Summer 1989

Ariel Visual
J.C.StaffTo save the Earth from alien invaders and their giant monsters, Dr. Kishida does what any other red-blooded mad scientist would do: he builds a giant robot—the ultimate feminine fighting robot!
Unfortunately, his grand-daughters refuse to pilot it! Apparently, they’ve got more important things to do than becoming teenage super-heroes. Besides, how are you supposed to study for your college entrance exams while getting beaten-up in battle?
Fortunately for Dr. Kishida, things aren’t too well for the invaders, either. According to their reports, the Earth was the perfect target: lush, peaceful, and relatively defenseless. Theoretically, the planet should’ve surrendered long ago. Now, the war is at a standstill, the dreaded Accounting Department is warning about the serious cost overruns, and the head of the home office has arrived from Galactic Headquarters to personally oversee operations. Has Headquarters decided to unleash, The Audit—or do they have something even more evil in mind?
The fate of the world rests upon two people: Aya Kishida, one of the doctor’s granddaughters, who may have to give up prep school to pilot the mighty (and lovely) ARIEL; and a mysterious alien named Saber Starblast, who may have the power to defeat the invaders once and for all…

Blue Sonnet
Tatsunoko ProductionSonnet is a cyborg/esper from a harsh background and now trained to be the ultimate warrior and most powerful weapon in the world. She is sent to Japan to watch Komatsuzaki Lan, who is thought to be controlled by the rage of the esper Akai Kiba (Crimson Fang). Lan is a quiet girl who knows she’s different from everybody else and starts to show signs of Crimson Fang after coming into contact with Sonnet. In the course of fighting with Lan, Sonnet starts to rediscover her humanity. At the same time Lan has to fight to retain her humanity and control the Crimson Fang.

City Hunter: .357 Magnum
Production Reed, SunriseA beautiful pianist comes to Tokyo for a charity concert, and City Hunter is there. But music isn`t his forte; he wants lessons in the language of love. Desperation becomes the word of the day as the bodies start dropping. A foreign dignitary is assassinated in cold blood. Secret agents scour the streets for a missing microchip. Diplomatic infighting swirls around the upcoming concert, and City Hunter is the only hope!
(Source: AnimeNfo)

Gosenzo-sama Banbanzai!
Studio PierrotThe Yomota family is small and typical: father Kinekuni (42), mother Tamiko (38), and son Inumaru (17). One day, a beautiful girl appears at their front door, calling herself “Maroko Yomota,” granddaughter of Inumaru who travels back in time with a time machine to visit her ancestors. Even with Tamiko’s strong objection, Kinekuni and Inumaru welcome her to stay with them, and the structure of a happy family has begun to collapse.

Ishii Hisaichi no Nanda Kanda Gekijou
The Underground People desire to leave their overcrowded cavern and seize control of the surface world, but they never quite succeed. A second episode, Christmas Aid, soon followed, in which the brainless Undergrounders’ second futile escape attempt is set to music by the popular group Yukadan. The first volume also included two unrelated stories by Ishii: 101 Ninja and Ken-chan’s Space Exploration Adventure.

Legend of Lemnear
AICThe young and beautiful Lemnear’s home village is destroyed and her brother is taken away. Lemnear swears to kill the evil wizard Gardin who is responsible for the disaster. With her allies Lemnear goes on a journey to take her revenge. She doesn’t know, though, that there is someone above Gardin…

Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland
Based on the classic Nemo comic strips by Winsor McCay. A pioneer of animation, McCay created the first Little Nemo animated movie in 1911.
Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata were attached to this project at first, but left due to “creative differences.” Ray Bradbury is also thought to have left the project in its earlier stages.
Little Nemo – Adventures in Slumberland is the first Japanese anime to receive a national (wide) U.S. theatrical release.
(Source: ANN)

Lupin III: Goodbye Lady Liberty
In this adventure, Lupin III tries to erase the files about him in the world police network. He finds out about the Ultravirus, a computer virus that controls all others and its location is only known by a little kid. Meanwhile, he steals the Statue of Liberty to look for a diamond the size of a football that is said to be hidden somewhere in it. Apparently, the diamond and the ultravirus are somehow related…
(Source: ANN)

Patlabor: The Movie
Production I.G, Studio DeenThe Babylon Project is a massive renovation of Tokyo’s neighborhoods, including the creation of artificial islands in the Bay. Utilizing “Labors,” or robots created for the express purpose of doing work, architects and construction crews are able to more efficiently progress development of the overhaul. When a key figure in the Project’s conception is found dead after committing suicide under mysterious circumstances, Captain Kiichi Gotou’s Patlabor police unit is tasked with getting to the bottom of the bizarre situation.
As several Labors begin to go haywire and a hacked AI program endangers the people of Tokyo, young pilot Noa Izumi and her Patlabor Alphonse work under Gotou’s orders to save the city and the entire nation from a massive biblical conspiracy.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Riki-Oh: The Wall of Hell
Magic BusA Retelling of the prison arc of the manga RIKI-OH!
The story follows Saiga Riki-Oh, a young man blessed with inhuman strength. After taking revenge against a yakuza boss who was responsible for the death of his girlfriend, he ends up in a maximum security prison owned by a private organization.
The prison is divided into four blocks, each run by a member of prisoners known as the Gang of Four. The first member is a tattooed knife wielder known as Hai that runs his block in a mafia style family system. The second member is a giant man (known as Tarzan in the live action) with incredible strength. The third member is a effeminate fighter named Huang Chaun that is growing Opium in the prison. The final member is a small man that use sewing needles as his weapons.

Seishun Fuufu Monogatari: Koiko no Mainichi
Artland, Nippon AnimationBased on the romance manga “Koiko no Mainichi ” by George Akiyama, serialized in Weekly Manga Goraku.
In a story that flits between serious drama and comedic farce, Shinjuku gangster Sabu and his young wife Koiko try to live a normal life, despite the interferences of gang politics and criminal deals. After she saves his life, Sabu’s gang-boss, Tominaga, falls in love with Koiko, and sends Sabu into increasingly more dangerous situations, hoping to cause his arrest, and thus obligate himself to “take care” of Koiko while Sabu is in prison.

The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor
Shou and his friend, Tetsurou, stumble upon a strange orb-like mechanism, the Guyver Unit, in the woods. It physically bonds with Shou and turns him into the alien soldier, Guyver. His mission is to protect the Guyver Unit from the Japanese corporation known as Chronos. They are after it and two other units just like it. To retrieve the object, they send out vicious monsters known as Zoanoids. So no one is safe in Shou’s life; not even himself.