Spring 2002

Mikan Tachibana is a fairly ordinary teenager living with a family that is anything but ordinary. Her loud, stubborn mother runs the household according to her own peculiar logic, her quiet father rarely reacts to the chaos around him, and her younger brother Yuzuhiko has his own private world of worries and interests.Meals, shopping, school, neighbors, family arguments, and embarrassing misunderstandings become the source of constant comedy. Beneath all the bickering, however, the Tachibanas remain unmistakably a family, with affection often hiding inside the very habits that drive one another crazy.

Ten-year-old prodigy Chiyo Mihama skips several grades and enters high school surrounded by classmates whose personalities are every bit as unusual as her situation. Tomo has endless energy and almost no restraint, Yomi tries and often fails to be the voice of reason, Sakaki is tall and intimidating but secretly adores animals that rarely return the affection, and Osaka seems to inhabit a slower world built from wonderfully strange thoughts. Their teachers Yukari and Nyamo are not always much more mature than the students. From the first day of school to graduation, the years pass through exams, trips, festivals, and conversations that seem trivial in the moment but slowly become memories none of them could replace.

Takuya, Kouji, Izumi, Junpei, and Tomoki follow mysterious messages onto a train that carries them away from the human world and into the Digital World. There they learn that the land is being torn apart by Cherubimon, one of its three great celestial guardians, who has turned against his former allies.Instead of partnering with Digimon, the children discover ancient Spirits that let them transform into the Legendary Warriors themselves. As they cross the Digital World by Trailmon, they search for more Spirits, confront warriors serving Cherubimon, and uncover the hidden history behind the rebellion threatening to erase the world around them.

Ichigo Momomiya goes on a date with her crush Masaya, then wakes after a strange encounter to find herself displaying unmistakably catlike behavior. When a monster attacks Masaya, Ichigo transforms into a magical girl with cat ears and learns that her DNA has been fused with that of the endangered Iriomote cat.Researchers Ryou and Keiichiro explain that she is part of a project created to fight aliens who use parasites to turn animals into monsters. Ichigo is not the only one. Four other girls carry the DNA of endangered species and possess similar powers. Between working at the group's café and trying to preserve an ordinary school life, Ichigo must find them and form a team before what began as a strange interruption to her love life becomes a battle for the entire planet.

Satoshi “Sasshi” Imamiya and Arumi Asahina grew up together in Osaka's Abenobashi shopping district, but their little world is falling apart. Sasshi's family business is being demolished, Arumi's family is preparing to move to Hokkaido, and a strange accident seems to crack reality itself. When the two try to find their way home, they instead arrive in a completely different version of Abenobashi.Each apparent escape throws them into another world that remakes the district as a fantasy kingdom, a battlefield, or a bizarre science-fiction city. Behind the escalating comedy are the mysterious Eutus and Mune-Mune, whose presence points toward an old secret connecting both families. To return to the real Abenobashi, Sasshi must eventually understand why he keeps running from it.

Seina Yamada has lived with such catastrophically bad luck that accidents seem to follow him everywhere. A chance encounter with Galaxy Police officer Amane Kaunaq changes his life when an application meant for Tenchi Masaki ends up drawing Seina into the interstellar law-enforcement organization instead.His misfortune does not disappear in space. In fact, it becomes strangely useful because pirate fleets are repeatedly attracted to wherever Seina happens to be, allowing the Galaxy Police to catch them in huge numbers. With Amane, Kiriko, Ryoko Balta, and others around him, the unlucky boy from Earth stumbles into training, battles, political attention, and romance while somehow becoming one of the force's most effective anti-pirate assets.

A series of gruesome incidents around Tokyo Bay leaves police detectives Shinichiro Hata and Takeshi Kusumi with victims that seem to have been attacked by something far beyond an ordinary criminal. Their investigation leads through suspicious Labor accidents, military secrets, and evidence someone powerful would rather keep buried.At the center of the case is WXIII, a monstrous biological weapon born from forbidden research and tied to a tragedy uncomfortably close to Hata. As the creature grows harder to contain, the detectives must work with Special Vehicle Section 2 and its Labors before the cover-up becomes a catastrophe for the city.

The officers of Special Vehicle Section 2 put their Labors aside long enough to explain the strange machinery and stranger bureaucracy behind Patlabor. One discussion examines the Ingram's weapons and why they were designed the way they were; another digs into the AV-98's construction, maintenance, and the commercial thinking surrounding it.A final question turns from mechanics to money: how does SV2 actually afford any of this? Technical explanations, institutional absurdity, and self-aware jokes mix together as the unit dissects its own equipment and working life with far less dignity than a giant police robot might suggest.

A mysterious robot boy named Poko suddenly appears in Nobita's world, leading Doraemon and his friends through a gateway to a distant Robot Kingdom where humans and robots once lived side by side. They arrive to find that Queen Jane has begun hunting robots and stripping them of their emotions in the name of ending the pain caused by human cruelty.As Poko searches for the family from whom he was separated, Doraemon's group becomes caught in the kingdom's conflict. Saving their new friend means opposing the queen's policy and proving that emotions are not a defect to be erased, even as the machines enforcing her orders close in around them.

After being scolded by his parents just before his birthday, Nobita becomes convinced that they do not truly love him and even wonders whether he was adopted. Doraemon takes him back to the day he was born so he can discover the truth for himself.Watching from the past, Nobita sees the joy his arrival brought to his parents and hears the hopes that inspired the name they chose for him. The glimpse of a family he was too young to remember gives him a new understanding of the love that has surrounded him since his first day.

The Doraemons gather on the field for a spirited game of soccer, but putting seven wildly different robotic cats on the same pitch guarantees that this will be anything but an ordinary match. Their unusual talents and personalities collide as everyone races for the ball and the goal, turning a friendly game into a fast, chaotic contest.

The Straw Hat crew trades pirate battles for a soccer field, facing a team of familiar villains for the title of Dream Soccer King. With Coby guarding the goal and Helmeppo trying to keep order as referee, the chaotic match remains deadlocked until everything comes down to a penalty shootout.

The Straw Hats reach Crown Island, a strange place where animals can speak. A sudden accident separates Chopper from the crew, and the island's residents mistake the young reindeer for the new king foretold by their traditions. Chopper is bewildered by the honor, but quickly grows protective of his unusual new friends.The peace is threatened by hunters searching for legendary animal horns said to grant overwhelming power. Luffy and the others race to reunite with Chopper and protect the island, while Chopper must decide whether being treated as a king means standing up for the creatures who have placed their trust in him.

Six months after the battle with the D-Reaper, the Tamers gather to celebrate Rika's birthday. Their reunion is interrupted when Locomon, a train Digimon, bursts into the real world and races uncontrollably along the rail network, creating a dangerous digital zone around itself.As Takato and the others try to stop the runaway train, Parasimon reveals itself as the force behind the disturbance and begins opening the way for more Digimon to invade. Rika is drawn directly into the threat, forcing the Tamers and their partners into a fast-moving battle before the line between the two worlds is torn open again.