Cosmic Fantasy

So here's another OVA promoting a video game series, 1994's Cosmic Fantasy, released as a tie-in to the last installment of the franchise, Cosmic Fantasy 4. The game series petered out after that, so there was no reason to migrate the OVA from VHS and Laserdisc to digital media. It has lingered in analog limbo ever since its release.

Cosmic Fantasy takes place in a space-traveling universe plagued by space pirates. To combat the criminals, the Cosmic Security Corporation dispatches Cosmic Hunters with magical powers. The OVA focuses on Cosmic Hunter Yuu and his partner Saya, Yuu's mechanical flying squirrel Monmo, and his shady cat-person merchant friend, Nyan, as they confront a rookie space pirate named Belga. Space piracy's a tough business, so Belga wants Yuu as a partner and lover, or if that's not possible, as a trophy to enhance her neophyte reputation. There's some action, some rom-com hijinks between Yuu and Saya, a lot of comedy, particularly involving Nyan, and of course, an inconclusive ending. It's quite enjoyable, if not particularly deep.

Like many shows of the period, Cosmic Fantasy has some fanservice, but it's equal opportunity and not overly strident:

The games and the spin-off doujins are a lot more explicit. No, I'm not providing links.

Technically, this is not the first version in English. However, the existing subs are guesswork and jokes. For example, the line "Yuu already has Saya as a partner!" was rendered as "Yuu already has Saya and he hates green tits!" You get the idea.

Speaking of translation, the subtitle is literally "The Galactic Panther's/Leopard's Trap." The Japanese word for panther/leopard has a subtext meaning a seductive woman, so it's been rendered as "Temptress." Because the show is not set in Japan, there are no honorifics.

The leads are played by a quartet of famous voice actresses, all of whom worked on the video games as well. Takayama Minami (Yuu) is a legend. She played Kiki in Kiki's Delivery Service, the title role in Space Girl Yamamoto Yohko, and, most famously, Conan Edogawa in the more than 800 episodes, OVAs, movies, and specials of the Detective Conan franchise. She also sang the ending song. Sakuma Rei (Belga) played Shampoo in Ranma 1/2, Carmencita in Starship Troopers, and Batako in all the Soreike! Anpanman properties. Takada Yumi (Saya and Monmo) played Yoshinaga-sensei in many of the Crayon Shin-chan movies and Ayeka in the Tenchi Muyo franchise. She has also appeared in many classic h-animes, including Karakuri Ninja Girl, one of my favorites. Miyuki Sanae, whose performance as Nyan is a comic gem, appeared as Button in the Yu Yu Hashuko franchise and Alpha in New Dream Hunter Rem.

This release had an interesting gestation. A friend of one of Orphan's translators, skypilot, offered to buy the Laserdisc if skypilot would translate the show. A copy of the Laserdisc was purchased in Japan and shipped to Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions, who captured it as a raw. Then Real Life intervened, and skypilot's plan to translate the show was delayed until this month. VigorousJammer located an English playing guide for Cosmic Fantasy 2, the only installment released in English; this provided the attack names. ninjacloud timed the dialog, Yogicat timed the songs, I edited and typeset, and Nemesis, Vigorousjammer, and bananadoyouwanna did QC. The encode is from Piyo Piyo Productions.

So enjoy this light-hearted sci-fi action adventure; I certainly did. You can get it from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #news or #nibl on irc.rizon.net.