Botchan

Orphan is proud to present the first English version of the 1980 TV special Botchan. (It should not be confused with the shorter version that was included in 1986's Animated Classics of Japanese Literature.) The show is based on Natsume Souseki's beloved 1906 autobiographical novel, which remains one of most popular novels in Japan.

The hero is a rambunctious youth known only by the nickname his nurse/servant Kiyo gave him, Botchan (Young Master). He's a rowdy Tokyo boy who doesn't get along with his family. After completing a degree in physics, Botchan takes a job in Matsuyama in Shikoku. There, his naivete, his tendency to jump to conclusions, and his gargantuan appetite embroil him in conflicts, mostly comic, with his students and his fellow teachers. Eventually, he sorts out who is in the right and earns the affection of his pupils. However, the conflicts have become irreversible, and he leaves to return to Tokyo, and Kiyo, and start his life anew.

In Matsuyama, Botchan is surrounded by a colorful cast of eccentrics and schemers; he refers to them all by nicknames. For example, the principal is unctuous and slippery, so he's called Tanuki. The head math teacher, Hotta, is bluff and forthright, so he's Yamaarashi (mountain storm or porcupine). The vice-principal dresses in Western clothes to show his advanced thinking and is nicknamed Red Shirt. The art teacher, Yoshikawa, is Red Shirt's cravenly follower and becomes Nodaiko (field radish). The quiet, beaten down English teacher, Koga, is Uranari (unripe gourd). The local beauty is Madonna. And so on.

The visuals, by TMS and Madhouse, reinforce the comedic tone, with a bright palette and distinctive character designs.The original character designs were by Monkey Punch, famous for Lupin III, and were cleaned up by animator Sugino Akio. The voice cast is from an earlier era in anime:

• Saijou Hideki (Botchan) was best known as a singer. His only two anime roles were the title roles in Botchan and Sugata Sanshiro.
• Naya Gorou (Yamaarashi, the head math teacher) played Koichi Zenigata in Lupin III, Juzo Okita in Space Battleship Yamato, and Shocker in Kamen Rider. His deep voice provided the narration in Shinzou Ningen Casshern, Vampire Miyu, Golden Boy, and other shows.
• Nagai Ichiro (Tanuki, the principal) 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, Amon Saga, and Yamato 2520, all Orphan releases.
• Yanami Jouji (Red Shirt, the vice principal) narrated most of the Dragon Ball Z properties. He played Ittan Momen in several of the GeGeGe no Kitaro series and movies and Chuta Ban in all the Kyojin no Hoshi TV series. He appeared as Lump in Ginga Tansa 2100-nen: Border Planet, Big Bird in Grim Douwa: Kin no Tori, the cart vendor in Akuma Tou no Prince: Mitsume ga Tooru, and of course, Ibari in Stop!! Hibari-kun, all Orphan releases.
• Tanonaka Isamu (Nodaiko, the art teacher) was best known for voicing the character Medama Oyaji (Daddy Eyeball) in the first five GeGeGe no Kitarou anime, as well as Sindbook in the original Magical Princess Minky Momo and Igor in the Persona franchise.
• Yamada Yasuo (Uranari, the English teacher) played Lupin III starting in Part III and continuing to his death.
• Asou Miyoki (Kiyo) has played Isone Funo in Sazae-san, more or less forever. She played Cologne in Ranma 1/2 and appeared in numerous World Masterpiece Theater series.

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,  Night Head Genesis, and several of the Sensou Douwa specials.

Iri did the translation and rough timing, and ninjacloud did the fine timing. I edited and typeset; there are a lot of signs. Nemesis and BeeBee QCed. The raw is a 720p web rip by YES and looks very nice. There are also good 480p raws out there, if anyone wants to do a standard definition version. YES released an excellent raw of Sugato Sanshiro too; all we need is a translator (hint, hint).

Botchan is a terrific coming-of-age story, blending comedy, drama, and even a little bit of (unrequited) romance. I highly recommend it. You can get the show from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Ave Atque Vale, Moguro Fukuzou

It's has taken more than six years, but Evil-Saizen has finally finished the main sequence of Laughing Salesman. After 103 episodes, Moguro Fukuzou has satisfied (ensnared) his last customer (victim) and toddled off into the distance with a jaunty, "So long, folks! I know we'll meet again." I fear he's right.

I wrote about Laughing Salesman more than two years ago, when all I had to depress me was the nightly news. Now, with a pandemic raging and my country ripped in half by political passions, I find Laughing Salesman more apropos - and more scary - than ever. The world is indeed filled with lonely men and women looking to have the gaps in their souls filled by someone, anyone, who will promise them their heart's desire. And as in the anime, the results are uniformly disastrous.

With the reworking of episodes 1-8 in HD, I've now edited all the episodes and specials and typeset most of them. kokujin-kun translation checked the early episodes and translated all the others; thus, he's put his translation imprint on the entire series. Eternal_Blizzard was the first timer; sangofe picked up the gauntlet for a long time; and ninjacloud timed the final group. QC has varied a lot but has included Calyrica, Skr, konnakude, Eternal_Blizzard, sangofe, pheon18, Mamo-chan, and at the start, our late colleague CP. BeeBee joined for the later episodes. Eternal_Blizzard encoded the initial DVD episodes; BakaProxy has encoded all the high-definition episodes.

Are we there yet? Not quite. Episodes 9-25 need to be redone in HD; the project could use an additional timer for that. And then there are around 19 more specials, which need the full treatment. The specials pose unique problems. They are typically double length, the typesetting of the opening tends to differ in each special, and the plots are even more intricate and wicked. Well, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. I'll burn that bridge when I come to it.

I'd like to thank all my colleagues on the project, who come not just from Live-eviL and Saizen but from across the "back-catalog kairetsu." They're a congenial and talented bunch to work with, and they have every reason to be proud of their efforts. Laughing Salesman is a long series; it's formulaic and best taken in small doses; but it is never, ever dull.

Cool Cool Bye

When a laserdisc of the 1986 fantasy OVA Cool Cool Bye turned up in a pile of discs the team bought in Japan, I thought it would be nice to redo the show. Up until now, all releases have been based on VHS tapes; a Domesday Duplicator (DdD) rip ought to be considerably better. Simple, right? Not so fast.

The laserdisc itself had the usual (and some not so usual) issues, and this exposed problems in both the DdD decoding software (ld-decode) and the encoding process. In one moving pan, a glitch on the disc caused ld-decode to mangle a frame entirely. This was patched over with a freeze frame; it's barely detectable. At another point, a one-frame video emphasis to highlight a crash - a negative frame accompanied on the soundtrack by an audible accent - was removed by a filter in the encoding process, which thought the negative frame was an IVTC error. Ultimately, it required seven tries to get an acceptable encode, and the laserdisc's improved fidelity highlights the film burn, burn through, and scratches of the original film source.

The OVA itself is nothing special. Our heroes are two Han warriors, Lek and Flene, who ride around on hoverbikes and have seemingly insatiable appetites. They're accompanied by a miniature strategist named Gege (species unspecified), who lives in Flene's hair and isn't much use. A local village commissions them to fight a monstrous mobile fortress called Tanguin, which has been kidnapping all of the tribe's women. Aided by two tribesmen, Syril and Corola, and a mysterious fairy named Klee, who can transform into a mecha warrior, and motivated by the promise of a feast if they succeed, Lek and Flene set out to confront Tanguin in its lair. After a suitable action sequence, the impregnable fortress is impregnated, and everyone lives happily ever after, sort of.

Cool Cool Bye is sort of an appendage to the previous year's fantasy OVA Greed - same creator, same staff, same animation studio. Greed was in many ways incomprehensible, but at least it had something on its mind: the power of human greed to warp reality. Cool Cool Bye omits all the philosophical and moral agony in favor of a simpler quest story. Still, the plot arc and character designs are very similar to its longer predecessor.

The voice cast includes a cross-section of well-known 80s seiyuu:

• Nozawa Masako (Lek) is a legend. She played the leads in 30000 Miles Under the Sea, The Adventures of Gamba, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry no Bouken, Billy Inu nan demo Shoukai, and Hey! Bumboo. She was Enma-kun in the original Dororon Enma-kun, Son Goku in the original Dragonball, and Kitarou in the 1968 and 1971 versions of GeGeGe no Kitarou, as well as Hakaba Kitarou. Even though her first role was in 1965, she is still active, appearing as Obaba in Ping Pong the Animation, Madame Curie in Marie & Gali, and of course, Medama Oyaji in the most recent version of GeGeGe no Kitarou. She won a lifetime achievement award in 1997. She played the title role in Manxmouse and Costar in 15 Shounen Hyouruuki, both Orphan releases.
• Tanaka Mayumi (Flene) 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, Kuririn in the original Dragonball, and of course, Monkey D. Luffy in every incarnation of One Piece. She also played Mit-sah in White Fang, Rocco the fox in Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament, and Son Gokuu in Tezuka Osamu Monogatari, all Orphan projects.
• Akiyama Runa (Klee) played Dole in 15 Shounen Hyouruuki and the young Yuno in Midori no Neko, both Orphan releases, as well as Kuniko in Yawara! and Ignasia in The Humanoid.
  
• Hori Hideyuki (Corola) played Zach Isedo in Al Caral no Isan, Sid in Ai no Kusabi, Falk Green in yHi-Speed Jecy, and Baraba in Eien no Filena, all Orphan projects. He played the title role in Baoh, Phoenix in the Saint Seiya franchise, and Tezuka Osamu himself in the Black Jack TV series.
• Yamada Eiko (Syril) played Vee in Al Caral no Isan, an Orphan release, Tarou in the Captain Tsubasa franchise, as well as numerous other featured roles.
• Mori Katsuji (Tanguin) played Atlas in the 1980 Astro Boy, Seiji Hayama in Cutie Honey, Wolfgang Mittermeyer in LOGH, Haru in Real Drive, Robespierre in Rose of Versailles, Alcan in Amon Saga, Cemen Bond in Bagi, and Shiina in Stop!! Hibari-kun! The last three are Orphan releases.
• Anzai Masahiro (Gege) debuted in White Fang. He played Ryuunosuke's father in Urusei Yatsura, Mutsuda in Dokushin Apartment Doukudami-sou, Cherenkov in Starship Troopers, and Chaashu in Wild 7. The last three are Orphan releases.
• Yada Minoru (village chief) played Tamaranch (the IOC President) in Yawara!, the elder in Bavi Stock II (an Orphan release), and Hemulen in Tanoshi Moomin Ikka.
  

The auteur, Kogawa Tomonori, was mostly an animation director. Cool Cool Bye and Greed are his only directing and writing credits.

The original script is from Random Masters via GutsySubs. tenkenX6 did a full translation check. Yogicat timed, I edited and typeset (very little to do), and Nemesis and new staff member Rezo QCed. Intrepid encoded, and as I described, it turned out to be a lot more arduous that expected. I fear that after 30 to 35 years, we're fast approaching end-of-life for laserdisc media; more and more of Orphan's purchases have bit rot issues.

So here's Cool Cool Bye, in a somewhat better-looking and somewhat more accurately translated version (YMMV). Orphan has a host of resubbing opportunities based on DdD laserdisc rips of earlier fansubs, including Love Position: The Legend of Halley, Who's Left Behind, Stardust Paradise (encoded by Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions), Laughing Target, Fire Tripper, and The Choujo (encoded by Intrepid), but the source issues in Cool Cool Bye and other discs, as well as the need to translation check the original fansub scripts, has caused me to hit the "pause" button for now. In the meantime, you can get this show from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

At some point, Orphan might release the documentary bonus that came with Cool Cool Bye, but don't hold your breath.