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Exploration
proves popular

The first time was a charm for Oahu Anime Explorer, which held its inaugural meeting last month. Kell Komatsubara, the group's president, was certainly happy about the way things went.

"We had people from the ages of 14 to 40-something (attending)," Komatsubara said. "We were hoping to at least get five new people, but we more than doubled that."

So what to do for an encore? Show more anime, of course. Among the fan-subtitled series planned for screening are the first episodes of "Full Metal Panic: Second Raid" (the latest adventures of Kaname Chidori and the soldier assigned to protect her in school, Sousuke Sagara) and the "Aah! Megami-sama" TV series (known in America as "Oh! My Goddess" or "Aah! My Goddess," depending on who you ask), plus the second episodes of "Comic Party Revolution," "Aishiteru Ze Baby" and "Full Moon Wo Sagashite."

In addition, since it's never too early to start thinking about Christmas, there will be discussions about plans for the group's Christmas party on Dec. 3.

The group's next meeting is Saturday from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at HMC Academy, 555 N. King St. Regular memberships for a year are available for $20; associate memberships, for those unable to commit to attending meetings for an entire year, are $2 per meeting. For more information, visit www.oahuanimeexplorer.com ...

DVD pick of the week

"Di Gi Charat: The Original Series," from Synch-Point: The wacky anime hijinks of catgirls Dejiko and Puchiko and rabbit girl Rabi En Rose at the Gamers store finally arrive in America. This, mind you, comes more than two years after I criticized Viz, who held the rights to publish "Di Gi Charat" manga in America at the time, for publishing said manga without having the anime to provide the proper context for its humor. Ahh, progress ...