Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show

Most of the time, Orphan gets its laserdisc encodes from Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions, but when it comes to ecchi, not to mention downright sketchy, material, our supplier of choice is ics- of Lamonae. Following up on Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou, Orphan now presents the first English version of Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show (Eguchi's Hisashi's Long Life Gorou Show, or something like that), another comedy from the prolific, disturbed mind of Eguchi Hisashi, creator of Stop!! Hibari-kun.

Kotobuki Gorou Show is an anthology of episodes from Eguchi's Hinomaru Gekijou, which also provided material for some of the filler episodes in Stop!! Hibari-kun. There are four segments:

1. The Vulgar Family (episode 5). The most vulgar family in the world meets the most refined family in the world, with predictable results.
2. The Vulgar Family, Yet Again (episode 9). More hijinks (or lojinks) with the vulgar family.
3. Rebel without a Cause (episode 7). A boxing parody of Ashita no Joe, with "Horaccho Rikiishi" squaring off against "Piston Akagi."
4. Monster Kingdom (episode 10). A send-up of Japanese kaiju movies. Kirishima, Professor Ichinose, and the Scientific Defense Force try to defeat a monster by bringing in a second monster to fight the first, and then a third to fight the second, and so on.

The voice cast is large and includes many well known seiyuus of the 80s and 90s:

• Yara Yuusaku (Vulgar Dad) played the destroyer captain in Zipang. He had many featured roles, appearing in Next Senki Ehrgeiz, Eien no Filena, Hidamari no Ki, Nozomi Witches, both Sangokushi OVAs, Prime Rose, and both What's Michael? OVAs, all Orphan releases.
• Takizawa Kumiko (Vulgar Mother) played Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz (movie). She also appeared in Techno Police 21C and Scoopers, both Orphan releases.
• Shinohara Emi (Vulgar daughter Stephanie) played B-Ko in the A-ko properties and Sailor Jupiter in the Sailor Moon franchise. She appeared as Reiko in Akai Hayate and Android 1025 in Oz, both Orphan releases.
• Matsuoka Youko (Vulgar son Ralph) played the title role in the 1990's incarnation of GeGeGe no Kitarou. She appeared in Haguregumo and Tsuki ga Noboru made ni, both Orphan releases.
• Ueda Toshiya (Refined Father, Professor Ichinose) appeared in Perrine and Akai Hayate, an Orphan release.
• Satou Ai (Refined Mother) has played many maternal roles, including Light's mother in Death Note, Masami's mother in Wedding Peach, Misaki's mother in Dear Brother, Ban's mother in Getbackers, Shigeru's mother in Noramimi, and the unnamed mothers in Cinderella Express, Ai Monogatari, and Guyver: Out of Control. Other roles include Kristin Adams in Yawara!, Ibuki's mother in Kiss wa Me ni Shite, and the unnamed girlfriend in Lunn Flies into the Wind; the last two are Orphan releases.
• Horiuchi Kenyuu (Refined Son) has an extensive resume, including the title role in Guin Saga, as well as Jin Akira in Wolf Guy, Lid in Greed, and Nest in Eien no Filena; the last three are Orphan releases. He recently appeared in Sirius the Jaeger.
• Futamata Issei (Rikiishi) is best known for his roles as Godai Yuusaku in Maison Ikkoku, Akira (Chibi) in Urusei Yatsura, and Saburo in Sazae-san. He also played the psychopathic brother Cross in Hi-Speed Jecy and the horny lead in Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou, both Orphan releases. He recently appeared in Gurazeni.
• Seki Toshihiko (Akagi) was one of the leading male seiyuu in this period. He played the title role in Izumo, Riki in Ai no Kusabi, the hero Seitarou in Hoshi Neko Full House, the gang leader Hiba in Wild 7, Miroku in Yuukan Club, Chuuta in Satsujin Kippu wa Heart-iro, the fighter Nagase Jun in Akai Hayate, younger brother Jun in Kasei Yakyoku, and the unnamed protagonist of Oruorane the Cat Player, all Orphan releases. He also played Matsuda in the Yawara! properties, Sanzo in the Saiyuuki TV series, and the title roles in Alexander (Reign the Conqueror) and Kaiketsu Zorro.
• Genda Tesshou (Rikiishi's trainer Kuroki, Kirishima) played Colonel Muto in Joker Game, Moloch in Yondemasu Azazel-san, Rei in the Urusei Yatsura franchise, Moguro Fukuzou in New Laughing Salesman,  "Oyaji" in Mitsuboshi Colors, as well as Paul Rusch in Yume Kakeru Kougen, the loyal lieutenant Galbreath in Next Senki Ehrgeiz, the dragonman Baguda in Greed, the narrator in Akai Hayate, Dog McCoy in Dallos, Hebopi in Wild 7, and rebel leader Oosukune in Izumo, all Orphan releases.
• Inoue Kikuko (Kuroki's daughter) starred as Belldandy in the Aa! Megami-sama franchise, Kazami in Please! Teacher, and Doris in D4 Princess, an Orphan release. She has numerous other credits, including Cyberdoll Mami in Hand Maid May, Short(cake) in The Girl from Phantasia, and Lucie in Alice in Cyberland, all Orphan releases. She remains active and has recently appeared in Amanchu! and its sequel, The Ancient Magus' Bride, Darling in the FranXX, and FLCL Progressive.
• Nishimura Tomomichi (Akagi's boss) played the rot-loving Professor Itsuki in Moyashimon and Richard Mardukis in the Full Metal Panic franchise. He has had hundreds of featured roles, including Aoki Honoo, Bremen 4, Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou, Fumoon, Starship Troopers, Wild 7, and Wolf Guy, all Orphan releases. He is still active, appearing in this year's Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai. 

Iijima Masakatsu, who directed the first three sketches, is best known for his work on the Pokemon franchise. Nabeshima Osamu, who directed the fourth sketch, has directed most of the Yowamushi Pedal properties.

Kotobuki Gorou Show is chock-a-block with puns, parodies, and pop culture references. Here are just a few:

• "Beautiful Teens." Mita Akira's 1963 hit song.
• "You're the laundryman." A reference to an old Japanese porn film, 洗濯屋ケンちゃん (Laundryman Ken-chan), which was uncensored. It was so popular that it apparently contributed materially to the success of home VHS decks in Japan.
• "Please forgive me for getting hard first." A grisly reference to Kamikaze pilots, who often left a last message saying, "Please forgive me for dying before my parents."
• "Sex? How vulgar." The refined mom says 御セックス. 御 is used as a prefix to make a word polite, but it isn't used with foreign words.
• "Let's have a salaryman get his public hair shaved!" A parody of a Braun shaver commercial.
• "Round sliced me." 輪切りの私 (wagiri no watashi). A parody of 矢切の渡し(yagiri no watashi).
• "Crazy Cats records." Crazy Cats was a jazz band and comedy act. 
• "Yashiro Aki records." Yashiro Aki was an enka singer and painter.
• "He likes PHP paperbacks and listens to Jet Stream." PHP is a magazine and a paperback publisher. Jet Stream is a radio program.
• "I have an Edvard Munch-size problem with that." A pun: Munch (ムンク munku) versus problem (文句 monku). The picture is, of course, Munch's "The Scream."
• Horaccho Rikiishi is a reference to Ashita no Joe's Tooru Rikiishi. Akagi (red tree) and Kuroki (black tree) are parodies of the same show's Shiraki (white tree).
• Gag Da is a real magazine, now called Manga Life. SPA is a also real magazine, still published. MIMI was a real magazine that ceased publication in 1996.
• Kochira is, of course, Godzilla.
• Achira is a parody of Agnuirus from the Godzilla movies.
• The man flying in front of Science Defense Force HQ is Okamato Tarou, who created the weird sculpture being depicted.
• Rodon (魯鈍), which means imbecile in Japanese, is a parody of Rodan from the Godzilla movies.
• "Explosion!" Okamato Tarou's signature saying was, "Art is explosion!"
• King Hitler (キング ヒトラ) is a parody of Ghidorah from the Godzilla movies.
• Marimon is a reference to marimo, a species of Japanese green algae.

Moho Kareshi did the initial translation. laalg revised the translation and researched the numerous and sometimes disturbing references. ninjacloud timed. I edited and typeset. Nemesis, Topper3000, and VigorousJammer did QC. M74 encoded from a laserdisc rip provided by ics-.

So if you're prepared to wade through the usual Eguchi Higashi potpourri of puns, parodies, and tasteless jokes, you can get Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show from the regular torrent site or IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net. His other anthology, Eguchi Hisashi no Nantoko Narudesho, is even worse, so you have something to look forward to in 2019.