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Show Descriptions

Bamboo Blade

Anime TV series screening at regular monthly Metro Anime meetings starting 21 September 2008
26 episodes total
Japanese manga written by Masahiro Totsuka, drawn by Aguri Igarashi

Off-the-wall hijinks ensue when five spirited girls are cajoled into forming a women’s kendo team at their high school. Starting off with a reckless bet made by their sensei, a half-starved loner eking out a living as a substitute teacher, the girls learn to support each other as friends and teammates. A self-referential parody of sports anime, the show is packed with “fourth-wall” humor and constant jokes about costumed-fighter shows, even as the team faces various obstacles on the way to victory.

Wikipedia
ANN
IMDb

Minami-ke

Anime TV series screening at regular monthly Metro Anime meetings
13 episodes total
Japanese manga by Coharu Sakuraba

Living on their own while their parents work abroad, the 3 Minami sisters try to get along with each other, despite having wildly different personalities and a talent for miscommunication. Between clueless would-be boyfriends, over-enthusiastic classmates, hapless relatives, and frequent parodies of movies and video games, hilarity is in plentiful supply at the Minami household.

Wikipedia
ANN
IMDb

Sayonara Zetsubô-sensei [So Long Mr. Despair]

Anime TV series screening at regular monthly Metro Anime meetings
12 episodes total
Japanese manga by Kôji Kumeta

In a bizarrely-conceived dark comedy version of the classic inspirational teacher story So Long Mr. Chips, Itoshiki-sensei is the new young teacher of a rambunctious class of oddball high-schoolers. Unfortunately, instead of inspiring his class, Itoshiki tries to drag them into his grey and dismal world of expected failure and mock-suicidal angst. All the students have their quirks and strange personality traits, including a girl who compulsively stalks her crushes, a girl who speaks only through text messaging, and the class cheerleader, Fuura-chan, who defies reality with her super-optimism. Will “Despair-sensei” succeed in dashing his young charges’ hopes, or can this class of misfits get their teacher off the ledge?

Wikipedia
ANN
IMDb

Shônen Onmyôji

Anime TV series screening at regular monthly Metro Anime meetings
26 episodes total
Based on a series of Japanese light novels by Mitsuri Yuki

This is the story of the famous real-life Onmyo mystic Abe no Seimei as seen through the eyes of a fictional grandson. Thirteen year old Abe no Masahiro has been chosen by Seimei as his successor, although many around him doubt the young man’s ability...including Masahiro himself. With his spiritual powers sealed away, Masahiro cannot see spirits, much less fight them, but with the help of his new friend Mokkun, the stubborn boy will try his best.

Masahiro is the somewhat useless grandson of the greatly respected onmyôji Abe no Seimei in an alternate history version of Heian Japan. Masahiro struggles to find his place in society only to discover that he has inherited his grandfather’s spiritual powers to fight demons, albeit in a limited form. Unsure of himself and partnered with Guren/Mok’kun, a mascot-like spirit beast who once belonged to Seimei, Masahiro has to use his wits as much as his powers to stop the malicious spirits attacking his city and uncover their source.

Distinguishing itself from most “magical boy” shows, Shônen Onmyôji has a decent share of character drama in Masahiro and his relationships with his family, Seimei’s (other) students, and the nobles of the city, including Akiko, an imperial princess in distress. SO takes on a bit of a “mystery-of-the-week” feeling at first, as the plot behind the seemingly random spiritual attacks is uncovered.

Wikipedia
ANN
IMDb



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