Cat-Eyed Boy (Youkaiden Nekome Kozou) 01

Just in time for Halloween, Orphan presents the first episode of Umezz Kazuo's 1976 horror series Youkaiden Nekome Kozou (Spirit Legend Cat-Eyed Boy, here just Cat-Eyed Boy). Because of Makoto-chan, I always thought of Umezz Kazuo as a comedy writer, but in fact, he is best known for his horror manga and is sometimes called "the Stephen King of Japan." He wrote The Drifting Classroom, a horror masterpiece, as well as the Kowai Hon (Scary Book) series. On Baka-Updates, more than 50 of his titles are listed as horror.

Cat-Eyed Boy is a spooky tale of demons, spirits, and monsters based on Umezz' manga Nekome Kozou (Cat-Eyed Boy), which is available in English. According to Baka-Updates, Cat-Eyed Boy acts like a Trickster figure, saving the innocent and helping the wicked receive the punishment that fate metes out. The stories are mostly tales of revenge and retribution for the evil acts people do. The TV series adds a quest plot, as Cat-Eyed Boy searches for his long-lost real mother.

The first episode sets out background of the story. Cat-Eyed Boy is the son of Nekomata, a cat demon, and a human mother. Half-demon, half-human, he is shunned by both worlds. He is raised by a foster mother, Miya, who has to beg for food, and he becomes a mischievous nuisance to the village he lives in. When a demon called Nadare-Maneki (the Landslide Summoner) attacks, Cat-Eyed Boy must try to save himself and his foster mother from its relentless attacks.

Cat-Eyed Boy is unusual in several respects. First, it is not really animated. Instead, it is done in "gekimation" (graphic novel plus animation), in which special effects are added to full-length paper cutouts. This gives the show a unique and rather static look. Second, it is Orphan's first one-and-done. That is, we're not going on with the series. (Orphan has created an orphan series; wah...) The underlying reason is lack of raws. Three episodes were included as specials in the live-action Cat-Eyed Boy box set; a few more are on YouTube; and that's it.

With only one episode to work with, I don't have much information on the voice actors:

• Hori Junko (Cat-Eyed Boy) is best known as the voice of the protagonists in three Fujiko Fujio works, Obake no Q-tarou, Ninja Hattori-kun, and Chinpui. She also appeared in Wan Wan Chuushingura, Taiyou no Ouji: Horus no Daibouken, Rain Boy, Time Slip Ichimannen Prime Rose, and Makoto-chan, all Orphan releases), as well as Moomin, Akage no Anne, Cinderella Boy, and Unico.
• Masuoka Hiroshi (traveling priest) is best known for playing Fugata Masuo in Sazae-san (for more than 20 years) and Jam Ojii-san in the Soreike! Anpanman franchise. He appeared in Hidamari no Ki, the Hiatari Ryouko movie, King Fang, Nine, Perrine Monogatari, and Tezuka Osamu Monogatari: I am Son Gokuu, all Orphan releases.
• Yada Kouji (Nadare-Maneki, the Landslide Summoner) played Dr. Gero in the Dragon Ball franchise. He appeared in all the GeGeGe no Kitarou iterations through 2007, Haguregumo, Nine, and the Sangokushi movies. The last two are Orphan releases.

The director, Tsuchiya Keinosuke, helmed Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair and Wandering Girl Nell, which have been fansubbed by OldCastle and South Wind Subs.

Cat-Eyed Boy is a labor of love by Skr, who is a fan of all things Umezz Kazuo. He translated, timed, edited, and encoded the show. His friend sotoo did a translation check. Uchuu and I did QC. The encode is very large, because the underlying film stock is not in great shape; Skr needed a very high bit rate to capture all the defects. 😉

So buckle up, boys and girls, for classic Japanese horror from 45 (!) years ago. You can find Cat-Eyed Boy on the usual torrent site or download it from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

To-Y Blu-ray

To-Y is a 1987 OVA about a Japanese indie rock band and its lead singer. It is based on a ten-volume manga by Kamijou Atsuji. To-Y was stranded on the wrong side of the Digital Divide for years, until the eponymously named To-Y Restoration Committee subbed a laserdisc rip of the show in 2007. It quickly found a niche among devotees of indie rock and Japanese visual kei. Earlier this year, it was restored and released on Blu-ray. Orphan is now releasing a high-definition version featuring a new encode and a revised script.

To-Y tells the story of the indie rock-and-roll band GASP, which has a fervent following among Tokyo's rebellious youth. GASP is on the verge of a breakthrough, with a pending concert at an outdoor venue, Hibiya Yaon. However, the band's lead singer, To-Y (pronounced Too-i), seems indifferent to the possibilities of success. He's more interested in living his life, fighting when he feels like it, and balancing the attentions of his eccentric girlfriend, Niya, who seems to be part cat, and his beautiful cousin, Hiderou Koishikawa, who performs as a successful idol under the name Sonoko Morigaoka.

As the show opens, GASP is playing a gig at a seedy nightclub. For no particular reason, To-Y punches out the lights of a successful male idol, Aikawa Youji, who has come to see the band play. This arouses the interest of Youji's scheming manager, Katou Koshiko. She approaches To-Y and offers to make him an star - without his band, of course. When To-Y rebuffs her, she sets out to show him who really holds the power in the music business. She gets GASP's forthcoming concert at Hibiya Yaon canceled, throwing the band into a tailspin. But inspired by Niya, To-Y refuses to buckle, and he finds a way forward for the band and for himself without giving in to Katou's demands.

To-Y is as much a music video as it is a drama. It includes eight different songs in its 55-minute runtime, all performed by indie bands of the era, including Psy S, the Barbee Boys, the Street Sliders, Zelda, AMOR, and Qujila. The dialog is sparse, less than 300 lines, and very terse. Despite the brevity of the script, To-Y tells a coherent, complete story and fleshes out its characters in a few deft strokes.

The voice cast contains both veteran seiyuu and successful practitioners from other fields:

• Shiozawa Kaneto (To-Y) played Shin in Hiatari Ryoukou, Iason in Ai no Kusabi, Rock Holmes in Fumoon, Shiina in Chameleon, Sanzou in I am Son Goku, Kouhei in Karuizawa Syndrome, and Kurahashi Eiji in Nine, all Orphan releases. He also played Joe in Tokimeki Tonight, Yoshio in Miyuki, Takeshi in Touch, D in Vampire Hunter D, Narsus in the Arslan Senki OVA, Rosario in Dragon Half, and Abriel senior in Crest of the Stars.
• Nokko (Niya) is a singer-songwriter. To-Y was her only anime role.
• Uchida Naoya (Aikawa Youji, the rival singer) played the title role in the Cobra franchise, Yagami's father in Death Note, Daigo in the recent version of Dororo, Oda Nobunaga in Drifters, and Askeladd in Vinland Saga.
• Yayoi Mitsuki (Hiderou Koishikawa, aka Sonoko Morigaoka, the successful female singer and To-Y's cousin) played Maria Winter in Condition Green and Maron in Girl from Phantasia, both Orphan releases.
• Sogabe Kazuyuki (Nakahara Kimihiko, aka Kaei, the mysterious goth character) played Oda Nobunaga in Black Lion, Rei Ginsei in Vampire Hunter D, and Meyer in Hi-Speed Jecy, an Orphan release.
• Hitotsuyanagi Miru (Katou Koshiko, Youji's scheming manager) has only a few credits, appearing recently in Eizouken.
• Gendou Tesshou (Momo, the drummer) played Colonel Muto in Joker Game, Moloch in Yondemasu Azazel-san, Rei in the Urusei Yatsura franchise, Moguro Fukuzou in New Laughing Salesman,  and "Oyaji" in Mitsuboshi Colors. He also played Jin Kiryu in Blue Sonnet, Zigong in Eiyuu Banka Koushi-den, Paul Rusch in Yume Kakeru Kougen, Jim Hyatt in AWOL Compression Remix, the loyal lieutenant Galbreath in Next Senki Ehrgeiz, the dragonman Baguda in Greed, the narrator in Akai Hayate and Meisou-ou Border, Dog McCoy in Dallos, Hebopi in Wild 7, rebel leader Oosukune in Izumo, and Rikiishi's trainer Kuroki and Kirishima in Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, all Orphan releases.
• Seki Toshihiko (Shouji, the guitar player) played the title role in Izumo, Riki in Ai no Kusabi, the hero Seitarou in Hoshi Neko Full House, the gang leader Hiba in Wild 7, Miroku in Yuukan Club, Chuuta in Satsujin Kippu wa Heart-iro, the fighter Nagase Jun in Akai Hayate, Hayata in Call Me Tonight, Ootsuki in Milky Passion: Dougenzaka - Ai no Shiro, Junichiro in Kasei Yakyoku, and the unnamed protagonist of Oruorane the Cat Player, all Orphan releases. He also played Matsuda in the Yawara! properties, Sanzo in the Saiyuuki TV series, Mousse in Ranma 1/2, and the title roles in Alexander (Reign the Conqueror) and Kaiketsu Zorro.
• Yamada Tatsuo (Isami, the bass player) is an animator. To-Y was his only voice-acting role.

The director, Hamatsu Mamoru, also helmed B.B Fish (an Orphan release), Yoroiden Samurai Troopers, the Arslan Senki OVAs, B'tx, and the 2005 remake of Glass no Kamen.

This version started with the To-Y RC script. Iri did a thorough translation check. (One example of the changes: the originals script had the venue as Yaon Hibiya, as though it were a Japanese name that needed to be reversed for Western order. In fact, Hibiya Yaon is an acronym, short for Hibiya Yagai Ongakudou - Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall - not a name.) ninjacloud timed. I edited and typeset; the typesetting is much more extensive than in previous versions. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. bananadoyouwanna encoded from a Japanese Blu-ray. The file is 9GB for a show of less than an hour, driven by the visual effects, the film grain, and the FLAC soundtrack.

I guess Orphan is in the big (file) leagues now.

I quite liked To-Y. It is recognizably an 80s one-and-done OVA teaser for a long manga series, like Sanctuary, but it tells a complete story and can be watched without knowledge of the manga. It even has the usual 80s soupcon of gratuitous nudity, which I'm sure will discourage exactly none of our potential viewers. You can get To-Y from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Laughing Salesman HD Completed

Today, another milestone: the last group of high-definition TV episodes for Laughing Salesman (Warau Salesman) has been released. The TV series is complete in HD, all 103 episodes. There will be a batch Sometime Soon™, but I don't see any pending changes or issues for the scripts.

The team barely made it to the finish line. It wasn't a large group to begin with, and over five years, people dropped out or got caught up in real life. In particular, the rework of the first 25 episodes from DVD to HD was a slog. Two more specials are essentially complete, but I don't know when or if the remaining 17 specials will get done.

The team for the HD releases and specials was:

• Translation or translation check: kokujin-kun.
• Timing: sangofe, ninjacloud.
• Editing and typesetting: Collectr.
• QC: Calyrica, Skr, konnakude, Eternal_Blizzard, sangofe, pheon18, Mamo-chan, Nemesis, BeeBee.
• Encoding: BakaProxy.
• Raw provider: Skr.
  

I'll leave the last word to Moguro Fukuzou:

"Don't know where, don't know when, but I know we'll meet again some sunny day..."

Thanks for watching.

 

This Is Where I Came In...

I just had the pleasure of editing the Blu-ray version of episode 58 of Yawara! - the last one I had never touched (or seen) before - and then picking up the Blu-ray version of episode 59, where I started on the project more than ten years ago. Now I've seen (and edited) all 124 episodes, the movie, and the TV special. It's been a fun ride.

I've written more than enough about Yawara! In my post on the Blu-ray version of the Atlanta special, I described the main voice actors in the series. Here I'd like to focus on some of the smaller parts. These include some of Yawara's competitors at events and the members of Fujiko's scratch judo team at Mitsuba Women's College:

• Satou Ai (Kristen Adams) 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, and Guyver: Out of Control, as well as 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, The Mother Who Became a Kite, and Kiku and the Wolf, and the unnamed girlfriend in Lunn Flies into the Wind, all Orphan releases.
• Mine Atsuko (Tohdoh Yuki) played Miwa, the artist's wife, in Lunn Flies into the Wind and Maris' mother in Maris the Choujo, both Orphan release, as well as numerous featured roles in other series.
• Ichijou Miyuki (Jody Rockwell) played Akane in Next Senki Ehrgeiz, an Orphan release, and appeared in several Detective Conan movies.
• Sasaki Run (Belkens) played Himiko in Izumi (1991), an Orphan release.
• Mizutani Yuko (Anna Tereshkova) played Pinoko in all the Black Jack properties, as well as Rika in Sei Michaela Gakuen Hyouryuuki, Lila in Eien no Filena, Hitomi in Milky Passion: Dougenzaka - Ai no Shiro, and Dr. Uematsu Kikue in Yume Kakeru Kougen, all Orphan projects.
• Suzuki Mei (Minamida Yoko, aka Paddyfield) played Cross in Hitomi no Naka no Shounen: Juugo Shunen Hyouryuuki, an Orphan release, and had a recurring role as Masao-kun in the Crayon Shin-chan franchise.
• Touma Yumi (Kyonkyon) played the title roles in Emma: A Victorian Romance and Baby Felix and Urd in the Aa! Megami-sama franchise. She appeared in numerous Orphan releases, including Boyfriend, Condition Green, Fukuyama Gekijou, Tezuka Osamu ga Kieta?!, Gude Crest, and Eguchi Hisashi no Nantoko Nareudesho.

I could go on and on. For example, Hayashibara Megumi, arguably the most famous female seiyuu of the 1990s, appears in a small role, as does Hara Eriko. Like other long series of the time, Yawara! graces the resume of many seiyuu from the 80s and 90s.

Although I've now come full circle on the project, I don't have any intention of dropping out, but... It's taken six years to get this far on the BD project - less than ten episodes per year. At this rate, the project won't finish for another seven years. By then, I'd be 82 or thereabouts. No one can foretell the future, but that's really pushing the demographic odds. The Blu-ray project simply has to move faster - or it has to get a different editor. I'm not being alarmist; I'm being realistic. Maybe the second half will go faster, because the scripts are in better shape. But one never knows... do one?

 

Sangokushi Dai Ni Bu Choukou Moyu! (HD)

Here, after an unconscionable delay, is the HD version of the second movie in the Sangokushi trilogy, 1993's Sangokushi Dai Ni Bu Choukou Moyu! (Sangokushi: The Yangtze Is Burning!). It covers roughly 13 years, from Cao Cao's victory over Lu Bu in 198 CE, through the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 CE, and the aftermath up until 211 BCE. As other players are swept from the board, the story focuses on Liu Bei and his increasingly desperate attempts to prevent Cao Cao from seizing all of China. The turning point is Liu Bei's recruitment of the best strategic mind of that generation, Zhuge Kongming, the Crouching Dragon. Kongming orchestrates an alliance of convenience between Liu Bei and Sun Quan, the ruler of the emerging southern kingdom of Wu, as they seek to stop Cao Cao's "million man army" from rolling over all of China. Their victory over Cao Cao at Red Cliffs and Liu Bei's seizure of the southwest as his realm create the Three Kingdoms that give the era its name. 

However, reaching that point is not easy. Liu Bei experiences setback after setback, even after recruiting Kongming. At more than one point in the story, with his fortunes at a low ebb, he describes himself as a failure. Still, he is able to retain the loyalty of his core set of warriors and even expand their number, when the mighty Zhao Yun enlists to serve the cause. Kongming first has to engineer multiple escapes from Cao Cao's hordes, but then he is able to seize the initiative and pull together the coalition that would finally check Cao Cao's ambitions... and create the opening for Liu Bei's ambitions to rule.

I have had great difficulty finishing the Sangokushi HD releases. The first was released in May, after languishing at my final checks for months. This one has also been on the slow train. Whenever I start to watch one of these movies, my interest flags almost immediately, and I turn to something else - writing blog posts, working on other shows, playing Solitaire - almost anything else, in fact. I think I finally understand why.

These movies are grand historical romances, painted on an epic canvas, but the characters are as two-dimensional as the animation. Liu Bei is noble; Kongming is clever; Lihua is a traditional wife. They're utterly unengaging. Or to put it another way, Liu Bei is a prig, Kongming is a showoff, and Lihua is a subservient cipher. The only characters with any complexity are Cao Cao - who can mingle inordinate ambition with inexplicable chivalry in the same gesture - and Guan Yu - who conveys the difficulty of trying to follow principles when the political landscape is constantly shifting under his feet. When they're not on screen, everything is cut-and-dried histrionics. However, the battle sequences are excellent, particularly the climactic naval engagement at Red Cliffs.

Sangokushi Dai Ni Bu Choukou Moyu! retains the same actors for Liu Bei, Cao Cao, Zhang Fei, and Guan Yu as the first movie. The major new seiyuu are:

• Yamaguchi Takashi (Kongming) was primarily an actor and a presenter. The Sangokushi movies are his only anime roles. 
• Shibata Hidekatsu (Sun Quan) played Baron Ashura in Mazinger Z, Kenzou Kabuto in Great Mazinger, King Bradley in both versions of Fullmetal Alchemist, and the Third Hokage in Naruto. He played the hero's father in Dragon Fist and the voice of God in Tezuka Osamu's Tales of the Old Testament, both Orphan releases.
• Hori Hideyuki (Zhao Yun) played Zach Isedo in Al Caral no Isan, Sid in Ai no Kusabi, Falk Green in Hi-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.
• Sugiyama Kazuko (Xiulan, Kongming's housekeeper and eventual wife) played Heidi  in Alps no Shoujo Heidi, Ganmo in Gu-Gu Ganmo, Ten-chan in Urusei Yatsura, Akane Kimidori in Dr. Slump and Arale-chan, and Korosuke in Kiteretsu Daihyakka.
• Yara Yuusaku (Zhou Yu, Wu's commander-in-chief) played the destroyer captain in Zipang. He had many featured roles, appearing in Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, Eguchi Hisashi no Nantoko Narudesho, Next Senki Ehrgeiz, Eien no Filena, Hidamari no Ki, Nozomi Witches, both Sangokushi OVAs, Prime Rose, and both What's Michael? OVAs, all Orphan releases.

As with the first movie, the supporting cast is vast, but most are onscreen only for a short time. The musical score for all three movies is by Yokoyama Seiji, a prolific composer of anime scores, including the Saint Seiya franchise and Magical Taruruuto-kun.

Iri translated all three movies, which are the equivalent of a two-cour TV series. Yogicat timed the originals and tweaked the timing for the new raws. I edited and typeset (twice). BeeBee and Topper3000 QCed the original release; TougeWolf did a thorough check of this one. The encoder asked to remain anonymous.

So as I wrote the first time, gird your loins, pad your bottom, and go watch Sangokushi Dai Ni Bu Choukou Moyu! in glorious HD. You can get the movie from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.