Schedule descriptions for COUP's summer 2004 schedule, once again courtesy of Phil Lee:

> Woo, we have a schedule and stuff.

Hurrah!  Most of what we're showing is straight out of the More Of What We 
Liked Dept., but a few brief descriptions and comments are in order for 
the folks who might have missed these shows before.

Regular shows:
   Ghost in the shell 17-26

These numbers aren't entirely accurate; basically, we're going to watch 
all the Laughing Man plot episodes we haven't seen yet, and possibly 
another episode or two of the stand alone episodes as well.  On the off 
chance any of you have yet to see the series, it's damn fine cyberpunk TV 
with plenty of action and an impressive budget.  If you didn't like the 
movie, don't worry - this is substantially different.  If nothing else, 
it's hard to fall asleep in the middle of a 25 minute TV episode.

   Planetes 5, 7-15

The further adventures of garbagemen in space, courtesy of the creators of 
Infinite Ryvius.  The Patlabor vibe is through the roof, the characters 
are great, and the "Fee needs to smoke a cigarette" episode is apparently 
sheer genius.  The series gets darker (and, reportedly, even better) as it 
goes along; I'm psyched.

   Tutu 7-16

You will watch Princess Tutu or you will be forced to marry Neko-sensei.  
Remember, this isn't a magical girl show - or a magical duck show, for 
that matter.  This is a show about fairy tales and it's freakin' awesome.

May 11th - Five Star Stories (movie)

Based on Mamoru Nagano's intricate, epic, and completely insane saga of 
giant robots and space politics, this is one helluva film.  If you don't 
like giant robots, you'll like these, and even if you don't they're hardly 
the point of the film.  Far future galactic politics, female androids that 
can kick your ass into the next century, and more than a touch of 
bishounen.  Hell, make it bi-everything; even the mecha are delicate and 
beautiful.

May 18th - Cromatrie 5-6, ROD TV 4, Space Adventure Cobra 1
May 25th - Cromatrie 7-8, ROD TV 5, Space Adventure Cobra 2

Cromartie continues to mix non-sequiter humor and high school thugs with 
the Azumanga Daioh formula.  Freddy!

Read or Die TV is the continuing saga of the Paper Sisters in their quest 
for Yomiko Readman.

Space Adventurer Cobra is an old-school classic, with a main character 
that combines the sheer badassness of Captain Harlock with the goofy 
lechery of Lupin III.  It's a show about space pirates - there's no 
possible way for us to go wrong here.

Jun  1st - Aim for the ace TV 5, ROD TV 6, Space Adventure Cobra 3
Jun  8th - Aim for the ace TV 6, ROD TV 7, Space Adventure Cobra 4

Ah, more Aim for the Ace TV, wherein our heroine strives to become the 
best tennis player in Japan, despite the evil bitches on her team.  It's 
very, very 70s, terrific fun, and the Coach is astoundingly cool.  Serve!  
Smash!  Volley!

Jun 15th - BAD AMERICAN DUBBING! 1-3

One of Corn Pone Flicks' many contributions to anime fandom, this is a 
three part study of bad dubs of Japanese cartoons, by which we mean it 
gleefully kicks them repeatedly in the teeth.  Watching a solid 30 minutes 
of BAD in a row is strictly for the hardcore; choking down all 90 minutes 
in a go should cause seizures.  This is mandatory viewing for all loyal 
otaku, or at least those who want to get about a gazillion COUP in-jokes.

Jun 22nd - Gokusen 1, Macross Plus 1, Lupin the Third 13

Gokusen is about a brand new teacher who is sent to a problem school to 
teach the roughest class of thugs in the building.  Which doesn't faze her 
one bit, as she's the heir to her yakuza clan.  So, wannabe punks don't 
even make her blink - it's the thought of being outed as a mob princess 
that gives her the fear.  Cue wacky hijinx galore, replete with loveable 
thug teenagers, loveable gangsters, and a loveable gangster dog.  Gokusen 
gets bonus points for having one of the finest ending sequences ever.

It came to our attention that there are folks out there who haven't 
actually seen Macross Plus, so what the hell.  You know how Mac7 is the 
goofy, poorly animated Macross series?  This is the serious, beautiful 
flipside.  Okay, so it's not entirely coherant, but it's still impressive 
as all hell.

And, of course, there's always Lupin.  We'll be watching some more of the 
first series episodes directed by Hayao "Pimp Smooth" Miyazaki, which have 
all the lighthearted caper antics you've come to know and love.

Jul 20th - Macross: Do You Remember Love? (movie)

And, for the third time, we're going to try to show DYRL, which condenses 
the Macross TV series into a two hour film.  This works a lot better than 
you might think, especially considering how beautiful the end result is - 
the animation is positively lavish, and is no less impressive for being 
two decades old.  This is also my pic for the epitome of the 80s anime 
asthetic, so you can watch old geezers like myself waving our canes and 
raving about how awesome it is.

In case you're wondering, yes, COUP will eventually watch every last bit 
of Macross.  Except Macross II.  Oy vey.

encore meeting, July 27th - Adieu, Galaxy Express (movie)

Assuming we can find a watchable sub, we'll be be having an extra meeting 
after the official end of the summer session to watch another epic 
Matsumoto Reiji flick about space trains, women with hair down to their 
ankles, and the importance of humanity.  It's incredible.

Phil