Plastic Little

Let's face it: the world does not need another version of the 1994 OVA Plastic Little. kuraze spent years wrestling decent video from the DVD releases, and his version is unlikely to be surpassed unless or until a remastered source becomes available. But as Wesley so acutely remarks in The Princess Bride, "There's a shortage of perfect breasts in this world," and who draws them better than Urushihara Satoshi, the "Master of Breasts" as Wikipedia calls him? Plastic Little is one of only a handful of his anime works, and a chance to revisit it cannot be overlooked.

The origin of this release dates back to the early years of the Domesday Duplicator. Back then, enthusiasts noted that DdD captures of Japanese laserdiscs often looked better than the slipshod DVD releases of composite sources. (Amon Saga, Golden Boy, and Initial D are examples, as was Project A-Ko, until the original film masters were found.) So our intrepid encoder bought a laserdisc of Plastic Little, ripped it, and encoded it. I didn't think that another version was warranted, so the raw lay unused until Perevodildo found it. He did think that a new version was warranted, and here it is. The video probably needed more tweaking - LDs often have color balance or gamma correction issues - but with Urushihara's talents on unfettered display, who's paying attention? And this version is the first with a thorough translation check of the familiar R1 script (which is, to be fair, pretty good).

Plastic Little is set in the distant future on the gas giant Ietta. (The planet has little or no metal, so everything is made out of plastic; hence the title.) Tita Mu Koshigawa is captain of the Cha Cha Maru, which was once her father's. 

She and her crew are in the business of capturing exotic creatures from the planet's sea of clouds and selling them to the pet trade. While shopping in town one day, Tita rescues a young girl, Elysse Aldo Mordish, from the hands of the planetary military, led by the power-mad Commander Guizel. 

Elysse's father knew the secret of vital gravity-controlling technology. Guizel killed Elysse's father while trying to obtain it, and he's after it still. Now Tita and her faithful crew - pilot Nichol Hawking (who has a crush on Tita), chief engineer Mikhail Diagilev, assistant engineer Roger Rogers, medical officer Mei Lin Jones, and all-around fighter Joshua Balboa - must keep Elysse safe and counter the military's dastardly plans.

If the plot sounds a bit generic, it is. The story is a collection of set pieces: chases, explosions, interactions among the lively supporting characters, and of course, opportunities for Tita and Elysse to get naked.

(Let's ignore that they are said to be seventeen and sixteen, respectively; it's Japan.) The fanservice is all eye candy. There's no sex, not even a hint of it. Nichol's crush on Tita is entirely one-sided. In fact, she seems a lot more interested in Elysse, tbh.

The voice cast includes many famous names from the 90s:

• Fuchizaki Yuriko (Tita) played the title roles in Metantei Loki Ragnarok, Musashi no Ken, and Bit the Cupid, Ibuki in Maison Ikoku, Michael in Peter Pan no Bouken, June in Sol Bianca, Anthy in Revolutionary Girl Utena, Li Kouran in the Sakura Taisen franchise, and Sanosuke in the original Rurouni Kenshin TV series.
• Shiina Hekiru (Elysse) played Rurubell in Megami Paradise, an Orphan release, Hikaru in the Rayearth series, Asami in Seirei Tsukai, Fam in Hikyou Tanken Fam & Ihrlie, Rockman in the Rockman Hoshi ni Negai wo OVAs, Alpha in the Yokohama Country Cafe OVAs, and Nene (the protagonist's perverted younger sister) in the Seitokai Yakuindomo franchise.
• Yamaguchi Kappei (Nichol Hawking) played the title roles in the Detective Conan, Ranma 1/2, and Inuyasha franchises, Usopp in the One Piece franchise, Sakuma Ryuichi in Gravitation, Arslan in the Arslan no Senki OVA series, and the title role in Mouse, among many others. He played Billia in Tottoi, Matsuoka Eiji in Chameleon, Shibuya in Zetsuai 1989 and Bronze: Zetsuai Since 1989, and Tooru in Boyfriend, all Orphan releases.
• Wakamoto Norio (Joshua Balboa) played the title role in The Gargoyle of the Yoshinagas, Vicious in Cowboy Bebop, Cell in the Dragonball franchise, Katakuriko in the Gintama franchise, Oda Nobunaga in the Sengoku Basara franchise, Guren in Ushio to Tora TV, Shining Saotome in the Uta no Prince-sama franchise, and Oskar von Reuenthal in Legend of the Galactic Heroes. He also appeared as Sakakibara in Sanada 10, Noa in Choujikuu Romanesque Samy: MISSING 99, York Denman in Apfelland Monogatari, Major Thrauza in Yamato 2520, Denon in Amon Saga, the Tengenji underboss in Koiko no Mainichi, and the Narrator in Joker: Marginal City, all Orphan releases.
• Yokozawa Keiko (Mei Lin) 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 a leading role in Legend of Lemnear (another Usushihara Satoshi OVA). She also played Pandora in Akuma-tou no Prince Mitsume ga Tooru and Yukari in Karuizawa Syndrome, both Orphan releases.
• Ootsuka Chikao (Mikhail Diagilev) played Kaibara Yuuzan in the Oishinbo specials, Gennosuke in Sugata Sanshirou, Nikolai Rednov in Fumoon, and General Presto in Bremen 4, all Orphan releases. He played Tora in the original Ushio to Tora, Joseph Joestar in the original JoJo's Bizarre Adventures, Captain Hook in Peter Pan no Bouken, and Hades in Arion.
• Nakao Ryuusei (Roger Rogers) played the lead in Igano Kabamaru, King Falke in ACCA, Hephaestion in Alexander's Decision, and Freeza/Cooler in Dragon Ball. He also played Akio in Chameleon, Peat Cullen in AWOL Compression Remix, and Puu in Captain Bal, all Orphan releases.
• Yanaka Hiroshi (Guizel) played Shiba in the remake of Piano and Gorou in the Free! franchise. He played Yuurakutei in Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinji and appeared in Noragami, Nanbaka, Terraformars, Wild 7, Hidamari no Ki, and Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament. The last three are Orphan releases.
• Akimoto Yousuke (Nalerov, Guizel's henchman) played Principal Ikebe in Mellow, Ookubo Sagaminokami Tadachika in Sanada 10, and appeared in Apfelland Monogatari, Genji, Part 1, Wild 7, and Dokushin Apartment Dokidami-sou, all Orphan releases. He also appeared in Stratos 4, Sisters of Wellber, Princess Lover, The Sacred Blacksmith, and Black Summoner.
  

The director, Yoshimoto Kinji, collaborated with Urushihara on several other projects, including Legend of Lemnear, two Queen's Blade series, and the h-anime Front Innocent. He also directed Genshiken 2 and Sin: Natatsu no Taizai.

As noted above, the project originated with an enthusiastic (anonymous) encoder. I shifted kuraze's subs to the LD raw. Perevodildo translation checked. ninjacloud fine timed. Topper3000 and ImAWasteOfHair QCed. I had no trouble finding volunteers for this show.

So... do I really have to give you a reason to watch Plastic Little again? The show is amazing fanservice and lively characters wrapped around a "little guys vs the big bad" sci-fi plot. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the stunning character designs of Urushihara Satoshi in one of his few anime outings. You can get the show from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #new on irc.rizon.net.

Natsufuku no Shoujo-tachi

As I wrote in my blog post on Kuro ga Ita Natsu artists have grappled for more than a century with the problem of presenting massive tragedies, such as the atomic bombings or the Holocaust, in ways that are neither overwhelming nor overly distancing. Usually, the stories focus on survivors, for who else is left to tell the tale? The 1988 TV special Natsufuku no Shoujo-tachi: Hiroshima, Shouwa 20-nen 8-gatsu Muika (Girls in Summer Clothes: Hiroshima, August 6, 1945) takes a different approach to the bombing of Hiroshima: it lets the dead speak for themselves, through their diaries and journals and through the memories of their surviving relatives. It packs a punch all outsized to its 35 minute runtime.

Natsufuku no Shoujo-tachi focuses on the first-year girls of Hiroshima Prefectural First Girls' High School. The second- and third-year girls had been drafted to work in factories, so only the 220 first-year girls were still attending school. They were out clearing rubble when the bomb detonated. All of them died, in the explosion or the radioactive aftermath. The show alternates anime segments, set in 1945, with "present-day" (1988) remembrances of the lost by surviving relatives.

The show focuses particularly on three girls: Morikawa Yoko, who lived in Miyajima and had to commute to school by boat and train; 

Oshita Nobuko, a serious girl who liked to study; and Okutsu Hitomi, a bright girl popular with her class. They walked to school together, in formation, as preparation against air raids. They endured air raids and privation together. They enjoyed the arrival of summer together, although shortage of fabric meant they had to make their summer dresses from old clothes, and white dresses were forbidden as too visible to airplanes. 

And they died together on August 6, 1945, Hitomi immediately, Nobuko and Yoko a few hours later.

Okutsu Hitomi's mother, who was 93 when the film was made, remembers her daughter by a class photograph. Oshita Nobuko's parents, 84 and 80, treasure the summer clothes that their daughter was wearing when the bomb hit. 

(Eventually, they donated the fragile outfit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.) And Morikawa Yoko's brother, who was away at the time, reads excerpts from Yoko's diary, which survived. This short document (published in English as Yoko's Diary) illuminates the girls' lives in the spring and summer before the bombing.

The seiyuu in the show have no other anime credits. For example, the narrator, Sugiura Keiko, was an announcer in Hiroshima. The children were voiced by actors from the Japan Children's Theater Company, and their song was sung by the Hiroshima Broadcasting Children's Choir. The animated segments were directed by Hirata Toshio, an industry veteran who started at Toei and then worked at Mushi Pro. Hirata directed two Unico movies, Barefoot Gen 2, Hi no Tori: Yamata Chapter, and Grimm Douwa: Kin no Tori, an Orphan release.

One translation note. The song the girls sing to celebrate the completion of their summer clothes is Natsu wa Kinu, a traditional song written in literary Japanese.

I stumbled across an earlier release of this show on BakaBT and was disturbed by the admission that 20% of the show wasn't subbed. I found the ISO, got a colleague to encode it, and asked Perevodildo to do a new translation. ninjacloud retimed. I edited and typeset. Nemesis, Rezo, and Uchuu QCed. The editing and typesetting were routine, except for the content, which tore me to pieces. The encode is only minimally cropped. The borders vary from segment to segment, so many segments have narrow black lines on both sides.

Does anyone need to watch Natsufuku no Shoujo-tachi, particularly in the holiday season? Actually, everyone does. To quote a song from my youth,

The wars are long, the peace is frail
The madmen come again
There is no freedom in a land
Where fear and hate prevail

We need to be reminded of the consequences of power-mad leaders and nationalist fervor run amok, as happened in Japan (and elsewhere), before it's too late.

You can get Natsufuku no Shoujo-tachi from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Ichigatsu ni wa Christmas

Orphan doesn't often do holiday releases and has never done a Christmas show, as best I can remember, so here's a first: the 1991 shoujo OVA Ichigatsu ni wa Christmas (A Christmas in January). This show has already been subbed, by OldCastle back in 2019. They used an "unknown Internet raw," so one of the team bought the Japanese laserdisc, and our media maven ripped it on the the Domesday Duplicator. The intent was to put the OldCastle script on a better raw, but the project never got any further than shifting the script to a raw... until recently. Perevodildo, in his relentless drive to clean out Orphan's translation backlog (and convert it to an editing/typesetting backlog stuck at me), translation checked the show and added the songs. After that, there were no more excuses for delay.

Ichigatsu ni wa Christmas started as a short story by Iwadate Mariko, published in Margeret magazine. However, it is not part of the Margaret video series, nor is it a typical girl-meets-boy, girl-loses-boy, girl-gets-boy shoujo. Instead, it's a character study of two rather damaged individuals who meet by chance, and after several misunderstandings, are able to help each other. It has a happy ending, sort of, but not the usual one. I wasn't very enamored of it on first viewing, but it grew on me when I checked it for release. It's a Christmas-season story that's not a Christmas story.

Fujioka Junsho is a college student and part-time shoe salesman, living at his father's temple. One day in December, a rather young-looking girl named Tateno Mizuki comes in, looking for boots. 

She runs Junsho ragged, deliberately trying on and rejecting many pairs, before settling on red boots that she tried on originally. By that point, Junsho is angry. He lies to her and says the store doesn't have the boots in her size. They part on mutually disdainful terms.

As it turns out, Mizuki lives next door, so other encounters follow, often heated. 

Junsho realizes that Mizuki is alone, lonely, and filled with loathing for everything, herself most of all. This makes Junsho realize that he must change his own detached, drifting state. He confesses to his childhood friend, Seiko, who has been waiting for him for many years. 

Their mutual joy is interrupted when Junsho discovers that Mizuki has contracted pneumonia in her unheated, unfurnished house. He and Seiko try to nurse Mizuki back to health, but she will have none of it. She has fallen in love with Junsho and, realizing that she can't have him, is determined to go her own way. That's enough spoilers.

The voice cast includes:

• Hayashibara Megumi (Mizuki) was arguably the most famous seiyuu of the 1990s. She starred as Faye Valentine in Cowboy Bebop, Ayanami Rei in Evangelion, Rune Balot in the Mardock Scramble movies, Rebecca in One Piece, Lina in the Slayers franchise, female Ranma in Ranma 1/2, Rihoko in Ninku, and Miyokichi in Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju. She also played a number of feline roles, including the title roles in the All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku and Hello Kitty franchises, as well as "lead cat" Iruinedo in Oruorane the Cat Player, an Orphan release. She played Marina in Ai to Ken no Camelot, Navi in Izumo (1991), and Clair in Hashire Melos!, also Orphan releases.
• Koyasu Takehito (Junsho) is reputed to be the most prolific voice actor currently active, with more than 365 roles under his belt. He played Doujima Gin in Shokugeki no Souma, Thirteen in Grimoire of Zero, Dio in Jojo's Bizarre Adventures, the title role in Master of Mosquitron, and Fool in Elegant Yokai Apartment Life. He starred as Izumi in Zetsuai and Bronze and appeared in Sanada 10, Kiss wa Me ni Shite, Yamato 2520, and Yuukan Club, all Orphan releases.
• Hidaka Noriko (Seiko) played Satsuke in My Neighbor Totoro, Minami (the female lead) in Touch, Akane (the female lead) in Ranma 1/2, Peter in Peter Pan no Bouken, Mrs. Yamada (the mother) in the first two Chii anime series, Near in Death Note, and Kikyo in the Inuyasha franchise. She also played Haruo in Senso Douwa: Yakeato no, Okashi no Ki, Yuuki in Boyfriend, Noriko in Yuukan Club, and Harumi in Mikeneko Holmes, all Orphan releases.
• Futamata Issei (Bouya, Junsho's co-worker) is best known for his roles as Godai Yuusaku in Maison Ikkoku, Akira (Chibi) in Urusei Yatsura, and Saburo in Sazae-san. He starred as Ippei in Ore no Sora and Yoshio in Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou, and he played Kouji Tanaka in Okama Hakusho, Ishida, coach's assistant, in One Pound Gospel, the psychopathic brother, Cross, in Hi-Speed Jecy, and mutliple characters in Fukuyama Gekijou, all Orphan releases.
• Fujimoto Yuzuru (Junsho's father) played the sympathetic Professor Hanagi in Al Caral no Isan, an Orphan release, and numerous other featured roles in a career that spanned 50 years.
• Hori Katsunosuke (Mizuki's stepfather) played Gaou in Hi no Tori: Karma Chapter, Saruta in Hi no Tori: Space Chapter, Ibikari in Kizuoibito, and Professor Xavier in X-Men, the TV series.
  

The director, Dezaki Satoshi, is the older brother of Dezaki Osamu and directed some of the Urusei Yatsura OVAs and movies, as well as Yume Kakeru Kougan, Bakumatsu no Spasibo, Boyfriend, Inochi no Chikyuu: Dioxin no Natsu, and Time Slip Ichimannen Prime Rose, all Orphan releases.

Perevodildo translation checked the original OldCastle script; the revisions are extensive. ninjacloud fine timed. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. The raw is a Japanese laserdisc, ripped and encoded by an anonymous friend.

Ichigatsu ni wa Christmas is a Christmas show for people who find most Christmas shows treacly, sappy, or both. There's nary a "ho ho ho" or a "Tis the season" in sight. The two main characters are prickly, angry, and hard to like, and their journey, neither revelatory nor complete, seems possible if not totally plausible. You can get the show from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

 

In Memorian (Cat-Eyed Boy Episodes 7-8)

Between the Halloween release of Cat-Eyed Boy episodes 4, 5, and 6, and this Christmas release of episodes 7 and 8, the anime world lost two major contributors of particular relevance to this show: the author of the original manga, Kazuo Umezz, and the seiyuu who voiced Cat-Eyed Boy himself, Junko Hori; they were 88 and 89, respectively. Umezz Kazuo was best known as a horror mangaka, for works such as The Drifting Classroom and Cat-Eyed Boy, but his works span a far broader range: comedies such as Makoto-chan and science fiction such as My Name Is Shingo. Junko Hori voiced the title roles in the Ninja Hattori-san franchise, Rain Boy, Chinpui, and of course, Cat-Eyed Boy, and appeared in numerous other shows. They will both be missed.

These two episodes of Cat-Eyed Boy don't differ materially from the previous ones, except for the monster of the week. Cat-Eyed Boy is continuing his lonely journey to find his mother. He meets a kind woman or girl who befriends him and offers him comfort, reminding him of his mother. Then, the monster appears. Cat-Eyed Boy must fight and defeat the creature, often at great cost to himself and greater cost to his new-found friend(s).

• Episode 7 - The Nullface's Curse. Cat-Eyed boy saves a young woman named Misako from  a vicious dog. He also unknowingly unleashes a powerful spirit that had been locked in a tomb for centuries. The spirit looks like a stone soldier come to life

but is in fact the Nullface:

• Episode 8 - The Hellant. Cat-Eyed Boy meets Yae, a pilgrim visiting a spirit medium in hopes of talking to her deceased son. He goes along, to see if his mother is dead or alive. Both get what they want, but they must confront the resident spirit, the Hellant:

The credits, so carefully translated, only have room for five or six voice actors. Two are always Junko Hori (Cat-Eyed Boy) and Katsuhiko Ikeda (Narrator). The others in episode 7 are:

• Saiko Egawa (Misako) appeared in Mazinger Z, Reideen the Brave, and under her real name, The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again Today.
• Kyoko Kano (Sumi) appeared in Yatterman.
• Seizo Katou (Nullface) played Jashinsai in Tengai Makyou, Admiral Putyatin in Bakumatsu Spasibo, Ii Naosuke in Hidamari no Ki, Abraham in Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament, Norbert in Apfelland Monogatari, Hatsutori Juuzou in Kage, Billy Bones in Shin Takarajima, the old stationmaster in Sotsugyou: Graduation, Nanni Spannu in Tottoi, and Jeigan in Fire Emblem, all Orphan releases. He had many other featured roles in the span of a 50 year career.

In episode 8:

• Saiko Egawa (Yae) - see above
• Michirou Okada (Hellant) 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.
• Aso Miyoko (Medium) played Fune Isano, the main character in Sazae-san, for 45 years, Cologne in the original Ranma 1/2 franchise, Pinako Rockbell in the original Fullmetal Alchemist, Melmo's mother in Fushigi na Melmo, the grandmother in Lucy May of the Southern Rainbow and Maegami-Taro, and Machiko's aunt in Maicching Machiko-sensei. She appeared in Bocchan, Nine, Blue Sonnet, and Yamatarou Comes Back, all Orphan release.
• Toshiko Sawada (Pilgrim A) appeared in Akado Suzunosuke, Appleseed, Akane Sasu Shoujo, Hello WeGo!, Judo Santa, and Zillions. She played Asuza's mother in Laughing Target, an Orphan release.

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. Nemesis and Skr QCed.

I'm glad the team was able to get more Cat-Eyed Boy episodes out this year, both to honor its now departed principals and to keep up the momentum on this long project. You can get these episodes of Cat-Eyed Boy from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net. 

P.S. It's also CP Day, the anniversary of the passing our good friend and teammate, CP. He was a major contributor to many Orphan projects.

Happy Holidays from Orphan Fansubs

Well, it's that time of the year again. In the immortal words of Otis B. Driftwood, "Let joy be unconfined. Let there be dancing in the streets, drinking in the saloons, and necking in the parlor."

This year, uncharacteristically, Orphan will have several holiday-season releases. Not holiday-themed, just releases that are coming out around the holidays. This wasn't deliberate; a bunch of shows finished release checks in the last few days, so they'll dribble out over the holidays. I hope you'll enjoy them, or at least notice them.

In the meantime, stay safe, stay warm, and stay happy. "Stay sober" is too much to ask for.

OL Kaizou Kouza

Here's a ripe/overripe/rancid piece of Japanese misogyny from 1990, OL Kaizou Kouza (Office Lady Remodeling Course). The AniDB blurb attempts to cast it as a wacky comedy. It's not. At best, it's sarcastic. At worst, it's just bad. How offensive is it? Well, it's based on a monthly column from Weekly Gendai magazine called "Drop Dead! Stupid Office Ladies." The source gives the game away.

The premise of the OVA is that female office workers (derisively called "office ladies" or OL) don't know their place and don't act as subservient robots to the hardworking men who keep Japanese business humming. 

They want to have fun, keep normal hours, travel, and of course, get married to good-looking men with money. 

The OVA is divided into ten "chapters", and each chapter consists of several skits. There's no plot or through line, and most skits are punctuated by a condescending or outraged male narrator chastising the female characters for their actions.

The ten chapters are somewhat topic-focused. Roughly:

1. New employment.
2. The reception desk.
3. Daily work.
4. Beauty.
5. Money.
6. Love.
7. Recreation.
8. Travel.
9. Marriage.
10. Interactions.

A lot of the skits are funny, but I found it a long slog. This was compounded by the vast number of signs, almost all of which had to be motion tracked.

The script is 95% typesetting. Still, the OP and ED are energetic and funny.

Translation notes:

• "Long is the life, fall in love, office ladies!" This line in the OP/ED parodies an early 20th century song, "Short is the life, fall in love, maidens."
  
• FOB, FAS. These are incoterms, denoting the limits of a seller's responsibilities. FOB (free on board) means the seller's responsibility ends when the goods are loaded on a designated ship. FAS (free alongside ship) means the seller's responsibility ends when the goods are on the dock at the destination port. 
• "A ghost and a mutilated woman." The narrator uses the terms nobbera-bou, meaning faceless ghost, and kuchisaka-onna, meaning a female spirit with a slit mouth.
• "Tampon checker." He actually says "Anne checker." There is a Japanese brand of tampons named for Anne Frank.
  
  
  
  
  
• Book title "How to Marry an Elite Man." Literally, "a man of three highs," meaning high education, high income, tall.
• "You call me Tama, but my name is Tamamoshirosu." A parody of Tamamo Cross, a famous Japanese racehorse.
  
• "God bless consolation money!" In Japan, the spouse causing the divorce may have to pay consolation money to the other party for the breakdown in the relationship.
• Sakamoto Ryouma was a famous figure in the late Bakumatsu. A westernizer, he was assassinated by a pro-Shogun special force, the Mimawarigumi.

Thanks to Pervodildo and Uchuu for these notes.

As a sketch comedy, there are no named characters. The credited voice cast is quite small:

• Ishimaru Hiroya starred in Koiko Mainichi and gave a bravura performance as the "interpreter" dog Allegro in Bremen 4, both Orphan releases. He also played Rodimus Prime in the various Transformer TV shows, Sengoku Shunsuke in Cyber City Oedo 808, and Kabuto Kouji in the Mazinger Z franchise.
• Sasaki Yuuko played the title role in Desert Rose and Gilbert in Kaze to Ki no Uta SANCTUS. She played Sayoko in Aoki Honoo, Akiko/Keiko in Wolf Guy, Yuki in Sei Michaela Gakuen Hyouryuuki, and Exper Jiff in Exper Zenon, and she appeared in Amaama to Inazuma, Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou, and Yousei-ou, all Orphan releases.
• Ootsuka Houchu played Satou in the Ajin properties, Bookman in D.grayman: Hollow, Rob in Shinigami no Kuro Maid, Ziggy in Edens Zero, Tsurumi in Golden Kamuy, the announcer in Yawara!, and Ikezu Daisuke in Asatte Dance, an Orphan release.
• Utsumi Kenji is best known for his roles as Roah in Fist of the North Star, Kaioh in Fist of the North Star 2, and Senbei Norimaki in the Dr. Slump and Arale-chan franchise. He appeared as the village chief in Watt Poe and Alex Louis Armstrong in both versions of Full Metal Alchemist. He played the title role in Don Dracula and appeared in in Nora, Bavi Stock, Stop!! Hibari-kun!, Techno Police 21C, Sanada 10, and 15 Shounen Hyouruuki, all Orphan releases.
• Hoshino Mitsuaki played Carl in Next Senki Ehrgeiz, an Orphan release, and Ryuunosuke in Rescue Wings. He had featured roles in numerous other shows.
• Arikawa Tarou appeared in Blue Sonnet, Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament, and Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou, all Orphan releases.
  

OL Kaizou Kouza was Kamegaki Hajime's first directing assignment. He went on to direct many other projects, including Fushigi Yuugi, Air Gear, Ayashi no Ceres, Hanasakeru Seishounen, and several Lupin III movies/TV specials.

Like many recent Orphan projects, this one has a long backstory. Iri (I think) bought the VHS tape aeons ago. After encoding, it sat around for a long time and was eventually released as a raw. Perevodildo picked it up, translated it, and rough-timed it. ninjacloud fine-timed. I edited and typeset. Rezo and Uchuu QCed. The encoder was an anonymous friend. The source is a second-hand video tape; it was never released on laserdisc or digital media. You can understand why. There's a sequel, of sorts, Oji-san Kaizou Kouza. WOWmd is threatening to buy and encode it.

I can't really recommend OL Kaizou Kouza, although I hope you'll admire the typesetting. It reflects attitudes that I wish had changed and probably haven't. There's a tiny amount of sex and nudity, not enough to condemn (or redeem) it. You can get the show from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Naki no Ryuu - Hiryuu no Shou

It's rare that I am totally baffled by an anime, but this one managed to do it. A one episode OVA from 1991, Mahjong Hishouden: Naki no Ryuu - Hiryuu no Shou (Flying Legend of Mahjong: The Calling Dragon Soaring Dragon Chapter) is half about mahjong and half about yakuza machinations. I found all of it impenetrable. I don't understand mahjong, and I had a hard time untangling the doings of the gangsters.

To make matters more confusing, Naki no Ryuu - Hiryuu no Shou (Mahjong Hishouden doesn't appear in the anime title, only on the box) is a remake of sorts of the second episode in the three volume 1988 OVA also called Mahjong Hishouden: Naki no Ryuu. Thus, it's missing the context that provided by the first episode, and the denouement provided by the third. Why was it remade? No idea. Different animation company, apparently. This one was done by Gainax, so at least it's stylish.

The show centers around a mahjong player known as the Calling Dragon. He is phenomenally lucky and always wins. His specialty is "calling": announcing how he will win before he has acquired the discarded tile he needs. (I think that's right.) Actually, his mahjong play is nothing to write home about, according to people who actually play), and he mostly sits around, smoking and looking cool:

He is so lucky that a yakuza named Kai Shouzou, head of a gang that's part of the Oudou Syndicate, wants to "acquire" the Dragon and his luck for the syndicate. 

The Oudou Syndicate is at war with the Miyoshi family. Shouzou starts hanging around where the Dragon is playing. During one of these games, Shozou is almost assassinated. He recovers but is confined to a wheelchair. Meanwhile, the Dragon has gone to ground, playing in anonymous Miyoshi gambling halls. Shouzou tracks him down while he's playing with the Miyoshi boss and kills all the Miyoshi players. Shouzou and the Dragon then play a climatic game to decide their fates. The Dragon wins, of course, but a Miyoshi underling appears and shoots the Oudo president, seriously wounding him. Shouzou succumbs to his wounds, and the Dragon is apparently free. But Shouzou has left his mission of revenge, and of acquiring the Dragon, to his underboss, Ishikawa. Another round of intrigue is about to begin.

Got that? All the Yakuza intrigues are interspersed with mahjong games where the Dragon trounces all comers from behind his cigarette (and sometimes his sunglasses too). There's some bloodshed, a bit of sex, and a whole lot of posturing and mahjong. As for the rest, read the manga or wait until we fansub the three-volume version. (Yeah, it's coming. Don't hold your breath.)

The voice cast includes:

• Ikeda Shuuichi (Dragon) played Char in Mobile Suit Gundam, Gilbert Durandal in Gundam Seed, Ulrich Kessler in Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Alex in Dallos, and Azuma in Starship Troopers. The last two are Orphan releases.
• Jinnai Tatsuyuki (Kai) played Principal Kuno in the original Ranma 1/2 and Hans Hakase in the original Rurouni Kenshin.
• Kobayashi Kiyoshi (Narrator) is best known for playing Jigen in the Lupin the Third TV shows and specials since the inception of the franchise. He also played Sekai in Wild 7, Keiko in Okama Report, and Valhiss in Amon Saga, all Orphan releases.
• Kiyokawa Motomu (Miyoshi, rival gang boss) played Fuyutsuki Kouzou in the recent Evangelion movies, Walter Dornez in Hellsing Ultimate, Charles Auclair in the Nodame Cantabile franchise,  and Gouza in Ars no Kyojuu. He played a prophet in Tezuka Osamu's Tales from The Old Testament and Kosuke as an adult in Sensou Douwa: Boku no Boukuugou, both Orphan releases.
• Ishimori Takkou (Maruko, an Oudou Syndicate underboss) played Cesar in Perrine Monogatari and appeared inMikan Enniki, Usagi Drop, Akai Hayate, and Nagasaki 1945: Angelus no Kane. The last two are Orphan releases.
  
• Hazumi Jun (Murota, an underboss) played Nerigun in Ziggy Soreyuke! R&R Band, an Orphan release. He also appeared in DNA^2, Kemonozume, and the Guyver properties.
• Hosoi Shigeyuki (Sakurada, the Oudou president) played Gopp in Mobile Suit Gundam (the original series).
• Utsumi Kenji (Ishikawa, Kai's successor) played Roah in Fist of the North Star, Kaioh in Fist of the North Star 2, Senbei Norimaki in Dr. Slump and Arale-chan, the village chief in Watt Poe, and Alex Louis Armstrong in both versions of Fullmetal Alchemist. He appeared in Nora, Bavi Stock, Stop!! Hibari-kun!, Techno Police 21C, Don Dracula (title role), 15 Shounen Hyouruuki, and Sanada 10, all Orphan releases.

The director, Dezaki Satoshi, is the older brother of Dezaki Osamu and directed some of the Urusei Yatsura OVAs and movies, as well as Dioxin no Natsu, Yume Kakeru Kougan, Bakumatsu no Spasibo, Boyfriend, and Time Slip Ichimannen Prime Rose, all Orphan releases.

Iri bought the laserdisc for this eons ago but never got around to it. Perevodildo picked it up from Orphan's infinite backlog and translated it. He also did initial timing. Muzussawa, a new contributor to Orphan, consulting on the Mahjong terms and play. Paul Geromini, another new contributor, edited. I typeset and QCed. Eternal_Blizzard fine-timed and QCed. The raw is from a Japanese laserdisc, ripped on the Domesday Duplicator and encoded by an anonymous friend.

As you can probably tell, I'm not enamored of Naki no Ryuu - Hiryuu no Shou. It prioritizes style over substance, and it's about a game I find incomprehensible. Still, it has great style, and that counts for something. You can get your dose of pons, kans, and riichis from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net

Gakkou no Yuurei (School Ghosts), Volume 2

Starting with volume 2, Gakkou no Yuurei began including live-action segments. Why? No idea. Perhaps live-action is less expensive to make. However, I find it disconcerting, and the special-effects are unconvincing. 

As one of the QCs wrote, "Gotta say, this makes the Goosebumps TV show look like fine art."

Volume 2 includes quite a few short segments, both animated and live-action, and some longer stories.

1. Girl Scrambling Up a Wall (animated, short). A girl goes to the music room in a most unusual manner.
   
2. Teke Teke and Bun Bun (live action, short). Three boys investigate a basement that's off-limits for a good reason.
   
3. Hair Tangled in the Horizontal Bar (animated, short). The dangers of gymnastics.
   
4. The Wrath of Kokkuri-san (animated, short). Three girls try their hands at Kokkuri-san. They should have watched Ushiro no Hyakutaro first.
   
5. Sealed Spirits (live-action, short). A school toilet is off-limits, and not because Hanako-kun lives there.
   
6. A Sticky Girl Laughs (animated). Three girls discover a ghost who seemingly just wants to play.
   
   
   
7. A Sad Father's Love Story (live action). A piano teacher helps a deceased father who missed his daughter's ballet recital find peace.
   
   
   
   
   
8. Yellow Hand (animated, short). The severed hand of a girl killed in a traffic accident returns.
   
9. A Ghost Holding a Baby (animated, short). A girl is attacked by the ghost of a deceased mother.
10. Late Night Locker (live action, short). A schoolgirl is attacked by spirits while retrieving her homework.
    
11. Boy Drowned in the Pool (animated, short). A drowned boy tries to ensnare other swimmers.
    
12. The Eternal Staircase (live action, short). A teacher encounters a staircase that never ends.
    
13. A Ghost Kicking Its Own Head (animated). A boy killed in a sporting accident haunts the soccer field.
    
    
    
14. The Spirit of the Music Room (live action). The spirit of a suicidal pianist haunts the music room.

I liked "A Sad Father's Love Story" best, probably because it has a happy ending.

The show has separate casts for the live-action and animated segments. I didn't bother with the live-action actors. Some of the seiyuu in the animated segments include:

• Honma Yukari played Mikako in Kazu & Yasu Hero Tanjou, Ayu in Mermaid Forest, and Yugo in Project Arms.
  
• Yajima Akiko played the title role in Idol Densetu Eriko, Lemon in VS Knight Ramune & 40 Fresh, Takami in Geobreeders, Dorothy in The Big O, Pino in Ergo Proxy, Kogitsune in Natsume Yuujinchou, Mipple in the Futari wa Precure franchise, and the title roles in Shin-men and of course Crayon Shin-chan. She played Lesser Panda (Red Panda) in Shirokuma Cafe, Maijima Karen in Sotsugyousei, and Hikari in Kakyuusei (1995), all Orphan releases.
• Okamura Akemi played Nami in the One Piece franchise, Hinoe in the Natsume Yuujinchou franchise, Fio in Porco Rosso, Risa in Lovely Complex, Mayaya in Kuragehime, Shusui in Saiunkoku Monogatari, and Shiina in Tales of Symphonia, among many other roles.
  
• Hiramatsu Akiko played Nene Romanova in Bubblegum Crisis and Bubblegum Crash, Mekira in Ninku, Tom Kusanagi in Mikan Enikki, Konoe (the security maid) in Hanaukyo Maid Tai, and Miyuki in the You're Under Arrest franchise. She played Ninomiya, the police chief's reckless daughter, in Every Day Is Sunday, and Tano Keiko in Houkago no Tinker Bell, both Orphan releases.
• Hiyama Nobuyuki played Madarame in the Genshiken franchise, Viral in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Date in Lime-iro Senkitan, Murata in the Gundam Seed series, Kouyuu Li in Saiunkoku Monogatari, Shin in Cowboy Bebop, and Kiei in the Yu Yu Hakusho franchise. He also played Tokugawa Hidetada in the Sanada 10 special, Kain in Fire Emblem, Roddy in Next Senki Ehrgeiz, and King Penguin in Shirokuma Cafe, all Orphan releases.
• Watanabe Misa played Nefertiri in the One Piece franchise, Akeginu in Basilisk, Queen Beryl in Sailor Moon Crystal, and Nozomi in the World Trigger franchise.
  
• Takahashi Miki starred as Asami in Majo demo Steady (an Orphan release), but she is best known as a singer (she sang all the songs in the show). She had featured roles in MAPS (1994) and Tenamonyo Voyagers. She also appeared in Doukyuusei: Climax, an Orphan release.
• Masuda Yuki played Yuki in the two Ultra Nyan OVAs, both Orphan releases. She also played Yanagi in Flame of Recca, Yuri in the Sakura Wars shows, and Nami in La Corda d'Oro.
  
• Arakawa Tarou appeared in Blue Sonnet, Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou, and Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament, all Orphan releases.
  
• Miura Tomoko appeared in Project Arms and Reideen the Superior.
  
• Kuramochi Ryouko appeared in Gilgamesh and Naruto.
  
• Okamoto Akiko had a few other minor roles.
  
• Nomura Kenji plays Gorou in the current Ao no Miburo and Jinun in Sengoku Youko. Past roles included Tatsuuma Ushiyama in Golden Kamuy, , Reystov in The Faraway Paladin, Sol in Isekai de Mofumofu, Kugayama in Genshiken, Sanosuke in Peace Maker Kurogane, and Kunio in Tactical Roar.
  
• Ogihara Hideki played Toshiya in the Mahoromatic franchise, Ryouta in Soul Link, Ma-kun in Gravitation, and Yamane in the Major franchise. He appeared in two stories in Gakkou no Yuurei volume 1.

The animated segment director, Awai Shigeki, mostly worked in h-anime.

Because the series had been abandoned after one episode, Perevodildo translated volume 2 from scratch. ninjacloud timed. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and ImAWasteOfHair QCed. The caffeinated encoder chose "cafe au lait" as his pseudonym for this episode.

Ghost stories are always going to be a mixed bag, and this volume is more mixed than most. I miss the lack of tonal variation; the stories are always serious and downbeat. But if you want more ghostly doings, you can get this volume of School Ghosts from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.