It’s that time of the year again. Summer is winding down, pro football is gearing up for the pre-season, back-to-school sales are everywhere, and students are gearing up for the upcoming school year. Luckily, there is some good news to lift up your spirits—the release of the 2009 Fall Semester Schedule!
Notice that at our first meeting, we will be showing the classic Lupin III movie, The Castle of Cagliostro (Aug. 29). We will be advertising the movie more as the beginning of the semester nears.
This semester, we have five series that will be making their CJAS premieres, all of which have been released in the past few years in the U.S. Higurashi no Kaku Koro ni is a horror series about a small town and its mysterious annual festival. Newly-arrived Keiichi must attempt to uncover the secret behind Hinamizawa’s disappearances and murders before he meets the same fate. In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Nanoha Takamichi is a normal Japanese grade-schooler who, after finding a shape-shifting ferret, gets mixed up in an intergalactic crisis. Claymore focuses on Claire, a Claymore warrior whose purpose is the eradication of Yoma, monsters that feed on humans. Along the way, they have to fight to keep their own humanity intact or face the consequences. Baccano! features a story about immortals, the mob, and one unforgettable train ride, set in the 1920s. The many seemingly disconnected threads do eventually weave together into a coherant picture; in the meantime, enjoy the ride! And I hope you have your ticket… Ouran High School Host Club is a brilliant send-up of the shojo genre that plays off just about every archetype imaginable while still managing to have compelling characters of its own. This is a series that can be enjoyed by jaded veterans and newcomers alike.
In addition to these new series and the movie, we will be showing three popular series and one very popular OVA from past schedules. In Genshiken, a freshman is drawn deeper and deeper into the mysterious world of “anime”, thanks to his school club “Genshiken”, the biggest bunch of weirdos ever to assemble in a single room to discuss “Why This Week’s Episode of Kujibiki Unbalance Was Awsome”. Wolf’s Rain, an elegantly melancholy post-apocalyptic anime, features a group of shape-shifting wolves searching for paradise in a world where they’re supposed to be extinct. In Outlaw Star, outlaw Gene Starwind, his young partner Jim Hawking, and their motley crew battle against space pirates and law enforcement alike in pursuit of the ultimate treasure. We end our semester schedule with Special Duty Combat Unit Shinesman, a parody of the famous Super Sentai series. This one is a real “can’t miss” OVA.
Below are the complete summaries of everything we will be showing.
