From:        Harold Ancell, hga@access.digex.net

  From: Richard Lawson <sterman@sprynet.com>

  EL HAZARD:  THE FIRST NIGHT

  [...]

  I may rent the other volumes of this series; then again, I may not. 
  We'll see what happens the next time I'm on call.

  OVERALL RATING:  <waggles hand>  Eh.  Maybe later volumes will raise my
  opinion of this series.

El Hazard starts out *really* slow; it picks up a bit with the three
priestesses, but doesn't become compelling until Ifuriita (Efreet) is
introduced.  Let me put it this way: the last episode can induce tears....

I felt the same way about El Hazard 1 as Richard; but then, I felt the 
same way about Tenchi 1. Tenchi picked up quite a bit from OAV 1... and 
since they share a great deal of the production team people, I wouldn't 
be surprised if El H followed the same pattern. A lot of the people on 
the Tenchi ML are also strong El H fans, so I'm going to give it a 
further chance -- though I really hope to find the subbed version for 
rent.

Probably the best I've seen would be Tanin no kankei (Relationship
with a Stranger (??? the best I can render it)), brought over here as
Homeroom Affairs; it may be difficult to find, but it's worth it; it's
an often erotic (in much the Nullifier fashion) bawdy romantic comedy,
with a really good story behind it (even better if you check out the
manga, which adds a lot more details about the girl's family
background).  Highly recommended and worth going out of your way to
track down.

I'd second this recommendation. I picked it up more-or-less by accident; 
the ads I'd seen for it suggested it was a romantic comedy in the MI 
vein, with a slightly more risque tone to it, so I decided to give it a 
try. It was... ahem... *quite* a bit more risque than I'd imagined. <wry 
g> But the romantic comedy/story aspect was also there, and it was quite 
well done. And they *do* have it at Video Library, Richard. :)



Travis Butler
(The Professor, formerly of Myth and Magick!, Lawrence, KS;
 tbutler@tfs.net, now from the Wandering Powerbook;
 <http://www.tfs.net/personal/tbutler/>;
 Mac page <http://www.tfs.net/business/tbutler/>)

...Cats are the proof of a higher purpose to the universe.