Amon Saga

This one is a bit odd: a new release of the 1986 sword-and-sorcery movie Amon Saga, based on a laserdisc rip. Amon Saga has already been released, based on the R1 DVD. So why go back to the laserdisc? Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions wrote, "[The DVD licensor] just took the VHS master, (badly) upscaled it, and dumped it onto a DVD." A Domesday Duplicator rip of the laserdisc ought to look better. Does it? You'll have to be the judge of that. It still has a lot of blended frames, to my eye, but the interlacing artifacts are gone.

Amon Saga traverses well-worn fantasy-genre territory. Amon is a young warrior, seeking to avenge the death of his mother at the hands of the Emperor Valhiss. He decides to join the Imperial army to bore from within. Once inside the Emperor's fortified city, Amon unexpectedly encounters the beautiful daughter of King Darai Sem, Princess Lichia, whom Valhiss is holding as a hostage. The Emperor says he'll exchange the princess for a map in the King's possession, but he'd rather like to possess the princess too. Will Amon succeed in saving the princess (and her virtue) while achieving his revenge? That's a question I'm sure you can answer without any hints from me. Still, it's a good ride, with lots of colorful characters, including Amon's fellow "volunteers" in the Imperial Army, Gaius (the combative one), Alcan (the wily one), Vikin (the comic one), and Ho (the mysterious one), and the Emperor's evil henchman, the ambitious swordsman Denon and the scheming sorcerer Mabo.

The voice cast includes a host of familiar names from the 1980s:

• Horiuchi Kenyuu (Amon) played the title role in Guin Saga and Oscar in the Angelique franchise. He also played Ryuuichi in Aoko Honoo, Nest in Eien no Filena, Kubota in Meisou Ou Border, Jin Akira in Wolf Guy, Lid in Greed, and the refined son in Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, all Orphan releases. He recently appeared in Sirius the Jaeger.
• Takamori Yoshino (Lichia) played the arch oujo-sama Sayaka in Yawara! and the twin roles of Juliet Douglas and Sloth in Full Metal Alchemist. She also appeared as the romantic rival Shouko in POPS, and in Yousei Ou and the What's Michael? OVAs, all Orphan releases.
• Kobiyashi Kihosti (Valhiss) is best known as Jigen in the Lupin III franchise. He played Sekai in Wild 7, an Orphan release.
• Mugihito Amachi (Gaius) played the alien wombat in Cute Defense Club, Matsumoto in The Great Passage, Keiichiro in Princess Jellyfish, and Abe no Seimei (senior) in Shounen Onmyouji. He also appeared as Lin Shilong in Wolf Guy and Lu Su in the two Sangokushi specials, all Orphan releases.
• Wakamoto Norio (Denon) played the title role in The Gargoyle of the Yoshinagas, Vicious in Cowboy Bebop, Cell in the Dragonball franchise, Katakuriko in the Gintama franchise, Oda NObunaga in Sengoku Basara franchise, Sakakibara in Sanada 10, Guren in Ushio to Tora TV, Shining Saotome in the Uta no Prince-sama franchise, and Oskar von Reuenthal in Legend of the Galactic Heroes. He also appeared as Major Thrauza in Yamato 2520 and the Narrator in Joker: Marginal City,both Orphan releases.
• Totani Kouji (Ho) has played hundreds of roles. He appeared in Bavi Stock, Haguregumo, Nora, Fukiyama Gekijou, and Akuma Tou no Prince: Mitsume ga Tooru, all Orphan releases.
• Ginga Banjou (Ekuna) is a veteran voice actor. He played the title role in 80 Days Around the World with Willy Fog, Baloo in The Jungle Book, and Tohtsuki chairman Nakiri Senzaemon in the Shokugeki no Souma franchise. He played the title role in Oruorane the Cat Player and appeared in the two What's Michael? OVAs, all Orphan releases.
• Nagai Ichiro (Mabo) 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 Manxmouse, Nora, Hidamari no Ki, Yuukan Club, and Yamato 2520, all Orphan releases.
• Tatsuta Naoki (Vikin) played Oolong in the Dragonball franchise, the Cat Bus in My Neighbor Totoro, and Beta in New Dream Hunter Rem. He appeared in every GeGeGe no Kitarou series since 1985 and also in Wolf Guy, an Orphan release.
• Ooki Tamio (Darai Sem) played Dr. Tenma in Tezuka Osamu Disappears, an Orphan release, as well as the 1980 version of Astro Boy, Ibuya in Hidamari no Ki (also an Orphan release), Aramaki in the GITS movies, and the title role in Planetarian: Hoshi no Hito.
• Katsuji Mori (Alcan) played Tanguin in Cool Cool Bye, Atlas in the 1980 Astro Boy, Seiji Hayama in Cutie Honey, Wolfgang Mittermeyer in Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Haru in Real Drive, and Robespierre in The Rose of Versailles. He also played Shiina in Stop!! Hibari-kun and Cemen Bond in Bagi, both Orphan releases. 
• Ginga Banjou (Ekuna, Amon's mentor) played Souther in the Hokuto no Ken franchise, the chief in Peter Pan no Bouken, Sascher Torte in Bakuretsu Hunter, Babbo in MAR, Nakiri in the Shokugeki no Souma franchise, and quite recently,  Nanashi in GeGeGe no Kitarou (2018).

The director, Ooga Shunji, has many other credits to his name, including Majuu Sensen, Bounty Hunter: The Hard, several Sore Ike! Anpanman movies, and the Golgo 13 TV series.

I originally OCRed the subs from an R1 DVD release. The subs have been extensively corrected by tenkenX6 and Nemesis. ninjacloud timed, I edited and typeset, and BeeBee and Nemesis QCed. Erik encoded from a Domesday Duplicator rip of his own laserdisc.

Amon Saga doesn't break any new ground, but it's a competent fantasy flick, and it will keep you  entertained for its modest 74 minute running time. You can get this release from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net

Late breaking news: there's a busted frame at 62934. Some sort of data dropout caused a problem in the Domesday Duplicator decoding software, ld-decode, and by now, the intermediate files have been discarded. If anyone knows how to patch an H.265 file without re-encoding it, 62934 should be the same as 62933. Otherwise, we'll have to wait until Erik can rip the laserdisc again.

 

Even later breaking news (November, 2022). A dual-audio version is available, for those who prefer dubs. niki provided the audio track, which is taken from the R1 DVD release. This version also includes a song-signs track. A ginormous patch to covert the single-audio release to dual-audio is available in the torrent description.