The Dallos special is an edited compilation of the four episode OVA series. Like most compilation specials, if you've seen the original show, you don't need to watch the special. However, the Japanese (but not the US) version of the special has one unique feature: it includes the so-called "pilot film," a five minute series of clips and sketches that supposedly provides the background for the show.
The excisions made in the special to compress the running time from roughly 110 minutes to 83 are not serious. Mostly, the cuts eliminate dangling plot threads and complexities, such as the mystery around Shun Nonomura's older brother Tatsuo and the Bartholemew incident; the political intrigue against Alex Riger by the Vice-Consul and shadowy players back on Earth; and the role of Earth's army in the climactic showdown. However, the cuts exacerbate the jumpiness of some of the transitions, which was already a problem in the original OVAs.
A different sort of issue is the pilot film. While it is supposed to supply background, it actually differs in significant respects from the OVAs.
- In the pilot film, the lunar city is called Genesis. In the OVAs, it is Monopolis.
- In the pilot film, the Moon is ruled by a small upper-class elite called "scholars." In the OVAs, it is ruled by a more traditional colonial government, headed by a Consul.
- In the pilot film, the conflict among the lunar settlers is between the first- and second-generations. In the OVAs, it is between the first- and second-generation settlers and the third-generation settlers.
- In the pilot film, Dallos was built by the settlers. In the OVAs, it was built by the first scientists to land on the Moon, or perhaps even earlier.
The pilot film actually confuses rather than explains what's going on in Dallos. That's probably why it was left out of the US version of the special.
I pasted the script for the special together from the high-definition release of the OVAs. Yogicat retimed the script for the inevitable digital-to-analog discrepancies, and I did a release check. Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions encoded from his own Japanese laserdisc. Compared to either version of the OVAs (DVD or HDTV), the video in the specials looks rather washed out, and the sound quality is not as good either. Well, it is a laserdisc.
There really wasn't a compelling reason to sub the special, but I wanted to practice my script detective and pasting skills as a warmup to the much harder task of putting together the scripts for AWOL Compression Remix from the AWOL TV series. That promises to be much trickier, because the TV episodes were not only cut but also rearranged sequentially. So don't hold your breath for that one.
If you'd like to watch the Dallos special, you can get it from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net. Even better, you can watch everything in the Dallos special, and more, by purchasing the DVD.
Here's another lost, offbeat OVA, 1987's Katte ni Shirokuma (Whatever, White Bear). Iri picked it up from an auction site during one of his shopping forays for used Japanese laserdiscs. Eventually, the disc made its way to Erik, who ripped it and released the raw. Now, Orphan has subtitled it for an English-speaking audience.
The title of the OVA is a bit of a puzzler. The Japanese title, かってにシロクマ, is partly hiragana and partly katakana. It is often translated as The "Something" Polar Bear, where the Japanese adjective かって might mean curious, whimsical, or selfish. シロクマ (shirokuma) is literally "white bear," but because the only white bear most Japanese know is a polar bear, the word also means that. However, the lead character, Shiro, is not a polar bear; he's an albino (white) brown bear. So a better reading of the Japanese might be Katte ni Shiro Kuma. This exposes another ambiguity. "Katte ni Shiro" means "Do What You Want," so when merged with "Shiro Kuma," the title is a joke, meaning "Do What You Want, White Bear." Based on Yogicat's pithy suggestion, we've shortened it to "Whatever, White Bear." Your mileage may vary.
Katte ni Shirokuma tells the story of an animal family consisting of a mother bear, albino cub Shiro, normal cub Dai-chan, and an adopted baby boar. While the mother and Dai-chan have normal spoken lines, Shiro uses non-verbal vocalizations, and the boar can only say "uri" (hence his name, Uribo, or Uri boy). They lead a placid life in the mountains. As the show opens, the mother bear is trying to teach her youngsters how to catch fish by batting them out of a swift-flowing stream. Dai-chan catches on at once. However, Shiro and Uribo are constantly distracted by the sights around them: birds, insects, and in particular, a turtle. The two goof-offs pursue the turtle into the stream, and Mom and Dai-chan go after them. The whole family is swept downstream. There, they start finding strange "rocks" and "animals," which are actually human artifacts - a knife, a TV, a costume jewelry crown. Reaching a cliff, they find a human city, devoid of life. They explore for a while and, after adventures both comic and macabre, eventually return to the mountains.
Ohara Noriko (Mom) had a long career starting in the 1960s. She played the title roles in Future Boy Conan and Arabian Nights: Sindbad no Bouken, Nobita in the Doraemon franchise (through 2004), and Oyuki in the Urusei Yatsura properties. Mizushima Yuu (Dai-chan) played the heroine's love interest, Makabe Shun, in Tokimeki Tonight (an Orphan release), Roland Chappelle in Shokugeki no Souma, and many other featured roles. Shou Mayumi (Uribo) made her debut in Cream Lemon, played Gannet in Hoshi Neko Full House (an Orphan release), and has also had an extensive career in featured roles. Nagira Kenichi (Shiro) mostly worked outside anime; his only other anime credit is Kappa no Coo to Natsuyasumi. The director, Sasagawa Hiroshi, has directed numerous science fiction and fantasy shows, including the original Time Bokan series, Tokimeki Tonight, Kennel Tokorazawa (an M74 release), and Bremen 4 (a joint Orphan-M74 release).
Moho Kareshi did the initial translation; Sunachan checked it and translated the ending song and additional signs. ninjacloud timed, I edited and typeset, and Calyrica and Nemesis did QC. Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions encoded from a Japanese laserdisc. The release uses ordered chapters in order to isolate an unrelated bonus at the end - a preview for the Appleseed OVA, which is not translated. If your player supports ordered chapters, it will play only Katte ni Shirokuma; you can access the Appleseed preview
as the second "edition" in the file. If your player does not support
ordered chapters, it will play the main OVA followed by the preview,
without a break.
Katte no Shirokuma is a fine watch, a welcome addition to Orphan's growing menagerie of critter-centric shows. You can get the Three Bears, plus the boar, from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.
So here's the granddaddy of them all, the 1992 BL OVA Zetsuai 1989. While not the first BL anime (the first volume of Ai no Kusabi preceded it by six months), Zetsuai is arguably the most influential in setting the style and tone (angst-ridden, intense, and operatic) of early BL shows.
Zetsuai is a compound word, meaning "desperate love," although the author preferred "everlasting love" as the translation. It tells the story of two teenagers, womanizing superstar singer Nanjou Kouji and soccer prodigy Izumi Takuto. Both come from damaged backgrounds. Nanjou is a running away from a loveless but highly successful family; he was a gang leader before he became a singer. Izumi is hiding from early abuse; his mother killed his father and attacked him as well.
The two meet by coincidence (or fate). After a night of barhopping, Nanjou passes out in the street. Izumi takes him home and nurses him back to health. Nanjou realizes that Izumi is the soccer player he saw and fell in love with six years earlier, although at the time, Nanjou thought the player was a girl. Nanjou becomes obsessed with Izumi and inserts himself into Izumi's life, eventually confessing his love. All this is accompanied by numerous melodramatic incidents, including life-threatening illnesses, near-fatal accidents, and stabbings and self-mutilation. Despite the operatic tone, the fat lady never sings; that had to wait for the sequel, Bronze: Zetsuai since 1989.
Hayami Shou (Nanjou) has had many featured roles, including Iason's friend Raoul in Ai no Kusabi, Hojo in Sanctuary, Pat Leivy in Starship Troopers, and Junoichi in Blazing Transfer Student, all Orphan releases. He is still active, recently playing Popuko in Pop Team Epic. Koyasu Takehito (Izumi) is reputed to be the most prolific voice actor currently active, with more than 365 roles under his belt. He played Doujima Gin in Shokugeki no Souma, Thirteen in Grimoire of Zero, Dio in Jojo's Bizarre Adventures, the title role in Master of Mosquitron, Fool in Elegant Yokai Apartment Life. He also appeared in Yamato 2520 and Yuukan Club, both Orphan releases. Yamaguchi Kappei (Shibuya, Nanjou's "minder") has played Ranma in the Ranma franchise, Inuyasha in all the Inuyasha properties, Kudou Shinichi in the Conan franchise, Usopp in the One Piece franchise, Sakuma Ryuichi in Gravitation, Arslan in the first OVA series, the title role in Mouse, and many other roles. Nishihara Kumiko (Serika, Izumi's sister) has appeared in Dragon Fist and Blazing Transfer student, both Orphan releases. The score, including the instrumental opening and ending, is by the peerless Kenji Kawai and is very effective. The songs are IMHO not as good; they're very similar to the ones in Cathexis.
Contrary to AniDB, Zetsuai 1989 was never released on DVD. The most commonly available fansub release, by aarinfantasy, was probably done from a laserdisc rip packaged in a DVD ISO format. As a result, it has the wrong aspect ratio (too wide). This makes the characters appear more realistic than they are. The character designs are, in fact, very angular and spindly, which was quite controversial when the show first came out.
The Orphan release is based on a new encode, ripped by Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions from his own Japanese laserdisc. Erik also provided the original Lupin Gang Anime subtitle scripts, which formed the basis for Orphan's script. Yogicat transcribed the aarinfantasy release, and a few lines from that script were interpolated in the LGA script. Sunachan translation-checked the dialog and the songs; these changes were extensive. M74 timed; I edited and typeset; and Calyrica and M74 did QC.
Zetsuai 1989 was intended to be the first release in an ambitious project to redo the early hardsubbed BL shows. Because of various delays, it ended up being released after Cathexis and Ai no Kusabi. Its sequel, Bronze, is fully translated checked and should be done Real Soon™. Meanwhile, you can get Zetsuai 1989 from the usual torrent sites or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.
