The rollicking comedy-adventure Outlaw Star began as manga by Takehiko Ito and the artists at Morningstar Studios, who also made the animated series. In the distant future, interstellar space is divided between Pirates and the Space Forces. The self-proclaimed Outlaws scratch out a living in the odd spaces unoccupied by the two powers. Like a […]

Based on the manga by Yuji Iwahara, Dimension W is an oddly uneven series, alternately intriguing and muddled. The story takes place in 2036, after the discovery of a fourth Euclidean dimension solved all of Earth’s energy problems. Power flows from this little understood dimension through a series of huge stations to individual battery-receivers called […]

The simplified, Art Deco-influenced designs in the mecha adventure The Big O give the series a look that’s closer to Warner Bros.’ old animated Batman than Gundam. Originally concieved as 26-episode adventure, The Big O premiered in October, 1999, in Japan, but was cancelled after only 13 episodes due to poor ratings. The English language […]

Written and directed by Sunao Katabuchi, In This Corner of the World is based on an award-winning manga by Fumiyo Kouno. The film is an empowering coming-of-age tale set against the backdrop of World War II, a captivating story about the resilience and triumph of the human spirit. Produced by GENCO and Japanese animation studio […]

The parvenu father in Thomas Mann’s short story “The Blood of the Walsungs” tells his future son-in-law that the secret to enjoying life is never to get used to anything, to be constantly surprised. He would have loved anime. No matter how many series or features you watch, there’s always something new and unexpected. And […]

Haruhi Suzumiya (voiced by Wendee Lee) is a fascinating individual, as she’d be the first person to tell you. She’s smart, athletic and may be the prettiest freshman in North High, but she’s also the most difficult. She wants nothing to do with the “boring” activities most high school students enjoy. She establishes the SOS […]