Rain Boy v2

One of Orphan's earliest Tezuka Osamu projects was the set of six OVAs known as the Lion Books:

1	The Green Cat	1983
2	Rain Boy	1983
3	Lunn Flies into the Wind	1985
4	Yamatarou Comes Back	1986
5	Adachigahara	1991
6	Akuemon	1993

The project took 18 months, from the middle of 2013 to the end of 2014. Except for Adachigahara and Akuemon, Orphan used existing raws from other teams. I've always been less than happy about the quality of those raws. Last month, I was able to purchase a complete set of the Lion Books R2J DVDs, and Orphan will be redoing the OVAs with new encodes. Here is the second episode, Rain Boy (Amefuri Kozou).

The first four Lion Books have a similar theme - the quest of a lonely boy for companionship and friends. While The Green Cat is mainstream science fiction, Rain Boy is more of a whimsical fantasy. Mouta lives in the mountains, the son of a teacher in a rural school. Once a month, he goes to a school in the "big city," where he is bullied by the locals as a country bumpkin. Wishing that he had a friend, he stumbles across a strange boy shaped like an umbrella, Rain Boy, who walks around under a personal rain cloud. Only Mouta can see Rain Boy, and the latter becomes Mouta's first friend.

Rain Boy is more than an imaginary companion, because he can act physically in the real world; perhaps he's a tsukomogami. He helps Mouta get a measure of revenge on the bullies, and he saves the local school from a fire. However, their adventures together are cut short when Mouta's family moves to the city. Only much later, when Mouta is a grown man with a child of his own, does he remember Rain Boy and a promise made but not fulfilled. The ending is bittersweet.

I want to mention the art direction, by Kobayashi Shichirou and Miyamoto Seiji. Rain Boy looks very different from The Green Cat, with cartoonish landscape, blocky designs for the human characters, and watercolor-like backdrops:

It's very effective.

The voice cast includes:

• Hayami Shou (young Mouto) starred as Nanjou in Zetsuai: 1989 and Bronze: Zetsuai since 1989, and  as Kushinige Hodaka in Oshare Kozou wa Hanamaru. He also played an angel in Tezuka Osamu's Tales of the Old Testament, Iason's friend Raoul in Ai no Kusabi, Hojo in Sanctuary, Pat Leivy in Starship Troopers, Junoichi in Blazing Transfer Student, Exper Kain in Exper Zenon, and Seichii in Mikoneko Holmes. All of these shows are Orphan releases. 
• Hori Junko (Rain Boy) played the title roles in Shin Obake no Q-taro, Cat Eyed Boy, Chinpui, and Ninja Hattori-kun, young Rock in Wan Wan Chuushingura, and Bunrestu in Time Slip Ichimannen Prime Rose. The last two are Orphan releases.
• Aono Takeshi (Moutou's father) played Nurarihyon in every incarnation of GeGeGe no Kitarou through 2007, Billy Bones in Treasure Island, Bookman in D.grayman, Dracule in One Piece, Katsuhiko Masaki in the Tenchi Muyo franchise, and Shiro Sanada in the Yamato franchise. He also appeared in A Penguin's Memories, Ginga Tansa 2100: Border-nen, Fire Emblem, Grimm Douwa: Kin no Tori, Hashire Melos!, the three Sangokushi movies (as Guan Yu), and Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament, all Orphan releases.
• Gouri Daisuke (Bancho) played Hiromi in the Patlabor franchise. His made numerous featured appearances, including Fireball, Peter Pan no Bouken, Dragonball, and Kinnikuman, as well as Bavi Stock, Wolf Boy, Hi-Speed Jecy, Hidamari no Ki, and the three Sangokushi movies. The last five are Orphan releases.
• Nagai Ichirou (Azuki-arai) 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, Botchan, Ipponbouchou Mantaraou, and Yamato 2520, all Orphan releases.
• Mita Yuuko (one of the bullies) played the title role in Pokonyan, Posi in the Creamy Mami franchise, Kazuya in the Kimagura Orange Road franchise, Neko Musume in the 1985 iteration of GeGeGe no Kitarou, and Will in Robin Hood no Daibouken.
• Akiyama Runa (another of the bullies) played Pench Eliza in the Ginga Hyouryuu Vifam franchise.
  

Rain Boy was directed by Tezuka Osamu. It is one of two Lion Book episodes with an English dub tract; the other is Yamatarou Comes Back.

Moho Kareshi did the original translation, and convexity checked. Eternal_Blizzard timed. I edited and typeset; the typesetting is slightly revised for this release. CP and Calyrica did the original QC; Nemesis and Uchuu QCed this release. Skr encoded from an R2J DVD.

Rain Boy is another fine episode in the Lion Book series. You can download it from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arurtha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.