Chameleon 4

What's this? Two episodes of Chameleon in the same calendar year? Is Satan gliding around his domain on ice skates?

In the blog post for episode 3, I opined hopefully that the series would be stalled indefinitely, because the songs for the last three episodes hadn't been translated and were unlikely to be. However, ninjacloud, the timer, refused to give up. He nudged and pleaded with various translators to get the songs done. Further, VigorousJammer did the detailed work of applying laalg's complex translation checks to Moho's scripts. So now, I'm out of excuses.

Episode 4 ("The Worst One-on-One Hell Ever!!") continues the saga of pint-sized wannabe hood Yazawa Eisaku. Having survived three near-death encounters, first with the Shadow Dance gang, then with psychotic thug Kyuu Akio, and finally with the ultra-violent Matsudo gang and its murderous leader, Matsuoka Eiji, the story continues with further interactions among Yawaza and his gang, Matsuoka and his gang, the ultra-powerful fighter Mishima Jun, and even Kyuu, who had been consigned to Juvenile Detention at the end of episode 2. The episode doesn't break new ground or introduce new characters. It's an extension of the previous episode and ends pretty much like episode 3 did. In short, it's filler.

Episode 3 ended with both Matsuoka and Mishima badly injured and recuperating. Matsuoka baits a trap by offering Yawaza "compensation money" for Mishima's injuries. Yawaza knows it's a trap but, opportunistic lowlife that he is, he's still unable to resist the lure of cash. When Mishima finds out (as Matsuoka intended), he's convinced that Yawaza has betrayed him (as Matsuoka also intended), Mishima comes after our "hero" with murder on his mind. Then Matsuoka comes after both of them. Only Kyuu's last minute intervention saves everyone from a fiery - and permanent - conclusion.

Moho Kareshi did the initial translation; laalg translation checked. convexity translated the songs and thus unjammed the project. kokujin-kun filled in a few blanks. ninjacloud timed. I edited and typeset; VigorousJammer provided valuable assistance by applying the translation check. Nemesis and Uchuu did QC. The raw is an ancient Internet rip (DivX505!), but there are no signs of original media on the second-hand market in Japan.

I still find Chameleon tedious in every respect - to edit, to typeset, or even to watch. Nonetheless, the team has put in a lot of hard work to get to this point. I owe it to them, and to the series' devoted fans (are there any?), to finish it... next year. Maybe. On the other hand, the next two episodes have many missing lines and NO TRANSLATOR. Mwahahaha...

So I'll refrain from further comments; you could guess what they'd be. You can get Chameleon 4 from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

 

Sensou Douwa: Aoi Hitomi no Onnako no Ohanashu

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-chan 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, The Cake Tree in the Ruins, The Mother Who Became a Kite, The Tale of the Ginormous Whale That Fell in Love with a Little Submarine, My Air Raid Shelter, and Kiku and the Wolf. Today, we're releasing Aoi Hitomi no Onnako no Ohanashu (The Tale of the Blue-Eyed Girl). Saizen has already done Two Walnuts, so the series is completely translated.

Aoi Hitomi no Onnako no Ohanashu is a departure from the most of the Sensou Douwa series, both in source material and in tone. It's not based on a short story by Nosaka Akiyuki. Instead, it's an original screenplay by Fujimoto Nobuyuki, who penned scripts for children's shows such as the original Doraemon and Bosco Adventure, as well as the adaptations of three earlier Sensou Douwa shows. As a result, it's a lighter episode than some of the previous specials, and it has a relatively happy ending.

Like the other episodes, Aoi Hitomi no Onnako no Ohanashu is set in World War II Japan. Although the time-frame isn't specified, the story is set after the firebombing of Yokohama (April, 1945) - the last five months of the war. Kudo Eiko, a grade-school girl, and her mother have fled to the relative safety of the countryside. When Eiko is introduced to her rural classmates, they are all struck by one thing. She has blue eyes, which most of them have never seen. (One asks, "Did she paint them?") They are horrified to discover the reason. Eiko is the daughter of an American man and a Japanese woman. Her father was sent back to the United States at the outbreak of the war. Eiko and her mother remained in Japan.

Most of the school kids have absorbed the lessons of Japanese propaganda - that Americans are savages - and they shun and bully Eiko. But one boy, Kenta, doesn't agree. He befriends Eiko and brings her into his group of friends, Norio, Tarou, and Shunsuke. This goes reasonably well until Norio's dad returns from the war, horribly wounded, with the news that Norio's older brother has been killed. Everyone except Kenta turns against Eiko. Then, Kenta and Eiko are both orphaned in an air raid. Kenta must go live with distant relatives, and Eiko will be interned by the Military Police as an enemy alien, even though she's a Japanese citizen. This terrible prospect brings the boys, and the rest of the class, to their senses. With help from his friends, Kenta hatches a plan to save Eiko and himself from their fates.

The show contrasts the attitude of Kenta, his sympathetic teacher, Miss Akiko, and eventually his friends, with the unthinking xenophobia of most of the children and the (male) teachers at the school. Miss Akiko, in particular, draws a distinction between the wars of adults and the universal friendship of children; that draws a sharp rebuke from her colleagues. In addition, the show contrasts the grim reality of wartime Japan with a (mythical?) island in the South Pacific, where the people are friendly to everyone and war is unknown. With the help of a friendly but drunken fishing boat captain, Kenta hopes to take Eiko to this utopia.

One irrelevant question kept nagging at me: could the daughter of a Japanese woman and an American man have blue eyes? As I was taught in high school genetics, blue eyes are recessive. For Eiko to have blue eyes, her mother would have to have one blue-eye gene. I thought blue eyes were unknown in pre-war Japan, but in fact, they were found in the north and in a few other parts of Japan.

The voice cast includes:

• Kuwashima Houko (Eiko) played the title role in Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne and Arete-Hime and starred as Sango in Inuyasha, Aoi in Infinite Ryvius, Marlene in Blue Gender, Margaret in Madlax, Kou Shuurei in the Saiunkoku Monogatari series, Yuuko in Dennou Coil, Chizuru in the Hakuoiki properties, and Warp in Kaiba. She appeared in Yume Tsukai, an Orphan release.
• Komatsu Rika (Kenta) appeared in Animation Runner Kumori, Boys Be..., Kuromajyo-san ga Tooru!, Nessa no Ha-ou Gandalla, On-chan, and Shin Hakkenden, among other featured roles.
• Kobayashi Yumiko (Norio) played the title role in Crayon Shin-chan, Poemi in Puni Puni Poemi and Excel Saga, Souchi in ex-Driver, Mamoru in Sister Princess, Shoubu in the Duel Masters franchise, and Shiro the demon dog in the Hoozuki no Reitetsou properties.
  
• Shimamoto Sumi (Miss Akiko) debuted as Clarisse in The Castle of Cagliostro. She starred as Sara in Princess Sara, Nausicaa in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Otonashi Kyouko in Maison Ikkoku, and Dayan in Neko no Dayan. She also played Shokupanman in the Soreike! Anpanman franchise, Tinkerbell in Peter Pan no Bouken, Antoinette in Reporter Blues, Big Mama in Bakuretsu Hunter, Sue in Maris the Choujo, Elice in Fire Emblem, and the mother in Kiku and the Wolf. The last three are Orphan releases.
• Mine Atsuko (Tarou) 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 Tohdoh Yuki in Yawara!
• Nagasako Takashi (the principal) played King Enma in the Hoozuki no Reitetsu properties and Bill Atkin in Alice in Cyberland 2, an Orphan release.
• Isobe Masako (Tomie, Kenta's mother) played Tilda Miller in Gozdilla S.P. She appeared in Ear of the Golden Dragon, an Orphan release, Letter Bee, and Koi Sento.
• Nakagi Ryuji (old Captain) played Lot in Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament, an Orphan release, and Coach Yuutenji in Yawara!, among other featured roles.
  

The director, Yasumi Tetsuo, wrote the screenplay for Kiku and the Wolf and storyboards for numerous series.

As he's done for all the other Sensou Douwa releases, kokujin-kun translated Aoi Hitomi no Onnako no Ohanashu. Yogicat timed. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. The raw is a 1080p webrip from UNEXT, rather bit-starved. (It would be nice to have better raws, but the R2J DVDs are hard to find.) Honorifics have been omitted.

Now that the series is completely translated, I can look back on all the episodes and sum them up simply, using Lorraine Schneider's classic poster:

Three of the shows (The Boy and the Sea Turtle, The Mother Who Became a Kite, The Cake Tree in the Ruins) portray the deaths of children in war in straightforward and devastating ways. As a parent (and now grandparent), I found them extremely upsetting and very difficult to watch. The rest are more indirect in their approach, and I had a sense that the series was pulling its punches in the later episodes. Kiku and the Wolf deviates from Nosaka Akiyuki's story to provide a more upbeat ending. The Tale of the Blue-Eyed Girl is downright optimistic, compared to the rest; Kenta and Eiko's escape from the MPs has a lyrical, almost fairy-tale quality. Nonetheless, the shows collectively demonstrate the cruel mindlessness of war in ways impossible to ignore. Did they have an impact on their intended audience? I simply don't know.

You can get Aoi Hitomi no Onnako no Ohanashu from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net. Peace.

 

Yuki (BD 720p)

This one's for you, DmonHiro.

To prepare for encoding the 1080p version of Yuki, M74 made a "test" encode at 720p for review. It looked fine to me, so he encoded the big version, and it was released a few days ago.

Afterwards, I had the 720p encode sitting on my hard drive. I thought to myself, "That's a nice 720p encode you got there; shame if something happened to it." M74 vouched that it was frame-accurate with the larger encode, so I threw the subs into Aegisub, let it do its magic adjustments against the 720p raw, and then muxed the result. Voila! Yuki in glorious 720p with AAC sound, at just about one-third the size of the 1080p release.

Orphan has frequently released the same title at multiple resolutions, but that was usually the result of new (and better) source material turning up. Cleopatra and Senya Ichiya Monogatari went through three iterations over time - DVD, HD web stream, Blu-ray - but that was over eight years. Tezuka Osamu's "Love Will Save the World" specials were released in both 720p and 1080p, but the latter was done by Beatrice-Raws, not by Orphan. The closest timing from Orphan was probably Parol no Miraijima, when our release of a 720p web rip prompted Commie-Subs to provide the far better Blu-ray source, which was encoded and released at 1080p. Usually, though, one size fits all.

Personally, I always liked 720p releases, because they stood a better chance of fitting on the DVDs I used for long-term storage. (Yeah, I'm a technology Luddite, so sue me. And I prefer IRC to Discord, too.) When I bought a Blu-ray burner and started using BD blanks, my objections to large files became less strident, and Orphan began releasing relatively large encodes, like To-Y and Yuki. But there are anime fans with slow computers, or who have to pay for bandwidth by the slice, so I'm glad that DmonHiro (and Commie and Iznjie Biznjie and Soldado and OnDeed) still provide 720p encodes. I download them preferentially. I may have BDs for storage now, but I have a slow Internet link and a bandwidth cap.

This release has only been spot-checked. The subs were good before, and the signs looked right after downsizing to the new raw,. That's good enough for me. You can get this release at the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Yuki (BD 1080p)

Forty years ago, the famed "social realism" film director Imai Tadashi released his one and only anime movie, Yuki. It was based on a 1976 novel by Saitou Ryuusuke that is unavailable in English and out of print in Japan. The movie languished on analog media until recently, when a French Blu-ray was released. Orphan has encoded the Blu-ray and added English subtitles, translated from the Japanese rather than the French, to create the first English-language release.

Yuki starts out as high fantasy, set among the gods in the heavens. Yuki, the thirteen-year-old granddaughter of the snow gods, is charged to go down to earth and improve the fortunes of a suffering peasant village in rural Japan. Once Yuki arrives on earth, the movie becomes something else completely: a chronicle of the peasants' struggle for social justice against cruel oppressive forces: murderous bandits, predatory samurai, a rapacious landowner, and finally, the local demon-god himself.

The film breaks neatly into distinct episodes. In the prologue, Yuki receives her mission from her grandfather. In the first section, she meets an orphaned girl, Hana, and falls in with Hana's troupe of orphaned beggars. 

Yuki is too clean and too pretty to make a decent beggar, but she proves her usefulness by taming an "untameable" horse named Fubuki. In the second section, the bandit Tsumujikaze and his gang are planning to ransack the village and attack the local landowner, Goemon. Guided by an elder (known only as "the old man"), the peasants organize themselves to defeat the bandits. The next section is an interlude, where the grateful peasants and the beggars celebrate a winter festival. In the fourth section, "guardian" samurai bands demand tributes of crops and manpower for war. Once again, the old man organizes the peasantry, this time from multiple villages, to ambush and destroy the samurai. In the fifth section, Goemon, emboldened by the disappearance of both the bandits and the samurai, raises the rent and tribute on his tenant farmers drastically. Once again, the peasants rise up and destroy their adversary. As he is dying, Goemon calls down the wrath of the local deity, Shinjin-sama, on the peasants.

In the action sequences, Yuki has a catalytic but subordinate role. She rides Fubuki to provoke the bandit leader, to stampede the samurai's horses and overrun their fixed positions, and to guide her friends in pursuit of Goemon, but the peasants and beggars are the main focus. Only in the final chapter, the confrontation with Shinjin, does Yuki take the lead. The peasants are too cowed by superstition - what the old man calls "the enemy inside our hearts" - to face Shinjin. Only Yuki, a deity herself, and her brave band of beggars are willing to confront an angry god. An epilogue then brings Yuki's story to a tidy conclusion.

This summary makes the movie sound very schematic, if not dogmatic. The collective action of the "people" - first as individuals, then as a village, then as a collection of villages - is needed to overthrow the oppressors. The beggars are noble - forbidden to steal by their one-legged boss. The old man is wise and a tactical genius. But in fact, the movie is quite entertaining. There are no long political diatribes. The story flows organically, if a bit predictably, from one action sequence to the next. The festival interlude is charming. My main criticism is that Yuki remains a colorless cipher throughout. Even when one of the village boys, Tsukitarou, falls in love with her, she doesn't react. The members of the beggar troupe steal the show. Perhaps that's the point.

For some reason, the movie doesn't include the voice cast, so I have only a partial list of seiyuu:

• Ushihara Chie (Yuki) has no other anime credits.
• Sugiyama Kazuko (Hana) played the title roles in Gu-Gu Ganmo, Alps no Shoujo Heidi, and Laura, A Little Girl on the Prairie. She played Ten-chan in the Urusei Yatsura franchise, Akane Kimidori in the Dr. Slump and Arale-chan franchise, Mimiko in Panda Kopanda, Korosuke in Kiteretsu Daihyakka, as well as Yoriko Kisaragi in Yume Tsukai and Wendy in Manxmouse, both Orphan releases.
• Nagai Ichiro (the "old man") played 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 Blue Sonnet, Manxmouse, Nora, Hidamari no Ki, Yuukan Club, Amon Saga, Botchan, Ipponbouchou Mantaraou, Rain Boy, and Yamato 2520, all Orphan releases.
• Nakanishi Taeko (Yuki's grandmother) played Ryouko in Kuro ga Ita Natsu, Yuri in Kuroi Ame ni Utarete, Helen in A Penguin's Memory, Mrs. Bontempeli in Perrine Monogatari, and Liu Bei's mother in the first two Sangokushi movies, all Orphan releases. She had featured roles in Emma, Glass no Kamen (1984), Little Women, Queen Millennia, Ringing Bell, and Sailor Moon R.
• Kobayashi Akiji (Yuki's grandfather) played Toubei Tachibana in the Kamen Rider franchise and Dionysius II in Hashire Melos!, an Orphan release.
  
• Komatsu Housei (beggar boss) played Pride in Kaitou Pride and Jinba in Prime Rose, an Orphan release.

The director, Imai Tadashi, made many well-regarded films, including Aoi Sanmyaku, Until We Meet Again, Tower of Lilies, And Yet We Live, The Rice People, An Inlet of Muddy Water, and Night Drum.

Some notes, courtesy of Iri and Uchuu:

• The white horse's name, Fubuki, means "blizzard" in Japanese. 
• When the old man teases Hana about not finding flowers, she says she is one and has one and points to her nose. Hana means both flower and nose in Japanese.
  
• The beggars apparently go commando, and one of them is prone to doing handsprings when he's happy.
• At the festival, the beggars consume amazake, a fermented beverage. Despite the similarity in names, amazake is not sake and has much lower alcohol content.
• The volcano near the village is Mount Asahi in Hokkaido, which pinpoints the location of the movie. The volcano erupted in 1739, which may help narrow down the time frame.
  

Iri translated the show. Yogicat timed. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. M74 bought the French Blu-ray and encoded it. The project started with tribute's HEVC encode of the Blu-ray, but technical difficulties with timing synchronization led the team to do a new encode.

I quite enjoyed Yuki. Other reviewers, expecting a high fantasy, have been less enthusiastic. (Certainly the subtitle on some editions,Yuki: Snow Fairy, and the lilting opening song about "little Yuki" are misleading.) 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.

Bakumatsu no Spasibo

Yet another project that began in the deep, dark past. Bakumatsu no Spasibo (Gratitude in the Bakumatsu) is a 1997 movie about Russian admiral Yevfimy Vasilyevich Putyatin's second voyage to Japan in 1854-55. During that mission, he negotiated the Treaty of Shimoda, which opened relations between Japan and Russia. From what I can tell, M74 encoded a rip of the VHS tape in the summer of 2017. Moho Kareshi delivered an initial script in 2018. In early 2019, glenn tinkered with the timing and the translation, and then ninjacloud retimed it. And there the project sat until this summer, when our good friends at Inka suggested a joint project to finish up the film. Off we went, and here is the result.

Putyatin's mission was a Russian foreign policy initiative intended to blunt the impact of Commodore Matthew Perry's American expedition to open Japan. Putyatin first reached Japan in 1853. However, the arrival of the Americans and their gunboat diplomacy had thrown the Japanese government (the Shogunate) into an uproar, and Putyatin was unable to conclude a treaty. He returned in 1854, anchoring at Shimoda, to begin serious negotiations.

However, the massive Ansei Tokai earthquake led to a a huge tsunami that sank most of Putyatin's ships. The Diana was spun around 42 times and badly damaged. It sank as it sailed to Heda for repairs, stranding Putyatin and his crew in Japan. Despite the setbacks, Putyatin continued negotiating and brought the talks to a successful conclusion. In addition, his crew worked with Japanese shipwrights to build a ship capable of taking him and his crew home. 

Like other historical films, Bakumatsu no Spasibo is an earnest affair, with lots of scenes of serious men talking in small rooms, interspersed with interactions between the curious Russians and the flabbergasted Japanese populace. The movie has a blizzard of characters on both the Japanese and Russian side; most have only a few lines and then vanish. The exceptions are Admiral Putyatin himself; his Japanese negotiating partner, Kawaji Toshiakira; the master shipbuilder who constructs the replacement ship, Oaki Kakichi; and his son, Oaki Kikusaburou (Kiku), who acts as the audience surrogate for the events surrounding the foreigners' arrival. There is some manufactured tension, but by and large, the movie tries to demonstrate that the relationship between Russia and Japan was harmonious from the get-go. Of course, this viewpoint ignores the fact that Russia and Japan fought four wars during the next hundred years, and that Japan disputes Russia's possession of the Kurile Islands to this day, citing the Treaty of Shimoda.

The script is a treasure-trove of research on events and people; here are a few of the more interesting points:

• Perry allegedly gave the Japanese two white flags so they could surrender. The Historical Science Society of Japan and twenty other historical associations in Japan came to the conclusion that the documentation concerning the flags is questionable and unverified.
• The dimensions of the Diana are described in ken, a traditional unit of Japanese measurement. A ken is a little less than 2 meters.
• Some Russian words are left untranslated: zdravstvuyte (здравствуйте), hello; spasibo (cпасибо), thank you; horosho (хорошо), wonderful. Don't ask me why.
• The song that the Russian sailors sing at 51:31 is a famous "folk" song, Kalinka. The translation (courtesy of Nemesis) is:

Ah, under the pine, the green one

Lay me down to sleep!
Rock-a-bye, baby, rock-a-bye, baby

Lay me down to sleep!
 

Little snowberry, snowberry, snowberry of mine!
In the garden, little raspberry, raspberry, raspberry of mine!
x4
 

Ah, gorgeous, pretty maiden
Please, love me!
Rock-a-bye, baby, rock-a-bye, baby
Please, love me!

Little snowberry, snowberry, snowberry of mine!
In the garden, little raspberry, raspberry, raspberry of mine! 

x4

 

Be warned: the song is an earworm.

The voice cast includes:

• Katou Seizou (Admiral Putyatin) played Ii Naosuke in Hidamari no Ki, Abraham in Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament, Norbert in Apfelland Monogatari, Hatsutori Juuzou in Kage, Billy Bones in Shin Takarajima, and Jeigan in Fire Emblem, all Orphan releases. He had many other featured roles in the span of a 50 year career.
• Arikawa Hiroshi (Kawaji Toshiakira) played Grandpa Kaga in Usagi Drop and Cal in Run! White Wolf, an Orphan release. He narrated the Letter Bee series.
• Maruta Mari (Oaki Kikusaburou, or Kiku) played Ishmael as a boy in Tezuka Osamu's Tales of the Old Testament, an Orphan release. She appeared in Beck, Green Legend Ran, Inukami!, Kiku to Lala, Maps, Matchless Raijin-Oh, and Ninku.
• Naka Yousuke (Oaki Kakichi, the master shipbuilder) appeared in 21 Emon, Doraemon, Kentoshi, and Ninku. He played Furune in Izumo, an Orphan release.
• Okano Kousuke (Matsushiro Kumasaburou) played Hanabishi Recca in Flame of Recca, Nakamura Kenta in the Initial D franchise, Oburi in Kite, Son Goku in the Saiyuki OVA, and Aqua in the Jewelpet franchise.
• Ooyama Takao (Ueda Torakichi) played Igor in Don Dracula. He appeared in The Green Cat and Techno Police 21C, both Orphan releases.
• Satou Yuri (Oota Nami) appeared in Porco Rosso, Davide no Hoshi, and Ninku.

The director, Dezaki Satoshii, founded the Magic Bus animation studio. His extensive resume includes Time Slip Ichimannen Prime Rose, Tobira o Akete, Kasei Yakyoku, Yuukan Club, Yume Kakeru Kougan, and Boyfriend, all Orphan releases, as well as the Legend of the Galactic Heroes series and movies, the Urusei Yatsura OVAs, Riki-ou, and many other classics.

As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, the credits for Bakumatsu no Spasibo are quite tangled. As best I can tell, Yume (Inka) did the translation, building on Moho Kareshi's (freelance) original script. glenn (freelance) did the first pass at timing, while ninjacloud (Orphan) did all the subsequent passes. TougeWolf (Inka) translation checked, did an initial edit, and release checked. I did the final edit, typesetting, and a second release check. Nemesis (Orphan), Uchuu (Orphan), and VigorousJammer (both) QCed. M74 (Orphan) encoded from a VHS rip by Intrepid (Orphan). So it's a joint Orphan and Inka release.

The tape itself was protected with Macrovision (curses!), so it couldn't be ripped on Intrepid's non-compressing setup. As a result, there are a lot of blended frames. There has never been a laserdisc or digital release.

So here at last is Bakumatsu no Spasibo, intended as a testament to a Russo-Japanese amity that never existed and still doesn't. You can get the release from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Alice in Cyberland, the Sequel

In my blog post on the original Alice in Cyberland, more than three years ago, I commented on the mystery of the missing second episode. The laserdisc release included a preview for a second episode. It even included a release date. But the second episode never appeared on home media. What happened?

In a lengthy comment in early 2019, Jam provided links to several Japanese web sites by Konaka Chiaki, the author of the Alice in Cyberland game scripts. Konaka said that both episodes aired on TV, but the second episode looked so bad that it wasn't released on home media. Then in late 2021, jta5768 pointed out that the TV broadcast had been captured and posted on YouTube. He added, "It would be cool to see the second episode subbed!" That's all it took.

Alice in Cyberland episode 2 picks up where episode 1 ended. High school students Alice (the pink-haired one), Julie (the orange-haired one), and Rena (the green-haired one) are still "diving in" to Cyberland to ward off bad guys and play hooky from school. On one of these visits, Julie encounters a young boy named Charlie and is sort of smitten; she wants to know more about him. (On the Internet, no one knows you're a shota.) Meanwhile, Alice puzzles over a powerful piece of software that appears as a sword; she tries to trace its creator. Rena just hangs around, not doing much of anything.

Alice finds that the sword was created by an ingenious but lazy programmer, Bill Atkin, who wants nothing more than to relax in his own virtual world as a sea turtle. Atkin has created a generalized anti-malware weapon that can wipe out any self-replicating program. This becomes relevant when the gang traces Charlies origin to the Hellgate Inc, the all-powerful software company. The CEO, Henri Hellgate, created Charlie, a self-replicating AI. If Charlie reaches maturity, he will clone himself indefinitely and destroy Cyberland. This poses a dilemma for the girls, particularly Julie, who wants to save Cyberland but also wants to save Charlie.

As you can see, the plot is slight. In addition, the second episode is marred by poor animation: in many sequences, the mouths don't even move. It's not surprising this episode didn't make it to home media. Further, many of the signs are in Engrish: Charlie appears as Charie on Julie's wrist display; he announces his presence with the mail message "I has arrived"; and Julie, for that matter, appears as Juri in the eyecatch. Still, those sorts of problems didn't stop the creators of Twinkle Nora Rock Me, now, did it?

Through its game roots, Alice in Cyberland shares some DNA (same author) with the far more famous Serial Experiments Lain. In one place in episode 2, Hellgate explains that Charlie can metaphorize completely. The term is used in Serial Experiments Lain, with the same meaning: to project a digital incarnation of oneself into cyberspace (or as it is known in Lain, the Wired).

The principal seiyuu in this episode are:

• Asada Yoko (Alice) has an extensive resume in both regular and hentai anime. She played the title role in two of the Angelique series and one of the leads in Refrain Blue. She also appeared in Doukyuusei 2 Special: Sotsugyousei and D4 Princess, both Orphan releases.
• Araki Kae (Rena) played lead roles in all the Sailor Moon properties, Yuki Miaka in the Fushigi Yuugi franchise, and Ann, the female lead, in Juliet. She also played Marceau, Yawara's unexpected challenger, in Yawara! The Atlanta Special.
• Miyamura Yuuko (Julie) played the title roles in NieA Under 7 and Akane's High Kick. She also had lead roles in Starship Girl Yamamato Yohko and Those Who Hunt Elves, and she has an ongoing role in the Detective Conan franchise.
• Ogata Megumi (Charlie) played Sailor Uranus in the Sailor Moon franchise, Kurama in Yuu Yuu Hakusho, Akito in Kodomo no Omocha,Shini in Evangelion, Yuugi in the first Yuugi-ou series, Kyuu in Detective Academy Q, Valkyrie in the UFO Pricess Valkyrie series, Itona in the Assassination Classroom series, and Makoto in Danganronpa. She also played Julianna in Megami Paradise, an Orphan release.
• Ishii Kouji (Henri Hellgate) played Fujisawa in the El Hazard franchise, Taiga in the GaoGaiGar franchise, Mitsukake in the Fushigi Yuugi franchise, John Blade in Sin: The Movie, Tanaka in Kachou Ouji: Hard Rock Save the Space, and Garterbelt in Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt. He also appeared as Hyman in Fire Emblem, an Orphan release.
• Nagasako Takashi (Bill Atkin) played King Enma in the Hoozuki no Reitetsu properties.

The director, Yokota Kazuyohoshi, directed several long series for children, as well as the Maetel Legend OVAs.

Moho Kareshi translated the episode. convexity translation checked. Yogicat timed. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. Skr captured the web stream, and Eternal_Blizzard edited out episode 1 to create a "virtual" episode 2, as it might have appeared on a home video release - OP, episode, ED. I didn't see the point of redoing episode 1 on an inferior source.

So here is Alice in Cyberland's "lost" second episode. It's mediocre, but so was the first episode: neither compelling nor a candidate for WAOOT (Worst Anime Of All Time). You can get the release from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Late breaking news: I chose the wrong "cut point" for the start of episode 2, and about a minute of material from episode 1 is included. (This is what I get for not being willing to watch episode 1 again.) You can get a patch to fix that from here; it uses ordered chapters to remove the redundant material, the sponsor screens, and the eyecatch, none of which would have been included in a home video release.