Chronopin: upcoming release dates, events and other important dates

Artland's Legend of the Galactic Heroes Gaiden: Spiral Labyrinth begins release, a prequel OVA series expanding on a young Yang Wen-li's rise and on events leading into the main Legend of the Galactic Heroes saga.

Sunrise's The King of Braves: GaoGaiGar Final begins release, an OVA continuing the super robot franchise as GGG and their French allies in Chasseur battle the BioNet organization and the Eleven Kings of Sol to rescue a captured ally and defend Earth.

The six-episode OVA FLCL begins release, a hyperkinetic coming-of-age comedy from Gainax and Production I.G about a middle schooler whose ordinary town turns upside down after being run over by a scooter-riding, guitar-wielding alien.

Cardcaptor Sakura the Movie 2: The Sealed Card releases in Japanese theaters, a Madhouse-produced finale to the anime in which Sakura faces one last, unnamed card with power to match all of her collected Clow Cards combined.

Hajime no Ippo, an underdog boxing drama following bullied high schooler Ippo Makunouchi as he's drawn into the sport by the Kamogawa Gym, begins its TV run.

Public Law 106-286 ended the annual congressional fight over China's trade status and cleared the last American obstacle to its entry into the WTO. It is the single act that opened the United States market to Chinese manufacturing on permanent terms.

Enrique Olvera opened Pujol in 2000 and spent the next two decades turning it into the restaurant that taught the fine-dining world to take Mexican cooking seriously - most famously through a mole kept going and re-fed for thousands of days, served as a ring of sauce around a younger one. It has been a fixture of the World's 50 Best list for years and moved to its present Polanco address, a courtyard house with a tasting counter, in the 2010s.

Shrek is a 2001 American animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, and written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S. Schulman, loosely based on the 1990 children's picture book Shrek! by William Steig.

On June 21, 2001, BHP Iron Ore assembled and ran a 7.353km, 682-wagon iron ore train from its Pilbara mines to Port Hedland, still the longest and heaviest train ever operated.

Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away opens in Japan, Hayao Miyazaki's story of a young girl trapped in a spirit world after her parents are turned into pigs.

Bones's Cowboy Bebop: The Movie - Knockin' on Heaven's Door opens in Japanese theaters, an original feature-length adventure for the Bebop crew as they chase a bounty tied to a bioterrorist threatening Mars with a deadly nerve gas.

The second and concluding half of the Meiji Kenkaku Romantan OVA duology, following 1999's Trust & Betrayal, catches up with Kenshin Himura years after the main TV series as he wanders alone, still trying to atone for his past as an assassin, while his wife Kaoru waits for a return that keeps not coming. Studio DEEN trades the TV series' more forgiving tone for a somber, elegiac coda that closes out the couple's story.

China became the WTO's 143rd member on 11 December 2001, fifteen years after applying. Its export share of world trade roughly quadrupled over the next two decades, and the bargain struck in Doha is still what the tariff argument is about.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is a 2001 epic fantasy film directed by Peter Jackson from a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Jackson. Tolkien's 1954 The Fellowship of the Ring, the first volume of the novel The Lord of the Rings.

Nippon Animation's Hunter x Hunter: Yorknew City OVA begins release, adapting Yoshihiro Togashi's manga as Kurapika and Gon's group set out to confront the criminal Phantom Troupe in the auction city of Yorknew.

Detective Conan: The Phantom of Baker Street, the sixth Detective Conan film, opens in Japanese theaters, sending Conan into a virtual-reality murder mystery game alongside a simulated Sherlock Holmes.

Haré+Guu Deluxe is an OVA sequel that returns the Jungle wa Itsumo Hare Nochi Guu cast to the jungle, where Haré must adjust to a pregnant mother and a soon-to-arrive sibling.

Millennium Actress, Satoshi Kon's second feature film, blends a documentary crew's interview with reclusive former film star Chiyoko Fujiwara with dramatized scenes from her decades of movie roles into a single unfolding story.

The television anime Naruto begins airing, a Studio Pierrot adaptation of Masashi Kishimoto's manga about a young ninja seeking recognition and the title of Hokage in his home village.

Saint Seiya: The Hades Chapter - Sanctuary premieres, a Toei Animation OVA adapting Masami Kurumada's manga as Hades' resurrected Gold Saints move against Athena and the surviving Bronze Saints.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a 2002 epic fantasy film directed by Peter Jackson from a screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair, and Jackson, based on 1954's The Two Towers, the second volume of the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. The sequel to 2001's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the film is the second instalment in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Nippon Animation begins releasing Hunter x Hunter: Greed Island, an OVA following Gon Freecss and Killua Zoldyck as they enter a deadly, rare trading-card game in search of clues to Gon's missing father.

The DVD-exclusive special Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting! - Boxer’s Fist premieres, a Madhouse-animated side story revealing how brash heavyweight Takamura first took up boxing.

The one-off special Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting! - Champion Road finds newly crowned featherweight champion Ippo Makunouchi defending his title against Kazuki Sanada, a former junior featherweight champ turned medical student.

Built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, France, the 68,870-ton Crystal Serenity was christened by Julie Andrews on 3 July 2003 and entered commercial service four days later.

Europe had its hottest summer since at least 1540, with night temperatures staying above 30C and eight consecutive days over 40C in Auxerre. The death toll has been estimated at more than 70,000.

Madhouse's Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting! - Mashiba vs Kimura premieres, an OVA following boxer Ippo Makunouchi's stablemate Kimura as he finally gets his shot at reigning Junior Lightweight champion Mashiba.

The European Marine Energy Centre completed its Billia Croo wave energy test site off Orkney, becoming the world’s first grid-connected facility for testing wave and tidal energy converters at sea.

Bones' Fullmetal Alchemist begins broadcast, following brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric, alchemists searching for the Philosopher's Stone to restore the bodies they lost attempting to resurrect their mother.

Satoshi Kon's Tokyo Godfathers opens in Japanese theaters, a Christmas Eve dramedy following three homeless Tokyo residents who discover an abandoned baby and set out to find her parents.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 epic fantasy film directed by Peter Jackson from a screenplay he wrote with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. It is based on 1955's The Return of the King, the third volume of the novel The Lord of the Rings by J.

Seiji Yamamoto opened RyuGin in Roppongi in 2003 and used it to argue that kaiseki could be taken apart and rebuilt with modern technique without ceasing to be kaiseki - a position that made it the Japanese restaurant most often named on international lists. It has since moved to Hibiya, where it holds three Michelin stars.

Studio Pierrot airs Hikaru no Go: Hokuto Hai e no Michi, a one-episode television special following Hikaru Shindo through the preliminary rounds to select Japan's team for the Hokuto Cup junior tournament.

Bones releases the direct-to-video Wolf's Rain OVA, a four-episode epilogue completing the wolves' search for the paradise Rakuen after the TV series' broadcast was cut short.

The direct-to-video Hunter x Hunter: Greed Island Final continues the Greed Island story arc, with Gon Freecss and Killua Zoldyck sharpening their Nen abilities under Biscuit Krueger's guidance as the deadly video-game world's Player Killers close in.

Madhouse's Monster begins airing, a psychological thriller adapting Naoki Urasawa's manga about Dr. Kenzo Tenma's pursuit of Johan Liebert, the child he once saved who becomes a serial killer.

TMS Entertainment broadcasts a Detective Conan TV special previewing that summer's eighth film, in which Professor Agasa's new identity-matching program is turned on the phantom thief Kaitou Kid, only for Kid to hijack the broadcast himself.

The $265M Sands Macao opened as the city's first Las Vegas-style resort, ending Stanley Ho's 42-year gambling monopoly and starting Macau's transformation into the world's densest gaming hub.

Shrek 2 is a 2004 American animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, and Conrad Vernon from a screenplay by Adamson, Joe Stillman, and the writing team of J. Loosely based on the 1990 children's picture book Shrek! by William Steig, it is a direct sequel to Shrek (2001) and the second installment in the Shrek film series.

Manglobe's Samurai Champloo begins airing, a hip-hop-infused samurai adventure directed by Shinichiro Watanabe that follows wanderers Mugen and Jin escorting waitress Fuu as she searches for a mysterious 'sunflower samurai.'

Ojamajo Doremi Na-i-sho premieres, a 13-episode OVA continuing the Ojamajo Doremi magical-girl franchise with a more mature, romance-tinged coda for the five witch apprentices.

The action-horror TV anime Elfen Lied begins broadcast, following the psychotic, telekinetic Diclonius Lucy after two teenagers take in her amnesiac alter-ego "Nyuu".

Exorcist: The Beginning is a 2004 American supernatural horror film serving as a prequel to The Exorcist (1973), and the fourth installment in The Exorcist film series. Directed by Renny Harlin, the film stars Stellan Skarsgård, Izabella Scorupco and James D'Arcy.

The television anime Bleach begins airing, a Studio Pierrot adaptation of Tite Kubo's manga about high schooler Ichigo Kurosaki, who inherits a Soul Reaper's powers and takes up the fight against soul-devouring Hollows.

The Royal Danish Navy commissioned HDMS Absalon, lead ship of the Absalon-class flexible support ships built at Odense Steel Shipyard. The 137-meter vessel combines helicopter, troop, and vehicle capacity with modern weapon systems.

Studio Ghibli's Howl's Moving Castle opens in Japan, Hayao Miyazaki's adaptation of Diana Wynne Jones's novel about a young hatmaker cursed into an old woman's body who takes refuge with a wizard in his walking castle.

Norman Foster's Millau Viaduct, the tallest bridge in the world, opened over southern France's Tarn valley, completing the A75 motorway route between Paris and the Mediterranean.

A former CargoLifter airship hangar in Brandenburg, big enough to enclose the Statue of Liberty, reopened as the Tropical Islands indoor resort on December 19, 2004. Its beaches, lagoons and rainforest now draw about a million visitors a year to the world's largest free-standing hall.

A magnitude 9.1 megathrust rupture off Aceh generated a tsunami that crossed the Indian Ocean and struck coastlines from Indonesia to East Africa. It is the third-largest earthquake ever instrumentally recorded.

The world's largest pumping station begins lifting water from Lake Nasser into the Sheikh Zayed Canal, launching Egypt's attempt to grow a second Nile valley 310 km into the Sahara.