The Relentless Pursuit of (Analog) Perfection

As readers of my blog (or my comments on BakaBT) know, I have been highly skeptical of the seemingly endless "one-upping" of digital media encodes. Each new release claims to have better this or less that, when all I see is ever increasing bloat. Thus, it gives me a queasy feeling to find that Orphan may be doing something similar with its analog encodes, with v2s and maybe v3s and v4s.

Some of this is understandable. Orphan started off using Internet sources for almost everything. As the team got access to original media, it was natural to encode the new media and release a new version (for example, Kage, Kakyuusei 1995, A Girl, Tsuki ga Noboru made ni). Sometimes, a title was released in higher definition on streaming media or even Blu-ray (for example, Dallos, I am Son Goku, Techno Police 21C, the Animerama titles). However, technology improvements in capturing and encoding analog sources provide endless opportunities for releasing better raws - the encoding equivalent of Editor's Remorse.

For Orphan's laserdisc projects, the evolution has been from good lossy capture to fully lossless capture of the RF output - an enormous leap forward.

• Good lossy capture was done with a high-quality, near professional setup.
• Encoding has been improved by using color calibration discs to set color levels.
• The Domesday Duplicator allows for capture of the RF output - as close to an archival level transcription as possible.

The first results from the Duplicator are pretty impressive, although the processing software is still rough around the edges. There are now Duplicator setups in both the US and Japan.

For Orphan's VHS projects, the evolution has been from bad lossy capture to better lossy capture to lossless capture:

• Bad lossy capture was done with an S-VHS recorder into an el-cheapo USB capture device. It frequently lost sync and could not cope with copy protection.
• Better lossy capture was done with a D-VHS recorder that produced a digital output on Firewire. However, the built-in compression seemed to play havoc with scene transitions, which appeared to smear over multiple frames.
• Fully lossless capture is done with an ancient All in Wonder card on an equally ancient XP system. It throws the entire burden of cleaning up the capture on software, which has a much wider array of filters and fixers available than the hardware would.

The first trials of lossless capture are out for encoding now. If it produces significant results, we could be redoing almost all of our VHS releases.

So where does the possibility (or threat) of endless versions come from? The Duplicator hardware appears to be the definitive answer for capturing laserdiscs and is quite stable. However, the Duplicator software has endless possibilities for improvement. Some of the roadmap is already known - decoding digital audio, decoding analog audio with noise reduction, implementing a 3D-comb filter, implementing IVTC. After that, who knows? Oil companies have reprocessed their seismic shot data from the 1950s almost every decade, as computers and algorithms have improved, and they keep finding new features of interest. I think (or fear) this may be this case with the Duplicator laserdisc captures.

For VHS tapes, the promise (or threat) is something like the Duplicator for VHS tapes - that is, a device that would capture the output of the helical scan read head directly. Because tape reading is a contact sport, the quality of the capture would still depend on the quality of the deck (and the tape, of course). However, this technique would bypass the analog electronics in the VHS deck and allow for advanced signal processing techniques to be applied. This has already been demonstrated with computer tapes, where oversampling using modern read heads and application of advanced signal processing techniques has allowed data to be recovered despite print through, tape stretch, and other physical blemishes.

For me and the other members of the Orphan team, the dilemma posed by all these opportunities is where to draw the line and make a new release. The laserdisc Duplicator software is almost there - all it really needs is reasonable audio decoding. Old captures that were done with the wrong frame rates (like Tomoe ga Yuko) or uncalibrated color compensation are prime candidates for new captures and encodes. The VHS situation is more fluid. We still don't know whether lossless capture really improves the results enough to matter. It's certainly better than the Internet VHS raws we've used (like Meisou-ou Border).

So I must beg our faithful followers - all ten of you - for forbearance as Orphan revisits its sins of the past and tries to make amends. The digital side of the equation is straightforward. The team now has DVD ISOs for Amatsuki (the DmzJ raws are at the wrong frame rate) and Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 2 (the aF raws are corrupt and R2E to boot), and at some point we'll make new encodes and re-release. The analog side, though... the sky's the limit. Unfortunately.

Manxmouse

Paul Gallico was an American-born author who lived in England (and other parts of the world) and wrote popular fiction for both adults and children. His best known works include Mrs. 'arris Goes to Paris and its sequels, The Snow Goose, Love of Seven Dolls, and The Poseidon Adventure. The last two were adapted into smash movies, namely, Lili (1953) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972). He wrote several very popular stories about cats, including The Silent Miaow and Thomasina, The Cat Who Thought She Was God, which was also made into a a movie. His 1968 children's novel, Manxmouse, was a childhood favorite of J. K. Rowling. It was adapted in 1979 as a Nippon Animation TV special with the title Tondemo Nezumi Daikatsuyaku (The Great Adventures of an Outlandish Mouse), or more simply, Manxmouse. It was dubbed into English, with different songs and a somewhat altered script. This is the first subtitled version in English.

Manxmouse tells the story of a ceramic mouse created by a tipsy potter. The mouse has no tail, long ears, and powerful hindquarters. Hence, its creator calls it a Manx Mouse, by analogy with a Manx Cat. At some point, the mouse comes to life. Because it was created rather than born, it has no mouse-like instincts; in particular, it has no fear. During its travels, the mouse meets many creatures and people, including a shape-shifting ghost that is baffled by a creature without fear; a hawk that thinks it's an airplane pilot; a young schoolgirl, who gives the mouse a formal name (Harrison G. Manxmouse); a runaway circus tiger named Burra Khan; an unscrupulous pet shop owner, who wants to sell Manxmouse for a fortune; and finally the legendary Manx Cat himself, which, according to the Book of Doom, is destined to eat Manxmouse in a single bite.

Needless to say, all ends happily, as is only proper in a G-rated children's cartoon.

Manxmouse presented unusual translation issues, most of which can be summed up in a single question: where the Japanese dialog and the original English text differ, which should be followed? For better or worse, most of the Japanese dialog is translated as is, with one significant exception: the name of the main character. In Japanese, the mouse is called Tondemo Nezumi (Outrageous Mouse). I've stuck with Manxmouse; the Japanese localization obscures the main joke (a tailless mouse is a Manx Mouse). Otherwise, the Japanese dialog prevails.

• In the book, the mouse starts life in the village of Buntingdowndale. In the movie, this became Tanizoko-don, translated as Gorgebottom. (The dub uses Dondowndale.)
• In the book, the shape-shifting ghost is called a Clutterbumph. In the movie, it has a name, Dororon, simply transliterated.
• In the book, neither the potter nor Burra Khan's trainer have names, and the greedy pet shop proprietor is Smeaton rather than Benten.

When the mouse is being referenced as an instance of the mythical breed or species of tailless mice, it is called a Manx Mouse. When it is addressed by name, it is Manxmouse. On the other hand, a Manx Cat is always Manx Cat, whether general or the specific individual Thomas R. Manx Cat. That's how the book does it; go figure.

The voice actors mostly predate current anime.

• Masako Nozawa (Manxmouse) is a legend. She played the leads in 30000 Miles Under the Sea, The Adventures of Gamba, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry no Bouken, Billy Inu nan demo Shoukai, and Hey! Bumboo. She was Enma-kun in the original Dororon Enma-kun, Son Goku in the original Dragonball, and Kitarou in the original 1968 and 1971 versions of GeGeGe no Kitarou as well as Hakaba Kitarou. Even though her first role was in 1965, she is still active, appearing as Obaba in Ping Pong the Animation, Madame Curie in Marie & Gali, and of course, Medama Oyaji in the current version of GeGeGe no Kitarou. She won a lifetime achievement award in 1997.
• Ryuji Saikachi (Meyer the tipsy potter) played Nurarihyon in the 1968 and 1971 versions of GeGeGe no Kitarou. He also appeared in Sangokushi 2 (1986), an Orphan release.
• Nagai Ichirou (Dororon) starred in numerous shows, playing grandfather Jigoro in Yawara!, the off-the-wall narrator in Gosenzosama Banbanzai!, Professor Hajime in Queen Millennia, and Happosai in the Ranma 1/2 franchise. He appeared in Nora, Hidamari no Ki, Yuukan Club, and Yamato 2520, all Orphan releases.
• Kazuko Sugiyama (the school girl, Wendy H. Troy) played Heidi in Heidi, Girl of the Alps, Akane in the Dr. Slump franchise, Maria in The Royal Tutor, and Ten in Urusei Yatsura.
• Teiji Oomiya (the tiger, Burra Khan) appeared in both Speed Racer and the original Doraemon.
• Kihara Shoujirou (Captain Hawk) had featured roles in Perrine, Space Runaway Ideon, and the City Hunter franchise.
• Kumakura Kazuo (Thomas R. Manx Cat) 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, Sima Hui in Sangokushi, and Inspector Unmei in Akuma Tou no Prince: Mitsume ga Tooru; the last two are Orphan releases.
• Ishizaka Kouji (Narrator) also provided the narration for Gallery Fake.

The director, Saitou Hiroshi, directed many World Masterpiece Theater series, including Heidi, Girls of the Alps, Katry, the Cow Girl, Lucy-May of the Southern Rainbow, and the first half of Perrine. The music and songs are forgettable faux-Disney.

Moho Kareshi did the original translation. laalg checked the dialog and translated the songs. ninjacloud timed. I edited and typeset (very little to do there). BeeBee and Nemesis QCed. Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions encoded from a Japanese laserdisc that Iri purchased in Japan. The source isn't great, but it seems fairly unlikely that Manxmouse will get a digital release.

Manxmouse is episodic and doesn't have much in the way of dramatic tension, but it is competently made and far less twee than the original book. You can pass a pleasant afternoon with Harrison G. Manxmouse and his friends, knowing that there will be lots of good company as well as tea and cookies. You can get Manxmouse from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

This is the last of our "creature features" for a while; no dogs, cats, or other critters in the backlog at the moment. You'll just have to make do with people.

Al Caral no Isan v2

Al Caral no Isan (The Legacy of Al Caral) is a 1992 science-fiction OVA. It is based on a one-volume manga by Michihara Katsumi, who also wrote Joker: Marginal City. Orphan released the first English version of the OVA in 2017. At that time, I wrote "The raw is from the Internet and could be better. If anyone has an original Japanese laserdisc (Al Caral was never released on DVD), please let us know." Eventually, the laserdisc turned up on the second-hand market in Japan. I bought it, and after a series of lengthy delays, it reached Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions. He made a new encode, and Orphan is now releasing an updated version based on his encode.

As usual, I won't rehash my comments from the original blog post. Back then, I thought Al Caral no Isan was an interesting take on the First Contact theme. Watching it again, I enjoyed it even more. I particularly like the way it steers clear of both the alien superiority and the human triumphalism tropes. Instead, it shows how arrogance, misunderstandings, and lack of empathy can come fatally close to undermining the best of intentions.

As I said in the original post, the voice cast is stellar.

• Hisakawa Aya (Shana) has had a prolific career. She played the title roles in Mamono Hunter Youko, Voogie's Angel, and Iria: Zeiram, Skuld in the Ah! My Goddess franchise, Cerberus in Card Captor Sakura, Sailor Mercury in the Sailor Moon franchise, Yuki in Fruits Basket, Haruka in RahXephon, Youko in The Twelve Kingdoms,and Storm in X-Men. She starred as Mishima Misako in Yume Tsukai and Koneko in Ear of the Golden Dragon, both Orphan projects.
  
• Tanaka Hideyuki (Harmer) has also had a long career, including featured roles as Jarvis in Daddy Long Legs, Terryman in the Kinnikuman franchise, and Rayearth in Magic Knight Rayearth. He also played Sammy in Bavi Stock, Katze in Ai no Kusabi, and Sawamura in Nozomi Witches, all Orphan projects. He will be appearing in the forthcoming Ultraman series.
• Orikasa Ai (Toryune) made her debut in Shoukoushi Cedie. She played the title role in Romeo no Aoi Sora, Sara in Eien no Filena (an Orphan project), Fee in Planetes, Seguchi Touma (the record company president) in Gravitation, Quatre in Gundam Wing, and Ryouko in the Tenchi Muyo franchise.
• Hori Hideyuki (Zach Isedo) played Sid in Ai no Kusabi, Falk Green in Hi-Speed Jecy, and Baraba in Eien no Filena, all Orphan projects. He played the title role in Baoh, Phoenix in the Saint Seiya franchise, and Tezuka Osamu himself in the Black Jack TV series.
• Satou Masaharu (the villainous Professir Jason) played numerous featured roles in the Dragonball, Dr. Slump, and Transformers franchises. He recently appeared in the current version of GeGeGe no Kitarou.
• Fujimoto Yuzuru (the sympathetic Professor Hanagi) played numerous featured roles over a career that spanned 50 years.
• Yamada Eiko (Vee) played Tarou in the Captain Tsubasa franchise as well as numerous other featured roles.

The music, by synthesizer player Kotaki Mitsuru, is repetitive and hypnotic.

Sunachan, the original translator, used this opportunity to punch up a few lines, and I fixed a few errors. Yogicat tweaked the timing for the new raw. I reset the signs and avoided editor's remorse as much as I could. BeeBee did QC for this version. The raw, encoded by Erik of Piyo Piyo productions from a Japanese laserdisc, is a significant improvement over the original, which had been given too much gamma correction and was washed out in bright scenes.

If you've already downloaded and watched Al Caral no Isan, this version is the one to archive. If not, I urge you to get to get it and immerse yourself in the story of the fateful first encounter between humankind and the Saanan. You can get Al Caral no Isan v2 from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #new on irc.rizon.net.

Akatsuki no Yona OADs

This release is a double pleasure: it completes an orphan series, and it allows me to revisit one of my favorite shows of all time, Akatsuki no Yona (Yona of the Dawn). I'm really pleased to announce the completion of the Akatsuki no Yona OADs (original animation discs). This project started in FFF (a terrific fansubbing group) but was shelved when the group went semi-comatose, with the first episode released, the second episode QC-ready, and the third fully translated. I was really unhappy about this because I had edited both the series and the OADs, and I had bought the OADs themselves out of pocket. When more than a year had passed with no activity, I asked the former leader of FFF for permission to finish the OADs in Orphan and release them. He graciously agreed, so now here they are, at last.

If you're not familiar with Akatsuki no Yona, then go watch the series first, because the OADs assume you know the characters and the story. (You can read my blog post on the original series as a cheat, but it's really not sufficient.) The first OAD is a side story adapted from a pair of chapters in volume 12 of the manga, "On That Back" and "Ki-ja." It tells some of the backstory for Ki-ja, the current White Dragon. The second and third OAD are a summary of volumes 21 and 22 of the manga and tell the backstory of Zeno, the Yellow Dragon, who was only introduced in the last episode of the TV series. The first is humorous and shows off the camaraderie of Yona's little band, but the second and third epitomize the traits that made the series itself such a standout: complex characters, power politics, and  an overarching, compassionate humanity.

A brief note on staffing.

• Translation: deltakei (all)
• Timing: Naine (ep1, ep2), Yogicat (ep3)
• Editing: Collectr (all)
• Typesetting: Eien (ep1), kme (ep2), kme and Collectr (ep3 - kme did the hard stuff)
• QC: FFF (ep1), BeeBee (all), Nemesis (ep2, ep3)
• Encoding: Eien (all)
• Raw acquisition: Skr (all)

Ep1 is basically the original FFF release with a few minor tweaks; ep2 was QCed in Orphan; ep3 was finished in Orphan from timing onward. Apportioning credit (or blame) is too complicated, so all three are joint FFF and Orphan releases. I want to thank everyone involved from both groups for bringing the project to fruition.

In the OADs, the core voice actors all have their moments to shine.

• Saito Chiwa (Yona) played leads roles in the Aria franchise, the Broken Blade franchise, Kokoro Toshokon, Read or Die (TV), Dears, Midori no Hibi, Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase, Sunabouzu, Brave Story, and the -monogatari properties, among numerous other roles.
• Maeno Tomoaki (Hak) played Abeno in both seasons of Fukijen no Mononokean, Saku in Sora no Manimani, Junichi in the Amagami SS properties, Touya in White Album, and Camus in the Uta no Prince-sama franchise. He appeared in Super Lovers, Sousei no Onmyouji, ACCA, Gakuen Babysitters, and many other recent series.
• Suwabe Junichi (Jae-ha, the Green Dragon) played Fuuma in the later X properties, Archer in the Fate Stay/Night franchise, Ren in the Uta no Prince-sama franchise, the titles roles in Cuticle Detective Inaba and Space Dandy, Yaichirou in Uchouten Kazoku, Worick in Gangsta, Hayama in the Shokugeki no Souma franchise, and Bonten in Amatsuki (an Orphan release), among many appearances.
• Morita Masakazu (Ki-ja, the White Dragon) played Ryuuji in the Ring ni Kakero properties, Keiji Maeda in the Sangoku Basara franchise, Barnaby in Tiger and Bunny, Tennouji in Rewrite, Satou in the Major franchise, and many other roles.
• Okamoto Nobuhiko (Sin-ha, the Blue Dragon) played the male lead in Persona: Trinity Soul, Asu no Yoichi, Yumekui Merry, Mayo Neko Overrun, Sekaichi Hatsukoi, the Ao no Exorcist franchise, Acchi Kochi, Hagure Yuusha no Aesthetica, Code: Breaker, and many other shows.
• Shimono Hiro (Zeno, the Yellow Dragon) starred as Hiro in ef: A Tale of Memories, Jin in Kannagi, Tetsu in Cencoroll,  Haruka in Yosuga no Sora, Ryuuji in Dragon Crisis, Hayao in 30-sai no Hoken Taiiku, You in Ben-tou, Seki in Tonari no Seki-kun, Jirou in DAYS, Jean in ACCA, Popuko in Pop Team Epic, and numerous other show.
• Minagawa Junko (Yun) starred as Shingo in Uninhabited Planet Survive, Thoma in Fantastic Children, Ritsuka in Loveless, Ryouma in the Prince of Tennis franchise, Ren in Super Lovers, and lots of other roles.
• Kobayashi Yuusuke (Su-won) only appears briefly in the epilogue. He starred in Selector Infected WIXOSS, Nozo x Kimi, Shimoneta to Iu Gainen, Comet Lucifer, Witch Craft Works, Arslan Senki (2016), Bubuki Buranki, Imouto sea Ireba Ii, Re: Zero, Gundam Build Divers, and many other recent series.

The director, Yoneda Kazuhiro, also directed the most recent Hoozuki no Reitetsu series. The spare and sometimes haunting background music is by Ryou Kunihiko, who wrote the scores for other fantasy epics, including The Twelve Kingdoms, Saiunkoku Monogatari, and Tegami Bachi.

One translation note: the ending song in episode 2 includes a brief prelude, first heard in episode 24 of the TV series. It is not in Japanese. Some online sources believe it is Chinese and have provided a translation on that basis, but Mandarin speakers I've consulted are uncertain. So the prelude has been left untranslated, just as in the TV series.

Is this the (anime) end for Yona and her merry band? I'm very much afraid that it is. There's more than enough manga material for another 24 episodes, but there's no sign of a sequel. Shoujo epics are out of fashion, I guess. Meanwhile, you can get the Akatsuki no Yona OADs from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.