Aligator Pop - The A List - April 26, 2004

Wolf's Rain Original Soundtrack Album, Composed by Yoko Kanno | I've been listening to this on-and-off during the last year and pulled it off my hiatus stack in honor of the series' debut on Cartoon Network. It's interesting to hear how the music is incorporated into the television show, but I'm missing my opening and endings. >_<

Mixed Live: Baby Anne at Club Ra in Las Vegas, Baby Anne | Another old fave sneaking into my car's CD player. Very little beats bass on a sunny morning as your speeding into work.

LAST EXILE O.S.T. 2 / Dolce Triade | Just picked it up this week -- so I'm still digesting it -- but it is shaping up to be a fitting companion to the first O.S.T. volume.

Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Vol. 4: There's No Place Like Home | This series has been a lark -- in no small part thanks to the dub, which is simply brilliant. The series takes a shockingly sentimental turn in the last few episodes but does so in a way that is unflinchingly funny and fitting.

GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka | This series is "the bomb," and by far, my favorite version of GTO so far. Love both Takashi Sorimachi (Onizuka) and Nanako Matsushima (Fuyutsuki). The casting, adaptation, everything is dead ON.

Mobile Fighter G Gundam, Collector's Box 1: The Earth Is the Ring | As I was recovering from Gundam Seed withdrawal (see below), I popped this in my DVD player and marathoned it while attending to some work last weekend. This series gets a lot of flack that -- after three volumes -- I'm not sure it entirely deserves. If you don't mind tournament-style series, it is definitely worth the rent. I'll keep you posted as I work through it.

Super GALS!, Rule 6: A GAL's Heart Never Stops! | Fun, fun, fun! And if there's not an announcement from ADV about the second season being licensed, I'll be a very sad gal.

Gundam Seed, InuYasha and Wolf's Rain on Cartoon Network | Free anime. On TV! That said, I'm buying all three when these eps eventually make their appearance on DVD.

Aquarian Age: Juvenile Orion, Vols. 1-2 by Sakurako Gokurakuin | It reminds me a little of X/1999 with its story line and pretty, pretty boys, but it's moving at a much more rapid pace. Get the first printings, if you can: The front pages are in color!

B.B. Explosion, Vol. 1 by Yasue Imai | If you ever liked American Idol and liked Chance Pop Sessions, you have to check this out. It's cute.