----- Original Message -----
> From: "Pierre" <strategos@bigiron.org>

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

Wise.  Plus, I don't think that there is a dubbed version of SMJ or Nuku Nuku.

> 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.

I pretty much agree with the above.  AV's previews suck.  I had the dubious
pleasure of seeing the entire show fansubbed before AV even announced it.
(And I do own the real version, no worries there.)  Although I didn't have
AV's previews to worry about, I did have Hecto's notoriously bad subtitling to
contend with.  Still, it quickly became my favorite show (this was a little
bit before I saw OMG, and a lot before OMG really sunk in).

Lime and Skuld are my present favorite Anime characters.

As far as SMJ goes, I've seen all 8 tapes (several times over), the OVA, and
the first ten eps or so of J to X.  I have no intention of stopping there.

[snippy]
> It definitely can be corraled smack in the middle of that
> "magical girl" category we talked about some months back

Well, sort of.  It gets far more serious toward the end of the series than
magical girl shows are generally wont to do.  On the other hand, I haven't
watched a whole lot of Magical Girl shows to their conclusion.

> (And, like that other series, the third had not yet made her entrance as of
> the end of the first tape.

She'll be in the second 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?!" ^_^

I never really thought of it like that before :-)

> Favorite character: Tamasaburo --
[snippy]
> people familiar with the series may find it a strange
> choice of favorite. ^_^

Heh.  A little bit, but then again, you've only seen the first tape.  Some
characters don't even get introduced until later, and your opinions of some
may change drastically.

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

Why is it that EVERY new fan of SMJ ends up at Ming's page very soon
thereafter? ^_^

> 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.

That changes.  It becomes AT LEAST as dramatic as OMG OVA, if not moreso.  The
fun element is, of course, still maintained.

> 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.

Actually, SH also gets better (or at least funnier) as it proceeds, but not to
the extent that SMJ does its about-face.

> 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. ^_^

HELL NO!  Slayers rocks!  ^_^

I've got the whole first season, both OVA (that are out here), the first
movie, and the first four tapes of Slayers Next.  And when the DVD's come out
later this year, I'll be buying the first season all over again.

BTW, the writer of Sorcerer Hunters is also the writer of SMJ.  These two guys
also collaborated on Lost Universe, which is a pretty good series too.  That
one hasn't been officially released in the US yet.

> 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."

He left off the bit that says "up until about volume 11 or 12."  ^_^

Or at least if they thought about it, they couldn't explain it properly in the
limited time towards the end of the season.

- Gregor  vorlon#iglou.com
http://anime.at/gregordyne
http://www.skysys.org/~gregor
Anime, Amber, 3d, Mage, Eidolon, Miscellany