Sotsugyou: Graduation

There are lots of OVAs with Graduation in the title. This one is the two episode OVA from 1995. It is based on a dating sim game and was followed by Sailor Victory, a parody of Sailor Moon, and Marriage. Up until now, it has only been available in ancient DivX5 encodes. Thanks to Rezo, Orphan is now offering an up-to-date laserdisc release.

Sotsugyou: Graduation follows five high school girls who are on the cusp of graduation and are wondering about their futures. Hiromi is the daughter of a motorbike shop owner; she seems resigned to taking over the business from her ailing father. Mika is the daughter of a soba shop owner; she expects to take over his business as well. Shizuka wants to be a vet but doubts her ability to meet the academic and physical requirements. Reiko is the daughter in a wealthy family; her father is trying to arrange a marriage to another prominent family. Mami, the ditz of the group, wants to go to college but lacks the academic qualifications. All of them are unsure of their next steps and glum about their high-school friendship dissolving under the demands of real life.

The first episode focuses on an attempted pre-graduation trip to a hot spring. It goes off the rails when Mami gets off the train in pursuit of lunch for everyone, gets back on the wrong train, falls asleep from eating all the lunches, and ends up in a tiny station in the mountains. Naturally, she's left all her luggage, including her pager and the destination details (this is before cell phones) on the first train, so she has to wait to be found, comforted only by the soothing words of an old stationmaster. Meanwhile, the others put their not inconsiderable ingenuity - and Reiko's family connections - into trying to find Mami. Eventually, Hiromi rides up on her motorbike and whisks Mami back to her friends and a well-deserved scolding.

The second episode concerns the seemingly predestined outcomes the girls face - Reiko's arranged marriage, Hiromi's and Mika's takeover of their fathers' business, and so on. Reiko does not want to get married but doesn't know how to resist her father when she has no plans of her own. The other girls hunt down her intended fiance and discover that he's not some ancient business crony but a nice young man named Takei, not much older than Reiko. They arrange for Reiko and Takei to meet, and Reiko soon discovers that Takei is no more interested in an arranged marriage than she is. He encourages her to pursue her own dream. That in turn gives Reiko the impetus to "interfere" in the other predestined outcomes. At the end of the show, all five girls are set to do what they really want to do. Hardly the most original of plots, but serviceable.

This release also includes a short promo for Sailor Victory. There was a copy of the promo at the end of each LD volume, but one seems like enough.

The voice cast includes:

• Tsuru Hiromi (Kiyomi, the motorcycle rider) debuted as Perrine in Perrine Monogatari. She went on to play Kashima Miyuki in Miyuki, Madoka in Kimagure Orange Road, and Mikami Reiko in Ghost Sweeper Mikami. She also played Sara in Mother: Saigo no Shoujo Eve, Sonnet Barge in Blue Sonnet, Fengji in the third Sangokushi movie, Keiko in Hiatari Ryoukou, Nozomi in Nozomi Witches, Jill in A Penguin's Memories, UFO-chan in Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou, Milk in Karuizawa Syndrome, and big sister Shizuka in Tomoe's Run!, all Orphan releases.
• Shimakata Junko (Mika, the soba shop girl) voiced Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao in the Dynasty Warriors games and played young Kotengu in Haruka Naru Toki no Naka de: Hachiyoushou.
• Hisakawa Aya (Shizuka, the would-be vet) has had a prolific career. She played the title roles in Mamono Hunter Youko, Voogie's Angel, and Iria: Zeiram, Skuld in the Ah! My Goddess franchise, Cerberus in Card Captor Sakura, Sailor Mercury in the Sailor Moon franchise, Yuki in Fruits Basket, Haruka in RahXephon, Youko in The Twelve Kingdoms, and Storm in X-Men. She played Mishima Misako in Yume Tsukai, Shana in Al Caral no Isan, Sonia in Ziggy Sore Yuke! R&R Band, Tomoko in Sensou Douwa: Boku no Boukuugou, and Koneko in Ear of the Golden Dragon, all Orphan releases.
• Kanamura Hinako (Mami, the twin-drill ditz) appeared in the third Sangokushi movie, an Orphan release.
• Touma Yumi (Reiko, the rich girl) 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.
• Tsujitani Kouji (Takei, Reiko's would-be fiance) played the title role in the Captain Tylor franchise and the lead role in the 3x3 Eyes OVAs. He also played Guy in Ai no Kusabi, Homare in Okane ga Nai, Shou in Condition Green, Saburou in Kasei Yakyoku, and Seishirou in Yuukan Club, all Orphan releases.
• Katou Seizou (old stationmaster) played Admiral Putyatin in Bakumatsu Spasibo, 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.

The director, Nishijima Katsuhiko, also directed Sailor Victory, Marriage, Project A-ko and its successors, Blazing Transfer Student, Labyrinth of Flames, and the pantsu-shot fests Megami Paradise, Aika, and Najica Blitz Tactics.

The original subtitles were by Central Anime. Rezo and Iri translated a lot of extra signs. Yogicat timed the subtitles to the new raw. I edited and typeset. Rezo and Nemesis QCed. Rezo encoded from Japanese laserdiscs that he ripped on his Domesday Duplicator setup. The audio is digital and therefore encoded as FLAC.

Sotsugyou: Graduation is a fairly routine shoujo coming-of-age story, and it shows its dating sim roots. Still, it's a reasonable watch, and you can find out what happens next by watching Marriage. There's a "five guys" analog called Sotsugyou M: Oretachi no Carnival as well. Meanwhile, you can get this OVA from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.