Howdy, folks.  Here are some descriptions of what we're watching this
semester.  First off, for anyone reading this who may not be familiar with
our regular features from last semester:

Darker Than Black - In the wake of a mysterious event Tokyo has been
changed, not just from the unfamiliar constallations in the sky or the
enigmatic Hell's Gate, but by the emergence of Contractors with paranormal
powers who must pay a price for their abilities.  Cue solid SF action about
our protagonist and his fellow contractors undertaking a variety of covert
operations while staying out of the hands of the government, structured as a
series of two-parters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rv5hSt9oic

Nodame Cantabile - Attractive prodigy Shinichi Chiaki is the top star of a
Japanese music university where he'd studied piano before switching over to
conducting and gaining quite a bit of buzz in the music world in the
process.  Then the deeply quirky Nodame enters his life, professing love,
demanding food, and occasionally displaying astonishing piano playing
abilities.  Cue romance, classical music, and wacky hijinx a plenty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a-HV2wpeBw

Tengen Toppen Gurren Lagann - Gurren Lagann is a show about drills.  It is
also about the indominitable power of the human spirit.  It is also about
giant robots, violent beast men, awesome sunglasses, and raw manliness. It
could be described as a cross between Mazinger Z and FLCL.  It's dose of
1800% concentrated awesome in every episode will likely be praised
throughout the ages.  But, most of all, it's about drills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2auMj5PFzI

And for our rotating features:

Sayonara Zetsubo-sensei - Wherein our suicidal protagonist attempts to teach
an assortment of Japanese high school girls all equipped with their own
raging neuroses.  Cue blackly surreal humor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATScaBE-5HI

Moyashimon - The saga of a young man starting his first year at an
agricultural college and his ability to see microbes with the naked eye.
Being Japanese, naturally these are terribly cute microbes.  Our boy is
quickly drafted to help out in the lab of a bizzare professor with an
obsession for fermentation, his grad student with a penchant for wearing
lots of leather along with her labcoat, a couple of degenerate undergrads
attempting to get rich quick by making homebrew sake, his stalwart best
friend, and a fellow first-year who is germaphobic and armed to the teeth
with antibacterial cleaning products.  It's amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahU-mkc_zSA

Gundam 00 - In our future, fossil fuel depletion forces the Earth's three
major powers - the Americas, Europe, and a Russian/Chinese alliance - to
build orbital elevators that help provide solar power.  Alas, this
breakthrough hasn't ended war and the terrorist organization Celestial Being
has had enough.  Armed with incredibly advanced giant robots and emotionally
damaged pretty boys, they begin to wage war on the whole damn planet.
Gundam 00 does for Wing what Gundam Seed did for the original series,
providing a nice mix of political intrigue and mecha action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k07fABWrsQ

Tales of Earthsea - The new Ghibli film, based on Ursula LeGuin's classic
fantasy novels and directed by Hayou Miyazaki's son Goro.  'Nuff said.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnVCK0jXlJ8

Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji - Our hero is a wretched punk who is cornered by
the yakuza and asked to pay off a loan he foolishly co-signed for an old
acquaitance.  Unable to pony up the exhorbitant amount demanded, the
gangsters give him another option - go onto a ship and gamble for his life,
with the winners to walk away rich and the losers to be shipped off into
indentured servitude.  Kaiji accepts the offer and finds he must gamble for
his life on the most dangerous game of all - rock, paper, scissors!  If you
liked Akagi but couldn't follow the intricacies of mahjong, this is the show
for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEnq_j-yI2I

Hell Teacher Nube - The story of a cheerful elemetary school teacher who
just happens to have a demon sealed into his left hand, which he uses to
exorcise the demons who keep attacking the small town he works at.  Wacky
supernatural hijinx a go-go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MrnaTGF-20

Stellvia of the Universe - After Earth is nearly destroyed by a near-by star
going supernova, humanity has rebuilt and established a firm foothold in the
stas and they struggle to find a way to stop another star from going
supernova and laying waste to our planet once and for all.  Enter our
heroine who has just joined the space academy, is armed with a big jar of
Japanese candy, is ready to cry at a moment's notice, and is chock full of
potential.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWtAbpWx0V0

Yakitate!! Japan - Wacky shounen antics about a baker whose life goal is to
make a type of bread that is uniquely Japanese.  No, seriously.  As COUP has
seen a fair amount of the series in the past, we'll be choosing a suitably
wacky stand alone episode from later in the show to present.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuMFjhDtHOs

Akihabara@DEEP - A group of hapless otaku form an organization dedicated to
helping raging obsessives like themselves solve a series of mysteries in
Akihabara.  It's like Genshiken meets Charlie's Angels.  Cue zany
live-action adventure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcO3j-18uUQ

Avatar: The Last Airbender - I haven't seen this show, so I'll fall back on
Wikipedia's description: "Set in an Asian-influenced world of martial arts
and elemental manipulation, the series follows the adventures of the latest
of a long line of Avatars, Aang, and his friends in a quest to save the
world from the ruthless Fire Nation."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sib7Rf4crFo

Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan Second - The continuing heartwarming story of
an angel from heaven who is sent back in time to kill a young man who, in
the future, will be a raging pervert and stunt the growth of women
throughout the world in service of his lolita fetish.  However, she falls in
love with the guy, so she brings him back to life.  Then kills him. Then
ressurects him.  Rinse and repeat in a particularly outrageous sort of way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGQIuusBuBY

Negima!? - A retelling of the popular Negima! series with a stronger
emphasis on wacky hijinx than non-stop harem fanservice, this series is
about an elementary school boy wizard who teaches a bunch of middle school
girls English.  Yes, it's kinda creepy, but the Negima!? variation is
apparently more tolerable and there's a long, involved in-joke that prompted
us to show this as part of our April Fool's triple feature of doom.  Pickles
will be served during this viewing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C1DIwZgsDo

Charge!! Otokojuku - At the manliest high school in Japan, burly thugs try
to survive an educational curriculum set upon them by sadistic burlier
teachers.  The oh-so-80s terror continues!  Forward march!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8koptoXSLz4

Patarillo - Dare ga korashita Cock Robin?  In epsiode 7 of this surreal
early-80s classic, Patarillo, brat ruler of the island nation of Marinera,
and his long-suffering MI-6 bodyguard Jack Bancoran come face to face with
the power of kung fu.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQERi7xVbuc

Denno Coil - In the near future, everyone wears glasses that allow them to
see the persistant layer of virtual reality that lies on top of the real
world.  Our heroine has just moved to a new town where she learns that her
Grandmother is busy dealing in black market software and acting as Fagin to
a gang of teenage hackers, whose ranks she some what bewilderedly joins.
Lavishly animated adventure starring the cutest ugly dog in anime.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrO4sxHkHc8

Kino no Tabe Movie 2 - The continuing adventures of our wandering hero and
their talking motorcycle.  For those of you who have never seen it, Kino's
Journey is almost the anime equivalent of Ray Bradbury short stories. This
is the second short Kino movie to be released, subtitled "Country of
Illness".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILJb2jgYNCw

Rocket Girls - On the equator Japan's burgeoning manned space program has a
minor problem: the rockets keep blowing up.  When a solution is found that
requires their pilot to lose an extreme amount of weight he escapes into the
jungle, leaving the program in search of a new pilot whose weight doesn't
exceed their rocket's tolerances.  The solution?  Teenage Japanese girls, of
course!  Cue silly space exploration antics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfQG9VMwP2E

Tekkon Kinkreet - In a dense, surreal urban setting near feral children
raise hell and run afoul of the local gangsters, at which point all hell
breaks loose.  Based on Taiyo Matsumoto's acclaimed manga (released here as
Black & White) and brought to the big screen by one of the director's on The
Animatrix, Tekkon Kinkreet is difficult to describe.  Fortunatly, a YouTube
link to the trailer is ready and waiting for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9LnbgA1K28

Phil