The apparently lovingly dubbed English version of "Princess Mononoke," a Japanese anime film from anime legend Hayao Miyazaki, opens on October 29th in the U.S. The buzz is huge. Roger Ebert has said it is his favorite film of the year thus far. Some are predicting it will be the first anime release to reach beyond the small but devoted cult following anime has in this country. The English version was written by Neil Gaiman, and the dubbing, by A-list English-speaking stars, is apparently so flawless than you won't notice many asynchronous lip movements, if any at all. Like most greatly-anticipated films, great anticipation can ruin the experience, and so I will watch it with diminished expectations -- and I would encourage any one else interested in seeing it to do the same.

But my question is, how many of you are interested in seeing it in the first place? I certainly am, though I am new to anime -- (I watched the "Bubblegum Crisis" series, which was fair, and "The Ghost In the Shell," which was brilliant, but that's the extent of it) -- and I'm taking a big gamble on dragging my wife to it, who isn't interested at all (with luck, it'll be a pleasant surprise to her; otherwise, I'll never sell her on anime.) I may make a Reader Poll question out of this when the release date comes a little closer, but I'd be more interested in individual, personal thoughts rather than the statistical compilation of many.