Those of us on e-board have been talking about MB vs. FY since before the summer. It's a good thing that a lot of us are so passionate about our favorite anime that we could carry out such a spirited debate for months. It's difficult to compare a series when they are of high quality, and we don't have much of a place in judging others' preferences. However, sometimes you see a series that just knocks you over.

For example, there is a series called Future Boy Conan. I really cannot think of a series with better quality than this, even though it was made in '78. First of all, Hayao Miyazaki did the character design and direction. Isao Takahata (who directed A Grave for Fireflies, among others, and produced Miyazaki's movies) also directed a few episodes. Can we get any better than that: a TV series by the two greatest gods of Japanese anime! Conan is also widely held to be a prototype of Nausicaä and Laputa.

Its story takes place in the future, where the ice caps have melted and most of the land is under water (where was THIS concept used recently?). The world is disorganized, but some people seek the rebirth of the industrial age and aim to unlock the keys that were thought to be lost... Trapped in the midst is Lana, the holder of the "key" - who is not unlike Nausicaä - and Conan, who would cling to an airplane by his toes for Lana.

Conan is intelligent, comic, dramatic, and it even has romantic subplots. No, it simply transcends all those things; it's EPIC. If anything can succeed MI, this definitely can. Recent TV shows have been getting a lot of criticism that they're for cheap thrills, not intelligent as they used to be, and that there's a lacking element. Well, Conan has been one of the most acclaimed series by old and new fans alike. It's more of an adventure than FY and more gripping than MB: it is the pinnacle of classic anime.

Perhaps we could show this in the informal showings that we've had - but it seems like such a waste to limit such a great work to a few while the rest go deprived. We do have access to all the subtitled episodes...