Anime News Letter Season 2

Season 2, Issue 2

Animé News Letter
Season 2, Issue 2

Editor/Reviews/Battle Square: Sephiroth/Seanma
Coffee Wench/Rumiko Takahashi Correspondent: Ukyo Kounji
Lowly Reporter: Purin/Bryoga
Secret Police: Cyber Kitty/=^o^= aka Gatomon

Sent to: Erika Lt./Lum/Ifurita, Jake, Mr. Saotoby, Happodan/Dr. Tofu, "The Secretary", Fujikuro, Ami-chan, Melancholy, Ranma, Nighteyes (puppy), Aly/Mimi, Ashira, Kaitou Ace, and Tasuki
Subscribers in: Maine 6, California 2, Texas 2, Georgia 1, Colorado 1, NY 1, Florida 1

If you know anyone who wants this, contact us at sephiroth_gatomon@yahoo.com

Dear reader,
      We are pleased to see all of you back. We have three more subscribers, Ashira (yipee!), Kaitou Ace (infamous web master of tuxedomask.com), and Tasuki (has a web page somewhere). That brings up another point... If you want to advertise your web page on the ANL, tell use the URL and we’ll post it. Of course, it has to be animé related. We have... a few reviews (one done by Lum), two battle squares (where famous animé characters duke it out in *action* chat room format), and two articles, one written by Gatomon (notes in stars are where it was edited) and the other by Ami-chan. We also have a disclaimer, now. It is positioned after the ads. Also, we have a website (albeit a sad one) at www.maxpages.com/animenews so check it out! If you are new to animé, and I know at least one of you is, I would suggest getting together with an animé fan and watch some, and all of you need to start watching Ranma 1/2. It’s a good series which everyone should watch, but not everyone watches it, right, Ami-chan? With out further adieu, let’s get underway!
- Sephiroth

Animé review: El Hazard, the Magnificent World
Lum's review: *****
El Hazard is an enchanting tale with great music, a wonderful story line and dazzling characters. It all begins with the discovery of mysterious ruins beneath the school...
Meet Makoto Mizuhara, an ordinary Japanese high school student. However, Katsuhiko Jinnai (a not-so-ordinary student) has somehow gotten it into his head that Makoto is his destined rival, and hatches plot after plot against him. Makoto's never given Jinnai any reason to believe this, but that doesn't stop Jinnai from luring Makoto to the school late one night for his own nefarious reasons. Once at the schoolyard, Makoto is summoned by a mysterious woman (Ifurita, the demon Goddess) who shows him the way to El Hazard, the Magnificent World. Pulled this way and that by the threads of destiny, Makoto and several others venture into this incredible new land. Little do they know what lies ahead of them in this distant dimension. A great movie for those with much imagination.

Animé review: Vampire Hunter D
Sephy's ratings: ****   Ukyo's ratings: ****   Purin's ratings: ***3/4
This is a sci-fi epic about the future of the world with vampires, mutants, and cool weapons. A girl is out hunting some berserk monster, she kills it (afterwards, it jumps up and kills her horse), kills it again (this time mutilating it), when a werewolf jumps up, grabs her cross necklace, and runs off into the night. Well after that, how much worse could it get? Well, that werewolf was on the payroll of a vampire, who jumps out of nowhere and bites her neck. After that she finds a vampire hunter to hire (who she tries to kill), and he is named D. After all that, D still is going to help her kill that vampire. If you like gothic thrillers, this movie is right for you.

BATTLE SQUARE
Sephy: All right, two battles tonight, and the first one is... Gourry and Zelgadis from the epic series and manga Slayers! The reason? Well, Melancholy suggested that these two fight to see who’s the cutest, so here they are!!! Let’s let the fighters give a brief explanation about themselves...
Gourry: *a blond man in blue clothing and breastplate with a large sword hanging off his back* I am the swordsman Gourry Gabriel, and I fight along side the Allies of Justice. When do we get to eat?
Sephy: Not now. Let’s hear from the other fighter...
Zelgadis: *a third demon, third golem, third human creature in a white robe with purple hair atop his head* I fight along side Gourry and I am a sorcerer, and I also think that this idea is stupid!
Sephy: *sigh* Just fight...
Gourry: No way! I want to eat first!
Zelgadis: I am NOT turning against my friend!!!
Sephy: *sweat drop* Hey now... Can’t you just fight?!
Zelgadis and Gourry: NO! *both walk off*
Sephy: Umm... no refunds.
Purin: BOO!!! Downsize Sephiroth!!! *a large crowd of Pokémon start chanting ‘Down with Sephiroth!’*

BATTLE SQUARE
Sephy: I bribed the fighters to fight in this match... Hee, hee... nothing can go wrong... Suggested by Fujikuro, this is a match of the red-haired titans, a fight between A-ko (from Project A-ko) and Ranma Girl-type (from Ranma 1/2)!!! Yes, nothing like the last fight will happen... *starts to laugh as his left eye starts to twitch*
Ukyo: Uh, Sephy-sama...
Sephy: What, Ukyo?
Ukyo: Ranma honey ran away...
Sephy: WHAT!? N-no! We’re going to have a fight... think, Sephy, think!!!
Ukyo: Hey, aren’t you also called Seanma?
Sephy: ...you don’t mean...
Ukyo: Yep! *throws a bucket of water on Sephy turning him into Seanma Girl-type*
Seanma: *a young girl in a red Chinese shirt, black martial artist pants, with red hair tied in a tight pony tail* WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!
Ukyo: See, you even talk like Ranma! Go get ‘em!!!
Seanma: But who’ll be the announcer?
Gatomon: *the cat digimon walks up* I will. And in the other corner, A-ko!!! *crowd cheers*
A-ko: *dressed in the typical sailor suit Japanese schoolgirl uniform and sporting a pair of leather bracers on each wrist. Has long, unkempt hair* I am a typical student at Graviton High with my friend C-ko. We usually have a regular day, unless my rival B-ko stops me before school with her mecha robots. I hate that! Her silly robots trying to kill me make me late for school almost every single day! What’s worse is when aliens try to invade to steal back C-ko who is there princess an-
Gatomon: Yeah, yeah, very nice... No more monologues for you! Oh, another note... A-ko is the daughter of Superman and Wonderwoman. Seanma?
Seanma: Well, Ranma is a martial artist with multiple fiancées and he turns into a girl when splashed with cold water and turns back when splashed with warm (most of the time scalding) water. He got that curse from the cursed training ground Jusenkyo, the Shinto hell.
Gatomon: Yep, nice *yawns* Let’s get it on! *ding* *crowd cheers*
A-ko: Ha! *punches*
Seanma: *blocks, counters with a kick*
A-ko: *falters* Here’s an attack for you... Screw Driver Kick! *performs a spinning downward assault at Seanma*
Seanma: *is knocked to the ground* Ya know, you’re fat!
Gatomon: Hm? I like this! *Ukyo slaps Gatomon* Owww...
A-ko: *starts to get mad* Yeah?! So what?!
Seanma: And I bet you couldn’t crush a tin can, much less a mecha!
A-ko: *battle aura flares red* Why you!!! *charges forward*
Seanma: *mixes A-ko’s heat and Seanma’s coolness to form the Hiryu Soten Ha* Take this! *a hurricane attack throws A-ko from the ring*
Gatomon: ...and the winner is... Sephy, or rather Seanma Girl-type!!!

Gotta Catch ‘em All!!! (not a pokémon article)
by Gatomon
This article was suggested by my puppy friend, Nighteyes. Ever notice that there are a lot of available women in animé? *edited parts here* I mean, look at them they are all *edited* young *edited* waiting to *edited*. Hentai (pervert animé) isn’t what is used to be... it used to have plot but now it’s all *LOTS of editing here*. Even in non-hentai titles, it is obvious, I mean, look at Lum (Urusei Yatsura, the *edited* alien who walks around in a tiger striped bikini, or Akane Tendo (Ranma 1/2), who practically has a male harem! And what about *edited, edited, edited* in Ranma 1/2? Guys turning into girls? Fiancées turning into cats and other animals? I think that *edited* is going on. *the rest of this article had to be edited out* (editor’s note: this article was kept to show exactly why we can’t have anything on hentai, I think Nighteyes mentioned it once...)

A Short History on Maho Shojo Anime
by Ami-chan
      As we should all know, the world's most popular Maho Shojo Anime (Magical girl genre anime) is Bishojo Senshi Sailormoon (Pretty Soldier Sailormoon). They would have never made it without the firsts of anime so this is to inform you of everything that makes these shojo anime so popular and loved.
      To first state out, anime would have never made it without Astroboy who was the first anime to appear in the United States in the 1950's.He led the way for all anime, even the ones out only in Japan. This allowed the animated heroes to appear in their own starring roles on television. As time progressed, and the age-old battle of the sexes progressed, a girl became the star of an anime. Mahotsukai Sari, or "Witch Sally" in English, was the first one to air in 1966, a very rebellious time period. A year later it aired in color, and the next girl in anime, Himitsu No Akka-chan ("Akka-chan's Secret") to show up in 1969. These two led the way and set some ground rules for future girl anime. First, all of the girl anime are targeted for, the obvious, young girls. Second, they usually show adolescence struggling to gain maturity and facing all the problems that encounter them along the way to adulthood.
      As society had experienced some dramatic changes, during the 80's women had more independence than ever before. In 1982, new standards were incorporated into the maho anime list. Maho No Princess Minky Momo ("Magical Princess Minky Momo"), which was popular at the time, had the heroine of the story die. It affected not only the female viewers but the males ones as well. And even though it was targeted for young girls it was created to be viewed by all age groups. It is still considered to be one of the greatest anime classics of all time. OAV's (Original Animation Videos) came out in the 80's as well. Since most people owned a VCR, Japan decided that certain series could now be bought on video tapes, that this would be a new financial investment on entertainment.
      By the 1990's the whole social view of genders had changed. Women could now be forceful and assertive, no offense to any male readers, but men could be caring and tender. Remakes of the original two girl anime were done for their third times. Also, more rules were created. Thanks to Naoko Takeuchi and her Codename wa V series, and the background story Bishojo Senshi Sailormoon, the sentai, or team, form of girl anime became more and more popular. This allowed the viewer to choose their favorite personality from the series and watch the entire group develop. Another good example of a sentai anime is Magical Knight Rayearth (consisting of a three-girl group) or Card Captor Sakura (which features the card captor and her friend Tomoyo). None of the maho shojo anime would be anywhere without Astroboy, Mahotsukai Sari, Maho No Princess Minky Momo, or Bishojo Senshi Sailormoon. So everyone should give these girls a hand for playing their part in history and affecting large groups and various viewers.

At Ucchan’s (closing)
Sephy: Yet another closing... Any suggestions?
Gatomon: Despite that Purin and I are enemies through and through, shouldn’t we wait until he comes back from his excursion before we work on the ANL?
Sephy: Hee, hee... such a silly hentai kitty! Kawaii!!!
Ukyo: *YAWN* How about not writing it late Saturday night? I am quite partial to sleep...
Sephy: Whatever... oh, how about that Animé Awards Night? Just like the Oscars!
Gatomon: The staff has all approved of doing this, and we are waiting for some feedback from subscribers, hint, hint.
Ukyo: How about a working Battle Square?
Sephy: It’s better than when we had that awful Archmage Shade guy running it! He was the worst fight writer I ever saw!
Gatomon: How about limiting their introduction?
Sephy: I’ll think about it.
Gatomon: ...and not editing 9/10ths of my work!!!
Sephy: Cause and effect, my dear friend. Oh, if the subscribers want this, I’ll type up a very basic Japanese Animé language course to send out. There are actually people out there who don’t know what kawaii and hentai mean... *tries very hard to not look at the puppy*
Ukyo: Well, that wraps up another great issue of the Animé News Letter!
Sephy: Hey! That’s my line! *looks deprived*

Endorsements:
www.maxpages.com/lightningrpg
LightningRPG: The Ultimate Pokémon RPG (A POKéMON on-line RPG)

www.anipike.com
The Animé Turnpike, The #1 source on every Animé

www.pythonline.com
Monty Python On-line

The Right Stuf Catalog
A great catalog to find animé in (to order a catalog, pay $3 by calling 1-800-338-6827) on the web at www.rightstuf.com

www.tuxedomask.com
A really cool Sailor Moon site

Disclaimer:
We do not own anything, it all belongs to a whole bunch of other people, a very long list, so we’re not going to try. We apologize if anyone is deeply offended by our views, if you are easily offended by stuff like this, we would suggest unsubscribing and/or moving to Pluto. We also have started to hide people’s e-mails using the ‘bbc’

If you'd like to contribute anything, contact us at sephiroth_gatomon@yahoo.com