In this issue:

~ Editorial
~ Anime Video Review of the Month
~ Mononoke Hime News
~ Hey Dawson's Creek Fans! News on James Van Der Beek in Anime
~ Game Review
~ What/Where/Who on Anime Online
~ FanFic Stories

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   E D I T O R I A L
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     Konnichiwa Minna! Here is the 4th issue of our side thread newsletter. As promised our web site is not up and running. When it is up you will be able to view past newsletters, the member's list, fan fics, etc. Due to working on the web site this issue will be out later than usual. Sorry for the inconvenience. So look for the announcement of our web site being up soon.
     I would like to also ask for more members to volunteer and write up a section for the newsletter. I would also like to point out that you are not limited to the topics we have now. You have a topic idea please feel free to ask us to add it.
     It would be great if you guys help out with this newsletter to make it OUR newsletter and it does not have to be on a full time bases but we would love for everyone to feel a part of Xanth Anime side thread.
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     While cruising through e-mail groups and reader's notes, I noticed a significant amount of letters from readers complaining or defending Japanese animation contents. Sex, violence, and nudity. Is anime only for mature audiences?
     Readers have complained that there is a significant amount of sexual innuendoes and violence on Japanese animes, too much to be considered for mature audiences only. Readers stated that they are "sickened" and "morally offended" at the majority of animes contain all or some of these topics. At first I was outraged, after all, I had always viewed anime for its entertainment value not for it's "degrading content" or its effects on others. Then I began to question is the content of animes immoral?
     Unlike the cultures of the west, the east has no problem with the "casual nude scenes" in anime. To them it's part of every day life. The standards for children's programming differs from that of the west. One of the animes that readers had noted to fall under sexual innuendoes was Ranma 1/2. Ranma as a male has no problem taking off his shirt while he trains or when he gets wet and rings out the water from his favorite shirt. So it doesn't surprise me that when he is doused with cold water and transforms into a girl he takes off his shirt and rings the water off exposing his now female chest. Is this wrong? After all he is a male and not use female etiquette and modesty does what he will do as a male. In Tenchi Muyo Ryoko has no problems bathing in the nude while the other girls wears towels into the hot spas. Ryoko has no problems flaunting her body and trying to get the attention of Tenchi.
     In my honest opinion, to each his own. The decision of what you want to see is up to you. Japanese animation has a variety of different animes. From Sci-fi like Pat Labor to girls drama like Marmalade Boy. If you don't like Pat Labor then try watching Records of Lodoss War. If you don't like Records of Lodoss Wars then try Magic Knight Rayearth. Each video has a rating to let you know whether or not the anime has a high content of nudity, violence or sex. It is up to your own discretion. As an avid viewer to a parent whose kids watch anime it is up to you.
     I'm neither defending nor am I complaining about the content of Japanese anime. I wanted to present to you the newsletter reader the different points of view on this subject.

co-editors in crime,
     Bink & Koi chan

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A N I M E * R E V I E W
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Anime Review by Camo:

Urusei Yatsura Movie 1: Only You

     What does a movie made over ten years ago have to offer anyone nowadays? Lessee...mallet gags, spaceships, mecha parodies, an army the size of the entire SDF led by a samurai wana be closing on a public school, and a pervert who FINALLY gets what he deserves in the form of two very angry girlfriends who have tendencies towards starting interstellar wars. This was one of the first animes I ever saw, and I still love it. The main plot consist of the problems caused by a game of shadow tag that occurred eleven years previously. It seems that a young Ataru, the schools worst lecher, stepped in the shadow of a girl, who was also an alien princess. This is meant the same as a marriage proposal on her world, she promised to come back for Ataru later, when they were older.
     Cut to the present, where Ataru is engaged, under protest, to yet ANOTHER alien princess, named Lum. Lum seems human enough, at least when she's not flying or zapping people with high voltage electricity. She doesn't respond well to Ataru's 'infidelity' (she believes she's already married to him) and the movie then takes off into a wild parody of human-meets-alien anime. Luckily, it doesn't fall into the classic pattern at all. If you like the romantic lost love that ends in resolution, forget it. I like this far better.
     To solve her problem, Lum decides to stage a marriage first. Accompanied by several of her off world friends, she abducts half the town to provide guests for the wedding. Unfortunately, her abductees are soon re-abducted, this time by Ataru's other fiancee', Elle. He's met his match this time. She's married to 99,999 OTHER guys, and Ataru's going to be number 100,000 in the 'refrigerator of love'!
     As for content , this is one of the cleanest animes you're likely to find. If you want to see a really funny show that doesn't bombard you with nudity, sex, or bloody violence, Urusei Yatsura 1 fits the bill nicely. If it wasn't for Ataru's pervert tendencies (which are mostly used as jokes, nothing disgusting is implied) I would rate it as acceptable for most audiences. The only questionable scene is the typical bath scene. There is absolutely NO frontal shots (about time someone realized that doesn't really enhance the plot!) and Ataru never manages to do anything before he's electrocuted (hee hee hee). Oddly enough, due to the age of the film, I can find it in the foreign language section of my public library. I'm not sure how that works elsewhere, but it's worth a try.

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M O N O K E * H I M E * I N F O R M A T I O N
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     The first issue of our newsletter we did a review on the new video release by Buena Vista of Kiki's Delivery Service which is done by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. His latest anime is Mononoke Hime which will be debuting here in the States around July of 99. There has been a lot of hype as to what/when/who/where about this movie. Here is a snippet from posts about Mononoke Hime:

     Japanese "sports" newspaper, Houchi Shinbun is currently running a series of articles about Ghibli and Miramax's release of MH. According to it:

1. It took about half a year, started on July 4th, to complete the recording of the English dub.

2. It took about 350 million yen (in $1=Y116 rate, that's about 3 million yen, though I'm not sure the exchange rate used in this article) to make the English dub.

3. Gillian Anderson (Moro) recorded at LA studio, while Billy Crudap (Ashitaka) did his part at NY studio. Both did a superb job, according to the article. Especially, Billy Crudap worked really hard, sometimes standing in front of microphone 6 hours a day.

4. Miramax held private screenings of MH for Leo DiCaprio and his father three times. They both loved the movie, and since his father is an anime fan, especially Miyazaki fan, Miramx thought that they could easily get Leo to play Ashitaka. However, the mega-hit of "Titanic" changed everything.

5. Miramax also tried to get Robin Williams to play Jiko Bou, and Williams showed real interest, but the schedule didn't match. Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient), who was offered the role of Eboshi, could not find the time to do the role either.

*According to Ghibli's official home page (http://www.ntv.co.jp/ghibli/), in Japanese), the music of "Tonari no Yamada-Kun", Ghibli's next movie by Takahata-San, will be recorded in Czech Republic. Unfortunately, Takahata-San could not go to Czech, since he is too busy.

*For those who are in Japan. NHK Educational is going to rerun the program about Mamoru Oshii on Jan. 6, 3:30pm. This program was really interested, Oshii-San speaking about anime and live action movies. It also showed a live-action version of "Patlabor", which was really cool. So if you missed it first time, don't miss it this time.

**If you're interested in joining the Hayao Mizaki mailing list please let me know by sending a message to fechan@main.com and I'll give you information on that.

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D A W S O N * I N * A N I M E
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     Castle in the Sky which is also done by Hayao Mizaki will be debuting supposedly this spring via Video. According to the article found at: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/020899D.html
     "Disney press relations liaison Martin Blythe tells Anime News Network several new developments in the English dub of Hayao Miyazaki's 1986 film Castle in the Sky (AKA: Laputa) currentlY being worked on.
     First and foremost, Blythe revealed the English cast, to inhibit internet rumor. Those in the final cast include James Van Der Beek (Dawson's Creek, Varsity Blues), Anna Paquin (Amistad, She's All That, Oscar winner - The Piano), Mark Hamill (Star Wars), Cloris Leachman (Beavis & Butthead Do America, The Beverly Hillbillies), and Mandy Patinkin (The Princess Bride, Chicago Hope). He did not comment on who was playing what part.
     Note: So you don't have to research all of these, my best guesses are: James Van Der Beek for Pazu, Anna Paquin for Sheeta (Remember, she is the second-youngest Oscar winner in history for The Piano in 1994), Cloris Leachman for Dola, since she's currently famous for playing old ladies. No idea on everyone else... -ED.
     The name "Laputa" has been removed from the title due to its meaning in Spanish (diseased whore), but it is currently unknown whether it will still be mentioned in the film or avoided altogether. It is also unknown whether Sheeta's name will be altered due to its resemblance to an English cuss word. The dubbed version will be directed by Jack Fletcher, best known for his work in Kiki's Delivery Service (Disney dub) as well as all dubbed products from Urban Vision."

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G A M E R E V I E W
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     This months game review is for Pocket Fighter for the PlayStation.
     It is the cute version of StreetFighter and DarkStalkers in Super Deformed Figures(SDF). It's a good game really especially if you love to play the serious versions. Where else can you see Chun Lee use Pom Poms to attack Zangief. Or see Ken use a donkey to kick Flecia across the screen.
     The game control unfortunately is still as tricky as the Street fighter and DarkStalkers games but combos are a little easier to pull off. The soundtrack as well is classic street fighter sound as well nothing really new, maybe a little techno sounding but pretty much the same old thing.
     As with the original version of the game it does get boring after a while. The cute factor does help a lot but when just playing against the computer it gets old. How ever when playing it with a group of friends it can be very entertaining.
     So while this is a good game to rent the only people that a suggest buying it would be die hard Street fighter fans. Or those that really love that style of side scrolling fighter games.

Game Name: Pocket Fighter
Game Company: Capcom
Rating: Kid Approved
System: PlayStation and at one time Saga Saturn
Quality: A five when first bought but after a couple a days the rating goes down to a one.

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W H A T / W H E R E / W H O on A N I M E * O N L I N E
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Web Site

http://www.tokyopop.com

The TokyoPop Store

     This web site store started in Southern California by Mike Kiley. As hard as it is to get Japanese merchandize in the US you would have to trek down to the nearest Little Tokyo or Japan Town to find the latest in Japanese animation, music, or toys.
     With TokyoPop you can shop in this cyber store and find the latest anime or music in Japan. You can also check out their merchandize database to find if they have other merchandize that you've been dying to get your hands on. TokyoPop sells Anime, Manga, video games, toys as well as J-pop.

Here's a tidbit from the TokyoPop store News:

     "While you're here online, don't miss taking a peek at our Final Fantasy VIII Headquarters. The FF VIII PlayStation Game is being released on February 11th, 1999 in Japan...we're taking pre orders for the game itself, the limited edition 4-cd soundtrack box, and a couple of boss accessories, too.
     Some news and gossip from the j-pop world: For any of you who do not know yet, there will be a Tokimeki Memorial OVA released on King Records in the spring--animation and production by Studio Pierrot, so it oughta be very nice! The Taiho Shichauzo movie is coming in April.

If you're interested sign up to be on their e-mailing list and get the latest information on what's new and available for you!

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A N I M E * F A N F I C
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     By next month when our web site is up and we can post things there, we'll have at least one fan fic up on the site. Beware it's a five page Robotech story one of the reason it's not here. So we will put short stories here between one to two pages anything over that will be put on the web site with a link to it from here. The short one published here will also be published on the web as well.

     If you would like to share any fan fics of yours please send it to fechan@main.com OR bink@main.com. Each month we'll try to add a fanfic story written by y'all. Please keep in mind the Adult Conspiracy as well as our foul language/adult situations, etc. policies.