Cleopatra Blu-ray

Here is the Orphan's third version of Tezuka Osamu's 1970 "erotic cartoon" Cleopatra. The first was based on topfh's excellent but upscaled DVD rip; the second on a high-definition web stream; and this one on the UK Blu-ray. Each version has improved over the previous one, but seven years is a long time to keep poring over the same anime. I hope this release is definitive.

I'm not going to rehash my previous blog posts about Cleopatra. It has the virtues and defects of later Tezuka Osamu "entertainments," with a lot more nudity and sex. Cleopatra is less coherent than its predecessor, Senya Ichiya Monogatari. The co-director, Yamamoto Eiichi, attributes this to Tezuka Osamu's greater involvement with the project, but the master is not around to defend himself, so it's impossible to know. It is certainly filled with Tezuka's trademark anachronisms and gags.

What's new in this version that makes it worthwhile to download and watch it yet again? Several things.

1. The commentary track by Helen McCarthy, author of the excellent and informative The Art of Osamu Tezuka. She provides insightful comments on the movie and its individual scenes, with a strong appreciation of the beautiful artwork.
2. The original trailer. The trailer has an extra scene not in the movie and puts the erotic content front and center, rather more than I had previously thought. Cleopatra may not be an "X-rated cartoon," but it's not just a Tezuka Osamu romp with more boobs.
3. Remastered video and audio. I don't find either of them an improvement over the prior releases - the audio in particular is very soft - but your mileage may vary.
4. Official subtitles.

The official subs are pretty good. I made some minor changes in the edited and styled version; the untouched subs are available as PGS.

• "Apollodoria" rather than "Appolodoria." Although the character is fictional, the root name comes from the god Apollo, so one "p" and two "l"s.
• Inconsistent naming. Octavianus is (mostly) shortened to the familiar form, Octavian, but Antonius isn't shortened to Anthony. I've left that as is, because it mirrors the audio track.
• Rationalized line breaks.
• Removal of ellipses (there are way too many).
• American spelling and usage rather than UK spelling and usage.

Here are some comparisons between the official subs and the fansubs on the script's "tricky bits."

•  6:00 - the Pasatorine words for the Cleopatra Plan. The official subs assume it's nonsense and translate it as "Beges Do Manto."  I agonized over finding any meaning and eventually came up with "Deces d'amant," as though it were mispronounced French, meaning "death of the loved one."
• 12:45 - The Mayor's flowery greeting is literally "Lord Caesar, child of the sun." The official subs have a nifty pun, "Caesar, Son of the Sun." The fansubs are simply "the Great Lord Caesar." 
• 16:20 - Apollodoria lists the attributes a woman must have to attract Caeaar. The official subs are explicit and crude: "She will need to be naturally tight, with the skills of a prostitute." The fansubs are indirect: "She must have both natural talent and consummate techniques."
• 22:57 - A well-known quote by Namikoshi Tokujirou. See http://www.shiatsu-london.net/whatisshiatsu.html. The official subs say "The Art of Shiatsu"; the fansubs, "The heart of finger massage."
• 29:02 - Caesar's exclamation at finding Cleopatra in the bag is literally, "Ah, says the surprised Tamegorou!" ("アッ驚く為五郎). This is Hana Hajime's catchphrase from a 1969-1970 TV variety show 『巨泉×前武ゲバゲバ90分!』; and Hana Hajime is the voice actor playing Caesar. "Tamegorou" is a character from a story Hana liked. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJh-FJXynzM. The official subs use a contemporary (to 1970) reference with "Sock it to me!" The fansubs are "Great gods of the heavens!"
• 41:20 - In order to break Ionius, Pothinus orders his men to gang rape Libya. The official subs emphasize the brutality: "Do it until she's torn!" The fansubs are more circumspect: "Do it until she faints!"
• 1:17:45 - Literally, "You can't get hemorrhoids without touching your ass." The start of some truly terrible punning, in Japanese and both English scripts. The official subs use "No butts, no glory hole." The fansubs are "No butts touched, no piles gained."
• 1:17:50- Literally, "You can't catch a tiger cub without entering a tiger's lair." Official subs: "But it's 'No guts, no glory.'" Fansubs: "You mean, 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained.'"
• 1:17:53 - Literally, "There's still the ass." "Ketsu" by itself means "ass"; tiger's lair is "koketsu." Official subs: "But nothin'!" Fansubs: "But you still gain something!"
• 1:21:20 -  Literally, "I mean, mine's just a tiny one with a compact vehicle license," meaning the Japanese license for engines of 360cc or below. Official subs: "Mine's a compact car." Fansubs: "I mean, mine's just a tiny subcompact."
• 1:21:24 - Literally, "Caesar's was a dump truck with a special license." Official subs: "Caesar's was a dump truck\Nthat required a special license!" Fansubs: ""Caesar's was a huge 100-ton dump truck."
• 1:23:43 - "The word i-impossible is not in my dictionary." A real quote from Napoleon, to match the onscreen image. Identical in both scripts.
• 1:27:26 - Here, the official subs ignore a pun on makase (leave it to me) versus Marcus. The official subs are the prosaic, "Leave this war to me, Marcus Antonius!" The fansubs have, "Big battles are a walk in the park for Big Mark!"
• Ending song - "Guerilla, Guevera, Gewalt." "Gebaruto" means violence. To keep the alliteration, the German term for violence, "gewalt," is used in both scripts.

Helen McCarthy takes exception to the translation of the puns at 1:17:50, but I think the localizations work well. The greater explicitness of the official subs is perhaps more in tune with current times.

Tezuka loved his Easter eggs, and manga cameos and pop culture references dot the movie:

• At 11:44, the spectators include Tensai Bakabon, Dame Oyaji, Osamatsu-kun.
• At 34:24, the spectators include Fugata Sazae from Sazae-san and Hige Oyaji from Tezuka's Star System.
• At 14:49, the ninja is Kamui, from Sanpei Shirato's manga of the same name.
• At 1:26:40, the messenger is Rat-man from GeGeGe no Kitarou.
• At 1:30:56, the fighter is Kagemaru from Sanpei Shirato's Ninja Bugeichou .
• At 1:33:44, Anthony's incapacity as a result of his addiction is symbolized by a brief shot (14 frames) of the stylized logo from Otto Preminger's 1955 addiction drama, The Man with the Golden Arm.

Japanese anime continued to be blasé about copyrights into the 1980s, but eventually real brand- and character references were banished.

Orphan's fansubs are the default subtitles. The official subs are included in two versions: untouched PGS and edited and styled. Thus, the movie has six tracks:

1. Video (default).
2. Japanese audio (default).
3. English commentary audio.
4. English fansubs (default).
5. Edited and typeset English official subs.
6. Original PGS official subs.

The trailer has only four tracks: video (default), Japanese audio (default), edited and typeset official subs (default), and PGS official subs.

For this release, M74 obtained the Blu-ray, ripped and OCRed the official subtitles, and encoded the movie and the trailer. ninjacloud retimed the fansubs and the trailer; Yogicat retimed the official subs. I edited the official subs and the trailer and typeset (mostly in the trailer). BeeBee QCed the edited official subs. The fansub credits are unchanged.

So here's the Blu-ray version of Cleopatra. Even if you found a previous version sufficient, you'll still want this version for the trailer and the commentary track. You can get the release from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Discotek has licensed Cleopatra for U.S. distribution. The Blu-ray is scheduled to be released in March. Please support their ongoing efforts to rescue titles from the back catalog by buying the Blu-ray when it's available. I will!