Jikuu Bouken Nuumamonjaa (Chrono Trigger OVA)

Occasionally, I come across an OVA that is utterly baffling, because it requires too much context from the game, manga, or novel it is promoting. That's the case with 1996's Jikuu Bouken Nuumamonjaa (Time and Space Adventure Nuumamonjaa), familiarly known as the Chrono Trigger OVA. It's short, face-paced, and entertaining, but it makes no sense whatsoever, because it requires the viewer to be familiar with the insanely popular Chrono Trigger game... which I had never played, or even heard of, before this project.

I'll expand the ANN summary. A town in the Kingdom of Guardia celebrates the millennial anniversary of the kingdom's founding by throwing a a festival, which is crashed by a monsters. Two rather harmless monsters - the genki, fur-covered Momo and the round, dim-witted Nuu - try their best to recruit people into their little group, Nuumamonjaa. Eventually, they give up and go off to enjoy the festival. On a trip to pee in the woods, they run into a giant robot cat named Gonzalez that sings about beating him up and getting silver points. When the robot runs out of energy, Mamo and Nuu cover it with graffiti:

(Right arm: moron. Belly: outtie. White circle: idiot. Throat: tone-deaf.) Their taunting provokes the robot into chasing them around the countryside. They end up in the festival's climactic race, pursued and pursuing a motorcycle monster named Johnny. After the expected catastrophic climax, a few familiar faces show up.

Um... wtf? Even after reading the Wikipedia article on Chrono Trigger and the Chrono universe fan wiki, it doesn't make much sense. The OVA is apparently set just before the start of the game, which begins at the same millennial fair in Guardia. Momo, Nuu, Johnny, and Gonzales are non-player characters (NPCs) from the game. Mamo is a Kilwala. Nuu is an instance of creatures called Nuu. Johnny is a cyborg that can transform into a motorcycle. Gonzales (Gato) is a training robot. The Kilwala and Nuu are minor enemies in the game, but they've become comic figures in the OVA. The main characters of the game are only seen from the back in the very last scene and have no lines.

The voice cast includes:

• Tanaka Mayumi (Momo) made her debut at age 10 in Kimba the White Lion. She's probably best known for her roles as Pazu in Castle in the Sky, Giovanni in Night on the Galactic Railway, Mao in Cooking Master Boy, and of course, Monkey D. Luffy in almost every incarnation of One Piece. She also played Mit-sah in White Fang, Son Gokuu in Tezuka Osamu Monogatari, and Rocco the fox in Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament, all Orphan projects.
• Chafuurin (Nuu) played title role in Barbapapa Around the World, Inspector Megure in the Detective Conan franchise, Scotch Jii-san in the Hello Kitty franchise, Isono in Sazae-san (since 2014), and Kamoda in Yawara! He also appeared in Yamato 2520 and Izumo (1991), both Orphan releases.
• Tachiki Fumihiko (Gonzales) played Taizou in Gintama, the narrator in Golden Kamuy, Ddraig in the High School DxD franchise, Ginpei in Nana, Gendou Ikari in the Evangelion franchise, and Daisuke in Oreimo.
• Miki Shinichirou (Johnny) played Kojiro in Pokemon, Fujiwara Takumi in Initial D, Urahara Kisuke in Bleach, Minamoto no Yorihisa in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de, Shintarou in Lime-iro Senkitan, Bruce Wayne in Batman: Gotham Knight, Roy Mustang in Full Metal Alchemist (2009), Katze in Ai no Kusabi (2012), Gintarou in Gingitstune, John Bishop (the sharpshooter) in AWOL Compression Remix, and Cyber-X in Hand Maid May. The last two are Orphan releases.

This OVA was Kawasaki Itsurou's first directing assignment. He went on to direct many more well-known shows, including Bronze: Zetsuai Since 1989 (an Orphan release), Arc the Lad, Licensed by Royalty, Rental Magica, Sengoku Basara, and the entire Cardfight franchise.

Despite the immense popularity of Chrono Trigger and its successors, Jikuu Bouken Nuumamonja is its only anime incarnation, and the OVA was only released on VHS tape. Nemesis spotted a copy on a Japanese used media site, bought it, set the project in motion, and kept it moving. The original translation was done in 2003 by Jasconius of HnK (Hikari no Kiseki), one of the earliest digital fansubbing groups. Nemesis transcribed, timed, and checked the subtitles. I edited and typeset (I didn't do all the PITA graffiti). Nemesis QCed. Intrepid ripped and encoded the tape. There's evidence of wear and tape stretch in places, but it's passable.

So here's an improved version of Jikuu Bouken Nuumamonja. It's enjoyable as an absurd gag comedy, even if you, like me, know nothing about the game. You can get the OVA from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #new on irc.rizon.net