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.