Boyfriend OVA (Boyfriend v2)

As I mentioned in my original release post, the 1992 OVA/TV special Boyfriend had a complicated release history. It was released as a 110-minute OVA on two VHS tapes or one laserdisc. It was also released as an abridged, 94-minute TV special, on one VHS tape.

TOVA-1117 - TV special version 94 minutes
TOVA-1118 - OVA first half "The Encounter" 59 minutes
TOVA-1119 - OVA second half "The Promise" 51 minutes
TOLA-1131 - OVA first and second half, 110 minutes (laserdisc) 

Orphan's original release used the abridged TV version, as encoded from VHS tape by ARR. After a long delay, a team member was able to buy the laserdisc version. Accordingly, we're rereleasing Boyfriend, now a two-part OVA: The Encounter and The Promise.

As I wrote last year, Boyfriend is a fairly routine shoujo romance crossed with a sports anime. Yuuki, a girl with a weak heart, falls for Takatou, a rebellious but talented basketball player. Complicating matters, her childhood friend and quasi-fiancee, Nakatsugawa, is the coach of Takatou's basketball team. A player on the girls' basketball team, Mami, has a crush on Takatou. A rival from another basketball team, Akira, wants to best Takatou in both basketball and love. As the climactic championship game between Takatou's and Akira's teams approaches, Yuuki must undergo risky heart surgery to save her life. Will she survive her ordeal? Will the lovers be united? No points for guessing the right answers. 

The OVA version has a bit of additional content - a cold open and an additional scene between Yuuki and Takatou in each episode, as well as an additional verse for the ending song. They help with the continuity, particularly the added scene in the second episode, but their removal wasn't a deal-breaker. The real problem with the ARR VHS rip was the video and audio. The tape was stretched, or the player had wobble; in any case, the video occasionally lost tracking, and the audio had terrible pitch issues. The laserdisc is an enormous improvement. The video is a direct capture with the Domesday duplicator; the audio in an AAC encoding of the digital audio output.

The voice cast consists of well-known seiyuu of the era:

• Tsujitani Kouji (Takatou) played the title role in the Captain Tylor franchise and the lead role in the 3x3 Eyes OVAs. He also played Guy in Ai no Kusabi, Shou in Condition Green, and Seishirou in Yuukan Club, all Orphan releases. His most recent role was in Kokkoku, which just finished.
• Hidaka Noriko (Yuuki) played Satsuke in My Neighbor Totoro, Akane (the female lead) in Ranma 1/2, Peter in Peter Pan no Bouken, Mrs. Yamada (the mother) in the first two Chi anime series, Near in Death Note, Kikyo in the Inuyasha franchise, and Noriko in Yuukan Club, an Orphan release. She is still active and recently appeared in Little Witch Academia.
• Inoue Kazuhiko (Nakatsugawa) played Yamaoka Shirou in Oishinbo and Yuki Eiri in Gravitation, but I know and love him best as the irascible, sake-swilling Nyanko-sensei in the Natsume Yuujichou properties. He also played Ryousuke in Daishizen no Majuu Bagi, Kitten Smith in Starship Troopers, and Liu Bei Xuande in both Sangokushi OVAs, all Orphan releases.
• Yao Kazuki (Sofue) is best known for his lead role as Dark Schneider in Bastard!! and his recurring role as Franky in One Piece. He also played Date Ikkaku in Akai Hayate, an Orphan release.
• Mizutani Yuuko (Yuuki's friend Aki) has many credits, including Pinoko in all the Black Jack properties, as well as Rika in Sei Michaela Gakuen Hyouryuuki, Lila in Eien no Filena, and Dr. Uematsu Kikue in Yume Kakeru Kougen, all Orphan projects.
• Yamaguchi Kappei (Takatou's teammate Ougi) has played the lead character in the Detective Conan franchise, Ranma in the Ranma 1/2 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 Shibuya in Zetsuai 1989 and Bronze: Zetsuai Since 1989 (both Orphan releases), among many others.
• Yokoyama Chisa (Mami) played the title roles in Galaxy Fraulein Yuna, Iron Virgin Jun, and the Sakura Taisen franchise, as well as Sasami/Pretty Sammy in the Tenchi Muyo franchise. She played Hu Si, the were-tiger, in Wolf Guy, an Orphan release.
• Touma Yumi (Hanyuu, the captain of the girls' basketball team) played the title roles in Emma: A Victorian Romance and Baby Felix. She has appeared in numerous shows, including Condition Green, Fukuyama Gekijou, and Eguchi Hisashi no Nantoko Nareudesho, all Orphan releases. 

Moho did the original translation, and laalg the original translation check. For the new version, Sunachan translated the additional dialog, ending verse, and signs. ninjacloud did the original timing and the fine timing on the new version. I edited and typeset throughout; the improved stability of the laserdisc version allowed for additional typesetting. BeeBee and VigorousJammer QCed the original release. Topper3000 checked the new version. Our intrepid raw hunter captured the laserdisc RF output with the Domesday Duplicator and decoded it. He also captured the digital audio as FLAC, because the audio decoding software is still a work in progress. Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions encoded the video, and I transcoded the FLAC audio to AAC. (No, we're not releasing FLAC audio for laserdiscs. Get real, dude.) This version is probably not definitive. The decoding software and encoding process has improved over the last few months, and it will continue to improve in the future.

You can get the Boyfriend OVAs from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net