Cat-Eyed Boy 03

Happy Halloween! Barely in time, Orphan yet again brings you some paper cut-out thrills and chills: the third episode of Umezz Kazuo's 1976 horror series Youkaiden Nekome Kozou (Spirit Legend Cat-Eyed Boy, here just Cat-Eyed Boy).

This is the third (and last) episode released on DVD. (Feel free to buy us the laserdisc box set of Cat-Eyed Boy, if you can find it.) The Cat-Eyed Boy is continuing his search for his mother, but he's in dire straits from hunger. A friendly boy named Tatsuo saves him and takes him to his grandmother's house for food and shelter. However, Tatsuo's family has been cursed by the Rat Snake, a giant, vicious predator:

Cat-Eyed Boy decides to repay Tatsuo's friendship by fighting the evil fiend before continuing his journey to find his mother. What fate awaits him tomorrow? Well, we know the answer to that - more monster fighting - but the narrator apparently does not.

Because the show is almost fifty years old, the voice actors are from a different generation:

• 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.
• Sugaya Masako (Tatsuo) played Trio in Bremen Four, an Orphan release, and appeared in Attack No. 1, Ace o Nerae, Flanders no Inu, and Tetwuwan Atom.
• Okada Michirou (Rat Snake) appeared in Perrine and The Adventures of the Little Prince.
• Shirakawa Sumiko (Grandmother) appeared in Sazae-san, Flanders no Inu, and Perrine.
  
• 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 friend, rockleevk, helped with translation checking and QC. I did a fast RC: four hours from receipt of materials to release.

So break out the Halloween candy 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. Without more source material, this would seem to be the end of Orphan's work on the show, but one never knows, do one?