Escaflowne: Anime Legends Complete Collection (2000)

Product Details

• Actors: Shinichirô Miki, Jôji Nakata, Maaya Sakamoto, Tomokazu Seki, Mayumi Iizuka
• Directors: Kazuki Akane, Yoshiyuki Takei
• Writers: Kazuki Sekine, Ryota Yamaguchi
• Producers: Jerry Chu, Ken Iyadomi, Kumi Kiyonari, Masahiko Minami
• Format: Animated, Box set, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English, Japanese
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 8
• Rating:
• Studio: Bandai
• DVD Release Date: April 11, 2006
• Run Time: 653 minutes

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Although it didn’t fare well on Fox Kids, Escaflowne has a large, loyal following, perhaps because this sprawling fantasy offers the ingredients of classic mecha, sword-and-sorcery and magical girl adventures. After psychic teen-ager Hitomi has a vision of a man battling a dragon, Prince Van of Fanelia and a dragon materialize. He slays the monster and transports Hitomi to the mysterious world of Gaea. An odd mixture of advanced technology and medieval culture, Gaea has links to ancient Atlantis. A typical romantic triangle develops, involving Hitomi, diamond-in-the-rough Van and ideal knight Allen Schezar. The saga attains a Byzantine complexity when the trio is captured by Zaibach Emperor Dornkirk--who is actually Sir Isaac Newton. He's at work on a machine that will enable him to create alternate destinies for Gaea. At times, the story by Hajime Yatate and Shoji Kawamori seems to be careening out of control, as Hitomi whines and the supporting characters appear, disappear and undergo radical personality changes. The most serious flaw is the failure of any of the heroes to defeat the evil Dornkirk, who has dispatched murderous doppelgangers, conducted sadistic experiments on kidnapped children and attempted to subjugate an entire planet. But the combination ofteen-age romance, fantastic robot-suits ("guymelefs"), elaborate battles, hystroinic villains and a world-threatening challenge has made Escaflowne a favorite among otaku. The feature, released theatrically in the US in 2002, repeated much of the story. Rated 13 and up for animated violence. --Charles Solomon

Product Description
Hitomi Kanzaki is a typical high school girl, with typical high school problems. But when a vision of a young man battling a dragon becomes a reality, her life changes forever. Drawn into a strange vortex with the swordsman, Van, Hitomi is thrust into the strange world of Gaea. Entangled in a struggle over life and death, Van must learn to master the suit of armor, Escaflowne. Chased by the Empire of Azibach, Van and Hitomi will encounter both allies and enemies in an effort to unlock the secrets within Escaflowne. Hitomi's heart is stirred by love and adventure, but at times aches with sorrow. The entire 26 episode epic series in one package. Genre: Action/Romance/Fantasy

Spirited Away (2001)

Product Details

• Directors: Hayao Miyazaki
• Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English, French, Japanese
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rating:
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• DVD Release Date: April 15, 2003
• Run Time: 125 minutes

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The highest grossing film in Japanese box-office history (more than $234 million), Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away (Sen To Chihiro Kamikakushi) is a dazzling film that reasserts the power of drawn animation to create fantasy worlds. Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and Lewis Carroll's Alice, Chihiro (voice by Daveigh Chase--Lilo in Disney's Lilo & Stitch) plunges into an alternate reality. On the way to their new home, the petulant adolescent and her parents find what they think is a deserted amusement park. Her parents stuff themselves until they turn into pigs, and Chihiro discovers they're trapped in a resort for traditional Japanese gods and spirits. An oddly familiar boy named Haku (Jason Marsden) instructs Chihiro to request a job from Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette), the greedy witch who rules the spa. As she works, Chihiro's untapped qualities keep her from being corrupted by the greed that pervades Yubaba's mini-empire. In a series of fantastic adventures, she purges a river god suffering from human pollution, rescues the mysterious No-Face, and befriends Yubaba's kindly twin, Zeniba (Pleshette again). The resolve, bravery, and love Chihiro discovers within herself enable her to aid Haku and save her parents. The result is a moving and magical journey, told with consummate skill by one of the masters of contemporary animation. MPAA Rated: PG ("Some scary moments") --Charles Solomon

Product Description
From one of the most celebrated filmmakers in the history of animated cinema comes the most acclaimed film of 2002. Hayao Miyazaki's latest triumph, filled with astonishing animation and epic adventure, is a dazzling masterpiece for the ages. It's a "wonderfully welcoming work of art that's as funny and entertaining as it is brilliant, beautiful, and deep" (Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal). SPIRITED AWAY is a wondrous fantasy about a young girl, Chihiro, trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free herself and return her family to the outside world. An unforgettable story brimming with creativity, SPIRITED AWAY will take you on a journey beyond your imagination. "To enter the world of Hayao Miyazaki is to experience a kind of lighthearted enchantment that is unique to the world of animation" (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times). It's a fantastic tale the whole family will want to experience over and over again.

Perverted Thomas

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
When Thomas is in Control they never say No. Passed down from generation to generation was this ancient chinese secret. One

Product Details

• Actors: Perverted Thomas
• Format: Animated, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
• Language: Japanese, English
• Number of discs: 1
• Studio: Adult Source Media
• DVD Release Date: June 12, 2007
• Run Time: 30 minutes

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1985)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Hayao Miyazaki gained widespread attention in Japan for his complex ecological manga series, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1982), which he adapted for the screen two years later. One thousand years after a war devastated much of the Earth, humanity clings to existence at the fringes of a vast, polluted forest inhabited by monstrous insects. Only Nausicaä, the princess of the tiny realm of the Valley of the Wind, grasps the environmental significance of the forest. She sees beyond petty wars and national rivalries to the only viable future for the planet. In Nausicaä, Miyazaki began to explore elements he would develop more fully in his later films: daring, compassionate heroines; exciting flying sequences; colorful side characters; strong interpersonal relationships; and a call for an ecologically sustainable way of life. Nausicaä prefigures Sheeta in Castle in the Sky and Chihiro in Spirited Away, just as the rough and ready Asbel anticipates Pazu in Castle in the Sky and Ashitaka in Princess Mononoke. For years, Nausicaä was available in the United States only as the badly re-edited Warriors of the Wind. The new English dub from Disney presents the film in its entirety, with strong vocal performances by Uma Thurman, Patrick Stewart, Alison Lohman, and Edward James Olmos. (Rated PG: violence, frightening imagery) --Charles Solomon

Product Description
Warrior/pacifist princess nausicaa desperately struggles to prevent two warring nations from destroying themselves and their dying planet. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 02/22/2005 Run time: 117 minutes

Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
In Hayao Miyazaki's magical Kiki's Delivery Service, a 13-year-old girl meets the world head on as she spends her first year soloing as an apprentice witch. Kiki (Kirsten Dunst) is still a little green and plenty headstrong, but also resourceful, imaginative, and determined. With her trusty wisp of a cat Jiji (a gently subdued Phil Hartman) by her side she's ready to take on the world, or at least the quaintly European seaside village she's chosen as her new home. Miyazaki's gentle rhythm and meandering narrative capture the easy pulse of real life (even if his subject is a girl flying high upon a broomstick) and charts the everyday struggles and growing pains of his plucky heroine with sensitivity and understanding. Beautifully detailed animation and the rich designs of the picture-postcard seaside town of red-tiled roofs and cobblestone streets only add to the sense of wonder. This charming animated fantasy is a wholesome, life-affirming picture that doesn't speak down to kids or up to adults. --Sean Axmaker

Product Description
Rarely does a film touch so many hearts or reach such artistic heights as the highly acclaimed KIKI'S DELIVERY SERIVCE, the magical adventure of an enterprising young girl who must follow tradition to become a full-fledged witch. Venturing out with only her chatty black cat Jiji, KiKi flies off for the adventure of a lifetime. Landing in a far-off city, she sets up a high-flying delivery service. Here begins a wonderful experience of independence and responsibility as she finds her place in the world. The breathtaking animation of the legendary Hayao Miyazaki and the star voice talents of Kirsten Dunst (KiKi), Phil Hartman (Jiji), Matthew Lawrence (Tombo), and more make KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE soar with an energy, excitement, and the kind of imagination that entertains again and again!

My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video
My Neighbor Totoro is that rare delight, a family film that appeals to children and adults alike. While their mother is in the hospital, 10-year-old Satsuki and 4-year-old Mei move into an old-fashioned house in the country with their professor father. At the foot of an enormous camphor tree, Mei discovers the nest of King Totoro, a giant forest spirit who resembles an enormous bunny rabbit. Mei and Satsuki learn that Totoro makes the trees grow, and when he flies over the countryside or roars in his thunderous voice, the winds blow. Totoro becomes the protector of the two sisters, watching over them when they wait for their father, and carrying them over the forests on an enchanted journey. When the children worry about their mother, Totoro sends them to visit her via a Catbus, a magical, multilegged creature with a grin the Cheshire Cat might envy. Unlike many cartoon children, Satsuki and Mei are neither smart-alecky nor cloyingly saccharine. They are credible kids: bright, energetic, silly, helpful, and occasionally impatient. Filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki makes the viewer believe the two sisters love each other in a way no American feature has ever achieved. My Neighbor Totoro is enormously popular in Japan, and some of the character merchandise has begun to appear in America. The film has also inspired a Japanese environmental group to buy a Totoro Forest preserve in the Saitama Prefecture, where Miyazaki's film is set. --Charles Solomon

Product Description
Critically acclaimed as one of the most delightful and charming family films ever, MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO is a stunning animated treat full of magical adventure from Hayao Miyazaki. Follow the adventures of Satsuki and her four-year-old sister Mei when they move into a new home in the countryside. To their delight, they discover that their new neighbor is a mysterious forest spirit called Totoro, who can be seen only through the eyes of a child. Totoro introduces them to extraordinary characters -- including a cat that doubles as a bus! -- and takes them on an incredible journey. Full of wonder and heart, this spectacular 2-disc set features the voice talents of Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning. MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO is a magical experience for the whole family! © 1988 Nibariki • G

Devil Hunter Yohko: The Complete Collection

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Demons and devils beware, the sexiest slayer to ever swing a soul -sword is back! Yohko Mano has just learned that she comes from a long line of professional devil hunters. And before she learns how to use her powers, her 16th birthday will turn into a domonic bloodbath and a grueling trial by hellfire!