Hello all ^_^

I've been on an anime rampage lately, watched a ton of stuff, some good,
some not, and I figured I would

A. Drop some mini-reviews here

B. Get some suggestions for others to try

Here's what I've ingested via eyes and ears in the last month or so:

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1. Saber Marionette J - Tape 1
Overall rating: A+

(All of these are subtitled versions - I don't buy anything else.)

The "preview" for SMJ was inflicted on me courtesy of my Gundan 0083 tapes
(brought to the US by Anime Village). The preview was AWFUL and I had pretty
much made up my mind to pass on this one until a friend made a strong
recommendation and I figured it wouldn't hurt to try ONE tape.

Thank Kamisama I did try it. ^_^

Let me just say that the first thing I did after I finished that tape was
log on to Amazon and order the entire boxed set of 8 tapes.

Then I watched my tape again.

SMJ is good. Real good. The characters are charming and just off-the-wall
enough to be interesting without being alien. I think AMG fans in particular
would like it. It definitely can be corraled smack in the middle of that
"magical girl" category we talked about some months back -- except that,
like another series which we all know of, there are three magical girls.
(And, like that other series, the third had not yet made her entrance as of
the end of the first tape.) The scene where Otaru and Lime first meet bore
some striking similarities to another first-meeting scene right down to the
lines uttered by the male protagonist: "Na--na--nanda?!" ^_^

Favorite character: Tamasaburo -- sporting one of the most unusual hairdos
ever (even for anime!) and a seriously stylized outfit highly impractical
for her profession as one of the Imperial Guard -- is actually one of the
supporting cast, and people familiar with the series may find it a strange
choice of favorite. ^_^ Well there's no accounting for taste I guess. The
Baiko-Tamasaburo pair are just tres cool. ^_^ But I have to add here that
ALL the characters in SMJ are cool, each in their own way.

Here, you can see what Tamasaburo looks like ^_^
http://pei.physics.sunysb.edu/~ming/anime/smj/smj13a.jpg

Overall the feeling is quite similar to AMG but set against a traditional
epic-battle-of-good-guys-versus-bad-guys-in-space and slightly more campy.

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2. All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku
Overall Rating: C

This one also came recommended but I just didn't find it all that engaging.
It's cute and a few funny scenes made me laugh out loud but overall it just
lacked the punch.

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3. Sakura Wars (dvd, which has four episodes on it. Correct me if I'm wrong
here but I believe the 3rd and 4rth eps. on here were released as "Sakura
Wars 2")
Overall Rating: B

I have to like this one given the character creater of course. ^_^ The
animation is smooth and high quality throughout, but I can't give it a
perfect rating because the mecha designs are cheesy and the story was a
little rough on pacing. The closing music at the end is fabulous though, and
that alone made it worth getting this dvd.

Favorite character:

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4. Sorceror Hunters - Tape 1
Overall Rating: D

This one I didn't like at all, and it was kind of an effort to watch the
entire tape all the way through. Other reviews on the web indicate that it's
popular with some people though. For me, it was just way too campy without
being funny enough to justify it, and the characters were silly.

Since the character designer is the same from the Slayers anime, I'll
probably be avoiding that one too unless someone here makes a good plug for
it. ^_^

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5. Serial Experiments Lain - "Navi" "Knights" and "Deus"
Overall Rating: B+

Major points here for a chilling, well developed atmosphere and story. In
"X-Files" fashion, information about the characters and the world is fed to
you in tantalizing little dribs and drabs. It's hard to stop yourself from
watching more -- I watched all three dvds over a two-day period.

Highly recommended viewing for Netizens. ^_^

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6. Neon Genesis Evangelion - Tape 1
Overall Rating: B+

I finally broke down and decided to start watching this. Actually a comment
made by a friend eliminated the last bit of resistance I had -- let me tell
you what he said: "It's really very good. You realize that the guys that
made this really THOUGHT about things." Having only seen one tape, any
comments of mine on that score wouldn't carry much weight in a court of
reason. ^_^ But this first taste was quite intriguing and I'm looking
forward to watching more.

I took a little off the rating for the cheesy "Angel" designs, which don't
seem to me like a ton of time was spent on them.

Favorite character: too early to tell

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7. El Hazard the Magificent World
Overall rating: B

I picked up this one after discovering that Inoue Kikuko had the role of
Lune Venus. Super-unfortunately Lune Venus is a very minor role and we don't
get to hear her much. :o(

The series as a whole is quite good. Some scenes are rather cheesy-campy,
especially many scenes involving the Bugrom, but even they manage to be
occasionally entertaining, particularly the ones Jinnai is on a first-name
basis with. ^_^

I actually found the ending somewhat touching, albeit abrupt.

Favorite character: Miizu Mishtal, the marriage-obsessed priestess of water
with the nifty hairdo. ^_^

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8. Magic Knight Rayearth (TV series first season)
Overall Rating: A

I've probably gone on about this one enough already. ^_^

Favorite character: Presea (but like SMJ, nearly all the characters in MKR
are charming. )

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I think this post has gotten a little too long, so I'll just quickly list
the rest and review them later:

9. Record of the Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight (the "sequel"
to Lodoss)
Overall Rating: C

10. Princess Rouge
Overall Rating: C

11. Iria Zeiram
Overall Rating: B+

Whew. I think I'm going to go watch my Saber Marionette J tape again. ^_^