In this issue:

~ Editorial
~ Anime Review
~ Manga Review
~ Mononoke Hime News
~ Anime News
~ Game Review

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   E D I T O R I A L
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Konnichwa minna sana,

     Unfortunately this issue is a short one, Koi Chan and I have been very busy this month. She has been working more hours lately and I have been recovering from major hip surgery. But we have been able to pull it together and get this month's issue, even though it's a little late.. gomen nasai.
     But we are lucky enough to bring you the review for Mononoke Hime, brought to us by Koi Chan's brother, Yakkun (Koi Chan and I won't get to see it till Nov. 5 but we wanted to get a review to you as soon as possible) so if you have the chance to see it do so and see it.
     Well that's all we have for this month, right now Koi and I are getting things together for the Big one year Anniversary. That's right folks! Next month the Anime Side Thread and the news letter will be a year old so we are at work putting together a big issue for November.

Ja Na,

Co-Editors Bink And Koi Chan

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     Here are the results for this months Poll question which was; "If you were stranded on a desert isle and could watch only one anime series, what would it be?"

The answers where some what surprising with Ranma 1/2 winning hands down, but here is how the voting turned out:

8% voted they wanted to watch Robotech
42% voted they wanted to watch Ranma 1/2
25% voted they wanted to watch Sailor Moon
0% voted they wanted to watch Marmalade Boy
17% voted they wanted to watch X/1999
8% voted they wanted to watch the Gundam Series

The question for the next issue is "How do you feel about Pokemon?"

The answers we've selected for you to chose from are:

1. Love Pokemon, you gotta catch them all.
2. I like the anime and I'll go see the movie but what's the big deal?
3. I played the game but the anime is too cutesy for me.
4. I can't stand Pokemon! The anime and the trend is lame.
5. I like Pokemon but it gave me a seizure!

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A N I M E * R E V I E W
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Tittle: Mononoke Hime
Distributed by: Miramax
Done By: Studio Ghibli
Directed by: Hiyao Miyazaki
Rated: PG-13

     In a few words, "This version ROCKS!" I don't know what Michael Johnson, head honcho for Nausciaa.net, was so concerned about in wanting to give this dub for Mononoke a chance. The fact that I, who'll tend to be a purist when it comes to anime dubbed in English, *still* found this dub to be so excellently done proves that such die hard fans can still be objective.
     Billy Crudup did an excellent job as Ashitaka. His voice acting really did well to mimic the tone and performance of the original Japanese seiyu (voice actor.) Minnie Driver >and< Billy-Bob Thorton were great. Jada Pinkett Smith (Will Smith's wife)...I half expected her to sound a little like "a Black woman with attitude," which IMHO would've still worked perfectly, but only found a few instances where one could've detected some of that. Nonetheless, she sounded great.
     The only complaint I've heard from my friends is Claire Danes as San, who makes her sound like a "Valley Girl." Thus we were making with the "My So-Called Mononoke" jokes while in line. Personally, I either didn't seem to notice it a whole lot, or subconsciously chose not to. Frankly, I tend to think it's probably the former, as I've recently been dragged by my friends to a lot of movies with significant appeal to the teeny-bopper demographic as of late: American Pie, American Beauty, Teaching Mrs. Tingle, Body Shots, Three to Tango, etc.; such that, in my mind's ear, I tend to think that girls talk like that on a regular basis anyway. (Besides, Claire Danes -does- play a girl who lives in the valley.) {duck & cover}
     Now, having seen the fan-sub of this movie (not to mention owning my own copy), I of course, couldn't help but notice certain differences made in the English script. Neil Gaiman himself, who wrote the script, admitted to having, at some points in the movie, had to add certain things to explain stuff more fully, even changing things to "dumb down" certain elements because...well, there're certain subtitles you just can't expect an American audience to readily pick up on. In some instances, I did find his revisions better for the script. When San first meets Okkotonushi, the leader of the Boar Clan, she specifically comments upon his blindness in the English version. In the Japanese version, her reaction to seeing him is just "Your eyes!" which is a subtle way indicating that. Another example is when Lady Eboshi asks Ashitaka what his business is with the Iron Town (Tatara Ba in the original, and an acceptable translation.) In the Japanese he just says, "To see with eyes unclouded," but in the dub, Gaiman re-wrote, "To see with eyes unclouded...by hate." Also, in the original Japanese, the various animal gods and the forms they take are referred to by name: Shishi-gami, Tatari-gami, Inoshihi-gami, Didarabochi. In the English dub, Gaiman has them referred to simply as gods or demons, and The Night Walker.
     One of the more blatant changes in the script occurs in the scene where Jiko Bou is first introduced. Here he's seen drinking a bowl of soup. In the original, he literally says, "This tastes like hot water." In the dub, Billy Bob Thortnon says, "This tastes like donkey piss." The subtlety here is that saying soup tasting like hot water is a major insult.
     Overall, Gaiman did a good job, and a most passable one. He wracked his brains over this, and did in fact avail himself to consulting with the Nausicaa.net Mailing List as a fan-resource in the making of this script. In fact, Miyazaki's original script uses some fairly archaic Japanese which even natives to Tokyo found difficult to understand, let alone pronounce, given the historic time-period this movie is set in.

Other highlights I couldn't help but notice and have to comment upon:

[Please refer to Nausicaa.net Mononoke Hime character guide, http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Fuji/9270/chara.html as necessary]

     I think it's quite recognizably common practice in most ethnic cultures, especially Asian, to refer to people who're not necessarily blood members of your family, but part of your community, as if they were members of your family. In the beginning, Ashitaka refers to Gii-san, which means "grandfather," but is also a respectable way of referring to an old man who's part of your community. The same thing with the girl, Kaya. In the Japanese version, she -does- refer to Ashitaka as "anii-sama" which is a respectable way of addressing one's elder brother. But she definitely is not of his blood relation, in fact more like his girlfriend than his sister. The English dub has her referring to herself as his little sister. Hii-sama (used for "great grandmother") is renamed as "the Wise Woman" in the English dub.
     In the character guide mentioned, the Monk's character is Jiko Bou, but in the dub, the character is just named Jiko. I soon learned that "Bou" is a title reserved for priests or monks. So, one loose translation of Jiko Bou would be like Reverend Jiko.
     In the scene where the Boar God confronts San & Ashitaka for the first time in the movie, he sniffs Ashitaka's hand. In the original, it's to convey Nago no Kami's last message. In the dub, it's to prove that Ashitaka was the one who killed Nago.

The English versions of the songs sounded well done. I *want* to get my hands on the English soundtrack when it's available.

     I was lucky enough to catch a preview screening in a stadium theater that does Dolby Digital, and the movie sound is done in Dolby 5.1. The SPJA attended in force that night [The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation, which encompasses Anime Expo and the Cal-Animage Network] so I was among many friends. Although I did notice a tour group from Japan was also part of the crowd.
     Even still, it was apparent a good part of the audience hadn't seen Mononoke as the crowd "Woa!"-ed at every decapitation scene. And despite our occasional penchant for MST-ing (or MST3K-ing), just for the sake of having fun, only one reference was made out loud: when the Kodama were first shown in large number, someone started singing the theme for the Smurfs, and made the whole room groan in pain. The act was even decried as "evil!"
     Everyone agreed it was a wonderful evening. And with Gillian Anderson as one of the voices, we were all just *waiting* for someone to shout towards the end, "Mulder! It's the Black Oil!"

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M A N G A * R E V I E W
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Here is another item that you can get from Viz.

Our featured products this week are POKEMON TALES. These board books, each featuring a different Pokemon, are perfect for children and POKEMON fans of all ages! Each of these books is beautifully illustrated in full color by a different artist, and is durable enough to withstand any number of POKEMON battles.

The first four POKEMON TALES feature Charmander, Squirtle, Bulbasaur and Pikachu!

CHARMANDER SEES A GHOST
Charmander sees a ghost and tells all its friends about it.

COME OUT, SQUIRTLE!
Will Squirtle be brave enough to come out of its shell?

BULBASAUR'S TROUBLE
Bulbasaur helps settle an argument between two children.

PIKACHU'S DAY
Pikachu wakes up to a Pikachu sort of day!

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M O N O N O K E * H I M E * N E W S
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     While I still haven't found the source to confirm or deny this info, it may give some of you some hope where Mononoke Hime MAY become a nationwide release! Instead of the limited art house release that is happening right now. It seems that the response to the movie has been great and people have been flocking to the theaters to see it, showing Miramax that it should be in their best interest to go for a wider release.
     Critics around the U.S. are saying nothing but great things for the movie, with an occasional bad review, but even the bad reviews have something good to say about the movie. Ebert on his show has claimed that Mononoke is a "masterpiece" even if it doesn't make it other than an art house movie and never gets to the main stream theaters. But lets look at it this way, the sleeper hit of the year "The Blair Witch Project" went from art house cult classic to blockbuster hit. This shows that the American audience is craving something new and different in movies. It seems to give Mononoke some hope.

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Mcfarlane Toy's Company has announced they have acquired the rights to make action figures from Mononoke and plan to have them in stores in November.

     This is another rumor that we have found and whether or not this true, we'll have to wait and see if the toys actually make it to the stores. But the fact that Mcfarlane's company is going to do the Mononoke toys, we can expect the action figures to look great with a lot of detail. If these toys do come out they will be snatched up fast by customers both fans in the US and fans in Japan, considering Mcfarlane's Spawn is one of the hottest sought after toy by both children and adults in Japan. These actions figures of Mononoke will definitely be hot.

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A N I M E * N E W S
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Media Blasters Acquires Rurouni Kenshin

Word is coming out of the East Coast Video Show, being held in Atlantic City that Media Blasters has acquired the Rurouni Kenshin TV series and possibly the OAV's and Movie as well. A more formal announcement is to be made at AWA. More details to come.

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Baby Spice Song To Be Featured In Pokemon Movie

The Warner Brothers released Pokemon Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back (Out Nov. 12th) will feature a song performed Emma Bunton (a.k.a. Baby Spice).

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     If you remember the last issue we reported that Gundam Wing may be brought to American TV. As well as Cartoon Network was the one that might be getting it. Well we're still not sure what station is going to have but it looks like it will be here. So here is what was reported to us that the LA times had on Gundam wing and the disappointment of the dub.
     If those of you in the LA area will look at today's LA Times comics section (10/31/99), you'll see an ad w/ a Gundam in it in all it's glory. To add to the info on the ad, it looks like Bandai is going to bring Gundam Wing to American TV. Our club's current president, and former president, are employees of AnimeVillage (aka Bandai America), and have shown us a dub of the pilot episode. [Oh the *horror!* Can you say, "Cowabunga, d00d!"? @_@ ]

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     We have a lot of Pokemon sightings for you this month and with it just being Halloween it seems like where ever we look there was Pokemon. It seemed that every store that sold costumes had Pokemon costumes and it seemed to have been just Pikachu and Charmeleon, but still it was cool to see kids dressed up in them.
      Pokemon has even journeyed to the newspaper comic strips, granted not their own but in Foxtrot. In it Jason is trying all he can to gain the rare and much coveted (will coveted by Jason) Charizard card, from buying cards like crazy, to praying for it even going so far as trying Feng Shui to up his chances. But what happens when his rival, a girl gets the Charizard card? Will Jason do what his girl wants to get the card....will he be her partner at the Science Museum?
     Also Pokemon was seen on "The Norm Show", it wasn't just an appearance it was a full fledged Pika Battle between Norm using a Squirtle, and a Butterfree (both of which where his co-stars in costume). He took on a fake Ash in a not to bad looking costume, where he used Pikachu and a Charmander with an actual flame on the tail of the costume. The battle hit the peak with the appearance of Team Rocket and Meowth (Once again being played by norms Co-stars) where Ash had Pikachu blast everyone with thunder shock leaving only the fake ash and a very charred looking Norm.
     Our last sighting for this month is the cover of the TV Guide with Pikachu on the cover as well as Togepi and others as well. I can't tell you more about what it's all about since I just it in the passing, we'll tell you more about it when we get the issue. But it's out there now so check out this Real life pokemon sitting for your self.
     Well that's all the Pokemon sighting for this month we'll be sure to keep you up to date if more sightings happen.

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Here are some feature items at Tokoy Pop, if you interested in anything there check it out. If you don't find what you're looking for here please check out their web site.

http://www.tokyopop.com

Don't forget to check out the updates to our Bargain Basement and Imports@Cost sections of our site--loads of cool new steals available! They can be found, respectively at:

http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/page_bargain.asp
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/page_imports_at_cost.asp

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ANIME ON VHS

On the subject of Sailormoon, we've been selling the 3 subtitled movies on VHS from Pioneer for nearly 2 months now...and we finally have a few non-resserved copies available for general sale; here's the scoop:

Sailor Moon R Movie--List=$24.98; TP Sale Price=$19.98; MEMBERS' PRICE = $14.98!
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=PISA+0001S

Sailor Moon S Movie--List=$24.98; TP Sale Price=$19.98; MEMBERS' PRICE = $14.98!
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=PISA+0002S

Sailor Moon SuperS Movie--List=$24.98; TP Sale Price=$19.98; MEMBERS' PRICE = $14.98!
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=PISA+0003S

Also on the domestic video front, we are bustin' out our copies of the first Rayearth Combo Pack; each of the sets below contains 2 tapes:

Magic Knight Rayearth Combo Pack 1 Dubbed--List=$39.95; TP Sale Price=$31.96; MEMBERS' PRICE = $23.97!
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=A2PD+9920

Magic Knight Rayearth Combo Pack 1 Subbed--List=$39.95; TP Sale Price=$31.96; MEMBERS' PRICE = $23.97!
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=A2PS+9921

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TOYS AND CARDS

Ghost in the Shell 'White Out' Figure--TEMP012-29--$14.95--Kusanagi Motoko in All Her Dangerous Beauty
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=TEMP012-29

Capcom Sports Version Card Fighters For Neo Geo Pocket--SNK VS CARD--$43.00
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=SNK+VS+CARD

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J-POP

Faye Wong--Lovers & Strangers--TOCP 65330--$31.00--First Pressing CD From the Queen of Asian Pop!
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=TOCP+65330

Tomosaka Rie--Best CD--TOCT 24225--$37.00--Ltd DigiPak
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=TOCT+24225

Ulfuls--Young Soul Dynamite Maxi 5" Single--TOCT 4168--$15.00--4 Tracks, Produced by Fujii Takeshi
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=TOCT+4168

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BRAND NEW Y2K CALENDARS

Macross Digital Gallery--CL-176--$17.00--MEMBERS' PRICE = $11.90
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=CL-176

My Neighbor Totoro--$17.00--CLUB TOKYO POP MEMBERS' PRICE = $11.90
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=CL-133

Studio Ghibli Works--$21.00--CLUB TOKYO POP MEMBERS' PRICE = $14.70
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=CL-134

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NEWTYPE 100% COLLECTION ART BOOKS

Cat Girl Neko Neko--$25.00
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=4048529560

Super Robot Generation: Sunrise 1977-1987--$28.00
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=404853013

Z-Gundam Character Edition, Vol 1--$18.00
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=404852982X

Z-Gundam Character Edition, Vol 2--$18.00
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=4048529811

Z-Gundam Mechanical Edition, Vol 2--$18.00
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=4048529803

Gundam Wing Complete Operation--$20.00
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=4048526693

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IMPORT VIDEOGAME MUSIC CD'S

Macross VF-X2 Playstation Music CD--$26.00--CLUB TOKYO POP MEMBERS' PRICE = $15.10
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=VICL+60448

PJ & Parappa: I Scream!--$26.00

Dino Crisis for PSX--$26.00
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=CPCA+1029

Legend of Zelda Symphonic Arrange Album--$39.00
http://www.tokyopop.com/tokyopop/product.asp?sku=ZMCX+102

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G A M E * R E V I E W
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Tittle: Dino Crisis
Platfrom: Play Station
Number of players: 1
Maker: Capcom
Rating: For Mature Players Only

     Welcome to the world of Jurassic Park... no wait! This is a totally different game, but then I just couldn't stop thinking of the book and movies while I played the game. The basic story is, a scientist that used to work for the government faked his death and went "undercover so to speak", started working on the same limitless clean energy project that supposedly killed him in the process. Enters the special force team that lands on the island where the doc is suppose to be captured. But not everything is as it seems the base is completely deserted except for critters that shouldn't be walking the earth. Here enters the Jurassic Park theme to escape the island, even the dinos in the game are pretty much from Jurassic park Raptors, a T-Rex and such. Play the game and you'll recognize them right away. The little twist on the story is the Doc. You have to find him and that opens the story a little more. As to what it is, why spoil it for you by telling you? I have to leave you guys some fun.
     So far my thoughts on the game seem a little negative, well it is I didn't really care for the game that much. It has its points which i will get to but has a whole lot more drawbacks to it.
     The first major draw back is that I was hoping for a unique game that would challenge your skills as a game player and as a game that would challenge your mind. You really get none of the above. The game is utterly like the two Resident evil games, just take out the un dead and put in Dino's and you get Dino Crisis, the whole feel of the game was Resident Evil. If your going to spend a lot of money developing a game the least you can do is come up with something different. I would hate to see this type of game get as tiresome as the first shooter games (Like Wolfenstien, Doom and Quake) after a while it gets to the point of playing the same game with slightly different themes.
     As far as challenging your mind the only thing that gets challenged is where your next bullet or grenade is going to come from. The puzzles over all are fairly simple to solve, a couple may stump you for a bit but not till you pause the game and think about it for a sec. Don't get me wrong you have to still read everything and take a few notes as you play but there are enough clues around the game that it makes the puzzles extremely easy to solve.
     Another problem with the game is the gore. It makes the game virtually unplayable with young kids in the house or even by young kids themselves. I'm not extremely squeamish when it comes to game's gore but this even made my stomach turn. I don't really care to see the remains of a person that's body cavity has been ripped apart laying on the ground. Or the remains of a raptor half eaten laying in the hallway, is the gore needed to making a good game? In this case I think Capcom could have toned down the gore and the game still would have been all right, not great but perhaps a little more enjoyable.
     Now on to the good points of the game, which fortunately their are several, such as the graphics. The movie scenes that the game has are amazing like the opening sequence looks and sounds like Capcom spent a lot of time on them. They're smooth and fit in with the game well, I found my self playing the game more and more just to see the movie cut sequences. The game graphics them selves are very smooth as well, not choppy or badly rendered as with the first Resident evil game so it was nice to see Capcom improving on that. Capcom also paid attention to detail better in this game, like when you face the T-Rex for the first time, when he roars in your face it pushes the character back and you have to re-set your self to shoot the beast. The one thing I did have trouble navigating was the menu section, not the easiest one in the world, one example I learned the hard way was when you equip a weapon it's not needed to equip the ammo as well, the first raptor I faced definitely enjoyed the fact that my gun didn't shoot. Once you get used to how the menu and the game controls work everything runs at a face pace.
     The music of the game sets the mood as well, taking it lesson from resident evil, in other words if the music starts to get creepy it usually means that something bad is about to happen. But the music was fun to listen as where the rest of the sound effects, I didn't find my self turning the sound down due to repeating sound tracks or annoying sound effects, in fact to get the full effect of the sound and music I had everything running through the stereo system so I could enjoy the full surround sound effect. But even if you don't have a stereo setup just crank the TV up and play away.
     The other thing I liked about Dino Crisis is the fear factor, it is as good as any of the Resident Evil, I jumped any number of time playing the game. Somehow Dino are a little more scary than the un dead, a massive T-rex suddenly charging at you through an upstairs window makes you jump back in the game and in real life. The one thing that Capcom can do is cause you to be scared and they do it well combining erie music, great graphics, and building the tension till it just erupts in your face. However it is unfortunately a one way fear, once it happens it's sort of over, and when you replay it it's just not as scary anymore, but I have the same problem with any of the Resident Evil games. Which is why I don't own the games and I unfortunately do recommend this one for a buy, but it is definitely worth renting and seeing what it's like and just keep renting it and playing it till you've won. Once you win the game will sit their collecting dust because since everything in the game is the same it's not as fun the second time around. I will make the point to say that there is a way to get some fun out of the game a second time, at some points during the game you do get the chance to make decisions on what you can do. But once those options are gone you'll pretty much know the whole game.

Ratings:
Out of the package: a definite 9
After you've beat the game twice: a definite 2