DIGITAL L.A. : POKEMON: GOT A YEN FOR ANIME?

Byline: David Bloom 

Saucer eyes, pointy chins and wasp waists, ravening plants and exploding heads, Shinto animism and sci-fi weirdness. This is the world of anime, as the wacky, way-out world of Japanese animation is called.

Anime's distinctive look and approach have been creeping into the American pop vernacular for years now, particularly in the video-gaming and role-playing game worlds, many comic books and the occasional American-made homage such as ``Powerpuff Girls'' or ``Aeon Flux,'' along with Japanese imports to Saturday morning such as ``Speed Racer'' and ``Gigantor.''

But now, with this weekend's release of Hayao Miyazaki's ``Princess Mononoke'' and the debut in two weeks of the Pokemon movie, we'll be seeing a full-frontal assault of Japanese animation on American movie screens.

``Mononoke'' is a gorgeous movie, visually inventive in utterly unique ways, like so much of Miyazaki.

Pokemon is, well, Pokemon, a brilliantly constructed video game kids can't resist, even when it transmutes into a movie, TV show or trading cards. Your kids will want to go, too. Submit.

But should a peek at ``Mononoke'' (or, less likely if you're over the age of 12, the Pokemon movie) inspire you to explore more of the world of Japanese animation, you're in luck, because you can rent or buy many of the best anime films by mail order or even, to a much lesser extent, in video stores (except for hentai, the fast-growing, but really out-there porn sector of anime).

Start with Manga Entertainment (www.manga.com), A.D.Vision Inc. (www.advfilms.com), Central Park Media (www.centralparkmedia.com) and Pioneer (www.pioneer.com) as distributors, though there are plenty of options out there.

Viz Communications (www.viz.com) in San Francisco offers a nice range of anime and related products, including the most prominent U.S. magazine on the genre, Animerica (www.animerica-mag.com).

Something like 20 percent of all Japanese films are animated, and most deal with grown-up subject matter. There are at least half a dozen subgenres, ranging from innocent stories from either girls' or boys' perspectives to fairly kinky adult material rife with rapacious vegetables and the Japanese fondness for bondage.

Pokemon fever

As the Pokemon movie nears release, I'm taking relatively small comfort in having proclaimed way back in September of last year that the whole pocket monster phenomenon would be big.

Some $5 billion in revenues later, I can say I told you so, and warn you that it will only get worse. Nintendo now plans to sell a special version of its Game Boy Color , with a yellow outer shell decorated with the Pikachu character, and bundled with the game's new Yellow edition.

The Pokemon Yellow edition, truth be told, isn't much different from the original red and blue versions, but try to tell that to my - or anyone else's - children.

The main change, and one kids seem to love, is that Pikachu - the round, yellow pokemon that has become the game's mascot - follows the player around throughout the game, and interacts with the player.

It does change the game's dynamics somewhat, in part because the Pikachu are pretty tough customers in a trainer-fight (that's Pokemon talk; believe me, the little kids understand). You may not understand the necessity of buying this, but I guarantee your children will have a different notion. Remember, you heard it here first.