Choujikuu Romanesque Samy: MISSING 99

Choujikuu Romanesque Samy: MISSING 99 (Superdimensional Romanesque Samy: MISSING 99) is a 1986 sci-fi fantasy that makes no sense along most of its dimensions: its title, its plot, or even why it exists in the first place. It's the brainchild of Okuda Seiji, a veteran animator who worked on dozens of series, mostly as a storyboarder, but sometimes as episode director or scriptwriter. It seems to tell a story that's part of a much larger work, but there is no larger work. What you see is what you get.

Samy starts with a ponderous expository sign setting out the background: the war between Gods and Demons at the start of the universe, the Demons' plan to capture control of the next universe, the Gods plan to thwart them by embedding the potential for an "existence with immense power" in the human genetic code... you get the idea. And that existence turns out to be Samy Yoshino, a seemingly ordinary high-school girl. She is suddenly beset by vicious attackers on motorcycles, saved by a mysterious boy, and then whisked away through an interdimensional portal to another world, along with her dog Marlon.

There she encounters, among others, a White Rabbit, a witch, and a passel of monsters. The White Rabbit is actually Beat, a disguised minion of the evil Demon lord Noa (who is the twin brother of the biblical Noah, but that's another story, apparently). Samy is the prophesied "existence with immense power," and Noa wants to destroy her before she can thwart the Demons' plan.  Noa and his key warriors, Silver and Beat, pursue Samy with their huge dimensional warship. Suddenly, she is rescued by three heroes: Deus, Romus, and Cody. Together, they hold off Noa and his followers until Samy discovers her Bodhisattva-class powers and ends the conflict decisively, with lots of tasty explosions. Samy wakes up in her high-school classroom, unaware that her unusually vivid dream was real. Another ponderous expository sign suggests that further adventures will follow, but that's the end of the story. Make sense? Didn't think so.

My reaction as a viewer was simple: wtf? The density of the tropes, and the preposterous conflation of ideas from various traditions and other anime shows, is off the charts. Ideas and references are casually thrown off and immediately discarded or ignored. For example, the unnamed boy who saves Samy from the motorcycle gang is also sucked into the interdimensional vortex, but he's never seen again. Even the title makes no sense: who or what are the missing 99? (If you count the boy, maybe it's only 98.)

The voice cast has many well-known seiyuu of the era:

• Hirano Fumi (Samy) starred as Lum in the Urusei Yatsura franchise, Koiko in Koiko no Mainichi, and Princess Kahm in Outlanders. She also played La Midin Dimida in Tobira o Akete, Lihua in the two Sangokushi TV specials and Tsugumi in Stop!! Hibari-kun!, all Orphan releases.
• Suzuoki Hirotaka (Deus, brown-haired, very brawny hero) played Bright Noa in Mobile Suit Gundam, Huga Koijiro in Captain Tsubasa, Dragon Shiryu in Saint Seiya, Tenshinhan in Dragonball, Kuno in Ranma ½, Abriel Nei Debrusc Larth Kryb Debeus in the Crest of the Stars franchise, and Saito in Rurouni Kenshin. He appeared in Ginga Tansa 2100-nen: Border Planet, Sei Michaela Gakuen, and Chiisana Koi no Monogatari, all Orphan releases.
• Horiuchi Kenyuu (Romus, green-haired hero) played the title role in Guin Saga and Oscar in the Angelique franchise. He also played the title role in Amon Saga, Ryuuichi in Aoko Honoo, Nest in Eien no Filena, Kubota in Meisou Ou Border, Jin Akira in Wolf Guy, Lid in Greed, and the refined son in Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, all Orphan releases.
• Wakamoto Norio (Noa) played the title role in The Gargoyle of the Yoshinagas, Vicious in Cowboy Bebop, Cell in the Dragonball franchise, Katakuriko in the Gintama franchise, Oda Nobunaga in Sengoku Basara franchise, Sakakibara in Sanada 10, Guren in Ushio to Tora TV, Shining Saotome in the Uta no Prince-sama franchise, and Oskar von Reuenthal in Legend of the Galactic Heroes. He also appeared as York Denman in Apfelland Monogatari, Major Thrauza in Yamato 2520, Denon in Amon Saga, and the Narrator in Joker: Marginal City, all Orphan releases.
• Ikeda Shuuichi (Silver, Noa's wolf warrior) played Char in the Gundam franchise, Ptolemy in Alexander Senki, Quattro in Z Gundam, Kou Shouki (the heroine's father) in Saiunkoku Monogatari, Shuuichi Akai in the Detective Conan franchise, and Alex Liger in Dallos. The last is an Orphan release.
• Tobita Nobuo (Cody, red-haired hero) played Lumial in the Angelique franchise, Ken Wakashimazu in the Captain Tsubasa franchise, Randy in Fake, Sinistra in Kiddy Grade, the title role in Locke the Superman, and Dayon in Osomatsu-san. He appeared in Ziggy Sore Yuke! R&R Band, Condition Green, and Eien no Filena, all Orphan releases.
• Ohara Noriko (Witch) had a long career, starting in the 1960s. She played Nobita in the Doraemon franchise, Doronjo in Yatterman, the title roles in Future Boy Conan and the original Sinbad no Bouken, Peter in Alps no Shoujo Heidi, Oyuki in Urusei Yatsura, and Claudia La Salle in Choujikuu Yousai Macross. She played Makoto-chan's mom in Makoto and the mother bear in Katte ni Shirokuma, both Orphan releases.
• Furuya Tohru (Beat, aka the Rabbit) played the lead male roles in Kimagure Orange Road and Sailor Moon, the title roles in Casshern Sins and Kyojin no Hoshi, and recurrent roles in the Dr. Slump, Dragonball, and Mobile Suit Gundam franchises. He also starred as Niimi in Nine, Kosaku in Stop!! Hibari-kun, and the title role in Bavi Stock, all Orphan releases.
• Yamamoto Yuriko (Maki) played the title roles in Lady Georgie, Hello! Sandybell, Mahou Tsukai Sally 2, and the Iczer OVAs. She also played the title roles in Nora, Twinkle Nora Rock Me, and Tomoe's Run!, Rihabi and Sayuri in Stop!! Hibari-kun!, and Telenne in High Speed Jecy, all Orphan releases.

Okuda Seiji also directed New Dream Hunter Rem, Crystal Triangle, and the Sangokushi TV series.

This project is another rework of a BOX Subs hardsub. A transcription of the subs was already floating around the web. Zalis did the original translation, and it required little revision. kokujin-kun translated the insert song, which had not been done before. ninjacloud timed. I edited and typeset; there were very few signs. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. Intrepid encoded from a Domesday Duplicator rip of a second-hand Japanese laserdisc.

So for better or worse, here is a new version of Choujikuu Romanesque Samy: MISSING 99. To me, it bears a resemblance to Tobira o Akete, which was released about the same time and makes equally little sense. But if super-powered heroines fighting evil in another dimension is your thing, you'll enjoy the show. In any case, it's available from the usual torrent site or on IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net. And if you catch sight of the missing 99, let me know, okay?