Noel's Fantastic Trip (LD Version)

As I mentioned in my post on the DVD version of Noel's Fantastic Trip, the movie was originally released to home video on VHS tape and Laserdisc. There were considerable differences between the Laserdisc and DVD releases. The Laserdisc was full-frame (4:3); the DVD was wide-screen (1.85:1). The Laserdisc had a stereo soundtrack; the DVD had a mono soundtrack with stereo songs from the OST. The Laserdisc was very shaky; the DVD release was remastered, with image stabilization and better colors.

At first, I thought that Noel's Fantastic Trip had been released as Open Matte, a system in which a movie or anime is made in 4:3 but shown, in theaters, with a matte to create a wide-screen appearance. However, that doesn't appear to be the case. The Laserdisc has much more information at the top and bottom of the frame; but the DVD has more information at the sides. The differences are illustrated in these two screencaps. First, the Laserdisc:

Next, the DVD:

The Laserdisc has more information at the top and bottom; the DVD cuts off most of Kinnosuke's head. However, the DVD has more information on the sides, as illustrated by the door on the left. And the DVD colors are much better; the DVD is distinctly green-ish

Here's the Yellow Submarine sequence. Laserdisc:

DVD:

Again, the DVD loses a lot of information at the top and bottom, but the Laserdisc is cut off at the sides, and the Yellow Submarine is distinctly chartreuse. Pick your poison.

For this release, I shifted the subs and redid the signs; ninjacloud fine-timed the dialog and songs. Orphan's media specialist encoded. Otherwise, the credits are unchanged.

It's a shame that neither the Laserdisc nor the DVD provide a full picture of Noel's Fantastic Trip. I suspect it was originally made in a 5:3 (Vista) aspect ratio, which was the Japanese wide-screen standard at that time.. The Laserdisc chops off the sides to get to 4:3. The DVD chops off the top and the bottom to get to 5:2.7 (1.85:1). Perhaps someday there will be a web stream or Blu-ray release in the proper ratio, with pillarboxing, but I'm not holding my breath. Meanwhile, here's Noel's Fantastic Trip, Laserdisc version. 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.

UTOPA (1080p)

Recently, a fellow who goes by the handle Ioroid has been uploading high-quality 1080p webstreams of a number of Orphan's releases. We've already re-released Grimm Douwa: Kin no Tori in full HD. Now, it's the turn of another gorgeous show, UTOPA, one of the OVAs from the 2016 edition of Anime Tamago. It's a sci-fi offering from STUDIO4°C, a veteran company known for adventurous fare like Tekkon Kinkreet and Ani*Kuri 15 as well as utter sellouts like PES: Peace Eco Smile. (Gotta earn a living, I guess.)

Utopa is set in the far future, as a longish voice-over at the beginning explains. After ruining the Earth's surface with biological and nuclear war, mankind has retreated to cities in the sky. There, for no particularly compelling reason, they have crossbred with the surviving animals to produce intelligent hybrid species. When a seed drifts into the sky city, three youngsters - Kui, a dog boy, Hiruma, a cat girl, and Ruto, a lizard boy - venture down to the Earth's surface in search of more seeds and new adventures. The biosphere has indeed regenerated, in a new, almost alien way:

Giant jellyfish float through the air, zapping potential prey with bolts of electricity. And nothing seems to be edible (except for the three of them). Hiruma befriends or adopts an oversized caterpillar, which is promptly seized as food by a giant talking bird. The three friends challenge the bird to a contest, with the caterpillar as the prize. All's well that ends well, as you might expect.

The voice cast has just five actors:

• Ueda Reina (Hiruma) played Mikan Akemi in Jitsu wa Watashi wa, Ayumi in Bakuten!, Hane in Bakuon, Melfina in Black Summoner, Mira in Dimension W, Ruri in the Dr. Stone franchise, Kisa in the updated version of Fruits Basket, Julia Doma in How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Karen in No Guins Life, Peta in Null & Peta, Akane in SSSS.Gridman, and many other recent roles.
• Tanaka Aimi (Kui) played the titular little sister in Himouto! Umaru-chan, Kagami in Mononogatari, Yuri in So I'm a Spider, So What? and Hiyori in the Wasimo franchise.
• Fukaya Yuu (Ruto) was only 12 when UTOPA was made. He also appeared in PriPara and Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso.
• Hoshino Takinori (giant eagle) played Shibuya in Gurazeni, Nobuyuki Kai in the Haiykuu! franchise, Serizawa in the Mob Psycho 100 series, and numerous other roles.
• Maeda Toshiko (narration) had small roles in the original Astro Boy, Ninku, Pollyana, Nobody's Boy Remi, Treasure Island, and other shows.

The director, Tanaka Takahiro, has been a key animator on many projects and animation director on a few; this is his directorial debut, and it's gorgeous.

Iri translated and ninjacloud timed. I edited, and Calyrica and Xenath3297 did QC. For this release, I retimed and Uchuu did a release check. The script is mostly the same, but I did clean up a few lines that were too long. The raw is a webrip from Ioroid.

UTOPA is cliched in a many ways, including the "Everything's better if we work together!" conclusion, but it's very pretty too. You can get this release from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Noel's Fantastic Trip

Iruka (which means "dolphin" in Japanese) is a Japanese folk singer and children's book author. In 1983, she wrote the songs and story for a children's movie called Noel no Fushigi no Bouken (Noel's Fantastic Trip). It was released first on VHS and laserdisc and eventually on DVD. For the 40th anniversary of the movie's release, Orphan and LonelyChaser are pleased to bring you the first English subtitled version of this show.

Noel's Fantastic Trip is part adventure story and part environmental fable. A young girl named Noel lives on an idyllic small planet, also called Noel, with her dog Kinnosuke. One day, she decides to take some ice cream to Mr. Sun, to thank him for his work. Taking off in a small airplane, they encounter other spacecraft and stop at Planet Gaudy (where, as might be expected, everything is very gaudy indeed) before reaching their destination. Mr. Sun is quite grateful but complains about smog arising from an unknown planet. Noel and Kinnosuke fly off to investigate and run into the smog. They escape underwater, but during their explorations, they find that the ocean is horribly polluted. The pollution comes to life and chases them. They're saved by Su(per) the flying whale, who eats the pollution and purifies the ocean. Noel and Kinnosuke then fly to the city producing all the smog. There, they meet a sickly fox-child named Konkichi, who has never seen a blue sky. Once again, Noel calls on Su to combat the pollution, and there is a happy ending, at least for the moment.

Noel's Fantastic Trip is done in the bright, basic colors of a children's book.

The songs are generally soothing or upbeat. The movie is filled with Easter eggs. In space, Noel and Kinnosuke run into the Space Shuttle:

then the space station from 2001: A Space Odyssey:

and then space battleship Yamato:

(The rear turret is the giveaway.) When they approach Planet Gaudy, its control tower plays the five note "aliens" theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Noel responds in kind. Their ocean adventure is a tribute to the Beatles and features the Yellow Submarine itself:

as well as a stylized version of the Fab Four. Su is clearly meant to be Superman and is accompanied by John Williams' famous theme from the first movie.

The voice cast was made up of singers and other non-professionals:

• Iruka (Noel) was a singer and author. Her only other voice acting credit was The Fantastic Adventures of Unico, for which she also wrote and performed the insert song.
• Touma (Kinnosuke) had no other voice acting credits.
• Kamekichi (Advisor) had no other voice acting credits.
• Hachirou Azuma (Cabinet Minister) had no other voice acting credits.
• Yamada Panda (Host 1) was a fellow member of Iruka's folk group, Shrieks.
• Yamamoto Koutaro (Host 2) was a composer and performance. He had no other voice acting credits.
  
• Kobayashi Asei (Mr. Sun) was a composer and performer. His only other voice acting credit was A Journey through Fairyland.
• Nishioka Takashi (elderly Superman) was an anime director.
• Ninuma Kenji (Su the Whale) had no other anime credits.
  
• Shoufukutei Tsurube (Smog boss) was the voice of Felonius Gru in the Japanese versions of the Despicable Me franchise.His only other anime credit was My Neighbor the Yamadas.
  
• Ooba Kumiko (Konkichi) was a singer. Her only other voice acting credit was Cosmic Baton Girl Comet-san.

The director, Maeda Tsuneo, did chief animation direction on Eleven Hungry Cats, the first Nine OVA, and the Touch movies. He directed the Tama-chan TV series and the Hashire! Shiroi Ookami movie, an Orphan release.

MartyMcflies, proprietor of LonelyChaser subs and anime music maven, got the ball rolling. He sponsored a translator, Yume, and found translation checkers, squidlin and Japanese Hoarder. ninjacloud timed. I edited and typeset. Nemesis, Rezo, and Uchuu did QC. Rezo encoded from Iri's R2J DVD.

So here is Noel's Fantastic Trip. It is indeed a fantastic trip, like the voyage in Yellow Submarine, to which Noel is clearly indebted. I found it innocent and charming, and I hope you will too. You can download the movie from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net

Sanada 10 Special

Once upon a time, in the ancient days of the mid-oughts, there was a TV series with the rather long title of Shinshaku Sengoku Eiyuu Densetsu Sanada Juu Yuushi (New Legend of the Warring States Heroes: The Ten Warriors of Sanada), mercifully abbreviated to Sanada 10. A group called DigitalPanic, well known back in the day, picked it up and began subbing it, but they ran out of steam and stopped in 2008. Another well-known group, AonE, picked up the project in 2011, but they disbanded in 2013. The show has been an orphan ever since.

Sanada 10 has been on my Orphan's Dashboard since I started keeping a list, for a very simple reason: I was the last editor on the project, brought in by Daemon404 of AonE to help finish episode 9 before everyone involved turned into pumpkins. That experience left me not only with a strong desire to finish the show but also with the script archive for the first nine episodes - an invaluable asset. In the following decade, I kept trying to get a project off the ground. I even bought the Sanada 10 R2J DVDs. But there were Problems™. 

First, the source was a mess. It had interlacing at fades, 29.97 fps and 23.976 fps material intermixed, and other issues. Daemon404 had overcome the obstacles, but he had retired, and no other encoder would touch it. Second, I had no translator for the last three episodes, and no one was really interested. It's not some lost gem. Rather, it's a routine Sengoku-era drama, with the Sanada clan as the good guys and the Tokugawa as the bad guys. And if you remember your history, the Tokugawa win.

Last fall, the stars finally aligned. Through BakaBT, I found an encoder willing to try his hand at encoding the show. The results aren't perfect, but they're more than good enough. And through Discord, I found a translator willing to do the last three episodes. I was in business.

But how deep in business? Should Orphan just finish the last three episodes? Should the team redo the hardsubbed episodes (1-4 and the special)? Or everything? To get a sense of what was needed, I decided to redo the introductory special. This release is the result.

The nominal hero of the show is Sarutobi Sasuke. He's a foundling, rescued (apparently) from a crashed spaceship and raised by the Sanada clan as one of their ninja.

But he's just one character in an enormous sea of names, places, and events. The show reminds me of the Sangokushi movies, right down to the frequent signs for identifying the "cast of thousands" and the complex maps for the geography.

The special takes place in the days leading up to the Battle of Sekigahara, which secured Tokugawa Ieyasu's mastery over feudal Japan. Tokugawa's son, Hidetada, is charged with securing Ueda Castle before joining his father for the decisive battle. Opposing Hidetada are the much smaller army of the Sanada clan, led by master strategist Sanada Masayuki, prefect of Awa province, and his son, Sanada Nobushige. Can father and son outwit the Tokugawas, save their castle, and delay the opposing army long enough to keep them out of the forthcoming battle? It's a game of cat and mouse, a battle of numbers versus wits, with the fate of Japan riding on the outcome... perhaps.

(By the way, the beige blobs are boiling-hot porridge, in case you were having other thoughts.)

DigitalPanic's subtitles are typical mid-oughts fansubbing: most Japanese terms untranslated, a plethora of translation notes, and inadequate margins on the dialog. I've translated some (but not all) of the terms and excised the on-screen notes, except for the ones representing actual on-screen signs. Some notes on terminology:

• Tozama Daimyo: Non-hereditary feudal lord in Japan during the Tokugawa period. Often regarded as external elements. Translated as "non-hereditary daimyo."
• Awanokami: Prefect of Awa. The "-nokami" suffix denotes that the person holds a rank of Prefect.
• Nyudo: Suffix denoting a Buddhist priest.
• Chunagon: An intermediary official who acts as a bridge between the high court and the other ranks.
• Jibushoyu: An official from the Ministry of Administration, which handles diplomatic affairs, matters relating to the Imperial Tomb, and the refined musical arts.
• Zushu: A shortened form of address for Izunokami.
• Takasago: A Noh-related festive dance of longevity and blessings.
• Shikibutaifu: A senior official from the Ministry of Ceremony, which handles ceremonial rites, court examinations, and the appointment of officials.
• Karita Obiki: Cutting the grain as a goad.
• Hatabugyo: Bearer of the flag. Translated as "flag bearer."
  
• Itto-ryu: A sword style founded by Ito Ittosai Kagehisa.
  

DigitalPanic truncated long vowels to their underlying short vowel, e.g., hatabugyo instead of hatabugyou. This hasn't been changed.

The cast is enormous:

• Takase Akimitsu (Sanada Izunokami Nobuyuki/Genzaburou) appeared in Next Senki Ehrgeiz, AWOL Compression Remix, Shirokuma Cafe, and Hidamari no Ki, all Orphan releases, as well as Natsume Yuujinchou and Hikaru no Go.
• Gouda Hozumi (Sanada Saemonnosuke Nobushige/Genjirou) played Cuvie in the Votoms franchise, Gouza in Hunter x Hunter (1999), and Satomi in Akai Hayate, an Orphan release.
• Hiyama Nobuyuki (Tokugawa Chuunagon Hidetada) played Madarame in the Genshiken franchise, Viral in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Date in Lime-iro Senkitan, Murata in the Gundam Seed series, Kouyuu Li in Saiunkoku Monogatari, Shin in Cowboy Bebop, and Kiei in the Yu Yu Hakusho franchise. He also played Kain in Fire Emblem, Roddy in Next Senki Ehrgeiz, and King Penguin in Shirokuma Cafe, all Orphan releases.
• Hoshi Souichirou (Sarutobi Sasuke) played Kira Yamato in the Gundam Seed series, Sanada Yukimura in the Sengoku Basara franchise, Eisen in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de: Hachiyoushou, Kei in Onegai Teacher, Maebera in the Higurashi franchise, Tomoki in the Soro no Otoshimoto franchise, Son Goku in the Saiyuki franchise, Shinji in the Symphogear franchise, Nagi in Tenjou Tenge, Minamoto no Motomi in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de 2, and Taira no Atsumori in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de 3. The last two are Orphan releases.
• Taniguchi Takashi (Sanada Awano-kami Masayuki) played God in the Yondemasu Yo, Azazel-san series and Kouchin, the final boss, in Ninku. He appeared in The Green Cat, an Orphan release.
• Genda Tesshou (Miyoshi Harumi Nyudo) played Colonel Muto in Joker Game, Moloch in Yondemasu Azazel-san, Rei in the Urusei Yatsura franchise, Moguro Fukuzou in New Laughing Salesman,  and "Oyaji" in Mitsuboshi Colors. He also played Akauma in Fire Tripper, Jin Kiryu in Blue Sonnet, Zigong in Eiyuu Banka Koushi-den, Paul Rusch in Yume Kakeru Kougen, Jim Hyatt in AWOL Compression Remix, the loyal lieutenant Galbreath in Next Senki Ehrgeiz, the dragonman Baguda in Greed, the narrator in Akai Hayate and Meisou-ou Border, Dog McCoy in Dallos, Hebopi in Wild 7, rebel leader Oosukune in Izumo, and Rikiishi's trainer Kuroki and Kirishima in Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, all Orphan releases.
• Chafurin (Yazawa Tajimano-kami Yoriyuki) played the title role in Barbapapa Around the World, Inspector Megure in the Detective Conan franchise, Scotch Jii-san in the Hello Kitty franchise, Isono in Sazae-san (since 2014), and Kamoda in Yawara! He also appeared in B.B. Fish, Coluboccoro (2019), Jikuu Bouken Nuumamonjaa, Yamato 2520, Ohoshi-sama no Rail, and Izumo (1991), all Orphan releases.
• Orikasa Fumiko (Kaede) played Oseki in Hidamari no Ki and the narrator in Sensou Douwa: Chiisai Sensuikau ni Koi wo Shita Dekasugira Kojira no Hanashi, both Orphan releases, Kuchiki Rukia in all the Bleach properties, Mikan in Atashinchi, Yuzuki in Chobits, Karin in the Stratos 4 properties, Ikuku in the Massagu ni Ikou OVAs, Aoba in Jinki Extend, Seras Victoria in both versions of Hellsing, Nicoletta in Restaurant Paradisio, Riza Hawkeye in the original Full Metal Alchemist, Lotte Yanson in Little Witch Academia, and the heroine Okonogi Yuuko in Dennou Coil.
• Tanaka Hideyuki (Unno Rokurou) played Terryman in the Kinnikuman franchise and Rayearth in Magic Knight Rayearth. He also played Harmer in Al Caral no Isan, Sammy in Bavi Stock, Sawamura in Nozomi Witches, Ronron in Greed, Aoto in Oedo ga Nemurenai!, Katze in Ai no Kusabi, Minowa Takanari in Karuizawa Syndrome, Kazuhiko, Chiko's father in Ohoshi-sama no Rail, and Ma Su, Fengji's lover, in Sangokushi movie 3, all Orphan releases.
• Kosugi Jurouta (Mochizuki Rokurou) played Utsubushi in Amatsuki, Aizman in Bavi Stock, Takanesawa in Hiatari Ryouko, Daisuke in Sei Michaela Gakuen Hyouryuuki, Gisuke in Shadow, Dr. Bayfam in Joker, and a bit part in Hi-Speed Jecy, all Orphan releases, as well as Krest in Ariel, Fernand in Gankuutsou, Hertz in Marie and Gali, and Touji in Ninku.
• Inoue Kazuhiko (Jinpachi Nezu) starred as Yamaoka Shirou in Oishinbo, Yuki Eiri in Gravitation, the title role in Cyborg 009, Tachibana no Tomomasa in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de: Hachyoushou, and my favorite role, the irascible, sake-swilling Nyanko-sensei in the Natsume Yuujichou franchise. He also played Saiki Haruka in Tobira o Akate, Iori in Tomoe's Run!, Kanuma Hayate in Akai Hayate, Ryousuke in Daishizen no Majuu Bagi, Kitten Smith in Starship Troopers, Liu Bei Xuande in both Sangokushi TV specials, Ayako in Lunn Flies into the Wind, Nakatsugawa in Boyfriend, Hisui in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de 2, and Kajiwara Kagetoki in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de 3, all Orphan releases.
• Kitamura Koichi (Honda Sadonokami Masanobu) played Paolon, the intelligent spaceship in Hi-Speed Jecy, Professor, the wise old cat in the Ultra Nyan OVAs, and Coach Naoko in Nine and its sequels, and he appeared in Hidamari no Ki and Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou, all Orphan releases. 
• Ishii Kouji (Miyoshi Isannyudo) 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 Henry Hellgate in Alice in Cyberland, Hyman in Fire Emblem, and Minamoto no Tokitomo in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de 2, all Orphan release.
• Wakamoto Norio (Sakakibara Shikibu-naifu Yasumasa) 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 the Sengoku Basara franchise, 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 Noa in Choujikuu Romanesque Samy: MISSING 99, York Denman in Apfelland Monogatari, Major Thrauza in Yamato 2520, Denon in Amon Saga, and the Narrator in Joker: Marginal City, all Orphan releases.
• Tarusuke Shingaki (Honda Minonokami Tadamasa) played Abraham Fran in Big Order, Nathaniel H in the Bungo Stray Dogs franchise, Kariya Matou in Fate/Zero, Togusa in the Ghost in the Shell franchise, Shinichi in Love All Play, Mirio in Boku no Hero Academia, Eishiro in the Prince of Tennis franchise, and Raymond Hardy in AMAIM: Warrior at the Borderline.
• Akimoto Yousuke (Ookubo Sagaminokami Tadachika) appeared in Apfelland Monogatari and Wild 7, both Orphan releases, as well as Stratos 4, Sisters of Wellber, Princess Lover, The Sacred Blacksmith, and Black Summoner.
• Kenji Utsumi (Narrator) is best known for his roles as Roah in Fist of the North Star, Kaioh in Fist of the North Star 2, and Senbei Norimaki in the Dr. Slump and Arale-chan franchise. He appeared as the village chief in Watt Poe and Alex Louis Armstrong in both versions of Full Metal Alchemist. He played the title role in Don Dracula and appeared in Nora, Bavi Stock, Stop!! Hibari-kun!, Techno Police 21C, and 15 Shounen Hyouruuki, all Orphan releases.

The voice cast for the series is even larger. The director, Simizu Keizou, mostly did character design, but he also directed Cobra the Animation.

The original translation was by CelesAurivern of DigitalPanic. Yogicat transcribed the hardsubs, and ninjacloud timed them. Iri translated all the maps. I edited and typeset. Like Sangokushi, it's very sign-heavy, but the signs are straightforward except for the damned maps. Nemesis, Topper3000, and Uchuu did QC. An anonymous friend encoded from R2J DVDs.

The Sanada 10 special is a necessary introduction to the series. (Whether the series itself is necessary is tbd.) It provides background on the main non-historical characters, namely Sasuke. This version has better video, softsubs, more typesetting, new styling - in short, everything one would expect of an update to a 18-year old fansub release. If you liked Sangokushi, you might like this, but if you didn't, you definitely won't. You can get the release from the usual torrent site for from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #new on irc.rizon.net.

Late breaking news. Wrong script muxed; fixed in v2 with this patch. Sorry.