Satsujin Kippu wa Heart-iro v2

Satsujin Kippu wa Heart-iro (The Murder Ticket Is Heart-Colored) is a 1990 standalone OVA based on a series of young adult novels for women by Yamaura Hiroyasu. Orphan released the show in 2016. We're happy to release an updated version with improved video.

Satsujin Kippu tells the story of Nagare Seiko, a teenage girl who has been temporarily suspended from her private high school in Tokyo for defending a friend from bullies. She decides to take advantage of this involuntary vacation by taking a trip to Nagasaki with her black-and-white cat, Gonbei. On the train down, she meets a handsome young man, a guitarist name Takano Kyouichirou, only to learn that he had apparently been murdered days earlier. 

 

She also encounters Misora Chuuta, a brash youngster who is clearly interested in her – an interest she doesn't reciprocate – and an older man, unnamed, who helps her when she's in trouble. Seiko repeatedly crosses paths with Chuuta as she tours Nagasaki, despite repeated attempts to give him the brush off. Eventually, Seiko gets involved in a murder mystery concerning a prominent local family, the Totsugawas. Reluctantly accepting Chuuta's help, she works to unravel the twin mysteries of the ghostly guitarist and the Totsugawa family. 

Satsujin Kippu is not a particularly deep mystery, and the solution comes out of left field, but it observes the rules of classical mystery fiction. (This allows the viewer to guess who the criminal is long before the main characters do.) Seiko makes a spunky heroine, never falling into tropes such as the maiden in distress or the tsundere. Chuuta is sufficiently eccentric to make him both interesting and suspicious. There's a lot more comedy and ghostly doings than clues and gore, so the result is a pleasant diversion for all ages (one brief nude scene aside). And besides, it has Gonbei, a cat that's rather talented: at one point, he gives Chuuta the traditional Japanese raspberry, the akanbe (pulling down one's lower eyelid and sticking out one's tongue).

 

The voice cast includes:

• Seki Toshihiko (Chuuta) played the title role in Izumo, Riki in Ai no Kusabi, Raiel in Hameln no Violin Hiki, the hero Seitarou in Hoshi Neko Full House, the gang leader Hiba in Wild 7, Miroku in Yuukan Club, the fighter Nagase Jun in Akai Hayate, Hayata in Call Me Tonight, Ootsuki in Milky Passion: Dougenzaka - Ai no Shiro, Junichiro in Kasei Yakyoku, Shouji, the guitar player, in To-Y, Bijomaru in Ai to Ken no Camelot, and the unnamed protagonist of Oruorane the Cat Player, all Orphan releases. He also played Matsuda in the Yawara! properties, Sanzo in the Saiyuuki TV series, Mousse in Ranma 1/2, and the title roles in Alexander (Reign the Conqueror) and Kaiketsu Zorro.
• Matsuoka Miyori (Seiko) has a thin resume. She is best known for playing Fa Yuiry in the Gundam franchise.
• Shimada Bin (Kyouchirou) played Ken Nakajima in the You're Under Arrest franchise and numerous other roles, as well as played Konaki Jijii and Wally Wall in the most recent version of GeGeGe no Kitarou. He appeared in Okama Report, Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou, Fukyukayama Gekijou, Tomoe's Run, and Sangokushi, all Orphan releases.
• Doi Mika (Totsugawa Misako) played the title roles in Angel Cop and Explorer Woman Ray, Hayase Misa in the Macross franchise, the empress (Lafiel's grandmother) in the Crest of the Stars saga, Tabitha in the Zero no Tsukaima properties, Eclipse in Kiddy Grade, the narrator in Mushishi, and Nanase in Natsume Yuujinchou. She appeared as Yukari in Mikeneko Holmes no Yuurei Joushu, Rosa in Seikima II Humane Society, Captain Deladrier in Starship Troopers, Hagar and Elizabeth in Tezuka Osamu's Tales of the Old Testament, and multiple roles in Kage, all Orphan releases.
• Sawaki Ikuya (Gonbei) played Gooley in the Dirty Pair franchise. He also played Samuel Hunter in Wolf Guy, Masayoshi Hotta in Hidamari no Ki, Barry in Joker: Marginal City, Alan in Mother Saigo no Shoujo Eve, Itakura Shirouemon in Sanada 10, and the Kaiser in Apfelland Monogatari, as well as bit parts in Dallos, Heart Cocktail, and Chameleon, all Orphan releases.

The director, Sugiyama Taku, started at Tezuka Osamu's Mushi Productions, where he was Art Director for Sen'ya Ichiya Monogatari. He directed a number of other movies and TV series, including Hi no Tori 2772 and Bosco Daibouken.

Some translation notes:

 

• Japanese Blue Trains were long-distance sleeper trains, nicknamed for the color of their cars. They were replaced by the Shinkansen (bullet trains).
  
• 3-kyu in Aikido. Aikido has two basic skill levels, kyu and dan. Within each level are grades, expressed by numbers. Kyu and dan are sometimes referred to as white belt and black belt, but other colors are used as well.
• Urakami Cathedral (St. Mary's Cathedral in Urakami) was built in 1895, when the long-standing ban against Christianity in Japan was lifted. It was completely destroyed in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945 and rebuilt in 1959 on its original site.
• The Nagasaki Peace Park abuts Urakami Cathedral. It contains a 10-meter tall sculpture, pictured in the anime, by local sculptor Seito Kitamura.
• The Dutch Slope (oranda-zaka) is a hillside residential area of Nagasaki where Dutch merchants settled in the second half of the 19^th century.
• Hinoki cypress bath. Hinoki cypress is a slow-growing Japanese tree. Its high quality wood is lemon-scented, light pinkish-brown, with a rich, straight grain, and is highly rot-resistant.
• Amakusa Shirou. He led an uprising of Japanese Roman Catholics against the Tokugawa shogunate in 1637. He also featured in two other Orphan releases, Samurai Spirits and Sei Michaela Gakuen Hyouryuuki
  
• Sannomaru means "third enclosure."

The original version used an anonymous Internet raw. Iri translated the show and did the initial timing. Yogicat did the detailed timing, I edited and typeset, and Redac and Xenath3297 did QC.This version stemmed from WOWmd's kind offer to rip his Japanese laserdisc on the Domesday Duplicator and then encode the result. It has many fewer blended frames as well as improved detail. This allowed for a bit more typesetting. I also took the opportunity to clean up some CPS issue in the original. Nemesis RCed this version. It has Opus audio, whatever that is. I thought Opus was a penguin in Bloom County.

Satsujin Kippu wa Heart-iro is a lighthearted mystery caper, with more comedy and romance than thrills and chills. I thoroughly enjoyed it both the first time and this time, and I hope you will too. You can get this version from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.