Orphans Rejoice!

I deliberately held off on posting this until April 2, so it would not been construed as an April Fools' joke.

Love GetChu is finished at last, on the sixth anniversary of its initial broadcast.

Actually, I expected Love GetChu to be finished last year, when Oyatsu began releasing at a steady pace, starting with episode 16. But after December 15... silence. Their translator had vanished. The series was back on hiatus, yet again.

In sheer frustration, I went into the vaults of the now-dormant Yoroshiku Fansubs. In its second incarnation, Yoroshiku had intended to complete Love GetChu, and C1 Anime had generously given permission to use its script styling, karaoke, and workraws. However, Yoroshiku disbanded — for the second time — before the project really got off the ground, leaving behind unfinished scripts for episodes 14 and 15. I dug those out and began pestering my friends to pitch in. Former Yoroshiku colleagues helped with timing and QC, I did the editing and typesetting, and fairly soon I had watchable versions, providing a bridge between C1 (which stopped at episode 13) and Oyatsu (which began at episode 16). That still left episode 25.

For the next development, I have to detour briefly to another orphan project, Yawara. As I mentioned in a previous blog, the Yawara team has great chemistry and is making steady progress. The project took a hit in February when I was traveling for almost a month, but once again the episodes are progressing quickly. I appealed to my "Frozen-Evil" colleagues for help with the last episode of Love GetChu, and they graciously provided both translation and timing. So it's done. And there was much rejoicing.

In another promising development, Licca Fansubs and I decided to revive C1's incomplete fansub of Perrine Monogatari. It's a joint project between Licca, Kiteseekers, and Wasurenai. Perrine had been completely translated, but nothing was released after episode 34. Once again, C1 generously gave permission to use its translations and styles, which will preserve continuity through the 53 episodes. When Perrine is done, we may look at other incomplete projects in the C1 archives.

In yet another promising development, GotWoot and Doutei followed up the completion of Souten Kouro by adopting an orphan that many fansubbers regard as even more boring: Showa Monogatari. To call the series slow-paced is to insult snails and tortoises everywhere, but it's full of fascinating facts. Did you know, for example, that Japanese parents punished their children with moxibustion, i.e., placing burning pieces of mugwort on their bare bottoms? Opportunities for cross-cultural understanding lurk everywhere in anime.

In other news, BlueFixer released the final two OVAs for Black Jack and completed Aim for the Ace! ARR released a complete Hell Teacher Nube, both TV and OVAs, as well as many other rarities. Tipota released all of Groove Adventure Rave and Hakugei: The Legend of Moby Dick. There's no progress to report on Lime-iro Ryuukitan X, but Redone redid the first series (as Lime-Colored War Tales) from DVD sources. The DVD-only material puts a new spin on the hero and his harem: it's no longer possible to say that he's the usual, ah, ineffective male harem lead.

I've still got a long list of projects needing rescuing, so if you're delving into the back catalog, don't hesitate to give me a shout.

Next up: further reflections on the Hi10P transition; a look back at the Winter 2012 anime season.