Howdy, gang.  Here are some brief descriptions of the Fall '04 schedule.  
First off, our regular shows:

Samurai Champloo

I could probably just say "from the director of Cowboy Bebop" and stop 
there.  However, elaborating that it's a hip-hop samurai show with 
scratching on the cuts between scenes, beatboxing ronin, low-riding 
palanquins, erotic ukio-e artists, steel-plated geta, flying squirrels, a 
great soundtrack, and some truly bad-ass fight scenes can't hurt, 
and should guarantee your attendance.

Paranoia Agent

After three feature films (Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, and Tokyo 
Godfathers), Saitoshi Kon has turned his attention to television anime.  
Someone named Shounen Bat is roller skating around Tokyo, assulting 
unconnected victims with a baseball bat, and leaving chaos in his wake.  
As expected of Kon, this bare-bones description does nothing to convey 
the deep undercurrent of weirdness running throughout the series; if 
nothing else, Maromi will put the fear of God in you.  Top-notch 
direction, intriguing writing, and a terrific soundtrack by Susumu 
(Millennium Actress, Berserk) Hirasawa?  Oh, hell yeah.

Brother Dear Brother (final season)

The epic struggle of our heroine against evil schoolgirl bitches comes to 
a close.  Short version: our heroine Nanako gets into an exclusive high
school, and is then drafted for the even more exclusive Sorority by the 
mysterious (and psychotic) Miya-sama, while also falling into the orbits 
of star students Karou-no-Kimi (who is both athletic and mysteriously ill) 
and St. Juste-sama (who is strung out on drugs and is emotionally 
caught-up with Miya-sama).  They're all connected by Henmi Takehiko, 
Nanako's pen pal and a whole lot more.  This is a serious shoujo drama of 
the highest order, with outstanding direction and art design by the 
Dezaki/Sugino team.  If you're intersted in the series but find yourself 
completely lost, ask someone after the meeting to explain the details, ask 
me to loan you the tapes, or check out the Technogirls BDB webpage:

http://www.quixium.com/technogirls/brother.htm

Now on to the other assorted features that make up our schedule:

Aug 31: Kino no Tabi 10, Midori no Hibi 1, Monster 1

Kino no Tabi (Kino's Journeys) is a series of tales about a teenage 
traveller, a sentient motorcycle, and their exploration of an intriguing, 
elusive world that seems to take place in the non-Europe that shows up 
throughout anime (Kiki's Delivery Service, for example), with 
retro-futuristic touches.  Think of it as the sort of anime Ray Bradbury 
would create, all rendered with subtle visual style.  Outstanding, and as 
the episodes are almost all self-contained you don't have to worry about 
walking into episode 10 and not knowing what's going on.

Midori no Hibi (Midori's Days) is as good a show about a lonely teenage 
thug who waks up one day to find that a sweet, caring girl has replaced 
his right hand.  Cue hijinx that go well beyond "wacky" and into the realm 
of "deeply strange".  Once you're done gaping at the description, allow me 
to assure you that this really is a terrific series, romantic in it's 
own, particularly deranged way and replete with thug life adventures.

In stark contrast, Monster is a dead serious drama based on the manga by 
Naoki (Yawara, Master Keaton) Urasawa, about an ace surgeon who rebels 
against hospital politics and finds himself embroiled in the case of a 
gruesome serial killer.  The four episodes we're watching provide a sort 
of prologue for what promises to be a long, epic TV series.

Sep 28: Lupin: The Mystery of Mamo (movie)

Lupin's most beloved adventure is almost certainly the 1979 Miyazaki 
feature Castle of Cagliostro.  However, his first theatrical outing came 
in 1978 with Mystery of Mamo, which is a very different sort of beast.  
While Cagliostro comtains the charm and camaraderie that defined 
Miyazaki's work on the series, Mamo hearkens back to the original Monkey 
Punch manga, portraying our gang of thugs as far more bickering, ruthless, 
and outrageous.  That said, once you come to grips with the different 
style, Mamo features wild adventures, a more SF oriented plot than usual, 
and tons of 70s style.  Oh, and even more nekkid Fujiko than usual.

Oct 05: Maria-sama ga Miteru 1, Kyo Kara Mao #, Tweeny Witches 1-2

Maria-sama ga Miteru is what would happen if everyone in Brother Dear 
Brother were friendly and well adjusted.  Yumi, a particularly cute 
freshman at an all girl's Catholic school (no, really) is fascinated by 
distant, allof Sachiko, who is a member of the elite student council.  
Naturally, Yumi gets drafted and things escalate from there.  However, 
where this would lead to assaults with flower arranging implements in BDB, 
conflict in Maria-sama is much subdued, especially as all of the main 
characters get along with each other.  It's a fun show, chock full of 
shoujo ai overtones, and is simply beautiful to behold.

Kyo Kare Mao's description comes courtesy of Rev. Smith:

Junior high baseball catcher Shibuya Yuuri gets flushed down a toilet to
the magical land of bishonen and immediately ascends to the throne of 
Demon King.  Like Angelique with a male lead and an awareness of the
silliness of its premise.  Very swishy, doesn't take itself seriously; 
watch for the pretty-boy sumo in episode 3.  Pokes fun at the
slash-fiction set with three fangirl avatars who pop in to take notes on
potential guy-on-guy action.  Warning: will induce squealing.

Tweeny Witches (also known as Magical Girl Squad Alice) is about a teenage 
girl who loves the idea of magic as a powerful tool of love and wonder.  
Then she gets dragged off a world that's actually full of magic and, while 
things aren't quite what she expects, she's determined to soldier on, 
accompanied by two long-suffering student witches on her mission to 
recapture the creatures she set free.  Add a generous dollop of charm, a 
distinctly creepy vibe, and Studio 4^oC's unique style and you've got a 
decidedy intriguing show.  Check out the promo art up on their website and 
you'll see what I mean:

http://www.tweeny-witches.com/

Oct 19: Maria-sama ga Miteiru 3, Kyo Kara Mao #, Aim for the Ace 7

Aim for the Ace: 70s shoujo tennis apocolypse.  'Nuff said.

Oct 26: Aim for the Ace 1 (live-action), Gokusen 1 (live-action)

We take a break shortly before Halloween to take a break from anime to 
watch two recent live-action TV shows.  No, really, with real people and 
everything!  The shoujo sports classic Aim for the Ace was recently 
adapted into a suprisingly good live-action TV series, notable for having 
a Coach who is just as all-powerful in real life as he is in the cartoon.  
And, the recent anime Gokusen (about a school teacher who happens to be a 
yakuza princess) was adapted from a popular live-action series.  Both are 
pretty damn entertaining.  Just consider yourself lucky we aren't showing
more live-action Sailor Moon.

Nov 02: Hale Nochi Guu #, Grrl Power, Macross Zero 4
Nov 09: Hale Nochi Guu #, Animation Runner Kuromi 2, Sgt Frog 1

Guu's full title, Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu, is roughly translated 
as "The Jungle Was Quiet, Then Guu Came Along", which just about sums it 
up.  The title character in this zany comedy tends to eat things and store 
them in the (rather pleasant) extra dimension inside her mouth, torments 
our hapless hero by being creepy at him, and causes chaos and wacky antics 
to ensue throughout the jungle.  It's difficult to describe but, trust us, 
it's a hoot and a half.  We'll be picking choice episodes for you to 
enjoy...or, at least, random episodes from the second half of the series 
that COUP hasn't seen yet.

Next up are two short, light-hearted OVAs by Akitarou (Jubei-chan, Now and 
Then Here and There) Daichi.  Grrl Power, horrible name aside, is a fun, 
painfully cute story about three hard-working sisters with an odd-jobs 
service, one of whom communicates only in literal sign-language.  
Animation Runner Kuromi 2 is a sequel to the Otaku-no-Video-Lite saga of a 
harried production manager working desperately to get an animation studio 
to crank out the latest episode of "Time Journeys".  Hurrah for the wacky, 
self-contained OVA!

While Macross Zero isn't exactly what you'd call self-contained, we're 
determined to keep up with the series as it's (slowly) released, which is 
why we'll be jumping right in with episode 4.  Before the events of the 
original Macross series, prototype Valkeyries (you know, the fighter jets 
that transform into big robots) are being tested in the Pacific, which 
leads our hero to crash land on a island where the native religious 
beliefs look to be suprisingly relevant.  Okay, so the story ain't so hot, 
but that's okay, 'cause the animation is drop dead gorgeous.  If you have 
any apprecaition for giant robots at all - and even if you don't! - this
is well worth checking out.

We're also throwing in the first episode of Sgt. Frog, the not-so-epic 
saga of inept alien ivaders that look like frogs, their utterly failed 
attempt to conquer the Earth, and how their ringleader is adopted by an 
earnest young boy, his suspicious sister, and their mother, a shounen 
manga editor who indulges Sergeant his love of Gundam models.  The opening 
sequence is positively glorious.

Nov 16: Megazone 23 part 1 (movie)

Megazone 23 (that's "Two-Three", not "Twenty-Three", by the way) wasn't 
the very first OVA, but it certainly put the format on the map.  This saga 
of teenage biker thugs, sentient computer programs, false realities, 
and a supremely bitchin' motorcycle is so 80s it hurts - and I mean that 
in an entirely good way.  With character designs by Haruhiko (Macross, 
Macross, Macross) Mikimoto and direction by Noburo (Legend of the Galactic 
Heroes) Ishiguro, this is a highlight of it's era.  Alas, you'll all have 
to wait 'til next semester to bear witness to the awesome power of Dump.

Nov 23: Twin Spica 3-4, Cromartie 9-10

Kamogawa Asumi's mother dies five years after being put in a coma by a 
tragic rocket accident.  After Asumi meets a ghost wearing a mask named 
"Lion-sama", she decides to become an astronaut.  Sincere, slightly 
disturbing drama from director Tomomi (Here is Greenwood, I Can Hear The 
Sea) Mochizuki.

In a completely opposite vein, Sakigake!! Cromartie High is just like 
Azumanga Daioh, except with thugs instead of schoolgirls and with bizzare 
non-sequiters instead of slice-of-life humor.  And now, the in-jokes:  
Mechazaka-kun!  Freddy Mercury!  Salty Boy!  Oh, and there's this song 
I'm trying to remember, puutan...

Dec 07: Ping Pong (movie, live)

A top-notch, live-action rendition of Taiyo (Black & White, No. 5) 
Matsumoto's manga, featuring kinetic action, bishounen a go-go, and truly 
epic ping pong matches.  Extrordinary; Madoka demands that each and every 
one of you watch this.

Phil