Descriptions will be filled in as time goes on.

These are theTraditional Showings from 2011. This isn't what we'll show in 2012, but it gives you an idea of what we tend to do.

(For a list of our special showings, check out the featured showings page)

Air Gear
-High school delinquent Ikki Minami discovers the hidden world of Air Treks, motorized roller skates used by street gangs called Storm Riders. After stealing a pair for himself, he begins a journey to raise his team to the top and soar on the sky road. - Drakie

Take aggressive inline, teenage delinquents, comedy, panty shots, and you get the ass kicking series "Air Gear". A story about a boy Itsuki "Ikki" Minami who dives into the world of Storm Riders, while getting revenge after being humiliated by a team called the Skull Saders. After feeling the sensation of flight for the first time, and finding out that his sisters are one of the most badass teams on the circuit "The Sleeping Forrest". Ikki steals a pair of AT's, and creates his own team of Storm Riders Kogarasumaru with his friends Kazu and Onigiri. After lots of action, and "shower" scenes Ikki Travels the road to become one of the best there is...The Sky King. If you like girls on skates psychos on roller blades and face punching action you will like this "nuff said". - Willie

Alien 9
Anime has the unfortunate habit of falling into clichés. There are scores of anime in certain genres that share the same synopsis, the same types of characters, even the same episode structures. This is especially true with anime that feature little girls. Alien 9, however, is a truly unique work that avoids every trapping of its genre. The series follows three girls who are chosen to protect their school from alien critters that periodically show up and cause trouble. This is cast against a backdrop of conspiracy, control, and subjugation that is nearly completely unaddressed by the show. The mixing of the two, and the course of events in the show produce an extremely dark and disturbing concoction that leaves the series unpredictable and the viewers confused, upset, and hungry for more. We will be showing the complete 4 episode OVA. For those interested, the manga continues the story. - Michael

Angelic Layer
When a young girl moves to the city to live with her aunt, she is quickly swept up in the phenomenon that is Angelic Layer; a game where children and adults alike beat the shit out of each other using their minds and little robot avatar dolls called Angels. Along the way she makes friends, acquires a fan club, gets help from a very creepy man, and finds that her being really, really good at Angelic Layer probably isn't just a coincidence. And God help you if you screw up and are subject to one of Icchan's penalty games. Clamp, tournament, sci-fi. – Chad

Baccano
Baccano is an amazingly well directed series that tells the story of several different main characters, simultaneously, in a style much like Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction". Thanks to this, it's impossible to tell who the main character is, but they're all lovable anyway, so it doesn't matter. If that doesn't appeal to you, stick around anyway. The plot largely revolves around a train in the 1930's called the "Flying Pussyfoot" and has at least three groups of people trying to rob it at once. There's gangsters, thieves, alchemists and immortals everywhere, making it a series you'll remember. - Ryan

Welcome to a world where time waits for every man! Set mainly during the Prohibition, Baccano's lightning pacing and non-linear narrative weaves a grand tale of rival gangs, silly thieves, insane hitmen, demonic pacts, immortality and glorious revenge. Things really heat up aboard the Flying Pussyfoot, as a multiple gang pileup leads to carnage on the rails and pushes the show's diverse cast of characters to their breaking points. -Aaron

Bartender
Bartender is a series of 15 minute episodes that, like a flights menu at a fancy restaurant, pairs a drink (or breed of drinks) with a story. Every episode the bartender takes in a customer and helps them with their problem while making drinks to fit the occasion. The show is surprisingly good at giving a comprehensive history and understanding of classic cocktails and spirits. -Michael

Black Cat

Card Captor Sakura
Sakura is just your average middle-school girl, until she uncovers the book ofl Clow cards and accidentally unleashes them on an unsuspecting world. The guardian of the cards, Kerebos, tasks Sakura with finding all of the cards before they wreak too much havoc and gives her a key that turns her into a Magical Girl! If this all sounds familiar, it's because it is. Card Captor Sakura doesn't revolutionize the Magical Girl genre so much as perfect what was already there. This anime is just consistently better than pretty much any other Magical Girl anime that came before it and has stood the test of time as a series a cut above the rest. - Aaron

An essential magical girl anime and one of CLAMP's best works (before they began making things unnecessarily complicated). Sakura Kinomoto discovers a magical deck of cards that promptly get themselves lost and have to be collected immediately lest something horrible befalls the world. With her reaaally close friend Tomoyo and talking sidekick animal Kero in tow, Sakura sets out to become the master of the legendary Clow Cards. It's a cute series that I never get tired of watching. - Cathy

Chobits
Stupid farm boy moves to the city to attend prep school so he can hopefully be accepted to Tokyo University. While there, he learns that the world is dangerously close to the robot apocalypse, as personal computers or Persocoms all walk around in the shape of people doing mindless tasks for their human masters. After finding a discarded Persocom laying in the trash, Hideki takes it for himself, only to find that it might not be your average Persocom. He has no fucking clue how to use it, though he does manage to fall in love with it. And yes, her g-spot is her power switch. Romance, sci-fi, Clamp. – Chad

City Hunter
City Hunter follows the story of Ryo Saeba, a multi-talented "Sweeper" who will do anything from protecting his client from baddies to finding out if your husband is cheating on you or sniping your business rival if the price is right. Ryo himself is largely a lecherous pervert who will do anything for a pretty face, who coincidentally make up 99% of his clients, and seems entirely aloof in any situation, yet is always in control of things and puts on his serious face EXACTLY when he needs it. It has a similar feel to a Lupin III where Lupin is also Jigen and Goemon, carries a .357 Python and ALWAYS gets the girl. - Ryan

Cutey Honey
The infamous and influential director Go Nagai's career is filled with super robots, manly men, and demons. Cutey Honey, however, features a transforming, warrior, android, magical girl who fights an evil army of SM queens in the name of love! The show combines the hot bloodedness of Mazinger, the lecherousness of Violence Jack, and a light hearted and irreverent spirit that leaves the fan-service heavy Cutey Honey a classic favorite of both men and women. Furthermore, it carries a funniness and freeness that its contemporaries lack, making this action/ero-comedy much more pleasant for the average fan to enjoy than more modern attempts. - Michael

Denno Coil
Denno Coil is an anime set in the near future, where augmented reality (a virtual world superimposed over the real one, viewable with special glasses) is the playground of schoolchildren. - Ray N.

Detroit Metal City
How often have you found yourself wishing to live out your life long fantasy only to wind up becoming a something you hate in the process? Have you ever simply wanted to go pick flowers and ended up laying waste to city streets with your hardcore metal life style? DMC just might be the show for you! Follow the life of a man wishing to live out his fantasy of being a pop star just to end up in the most popular underground metal band of Japan. - Joe

Dragon Ball Z Trunks and Bardock
Both of these DBZ movies basically talk about times where shit is just hitting the fan and unlike most of the DBZ movies, these two can actually be considered canon!

The Bardock story is about Goku's father and his elite group of saiyan mercenaries working for Frieza. Bardock catches wind of Frieza's plan to destroy their home world and decides to put a stop to it himself, despite the staggering odds against him. The cool thing about this movie is you get to appreciate just how much of an asshole Frieza is and just how much of a hero Goku's family tree tries to be. When you think about it, it's almost as if Goku has been fighting Frieza for a whole generation, especially considering Bardock and Goku look exactly the same!

The DBZ Trunk's movie is an alternate timeline before Trunk's goes back in time to warn the rest of the Z warriors about the impending doom that the androids will bring. Goku, their only hope at that time, had died of a heart disease and each and every one of the Z fighters die off one by one to the hands of android 17 and 18. I like this movie because it's a bit of a coming to age story for Trunks as he goes from a boy who wants to help but ultimately can't do anything, to a man whose carrying the entire burden of the Earth's future on his shoulders. - Hanok

Durarara!!
So, what if I told you there was an anime out there that has a gang war between a classic street/yakuza style gang, internet geeks who essentially would be /b/ from 4chan, and a paranormal group that people who aren't sure actually exists but really enjoy stabbing people in the name of love? Oh, also it's made by the same people who created Baccano! so if you enjoy that style of story telling you will definitely enjoy this. Why the hell are you still reading this and not watching it now anyways? - Hanok

Eden of the East
You wake up naked outside the Whitehouse without any memories, sporting only a cellphone in one hand a gun in the other. What do you do? Well if you're Akira Takizawa you'll try to save Japan! Eden of the East sets up a world where Japan is crumbling underneath the weight of its own corruption and a mysterious man charges twelve ambitious citizens with the task of saving their country. Each is given 10,000,000,000 Yen and a phone capable of calling Juiz, a concierge that can grant any request you can afford. Running out of money or failing to be the first to save Japan will result in death, but maybe, just maybe, if you kidnap enough angry naked NEETs you'll be able to change the world! - Aaron

Escaflowne
Escaflowne tells the story of Van Fanel, a King without a country, and Hitome Kanzaki, a high school girl from Japan, in a world where the Earth is visible hanging in the sky. Giant mechs, sorcery, alchemy, love triangles, Atlantis, the manipulation of luck and a world brought together in war all help show that sometimes getting what you want is the worst possible fate imaginable. Enjoy a rich world with a diverse cast of characters all brought to life with absolutely gorgeous animation. Epic battles, starstruck love, political intrigue, this show has a little something for everyone! - Aaron

Evangelion Movie
This movie is awesome! If you've already seen Eva before, then you're going to be really excited to see the new stuff they do with the show. If you haven't seen Eva before, then you're still in for a good time! There are lots of explosions and really cool looking bad guys and even cooler robots. In Neon Genesis Evangelion, teenagers pilot robots named Eva's, which they use to fight off Angels, terrifying aliens that almost destroyed the earth once and are looking to destroy it again. The show is very psychological and dark, but also has a lot of humor. This movie picks up where the first one left off. It introduces a new pilot named Mari, and a lot of deviations from the plot of the original series. And explosions! - Jennifer

Farewell to Yamato
Farewell to Yamato is a three hour long movie that by the end of the first hour leaves the audience wondering when it's going to end, and by the third has them wishing it never would. Set in the glorious "Matsumoto-verse", this is the second Yamato movie of five, and takes place after the events of the first season. After Earth survives the attack by the Gamalons, they receive a distress call from space. Determined to repay their debt to the cosmos for saving Earth, the crew of the Space Battleship Yamato disobey orders and head out into space to find themselves put head to head with a great evil, The Comet Empire, which is quickly taking over the universe and destroying whole worlds. While the movie begins as a war story full of battles and grit, it transcends into a story of human spirit and love, of passion and sacrifice, of humanity and life. It is one of the three movies to have ever made shed a tear. Whether you are familiar with the Yamato continuity or not will have little effect on your ability to enjoy this movie, as it is a true masterpiece. I encourage you to check it out after the con starts winding down Friday night. If you find yourself with nothing to do, but not yet willing to turn in for the night come enjoy this great film and cry manly tears with your fellow otaku! - Michael

Figure 17
Figure 17, like Alien 9, is another atypical "girl meets alien" show. It, like a lot of classic Western sci-fi, uses the "holy shit aliens just crash landed near our village" element of the story as a chance to explore modern culture and the characters within it, rather than to build a story around it. The series could be compared to Shadow Star Narutaru in that the greater plot element seems to be addressing the self-esteem issues and genuine inadequacies of the protagonist, but this show (despite its occasional battles with alien monsters) is much more pastoral and serene. - Michael

G Gundam
Every 4 years there is a Gundam fight between nations to determine who has the right to rule space and the colonies. With his mother killed, father in cryogenic stasis, brother running a muck on earth; fresh out from training with Master Asia, recently appointed King of Hearts, Domon Kasshu, intends to represent Neo Japan in the gundam fight to get answers on why this situation has been created in the first place. He will take on different fighters with different martial art styles and the incidious Dark Army.
Gundam Fight All Set! Ready! Go! - Thomas

Ga Rei Zero
Samurai school girls fighting off the paranormal along with some epic story telling of betrayal and friendship. Also, one of the best first episodes of anime I've ever seen. - Hanok

Golgo 13
Golgo 13 is an Asian James Bond who pulls off the impossible with a custom M-16. Sniping though buildings, finding weak points on impenetrable trucks and deducing betrays all while keeping a cool demeanor and a piercing glare. 1v1; 1v2; or 1v30 Golgo is always prepared and always comes out unscathed. Just the mention of his name can strike fear into a persons soul; friend or foe. Don't stand behind him, if you value your life. - Thomas

Gravitation
Shuichi Shindou tries to take his band to the top of the musical charts while also trying to win the heart of writer Eiri Yuki. Shounen-Ai. - Drakie

Hellsing
Gorn! Gorn everywhere! If you're in the mood for a motherloving badass vampire and none of that sparkly crap, you gotta watch Hellsing. The Hellsing Organization tracks and destroys midians/vampires all over the world, and their superweapon of choice is the immortal (AND FREAKING AWESOME) vampire Alucard. He not only laughs at danger, but will f*ck its shit up. Not recommended for anyone who doesn't enjoy limbs being torn off and other gratuitous violence. - Cathy

High School of the Dead
Zombies, gore and fan service. You could say this anime is pretty tits! Harr Harr. - Hanok

High schoolers, zombies, tits. Blood, sex, swords, shotguns. More tits, panties. Panties. Panties. - Michael (channeling the lyrical genius of Sonic Youth)

Himechan no Ribbon
Back before Magical Girls brandished swords and scepters and tits, they would simply help young girls adapt to their world with confidence (usually by transforming into a sixteen year old pop star). Hime-chan's power, however, is to transform in to anyone she feels like. What really makes this show unique, is that while most magical girl shows (especially older ones) are very episodic in nature, Hime-chan's story continues seamlessly as she tries to keep from fucking anyone else's life up from stuff she did while she was transformed to look like them. (Apparently undoing the damage of role playing as your older sister on the day her admirer confesses his love to her takes 52 episodes, so… you know… if you ever get that power try to avoid romantic conversations while in other people's bodies.) It is a genuinely cute, innocent, and fun show that never even tries to explain what it's like to be a 8 year old girl who is occasionally an adult male! -Michael

Honey and Clover
While most of the anime we usually show involves fantastic battles, epic conflicts, progressive animation, or truly disturbed situations, every now and then it's nice to kick back with a sweet romance. Furthermore, this isn't your stereotypical "high schoolers are awkward, get embarrassed a lot, and sometimes punch each other for walking in on each other naked" kind of piece of shit romance comedies. This one is set in college, and while it has its slapstick silly moments, the series never loses its quiet maturity. The characters, while quirky at times, are naturally so, and have a cool adulthood to them. The romance that blooms is a natural one, not overly simplified (like in ToraDora) or overly dramatic (like in Paradise Kiss). -Michael

Irresponsible Captain Tylor
This was probably the first anime series that I watched through entirely, and to this day it's still in my top five favorites. Set in a future where the entirety of Earth is at war with the fearsome alien Raalgon Empire, few people have the luxury of living carefree... Enter Justy Ueki Tylor; a man who joins the United Earth Space Force because "he wants an easy life". After accidentally defusing a terrorist/hostage situation just by delivering mail, he's promoted to captain of the destroyer "Soyokaze" (Gentle Breeze) and continues to accomplish the impossible without even trying! Come watch as this guy pretty much accidentally wins an interplanetary war single-handedly! - Ryan

Kaiji
Kaiji, like most of us, is a broke mother fucker and is looking to hit it big. When he gets in huge debt because of a friend he gets roped into trying to gamble his debt off on the mysterious ship called the Espoir . Throughout the series he plays several different games with some pretty serious consequences if he were to lose, some of which could even mean death, but that is only half of what makes this series so interesting. Personally, I find that the main pull to this series is how it examines just how inhumane people can become once money is involved and the great lengths people will go through to make their pockets fatter, even if it means taking another man's life. - Hanok

Kimi no Todoka
Outcast Girl is the but of every joke and considered a weirdo. She meets Hot Boy upon entering high school and finds the resolve to make friends. She befriends Brute Chick and Pirssy Missy. Outcast Girl slowly starts to become Beautiful Chick after a makeover and the hilarity ensues. This drama will have you cheer - Thomas

Legend of the Legendary Heroes

Lupin III
Like Ocean's 11? Well this is better with more action, bigger guns, bigger breasts, swifter swords, cornier comedy and dumber detectives. Enter the gentleman thief: Arséne Lupin III, his attachés Jigen and Goemon and his love (lust?) interest Fujiko. Follow them around the world on amazing heists whilst eluding the bumbling, yet resolute Inspector Zenigata! If you like James Bond, Ocean's 11, Inspector Gadget or pretty much any Tarantino movie, you'll LOVE Lupin III. - Gibson

Madoka
Shaft Studios has made some pretty great looking anime in the past, but I'm not sure that ANY of it has come close to looking this good while simultaneously redefining one of the most classic genres out there. It starts out like any other magical girl show out there, introducing the cute, pink-haired main character, showing a glimpse of her life and then giving her a cute animal companion, but that's where the conventions end. It really doesn't take more than one or two episodes before you start to realise that things are very much not as they appear, and a good amount of dread starts to creep into your peripherals. Many thought that this was just going to be another standard happy story of a girl fighting fighting evil and growing up where the worst that happens is her love interest accidentally ignores her phone call... Yeah, no. - Ryan

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Stop me if you've heard this one before: A young girl rescues a talking animal who bestows upon her a magical artifact that allows her to transform and hunt for jewel seeds that turn living objects into monsters. It may sound like your average run of the mill magical girl show, but Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha actually has a nice blend of moe, darkness, sci-fi, and gratuitous lolicon to set it apart from the rest. Nanoha has no team members to help carry the load and there is a rival magical girl who keeps fucking her up and stealing her jewel seeds. The entire thing is policed by the Time-Space Administration Bureau and her familiar is a talking ferret. Incidentally, episode 04 contains the cutest monster of the week in the history of the world. So sit back and enjoy the magic. Raging Heart! - Chad

Mahoromatic
Mahoromatic is a cute love story about a combat android and a perverted young boy. However, the story is set against a darker background. In this world, the organization VESPER is fighting against Saint, aliens who seem to be trying to attack Earth. Mahoro is a former soldier from VESPER who has only one year left to live, and decides to live as a maid for Suguru, a perverted, sloppy, but otherwise nice orphan boy. The story follows their relatively peaceful life together, while Mahoro fights with Suguru's pedophilic teacher for Suguru's affection. All the while, Mahoro is struggling with her past as a soldier and her inability to tell Suguru that she has only a year to live. - Jennifer

Memories
Memories is a collection of 3 short films. The first one, Magnetic Rose, is the chilling story of a once-famous singer who was obsessed with herself. Men who work in outer space scrapping discover her former home in the middle of space. From there, the story becomes something of a horror story. This one was my favorite, but I really enjoy creepy, psychological stories. The second is called Stink Bomb, in which a cloud of poisonous gas is killing every living thing but one man. The story is interesting, but intensely frustrating because the main character seems too dumb to understand what is going on around him. The third story is Cannon Fodder. This one is really interesting in its art style. It doesn't look like traditional anime at all, but works well with the story. The story focuses on a little boy who lives in a town whose sole job is to load cannons that fire at the other towns. All in all, Memories is a very interesting and fulfilling watch. - Jennifer

Nodame Cantabelle
Like Honey and Clover, this is another cute, sweet romance. The main character is cool, talented, composed, and a little bit of a prick. He finds himself increasingly obsessed with a charity case he sort of dumps in his own lap, the clumsy, dirty, fuck-up girl who lives next door to him. His increasing reception to her, and his "despite-himself" attraction to her (akin to how some may read deeper and deeper into gruesome reports of a murder they find in a newspaper) is actually handled fairly well by the series, reminding many viewers of relationships they themselves have had (and may still not be able to quite justify to themselves). Overall, the show is very warm and fuzzy, and avoids a lot of complicated adult issues that other shows (such as Nana) seem to revel in. For those of us who watch anime to escape the harsh realities of real life, but who are incapable of being entertained by pure idealic fantasy, this show makes for a great relaxing end to a stressful day. - Michael
This music anime is about a young great composer who befriends a female pianist who is a complete mess. Eventually their relationship blossoms into something beautiful; but not without an insane amount of hiccups due to side characters, school and huge egos. -T Thomas

Outlaw Star
"Description" recommended by Nicholas

Have you ever thought to yourself, "Man, it'd be awesome if my spaceships had arms that they could wrestle or hold weapons with!"? ... Neither have I. Someone did though, and spaceships wrestling or knife fighting are indeed pretty awesome! - Ryan

Planetes
Planetes is a story of trash-collecting astronauts in the late 21st century, showcasing a hard scifi approach, deep and relatable characters, and animation that lives up to the beauty of space. - Ray N.

Princess 9
This baseball anime place's its story more around the characters then the sport. Ryo Hayakawa, age 15, is a normal girl with the gift of a pitching arm able to throw 90 mph fast balls. When a high school chairman scouts her to help start the first girls baseball team, she finds out that she not only has to join, but also make it to the national game. I really enjoyed this anime. - Topher

Princess Jellyfish
A bunch of otaku chicks all living in an apartment building together where no men are allowed. the main characters otakudom is over jellyfish because of her mother taking her to see them when she was younger. when she has a mad day she goes and visits this jelly fish at the pet store. when she goes to see it it is in a tank with a jellyfish it should not be. she freaks out and yells at the guy working there. but they are closed so he doesn't care. this really pretty chick walks up and solves the problem. the main character ended up buying the jelly fish. then the attractive chick ends up staying the night with the main chareter. in the morning she realizes that the very attractive woman is actually a man. he continues to visit in drag. all the otakus are afraid of stylish attractive people. its a romantic comedy kinda shojo anime. - Allexus

Picture the most hilariously awkward female otaku you can imagine, then throw a really "Stylish" crossdressing boy into the mix. This series is brand new and has some of the best freaking out animation and voice acting I've ever heard, which is important as freaking out and screaming happens quite a lot. Quirky and fun, this is definitely a series to watch. - Cathy

Rail GunNormally I'm turned away when I see that something is going to be ANOTHER show about kids in high school trying to deal with life's issues; but when I started watching Index, I was immediately drawn in by the promise of kids with super powers and large explosions. It didn't take long for me to figure out that electric-wielding Mikoto Misaka was the coolest character in the show. So when I found out that there was an entire spin-off series centered around my new favorite human tesla coil, you can imagine how happy I was. This show did not disappoint either! The series takes place in the same Academy City and at the same time that Index was, where some people have developed varying types of psychic powers, from being able to bend light around themselves to just innately knowing what time it is. However, instead of following Touma, it focuses more on Misaka, her pet teleporting lesbian Kuroko and a few new friends who collectively make for a more interesting story in general. - Ryan

Rainbow
This show right here is pretty fucked up. You could almost call it a more dark Shankshaw Redemption. It's Definitely not for the faint of heart but hey, at the end of every rainbow there is a treasure right? Right? Guys…..? - Hanok

Robot Carnival
This movie is made up of a collection of short films from a variety of directors that all explore how robots fit or don't fit into our world with very little dialogue. The movie opens with the eponymous Robot Carnival, a once great spectacle of wonder and mirth that has since malfunctioned and been reduced to an engine of destruction that mindlessly steamrolls anything in it's path, destroying an unsuspecting village. From there the movie wanders from robot Frankenstein to invaders from space to an East vs West giant robot showdown to a love story in a robotic theme park to a robot built to replace a lonely man's family to a robot that observes all of man's history and is then transformed into a human. Each story is told through beautiful animation and has a air of thoughtful wonder ever present. This anime is truly a rare gem and you'll probably never see anything quite like it again. - Aaron

Serial Experiments Lain
For those of us who got into anime during the initial run of Toonami back in the 90's, anime was still largely underground and our ability to watch more was limited. Anime Clubs were still relevant, and fansubs had not yet migrated to the internet. What we did have, however, was Suncoast and other video stores, which offered limited titles but a wider range of anime than we could find elsewhere easily. One of the early titles released by Pioneer back then was Serial Experiments Lain, which with its black and blue color scheme, its alternative Yoshitoshi aBe character design, and it's metaphysical descriptions juxtaposed to the brightly colored box sets of Tenchi Muyo!, Magic Knights Rayearth, and Fushigi Yuugi was too enticing for many fans to pass up. We were not disappointed. We got into anime because it was so very different from what we were used to (this was before every kid was raised on Japanese cartoons, after all), and soon after getting into anime many of us were already becoming disillusioned with the clichés that were emerging. Dragon Ball Z was no different from Flame of Recca or Yu Yu Hakusho. Love Hina and Maze were not distinct from Oh My Goddess, Maison Ikkoku, or Urusei Yatsura. Nearly every popular show stood amid a crowd of shows exactly like it. Lain was different. When you watched Lain, all the old rules were out. It challenged you, it confused you, and more than anything it stimulated you. To watch it fully you had to become a computer engineer, a psychologist, a physicist, even an economist. A single episode could require a weeks worth of looking stuff up at a library. It spurred debates with friends, theories were chartered and scrapped. It inspired us, tormented us, and at the end of it all was extremely fulfilling. Just as a generation of fledgling fans who had been drawn in by the more mature story lines, adult concepts, artistic integrity, and intellectual constructs that anime promised were about to become disillusioned by the sea of muck that the great shows drift amidst we were saved, and would not falter again so easily afterwards. Unlike Macross, Sailor Moon, or Cowboy Bebop Lain probably never created a single anime fan, but it probably sealed the deal for more potential otaku than any other show in the 90's. Today we are watching it, not just because of its impact on fandom, but because at its core it is still one of the greatest mind-bending anime out there. -Michael

Shiki
Shiki is a really fun show if you like gory, creepy anime. It tells the story of small town where people keep mysteriously dying. It follows various character's attempts to find the answer to the mystery. There is a decent amount of blood and violence, and a little bit of fan service, but the show also raises questions about humanity and the line between the good guys and the bad guys. -Jennifer

Shin Getter
Whether you know it or not you have seen parodies of the original Getter Robo. 3 young pilots (handsome wild guy, one cool cat, and one fat dude) who pilot three awesome vehicles that eventually combine to form a single awesome robot to fight giant monsters. Oh, and the robot sometimes has drill hands. It was one of the original Go Nagai (look him up) works that defined the early days of anime in Japan. As anime grew up, so did Go Nagai, and Shin Getter is a great example of that. By the end of the first episode you will have seen more humans torn apart, more monsters chopped up, more named characters die, and more blood period than you have in the last years anime offerings combined. Ryouma is recast from a loner punk to a psychotic street thug, and Dr. Saotome from an eccentric old man to a driven, amoral sociopath who will win by *any means necessary*, regardless of what those means may entail. Being produced nearly 30 years after the original Getter Robo, Shin Getter takes the style and format of 70's mecha, mixes it with the grit blood and sex of 80'/90's anime, and brings it into the nancy-boy, sterilized dark ages of the 2000's to remind anime fans what got us into this in the first place! -Michael

Space Symphony Maetel

Sword of the Stranger
Pretty awesome samurai movie with some of the best fight scenes of seen. If you are a big into action and fluid fights this is definitely for you. Samurai's, fuck yeah! - Hanok

Time of Eve
In a world where robots have become maids and companions to humans a young android-holic finds the question "Are you enjoying the Time of Eve?" in his robots memory bank. He finds she goes to a restaurant called Time of Eve where robots are not called robots and can act like humans. He finds it odd that robots (Humanoid or not) aren't showing with the typical halo around their heads. He then starts to interact with them and finds some interesting things about the machines he's constantly around. - Thomas

Unicorn Gundam
Set in the same Universal Century timeline where the original Gundam made history, we follow the story of the shadow remnants of Neo Zeon as they once again rise up to steer the world away from misguided complacency! Standing in their way is only a young man, no older than sixteen years of age, who has acquired the Unicorn Gundam; the lastest mobile suit created in secret by the Vist Foundation, yet is stopping them at every turn. Though Neo Zeon has an ace pilot in their ranks so skilled that he's said to be the reincarnation of Char Aznable, will his custom mobile suit, Sinanju, be enough to turn the tide of history in their favor this time? - Ryan

Utena: The Nanami Chronicles
Ah, Nanami. Weird little Nanami. Hate her or pity her, you still can't deny she is one of the most fascinating characters in Revolutionary Girl Utena, and this year we've highlighted all her magnificent strangeness for you. ENJOY! - Cathy

Vandread
As mankind reached out to the stars, one colony split between gender lines with men going one way and the women going another. Now generations later three men have been captured by a crew of female pirates and they are forced to work together against a common foe. The series takes an interesting look at the war between the sexes. Asking what would happen if the female of the species was just as alien as any other alien. Also mechs. - Nicholas

Yakitate Japan
This is a story about baking bread. No, that's not a metaphor for getting high or making money. This show is about a boy and his journey to make bread that would be globally known as the ultimate bread straight from Japan. It's a pretty funny show and you come in underestimating it until you get into one of the epic bread battles and it turns out to be pretty damn interesting. - Hanok

Yokohama Shopping Journal