Cartoon Animation

Anime (pronounced ah-nee-may) is the term for Japanese cartoon animation, a celebrated entertainment industry in Japan that is gaining popularity overseas.

Distinguished by stylized, doe-eyed characters and frenetic action, familiar examples of anime include Speed Racer and Pokemon. Typically, anime are inspired by comic books (called manga in Japan), which are often very sophisticated and appeal to adults as well as younger audiences. This year's movie selection is Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone.

Evangelion 1.11:  You Are (Not) Alone takes place in the year 2015. One by one, mysterious beings known as Angels are descending upon Earth and threatening to destroy humanity. Only one weapon is capable of stopping them: a type of giant robot known as Evangelion.

It takes a special breed of pilot to control these robots, however, and timid 15-year-old Shinji Ikari is in for the shock of his life when he is called in as the newest pilot of an “Eva.” Making things more awkward is the fact that his estranged father is the director of NERV, the special U.N. agency in charge of the Evangelion program. As the Angels wreak havoc on Tokyo, Shinji must overcome great odds and even greater fear in order to protect the world from destruction—although the deadliest threat may be the one that lies within the mysterious workings of NERV.