Chronopin: upcoming release dates, events and other important dates

Grave of the Fireflies opens in Japanese theaters, a Studio Ghibli war drama following two orphaned siblings, Seita and his young sister Setsuko, struggling to survive in the final months of World War II.

My Neighbor Totoro follows sisters Satsuki and Mei as they settle into a new countryside home and discover Totoro, a gentle forest spirit only children can see.

TMS Entertainment's Soreike! Anpanman, based on Takashi Yanase's picture books, began its decades-long run on Nippon TV, making the bean-bun superhero Japan's defining preschool anime.

Gainax's Gunbuster (Top wo Nerae!), the directorial debut of Hideaki Anno, follows aspiring pilot Noriko Takaya as she trains to crew a giant robot defending Earth from an advancing alien species.

The six-episode OVA Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket begins release, following a boy on the neutral space colony Side 6 whose fascination with the One Year War turns serious once Zeon commandos infiltrate his home searching for a hidden Federation mobile suit program.

Toei Animation begins broadcasting Dragon Ball Z, the sequel series to Dragon Ball following an adult Goku, his son Gohan, and the Z Fighters against escalating threats like Frieza, Cell, and Majin Buu.

Kiki's Delivery Service follows a young witch, Kiki, as she leaves home at thirteen to complete her training year in a new city, opening a flying delivery service with her talking cat Jiji.

The 34-meter, five-loop Olympia Looping premiered at Munich's Oktoberfest on 17 September 1989, becoming the largest portable roller coaster ever built and the only one with five inversions.

In 1990, Orange County opened the Frank R. Bowerman Landfill in the hills above Irvine, California, which grew into the ninth-largest landfill in the United States.

The Rocky Mountaineer's first scheduled luxury rail journey left Vancouver for the Canadian Rockies with 200 guests aboard, launching what became one of the world's most iconic train trips.

The Exorcist III is a 1990 American supernatural psychological horror film written for the screen and directed by William Peter Blatty, based on his 1983 novel Legion. It is the third installment in The Exorcist film series and the final installment in Blatty's "Trilogy of Faith" after The Ninth Configuration (1980), serving as a follow-up and direct sequel of The Exorcist (1973).

Hours after announcing allied air attacks on Iraq, President Bush ordered the first emergency sale in the reserve's history. The Energy Department released its sales notice on 17 January 1991 and eventually sold 17.3 million barrels to 13 companies, half of what it offered: bids for sour crude came in too low to accept.

Crayon Shin-chan begins its television run on TV Asahi, an irreverent slice-of-life comedy following five-year-old Shinnosuke "Shin-chan" Nohara and his family in Kasukabe, Saitama.

Munich Airport opened at its current site on 17 May 1992, replacing Munich-Riem, and is one of only two European airports to hold Skytrax's 5-Star rating.

The direct-to-video Giant Robo the Animation: The Day the Earth Stood Still begins release, a seven-episode OVA reviving Mitsuteru Yokoyama's 1960s manga/tokusatsu property with a retro-futurist mecha story about the secret organization Big Fire's plot for world domination.

Developer Triple Five Group opened the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, debuting 330 stores and an indoor amusement park inside the largest shopping mall in the United States.

Shin-Ei Animation's feature-length Crayon Shin-chan TV specials, extended event episodes built around the mischievous five-year-old Shinnosuke Nohara, began airing at the end of 1992.

Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama, a Japanese-Indian animated adaptation of the Hindu epic, releases in Japanese theaters, retelling the exile of Prince Rama and his quest to rescue his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana.

The TV special Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks tells the tragedy of an alternate future where the androids have all but wiped out humanity, following a grown Trunks as he trains under a dying Gohan before traveling back in time.

The direct-to-video Kyou kara Ore wa!! begins release, a delinquent-school comedy OVA adapting Hiroyuki Nishimori's manga about two transfer students, Itou and Takashi, who reinvent themselves as tough guys at a new school.

One of the longest-running anime in the medium’s history, Nintama Rantarou has aired on NHK continuously since April 10, 1993, adapting Sōbē Amako's manga about Rantarou, Shinbei, and Kirimaru — first-year students at a Sengoku-era ninja academy who are more interested in food, money, and mischief than in mastering ninjutsu. Produced by Ajia-do, it packages short comic vignettes into each half-hour episode and has grown into a multi-generational institution in Japan, with an episode count now well past 2,000.

Slam Dunk begins its TV run, a basketball comedy-drama following delinquent freshman Hanamichi Sakuragi as he falls for a classmate and, through her, discovers the sport.

Tezuka Productions begins releasing the Black Jack OVA, adapting Osamu Tezuka's manga about an unlicensed surgeon of legendary skill who charges enormous fees to save lives others have given up on.

Cafe Batavia opened in 1993 in the second-oldest building on Jakarta's old town square, a Dutch colonial house restored as a restaurant, with teak floors, ceiling fans and walls papered in old portraits. It faces the former city hall across the cobbles of Fatahillah Square.

The $15BN Channel Tunnel opened, linking Britain to mainland Europe by rail for the first time since the last Ice Age, after six years of construction under the English Channel.