Welcome back to the next installment of an unlimited series. In case you were wondering about the last issue, my e-mail was down (and still is), so I cannot send anything, but I can get mail. So if I dont reply to your messages, its not that Im being rude, I just cant. So there.
Anyhoo, lets get on with the fans of anime. First the updates on whats new in the anime world. Pioneer seems to be eating the market alive with new releases, from El Hazard 2, a new Tenchi series, more Dragonball Z, more Bastard!!, and such and so, but the new hit is Giant Robo 6. Thats right, GR6 finally came out, after about 2 years or more of waiting. One can only hope about the end of the Ah!, My Goddess series, eh?
There is no new news about Evangelion. I know. I know. Maybe later.
Brain Powered is hot in Japan right now, and we should be seeing bids for it soon. Actually, that would be a relief to many of Naganos fans out there, for his work has been a cult status for too long. And oddly enough, is what this issue is about.
Over a decade ago, Mamoru Nagano began to work on the Five Star Stories, a series of tales set in a five star system, spanning thousands of years of warfare. The series was not meant to be linear, rather a series of war stories spanning several hundred years. In this manner, it is successful beyond belief.
War stories with big mechs are a standard of Japanese fare, but this series was different. The robots were barely intelligent, and their pilots could somewhat control them, but with the addition of a living power booster, called a fatima, the robots could mimic the action of their pilots, called knights. Add is psykers, strange beasts, the most convoluted political system the world has ever seen, and tons of new and different mech designs, and you have the basis for a hit series, right?
Wrong.
FSS has survived mainly thought its cult status and the fact that the fans wont let anything happen to it. Nagano keeps changing past events to suit the new story arcs, and so the past becomes a miasma of truth and fiction, where even the stories we have read may be poorly remembered event.
All in all, an excellent series.
If you ever have a chance to view the motion picture, or to read some of the rare, recently translated manga, do so. The FSS is worth the search, and the Toys Press web site is a good beginning for the fan. (Warning: if you key in Five Star Stories, you will have thousands of hits. People know about, but the mass media doesnt. Spread the word, folks.)
Well, I could go on and on about FSS, and who knows, this may turn into a FSS fan column. If you want to know more, feel free to contact me at HYPERLINK mailto:lum@texas.net lum@texas.net . I cant reply to you, as they keep giving me a server error, so leave your number or drop by the store on the weekends to chat about FSS.
Enjoy these days of mild weather and no A/C requirements. Summer is just around the corner.
