Dragon Slayer Eiyuu Densetsu: Ouji no Tabidachi

Over the years, many people have asked Orphan to do Dragon Slayer Eiyuu Densetsu: Ouji no Tabidachi (Dragon Slayer Legend of Heroes: The Prince's Journey), a 1992 OVA based on the video game from Nippon Falcom. (My colleague, macros74, called it "a somewhat forgotten little gem of an OVA.") Now it's done, and I don't have the slightest idea why it was in such demand. Dragon Slayer seems like a routine, based-on-a-video-game, sword-and-sorcery fest. What am I missing?

The OVA begins with a portentous voice-over setting the scene. In the land of Israehasa, the small kingdom of Faaren has been overrun by demons under the command of the evil Ackdam and his henchman (henchdemon?) Zagi. They kill the king, Aswell II, and capture the queen, Felicia. Only the heir apparent, Prince Cerrios, seems to escape.

However, then his mentor Raius is killed, and he is captured too. He is rescued by the Resistance; it's not exactly clear how. Coached by Raius' brother Aaron, Cerrios and the outnumbered Resistance army, which includes Aaron's granddaughter Sonya, the sorcerer Roe, and mighty warriors Gale and Ryunan, must take on Ackdam, Zagi, and their horde of demons. 

The outcome is predictable, if not conclusive.

The summary can't convey how strange it all seems, at least to me. The Resistance seems to have come directly out of Top Secret! The second episode is padded out by five minutes of recap, perhaps due to budget constraints. Cerrios is supposed to be a headstrong youth, but he comes across as an impulsive idiot. Ackdam postures and sneers and all but twirls his mustache, but he leaves Cerrios and his mother Felicia alive, and the security at his impregnable fortress is non-existent. Still, I did like the byplay between Cerrios and Sonya. He's a goofball when he isn't slicing villains to pieces, and she remains a teenage girl even after she fuses with and turns into a dragon.

The voice cast includes:

• Yamaguchi Kappei (Cerrios) starred as the lead character in the Detective Conan franchise, Ranma in the Ranma 1/2 franchise, Inuyasha in all the Inuyasha properties, Usopp in the One Piece franchise, Sakuma Ryuichi in Gravitation, and the title roles in the first Arslan Senki OVA series and Mouse, among many others. He also played Shibuya in Zetsuai 1989 and Bronze: Zetsuai Since 1989, Matsuoka Eiji in Chameleon, and Tooru in Boyfriend, all Orphan releases.
• Miyauchi Kouhei (Aaron) appeared in many Orphan releases, playing Jack Goldman in Condition Green, King Kaiser in Grimm Douwa: Kin no Tori, Eddie in Nozomi Witches, Kogorou Shirachi in Stop!! Hibari-kun, the grandfather in Tsuki ga Noboru made ni, the judge in A Penguin's Memories, and Brigadier Hamilton in Techno Police 21C, and he appeared in the first two Sangokushi movies. He had a recurring role as Kame Sennin in the Dragon Ball franchise and played the mayor of Birdos in Watt Poe.
• Yamazaki Wakana (Sonya) played Mao Lan in Fighting Beauty Wulong, Mouri Ran in the Detective Conan franchise. She appeared in Chameleon, an Orphan release.
• Hori Hideyuki (Ryunan) played Hojo Munetoki in Genji, Part 1, Zach Isedo in Al Caral no Isan, Sid in Ai no Kusabi, Falk Green in Hi-Speed Jecy, Zhao Yun in Sangokushi movie 2, and Baraba in Eien no Filena, all Orphan projects. He played the title role in Baoh, Phoenix in the Saint Seiya franchise, and Tezuka Osamu himself in the Black Jack TV series.
  
• Tobita Nobuo (Roe, a sorcerer in the Resistance) played Lumial in the Angelique franchise, Ken Wakashimazu in the Captain Tsubasa franchise, Randy in Fake, Sinistra in Kiddy Grade, the title role in Locke the Superman, and Dayon in Osomatsu-san. He appeared in Genji, Part 1, Ziggy Sore Yuke! R&R Band, Condition Green, Eien no Filena, and Choujikuu Romanesque Samy: MISSING 99, all Orphan releases.
  
• Ootsuka Akio (Gale, fighter in the Resistance) played the title roles in most of the Black Jack properties, Magma Taishi, Blade, and Montana Jones. He also played Gozo in the Aika franchise, Batou in the Ghost in the Shell franchise, the villain All for One in Boku no Hero Academia, and Nyanko Big in one memorable episode of Tada Never Falls in Love. He played Kenneth Guildford in Nana Toshi Monogatari, George in Condition Green, the narrator in Fire Emblem, Nobunaga the boss crow in Ultra Nyan 2, Zilu in Eiyuu Banka Koushi-den, and Black Jack in Tezuka Osamu Disappears, all Orphan releases.
• Yokoo Mari (Queen Felicia) played Battia in Outlanders, Fumio (the dorm mother) in the Shokugeki no Souma franchise, Mantarou's mother, Kayo, in Ipponbouchou Mantarou, and Yuriko in Yuukan Club. The last two are Orphan releases.
• Sasaoka Shigezou (Ackdam) played the title role in God Mazinger, Jacob in Magma Taishi, King Aleph in Magical Hat, and the villain Mr. X in Scoopers. He appeared in Sanctuary, Sugata Sanshiro, and Tezuka Osamu's Tales of the Old Testament, all Orphan releases.
• Oka Kazuo (Zagi) had featured roles in many shows.
• Oota Shinichirou (Zanji the monster) played Yamaguchi in Kiss wa Me ni Shite, an Orphan release, and had featured roles in numerous shows.

The director, Nakamura Noriyuki, also helmed Mr. Ajikko.

The project started eons ago with a request from a colleague in Beatrice-Raws, but it didn't go anywhere. Up until now, the standard versions have been VHS rips of R1 hardsubs or an R1 dub. When ProxyMan found laserdiscs of the OVA, a new version seemed feasible. The hardsubs resisted OCR, so I appealed for help on Discord. Both TechDamage and -Enishi- transcribed the subs. Yume translation checked, and kokujin-kun filled in one particularly knotty line. Eternal_Blizzard timed. I edited and typeset (just credits). Nemesis, Topper3000, and VigorousJammer QCed. MartyMcflies gets a special thanks for his overall help. Rezo encoded the laserdiscs from a Domesday Duplicator rip. The mastering on the laserdiscs is a mess, but they do look better than the VHS tapes.

Because there's an English dub, Dragon Slayer Eiyuu Densetsu is a dual-audio release. As with Orphan's other composite audio releases, niki provided the audio track and synced it to the raw. The dub did not include the preview in episode 1 or the recap in episode 2, so the Japanese audio has been left in place for those segments. The "signs-only" tracks have English subtitles for the audio portions that are in Japanese.

Both episodes end with a promo for an unrelated OVA, Ys - Tenkuu no Shinden: Adol Christin no Bouken. I've used ordered chapters to edit the promo out. If your player doesn't support ordered chapters, it will play at the end of both episodes. It has not been translated.

So here's Dragon Slayer Eiyuu Densetsu: Ouji no Tabidachi, in a new, somewhat shinier version. You can get the episodes from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net. Go fight! Oh, wait, that's a different Nippon Falcom property...