Anime Series Summaries in Four Words Quiz

Answer: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Haruhi has the ability to alter her environment and recreate the world, which could make her a goddess of sorts. The episodes can be watched two ways: broadcast order, which are out of linear order, and chronological order.

Answer: Kino's Journey

Kino is a teenaged girl who tours the world on her talking motorcycle, experiencing the lives and cultures of different places. She doesn't consider herself a boy or a girl, a child or an adult; she's a traveler. And she's very good with a Colt revolver.

Answer: Gunslinger Girl

The Agency takes girls who have been in accidents that they cannot survive and gives them implants to make them cold-blooded assassins. In the process, the girls lose their memories and often have limited lifespans. However, they still have the bodies and emotions of young girls. The show focuses on how the girls relate to their trainers and each other.

Answer: Jyu-Oh-Sei: Planet of the Beast King

The planet Chimaera endures 180 days of sunshine, in which carnivorous plants try to eat the prisoners sent there, and then 180 days of night, when the planet becomes Siberia. Protagonist Thor wants to get off the planet, and the only way to do it is by defeating the four leaders on the planet and becoming the Beast King.

Answer: Paranoia Agent

This series was made by Satoshi Kon, whose movies (eg. "Perfect Blue", "Millennium Actress") typically bend the line between reality and fantasy. The "crazy midget" is Lil' Slugger, a boy who rides around on roller skates whacking people with a bat, which one character suggests could actually improve the life of the person being whacked.

Answer: Paradise Kiss

But not to worry--they're just fashion designers who want a high school student to be their model in the upcoming fashion show. They make her a dress to model their new line, Paradise Kiss, while she wonders whether she should finish high school.

Answer: Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit

Balsa is a bodyguard who resolves to save eight lives to atone for her previous killings. Her final one is Chagum, a prince in whom a water spirit has laid an egg. Because of this, his father the emperor wants to kill him, believing the spirit to be an ill omen, while others think that the egg is a good sign and want to protect the prince.

Answer: Gankutsuou

Well, most of the series still takes place in France, but they do travel to the moon and outer space a few times. It's a science fiction, futuristic take on "The Count of Monte Cristo" which still keeps the characters and themes intact. It's also told from Albert's point-of-view, giving a new perspective on the events.

Answer: Romeo x Juliet

This version of the play has such elements as flying horses, floating cities, and giant trees, the latter of which are fueled by the sacrifices of Capulet daughters, otherwise the world will die. Juliet turns into a winged tree at the end to safely fly the floating city of Neo Verona down into the ocean, where secondary character Willy presumably becomes the William Shakespeare we all know and love.

Answer: Now and Then, Here and There

This is a descontruction of "transported to another world" stories, as well as a look at the effects of war on children. Shu is transported to the world ten billion years in the future, where water is extremely scarce and children are kidnapped into armies. "Fruits Basket" and "Now and Then, Here and There" have the same director, Akitaro Daichi.

Answer: Spice and Wolf

Sort of. Merchant Lawrence travels with harvest goddess Holo (or Horo), whose real form is a giant wolf. As a human, she has wolf ears, red eyes, and a tail. The series focuses on economics and the differing moral centers of the two main characters.

Answer: Dragon Half

This is a two-episode parody of action/fantasy shows. In the second episode, a new character claiming to be the villain shows up; he puts in a tape of the first episode and realizes that the anime has cut out all his scenes, which were present in the original manga.

Answer: Le Chevalier D'Eon

D'Eon de Beaumont was a real person who spent the first half of his life as a spy and the second half dressing as a woman and convincing all around him that he was a woman (until he died and was proven to be a man). In this historical drama/fantasy, he has a sister, Lia, whose soul wanders the earth after she's been killed.

At times, she possesses her brother to gain vengeance on those who killed her. Their personal appearances start to merge...

Answer: Princess Resurrection

The princess of the title can give others immortality, as she does to Hiro after he dies in an accident, but she has to give it every few days or he'll die (some immortality, huh?). She uses lots of weapons to fight demons, like axes, hammers, saws, swords, pitchforks, chandeliers, and chainsaws.

Answer: Mermaid Forest

Eating a mermaid's flesh will grant you eternal youth and immortality. Or it'll turn you into a demon. Or it'll make you vomit blood and die. It's really a toss-up. Old mermaids have to eat younger mermaids to retain their youth, while the protagonists are immortals who just want to find out how to grow old and die.