Tobira o Akete

Tobira o Akete is a sword-and-sorcery fest from 1986. It's based on a 1984 short story by the Japanese fantasy and science fiction writer Mokoto Arai. It was released by Toho on a twin bill with They Were 11! It made it to DVD in Japan but was not apparently released here. Orphan is releasing a new English version, based on the Japanese DVD, with a heavily revised English script.

Tobira o Akete (Open the Door) tells the story of three Japanese ESPers - Negishi Miyako (also known as Neko), a wielder of telekinesis; Saiki Haruka, a teleporter; and Yamagishi Keiichirou, a lion-man - who are summoned across time and space to a mysterious realm. There, a local mystic, Ladin, proclaims that Neko is the reincarnation of Neryulla, the prophesied savior of the oppressed Middle Kingdom. Neko and her party are immediately attacked by guards from the ruling Western Kingdom but are able to fight them off with their ESPer powers. Later, Neko is challenged by La Midin Demida, the "demon princess" of the Eastern Kingdom. Once again, Neko holds her own, and the two become fast friends. Urged on by Ladin, Neko and Dimida rally the people of the Middle Kingdom and march against Duran III, the tyrant ruler of the Western Kingdom. There are lots of fights, both physical and magical, and even time for a bit of flirting and romance among the four young leads. However, All Is Not As It Seems™, and Neko and her friends are in for a rude surprise or three during their quest.

If Tobira o Akete sounds formulaic, like a compilation of isekai tropes, it's because it helped establish the formula. In 1986, the idea of superpowered humans going to a fantasy world with their memories of home intact was comparatively novel. So if you can forget, or at least temporarily shelve, your knowledge of what happened in the next 35 years of anime - and overlook, or at least forgive, the ass-pull plot twists - you'll find Tobira o Akete a fun ride.

The voice cast includes:

• Fujimoto Kyouko (Negishi Miyako / Neko) has no other credits.
• Inoue Kazuhiko (Saiki Haruka) starred as Yamaoka Shirou in Oishinbo, Yuki Eiri in Gravitation, the title role in Cyborg 009, and my favorite role, the irascible, sake-swilling Nyanko-sensei in the Natsume Yuujichou franchise. He also played Iori in Tomoe's Run!, Kanuma Hayate in Akai Hayate, Ryousuke in Daishizen no Majuu Bagi, Kitten Smith in Starship Troopers, Liu Bei Xuande in both Sangokushi TV specials, Ayako in Lunn Flies into the Wind, and Nakatsugawa in Boyfriend, all Orphan releases.
• Saito Masamichi (Yamagishi Keiichirou) appeared as Gord in Next Senki Ehrgeiz, an Orphan release.
  
• Shimada Bin (Towada) appeared in Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou, Fukuyama Theater, Tomoe's Run! and Sangokushi, all Orphan releases. He played Ken Nakajima in the You're Under Arrest franchise and numerous other roles. He recently played Konaki Jijii and Wally Wall in the 2018 revival of GeGeGe no Kitarou.
• Hirano Fumi (La Midin Dimida) starred as Lum in the Urusei Yatsura franchise, Koiko in Koiko no Mainichi, and Princess Kahm in Outlanders. She also played Lihua in the two Sangokushi TV specials and Tsugumi in Stop!! Hibari-kun!, all Orphan releases.
• Nozawa Nachi (Ladin) debuted in 1967. He played Lupin in the original Lupin III pilot film, Axel von Fersen in The Rose of Versailles, Cobra in the Space Cobra franchise, and Deimos in Bride of Deimos. He also played Taka in Kasei Yakyoku, Black Jack in Marine Express and Bremen 4, and Takeru in Izumo (1991), all Orphan releases.
  

The director, Shimizu Keizou, was animation director for the Legend of the Galactic Heroes LOGH) OVA series, as well as overall director for the two LOGH movies, the LOGH Gaiden OVAs, and the LOGH revivals. He was also heavily involved in the Space Cobra series.

The original subtitles were found on the web; I don't know where they came from, although I suspect they were OCRed or transcribed from the Tomodachi fansub. Yogicat retimed them to the new raw. TougeWolf checked them, and the revisions were massive. I edited and typeset. Nemesis, Uchuu, and Topper3000 QCed. Intrepid encoded from an R2J DVD. He also encoded a version from the Japanese laserdisc, for comparison. We may release that as a raw at some point.

This version also includes the 90-second and 30-second trailers. tenkenX6 translated the trailers; the other staff credits are the same as the main movie.

There's nothing spectacularly different about Tobira o Akete, but it's better than it's low reputation among anime critics. It has a bit of gratuitous nudity - it's an 80s anime, after all - but basically, It's a straightforward fantasy quest, from an era when such fare didn't require irony, a major twist, or a reborn Japanese otaku to be marketable. 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.