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According to VIZ Media, Syfy will start airing episodes of the anime show "Monster" on Oct. 12.

It will be part of the network's Ani-Monday programming block. New episodes will air each Monday night on the Syfy channel and will be re-broadcast on SyFy's sister channel, Chiller, the week after. It is rated TV-MA.

"Monster" is based on the manga by Naoki Urasawa that is published in North America by VIZ Media.

I consider "Monster" one of the best anime shows created because of the characters and the plot. It is a psychological thriller centered around a Japanese surgeon who works in Europe.

Dr. Kenzo Tenma saves a young gunshot victim rushed into his hospital. Little did he know that act would propel him into a nightmarish odyssey where he would become the hunted.

Because Johan, the boy he saved, is not like any child. He is a cold-blooded killer. Several of Tenma's colleagues are murdered and police's suspicion fall on the brilliant surgeon years later.

The doctor goes on the run intent on stopping the young man he saved as a child. As he tries to follow the trail of his former patient, Tenma runs into former Communist bloc men involved in secret government experiments, remorseful crooks and those who barely survived Johan.

(C) Yazawa Manga Seisakusho / Shueisha (C) NTV / VAP / SHUEISHA / Madhouse )

On Sept. 8, VIZ Media will be releasing a box set of the anime "Nana" which contains 12 uncut episodes. Price is $59.90 for the 3-disc set and includes a "Nana" guitar pick.

The anime is based on the manga by Ai Yazawa, which has sold over 43 million copies in Japan and is published in North America by VIZ Media under its SHOJO BEAT imprint. Yazawa also created the manga "Paradise Kiss."

"Nana" follows the lives and loves of two young women who share the same first name.

Nana "Hachi" Komatsu goes to Tokyo to follow her boyfriend and find a fresh start while Nana Osaki hopes to make it big in the world of rock and roll. They meet in the train and end up renting an apartment together.

This is not a show for kids so there is a reason for the advisory warning on the boxed set. I would put this series in the older teen category. It has a mature rating so don't say I didn't warn you.

I'm not a big fan of "Nana" since I don't like the animation style used. Looking at elongated skinny people with huge heads and eyes makes me want to treat them all to a meal.

Although I like shoujo, I got weary of the drama in "Nana" and found the Nana nicknamed "Hachi" to be a whiny, weak and annoying character. I want to smack her with the other Nana's guitar.

But I'm in the minority since "Nana" has been a hit in its manga, anime and movie incarnations.

I do like the first ending song sung by Olivia.

But as to the other songs? For example, part of the opening song's lyrics are in "Engrish". So if you're a stickler for grammar, you would be reduced to gnashing your teeth by the end of the song. It has a nice beat though to be fair.

With the new year just around the corner, I find myself mulling over anime I saw this year. Some were horrible, a few were excellent but most were entertaining enough.

I noticed many of the shows I watched had a supernatural or magical theme. I don't even remember seeing anything mecha-related. Sorry but giant robots leave me cold.

I have to feed the artsy fartsy side of moi now and then so I gravitate toward shows that look unique, tackle an unusual subject matter or tell a tale in a way I haven't seen before. "Mononoke", which deals with the adventures of an unusual medicine peddler, fit that bill. You should check out the show when you have the chance. I suppose you could say "Mononoke" was a spinoff of "Ayakashi" since the peddler was a character in one of the featured tales there.


Yes, I also saw my share of shonen anime from "Naruto Shippudden" to "D. Grayman" this year. The latter ended recently and was a letdown. Since the manga isn't finished, the animators decided to end the show just after the Black Order's headquarters get attacked. Lame. I hope they later come out with movies.

Do stay away from the mess that is "Le Chevalier D'eon". It is loosely based on a historical figure who was a spy for the king of France and who had a fondness for wearing women's clothing. In the anime, he dons dresses when the ghost of his murdered sister possesses him. The show is a mishmash of historical figures involved in conspiracies, secret societies and other arcane stuff. While the animation is beautiful, the plot is too convoluted and unbelievable. And anyone who loves history better steer clear of this anime which plays fast and loose with the facts.

Everyone has a list of their favorite anime shows. That's a given. But do you have a list of the anime you consider so pedestrian, lame or terrible you wouldn't show them to you ex ever?

Lemme share my lame list. It's not in any order by the way.

1. "Bartender" - Show about a mixologist who can ease your troubles with a drink. Each episode comes with a history or story behind the cocktail du jour. Employs fourth wall techniques. Verdict: bleah and just plain boring

2. "Boys Be" - Tales of boys at school and the way they drool, pine for and leer at girls and women. Contains fanservice which means scenes where female characters inadvertently end up showing their underwear. Verdict: sexist and dumb

3. "Diamond Daydreams" - Show about the lives and loves of several women who reside or work in the nothern part of Japan. At times seems like an ad for certain locations. The character designs are among the ugliest I have ever seen. Memo to the show's animators: Go back to art school and learn how to draw. Then smack yourself for producing what amounts to nothing more than a disguised travel brochure.

4."Haunted Junction" - Kids from different religious backgrounds attend a haunted school with well-known ghosts from Japanese popular culture. Well they focus mostly on spectres Japanese school kids yak about such as the girl who haunts toilets. Verdict: A big mess. Supposed to be funny but is excruciating to watch. Has disturbing characters like a teen-aged girl overly fond of little boys. Gag.

5. "Gregory Horror Show" - MIni episodes about a mouse the unseen protagonist encounters in a place full of "scary" characters. The segments are too short and choppy. The characters are NOT scary at all since they are drawn simply. Think of wooden blocks then imagine them with faces and stubby appendages. The premise isn't bad but the animators faltered in the execution.

6. "Oh My Goddess" OVA - The first installment in a series that should have been buried long long ago. Geek meets one of the Nordic goddesses of fate. She ends up keeping house for him and falling for this very common guy. This show is nothing more than wish fulfillment for the guy who cannot get a date and still lives in his mom's basement. This tripe is an insult to any woman who can think for herself.

7. "Onegai Teacher" or "Please Teacher" - Half-human/half-alien lands on Earth and pretends to be a teacher to gather data on humans. Circumstances force her to marry one of her students. She looks like a well-endowed woman in her mid-20s. He is actually 18 but looks 15 because he was in a coma-like state for several years. They keep their marriage a secret and eventually fall in love.

Skip this so-called romantic show. If you have the DVDs, burn them and fumigate the room where these were kept. I found the relationship between the main characters disturbing and just wrong. The creator of this show should be ashamed for producing this putrid excuse for an anime. He or she deserves a flogging.

8. "Rahxephon" - Show where giant statues ( actually just prettier looking giant robots) wreak havoc in a walled-off world. Hero is a teen with a murky past. There is also a mysterious girl and a woman who is more than what she seems. Great animation, nice CGIs and compelling storyline at first. But I found the plot too convoluted for my taste and the pace of the show can be glacial at times. I couldn't finish this out of frustration and boredom.

9. "School Rumble" - HIgh school anime about a clueless girl, the guy she likes, the bad boy who loves her and their classmates. Typical show where someone can't tell the object of their affection how they feel because of certain reasons and circumstances. (e.g. the person they love just doesn't get it). Some people like this show. I don't. I got tired of the main characters' inability to confess their love.

10. "R.O.D." the TV series - Three sisters with the unusual ability to manipulate paper. They solve cases and are called paper masters for a good reason. One can create paper animals that do her bidding while another can fashion weapons out of paper. This is the tv spinoff of the popular "Read or Die" OVA about a bookworm who is really a special agent for the British.

The television show buchers certain characters in the original movie much to its detriment. The plot is more complex and folks double cross each other out of the blue. The series also runs too long and gets bogged down by the different subplots. This is one sorry spinoff to a decent, original movie.

A gothic manga set to hit stores April 8 is Shin Mashiba's "Nightmare Inspector: Yumekui Kenbun" which chronicles the cases of Hiruko and the people who seek his help. Hiruko, who hangs around the Silver Star Tea House, is not human but a creature who eats your dreams in lieu of payment. Suffice it to say his clientele is made up of folks plagued by nightmares.

Published in America by VIZ Media, "Nightmare Inspector" is geared for teens and comes with a price tag of $9.99. Each chapter is a story of a client who has found himself or herself at the tea house for one reason or other.

The artwork is beautiful and several of the stories have a twist to them such as the fan obsessed with an actress. He finds to his cost that life does imitate art. The story of the young man who yearns for the woman who he only knows as a voice at other end of his phone is actually a tale about narcissism. And the woman who dreams she is literally falling apart has a bloody secret to hide.

Volume One hints there is more to Hiruko than meets the eye; calling him as someone no longer human. So how did he become a nightmare inspector? Why is his base the teahouse? Hopefully latter episodes will answer these questions.

It reminds me of the horror comics I read while growing up in the '70s and '80s. "Nightmare Inspector" doesn't break new ground but it's a nice read.

The manga was published in Japan by Square Enix, the publisher of the first manga series from Shin Mashiba.

One look at "Ghost Hound" and you know what show got the bulk of the production money in the fall anime season. I've seen the first episode and I'm interested enough to want to see the succeeding episodes.

Production values are high on this show and the animation is crisp and beautiful. And if the characters look similar to the characters from that other supernatural show, "Jigoku Shoujo", it's because the same person did the design.

The story itself is intriguing. Our main guide to this world is Taro Komori, 14, who has out of body experiences when he falls asleep. He lives in a mountain community with his father, the local brewer, and his mother, who looks like she's going to break down any time soon. His sister is dead.

Taro dreams about his and his sister's kidnapping 11 years ago. I'm assuming the pretty girl lying on a cot near a young Taro is his sibling. She mouths something but he cannot make it out.

The new school psychologist, a cliche creepy-looking man, asks him if he still records his dreams and encourages him to keep doing it. Perhaps this was a suggested treatment for the boy? The viewer isn't told yet.

We meet other kids in the area who will eventually have a tie to Taro. There's the transfer student, Masayuki Nakajima, who is so new on campus he's still wearing the uniform of his old school. He is trying desperately to become pals with Taro and Makoto Ogami, the moody boy who seldom goes to class.

Then there's the still unnamed grade school girl who can see spirits and Taro's soul when he has an out of body experience.

What is the connection between all of them? Why does Taro's soul visit things that happened in the past? Who is this weird little girl who sees things?

Here's hoping the other episodes will provide the answers. Or I will be reduced to muttering a tv colleague's worn out phrase, "It raises more questions than answers."

Anime isn't restricted to shows about magical pre-teens with pink hair and cutesy sidekicks. It deals with a wide range of subject matter and uses a variety of animation styles. And yes, there are dreck shows as there are gems out there.

Since I burned out on shows featuring giant robots and spaceships as a child, I seldom watch mecha anime or anything that remotely looks mecha. But sometimes I make exceptions especially if the mecha elements do not overwhelm the entire story.

One of my favorite anime guys is Makoto Shinkai who created "Voices of a Distant Star" which every anime fan should see at least once.

It is the story of two young lovers separated literally by time and space. Shinkai used his Macintosh to create the anime. The character designs aren't so hot but the story and the background are wonderful.

Cell phone messages sent between the main characters, Mikako Nagamine and Noboru Terao, play a big role in the story. Yeah, it's a stretch to believe that a cell phone company would have such a coverage plan but let's just go with the flow, shall we?

The two last saw each other in middle school. War breaks out between Earth and a group of aliens called Tarsians. Mikako joins the UN forces and learns to fight the Tarsians using a giant robot. Somehow she still wears the same uniform from school. Whatever. She misses Noboru and experiences these moments where you know she's either dreaming or hallucinating.

Because Mikako is traveling light years away, she ages slower than Noboru and her messages takes years to reach him. He tries to hang on then gives in to the inevitable. He meets a girl called Wakana and it's hinted that he goes out with her in high school. The manga version further elaborates on this relationship.

Then like a bucket of cold water, he receives a message from Mikako who we last see is in a firefight with the enemy. Lysithea, the spaceship that carries her and the others, is damaged. Her last message ends in static.

Noboru drops out of high school and joins the space armada in the hopes of reuniting with Mikako.

The manga's ending is more satisfying since it has Mikako scanning a list of people who joined the armada and seeing Noboru's name.

This is a tear jerker of a show and could be too much of a chick flick for some guys. But give it a try. You might like it. Then give Shinkai's other works a look. The man knows how to tell a story.