Anime Show Summaries

Akazukin ChaCha:

premise:A little girl studying to be a sorceress goes off to magic school, she was given by her teacher special jewelry that enables her and her chosen friends to transform. It's a magical pretty girl show.

review:This series is simply hilarious! It's definitely made for young children, but is just so funny it's good therapy for adults who need a good laugh, and it's cute!

BT'X:

premise:An alien empire comes to earth in secret and makes bionic robots. These robots are activated by human blood and will only respond to that person. The empire kidnaps the main character's brother since he is a scientific genius to further their research. The main character goes after the empire to free his brother, and has to face various robots, bio-noids, and humans along the way.

review:The series is a good science-fiction style fighting show. The animation for a newer show looks like some of the stuff coming out in the late 70's and early 80's. However the last episode leaves much to be desired and really isn't a stopping point at all. it's full of Mecha elements.

Clamp Campus Detectives:

premise: Three elementary school boys attending a super genius school are officers in the student body. The President of the Student body Nokoru-sempai, also the son of the school's founder, cannot stand to see any female in pain or sad, and in his quest to make things right for females he forms the Clamp Campus Detectives.

review:This series is cavity producing in it's sweetness and cuteness, very good for children, and older audiences who don't mind things being overly sweet as well. The animation is simply gorgeous, and the music is invigorating. GUYS! Takes some notes, this is how we women want to be treated!

Detective Boy Conan:

premise:A very intelligent teenage Detective, in pursuit of some villains, gets scientifically altered into a young kid. The show has him solving cases as he tries to find the villains that did this to him so he can return to his rightful age and size. Meanwhile he has to hide his real identity from those around him, and keep up the facade.

review:This series is very fun to watch! The art style isn't gorgeous but functional. This show is intriguing for the side love story and the mysteries.

DragonBall:

premise:Based off of some eastern mythology, Gokou in his innocence, and his friends go around the world and later universe looking for dragonballs. Assembling all of the dragonballs togeth4er calls forth a dragon and you can make a wish. Their enemies are hunting down the dragonballs as well. This is one of the longest running Japanese series.

review:The series drags on too much for my taste, the plot is fairly weak, and the fights get so repetitive and tedious for my tastes. However it is very popular so you should at least check it out.

Escaflowne:

premise:Earth and Gaia are two separate worlds with a connection going far back. Hitomi, a Japanese high-school girl, was out running track one night, when a guy (Van) appears from the sky, shortly followed by a dragon. Hitomi has the power to foretell certain things, and ends up being sucked into the sky with Van and transported to his world Gaia. Where the Earth is a moon, which they call the Mystic Moon. Gaia is a world where willpower shapes things.

review:This is a truly excellent series! Nice animation, but the noses could be used to impale vampires. The music is simply some of the best out there! The story blows you away with it's intricate and twisting plot. it's a perfect blend of science fiction in the form of Mecha, fantasy, and romance. I haven't met a person yet who didn't love this series. And pay special attention to who the real villain truly is. Most people miss it.

Fushigi Yuugi:

premise:Two Japanese junior high girls come across a mysterious ancient Chinese scroll. In the process of reading it they get sucked into the scroll and begin to live the story. (It's very similar in basic conception to the movie "The Neverending Story")The book is about 4 Kingdoms in Ancient China, each with a protecting deity. Each deity will have a miko (priestess) and shichiseishi (seven star warriors) who will come in the kingdom's most direst hour to save them from destruction.

review:This is absolutely a great charming and addicting series! The animation is gorgeous the music is good. The plot twists keep you really interested, and the author does some beautiful character development, It has the perfect blend of plot, action, romance, and fantasy. Though it does start off a bit slow.

Ghost Sweeper Mikami:

premise:Mikami, a female ghostbuster, takes care of the various supernatural nasties in modern day Tokyo. She gets help from all sorts of other people, from an assistant who's scared to death by her line of work but stays with Mikami in the hopes of eventually "scoring" with her, to various entities, and other ghostsweepers (think ghostbuster).

review:It's a very funny show. The actual design of the characters is not the greatest, it seems a bit choppy and on edge. There's no complex overall plot, for the most part each episode stands on it's own, but the series is enjoyable for it's comedic leaning.

Gundam:

premise:Gundam is a Mecha show. It has several different series, including the more recent Gundam Wing. Basically it centers around the military and political conflict that arises from earth not giving it's various space colonies full rights.

review:Gundam is not only an Anime classic, it's addicting! Each Gundam is something special, and some time more into others than it's compatriots. It's well over 20 years old, and there's a new series expected to come out sometime in 1999. Each series of Gundam has it's own unique style but tie in slightly with the previous. The military combat scenarios are known for their believability, and there's usually quite a bit of character and relationship development.

Kaitou Saint Tail:

premise:This is a magical pretty girls show. The main characters are young children (late elementary school/early junior high). The story revolves around 2 girls, and a boy. The boy is the son of the Police Inspector, and gets a special certificate from the Mayor for tracking down the elusive "Mysterious Thief Saint Tail." St. Tail happens to be one of his classmates, who's friend Seira (a nun-in-training) gives assignments to Saint Tail to correct wrongs, and return items to their proper owner. Of course St Tail and her pursuer happen to get romantically inclined towards one another, and St Tail constantly forewarns her pursuer about her upcoming thefts to challenge herself, and because she finds it fun.

review:The series is cute, and charming. The quiet love story, and humor rampant throughout are perfectly suitable for younger audiences. However, most guys will not like the series because there's not quite enough action for their tastes.

Kiki's Delivery Service:

premise:This is a classic Miyuzaki film by Studio Gibli. A Young Witch Kiki, with her cat Gigi must set out for her rite of passage into witchcraft. They must leave home far behind and go to a strange new city and find a means to survive for a year.

review:It's very charming and is magical by all means. It's some of the best animation around. In fact Disney has bought and released the film under their Buena Vista title. This is a must see!

Laputa: Castle in the Sky:

premise:This is yet another classic Miyuzaki film. This one is loosely based off of Johnathon Swift's Gulliver Travels and the land of Laputa. A Young girl is sought after by some militant organization and air pirates as well, she falls from the sky only to be saved by her glowing necklace to be found by a young boy. The two together face those who hunt the girl and unravel the mystery of the girl's necklace.

review:This is an action packed fantasy with a quiet love story, that is utterly charming and has beautiful animation. There are far more cels per second in any Miyuzaki worked compared to any other animated work around.

Macross:

premise:This is yet another Anime classic and like Gundam has several different series, and is Mecha oriented. The common plot in Macross is Alien's versus humans. Among the humans there is always a love triangle, where the guys are both pilots, and the female is an idol singer, In Macross 7 there's even more of an overlap, where the girl Mylene is both pilot and singer, Basara is both pilot and singer, and then the other character is just a pilot. The series is known for cutting edge computer animation.

review:I find the plot to be a bit to repetitive and redundant. However I absolutely love Macross 7 because it's far more comedy oriented than the others, ties in alot of the original Macross characters, and basically makes fun of itself, and the music is good.

Magic Knight Rayearth:

premise:This is a series created by CLAMP. Three girls who didn't know one another are transported to a magical world called Cephiro where it's held together by will. The princess has been captured and has called them to become the Magical Knights of Rayearth.

review:The series seems quite typical, and a magical pretty girls show, but it quickly takes plot turn for plot twist, and becomes dark and twisted later on. it's still very appropriate for all audiences. Awesome animation and good music, and a fantastically executed plot. The second season drags on a bit, but is well worth seeing.

Marmalade Boy:

premise:This is most definitely a shojo (girls series) It's basically an animated soap opera. (Hold on to your seats this is a confusing explanation)There are two families, one with an only daughter Miki, the other with an only son Yuu. The parents go on a vacation in Hawaii and meet one another, and decide to swap partners. In other words they divorce and remarry from the other couple. Miki and Yuu are caught in the midst of this and the parents rent out one big hour so every can live together and the parental-child relationships won't change. And the soap opera continues from this point on, though mainly focusing around Miki, Yuu and their friends.

review:I know quite a few guys who absolutely adore this series, but it's very long (76 episodes) and lacks any fighting or action, and truly is a Soap Opera, but far more believable.

My Neighbor Totoro:

premise:Yet another Miyuzaki classic. Two girls and their father move to a new home in the country while they anxiously await for the return of their sick mother from the hospital. Totoro and his friends, spirits of the forest help the girls amuse themselves and help them during this crucial time in their lives.

review:It's very charming, touching, definitely written and animated from a child's perspective.

Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water:

premise:Loosely based off of Jules Verne's 2000 Leagues Under the Sea, Nadia is an orphan child that possesses a mysterious necklace. Several people are out after her, and Jean who's smitten by her goes to her aid. Their adventures eventually bring them before Captain Nemo on the Nautilius.

review:The show is quite gripping and masterfully weaves together a totally different story based off of a well loved literary classic. There are several plot twists, a very colorful and distinct array of characters, some very nice animation, a slight environmental theme, and comedy make this a true delight. However, be forewarned, the way it ends is very dramatic.

Nausicaa: And the Valley of the Wind:

premise:Yep, Miyuzaki did this one too. ^_^ Nausicaa is the princess of a small valley in-between 2 warring countries. The world is for the most part inhabitable, and the valley is one of the few places left where life still thrives. Insects have taken over much of the rest of the earth. Nausicaa must find a way to help her people survive and unite all of nature together.

review:It has a strong environmental theme. The story is captivating, fast-paced, and action packed, and the ending is truly nail splitting, but be forewarned the last song becomes extremely addictive ^_^

Nurse Angel Ririka:

premise:Magical pretty girls show, where two sets of warring aliens come to earth. One comes to warn earth and find the legendary Nurse Angel so that both his world and earth can be saved, the other aliens come to fight him.

review:It's a cute series with a good plot. However parts of the plot remind me alot of Sailor Moon, but executed so much better! You don't want to miss an episode of this. One complaint, the last episode is to abrupt and really gives the viewer no sense of resolution.

Pokemon:

premise:A young boy goes out in search of pokemon (monster type creatures without the bad connotations usually associated with the word monster). He must catch one of each type of variety of pokemon (there's well over a hundred) so that he can become a good Pokemon trainer like his father. He encounters friends on the way, and his adversary is Team Rocket, who are out to beat him to the catches and take the pokemon from him.

review:It's so cute! So funny! I absolutely love it! It's one of the few Anime I've seen dubbed and actually thought they did a good job of dubbing it. I recommend this to people of all ages, but it's definitely more geared towards children, but it's great for the young at heart.

Rose of Versailles:

premise:This is a historical fiction. It takes place right during Louie and Marie's reign of France and the series ends during the French Revolution. Oscar, is the last child of a nobleman who was sonless. So he raises her as a son. She becomes the Captain of the Royal personal guard.

review:This is a very good series, it starts off good, drags on a bit when it centers around court politics, but shows a very good view of the whole reason the French Revolution came into being. It's also has it's share of love stories, most unrequited even at the end. Has a good amount of action, sword play, and political subterfuge as well. Though knowing your history, you already know that the end will be a tragedy, but the series has quite a number of twists.

Rurouni Kenshin:

premise:This is another historical fiction. This takes place in the turn of the century, in Japan, in the late 1800's. It's right after the bakumatsu (a civil war where the old way of life was overturned for a type of government that leans more towards democracy than sovereignty). Himura Kenshin, a former swordsman, and fighter for the winning side of the war, has become a wanderer (rurouni) and has forsworn killing. He wanders around Japan trying to atone for the deaths of all those he killed during the war. Kenshin comes across Kaoru, a kinless woman who runs her own dojo, and befriends hers and others, finding a new family.

review:WOW. This is easily my favorite Anime of all time. The history aspects are fascinating and quite accurate. the plot is quite intricate and there's all sorts of conspiracy theories and ties ins you'd miss if you don't pay attention carefully. The quiet love stories are simply maddening, the drama is too, the action is brilliantly animated, and the depth to the characters supersedes the depth I've seen established in other series. It's truly a joy to watch, it also has interesting and innovative camera angles, and perspectives and beautiful animation (at least for 2/3 of the series. They switched animators the last 1/3 and started taking a lot of shortcuts).
B
Sailor Moon:

premise:Magical pretty girls show, where each planet (except Earth) have warriors that serve the Moon Princess and fight evil in the galaxy.

review:This series is pure fluff, and should by no means be taken seriously. It's a no-brainer, but can become addicting, or annoying, depending upon your personality type. However, it is a very popular show both in Japan and in the US. Has lots of fighting/action scenes, and the main characters are teenage girls who think about love, clothes, and food.

Utena:

premise:Utena was a princess, who in a time of distress was saved by a prince. The prince gave her a rose ring, and left. Utena had her fill of being the damsel in distress, so she decides to be the prince who fights. One day she sees Anji get slapped by her fianc�e. Not being able to tolerate this, she challenges him to a duel, and to everyone's surprise is able to duel him, because she has a rose ring too. (Only those with rose rings can duel one another) She also sees an interesting thing, Anji is the rose bride, she possesses inside of her a sword that her champion may wield in duels, and is engaged to her champion whomever they may be

review:This show is very twisted @_@ and gets even more so by the end. It has some interesting sexual themes going on, but you never see any of it. The show is very weird, and you're going WHAT? I don't get this... you find yourself watching the show just so you'll know the why behind the characters and actions, and at the end, you are shocked completely and still don't get all of your answers. it has an Alice in Wonderland narcotic effect on the brain. But I enjoy it, and recommend it.

Voltron:

premise:Voltron has had three different incarnations. The first one was with the robot lions, the second one with cars, and the new one takes place where the original lion one left off, but this one is computer animated (choppily in my humble opinion) But the main story most people know is the Lion version (originally called Go Lion) An evil alien race is trying to conquer and enslave the galaxy under their rule. 5 soldiers from the Galaxy Alliance crash land on besieged Ares. They befriend the Princess there, and in order to save her world, and later the galaxy, they revive the five robot lions that form Voltron.

review:"Form feet and legs, arm and body, and I'll form the head!" Those words bring back many happy childhood memories, and I still enjoy the show. it's fluff, it's cheesy, but it is addicting.

Whispers of the Heart:

premise:This is ANOTHER Miyuzaki classic. Two young children find their dreams they wish to pursue, and find each other.

review:It's charming, sweet, and one of my favorites. Hey it even has three version of the song Country Road. One is in English, one is in Japanese, and one is a Japanese parody "Concrete Road". It's a feel good movie about having fun and following your dreams.

X:

premise:It is the year 1999, and the world will be destroyed. The fate of the world lies in Kamui's hands, he must choose sides, either the heavens of earth (bad guys) are the dragons of heaven (good guys).

review:I recommend this movie solely on the animation. The animation is levels deep, for a face shot there is usually 3 or more cels, for face, hair, and eyes, deepening the 3-d look. The water rippling and the computer animation are all brilliantly rendered in a seamless whole. The haunting melodies fit with the story line. However, the movie moves rapidly, and has little story development,. For those unfamiliar with the manga, they will most likely not like it because they will not understand what has been going on.

Yu Yu Hakushuo:

premise:It's been released in the US as the Poltergeist Report. Yuusuke was a street tough, and no one thought much of him, but he died saving a young girls life. Hell can't categorize him, so they've given him a second chance at trying to get into heaven. So he returns to earth, must find a way to get back into his body, and then once there must become a spiritual detective for the underworld.

review:It's fun, has some great villains, cool characters, and a fairly complicated story,. This is shonen, a guys series, but girls tend to enjoy it just as much, but it heavily centers around fighting and plot advancement takes place through fighting.