Sensou Douwa: Tako ni Natta Okaasan

Sensou Douwa (War Tales or War Fables) was a series of TV specials by Shin-Ei Animation that ran annually from 2002 to 2009. In chronological order:

• 2002    Umigame to Shounen (The Boy and The Sea Turtle)
• 2003    Tako ni Natta Okaasan (The Mother Who Became a Kite)
• 2004    Chiisai Sensuikau ni Koi wo Shita Dekasugira Kojira no Hanashi (The Tale of the Ginormous Whale That Fell in Love with a Little Submarine)
• 2005    Boku no Boukuugou (My Air Raid Shelter)
• 2006    Yakeato no, Okashi no Ki (The Cake Tree in the Ruins)
• 2007    Futatsu no Kurumi (Two Walnuts)
• 2008    Kiku-chan to Ookami  (Kiku and the Wolf)
• 2009    Aoi Hitomi no Onnako no Ohanashu (The Tale of the Blue-Eyed Girl)

Orphan has already released The Boy and the Sea Turtle and The Cake Tree in the Ruins and is now proud to present the third in the series, Tako ni Natta Okaasan (The Mother Who Became a Kite).

By now, you know the drill. It's the waning days of World War II, in a smaller city in Japan. Food is scarce, but the war hasn't otherwise impinged on the world of small children. They still go to school, play games, and parrot the mindless patriotism of the Japanese propaganda machine. This time, the focus is on a young boy, Katchan, and his best bud, Itchan. They live at home with their mothers; their fathers are dead or at the front. Katchan passes the days dodging air raids, reading manga, longing for food, and dreaming anxiously about his father, while his mother tries to hold her family together. She raises vegetables in the back yard. She ventures out into the countryside to trade her good kimonos for rice and vegetables. She is about to cook her harvested eggplants when one last bombing raid incinerates the area, with tragic and poignant results. The war ends, but it is too late for this family.

Like The Cake Tree in the Ruins and The Boy and the Sea Turtle, The Mother Who Became a Kite is based on a short story by Nosaka Akiyuki. And like other stories from this author, this special shows the ruinous effects that war has on children. It is suffused with melancholy. The artwork matches the tone - dun colors and sepia tones, except for the scenes set when the war has ended. Then, the sky is blue, and the colors are bright; but it's too late.

The voice cast includes familiar names as well as newcomers:

• Orikasa Ai (Katchan's mother) made her debut in Shoukoushi Cedie. She played the title role in Romeo no Aoi Sora, Fee in Planetes, Seguchi Touma (the record company president) in Gravitation, Quatre in Gundam Wing, and Ryouko in the Tenchi Muyo franchise. She also played Carrie in Ziggy Sore Yuke! R&R Band, Sara in Eien no Filena, Toryune in Al Caral no Isan, and young Mars in Fire Emblem, all Orphan releases.
• Ookubo Shoutarou (Katchan) was 8 years old when he played Katchan. He also appeared in Sensou Douwa: My Bomb Shelter and Lupin III: Kiri no Elusive.
• Kamon Ryou (Katchan's father) appeared in Shin Sekai Yori and Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex.
• Satou Ai (narrator) played many maternal roles, including Light's mother in Death Note, Masami's mother in Wedding Peach, Misaki's mother in Dear Brother, Ban's mother in Getbackers, Shigeru's mother in Noramimi, the unnamed mothers in Cinderella Express, Ai Monogatari, Guyver: Out of Control, and Kristin Adams in Yawara!. Other roles include the refined mother in Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, Ibuki's mother in Kiss wa Me ni Shite, Taichi in The Cake Tree in the Ruins, the narrator in The Boy and the Sea Turtle, and the unnamed girlfriend in Lunn Flies into the Wind, all Orphan releases.
• Futama Issei (Kappa) is best known for his roles as Godai Yuusaku in Maison Ikkoku, Akira (Chibi) in Urusei Yatsura, and Saburo in Sazae-san. He played the main character, Yoshio, in Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou and the psychopathic brother, Cross, in Hi-Speed Jecy, and he appeared in Fukuyama Gekijou. All three are Orphan releases.
• Miyamoto Seiya (Itchan) has no other credited roles.
• Katsuki Masako (Itchan's mother) played Maroko in Gosenzosama Banbanzai and its movie version, Maroko, Mira in Ginga Tansa 2100-nen: Border Planet, Queen Bee in Golgo 13: Queen Bee, and Tsunade (Fifth Hokage) in the Naruto franchise. She also played Kenbishi Yuuri in Yuukan Club, Hojo's lover in Sanctuary, and Yamazaki's maintenance engineer Kiriko in Kigyou Senshi Yamazaki: Long Distance Call, all Orphan releases.
• Koorogi Satomi (Keiko, Itchan's baby sister) played Chi in all versions of Chii's Sweet Home, Himawari (the baby sister) in Crayon Shin-chan, Menchi (the food pooch) in Excel Saga, and Kuki-sama in the Limeiro properties. She also played Yahoi in Sei Michaela Gakuen Hyouryuuki and Misa in Doukyuusei Climax and Doukyuusei 2, allOrphan releases.
• Kamei Saburou (neighborhood chief Kato) had featured roles is many shows, including Akuma-kun, Armored Trooper Votoms, Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor, One Outs, Planetes, Rainbow, and Techno Police 21C, an Orphan release.

The director, Takeuchi Yoshio, also helmed the Oishinbo TV series and specials, as well as Ipponbouchou Mantarou, Gorillaman, Harlock Saga, Shin Megami Tensai: Devil Children, and Night Head Genesis.

Staff credits are basically the same as the other Sensou Douwa specials. kokujin-kun translated. Yogicat timed. I edited and typeset. BeeBee and Nemesis QCed. The raw is a 480p webrip from UNEXT and looks pretty good

Like the other specials in this series, Tako ni Natta Okaasan is a difficult watch. In particular, the final dialog between mother and son is devastating. With all the stressful events happening right now, I put off doing the final run-through far longer than I should have. Between Covid and the US elections, we could all use some happiness; but there are no happy endings in war.

You can find Tako ni Natta Okaasan on the usual torrent site, or download it from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Makoto-chan the Movie

Some western anime audiences are familiar with Crayon Shin-chan, a very long running Japanese anime series about a five-year-old boy with lecherous proclivities and a tendency to run around without his pants. The humor tends to be broad, ecchi, and sometimes gross. The first 52 episodes were given a US dub release, with scripts that were totally rewritten to emphasize "adult" humor. BuriBuri (Orphan's very own Skr) has been doing yeoman's work providing accurate, and just as funny, translations of the show.

Far fewer people know about Makoto-chan, a manga by Umezz Kazuo. Sawada Makoto is a kindergartner who gets into all sorts of trouble, often involving toilet and adult humor. He sometimes dresses in his mother's and sister's clothing. He usually has a long strand of green mucus dangling from his nose. He uses nonsense catchphrases like "Sabara!" and "Gwashi!" If Crayon Shin-chan is ecchi, Makoto-chan is sketchy. It was animated only once, in 1980, as a feature length movie. Now, on its fortieth anniversary, it is at last available to an (aghast) English-speaking audience. Don't all rush to thank us at once.

The movie has an interesting release history. For a long time, it was only available on VHS tape and laserdisc. At Skr's request, Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions ripped the laserdisc. While Skr was working on translations, a Blu-ray of the movie was released. The Blu-ray had some additional material, like the movie trailer and a promotional teaser, but it lacked the live action intro and outro, featuring Umezz Kazuo himself, from the laserdisc. So this release is a hybrid. The movie itself, the teaser, and the trailer are in glorious high definition, from the Blu-ray; the intro and outro sequences are in measly standard definition, from the laserdisc.

Makoto-chan doesn't have a through plot. Instead, it consists of five sketches of about 15 minutes each:

1. "My Little Lover." Makoto-chan, dumped by his kindergarten girlfriend, develops a crush on an older woman named Tomoko, who has broken up with her boyfriend.
2. "A Present for Mother's Day." To win the Best Child Award in his kindergarten class, Makoto-chan and his sister Mika-neesan develop a set of skits so unintentionally gross that the neighbors invited in to watch pee their pants (and worse).
3. "The Sparrow Egg." Makoto-chan rescues a sparrow egg from a demolition site and devotedly guards it until it hatches, only to find that the baby bird has imprinted on him as its mother.
4. "The Lunch of Love." When Makoto-chan's mother mixes up his and his father's lunches, he finds a series of lovey-dovey messages in his bento. This convinces him that his mother is harboring very inappropriate feelings toward him.
5. "The Best Child Award." In another attempt to win the Best Child Award, Makoto-chan helps a salaryman look for a lost paycheck, with disastrous results.

The voice cast includes:

• Sugiyama Kazuko (Makoto-chan) played Heidi in Alps no Shoujo Heidi, Akane in the Dr. Slump franchise, Maria in The Royal Tutor, Ten in Urusei Yatsura, and Wendy H. Troy in Manxmouse (an Orphan release). She appeared in Sangokushi movies 2 and 3, also Orphan releases.
• Okamoto Mari (Tomoko,) played the title role in Hana no Ko Lunlun and Ai-chan in Time Bokan Series: Yatterman.
• Yoshida Rihoko (Mika, Makoto-chan's sister) played Megu-chan in Majokko Megu-chan, Monsley in Future Boy Conan, Maria Grace Fleed in UFO Robo Grendizer, Michiru in Getter Robo, Clara Sesemann in Alps no Shoujo Heidi, Rosalie Lamorliere in The Rose of Versailles, Kurama in Urusei Yatsura, and Machiko in Maicchingu Machiko-sensei. She played Tonko in Chiisana Koi no Monogatari, an Orphan release.
• Ohara Noriko (Makoto-chan's mom) had a long career starting in the 1960s. She played the title roles in Future Boy Conan and Arabian Nights: Sindbad no Bouken, Nobita in the Doraemon franchise (through 2004), and Oyuki in the Urusei Yatsura properties. She played the mother bear in Katte ni Shirokuma, an Orphan release.
• Mizusawa Yumi (Makoto-chan kindergarten teacher) appeared in City Hunter and Space Adventure Cobra.
• Umezz Kazuo appears as himself in a few spots and acts as the guide for the intro and outro segments.
  

The director, Shibayama Tsutomu, was an industry veteran who started at Toei. His directing credits include Ganbare!! Tabuchi-kun!!, the first 18 episodes of Ranma 1/2, the Chibi Maruko-chan TV series and movie,  many of the Doraemon series and movies, and the long-running TV series Nintama Rintarou.

Skr was the principal propulsive force throughout the project. He translated, timed, typeset the movie logo (which is half the movie script), and encoded the movie, teaser, and trailer. Erik did all the translation raws; Intrepid reripped the intro and outro on the Domesday Duplicator and encoded them. Sunachan helped with translation issues in the intro and outro. I edited and did the rest of the typesetting. BeeBee alone QCed; perhaps the other QCs were put off by the dangling strands of mucus. Skr and I have also checked everything as best we can, but I'm sure some errors got through. Please be merciful.

Makoto-chan is definitely an acquired taste. It is gross, bizarre, and in spots, wickedly funny. If this sounds like your cup of... well, whatever, you can find the movie on the usual torrent site or on IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net. Gwashi!