One Pound Gospel

Takahashi Rumiko is best known for her long-running manga and anime series, like Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura, Inuyasha, and Kyoukai no Rinne, but I love her shorter works. They showcase her talent for creating characters and comedy. Few are as good as One Pound Gospel, a 1988 OVA derived from her four volume manga of the same name. It was a pleasure to work on and a pleasure to watch.

One Pound Gospel (1 Pound no Fukuin) tells the story of Hatanaka Kosaku, a promising young boxer undone by his gargantuan appetite, particularly for street food. 

As a result of gorging out, he has had to move up from flyweight, where he debuted, to bantamweight - an increase of 14 pounds, or 13%. As a result, he is fighting bigger and stronger opponents, and his promising start has turned into a losing record.

After another loss, he finds himself down, out, and hungry in front of a church. There, a novice nun named Sister Angela spies him sitting bereft on the steps and assumes he is homeless. 

She feeds him, only to discover that he is well known for cadging food. This fateful meeting brings Sister Angela into Kosaku's life. She encourages him to try for a comeback and supports him - and scolds him - as necessary.

She becomes an ally of Kosaku's coach, Mokuda, in his increasingly desperate efforts to get Kosaku to shape up. Eventually, Kosaku gets a shot at redemption in a match with Amakusa Jiro, an Olympic champion just turned pro. While there are undertones of romance - Kosaku is clearly smitten with the pretty young novice - in this part of the story, at least, Sister Angela remains true to her vocation. For the rest, you'll have to read the manga, which is fully translated.

The voice cast is terrific:

• Furuya Tohru (Kosaku) played the lead male roles in Kimagure Orange Road and Sailor Moon, the title roles in Casshern Sins and Kyojin no Hoshi, and recurrent roles in the Dr. Slump, Dragonball, and Mobile Suit Gundam franchises. He also starred as Niimi in Nine, Kosaku in Stop!! Hibari-kun, Beat, aka the Rabbit, in Choujikuu Romanesque Samy: Missing 99, and the title role in Bavi Stock, all Orphan releases.
• Tsuru Hiromi (Sister Angela) 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, Kiyomi, the motorcycle rider, in Sotsugyou: Graduation, Asuza in Laughing Target, and big sister Shizuka in Tomoe's Run!, all Orphan releases.
• Shiozawa Kaneto (Amakusa Jiro) played the title role in To-Y, Orochimaru in Tengai Makyou, Shin in Hiatari Ryoukou, Iason in Ai no Kusabi, Rock Holmes in Fumoon, Shiina in Chameleon, Sanzou in I am Son Goku, Kouhei in Karuizawa Syndrome, and Kurahashi Eiji in Nine, all Orphan releases. He also played Joe in Tokimeki Tonight, Yoshio in Miyuki, Takeshi in Touch, D in Vampire Hunter D, Narsus in the Arslan Senki OVA, Rosario in Dragon Half, and Abriel senior in Crest of the Stars. 
• Nagai Ichirou (coach Mokuda) starred in numerous shows, playing grandfather Jigoro in Yawara!, the off-the-wall narrator in Gosenzosama Banbanzai!, Professor Hajime in Queen Millennia, and Happosai in the Ranma 1/2 franchise. He appeared in Rain Boy, Manxmouse, Nora, Hidamari no Ki, Yuukan Club, Amon Saga, Botchan, Ipponbouchou Mantaraou, Tengai Makyou, and Yamato 2520, all Orphan releases.
• Futamata Issei (Ishida, coach's assistant) is best known for his roles as Godai Yuusaku in Maison Ikkoku, Akira (Chibi) in Urusei Yatsura, and Saburo in Sazae-san. He played the main character, Yoshio, in Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou Kouji Tanaka in Okama Hakusho, and the psychopathic brother, Cross, in Hi-Speed Jecy, and he appeared in Fukuyama Gekijou, all Orphan releases.
• Tatsuta Naoki (Tabuchi, Kosaku's sparring partner) played Oolong in the Dragonball franchise, the Cat Bus in My Neighbor Totoro, and Beta in New Dream Hunter Rem. He appeared in every GeGeGe no Kitarou series since 1985 and in Amon Saga and Wolf Guy, both Orphan releases. 

The director, "Saki Makura", is an alias for Dezaki Osamu, who needs no introduction to readers of this blog. (The "postcard memories" throughout the show are a dead giveaway.) 

The OP and ED, "Cry No More" by Hamada Mari, is an absolute banger. The OST was never released, but the OP/ED and insert songs can be found on Hamada Mari's album, "Love Never Turns Against."

No translation notes, but the staff found a few plot-driven inaccuracies. About the scene where Kosaku confesses to Sister Angela about eating five yakitori, Perevodildo noted, "Nuns can't hear confession." About the climactic fight, Topper3000 noted, "As the resident sports fan, I would be remiss not to point out that Kosaku would have been immediately disqualified as soon as he headbutt Amakusa in the stomach." Details matter, guys.

The original subs are from the Viz R1 release, now out of print, via Melonsubs. Perevodildo translation checked. ninjacloud timed. I edited and typeset. Nemesis, Rezo, and Topper3000 QCed. The raw is a stack of three Japanese laserdiscs, ripped on the Domesday Duplicator and encoded by Orphan's anonymous media maven. (The laserdisc is better than the DVD.) The audio is digital and encoded as FLAC.

This release brings to an end Orphan's work with Takahashi Rumiko's 1980s OVAs. Mermaid Forest and Mermaid Scar were licensed in R1 and released on DVD; we won't be working on them. I've enjoyed all four of the OVAs, but One Pound Gospel is the best. Whether you've seen it before or not, download this vesion and enjoy it (again). You can get the release from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #new on irc.rizon.net