Shounen Jack to Mahou Tsukai

As promised (or threatened), Orphan is releasing more of the early Toei Douga anime movies; in this case, the 1967 tenth anniversary release, Shounen Jack to Mahou Tsukai (translated for its US release as Jack and the Witch). This is a lively comedy adventure, loosely (very loosely) inspired by the Old English saga Beowulf, read and despised by generations of put-upon English literature students.

The movie opens with a brief nod to its source: a portentous voice talks of a hero's valorous defeat of Grendel and the great feast that followed.

This is promptly forgotten, and action cuts to Jack, a young boy of indeterminate age, maybe a teenager, maybe a bit younger. Stocky and pimpled, he lives in a rambling house with his animal companions: a mouse named Squeaky, a bear named Pooh, a fox (unnamed), and a dog (also unnamed). 

Cruising around one day in his steam-driven car, which he also rides inside the house, Jack encounters a mysterious girl named Kiki, who is piloting a sort-of helicopter. She offers him a ride. 

He accepts, and she whisks him and Sqeuaky off to the castle of the evil witch Grendel and her crow familiar. 

Kiki, it turns out, is a demon and Grendel's servant. She and the other demons, including her brother Shibari, a rope master, are tasked with kidnapping humans and animals and bringing them to the castle to be turned into demons. 

Squeaky is caught, but Jack manages to escape and return to his house.

The next day, to avenge the humiliation of Jack's escape, Kiki comes back in her copter and kidnaps Jack's house, with Jack and his companions inside. They cut themselves loose, bring down Kiki's copter, and are about to finish her off when Jack has second thoughts (she's a girl, after all). 

He hesitates long enough for Kiki to escape. Jack and his friends return to the demon castle to liberate Squeaky, but Kiki, who claims she now wants to help, has set a trap for them. Slapstick mayhem, preposterous adventures, and narrow escapes ensue,

until the villainous witch is defeated, and Kiki, Shibari, and the other demons are returned to their human form. 

This summary can't convey how looseand funny the movie is. Toei's animation style had evolved substantially since the rounded, smooth, Disney-esque days of Hakujaden and Saiyuuki. Shounen Jack is more angular, abrupt, and, well cartoonish. Jack doesn't look like a typical shounen hero; he looks like a young adolescent, bad complexion and all. The movie is visually inventive, fast paced, and very engaging. Except for the saccharine ending song to accompany the happy-ever-after ending, the songs are bright, comical, and functionally integrated with the slapstick story. It even has a sly wink for the adults seeing the movie: Kiki's brother's name, Shibari, means rope bondage.

The voice cast is from another era:

• Yamaoka Hisano (Witch Grendel) was an actress. She had no other anime credits.
• Nakamura Meiko (Kiki, Young Jack) played the title roles in Henbe and Uchuujin Pipi. She voiced all the roles in Koneko no Studio, an Orphan release.
• Kuri Chiharu (Kiki's brother Shibari) appeared in several Toei anime movies, including Wanpaku Ouji no Orochi Taiji, Andersen Monogatari, and Chibikko Remi to Meiken Kapi.
• Ootake Hiroshi (Fox) played Tezuka-sensei in Fushigi na Melmo, Michael in the What's Michael? OVAs, Hamegg in Tezuka Osamu Ga Kieta?! 20 Seiki Saigo no Kaijiken, and the principal in Don Dracula. The last three are Orphan releases.
• Kumakura Kazuo (Pooh) appeared in both the 1963 and 1980 versions of Astro Boy. He played Papa Panda in Panda Gopanda, Oz in The Wizard of Oz movie, Thomas R. Manx Cat in Manxmouse, Sima Hui in Sangokushi, Pew in Shin Takarajima, and Inspector Unmei in Akuma Tou no Prince: Mitsume ga Tooru. The last four are Orphan releases.
• Kuroyanagi Tetsuko (Squeaky) is the daughter of Kuroyanagi Cho. She was a prominent character in Chocchan Monogatari and the main character in Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window. She played Petronella van Daan in The Diary of Ann Frank, an Orphan release.
• Mizugaki Youko (Dog) played Uran in the original Astro Boy, Touch in Hustle Punch, and Mauni in Taiyou no Ouji: Horus no Daibouken, an Orphan release.

The director, Yabushita Taiji, also directed Hyokkori Hyoutanjima, Hito no Kurashi no Hyakumannen: Mani Mani March, and Nihon Manga Eiga Hattatsushi: Anime Shingajou. None of them have available raws.

Perevodildo translated and timed. Yume translation checked. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. The raw is a web rip from heponeko. It is the best available; the movie has never been released on Blu-ray or broadcast in high-definition.

Shounen Jack to Mahou Tsukai was licensed in the US by American International Pictures (AIP), best known for the Roger Corman horror films and the Frankie Avalon/Annette Funicello beach party pictures, and released as Jack and the Witch. Unlike 1960's Saiyuuki, which was butchered for its American release as Alakazam the Great, the video of Shounen Jack to Mahou Tsukai  was left more or less intact. This would allow the dub, taken from ARR's release, to be used. However, the dub is a completely rewritten script and is not even remotely a translation of the Japanese. Accordingly, I've left it out. You can download a patch to create a dual audio version, with a signs only subtitle track, from here.

Shounen Jack to Mahou Tsukai is a rollicking good time, one of the better Toei Douga cartoons from the 1960s. It has laughs, thrills, and chills for audiences of all ages, and the mandatory happy ending seems properly earned. You can get the movie from the usual torrent site.

A Ghost Story (Hoichi the Earless)

Seishun Anime Zenshuu (translated as Animated Classics of Japanese Literature for its English release) is a 1986 anthology series that retold well-known stories from modern Japanese literature. It's very much in the mold of its contemporaries, the World Masterpiece Theater series. Most of the 34 episodes were standalone, although there were a few two- and three-parters. The show was licensed by Central Park Media, but the English version was left incomplete when CPM went bankrupt. Only twelve episodes were released on DVD:

• Episode 1: The Izu Dancer by Kawabata Yasunari. 
• Episodes 2,3: The Sound of Waves by Mishima Yukio.
• Episodes 7,8: Botchan by Souseki Natsume.
• Episode 10: The Dancing Girl by Ougai Mori.
• Episode 14: Growing Up by Higuchi Ichiyou.
• Episode 16: A Ghost Story by Lafcadio Hearn.
• Episode 20: Season of the Sun by Ishihara Shintarou.
• Episodes 25,26: The Harp of Burma by Takeyama Michio.
• Episode S1 (33): Student Days by Kume Masao.

Once again, going out of order for Reasons™ to present A Ghost Story: The Story of Hoichi. It's based on a story in the collection Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcadio Hearn. He's a fascinating character: a Greek-Irish orphan who emigrated first to the United States and then to Japan, where he settled down, married, and wrote the first widely-read English-language books on Japan. A Ghost Story is based on a well-known Japanese legend and has been included in two movies.

Hoichi is a blind biwa (Japanese lute) player at the Amidaji Temple. 

His specialty is The Tale of the Heike, an epic account of the Genpei War between the Minamoto (Genji) clan and  Taira (Heike) clans, which ended with a decisive Genji victory at the naval battle of Dan-no-Ura. One evening, a gruff samurai asks Hoichi to play for a noblewoman, who is supposedly visiting incognito.

His playing overwhelms his audience, and they are moved to tears. 

He is asked to play again the next night. On the third night, his friends, concerned about his deteriorating appearance, follow him and find him playing in the temple graveyard, where the Taira dead are buried. He has been playing for ghosts. 

The head priest tells Hoichi that he is in danger of being possessed and consumed by the spirits. The priest covers Hoichi in sutras to protect him. 

When the ghost samurai returns, he cannot see most of Hoichi because of the sutras; only the musician's ears are visible. 

The samurai rips off Hoichi's ears as proof that he had tried to bring the musician again, but the spell on Hoichi is broken. He survives, earless, and becomes a living legend.

A Ghost Story is quite good: atmospheric, moody, and foreboding. Unlike most animated ghost stories, it doesn't rely on jump cuts or copious bloodshed to build a sense of dread. Hoichi's biwa playing and singing, heavy on prolonged phrases and minor keys, provide an aural tapestry that matches the plot and the visuals. This is the strongest of the Animated Classics series so far.

The voice cast includes:

• Etou Jun (Hoichi) is an actor. He has only one other anime credit.
• Utsumi Kenji (Samurai Ghost) played Roah in Fist of the North Star, Kaioh in Fist of the North Star 2, Senbei Norimaki in Dr. Slump and Arale-chan, the village chief in Watt Poe, and Alex Louis Armstrong in both versions of Fullmetal Alchemist. He played Ishikawa in Mahjong Hishouden: Naki no Ryuu and appeared in Nora, Bavi Stock, Stop!! Hibari-kun!, Techno Police 21C, Don Dracula (title role), 15 Shounen Hyouruuki, and Sanada 10, all Orphan releases. appeared in Nora, Bavi Stock, Stop!! Hibari-kun!, Techno Police 21C, Don Dracula (title role), 15 Shounen Hyouruuki, and Sanada 10, all Orphan releases.
• Takizawa Kumiko (Lady Attendant) played Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz (movie). She  played Madonna in Botchan (1986), Elena in Techno Police 21C, Kanako's mother in Boyfriend, Susan the gangster in The Green Cat, and appeared in Raiyantsuuri no Uta, Fumoon, Makoto-chan, and Scoopers, all Orphan releases.
• Kinomiya Ryouko (Taira no Tokiko - Nii no Ama) played Mozu in Fumoon, an Orphan release, Promethium in the Galaxy Express 999 franchise, the narrator in Queen Millennia, and Madame du Barry in The Rose of Versailles.
• Kitagawa Takurou (Yasuke) played Green Dragon in Dragon Knight and Private Baba in The Harp of Burma. He played Hosoki in Meisou-Ou Border and appeared in Utsu no Miko, both Orphan releases.
• Shioya Yoku (Young Priest) played the title roles in Kariage-kun and the Umi no Triton TV series and movies, Ryouta in Slam Dunk, Jinpei the Swallow in Gatchaman, and Cosmo Yuki in Space Runaway Ideon. He played Shotaro in Growing Up, Ritt in Samurai Gold, Tsuri in Tenjou Hen: Utsu no Miko, Yuzuru in Laughing Target, Mickey in Milky Passion: Dougenzaka - Ai no Shiro, Mizuki in Nayuta, and Zhuge Jun in the first Sangokushi movie, all Orphan releases.
• Fujimoto Yuzuru (Chief Priest) played Hiyoshi in both reasons of Moyashimon. He voiced the nameless Aoba gang boss in Kasei Yakyoku, the nameless police chief in Twinkle Nora Rock Me, Miyata Terukichi in The Sound of Waves, and Noah in Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament, all Orphan releases.

The director, Kumada Isamu, also directed Growing Up. 

The original subtitles are from CPM's R1 release. Perevodildo translation checked. kokujin-kun filled in song lines omitted from the R1 subs. ninjacloud fixed the original timing. I edited and typeset. Paul Geromini and Nemesis QCed. The encoder for the series wishes to remain anonymous. CPM's mastering includes hardsubbed translations for some of the Japanese credits. They are incorrectly timed and don't line up with the Japanese credits, but as hardsubs, they can't be fixed.

A Ghost Story doesn't go for easy shocks and cheap effects. It builds slowly and steadily to an effective climax, and it makes the tragedy of the Taira clan's disastrous end manifest. You can get the show from the usual torrent site.

 

Nessa no Wakusei

Okizari presents the first English-subtitled release of the original version of Nessa no Wakusei (Desert Planet or Hot Sandy Planet), a mid-1990s borderline hentai OVA. It's better known in North America in its "enhanced" version, Bondage Queen Kate. This release is part of the ProxyMan project.

Nessa no Wakusei was created by a short-lived anime company called All Products. They specialized in borderline hentai like the Sei Michaela Gakuen series, Dragon Knight Gaiden, and Fencer of Minerva. Their first release was in 1990; by 1996, they were gone. Rights to their works fell into the hands of another short-lived hentai anime company, Five Ways. They tarted up Nessa and Gaiden with a few very short explicit scenes to create hentai OVAs for North America and other markets. This version of Nessa no Wakusei, from a Japanese laserdisc, is the first time the original OVA has been released with English subtitles. Blasphemboys has already released the original Dragon Knight Gaiden. 

The original Nessa no Wakusei is no masterpiece. It's an exercise in BDSM titillation, as close to porn as possible without earning an X (or NC17) rating. Based on an erotic novel by Hakage Tatenao, its protagonist is Second Lt. Kate Curtis of the Galactic Union Military Security Department, aka, the Galaxy Police.

Young (19), pretty, buxom, and a virgin, she is sent undercover by Major Jones to the desert planet of Doune, where young women are disappearing in alarming numbers.There, she is dropped into the hands of human trafficking criminals who kidnap and train women as sex slaves. 

Her captor, Brick, drugs, binds, and rapes her, then shares her with his fellow trainer, Dick. Brick is impressed by Kate's passionate responses and decides to keep her for himself as hit "pet." 

He and his ex-wife Cathy train her. Even though he's a rapist and a sadist, Kate falls in love with him. She's distraught when he pays attention to Amy, another slave.. Eventually, Lt. Smith and Kate's support team rescue her, to her dismay. After a half-year leave of absence, she finds Brick on another planet and throws herself into his arms (and ropes) once again.

I could try to write a learned dissertation on Nessa no Wakusei's place in a long line of erotica about female submission, from Story of O to Fifty Shades of Grey, but there's no point. It's erotic trash, designed to earn a quick yen. The only interesting question, at least for me, is why Five Ways thought it was a good idea to make it into hentai by adding a bit (less than 20 seconds, total) of explicit content. Some All Products' releases went in the opposite direction. For example, CPM eliminated the only explicit scene in Fencer of Minerva for its North American release.

Nessa was badly mastered for its North American DVD, and the added explicit scenes are badly animated (static or low frame rate). Nessa no Wakusei on laserdisc (top) looks much better than Bondage Queen Kate on DVD (bottom):

A few notes: 

• Kate appears in another Hakage Tatenao BDSM-themed erotic novel, Rebellion on the Spaceship Diana: Female Security Officer Kate's Voyage of Abuse.
• The setting, planet "Duone," is a rip-off of Dune, complete with sandworms.
  
  
  
  
  
• Kate's superior, Major Jones, prefers singing karaoke to organizing her rescue. His idea of appropriate equipment for her mission is a carry-on full of sex toys and skimpy clothing, with "Rape Me" on the side. 

By the 1990s, working on erotic anime had become more acceptable, and the voice actors used their real names, not pseudonyms:

• Amano Yuri (Kate, ep 1) played the title role in The Legend of Snow White, Julia in Daddy Long Legs, Kiyone in the Tenchi Muyo franchise, and Moemi in Video Girl Ai. She appeared as Lady Freeze in Bakuen Campus Guardress, Catherine in Okama Hakusho, Kuzunoha in Akuemon, Angie in Condition Green, Elthena in Eien no Filena, Kitagawa in Nozomi Witches, Noriko in Singles, the teacher in Tanjou: Debut, Tonto in the Blue Knight segment of Tezuka Osamu: Kyoto Animation Works, the Chinese whore in Shibuya Honky Tonk, and Yuko in St. Michaela Gakuen Hyouryuuki, as well as multiple roles in Fukuyama Gekijou and Gakkou no Yuurei, volume 1, all Orphan releases.
• Honma Yukari (Kate, ep 2) played Mikako in Kazu & Yasu Hero Tanjou, Ayu in Mermaid Forest, and Yugo in Project Arms. She appeared in Pops, Cosmic Fantasy, and Gakkou no Yuuri, volume 2, all Orphan releases.
• Yanada Kiyoyuki (Brick) played Takenori in Slam Dunk, Gateau Mocha in Bakuretsu Hunter, and Kuroinu the black cat in Chii's Sweet Home. He appeared in Nanatoshi Monogatari, Hidamari no Ki, Hayou no Tsurugi, Exper Zenon, Akai Hayate, Nozomi Witches, Mellow, and Ai no Kusabi, all Orphan releases
• Yamaguchi Kappei (Dick) played the title roles in the Detective Conan, Ranma 1/2, and Inuyasha franchises, Usopp in the One Piece franchise, Sakuma Ryuichi in Gravitation, and the title roles in the Arslan no Senki OVA series and Mouse, among many others. He played Tacchan in Ashita Genki ni Naare!, Suzuki Kyota in Aoi Kioku, Shibuya in Zetsuai 1989, Billia in Tottoi, Matsuoka Eiji in Chameleon, Nichol Hawking in Plastic Little, and Tooru in Boyfriend, and appeared in Shin Gakkou no Yuurei, all Orphan releases.
• Nakahara Shigeru (Jenkins, a psychotic trainer) played the title role in Arion, Trowa Barton in Gundam Wing, Fujiwara no Takamichi in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de: Hachyoushou, and Kurama in Kyousogiga. He also played Hyakutaro in Ushiro no Hyakutaro, Fujiwara no Yukitata in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de 2, Arikawa Yuzuru in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de 3, and had featured roles in Aoki Honoo, Ziggy Sore Yuke! R&R Band, Ai no Kusabi, Dragon Fist, Dokushin Apartment Doukudami-sou, Chameleon, and Neko Neko Fantasia, all Orphan releases.
• Sawaki Ikuya (boss of the organization) played Gooley in the Dirty Pair franchise. He also played Kentaro in Ushiro no Hyakutaro, Samuel Hunter in Wolf Guy, Masayoshi Hotta in Hidamari no Ki, Barry in Joker: Marginal City, Alan in Mother: Saigo no Shoujo Eve, Itakura Shirouemon in Sanada 10, the Kaiser in Apfelland Monogatari, Gonbei the cat in Satsujin Kippu wa Heart-iro, and multiple role in Shibuya Honky Tonk, as well as small parts in Heavy, Dallos, Heart Cocktail, and Chameleon, all Orphan releases.
• Shinohara Emi (Eva, another policewoman, ep 1; Cathy, ep 2) played B-Ko in the A-ko properties and Sailor Jupiter in the Sailor Moon franchise. She appeared as the goddess in the Unico segment of Tezuka Osamu: Kyoto Animation Works, Yuri Onagara in Blue Sonnet, vulgar daughter Stephanie in Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, Reiko in Akai Hayate, Lady Manthrum in Hayou no Tsurugi, Yoshie in Shibuya Honky Tonk, a newscaster in Junk Boy, and Android 1025 in Oz, all Orphan releases.
• Mizusawa Jun (Amy, Dick's "pet," ep 2) played Sakakibara Miyuki in Sotsugyousei, an Orphan release, and appeared in Android Ana Maico 2010.
• Tsujitani Kouji (Lt. Smith) played the title role in the Captain Tylor franchise and the lead role in the 3x3 Eyes OVAs. He also played Takei in Sotsugyou: Graduation, Honda in Bakuen Campus Guardress, Guy in Ai no Kusabi, Homare in Okane ga Nai, Shou in Condition Green, Saburou in Kasei Yakyoku,(the northern tribe's leader in Michite Kuru Toki no Mukou ni, Kotarou in Genji, Part 1, and Seishirou in Yuukan Club, all Orphan releases.
• Ootaki Shinya (Major Jones) played Beat in Scoopers. He appeared in Shibuya Honky Tonk, Aoki Honoo, Wolf Guy, Elf ,17, Hoshizora no Violin, Gakkou no Yuurei volume 1, and Hi-Speed Jecy, all Orphan releases.

Some of the animation was done by a first-line company, J.C. Staff. The director, Asami Takashi, also did the storyboards.

The original English translation is credited to "Tokyo Rose," a pseudonym for a translator with many hentai credits. Perevedodildo translation checked and timed. I edited and typeset. Paul Geromini and Muzussawa QCed. The raw is from Proxyman, ripped and encoded from a Japanese laserdisc. It includes two AMVs and a promo. Both episodes have a longer version of the OP song, "Really Serious," set to a montage of highlights. The second episode has a promo for itself.

It wouldn't be correct to call the original version of Nessa no Wakusei a censored version of Bondage Queen Kate; the latter is an augmented version of the former. Even without the extra scenes, Nessa no Wakusei contains a plethora of nudity, sex, and BDSM content and is totally NSFW. If you can live without the inserted explicit scenes and would like to watch the show with better video quality, you can get this release from the X-rated side of the usual torrent site.

Botchan (1986)

Seishun Anime Zenshuu (translated as Animated Classics of Japanese Literature for its English release) is a 1986 anthology series that retold well-known stories from modern Japanese literature. It's very much in the mold of its contemporaries, the World Masterpiece Theater series. Most of the 34 episodes were standalone, although there were a few two- and three-parters. The show was licensed by Central Park Media, but the English version was left incomplete when CPM went bankrupt. Only twelve episodes were released on DVD:

• Episode 1: The Izu Dancer by Kawabata Yasunari. 
• Episodes 2,3: The Sound of Waves by Mishima Yukio.
• Episodes 7,8: Botchan by Souseki Natsume.
• Episode 10: The Dancing Girl by Ougai Mori.
• Episode 14: Growing Up by Higuchi Ichiyou.
• Episode 16: A Ghost Story by Lafcadio Hearn.
• Episode 20: Season of the Sun by Ishihara Shintarou.
• Episodes 25,26: The Harp of Burma by Takeyama Michio.
• Episode S1 (33): Student Days by Kume Masao.

This time, we're releasing a two-part adaptation of Botchan. It's based on a wildly popular 1906 autobiographical novel by Souseki Natsume. The novel was adapted for the movies at least five times. It was also adapted as an anime in 1980; Orphan released that version in 2020.

The protagonist is a Tokyo resident and a recent college graduate. He is not named; his faithful old servant, Kiyo, calls him "Botchan" (young master). He accepts a job teaching mathematics at a boarding school in Matsuyama, Shikoku, which is about as far away from Tokyo as you can get in Japan.

He immediately gives all his colleagues nicknames:

• The slippery principal is "Tanuki"
  
  
  
  
  
• The flannel-wearing vice principal is "Red Shirt"
  
  
  
  
  
• Red Shirt's obsequious hanger-on, Yoshikawa, is "Buffoon" (nodaiko, field radish)
  
  
  
  
  
• The bluff head math teacher, Hotta, is "Porcupine" (yama arashi, which also means "mountain storm")
  
  
  
  
  
• The timid English teacher, Koga, is "Unprepared" (uranari, unripe gourd)

and so on. Botchan has had no training as a teacher, and his students tease him for his Tokyo accent, his gargantuan appetite, and his love of hot springs. 

When they place locusts in his futon, Red Shirt lies to him and tells him Hotta instigated the prank. 

Our hot-headed hero promptly breaks off relations with Hotta.

Later, Botchan finds out the truth: Red Shirt is a conniving liar. The vice principal has stolen Koga's beautiful fiance and is trying to get rid of Hotta. 

He even frames Botchan and Hotta when they try to stop a fight between their students and the normal school students. The two conspire to expose Red Shirt's hypocrisy by catching him in flagrante delicto with a geisha. Ultimately, they deliver rough justice to the vice principal and leave town. 

Botchan returns to Tokyo and the comfort of his old retainer, Kiyo.

I've already worked on this story once, and I liked the 1980 TV special better than this one. It has better character designs, livelier animation, and a lot more comedy. This version of Botchan is straightforward, almost pedestrian, like all the adaptations in the Animated Classics series. It is also much shorter; it omits the story of the protagonist's life before he leaves for Matsuyama.

A couple of translation notes.

• Localization of the nicknames can be iffy. The R1 subs used "Weakling" for Koga, which seems rather harsh. Uranari connotes unripe or not ready; hence, "Unprepared." The kanji for Hotta's nickname actually precludes "Porcupine," but it was used in older translations. Orphan's earlier version used the romanized Japanese.
• Normal schools (shihan gakkou) were teacher training schools that eventually became broad-based educational institutions.

The voice actors include:

• Yasuhara Yoshito (Botchan) played Scarecrow in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (TV), Ranze's father in Tokimeki Tonight (which Orphan finished), and Louis XVI in The Rose of Versailles. He starred as Kyousuke in Techno Police 21C and played the Black Night in Tobira o Akete and Yoshito in King Fang. All three are Orphan releases..
• Iizuka Shouzou (Hotta/Porcupine) played the Captain in The Sound of Waves and appeared in Yamato 2025, the What's Michael? OVAs, Neko no Midori, Rain Boy, and Hi-Speed Jecy, all Orphan releases. He played Lestrade in Sherlock Hound, Jumba in the Stitch! franchise, the wizard in The Wonderful Galaxy of Oz, and Humpty Dumpty in Alice in Wonderland.
• Nakamura Tadashi (Red Shirt) played Ahmad in Macro Polo no Bouken, Tetsuhara in the Kyojin no Hoshi franchise, and Quincy in Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 1940.
• Kamiyama Takuzou (Principal/Tanuki) appeared in Manxmouse, Bagi, and Prime Rose, all Orphan releases. He also played Greg Gates in Area 88, Shalulu in Castle in the Sky, Dracula in Dororon Enma-kun, Werewolf in the Kaibutsu-kun properties, Dayon in Osomatsu-kun, and Tinman in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
• Hase Sanji (Yoshikawa/Buffoon) played Shuunen in the Ikyuu-san properties, Kazuo in The Kabocha Wine, Nanako-san in the Kinnikuman franchise, and Cyborg 006 in Cyborg 009 (1979)
• Ogata Kenichi (Botchan's first landlord) played Yamada in It Rained Fire, a paper merchant in The Izu Dancer, the put-upon father in Maroko, Suzuki in Kigyou Senshi Yamazaki: Long Distance call, the crooked casino boss in Okane ga Nai!, the Hong Kong chef in Yuukan Club, Chichi's father in Chiisana Koi no Monogatari, the business chief in Okama Hakusho, Tadinori Tachimi, the Terayama family lawyer, in Asatte Dance, and the Narrator/Lord of Kaga in Oedo wa Nemurenai!, all Orphan releases. He also played Smee in Peter Pan no Bouken and Gran Torino in Boku no Hero Academia. However, he's best known to me as the voice of Ranma 1/2's Sataome Gemna, whose alter ego - the grumpy panda - is my avatar on most anime forums.
• Kyouda Hisako (Kiyo) played Minuet in Bremen 4, the Witch in Adachigahara, Yoshiko in the Black Jack segment of Kyoto Animation Theater, and the maid in Lunn Flies into the Wind, all Orphan releases. She also played Sawa in Mermaid Forest, Tama in Mushishi, Obaba in Nausicaa, Darkness in Peter Pan, Yoshi Tamazaki in Showa Monogatari, Rin in the Stratos 4 properties, and Magno Vivan in Vandread.
• Hayashi Kazuo (Koga/Weakling) played Yasuo Nanbu in the Yamato franchise and Gije Zaral in Space Runaway Ideon.
• Takizawa Kumiko (Madonna) played Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz (movie). She  played Elena in Techno Police 21C, Kanako's mother in Boyfriend, Susan the gangster in The Green Cat, and appeared in Raiyantsuuri no Uta, Fumoon, Makoto-chan, and Scoopers, all Orphan releases.
• Hanagata Keiko (Mrs. Hagino, Botchan's second landlord) appeared in Belle and Sebastian, Hajime Ningen Gyatoruz, A Little Princess Sara, and Shounen Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The director, Kondou Eisuke, also directed Gonbare Gonbe.

The original subtitles are from CPM's R1 release. Perevodildo translation checked. ninjacloud fixed the original timing. I edited and typeset. Paul Geromini and Nemesis QCed. The encoder for the series wishes to remain anonymous. CPM's mastering includes hardsubbed translations for some of the Japanese credits. They are incorrectly timed and don't line up with the Japanese credits, but as hardsubs, they can't be fixed. 

As I've already said, I think the 1980 version of Botchan is better, but this one is a lot shorter, so if you want to get the gist of the story, this version might be for you. You can get these episodes from the usual torrent site.

 

Kyuukyoku no Chef wa Oishinbo Papa

A new year, a new Okizari hentai release. This time it's the 1990 OVA Kyuukyoku no Chef wa Oishinbo Papa (The Ultimate Chef Is Gourmet Papa), based on a U-Jin manga. It shows his typical profile: comedy, schoolgirls, and fetishes. This is not quite the first English release, but it's the first one with a reasonably accurate translation.

The protagonist in Nishikata Kenzo, one-time private detective turned Chinese restaurant chef. 

However, that's just a cover for his true occupation: hitman for hire, specializing in avenging women who have been raped or abused.

His trademark is to serve part of criminal's anatomy to his client, as proof that he's succeeded. He's aided by his lovely young assistant Sai-chan, about whom he harbors dangerous fantasies, never acted upon.

The OVA abstracts a pair of stories, one short, one long, from the manga. In the first, Sai-chan lures an exhibitionist rapist into a fatal encounter with Kenzo's wickedly sharp carving knife. His junk ends up as a repast for the client. In the second, a woman named Akina hires Kenzo and Sai to save her younger sister from the clutches of Ikeno Koijiro, a villainous underboss of the Kuromon gang. Kenzo lures the yakuza into a pool filled with piranha. The villain tries to escape, but Kenzo pins his hands with a skewer and skins him alive. His back becomes sashimi for the client.

However, that's just the opening chapter of a longer story. The Kuromon gang is in league with a corrupt and perverted politician, Gotokuji Daizo, and numerous CEOs to set up a nationwide schoolgirl prostitution ring. (Kenzo is outraged about this, because they're hogging all the pretty girls.) Daizo hires assassins to go after Kenzo and Sai-chan. Kenzo barely survives his encounter with the Supreme Barber Technician Boy, but Sai-chan defeats her sukeban (delinquent) schoolgirl assailant. Kenzo then tickles the key information out of the second assassin. After that, Kenzo and Sai-chan decide to go after the Big Shots and take them down, in a welter of bloody action.

Kyuukyoku no Chef is old school hentai, more plot than sex scenes, and it actually requires some explanatory notes:

• Kenzo constantly introduces himself as "a man who can tell the difference." This is a parody of a long-running Nescafe Gold ad campaign that started in the 1970s, featuring men who "know the difference" in their fields of endeavor.
• "A carp is swimming up the waterfall, huh?" A reference to a Chinese proverb, "Even a carp is not strong enough to swim up a waterfall." The yakuza is named Koijiro (koi means carp), and he has a carp tattoo on his back. 
• Gotoku Daizo is involved in the "Lucrate Scandal," a stereotypical company name. 
• He's also involved with the so-called M-fund, an urban myth about supposed war loot confiscated by the American occupation and subsequently lost.
• When Kenzo tells Akina that she can't come along for the final battle, he calls her a shiroto, meaning a non-yakuza or layperson.
• When Kenzo wheels in the corpse of the gang boss, he calls him kurobuta (black pig), a pun on the gang name Kuromon (black gate). 

It's also notable for its animation mistakes:

• At 11:48, Sai-chan says to Akina, "Here's your tea." There's no tea. 
• At 22:22, there's a reaction shot to Barber Boy's "It's you!", but Kenzo isn't drawn in.
• At 33:34, three CEO's are supposedly shot with a spear to create an "evil three color dango skewer," but it's not actually shown; the three men are freeze-framed in a doorway.

There are no voice credits. I think Genzo is played by Chiba Shigeru, but I can't be sure. The director, Tomizawa Kazuo, mostly did animation.

ProxyMan got the ball rolling by providing an encode of his own Japanese laserdisc. Perevodildo translated, timed, did some of typesetting, and researched the references. I edited and did the rest of the typesetting. Paul Geromini and Muzussawa QCed. It is being released under the Okizari label as part of the ProxyMan project.

Kyuukyoku no Chef wa Oishinbo Papa is typical U-Jin: funny, sexy, gory, and preposterous. It has a fair amount of nudity, sex, and blood, so it's definitely NSFW. You can get the show from the NSFW side of the usual torrent site and, until January 31, 2026, IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news or irc.rizon.net.

The Old (Seeding) Order Changeth

Since late 2017, the Arutha foundation has provided Orphan with its torrent seeding and IRC XDCC bot capability. That means Orphan's releases have been continuously available, instead of frequently going unseeded or unavailable, as had been the case before then.

But all things must pass, and after more than 15 years of serving the anime community, the Arutha foundation is closing down. All its seed boxes and IRC XDCC servers will go offline on January 31, 2026. I want to thank the Arutha foundation, and its benevolent proprietor, for providing a safe, secure, highly available home for Orphan's releases. I wish them the best in their next endeavors. So long, my friend, and thanks for all the fish.

Accordingly, Orphan is switching to a new torrent seeding server, provided by and shared with our back-catalog comrades at Saizen. As of today, all the Orphan and Okizari torrents are being seeded from the new server, as well as the Arutha server while it remains online. However, there have been and will be changes.

1. When Orphan's releases required minor fixes, I often didn't bother to make a new torrent; instead, I just released a patch for the old one. However, the original files have long since disappeared, and only the v2 (or v3) is actually archived. Accordingly, I've had to make new torrents for a handful of releases. I've pointed out that these are not new, but simple remediation for my past laziness. If there are other patched releases that need updated torrents, please let me know.
2. The new seed box will not support XDCC. This is painful to IRC stalwarts like me, but in fact, IRC usage has been steadily declining, as the downloads from the Orphan|Arutha bot show. With a robust new seeding capability, all of Orphan's releases will remain available. If any release is not being seeded, please let me know.

If you are an IRC user, you have until January 31, 2026, to download whatever you want or need from Orphan|Arutha. After that, it is gone with the wind. 

The Orphan team will continue to serve you treasures and trash from anime's deep, dark past. Thanks for watching!

 

 

Hiroshima ni Chiban Densha ga Hashitta

A new year, a new Orphan release about the atomic bombings in World War II. This time, it's the 1993 NHK TV special Hiroshima ni Chiban Densha ga Hashitta (The First Tram Runs to Hiroshima). It's short - only 30 minutes - but like Natsufuku no Shoujo-tachi, its short length strengthens rather than vitiates its impact. Its another fine addition to Orphan's catalog of anime movies and specials about World War II. It centers around the Hiroshima tram system, which dated back to 1910 and was a vital transportation system for the city. By late in the war, middle-school girls had been drafted to take the place of male conductors, who had been sent to the arm or war factories.

The story focuses on three schoolgirls: Yayoi, a homesick girl trying not to run back to her mother, who works at an inn; Tsuki, the tallest and most mature; and Tae, a cheerful girl who believes in "first come, first served." 

The girls live in a dormitory near the tram yards and attempt to mix work and schooling, but they're always too tired to stay awake in the classroom.

Life is fairly routine. There's never enough food or sleep, but they're basically living normal lives... until August 6th.

The atomic bombing flattens much of Hiroshima and kills 100,000 people, or more.

108 of the 123 trams are destroyed or damaged. 185 employees of the tram company are killed. The girls suffer representatives fates: one killed, one burned, one untouched and plagued by survivor guilt. Yet three days after the bombing, the tram system is partially restored, and the first trams began running, a symbol of the hope for Hiroshima's recovery. 

Two of the trams that survived have been restored and are still running today.

Like many atomic bombing narratives, Hiroshima ni Chiban Densha ga Hashitta skips lightly over the bombing itself and the brutal human cost, when many of the survivors succumbed to radiation poisoning. This airbrushing of the horror is common in media portrayals. The Japanese didn't want to scare their wartime population, and the American occupation authorities censored or prevented accurate reporting for six years. For that reason, the best way to understand what happened is not anime or movies, but the printed word: John Hersey's 1946 understated and devastating book, Hiroshima. Even eighty years later, its impact remains undiminished and undeniable.

The credits for this show are very sparse. The voice actors appear to be a mix of anime seiyuu and live-action actors, and the roles they played are not specified:

• Yoshida Rohiko played the title role in Majokko Megu-chan and Maicchingu Machiko-sensei, Monsley in Future Boy Conan, Maria Grace Fleed in UFO Robo Grendizer, Michiru in Getter Robo, Clara Sesemann in Alps no Shoujo Heidi, Rosalie Lamorliere in The Rose of Versailles, and Kurama in Urusei Yatsura. She appeared in numerous other World Masterpiece Theater series, including  Anne of Green Gables, Honoo no Alpen Rose, Katry the Cow Girl, Shoukoushi Cedie, Lucy May of the Southern Rainbow, Marco: 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother, Perrine, and Pollyanna. She played Holy Mother in Gude Crest, Sozu in Nayuta, Takako in Sugata Sanshiro, Deborah in Tezuka Osamu's Tales of the Old Testament, and Diaochan in the first Sangokushi movie, all Orphan releases.
• Chiba Shigeru played Megane in the Urusei Yatsura franchise and Nezumi in later GeGeGe no Kitarou movies. He played the title role in Kigyou Senshi Yamazaki: Long Distance Call and appeared in Ai no Kusabi, Akai Hayate, Bagi, Condition Green, Tsuyoshi Shikkari Shinasai: Tsuyoshi no Time Machine de Shikkari Shinasai, and Yamato.
• Ohara Junko was a singer.
• Yoshimura Miki was a model and actress.
• Ohara Jouko was a film actress.

The show was directed by Hirata Toshio, an industry veteran who started at Toei and then worked at Mushi Pro. Hirata directed two Unico movies, Barefoot Gen 2, Hi no Tori: Yamata Chapter, Natsufuku no Shoujo-tachi, and Grimm Douwa: Kin no Tori. The last two are Orphan release. It was written and produced by NHK and animated by Madhouse.

Perevodildo found the DVD ISO, translated, and timed. Paul Geromini edited. I QCed and typeset. Uchuu also QCed. The encoder wished to remain anonymous but left these notes:

The source is very good, with only very minor anti-aliasing, dehaloing, derainbowing, and chroma noise removal applied. VFR to preserve smooth motion of the intro/outro scrolling credits. I've also tightened up the DVD chapter timings as well.

Despite it's brief runtime, I thought the storyboard for this feature was well structured, giving near equal time to both the Before and After periods of the pivotal moment, allowing each to breathe. The production studio also made conscious efforts to render in the ruins of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall (Genbaku Dome) as it still stands until now.

With lawless warlords running rampant around the world, including in my own country, Hiroshima ni Chiban Densha ga Hashitta is a timely reminder of what's at stake when war and destruction are unleashed. It's short and on point. It has a guardedly hopeful ending, but that hope built on a mountain of dead. You can get the show from the usual torrent site and, until January 31, 2026, from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.