Cat-Eyed Boy Returns! (Episodes 4-6)

Orphan brings you more 1970s thrills and chills: episodes four to six of Umezz Kazuo's 1976 horror series Youkaiden Nekome Kozou (Spirit Legend Cat-Eyed Boy, here just Cat-Eyed Boy).

When we last left our lonely but hopeful half-youkai, we had run out of source material. Only three episodes had been released on DVD. Skr and I got so frustrated about stopping that we chipped in to buy the laserdisc box set of Cat-Eyed Boy. These are the first episodes from that treasure trove.

Now, the laserdiscs are far from pristine. In fact, they look terrible - full of film blemishes and not stabilized. And they don't sound great either, with a lot of static on the audio track. But I think (and Skr agrees) that the roughness of the raws suits the material. After all, this is gekimation - hand-manipulated paper cutouts. A first-class video transfer based on remastered sources just brings out the primitiveness of the whole series. The laserdiscs make Cat-Eyed Boy look like a 50-year-old show, which is what it is, or rather, will be in 2026.

With more episodes to work from, the pattern of the show has become clear. At the start of each episode, Cat-Eyed Boy is continuing his lonely journey to find his mother. Often chased by ignorant country folk, he is befriended by a youngster or a motherly woman and offered kindness, even love. 

When his newfound friends are threatened by an evil youkai, he waxes wroth and defeats or disperses the villain. The youkai are:

• Episode 4 - the Kodama tree spirit, an ancient oak with a black heart that sucks the life out of its victims.

• Episode 5 - the Tear Witch and the Wailing Man, an ancient malevolent witch who lives on her victims tears, and her son, who eats the victims after they've been wrung dry.
  

• Episode 6 - the Beach Skull, the ghost of a deceased person who haunts the one they loved.
  

After defeating the baddies, Cat-Eyed Boy bids a fond farewells to his friends, if they survived. He then sets out on the next leg of his journey. Cue the preview.

Because of its episodic nature, Cat-Eyed Boy's core cast is just two voice actors:

• Junko Hori (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.
• Katsuhiko Ikeda (narrator) has no other voice-acting credits.

The rest of the voice cast varies from episode to episode. Episode 4:

• Koichi Kitamura (Kodama Tree Spirit) played Paolon, the intelligent spaceship in Hi-Speed Jecy, Professor, the wise old cat, in the Ultra Nyan OVAs, Honda Sadonokami Masanobu in the Sanada 10 special, and Coach Naoko in Nine and its sequels, and he appeared in Hidamari no Ki and Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou. All are Orphan releases.
• Mitsuyo Tobe (Yukio) appeared in Hoka Hora Kazoku, Teppei, and The Rose of Versailles, among others.
• Reiko Kimura (Yukio's Mother) appeared in several episodes of Cat-Eyed Boy, including episode 6, as Yoshie, and 7, as Katsuzo.
• Keiko Yokozawa (Yae) is probably best known for her starring role as Sheeta in Castle in the Sky. She played the title roles in Charlotte (1977), the Dorami-chan properties, and ESPer Mami, as well as leading roles in Plastic Little and Legend of Lemnear. She also played Pandora in Akuma-tou no Prince Mitsume ga Tooru and Yukari in Karuizawa Syndrome, both Orphan releases.

Episode 5:

• Hisako Kyouda (Tear Witch) played the witch in Adachigara and Minuet in Bremen Four, both Orphan releases. She played Taitsukun in Fushigi Yuugi, Magno Vivan in Vandread, Soukei in Inukami!, the father in Shouwa Monogatari, and numerous other roles in a career that has spanned more than 50 years.
• Reiko Katsura (Kasumi) appeared in Sazae-san and narrated Nichijou, in a career that has also spanned more than 50 years.
• Shin Aomori (Wailing Man) played Solomon in Tezuka Osamu's Tales of the Old Testament and Kurokawa in Meisou-ou Border, both Orphan releases. He played Basque Grand in both versions of Full Metal Alchemist and Gonzo in the currently airing Oi! Tonbo. He appeared in Perrine, Oishinbo, Sousei no Aquarion, the Dragon Ball franchise, and numerous other roles in a career that has spanned almost 50 years.

Episode 6:

• Toshihiko Utsumi (Beach Skull) appeared in Raccoon Rascal and Hit and Run.
• Michiro Okada (Rentaro) appeared in Manxmouse and Kuroi Ame ni Utarete, both Orphan releases. He also played Ru Shako in the Armored Trooper Votoms franchise, the chief in the You're Under Arrest franchise, and the narrator in the Transformers movies.
• Kaoru Ozawa (Noriko) appeared in Raccoon Rascal and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Once again, Skr was the driving force behind this release. He translated, timed, edited, typeset the credits, and encoded the show. kokujin-kun helped with translation checking. I did a little actual typesetting. (Skr thinks the signs should be done as \an8, because of how blurry the raws are, and he may be right.)  Nemesis, Rock_Lee-vk, and Skr QCed.

Cat-Eyed Boy is a long series for the current configuration of Orphan. Skr has a lot on his plate, so I don't know when more episodes will be available. Meanwhile, you can get this release from the usual torrent site or from channels #nibl or #news in irc.rizon.net.