Saturday Night Anime Specials

This Saturday night (08-05-06), Cartoon Network will be running its Adult Swim "Have it Your Way" contest winners.

These episodes present a really wonderful selection of some bright anime stars. If you aren't really sure what anime is or it has been a long time since you've dipped your feet into the world of Japanese anime...this will present a great chance to catch up. If you're an old-hat to these shows, break out the popcorn and enjoy a date with some old friends. (All times listed are CST.)

10PM-1AM - FLCL (entire series)
1AM-2AM - Cowboy Bebop (The Real Folk Blues, Parts 1 & 2)
2AM-3AM - Trigun (Rem Saverem, Under the Sky So Blue)
3AM-4AM - Paranoia Agent (Double Lips, Happy Family Planning)
4AM - Fullmetal Alchemist (Mother)
4:30AM - Samurai Champloo (Tempestuous Temperaments)

FLCL (Fooly Cooly) has some of the best rock guitar riffs on its soundtrack. I've tracked down all three of the soundtrack cd's as well as The Pillows first cd release of their own here in the States. It's a wild and bizarre ride! And at only six episodes, not too long too long a rollercoaster ride.

Cowboy Bebop was the first anime series I watched after not having watched any anime since my old Speed Racer days. It was a great welcome back. Smooth and cool. Jazz meets bounty-hunting space cowboys. This series has real attitude.

Trigun is just plain fun. If you've seen and enjoy the old "spaghetti westerns" that brought Clint Eastwood to early fame, you'll love Trigun. Sci-Fi foreground, western backgrounds. Who knows what mayhem and madness will descend on the poor inhabitants of the next town Vash The Stampede enters next. And what's with that little black cat?

Paranoia Agent is a really trippy series. It is a psychological mystery thriller that slowly unravels its hidden secrets. What do the cops know? What don't they know. Why is that pink plush doll talking to me? And who is the mysterious "little slugger?"

Fullmetal Alchemist hooked us with its very first episode. The young Elric brothers are on a quest to find "The Philosopher's Stone," and the military, the Homunculi, and some shady characters are all doing their best to manipulate the two brothers for their own agendas. Their father has disappeared, their mother is dead and they might just be the most powerful alchemists their world has ever seen--too bad they are too young and brash to realize it.

Samurai Champloo is the hip-hop stylized journey of a cool-as-a-cucumber swordmaster, a no-cares-in-the-world punk ronin, and a young girl who is seeking the man who smells like sunflowers. A very unlikely trio. Yet the music beats and scratch-out censoring is infectious. It's a blur of action and breeze. This show has attitude!

Set your Tivo, set your VCR, drink lots of coke or coffee and pop your popcorn.

Enjoy!
--Claus