Anime DVD

My Neighbor Totoro


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

Anime DVD

Howl's Moving Castle


Like a dream, Howl's Moving Castle carries audiences to vistas beyond their imaginations where they experience excitement, adventure, terror, humor, and romance. With domestic box office receipts of over $210 million, Howl passed Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke to become the #3 film in Japanese history, behind his Spirited Away and James Cameron's Titanic. Based on a juvenile novel by Diana Wynne Jones, Howl's Moving Castle marks the first time Miyazaki has adapted another writer's work since Kiki's Delivery Service (1989). Sophie, a 19-year-old girl who believes she is plain, has resigned herself to a drab life in her family's hat shop--until the Witch of the Waste transforms her into a 90-year-old woman. In her aged guise, Sophie searches for a way to break the Witch's spell and finds unexpected adventures. Like Chihiro, the heroine of Spirited Away, Sophie discovers her hidden potential in a magical environment--the castle of the title. Using CG, Miyazaki creates a ramshackle structure that looks like it might disintegrate at any moment. Sophie's honesty and determination win her some valuable new friends: Markl, Howl's young apprentice; a jaunty scarecrow; Calcifer, a temperamental fire demon; and Heen, a hilarious, wheezing dog. She wins the heart of the dashing, irresponsible wizard Howl, and brings an end an unnecessary and destructive war. The film overflows with eclipsing visuals that range from frightening aerial battles to serene landscapes, and few recent features--animated or live action--offer as much magic as Howl's Moving Castle. --Charles Solomon

Anime DVD

Cowboy Bebop Remix: Anime Legends


The crew of the Bebop is once again ready to take control of space, bringing bad guys to justice and trying to make some cash while doing it. Join the always cool Spike, investigative genius Jet, the fabulous Faye, the amazing (but weird) Ed and the super-smart Welsh Corgi named Ein as they try to make a buck in the year 2071. How do they do it? They re bounty hunters. But then again, you probably wouldn t be reading this if you didn t already know that...Now, for the first time in North America the entire Cowboy Bebop Remix series in one package!!!

Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy VII - Advent Children (Two-Disc Special Edition)

The question facing any viewer of the Japanese CG feature Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is: do you have to know the games on which it’s based in order to understand the film? And the answer is: it certainly helps. But even complete novices (i.e., most parents) in the Final Fantasy world will find some entertainment in its wealth of fantasy-based action, and the animation never fails to astonish. Picking up two years after an epic battle between the forces of good (represented by brooding soldier Cloud) and evil (Cloud’s former general, Sephiroth), FFVII opens in the devastated city of Midgard, whose youthful occupants suffer from a ghastly disease known as Geostigma. A trio of brothers arrives with what appears to be a cure for the plague, but their gesture conceals a more sinister purpose: to revive Sephiroth and bring about the end of the world. Cloud and his companions must once again rise to the occasion to stop the siblings and the revived Sephiroth from unleashing total destruction. Complex and self-referential to the point of occasional incomprehension, Final Fantasy VII will definitely be most appreciated by fans of the game series, but if others can look past the numbing dialogue and frenetic action (which is a bit too intense for very young children), the film offers a carefree and action-packed viewing experience. The two-disc set contains the original Japanese language version of the film as well as an English-dubbed edition (Rachel Leigh Cook and Christy Carlson Romano, among others, provide the vocal talent) and a version edited for the Venice Film Festival. A 30-minute featurette that recaps the Final Fantasy story up to VII, as well as a making-of documentary, deleted scenes, and promotions for future Final Fantasy VII games and products round out the extras. --Paul Gaita
Continuing the storyline based on the hit Playstation game Final Fantasy VII, two years have passedsince the ruins of Midgar stand as a testament to the sacrifices made in order to bring peace. However, the world will soon face a new menace. A mysterious illness is spreading fast. Old enemies are astir. And Cloud, who walked away from the life of a hero to live in solitude, must step forwardyet again . . .

System Requirements:
# Running Time 101 Mins

Naruto

Naruto Uncut Boxed Set, Volume 7



The destruction of the Village Hidden in the Leaves has been averted, but at great cost. While the village mourns, a new menace arrives in the form of Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke's mysterious elder brother and sworn foe, but it's not Sasuke he's interested in! Meanwhile Jiraiya lures Naruto away on a training journey by promising to teach him the Fourth Hokage's own original jutsu. While Naruto practices, Jiraiya searches for the Fifth Hokage candidate Tsunade, one of the legendary Sannin. But another of the Sannin is looking for Tsunade as well, for a much more sinister purpose--Orochimaru!

Special Features Include:
3 DVD box set with 14 episodes. Featuring original and uncut episodes.
Includes original audio tracks and original series soundtrack.
English dubbed / Japanese (with optional English subtitles).
Collectible Naruto storyboards booklet.
Volume 8 Sneak Preview.

Anime

Spirited Away



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.

Anime DVD

Dragon Ball Z - Season Four (Garlic Jr., Trunks, and Android Sagas)


Goku is still missing in action after the destruction of the planet Namek, as the fourth season of Dragon Ball Z opens. With Goku unavailable, Gohan and the other Z-fighters must defeat Garlic Jr., who has reemerged from the Dead Zone with his accomplices, the Spice Boys. Gohan saves the Earth by ramping up his powers and destroying the planet Makyo, the source of Garlic's strength. Before the dust can settle a new menace arrives: A largely robotic version of Frieza and his more powerful father, King Cold. These villains are easily dispatched by a new Super Saiyan: Trunks, the illegitimate son of Vegeta and Bulma. Trunks has come from the future to save Goku from what would have been a fatal heart virus. Goku must live to prevent the Artificial Humans created by Dr. Gero from ravaging the Earth. (Gero was one of the leaders of the Red Ribbon Army, which Goku destroyed in Dragon Ball.) But Trunks' mission may have altered the future in ways he didn't intend: Instead of two Androids, there are three, all programmed to kill Goku. The season ends on a cliffhanger, with the fate of the Z-Fighters--and the Earth--hanging in the balance. Trunks' visit creates a number of paradoxes, including the problem of his existing as an adult and an infant in the same space-time. However, these questions are unlikely to trouble Dragon Ball fans, who will be too busy watching Vegeta training at 450 gravities, Gohan mastering his latent powers, Goku's new combat move, and any number of battles, not to mention the comic relief of Krillin's courtship of Maron and Master Roshi's continued lechery. Some of these epsiodes were recut into the feature The History of Trunks. (Rated TV PG. suitable for ages 8 and older: violence, alcohol and tobacco use, ethnic stereotypes) --Charles Solomon

Product Description
The Definitive Collection Continues!!

Season Four contains the complete Garlic Jr., Trunks and Android sagas on 6 discs.

Having returned victorious from their battle with Frieza, the Z-fighters can at last breathe a collective sigh of relief… But they won’t have long to rest. A new host of villains has appeared, ready to wreak havoc on the Earth—and Goku, the Z-Fighters’ greatest hero is still missing!

In the face of these new dangers, a mysterious youth with Super Saiyan powers has come bearing a bleak prediction for the future: in just three years’ time, an evil greater than any the Z-Fighters have ever faced will emerge to cast a shadow of destruction and despair over the Earth. And if the young Saiyan’s prediction is correct, the Z-Fighters will have to train like they have never trained before in order to have any hope against these seemingly unstoppable foes—the Androids!