Summer 1982 Anime

Earth faces a huge crisis. Aliens want to invade the planet. Humanity's only hope rests with Ataru Moroboshi, who was chosen to represent Earth in a one-on-one duel with the aliens' chosen warrior. There is only one problem with this plan. Ataru is a womanizing, stupid loser. How in the world can he hope to succeed?

Selected to fight for the aliens' right to take over Earth is Lum, their curvaceous, bikini-clad princess. Luckily for Ataru, the duel takes the form of a game of tag. All he has to do to win is grab Lum's horns. Not so luckily for him is the fact that she can fly and, being a normal human, he most definitely cannot. Just when it looks like Ataru is destined to fail, his girlfriend Shinobu makes him a promise: she will marry him if he can win.

The encouragement is enough to motivate Ataru to succeed. But just when it looks like Earth is saved, he faces another problem. Lum misinterprets something he said and thinks that they are now married! Urusei Yatsura follows the unlikely relationship between the lecherous Ataru, the beautiful alien Lum, and all of the strange people they meet along the way.

Nobi Nobita is a 4th-grade boy in Tokyo. One day, a round, blue cat-style robot (minus ears) pops up in his desk drawer. Nobita's great-great-grandson (or something) lives in the 22nd Century, but thanks to Nobita's mistakes, the entire family is living in poverty. To rectify this, Nobita's descendant sends Doraemon back to the past, to help prevent Nobita from making mistakes. Of course this is a difficult task since Nobita is the weakest and least intelligent child in his class. Doraemon does, however, have a 4-dimensional pocket on his front, which contains cool gadgets from the future. With these toys, Doraemon will try to help Nobita. Unfortunately, Nobita also has the bad habit of misusing Doraemon's gadgets and landing himself in yet more trouble!

[Source: AnimeNfo]

Dr. Slump creates a little android girl, Arale, who is very stong, happy, and totally common senseless. They live in Penguin Village where the strangest things happen (e.g., the dawn is announced by a little pig wearing a basquee).

[Source: Anime News Network]

The everyday Sanyo family gets an unexpected surprise in the shape of a new lodger-Hattori is a ninja boy who has come down from the Iga mountains to attend normal school. Befriending Kenichi Sanyo, who is the same age as he, Hattori starts attending school undercover, occasionally accompanied by his brother, Shinzo, Shishimaru the ninja dog, and Kenichi's girlfriend, Yumeko. The gang is also threatened by the rival Koga ninja, Kemumaki, and his evil sidekick, Kagechiyo the Shadow-cat.

[Source: The Anime Encyclopedia]

1. Esteban, age 12 is a foundling from Barcelona, with a mysterious power of ordering the Sun to appear, for which he is called "Child of the Sun." Upon the death of his adoptive father, Esteban learns he was rescued as a baby from a sinking ship in the ocean. The mysterious medallion that Esteban wears since ever has a trace somewhere in the New World, probably coming from the Mysterious Cities of Gold. Esteban leaves Spain to find his parents and find out who he is. On the way he meets Zia, an Inca girl who was kidnapped from her people years back and has exactly the same medallion as him. Later on, they are joined by Tao, a young Galapagos robinson, the last descendant of the Empire of Heva, an Empire said to have built the Cities of Gold. Following Coyolite, the shining star represented on their medallions, the three children travel through the unexplored New World, searching for the Cities of Gold, believing that this way is leading them to their lost parents.

[Source: Anime News Network]

As humans lose sight of their dreams, Fenarinarsa, the land of dreams in the sky, is in danger of drifting away from Earth. In hopes of saving their land, the king and queen of Fenarinarsa send their daughter, Momo, to Earth to revive the dreams of mankind. With her transformative powers and loyal companions, the magical girl embarks on a quest to spread joy.

[Source: Crunchyroll]

Patarillo! is set in a society much like ours in most ways, with one decided twist. The manga on which it is based is one of the much-read works produced for adolescent Japanese girls that features a healthy proportion of gay men and beautiful teenagers aka bishounen (beautiful boys). Most of the action takes place in Marinera, the land of eternal spring, located somewhere in the South Seas. The country is a major producer of diamonds; they provide much of the basis of conflict in the anime series. They come from one of the most prolific mines in the world, owned by the king of Marinera, the vertically challenged but horizontally endowed boy-king Patarillo himself. The International Diamond Syndicate - a huge semi- criminal organization/ secret society dedicated to taking over the world's entire diamond supply- wants that mine and will stop at nothing to get it. In the early episodes they send off a number of bishounen assassins to do in Patarillo, which necessitates his having a bodyguard, the English MI6 agent, Major Jack ('Bishounen-Killer') Bancoran. Bancoran's nickname doesn't mean he shoots bishounen in cold blood. The soubriquet comes from the fact that no male under the age of 17 can resist his sexual fascination. This, to Bancoran's eternal disgust, includes Patarillo himself. The action switches often from Marinera to MI6 headquarters in London (London seems to be an easy two hour's flight from the South Seas) or Bancoran's palatial condo in the suburbs of same. (MI6, be it noted, looks a lot like Fritz Lang's Metropolis, while Jack's 'apartment' bears a passing resemblance to Randolph Hearst's spread.) The action also goes into the past and future and out into space. Patarillo evidently gets around.

[Source: aestheticism.com]

Transfer student, Aoba Shunsuke, arrived at Sunshine School only to find the premises empty. He was secretly gleeful to be the first to reach the school, oblivious to the fact that it was Foundation Day and a rest day for the institution. At that moment, a big-sized "L"(Eru) beauty by the name of Natsumi appeared before him and the two of them hit off together even though Shunsuke was so much smaller than her. Shunsuke's mother runs a women's apparel busines but the shop is in need of manpower.

Shunsuke offers to help out at the shop but fumbles a lot because he does not know how to interact with the ladies. Eru decides to step in and help out around the shop and this pleases Shunsuke's mother. This is a romance story that shares the joys and woes of the "SL" combi between Shunsuke and Eru.

[Source: Anime News Network]

Kappei is a dramatically short guy but he is a master in every sport. He lives as a guest in sweet Akane's house, and he's in love with her, but there's a strange rival, her dog Salomone (Italian name) who plans evil traps to encumber Kappei. But the dog has also another function: he explains all sport rules when a new sport is depicted. Kappei is fond of white female underwear, always trying to lift girl's skirts up.

[Source: Anime News Network]

Anime about the funny lives of the Greek gods up on Mount Olympus. Polon is the naughty daughter of Apollo. With her little cherub friend Eros, she interferes in various comical ways as she tries to show that she is fit to be a goddess. Her activities often misfire, getting her in trouble with some deity or other and causing chaos for gods and humans. Feeling neglected by her godly parent, she often assists him in his woman-chasing in the hopes of getting a new mommy.

Zora was an outlaw planet where they had a rule that one could own stolen things if he could run away keeping it for three days.

When Motorcycle gang, Sand Rat, was driving on the planet, they were attacked by a walker machine. Then, an injured boy, Jiron, helped them. Lag, the leader of Sand Rat was interested in Jiron because he was going to the bazaar to steal a walker machine. That bazaar was held by Charring Cargo who was a courier of Blue Stone, and there must be the guards of Carrying and rowdy fellows at the bazaar. Furthermore, to be surprised, it was Carrying's latest walker machine, Xabungle, that he wanted to steal.

[Source: AnimeNfo]

The story is centered around a small group of guerilla freedom fighters on a colonial planet named Deployer, who are known as the "Deployer 7", or "Sun Fang" team. In an unexpected coup, the elected Governor of Deployer becomes dictator and rules Deployer under martial law with the support of Earth's Federation. Fighting for independence from Earth's Federation influence, the freedom fighters begin a rebellion against the Federation's Combat Armors using a Combat Armor of their own: the Dougram.

[Source: AniDB]

The main character is a mother named Sazae-san. She lives in a house with her husband, her kids and her parents. The show is the ultimate family program and tends to follow traditional themes. Think of this show as the Japanese equivalent to "The Partridge Family" and you'll get a good feel for this show's atmosphere. Don't expect to see things like violence, swearing, kung-fu action or magical girls. The plots are more like "Today, Sazae-san goes to the new mall and gets lost". Such "boring" plotlines and the simplistic art are often a turn-off to non-Japanese audiences, but most Japanese find the show incredibly good. As a result, it continues to be one of the top ratings grabbers on TV and is one of the few anime that is considered "acceptable" by adults.

[Source: AniDB]

Thunderbirds 2086 takes place roughly twenty years after the original series (generally accepted as taking place around 2065, though other dates are seen on screen) and chronicles the adventures of the Thunderbirds, a rescue team working for the International Rescue Organisation. Unlike the original International Rescue, which was small-scale and family-oriented, the IRO is a vast organisation comprising numerous branches and overseen by the Federation, the 2086 equivalent of the United Nations. No direct historical connections are identified between the two series, but it can be assumed that the original International Rescue evolved into its 2086 incarnation over those thirty years. The Tracy family are not mentioned in the animated series. In the animated series, the actual team is known as the Thunderbirds, whilst in the original series the name merely referred to their vehicles. The animated series is otherwise very similar to the original, with most episodes revolving around a natural or man-made disaster which the Thunderbirds team must investigate and help resolve. Unlike the original series, Thunderbirds 2086 also has an on-going story arc revolving around a breakaway independence group known as the Shadow Axis, led by the mysterious Star Crusher. There is a heavy intimation in the series that Star Crusher is not human and may be some kind of alien entity.

[Source: Wikipedia]

Lucy's family moves from England to Australia planning to run a big farm. Starting a new life proves to be full of frustrations. Their agonizing days of despair continue until they finally obtain their farmland. However, Lucy and her sisters enjoy a range of new experiences such as discovering exotic animals and meeting with aborigines and other new people.

[Source: AnimeNfo]

600 years after Ginga Senpuu Braiger, Jupiter has been destroyed, and many planets have come from it, bringing about more colonization. To combat the increasing lawless activity, Don Diego Condor gathers Billy the Shot, Samanosuke Dodi, Layla Minesato, and Shuteken Radcliffe, a.k.a. J9-II. They pilot Cosmo Bikes, which combine into the robot Baxingar.

[Source: Anime News Network]

Kaibutsu-kun and his companions, Dracula, Wolfman, and Franken, travel from Kaibutsu Land to the Human Realm, where they encounter and battle several monsters, mainly assassins from the demon group Demonish.

[Source: Wikipedia]

Led by scientist Tatsuya Randou, the Randou family undertakes a journey around the globe in order to search out ancient ruins to uncover the legend of Quetzalcoatl, which unlocks the key to a fabulous treasure. However, tailing the Randou family is Gopurin, an evil organisation that covets the legendary treasure for itself. The Randou family has the secret weapon of super robot Acrobunch. It becomes a race around the world of who finds the treasure first.

[Source: Wikipedia]

Arashi Ishino is Japan's "Space invaders" champion. He must use his skills to beat others at different video games.

[Source: MyAnimeList]

Jarinko Chie is a movie directed by Takahata in 1981. Based on the very popular manga by Etsumi HARUKI, it is about ten year old Chie, "the most unfortunate girl in Japan," who manages her family diner while her unemployed yakuza father and her mother are separated. This sounds really depressing, but it's actually a very funny comedy.

The story is set in Osaka, which has a totally different culture from Tokyo. After the success of the movie, a TV series was made, and Takahata worked as the chief director.

[Source: nausicaa.net]

TV anime adaptation of Hisaichi Ishii's comedy manga "Ojamanga Yamada-kun".

The series began in the middle of a game of hide and seek, as a young boy named Justin Casey (Gen) finishes counting and begins searching for his friends Angela (usually called "Angie") and Corkey Roberts (Kanna and Tsukubo Natsuyama).

As he searched for the brother and sister in the wooded area, a storm occurred all of a sudden. Justin managed to sneak up on the two before the rain started pouring, forcing them to run for cover. They would eventually find a house in the wooded area, previously unseen according to Justin. At first glance it appeared nobody was home after entering the house, until they discovered a robot named Solar Ion Robot (Kadenchin), or the acronym SIR. They would soon meet the owner of the house, Professor Humphrey Bumble (Dr. Tokio Taimu), who introduced the children to his greatest creation, a time machine. Professor Bumble's attempt at recreating Benjamin Franklin's famous lightning experiment with the use of a kite flying outside the house to get the machine working only led up to SIR's temporary change in personality before sending the entire house on course for the past.

The children never realized how long the journey back home would be due to Professor Bumble's misguidance and errors in time travel, but in the meantime they witnessed and participated (with little or no consequences) in numerous events in the Bible's New Testament, from John the Baptist's birth to the rise of the Apostle Paul."

[Source: Wikipedia]

Fifteen young students embark on the boat that should lead them to their families on the coasts of New Zealand. Unfortunately the boat loses its anchor and heads to the open sea in the middle of the night without sailors on it. In the morning, a violent storm prevents the children from sailing back to the harbor. A few days later boat grounds on a deserted island in the Pacific ocean. During 20 months the fifteen children will be left alone and will have to get organized in order to survive. They manage to store up food for the cold winter that will be soon there. Briant, Doniphan, and Gordon lead the group of children who find out that a sailor has lived and died on the island 20 years before.

[Source: Anime News Network]

Produced by Toei Animation and directed by Kazumi Fukushima after the manga series by Muroyama Mayumi, this anime follows Asari, a normal fourth-grade girl. One day, while bargain shopping, she wins the lucky ticket at a lottery for a one-person trip to Hawaii. Chaos reigns as her family, the Beach's, fight over who should go. The ticket is lost in a bonfire, ironically. Other circumstances follow when the family finds out that the travel agency offered to "give the equal amount of half the travel expenses in cash for the ticket" from an employee of the supermarket Asahi had shopped at. What will happen to the unlucky Beach family as more elements of despair pelt them?

[Source: MyAnimeList]