Nemure Omoigo, Sora no Shitone ni

From the depths of the unfinished projects vault, Orphan and M74 bring you a new version of the 2014 sci-fi anime, Nemure Omoigo, Sora no Shitone ni (Sleep Tight, My Baby, Cradled in the Sky). The first script that I have is dated late 2016 (six years ago); it was already styled and typeset. After that, nothing. I don't know why the project was shelved. Perhaps we thought it needed to be translation checked. In fact, the subs are "official," from the Japanese DVD. Whatever the reason for the delay, it's now done.

Nemure Omoigo explores some familiar science-fiction themes. Are human beings just the sum of their memories ("their data")? Could this data be used to reconstruct a person's consciousness after death? (Elon Musk seems to think so.) And what would be the consequences for the person's descendants and for the person themselves?

The story opens with Satomi Shionoha bringing her new baby girl, Orine, home from the hospital. Her happy thoughts are brutally interrupted when the car is side-swiped by an 18-wheeler, and Satomi is killed. Fast forward 19 years. Orine is a sullen teenager, apparently on the lam, when she is intercepted by mysterious agents and offered a proposition: escape and cash in return for a mission to space. Orine accepts and is whisked off to a space station. Initially, her mission is just to explore. Once inside, she makes a startling discovery: her mother, no older than when she died. This apparition knows all about Orine and wants to be her mother again, but Orine's logical mind revolts. It's then that she learns more of the truth.

The space station's scientist (known only as The Professor) had been running experiments on reanimating the dead. He succeeded with Satomi, but she took over the space station's main computer and the computer itself. She demanded that the authorities bring Orine to her. Orine's handler, Yuki, wants the girl to plant a virus that will disable Satomi and allow them to retake control of the station. Orine, still horrified by what she has seen, complies. Satomi is disabled, the authorities retake the station, and the real truth emerges. Yuki is part of the company that funded the Professor's research. The purpose was to lift memories from the dead for espionage purposes. Satomi realizes that she has been played, but it seems that Yuki and her colleagues have the upper hand. However, the baddies have failed to reckon with the power of a mother's love and what she might be prepared to do to save her child.

I quite liked Nemure Omoigo. Yes, the themes are familiar, and yes, parts of the story are overly sentimental, but the centering of the show on parental love, rather than on weighty philosophical questions about identity or the soul, resonates with me. Satomi "knows" that her recreated body is not Orine's biological mother, but her memories say that she is, and she behaves accordingly. Orine "knows" that the creature on the space station is not her mother, but as they spend time together, Orine experiences some of the happy moments that her mother's death had denied to her. The ending is not "happy ever after," but it does offer some hopeful notes about the power of love and the possibilities of second chances.

The voice cast includes:

• Fukushime Orine (Orine) played the Yanbo role in Yanbo, Ninbo, Tonbo, Ryou in Sango no Umi to Ouji, Saori in Initial D, and young Guts in Berserk.
• Inoue Kikuko (Satomi) played Kasumi in Ranma 1/2, Chigusa in Kekko Kamen, Mizuho in Onegai Teacher and Onegai Twins, Yayoi in the Happy Lesson properties, Momozono Mei in Mouse, Maria in Gungrave, Emeraldas in Space Symphony Maetel, Belldandy in the Ah My Goddess franchise, Lust in Full Metal Alchemist, Goei in Ikkitousen, and the mother in the Uchouten Kazoku series. She also played Chamberlain, Guilford's executive officer, in Nana Toshi Monogatari, Stasia in Megami Paradise, Shouta in The Girl from Phantasia, Narusawa in Doukyuusei 2, Doria in D4 Princess, and Mai in Hand Maid May, all Orphan releases.
• Tanaka Atsuko (Yuri) played Mauve in ACCA, Nena Hargen in Aika, Cassandra in Alexander, Caster in the Fate franchise, Motoko Kusanagi in the GITS franchise, Bynas in Ozma, Claudette in Queen's Blade, and Jagara in Wolf's Rain. She also played new Mamamega in Megami Paradise and Dana in AWOL Compression Remix, both Orphan releases.
• Hirata Hiroaki (the professor) played Benny in Black Lagoon, Itsuki in the Kindaichi movies, Sa Gojou in Saiyuki and its sequels, Sanji in One Peace, Zaki in DearS, Jack in Moonlight Mile, Nantoka in Rita to Nantoka, Tiger in Tiger & Bunny, Vinsmoke in One Piece, Fujimoto in Ao no Exorcist, Kondou in Koi wa Ameagari no You ni, and Max Lobo in Bananafish. He also played Mishima Jun in Chameleon, an Orphan release.
• Kijima Ryuuichi (Yukio, Yuri's right hand man) had featured roles in the Arifureta franchise, Beast Saga, God Eater, Time Travel Girls, and numerous other recent anime series.
• Ishiguro Chihiro (Mizuki, the space ship operator) appeared in Girl Friend Beta and a few other series.

The film is 3D CGI. The space sequences and special effects are spectacular, but the human figures fall right into the "uncanny valley" of near but inadequate realism:

The creator and director, Kurisu Naoya, is a 3D CGI specialist. He has few other credits.

The subtitles are "official" - that is, they were on the DVD - and are credited to Stuart Walton of Sprout. M74 timed. I edited and typeset. ImAWasteOfHair and Uchuu QCed. M74 encoded from an R2J DVD. The subs have typical R1 characteristics: they're very compressed, Western name order is used, and honorifics are omitted. I've corrected for obvious omissions, but the original subs are pretty much unchanged. The Japanese title ねむれ思い子 空のしとねに can be read as Nemure Omoigo or Nemure Omoi Ko. I've used the former, to be consistent with AniDB.

Nemure Omoigo is available from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.