Angel's Anime Rating Guide

In the aftermath of the Ultimate Otaku Fall Cleanup , a number of gems of classic TV were unceremoniously placed in trash bags and set out by the curb or given away. Among the dearly departed was an episode of Disney's Gummi Bears cartoon called " Girl's Knight Out ". In Girl's Knight Out , King Gregor proposes a series of tests for Unwin and the other squires to become Princess Calla's bodyguard, which includes stealing a golden apple from the strong and mysterious Black Knight. Calla conceals her appearance in a suit of armor and competes as well to prove she is capable of her own self defense. I wasn't greatly concerned at the time because I had a DVD collection from the series and although the collection didn't actually contain that episode, I was hoping that Disney might release a second volume at some point in time in the future. My recent discovery of the classic Cosmic Christmas cartoon, inspired me to poke around for this lost episode of G

Some time ago, I was wandering around the dial and came across an episode of Piki and Poko: Adventures in StarLand . It's a silly, but, utterly adorable show. According to a flyer that's been circulating for some time... Piki and Poko: Adventures in StarLand is a flash-based animation produced by Mondo Media circa 2000. The heroines of this anime-inspired series, Piki and Poko, are two cute teens from Tokyo who battle the forces of chaos. Next to this girl power epic, with its saturated colors, exaggerated 3-D perspectives, and ass-kicking action, many other web animation productions looks crude, stilted and flat. Piki and Poko, an epic fantasy with no overt allusions to popular culture, is a new direction for Mondo. The sophisticated viewer, however, will recognize many coded references. One villain-the Homemaker-could be Martha Stewart's alien twin, cooking up vats of drugged fudge, expertly folding killer origami animals. Piki and Poko is simultaneously cute and a

Many years ago, I saw a cartoon about aliens that come to Earth looking for the meaning of Christmas. But, for many years, I couldn't remember the title. In 2005, just before Rock and Rule came out on DVD, I came across an entry on a  Rock and Rule  forum regarding other Nelvana releases -- among the titles mentioned was " A Cosmic Christmas ". I saved that forum entry for future reference... In Cosmic Christmas a town rediscovers the real spirit of Christmas, thanks to three visitors from outer space and a little boy named Peter. Commercialism and greed seem to contradict the meaning of Christmas, and when Peter's pet goose is kidnapped, things look even worse. An exciting rescue results in a new sense of caring and sharing. After 5 years, I decided to revisit the  Rock and Rule  DVD Release forum (it seems to be inactive at this time) entry and see if the title was available. Message: 1 [Digest Number 502] Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2005 09:23:04 -0700 (PDT) From: M

After a bit of poking around on the web, I came across the Apple commercial -- " 1984 ". According to Wikipedia ... "1984" is an American television commercial that introduced the Apple Macintosh personal computer. It was conceived by Steve Hayden, Brent Thomas and Lee Clow at Chiat\Day, produced by New York production company Fairbanks Films, and directed by Ridley Scott. English athlete Anya Major performed as the unnamed heroine and David Graham as Big Brother... Originally a subject of contention within Apple, it has subsequently been called a watershed event and a masterpiece in advertising. At one time, I had preserved this iconic ad on VHS, but, after the Ultimate Otaku Fall Cleanup , that commercial went away. YouTube  can to the rescue and I was able to add this item to the archive.

I picked up Rental Magica recently. I've heard good things about the series and as it happens, it also bears some similarity to another series that I enjoyed -- Phantom Quest Corp. (You-Gen-Kai-Sya) . Destroying supernatural monsters... Dispelling dark magic... It's all in a day's work for the mages of Astral! However, after the mysterious disappearance of the company president, they're left in a lurch. His son, Itsuki Iba, begrudgingly fills in, but Itsuki's unfamiliarity with magic could spell bad news for Astral - especially with their rival Goetia vying for the very same contracts. As the jobs grow ever more dangerous, they soon find that staying in business is the least of their worries. I would like this series to succeed, but, the distributor -- Right Stuf -- has not had a very good track record with its releases in the past. Some releases, like Irresponsible Captain Tylor , I really, really enjoyed, while others, like Ai City , Godmars and Towards the T