Ryokunohara Labyrinth

Ryokunohara Labyrinth in a 1990 shounen-ai OVA. It centers on two boys, Imanishi Hiroki and Tokino Kanata, who have been best friends (and perhaps more) since childhood. 

One day, Hiroki is struck by a truck and apparently killed, but he then gets up, unharmed. Meanwhile, Hiroki's spirit is looking down on his body, utterly perplexed by what has happened. 

Is he alive or dead? And if he's dead, who or what is possessing his body? Kanata senses that something is wrong and discovers that Hiroki's body is possessed by an "evil spirit" (and a rather fetching one at that), Fare Ruu. 

Fare uses Hiroki's body to try to kill Kanata, and both boys fall into the ocean. Then, after some confusing adventures in other dimensions, Fare surrenders to Kanata's "light" and gives Hiroki back. They emerge from the ocean unscathed, to the amazement of their classmates, chastely holding each other. 

Got that? If it sounds confusing, it is, because it's just one episode from an immensely long series of novels by Hoshino Kana about Hiroki, Kanata, and their high school friends. All kinds of important background information is missing, such as the fact that Kanata is actually an alien. Further, the story is interrupted twice by longish music musical montages. The first traces the boys friendship, from youngsters to high school students. The second shows the boys, their friends, and their high school being transported through the galaxy on graduation day.

If it seems irrelevant, it is: it's taken from a totally different part of the novel series.

At this point, you're probably asking yourself, "Why did Orphan bother with this show?" My involvement with Ryokunohara Labyrinth started when the original fansub was posted on BakaBT back in 2011. The timing and editing so incensed me that I made my own personal resub. (This was years before I realized that trying to correct bad fansubs was an utterly futile effort.) Then, a few years ago, laserdiscs of Ryokunohara Labyrinth surfaced at reasonable cost. I thought that applying my resub to a better quality raw might be a good idea. But the structure of the show - with one isolated line playing over black video long after the show apparently ended - stumped the Domesday Duplicator software of the time, so nothing happened.

Fast forward to 2024. Updates to the DdD software solved the dangling line problem. Perevodildo agreed to translation check my script. ninjacloud timed. I edited again and added some typesetting. ImAWasteOfHair, Topper3000, and Uchuu QCed. The encode, by an anonymous friend, is a stack of three discs, to deal with rot in some of the sources. The digital audio track has been encoded as FLAC. Special thanks to Rezo for contributing a disc to the stack.

The voice cast includes two famous seiyuu as the leads:

• Seki Toshihiko (Imanishi Hiroki) 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, Chuuta in Satsujin Kippu wa Heart-iro, 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.
• Yamaguchi Kappei (Tokino Kanata) starred in the title roles of the Detective Conan franchise, the Ranma 1/2 franchise, the Inuyasha properties, the Arslan Senki TV series, and Mouse. He played Usopp in the One Piece franchise and Sakuma Ryuichi in Gravitation, among many others. He also played Cerrios in Dragon Slayer Eiyuu Densetsu, Shibuya in Zetsuai 1989 and Bronze: Zetsuai Since 1989, Matsuoka Eiji in Chameleon, and Tooru in Boyfriend, all Orphan releases.
• Nishihara Kumiko (Fhalei Rue) played Iris in the Sakura Wars franchise and Renko in Kujibiki Unbalance, both OVAs and TV series. She appeared in Kakyuusei (1995), Kosuke-sama Rikimaru-sama: Konpeitou no Ryuu, Zetsuai 1989, Dragon Fist, Tenkousei, and Blazing Transfer Student, all Orphan releases.
• Tsukui Kyousei (Ijima Masayoshi, a friend) appeared in Nana Toshi Monogatari, Cherry no Manma, Meisou-ou Border, and Call Me Tonight, all Orphan releases.
• Shinohara Emi (Kiriko Olulora, a friend) played B-Ko in the A-ko properties and Sailor Jupiter in the Sailor Moon franchise. She appeared as Lady Manthrum in Hayou no Tsurugi, Yuri Onagara in Blue Sonnet, vulgar daughter Stephanie in Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, Reiko in Akai Hayate, and Android 1025 in Oz, all Orphan releases.
• Anbe Atsushi (Takahashi Shuuchi, a friend) appeared in Ano Ko ni 1000% and Cherry no Manma, an Orphan release.
  
• Kimura Maki (Yoshikawa Fueko, a friend) also sings the ending theme. Ryokunohara Labyrinth is her only voice-acting credit.

The show is Kakinouchi Narumi's only directing credit. She is much better known as a mangaka (Vampire Princess Miyu) and a character designer (this show, among others).

This release also includes a short omake, "Special Appearance," that documents the stages of making the show. Part of it is set in Helsinki, Finland, and is called "Searching for Kunimoto," the composer of the songs and the score; no explanation why.

Ryokunohara Labyrinth is both innocuous and baffling. The shounen-ai content is very mild and amounts to little more than a bromance. The plot makes no sense. Hiroki and Kanata's friends are name-checked but have no real parts in the show. Still, this version looks a lot better than the VHS version that's been available up till now. You can get the show from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channel #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.