We weren't really planning on doing the 1993 one-shot OVA Fantasia (English title, The Girl from Phantasia, possibly to avoid copyright issues with the Walt Disney film), but then Erik ripped the laserdisc of the show, and ics- happened to have a transcription of the English VHS subtitles, and one thing led to another. So here is an improved version of Fantasia, using a laserdisc encode instead of VHS, and with softsubs instead of hardsubs.
Fantasia is based on a five-volume manga of the same name by Nagano Akane, who doesn't have many other credits. It is unknown in the west. The manga came out between 1993 and 1996; the OVA seems to be a promotional piece for the first volume. It tells the story of one Ohtsuki Akihiro, a typically horny high-school student with nothing more serious on his mind than seducing his squeeze Miyuki. One day, he stumbles upon a beautiful discarded rug and takes it home, only to discover that it is the portal to the world of Fantasia (or Phantasia in the English version). The Knight Sentry or guardian of Phantasia is a beautiful, naive girl named Malon, who instantly concludes that Akihiro is the man of her dreams, which rather upsets Miyuki. Akihiro is willing to go along, but Malon's use of magic to get her way makes him angry, and he drives her off. Further complications ensue when the evil wizard Roll (son of Eclair) shows up to destroy Fantasia, while elf knights Short(cake) and Mont Blanc emerge to defend it. After suitable comic mayhem, there is a sort-of happy ending: happy for Malon, at least.
Note that all the Phantasian characters are named for desserts - Malon (or Maron; it's pronounced both ways) means chestnuts. Roll, Eclair, Short(cake), Mont Blanc, and "Brownie wizards" need no translation.
Furumoto Shinnosuke (Akihiro) has a fairly short resume; his best known role was playing Kunimi Hiro in H2. Yayoi Mitsuki (Malon) likewise has a short resume; her best known roles was Aira in Green Legend Ran. She also played Keith Winter's sister Maria in Condition Green, an Orphan release. Nanba Keiichi's, who gave an over the top performance as Roll the vengeful wizard, starred as Eizawa in Chameleon and Hongou in Nozomi Witches, both Orphan releases, as Koujiro in the Fuma no Koujiro OVA series, and as Momonari Junta in DNA^2. The director, Kamiya Jun, also helmed Seiikima II: Humane Society, an Orphan release, as well as Neo Ranga and the majority of episodes in Hikaru no Go.
We've used the R1 subs pretty much as is, although it's clear they're
rather liberal. ics- transcribed the VHS subtitles. Sunachan translated
the ending song. Yogicat retimed the subtitles. I edited and typeset; editing mostly meant excising the excessive number of exclamation marks.
Nemesis did QC and also toned down the most exaggerated parts of the
translation. The encode is by Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions, from his
own Japanese laserdisc.
So here is Fantasia (The Girl from Phantasia). It's mildly funny, goes by in a flash, and leaves no unpleasant aftertaste. There's plenty of fanservice but no nudity. You can get it from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.
Inferious Wakusei Senshi Gaiden Condition Green (War History of the Inferious Planets: Condition Green, or just Condition Green for short) is a 1992 science-fiction OVA series. It documents the attempts of evil Emperor Vince (Vince? seriously?) of planet Gazaria to conquer the other habitable planets in the Inferious Galaxy, specifically planet Emerald Earth. The Gazarians can deploy mighty armies of robot armored warriors and flying fighters, but their Ultimate Weapon is a mobile, self-aware fortress known as Moby Dick (Moby Dick? seriously?). As a countermeasure, the overmatched Emerald Earth military forms an elite special-operations squad, Platoon 801, code-named Condition Green, to stop the enemy.
Condition Green is led by a disillusioned major, Keith Winters. It includes Father George Garedean, a fighting priest and expert in guns and explosives; Edward Maclegan, a marksman and ladies' man; Shou Yazaki, a computer hacker; and Yan Novellum, a Yuronian pacifist with esper powers (and a light saber). The Yuronians are a homeless people; their home planet was destroyed sometime in the past. Yuronians can be found on both sides of the battlefield, which makes them objects of scorn to both the Gazarians and the people of Emerald Earth.
On the other side, the invasion force is led by Yent Skarr, who looks rather like a one-eyed elf. He is supported by the Frayley sisters, Paula and Liza, who provide most of the fanservice in the show. The Frayleys are Yuronians determined to show that their people can succeed at anything, even military conquest. Paula created the mobile fortress Moby Dick and is in love with Dyme, the personality (person?) inside its "Bioloid computer." Liza is determined to destroy Condition Green at any cost. Watching all this is the Emperor's representative Jado, a three-eyed alien with an agenda of his own.
The episode arcs are mostly the same. The Gazarians start some military gambit that threatens Emerald Earth with destruction. Condition Green is sent out to stop it, and after the usual hazardous adventures, including encounters with the luscious but deadly Liza Frayley, they succeed. However, Moby Dick is the ultimate Boss that Condition Green must face, and both friend and foe know it. Still, the show is not just Mission: Impossible in space. The war is shown realistically. There are terrible casualties, civilian and military, from the opening scenes. And the good guys do not emerge unscathed.
Nakamura Daiki (Keith Winter) had numerous featured roles in everything from hentai to children's shows. Hayami Sho (Yan Novellum) played Hojo in Sanctuary and Pat Leivy in Starship Troopers, both Orphan releases, as well as the lead, Kouji Nanjo, in Zetsuai 1989 and Bronze: Zetsuai Since 1989. Tsujitani Kouji (Shou Yazaki) played the lead role in the 3x3 Eyes OVAs and Guy in the original Ai no Kusabi. He also appeared in Yuukan Club, an Orphan release. Sakakibara Yoshiko (Paula) played Sir Integral Hellsing herself in the original TV series and the Ultimate remake, as well as Melinda Hearst in Dallos, an Orphan release.The director, Yamauchi Shigeyasu, also did Boys Over Flowers and Xenosaga, among other credits.
Iri started translating the series, and Sunachan finished it. ninjacloud timed the episodes. I edited and typeset. VigorousJammer and konnakude did QC (Calyrica and Xenath3297 QCed episode 1 in an earlier form). Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions encoded the show from his own Japanese laserdiscs. It has never been released in digital form.
Condition Green never really rises above its pulp sci-fi plot, and numerous plot threads are left hanging. Perhaps they are resolved in the drama CDs. Still, it's an entertaining ride (and NSFW in a few spots), and it's not a teaser for other media. You can find the release on the usual torrent sites or on IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.
Here's another anime music video or AMV, 1987's Purple Eyes in the Dark. It's based on an award-winning, 12-volume shoujo manga by Shinihara Chie about a teenage girl who finds she sometimes turns into a leopard, with appropriately bloodthirsty instincts.
There has never been an anime of this title; however, it has been made into a series of light novels and a live-action TV series.
The AMV is based on a pair of image albums for the manga, Purple Eyes in the Dark from 1985 and Purple Eyes in the Dark part 2 from 1987. Of the 17 songs on the two albums, seven are included in the AMV: two instrumentals, two in Japanese, and three in English:
- Destiny Again (instrumental)
- Mysterious Purple (English)
- Kizuna/Secret (Japanese)
- Tell Her Tonight (English)
- All By Myself (English)
- Set Me Free (instrumental)
- Lullaby of Twilight (Japanese)
Because there's no dialog, the AMV can't convey much, if any, of the plot. Fortunately, the complete manga has been scanlated into English by Aerandria Scans.
Purple Eyes in the Dark centers around four characters:
- Ozaki Rinko, a seemingly ordinary high-school girl who transforms into a large and powerful golden leopard when stressed or angry.
- Her boyfriend, Mizushima Shin'ya.
- Her biology teacher, the evil Sonehara Kaoruko, who wants Rinko for "experiments."
- Odagiri Mitsugu, a freelance reporter who can transform into a large black panther (not the superhero kind). He's on the prowl for a mate.
The AMV uses images, incidents, and actual panels from the manga, but not in chronological order.
The songs are fairly typical late 80s Japanese rock, with heavy, simplistic guitar riffs. The music is by Nitta Ichirou. He also did the music for Nanako SOS and Dallos. The English lyrics were written by Linda Hennrick, who was the go-to lyricist for English anime songs in this period. She also did songs for Starship Troopers, Area 88, Record of the Lodoss War OVAs, Armitage III, and the first City Hunter series. Two of the English songs are sung by Yamaguchi Yoshiko and are awkwardly pronounced, but the hymn to female (feline?) empowerment, All By Myself, is sung by US artists, Derek Jackson and the Purple Girls. It's the best song in the OVA, IMHO.
Although there are only two Japanese songs, the AMV has quite a few signs. This includes stills from the manga with dialog balloons, sometimes too small and blurry to read. Sunachan translated the songs and most of the signs (Aerandria's translations were used where the dialog was unreadable), ninjacloud timed, I edited and typeset, and Nemesis and Calyrica did QC. Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions encoded from his own Japanese laserdisc. Iri purchased Purple Eyes as part of a bloc buy of titles in Japan, but it turned out Erik already had it, so he sent the duplicate on to me. I can now amaze the young 'uns by showing them what optical discs looked like 30 years ago. Unfortunately, I can't play it, but it's real shiny.
Purple Eyes in the Dark is the fourth AMV Orphan has released (the other three are Cathexis, Rainbow Signal Hi-Fi Set, and Borgman Madnight Gigs). The team is going to take a break from the genre for a while, so enjoy this last one. You can get it from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net
As promised, here's the HD version of Tezuka Osamu's 1970 Animerama film, Cleopatra. I've already written extensively about this film and its companion "adult" anime, Senya Ichiya Monogatari. See the original blog entry for more information, particularly translation notes.
Cleopatra is not as good as Senya Ichiya Monogatari, and unlike the latter, it was a commercial failure in Japan. There are multiple problems: an unnecessary sci-fi framing story featuring anime heads superimposed on live-action bodies; a heavy-handed satire of American involvement in Vietnam; and a variety of set pieces that just don't come off, such as staging Caesar's assassination as kabuki theater. Cleopatra's actions and motivation are contradictory, changing to suit the needs of the plot. And the whole film is simply too long.
The film does have some rewards for its viewers. It abounds in references and easter eggs. For example, the characters from the original Osomatsu-kun series (1967) show up as bystanders during the Romans' entry into Alexandria:
Astroboy puts in an appearance too. Caesar's triumphal entry into Rome with Cleopatra has numerous parodies and references to famous artworks, including the Mona Lisa, Botticelli's The Birth of Venus, Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, Degas' ballerinas, and so on. Mark Anthony channels Napoleon:
The gags are endless. So is the mount of female flesh on display. Despite that, the sex scenes are very discrete. As in Senya Ichiya Monogatari, sex is sometimes portrayed by line drawings of sinuous curves intertwining and morphing, but there's nothing explicit. Butts (male as well as female) and boobs are as far as the film goes.
The voice actors are from a previous generation and don't have many modern anime credits. Nakayama Chinatsu (Cleopatra) played the lead in the Jaranko Chie TV series; she also narrated Kanashimi no Belladonna, the last Animerama film. Hana Hajime (Caesar) appeared on "live" TV shows. Nabe Osami (Anthony) played the lead character, Pero, in Puss 'n Boots Around the World in 80 Days. Nozawa Nachi (Octavian) has a much more extensive resume, including Black Jack in Bremen 4 and Marine Express and the lead character in the Space Adventure Cobra properties.
The music for both Senya Ichiya Monogatari and Cleopatra is by Tomita Isao, who scored many of Tezuka Osamu's early works. The soundtracks for these two movies are devilishly hard to find. The soundtrack for Senya is included in a five-CD box set of early Tezuka Osamu scores issued by Nippon Columbia in 2016. However, all I've been able to find of Cleopatra is a reissue of the EP single that included the insert song (Cleopatra no Namida) and the ending. If you have digital copies of either or both, please let me know.
The script has been updated only modestly from the original DVD release - a few more line breaks, improved credit typesetting, and that's about it. Yogicat timed to the new raw, I did the editing and typesetting updates, and VigorousJammer did a release check. Skr found the raw on a streaming site. It is a "720p" raw, but with the extreme aspect ratio of 2.35:1, the actual resolution is 1280x544.
So here's an HD version of Cleopatra, warts, or more accurately, boobs and all. You can get it from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net
Here's another Anime Music Video (AMV) from Erik's seemingly endless Collection of Laserdisc Goodness - Sonic Soldier Borgman: Madnight Gigs (1989). It consists of seven songs from the original Sonic Soldier Borgman. That series has never been fully translated into English, even though it has been reissued on Blu-ray. All seven (plus three others) are collected on the album Sonic Soldier Borgman: The Last Gig of the World. They are:
- Don't Look Back - first opening.
- Borg, Get On - insert song.
- Let's Spend the Night! - second opening (romaji, Yoru no Buttobase).
- Don't Stop Happy Rain - insert song (romaji, Yamanaide Happy Rain).
- Exhaust of Rage - insert song (romaji, Ikari no Exhaust).
- Tender - second ending.
- Forever - first ending.
Earthshaker, a popular Japanese heavy metal/hard rock band in the
early 80's, did the first OP and ED (Don't Look Back and Forever). Show-Ya was a women's band in the same genre. The two bands collaborated as "HIPS" for the second OP and ED (Let's Spend the Night and Tender).
The songs are Japanese 80s rock set to scenes from the series and follow the progression of the plot. The first five songs are full of action; the last two reflect the return of peace following the end of the conflict. In particular, the last song (Forever) has a montage about the characters' future lives. It's the true end of the series, and it wasn't included in the Blu-ray release. (Thanks to Jonathan for this information.) Thus, Madnight Gigs makes a unique contribution to the Borgman oeuvre.
Moho Kareshi translated most of the songs; Jonathan translated Let's Spend the Night! Yogicat timed, I edited and typeset, and Nemesis and VigorousJammer did QC. Erik, of course, encoded from his own Japanese laserdisc.
The treatment of English words, and English loan words, requires some explanation. Official lyrics are available, both on the laserdisc jacket and in the CD booklet. Where the lyrics have English words, they have been put in the romaji, with an initial capital letter. When the lyrics have katakana, the phonetic transcription has been used, even when the singer pronounces the English correctly. So the romaji lyrics have "moonraito" for moonlight, although the vocalist pronounces moonlight exactly right. Otherwise, I would have been making judgment calls on whether the English pronunciation is "good enough."
You can get Sonic Soldier Borgman: Madnight Gigs from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.
Tezuka Osamu's Animerama trilogy of "adult" anime - Senya Ichiya Monogatari (1969), Cleopatra (1970), and Kanashima no Belladonna (1973) - have long gotten a bum rap. They've been labelled as cartoon porn, derided as commercial failures, and generally ignored. That began to change with the 4K digital restoration and re-release of Belladonna. Now Senya Ichiya Monogatari and Cleopatra are getting Blu-ray releases, at least in the UK.
Nonetheless, the myths persist. The press stories on the forthcoming Blu-ray editions breathlessly repeat the same old half-truths:
- They're hentai! No, they're not hentai, despite the attempt by the US distributor to call them "X-rated cartoons." There's a plethora of topless women. There is sex, but it's always portrayed symbolically or discretely. Not a frame would need to be censored under current Japanese censorship laws, and in the US, they'd be rated "R" without a second thought.
- They were flops! Only in part. Senya Ichiya Monogatari was a commercial success in Japan and provided the money for Cleopatra. Cleopatra was not successful and bankrupted the fledgling Mushi Productions. Neither was successful in the US, and the English dubs are considered lost.
- They've languished in obscurity for almost 50 years! The movies have been available on DVD for twenty years, and competent (fansub) translations have been around for five.
Now Senya and Cleopatra have shown up as 720p effective resolution Web streams (1280 x 544 when the extreme wide screen aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is factored in ). In honor of that, Orphan Fansubs is releasing new versions of its DVD fansubs, starting with Senya.
When I first wrote about Senya and Cleopatra, I was pretty hard on them. I said that they were too long, the plots too discursive, the styles too variable. While those criticisms are valid, I feel more kindly about the films these days. Senya has the virtues and defects of later Tezuka Osamu "entertainments," like the annual NTV telethon specials, just with more fanservice. Yes, the plots meander all over the place, and the shows could have been shortened without much loss. However, the stylistic variability helps to keep them visually interesting. The individual set pieces are usually engaging. And there are frequent "easter eggs" to reward the movie buff. For example, in Senya, the titanic confrontation between the three-eyed giant and the equally gigantic bird Loplop is a direct tribute to the fight between King Kong and a pterodactyl in the original 1933 movie. Forbidden Planet's Id Monster makes a cameo appearance in Bander Book, as does Mr. Spock in Prime Rose.
This time around, I treated Senya Ichiya Monogatari more like a chapter book, taking it in small doses. (This makes sense, because the source material, 1001 Nights, is a set of stories set in a common frame rather than a novel with a continuous plot.) This helps to tame its extreme length and makes it possible to appreciate the scenes and set pieces individually.
VigorousJammer did a release check on the new script. Skr obtained the raw. I did the editing and typesetting updates, which were minor. Long lines have been broken
up to minimize eye strain. The dialog font has been changed for improved
readability. Although the resolution of the new release is not much
greater than the DVD release, the DVD release was an upscale, albeit a
good one. Your eyes may like this release better. Then again, they might
not.
You can get this release from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.
