Never Say Never Again (Cat-Eyed Boy 02)

Happy Halloween! Orphan again brings you some thrills and chills with the second episode of Umezz Kazuo's 1976 horror series Youkaiden Nekome Kozou (Spirit Legend Cat-Eyed Boy, here just Cat-Eyed Boy).

"Hold the phone, Joan," I can hear my readers (all eight of you - readership is up this year) say. "The release post for Cat-Eyed Boy 01 said it was a one and done. What gives?" Indeed it did, and what has happened since has taught me a valuable lesson: never say never again.

Cat-Eyed Boy seemed like an orphan in the making for several reasons. First, just three episodes had been released on DVD. The remaining 22 episodes were available only on VHS tapes or laserdiscs, both hard to find. (However, you can buy us the laserdisc box set of Cat-Eyed Boy for a mere 35,200 yen, plus shipping.) Second, Skr, champion of all things Umezz Kazuo, needed a break from fansubbing, and it was impossible to say when, or even if, he would return. So last October, Cat-Eyed Boy seemed like a singleton release, Orphan's first orphan.

Well, Skr is back, baby, and with him the second episode of Cat-Eyed Boy. In this half hour, our lonely, scorned hero interrupts his quest to find his birth mother to save a village from a monster called the Long-Neck:

(Please ignore the fact that the Long-Neck appears to have no neck.) The Long-Neck demands an annual sacrifice of a young maiden to quell his appetites. Because this year's victim, Shizue, resembles his foster mother, Cat-Eyed Boy decides to fight the evil fiend before continuing his journey. Don't look back, Cat-Eyed Boy! A better day will surely come tomorrow. Well, that's what the narrator says, anyway.

Because the show is almost fifty years old, information about the voice actors is scant:

• 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.
• Kimura Reiko (Shizue) has no other anime credits.
• Masuoka Hiroshi (Ryuzo) is best known for Minami's father in the Touch franchise, Masuo in Sazae-san, Jam Ojisan in the Anpanman franchise, and Cyborg 005 in the early Cyborg 009 properties. He also played Sa Gojou in Tezuka Osamu Story: I am Son Goku and Hirokawa in Meisou-ou Border, and he appeared in Hidamari no Ki, Nine, Tokimeki Tonight, and Bremen 4, all Orphan releases.
• Watanabe Noriko (Sachi) played Naoto in the original Tiger Mask and Sister Jill in the original Cutie Honey.
• Okada Michiro (The Long-Neck) played Shozo in Kuroi Ame ni Utarete, an Orphan release. He played Soundwave in the Transformers franchise and the Chief in the You're Under Arrest franchise.
• Ikeda Katsuhiko (Narrator) has no other anime credits.
  

Once again, Skr was the driving force behind this release. He translated, timed, edited, typeset, and encoded the show. His friends, sotoo and rockleevk, helped with translation checking and QC. Nemesis and I also QCed.

So break out the candy or the popcorn and strap in for another spooky "gekimation" (graphic novel plus animation) episode. You can get this release from the usual torrent site or from channels #nibl or #news in irc.rizon.net.

Will there be more Cat-Eyed Boy? I've learned my lesson, so no absolute statements from me, and no promises, either. But we'll always have Halloween...