the peace of Sephiro with her will power, has been unable to fulfill her duty, because she has been captivated by priest Zagato. With the wizard Clef's guidance, the three girls set out on a journey to save Sephiro from destruction. (PEL) An RPG oriented story targeted at girls, this show moves at a swift pace. The plot focuses on the three girls' friendship and psychological development, while maintaining a high degree of action. Although classified as a Magical Girl's show, many people agree that it has the best Mecha designs among current shows, which are featured in the well-received OP animation and will appear later in the story. The story closely follows the original manga by CLAMP. (PEL) 80 Mahou Shoujo Lalabel ? ? (Le monde enchante de Lalabel) ** t Lalabel travels with a magical suit-case, and always fights with a fat magician called Viscus. Both want to return to their magical world where they belong to, but they are on earth because Viscus intents to steal the magical suit-case and Lalabel pursuits him on earth. (IVM) Character designer shingo Araki gave its heroine a bit squared-face in order to create more like "a girl living in next door". (AAK) 78 Majokko Tickle ? ? (Magic Tickles) * t A girl who comes out from a magic book and stayed with a real life girl and her family and used magic to make everybody think they are twins. (CSP) I believe the original character designer for this title was Go Nagai, big name in shonen(and rather violent) manga.(FYI, I really like many of Go Nagai's works!) (AAK) 94- Marmalade Boy Ribbon YOSHIZUMI Wataru ***** t Miki is a perfectly normal high school girl. One day, her parents tell her they've decided to swap spouses with another couple they've recently met. The idea horrifies Miki, but she discovers that the other family has a boy her age (named Yuu), and she falls for him. She relents, and the families move in together. Suddenly, Yuu's old girlfriend Arimi shows up. Then Miki discovers that the boy she had a crush on in junior high (Ginta) is in love with her! Ginta starts hanging out with Arimi, and it gets even more complicated from there. (RDL) This is the ultimate (romantic) soap opera with three concurrent love polygons going on (two squares and an octagon) with Miki and Yuu being the center of it all. Simply the best and destined to be an all time classic. (HBV) 82 OchameShin Monogatari; ? AZUMA Hideo KoroKoro Polon (Olympe et les Dieux) ** t Polen is the naughty daughter of Apollo. About the funny lives of the Greek gods up at Olympic. (CSP) Manga was created by Hideo Azuma. (I remember "Nanako S.O.S.", another manga by Azuma was also made into TV anime). Simple artwork, kiddy stuff, but funny enough. (AAK) 81 Ohayou! Spunk Nakayoshi TAKANASHI Shizue (Claire et Tipoune) ** t The friendship between a girl, Claire, and a very funny dog, Tipoune. The aspect of the dog is very strange, indeed he can walk and behave as man. (RIV) Very funny anime. (RIV) 85 Shouwa Aho Zoushi; Margaret AZUKI Yuu Akanuke Ichiban! *** t Pure comedy with Koujirou Tanne, spineless young guy who can transform himself into unlikely hero, with the help of babish alien. (AAK) Though I haven't watched it much, I believe its production was much better than the other AZUKI's manga-made-into-anime, "Iga no Kabamaru". It had nice castings, too: INOUE Kazuhiko for Koujirou, GENDA Tetsushou for a talking horse who's crash on Koujirou. (AAK) 82 Tokimeki Tonight Ribbon IKENO Koi ** t High-school girl with werewolf mom and vampire father, who can transform into anything she bite. The standard handsome but cool classmate she's crazy about and the standard rich family ojousama rival. (CSP) A lot of laughs although artwork is not the best. You will probably love the manga more, which is a much longer story. (CSP) 8485 Tongari Boushi no Memol ? ? **** t A group of tiny aliens are hit by accident while traveling the space, and settled down on the earth. And little Memol, though she was living in peacefully with others, wanted to make friends in the outside world. Then, she meets Mariel, a fragile human girl who was trapped in loneliness...there is also a love triangle involving Mariel, Oscar and Grace. (AAK) The story is gentle and heartwarming, the artwork is subtle and beautiful, and characters designed by NAGURA Yasuhiro are so adorable and very original. It's almost impossible for anyone to resist its charm (produced by Toei). A real gem in shoujo-anime. (AAK) ================================================================= Titles: 17 ================================================================= ================================================================= V. Anime with related subject: ================================================================= 90 Kumo no youni, Kaze no youni NA SAKAMI Kenichi (Like the Cloud, like the Wind) *** t A young village girl who interviewed for being the new king's bride, so she can have enough to eat. She was chosen, but it was in war time China and although she tried her best to save the castle from the villains, the king killed himself, after impregnating her. (CSP) Art style is similar to Miyazaki's. Not a must-see, but enjoyable enough. The original novel (winner of the grand prize of the first `Fantasy Novel Contest' held by a major publishing company...though the story takes place in a fictional dynasty in old China, not `swords and magic' land^_^) by SAKAMI Ken'ichi is very entertaining. (AAK) LD/VHS: 80 min. 92 Omohide Poroporo NA NA **** m In 1982, 27-year-old Taeko Okajima goes to a distant relative's farm for a short vacation. But she brought an unexpected guest with her: her memories of being a 10-year-old 5th grader in 1966 Tokyo. The film explores several anecdotes of the younger Taeko, and reflects upon their effects on the older Taeko. One of the best anime films ever made. (ENC) The perfect anime for learning village life (and also the cosmetic industry) in Japan. Animation is so real that is unbelievable. (HBV) LD/VHS: 119 min ================================================================= Titles: 2 ================================================================= VI. Animes which scheduled for 1995 and are already out now: ================================================================= 94- Akazukin ChaCha Ribbon AYAHANA Min *** t Little ChaCha with red hood is a novice sorceress and actually the only heiress of Magical Kingdom, which powerful, monstrous sorcerer now dominates after he turned her parents into stone. ChaCha is no more than incompetent to confront the evil, yet she can `Holy-Up', or transform into a `Magical Princess', a beautiful fighter with legendary weapons... (AAK) I'll admit I'm a little disappointed that the Magical Princess is only in the TV version of the story. (kawaii.... ^_^;;) The TV character designs are a little bit like those in Hime-chan's Ribbon. (Chacha seems like a young Hime-chan, and the Magical Princess seems like an older one.) (RDL) LD: 95 Lesson ? OONAGI Ei o A couple of guys trying to figure out how, when and where to have sex. (First time for both). (MAK) VHS: 50 min 95 Level C Be-Boy AOI Futuba/ KURENAI Mitsuba o A high school kid and a young businessman who move in together and have lots and lots of sex. (MAK) It's one of the most graphic of the shounenai stuff, and the style takes a little getting used to (I don't think most people's bodies go into those positions...), but it's a lot of fun. (MAK) LD/VHS: 40 min ================================================================= Titles: 3 ================================================================= Total titles: 142 Covered titles: 140 Reviewed titles: 133 ================================================================= Reviewers: (CHB) Christian Balzer (TC) Tony Chen (ENC) Enrique Conty (RDL) Robert DeLoura (HID) Hitoshi Doi (HIH) Hiroyuki Hironaga (HBV) Vince Ho (MAK) Mary Kennard (DOC) Arin Komins (AAK) Akemi Kishita (LLB) Lam Lee-Bauman (LAP) Ai-Phing Lim (PEL) Pei Lee (KEM) Kim Marlo (IVM) Irak Vicarte Mayer (ZAM) Zahara Medina (MIN) Miho Nishida (CSP) Crystal Poon (MAT) Matt Thorn (RIV) Richard Vuong (VIW) Vickie West =================================================================