Definitions by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫
Rurouni Kenshin
Kenshin Himura, formerly known as "Hitokiri Battousai" the man slayer, is a wanderer with a dark past and sunny disposition. Not a ronin but a rurouni, he was never a samurai, but a well known assassin of utmost skill in the Meiji restoration, who in the turning point of the war simply walked away, and took an oath to never kill again as an act of retribution for the many men he murdered during the revolution. He then begins to carry a reversed-blade sword (Sakabatou) and protect the innocent/oppressed people of Japan. His travels lead him to Tokyo in the 11th year of the Meiji era, where he befriends a female Kendo master (Kaoru Kamiya), a former thief from a family of Samurai (Yahiko Myojin), a brawler/former Sekihotai member (Sanosuke Sagara) and a doctor (Megumi Takani) all with their own secrets. Together they fight off the enemies surfacing from the dark past that Kenshin cannot escape.
Rurouni Kenshin started airing in the U.S. on Cartoon Network's Toonami on March 17, 2003. There are a total of 95 episodes along with a four part OVA series called Samurai X: Trust and Betrayal which serves as a prequel to Rurouni Kenshin.
Rurouni Kenshin by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ August 14, 2010
Cowboy Bebop
Spike Spiegel, a bounty Hunter with a dark past, lives on bounty to bounty, barely making it each time, or not making it at all. His partners Jet Black, Faye Valentine, Ed and Ein the dog all help him in his adventures from planet to planet.
Its 26 episodes ("sessions") comprise a complete storyline: set in 2071, the series follows the misadventures and tragedies of a group of bounty hunters, or "cowboys”, traveling on their spaceship, the Bebop. Cowboy Bebop centers around American music and counterculture, especially the beat and jazz movements of the 1940s-60s and the early rock era of the 1950s-70s, which the original soundtrack by Yoko Kanno and The Seatbelts recreates.
Cowboy Bebop by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ August 14, 2010
Samurai Champloo
Mugen is a fierce animal-like warrior with a unique Bboying (break-dance) inspired fighting style. Jin has a more traditional style but don’t think of this as a weakness because his skills are amazing. The two contrasting samurai warriors are far from friends, yet their separate paths seem to cross anyways. Mugen is wandering aimlessly through the city when he stumbles upon a teahouse where he meets Jin and Fuu (A ditzy waitress, but don‘t think she doesn‘t have anything hidden up her sleeves). Fuu convinces them both to come with her in search of a mysterious samurai that smells like sunflowers and their journey begins. This modernized hip-hop tale breaks the barriers of the common, historical, samurai anime.
Samurai Champloo is an anime series consisting of 26 episodes. It was broadcast in Japan from May 20, 2004, through March 19, 2005, on the television network, Fuji TV. It also aired on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim from 2005–2008. Samurai Champloo was created and directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, whose previous work, Cowboy Bebop, made him renowned in the anime and Japanese television communities. The show was produced by studio Manglobe.
Samurai Champloo by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ August 14, 2010
Gundam Wing
In the distant future, Mankind has colonized space with clusters of space colonies at each of the five Earth-Moon Lagrange points, and down on the Earth, the nations have united as the United Earth Sphere Alliance. However, the Alliance oppresses the colonies with its military power. The colonies desire a peaceful resolution to the situation, joining together in a movement headed by the pacifist Heero Yuy. Yuy is shot dead by an assassin, forcing the colonies to search for other paths to peace. The assassination also prompts five disaffected scientists from the Organization of the Zodiac, much more commonly referred to as OZ, to turn rogue after the completion of the mobile suit prototype Tallgeese. It is the year After Colony 195, and war between the Space Colonies and Earth has begun. To give the colonies an edge, they send 5 young soldiers, trained to perfection, to earth in the most powerful of Mobile Suit-Gundams to destroy OZ. With their arrival, the tide of the war changes as they battle against the Earth forces and the Colonies of their origin.
Gundam wing is a 49 episode Gundam series. It aired in the U.S. on Cartoon Network's Toonami in 2000. There is also a movie called Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz.
Gundam Wing by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ August 11, 2010
Blue Gender
Yuji Kaido was diagnosed with a serious disease (the "B-cells") and cryogenically frozen. He wakes up more than 20 years later and Earth is nothing like what he remembers. A race of alien bugs called the Blue have taken over the planet, and a few select humans have retreated to the space station Second Earth. Yuji is taken back to Second Earth, where he learns that he and the other sleepers will be instrumental in defeating the Blue. And his relationship with one member of the recovery squad only serves to complicate things.
Blue Gender is an excellent 26 episode anime series. In 2003, Blue Gender was released in the U.S. as part of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, though it had originally been planned for Toonami, and was thus edited to remove its graphic violence, nudity, and sex scenes.
Blue Gender by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ August 10, 2010
Gundam 0083
Universal Century 0083 - Three years after the end of the catastrophic One Year War, peace on Earth and the colonies is shattered by the presence of the Delaz Fleet, a rogue Zeon military group loyal to the ideals of the late dictator Gihren Zabi. Delaz Fleet's ace pilot Anavel Gato, once hailed as "The Nightmare of Solomon", infiltrates the Federation's Torrington base in Australia and steals the nuclear-armed Gundam GP02A "Physalis" prototype. Rookie pilot Kou Uraki - with the aid of Anaheim Electronics engineer Nina Purpleton and the crew of the carrier Albion - pilots the Gundam GP01 "Zephyranthes" prototype in an attempt to recover the stolen Gundam unit and prevent another war from breaking out.
Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory is a 13 episode anime OVA series. The show originally aired on Bandai Channel in Japan. Then it was shown on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim in the U.S. from 2/23/02 - 5/18/02. Gundam 0083 takes place after Gundam 0080, but before Zeta Gundam.
Gundam 0083 by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ August 9, 2010
Abbasid Dynasty
The Abbasid Dynasty was founded on two disaffected Islamic populations: non-Arabic Muslims and Shi'ites. For the most part, the Islamic impetus to the Abassid revolution lay in the secularism of the Umayyad caliphs. The Umayyads had always been outsiders—as a wealthy clan in Mecca, they had opposed Muhammad—and the secularism and sometime degeneracy that accompanied their caliphate delegitimized their rule for many devout Muslims. The Abassids took their name from al-'Abbas, a paternal uncle of Muhammad and early supporter of the Prophet. Their close kinship to Muhammad and the position of al-'Abbas as a Companion of the Prophet served them well in gaining support. As early as 718 AD, during the reign of Umar II, Muhammad ibn 'Ali, a great-grandson of al-'Abbas, began to proselytize in Persia to rally support for returning the caliphate to the family of the Prophet, the Hashimites.
Abbasid Dynasty by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ August 9, 2010