A free showing of Japanese animation!

Please keep in mind that showing schedules are always tentative, and that programs are not necessarily listed here in the order they'll be shown.

On the program are:

• Romeo's Blue Skies #2
  This is a series by Nippon Animation, which has a certain Miyazaki-esque style, and reminds me of 'Belle and Sebastian'. Set in the Italy-Switzerland area in the 18th century, it follows a boy who becomes a chimney sweep in Milan in an attempt to help his very poor family. Based on a European children's story called Die Schwarzen Bruder.

• City Hunter TV, series 1, #2
  Where it all began! Ryo Saeba is a famous gun-for-hire in Tokyo, not to mention a lech to rival Ataru Moroboshi; with his partner Hediyuki Makimura, he takes on various jobs ranging from protection to detection, cleaning up the international underground as necessary. And yes, that's Hediyuki, not Kaori...she doesn't become Ryo's partner until later.

• *Lamune & 40 Fire #10
  This series is a sequel of sorts to NG Knight Lamune & 40, and is by the same people who produced the Saber Marionettes shows. Much like Saber Marionettes, this sequel appears to be essentially a retelling of the earlier story. A schoolboy, Baba Lamunade, goes to the arcade one afternoon. On his way home, he encounters two mysterious girls who give him a CD-ROM and ask him to play it. Mystified, he does so, only to have the two girls appear in his room and identify themselves as Parfait and Cacao (yes, lots of drink names in this show), and tell Lamunade he must come with them to Doki-Doki space to defend it from the evil sorcerer Don Genosai, who is working to free the evil god Abrahm, imprisioned some 5000 years before by the hero Lamuness.

• *Rurouni Kenshin #14
  The adventures of a wandering samurai and former assassin, now defender of the downtrodden, and his friends who of course get into lots of trouble with local bullies and gangsters so he can rescue them. And the occasional warrior who wants to challenge him.

• *Bakuretsu Hunter #10
  The bakuretsu or "sorcerer" hunters are a team of famous, well, sorcerer hunters who get their assignments through a figure named Big Mama. All of the hunters have food names--for example, Carrot, the male lead, who rivals Ataru Moroboshi or Ryo Saeba for lecherousness (but of course, he all but ignores the two female hunters who have crushes on him). The ecchi silliness just escalates from there, with much of the comedy coming from the literal transformation of Tira and Chocolat (the female team members) into S&M queens whose pastime is tormenting Carrot.

• Macross '84: Do You Remember Love
  Okay. I've not seen Macross '84, and none of my friends would give me a decent description. So all I can tell you is all I know, which is that this is essentially the story from the Macross '84 series, except it's presented as a movie done by the survivors of the original story. So it's a movie of a movie, in essence. If this makes sense to you, good. If not, try to stay for the movie anyway, as it's considered a classic.

Please feel free to email this account with any questions.