Usagi-chan de Cue

Usagi-chan de Cue!! (The Rabbit Is Cu(t)e!!) is a 2001 boob-and-pantsu sci-fi OVA. I've always had a soft spot for the show, because it was the very first orphan I tried to rescue. C1 had subbed the first two episodes, but the content was too extreme for the group's leaders.  They preferred G-rated (or at most, PG-rated) shows; Usagi-chan was dropped. In order to get the last episode subbed, I slogged through 41 episodes of Peter Pan no Bouken, doing both editing and QC. In exchange, C1 subbed the third episode. That release became the version the English-speaking world knows, either directly or through various softsubbed remakes.

Still, I was a bit dissatisfied with the result. I always had concerns about the translation. This was confirmed when I found official lyrics for the opening song, which were quite different from the "by ear" translation. C1's typesetting was approximate, due to the primitiveness of the tools back then, and the remakes had no typesetting at all. Recently, I found some willing (or willing to be coerced) collaborators and decided to do a new version. After all, it was my first orphan. You never forget your first.

The story opens at Banzai High School, with a fight on the roof between a buxom school delinquent, Inaba Mikami, and rival gang leader Chou of Benten's most fearsome fighter, Dekao. 

Matogi Haru, keeper of the school's rabbits, fears the fight will destroy their hutches and hurt his favorite rabbit, Mimika. His fears are realized when Mikami and Dekao crash through the roof's fence and hurtle toward the ground, taking Mimika with them. Mikami instinctively cradles Mimika, but instead of dying in the fall, they mysteriously fuse,

into a human-rabbit hybrid, Inaba Mimika, with Mikami's outrageous figure and Mimika's rabbit ears and fluffy tail. This process is never fully explained, but apparently it has happened repeatedly. For example, Chou of Benten is a dog-human hybrid.

Haru takes Mimika home (she is a rabbit, after all). 

As can be imagined, human Mimika is very affectionate toward her keeper Haru, 

much to the consternation of his childhood friend and wannabe girlfriend, Miku. 

Meanwhile, the mysterious and sinister Council of the Public Welfare Bureau is determined to contain and stamp out this fusion phenomenon. They control Chou of Benten; they also deploy a cat-human hybrid named Koshka (Russian for cat). 

But Mimika has an ability that other hybrids lack. Under stress, she can revert to her form as the delinquent fighter Inaba Mikami. This is useful not only to thwart Chou of Ben and Koshka but also Dekao, who is resurrected as a cyborg, with increasingly menacing armaments. 

Through all this, Haru is trying to make sense of what has happened. He realizes that Inaba Mikami is hiding inside Mimika, and he's determined to lure her out, separating the rabbit and the human again. The villains, on the other hand, want Banzai High School and its surroundings to be kept free of fused specimens, because... well, because they want to. The alleged reason is that fused specimens give off signals that can trigger further fusions among people who are lonely and deeply unhappy. (Both Inaba and Koshka have backstories of childhood neglect and abuse.) It doesn't make all that much sense, but the endless eye candy and frequent action sequences are the point, not the plot.

Some notes:

• When Mimika is trying on bras, Miku reacts in consternation, "A G-cup?" That's DDD in US sizes. Mimika's (and Mikami's) figure defies the laws of physics; well, non-anime physics.
• This release included the non-credit OP and ED, as well as a promotional video that has not been translated.
• The translator, Perevodildo, made extensive revisions, particularly in the third episode. The original version makes no sense whatsoever; now, it at least makes some. Also in the third episode (only), when Koshka is under stress, she ends her sentences with "nyaa" (meow). After all, she's a cat. These have been rendered by punning or twisting words in an approximately feline way. 
• Ever since C1's pioneering release, Chou of Benten's headband, which changes to reflect his mood or the action, has been done as a simple top-of-screen note. This release continues the practice, because tracking or typesetting those hand-drawn signs as Chou moves his head would have been a PITA. Some people find them distracting, but they often convey jokes or a punch line, so I've left them in. 

The voice cast includes:

• Suzumura Kenichi (Haru) played Lavi in D.grayman, Kyouchi in Boys Be..., Kamui in the later X properties, Nenji in Nanaka 6/17, Hideo in Hand Maid Mai OVA, Eiji in Gravion, Junpei in Ichigo 100%, Kazuto in UFO Princess Valkyrie, Toki in Code: Breaker, Hajime in Danna ga Nani..., Shingo in Prison School, Masato in the Uta no Prince-sama franchise, Iyami in the Osomatsu-san franchise, and Hinawa in Enen no Shoubitai. He also played Ginshu in Amatsuki, an Orphan release.
• Morota Kaoru (Mimika, Mikami) played the title role in Medaka no Gakkou, Rasha in Lime-iro Senkitan, Yuu in the Comic Party franchise, and Chiaki in Demonbane.
• Kawasumi Ayako (Miku) starred as Mogi in the Initial D franchise, Sakuraba in Ai Yori Aoshi, Fuu in Samurai Champloo, Sara in Gallery Fake, Lafiel in the Crest of the Stars franchise, Henrietta in the Zero no Tsukaima franchise, Saber in the Fate/Stay Night franchise, Ohno in the Genshiken series, Mahoro in the Mahoromatic franchise, and my personal favorite, Nodame in the Nodame Cantabile franchise. She played the title role in Sensou Douwa: Kiku-chan to Ookami, an Orphan release.
• Nakao Ryuusei (Chou of Benten) played the lead in Igano Kabamaru, King Falke in ACCA, Hephaestion in Alexander's Decision, and Freeza/Cooler in Dragon Ball. He also played Roger Rogers in Plastic Little, Akio in Chameleon, Peat Cullen in AWOL Compression Remix, and Puu in Captain Bal, all Orphan releases.
• Neya Michiko (Koshka) played the title character in Shin Cutey Honey, Emilia in Macross 7: Ginga ga Ore o Yonde Iru!, Rally in Gunsmith Cats, Barnett in Vandread, Mako in the Initial D franchise, and Nancy in R.O.D. She also played Mesa, Eve's mother in Mother: Saigo no Shoujo Eve, Aya in Hidamari no Ki, and Lena in Fire Emblem, and she appeared in School Ghosts, volume 1, all Orphan releases.
• Sawaki Ikuyo (head of the Bureau) played Gooley in the Dirty Pair franchise. He also played Ushiro Kentaro, Ichitaro's father in Ushiro no Hyakutaro, Samuel Hunter in Wolf Guy, Masayoshi Hotta in Hidamari no Ki, Barry in Joker: Marginal City, Alan in Mother: Saigo no Shoujo Eve, Itakura Shirouemon in Sanada 10, the Kaiser in Apfelland Monogatari, and Gonbei the cat in Satsujin Kippu wa Heart-iro, as well as bit parts in Dallos, Heart Cocktail, and Chameleon, all Orphan releases.
• Senda Mitsuo (Shadow, masked man in the Bureau) played Sai Taku in Kingdom, Smiley in Sherlock Hound, and Grandpa Niko in The Adventures of Tyrano Boy.
• Kusunoki Taiten (cyborg Dekao) played Coach Miura in Baby Steps, Ibuki in Beastars, Bach in Classicaloid, Drakken Joe in Edens Zero, Leonard Burns in Fire Force, Mou Bu in Kingdom, Kai in Mononogatari, Rock Bison in Tiger & Bunny, and Thorgill in Vinland Saga.

Fukuyama Jun appears in a bit part. The director, Yoshida Tooru, was also a mecha designer. His directorial projects included Variable Geo and Gattai Robot Atranger.

At my request, an anonymous friend found the ISOs of the Japanese DVDs, and another anonymous friend encoded them. I had the C1 script archive and shifted the subs onto the new raws. Perevodildo translation checked. ImAWasteOfHair fine-timed. I edited and typeset; the signs required way too many hand-drawn clips. MartyMcflies of LonelyChaser Subs and yet another anonymous QCed. The release also includes the non-credit OP and ED, as well as a promo for the song CD, a "maxi-single" that is hard (or expensive) to find.

As a special treat, here are the encoder's notes:

"There was a bit more testing required than I had initially anticipated. The footage was 95% NTSC film, meaning it could be cleanly IVTC'd as normal, but also contained a few instances of video zooms/fades that needed to be deinterlaced separately to preserve smooth motion, hence the VFR. Also apart from mild dehaloing and derainbowing, there was some pretty annoying dot-crawl present that required a number of fixes to alleviate."

I'm very grateful for his expertise, not one word of which I understand.

Usagi-chan de Cue!! is very ecchi and totally NSFW. One of the QCs made several GIFs, and this is the only one I dare put in the blog.

The third volume, in which Miku imagines what Haru and Mimika do together, even requires a bit of censoring. Still, it is mostly silly and good-natured, and it ends happily, if inconclusively. You can get this release from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

The First Line

Here's another SIP™ (Skr Instant Project): The First Line. Skr saw this short, translated, timed, and typeset it, and then asked for help releasing it. Perevodildo translation checked, Nemeis and I QCed, and here it is - about 48 hours after Skr first saw it. It's so new that it doesn't appear in most anime databases.

The First Line is part of an anthology called Gemnibus, from Toho Animation's Gemstone label. It's intended to showcase the work of promising young directors. The first volume has four episodes; only The First Line is animated. The segment is directed by a 29-year-old wunderkind who goes by the handle China (チナ).  He started off as an animator, mostly doing key animation, before taking on storyboarding and episode direction. This is one of his first directing credits.

The protagonist of the story is a young animator named Mito.

He works in an old-line animation studio. To me, it looks a lot like Studio Ghibli, as shown in various "Making Of" documentaries, but perhaps all older animation studios are like that.

The staff is struggling to finish key animation and storyboards for the old director's latest show. The director is bald, wears pince-nez glasses, and has the bright red nose of the chronic drinker, so he's not a direct caricature of Miyazaki.

Everyone is exhausted; the animator who was supposed to storyboard the last scene has passed out. The director gives the assignment to  Mito, much to the consternation of more senior staff. Mito struggles, changing his drawings based on the suggestions of his senpais.

Ultimately, the director rejects Mito's work, saying it reflects the tricks of his coworkers, rather than his own ideas. Mito is determined to try again but falls into a fugue state or dream about the old director.

Remotivated, he picks up his pencil to draw his first truly personal line.

The voice cast includes:

• Mutsumi Tamura played Kobayashi in Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, Alice in The Ancient Magus' Bride, Fuguri in Apocalypse Hotel, Lutz in Ascendance of a Bookworm, Gaa-chan in Baja no Studio, Kio in Asobi ni Iku yo!, Koushirou in the Digimon Adventure tri franchise, Natasku in Enen no Shouboutai, Akira in Hello WeGo!, Jonah in Jorgmugand, Tae in Kaijuu No. 8, Beelzebub in Sand Land, Sayaka in Seitokai Yakuindomo, and Bal in Captain Bal, an Orphan release.
• Shirou Saitou played Kiyotaka in KADO: The Right Answer, Hyou Ko in Kingdom, Gansaku in Megalo Box, Ryogen in Musashi, and Jabi in Sabikui Bisco.

The music is by Hayato Sumino, a well-known Japanese pianist. His (almost) solo performance of Ravel's Bolero, on two pianos (!), must be seen to be believed.

This is a terrific short OVA. The artwork and camerawork are innovative and showcase China's talents. The screencaps make it look like the anime is letterboxed, but that's deceiving; the frame is used very flexibly.

You can get The First Line 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), Batch

So here's the batch torrent for Gakkou no Yuurei (School Ghosts), containing all six volumes. There have been no changes. This is strictly for convenience of downloading.

The translator, Perevodildo, really liked the show and wrote a highly favorable review on MyAnimeList. In my view, the series started out okay but gradually declined in quality. A few of the live-action segments were very affecting, and the acting in them was okay, but the special effects were cheesy, to say the least: underlighting an actor with red or green is not enough to make a convincing ghost. The stories also became repetitious, as there are only so many variations on the ghosts-in-the-school (or ghosts-on-the-field-trip) theme that can be played.

Or perhaps the readers didn't have all that varied an imagination. Anyway, YMMV.

The staff was very small and stayed the same throughout the series:

• Translation and timing: Perevodildo
• Fine timing: ninjacloud
• Editing and typesetting: Collectr
• QC: Nemesis, Topper3000
• RC: Perevodildo, Collectr 
• Encoder: an anonymous caffeine fiend 

The project was ninjacloud's idea. He also recruited the coffee-infatuated encoder.

The sequel show, titled Shin Gakkou no Yuurei (New School Ghosts), is underway, but it's release schedule is unpredictable.

You can get Gakkou no Yuurei from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net. Thanks for watching.

Gakkou no Yuurei (School Ghosts), Volume 6

Here's the last volume of Gakkou no Yuurei (School Ghosts), completing the series Orphan started last November. What, you say? Aren't there seven volumes of School Ghosts? There are, but technically, the seventh volume is a sequel series, titled Shin Gakkou no Yuurei (New School Ghosts). Orphan will get to it, sooner or later. Meanwhile, this volume, which is subtitled "Final Chapter," consists of six stories, both animated and live action.

The segments in this volume are:

1. "Picking Up on a Rainy Day" (animated). A mother and daughter are going home from school on a rainy day. The mother sees another girl waiting to be picked up, but it's a girl who has been dead for eight years.
   
   
   
   
   
2. "School Trip Stone" (live action). A schoolgirl brings a pretty stone home from a field trip, but the stone was placed where it was for a reason.
   
   
   
   
   
3. "Abandoned Temple" (animated). Two schoolboys explore a ruined temple, thinking it is uninhabited. But something is still there.
   
   
   
   
   
4. "School Lunch Lady" (live action). Two schoolboys really like the hamburger steak lunch made by the amiable Auntie Katayama. She disappears, but the boys get to taste her hamburger steak one last time.
   
   
   
   
   
5. "Road to School" (animated). A schoolgirl is friends with a local dog, John, who continues to look out for her, no matter what it takes.
   
   
   
   
   
6. "The Horror at 4:44" (live action). Never, ever go to the Art Room at exactly 4:44 PM.
   

None of the stories is particularly original, but the last is by far the weakest.

The voice actors in the animated segments include:

• Ogata Megumi played Sailor Uranus in the Sailor Moon franchise, Kurama in Yuu Yuu Hakusho, Akito in Kodomo no Omocha,Shini in Evangelion, Yuugi in the first Yuugi-ou series, Kyuu in Detective Academy Q, Valkyrie in the UFO Pricess Valkyrie series, Itona in the Assassination Classroom series, and Makoto in Danganronpa. She also played Charlie in Alice in Cyberland 2 and Julianna in Megami Paradise, both Orphan releases. 
• Kingetsu Mami played Miharu in Gasaraki, Roze in Generation of Chaos, Nagisa in If I See You in My Dreams, Carrie in Labyrinth of Flames, Misao in Peach Girl, and Shiori in Tokimeki Memorial.
• Hino Yurika had featured roles in Baki the Grappler, Ghost Hound, Kai Doh Maru, Submarine 707R, X-men, and Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament, an Orphan release.
• Soumi Youko played Olivier Armstrong in Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Natasha in Gunsmith Cats, Lyserg in Shaman King and its remake, Calessa in Vandread, Mother in Tobira o Akete, and Otsune in Hidamari no Ki, an Orphan release.
• Takano Urara played Marler in the Aa! Megami-sama franchise, Maria in the Sakura Wars franchise, Cocktail in Knights of Ramume, Gloria in PriPara, Sushi Neko in Let's Nupu Nupu, and Ken in Next Senki Ehrgeiz. The last two are Orphan releases.
• Yukino Satsuki played Kagome in the Inuyasha franchise, Miho in the Free franchise, Kaname in the Full Metal Panic! franchise, Saki in the Genshiken franchise, Tae Shimura in the Bleach franchise, Mion in the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni franchise, Hiragii in the Natsume Yuujinchou franchise, Ana Gram in the Phi Brain franchise, Vanessa in 009-1, Tina in Ai Yori Aoshi, Magisa in the Battle Spirits properties, Zhou in Cooking Master Boy, and Tamaok in Rin-ne.
• Itou Miki played Asuka Miki in Magma Taishi, Annie in Adachigahara, young Yamataro in Yamataro Comes Back, Rie in Chameleon, Colon in Cool Cool Bye, Yuumi in Every Day Is Sunday, and an Innocent in Greed, all Orphan releases. She also played Fujimura Taiga in the Fate franchise, Eiko "A-ko" Magami in the Project A-ko franchise, and appeared in most of the Happy Science movies.

The director, Koizumi Kenzou, also directed volume 5.

The staff is the same as before. Perevodildo translated and did initial timing. ninjacloud fine-timed. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and Topper3000 QCed. Our caffeinated encoder went under the pseudonym of "Wiener Melange" this time. And what, exactly, is a Wiener Melange, you ask? It's like a cappuccino, but with brewed coffee instead of espresso. Or at least, that's what Wikipedia says.

So here's the last volume of Gakkou no Yuurei. We'll release a batch in a few days, but there won't be any changes to previous volumes, and, I sincerely hope, none to this one either. You can get this release from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news in irc.rizon.net.

 

Heart Cocktail Colorful Batch

So here is the batch torrent for Heart Cocktail Colorful. There are no changes from the individual "season" releases; this is strictly for convenience of downloading.

This release marks the end of the DarkWispers, LonelyChaser, and Orphan collaboration on the animated works of Watase Seizou. We've done six series, spanning almost 40 years of his career.

• 1986-88: Heart Cocktail
• 1987: Boku no Oldies wa All-Color (My All-Color Oldies)
  
• 1988: Chalk-iro no People (Chalk-Colored People)
  
• 1992: Two on the Road
• 2003: Heart Cocktail Again
• 2023: Heart Cocktail Colorful 

We thinks that's enough, at least for a while. 

The team for Heart Cocktail Colorful has been the same throughout:

• Translation and Timing: Darkonius
• Translation check: Yume
• Editing and Typesetting: Collectr
• QC: Nemesis, Uchuu
• Encoding: anonymous
• Project coordination: Darkonius, Collectr, MartyMcflies

I want to thank all the contributors for their help. The project was smooth sailing.

I've enjoyed the world of Watase Seizou, the Heart Cocktail stories particularly, but it's time to bid it farewell. And where better to say goodbye than Jessy's Bar, the setting of so many of the stories, with a drink in hand and classic jazz on the sound system or, even better, Jessy himself tinkling the ivories with "As Time Goes By"?

 

You must remember this
A kiss is just a kiss
A sigh is just a sigh...

Thanks for watching. 

Heart Cocktail Colorful: Winter Stories

DarkOrphanChaser is back with its final set of Watase Seizou's Heart Cocktail Colorful episodes. These five are set in Winter (actually, Fall and Winter); hence, "Winter Stories". Despite the season, these stories are a bit more optimistic, a bit more hopeful.

1. "Mr. Frog." Takuto Yoshimura has fallen in love with his co-worker, Mei Shimamoto, but she wants to focus on her career. As Takuto is folding an origami frog for children in foster care and brooding over his misfired romance, he remembers an older man making an origami frog for him to "jump over his shadow." At Jessy's Bar, Takuto recovers his determination and makes his own origami frog jump.
   
   
   
   
   
2. "Button." When he was younger, Souta Misumi shared a house with a would-be poet, Ito, and an older woman, Kanna, an accomplished seamstress he had a crush on. When a button she sewed on for him pops off, Souta reaches out to Kanna for the first time in years. At a poetry reading, he discovers that she is married, with children, and now she sews for them.
   
   
   
   
   
3. "Nandina." A divorced man has not seen his daughter, Yuri, for a decade, to avoid disrupting her relationship with her stepfather. One day, she tracks him down and invites him to her wedding. Despite misgivings, he attends, bringing a branch of the Nandina he had planted to commemorate her birth.
   
   
   
   
   
4. "A Town Where Snow Falls." Whenever he visits a strange town, Kunikata Shirakawa always visits a hostess bar and asks for "Midori," the work name his single mother used to earn money when raising him. On a snowy night in a strange town, he finds a "Midori" who is also a singe mother, and he vows, to himself, that he will return to see her again.
   
   
   
   
   
5. "A Christmas Miracle." A long time ago, an older man donated blood that saved the life of a young girl. In the present, he is facing a lonely Christmas when they meet again. Although they are complete strangers to one another, there is an instant connection: a Christmas miracle. 

I liked all the stories in this set, particularly "Nandina," with its possibility of reunion and reconciliation, and "A Town Where Snow Falls," where romance surfaces in the most unlikely of circumstances. "A Christmas Miracle" is completely far-fetched, but the Japanese do believe in blood-type astrology.

One translation note: Nandina or sacred bamboo is not a bamboo but an erect evergreen shrub that grows up to two meters tall. 

As in the other Heart Cocktail series, the animation is minimal, but the shots aren't completely static, as they are in Chalk-iro no People or the other "animated manga". But this lack of movement, and the much larger full HD canvas, created a problem: the scenes look empty and are visually boring. So this series adapts a trick out of the statically animated shows: it puts some (but not all) of the dialog into signs. There's no point in having the same English line as both dialog and sign, so the dialog signs are not typeset. Rest assured, real signs (there's only a few in these episodes) are typeset.

The voice cast is unchanged, as is the fansub staff. Darkonius translated and timed. Yume translation-checked. I edited and typeset; the biggest typesetting challenge was the rainbow in the title. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. Skr snarfed the raws off Japanese TV, and an anonymous friend encoded. MartyMcflies provided support and coordination. Like previous Watase Seizou projects, this is a joint DarkWispers, Orphan, and LonelyChaser release. 

You can get this final mini-batch of "Winter Stories" from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news. Final batch soon.

 

Heart Cocktail Colorful: Summer Stories

DarkOrphanChaser is back with a second set of Watase Seizou's Heart Cocktail Colorful episodes. These five are set in Summer; hence, "Summer Stories". Despite the season, these stories seems a shade more wistful, even melancholic at times, than before.

1. "Perfect Girlfriend." Shuujirou Nishina and Keiichi Hayama are hanging out together, enjoying time at the beach. She's his "perfect girlfriend," but he's marrying someone else, for reasons going back all the way to their shared childhood.
   
   
   
   
   
2. "Otoha and Tatsuya." On a business trip, Tatsuya has an unexpected encounter with his childhood friend, Shiho Hamanshi. She's achieved her long-held dream of becoming a geisha, stage name Otoha, but his dream of becoming a novelist has faded away.
   
   
   
   
   
3. "Beyond the Tube." Young Junya discovers that his father, a famous painter, had had a long-term relationship with his beautiful model. She wants to return a kimono that his father treasured, but Junya can't bring himself to show it to his mother.
   
   
   
   
   
4. "Hidden Behind the Rain." The backstory of Jessy, owner of Jessy's bar. When he was young, he fell in love with Marie, a cruise ship singer. They were supposed to be together, but he ended up alone... until a warm summer's evening decades later.
   
   
   
   
   
5. "Two Paper Planes." Hiroyuki Tsuyama and his wife Miho are getting a civilized divorce. When he visits her to deliver the divorce papers, he discovers that she's become an accomplished ceramics artist... and he's brought the wrong documents.

"Beyond the Tube" is bittersweet, as a son attempts to grasp a side of his father's life he had never known. (It's also recycled from the first story in Boku no Oldies wa All-Color.)  "Hidden Behind the Rain" has a nicely melancholic atmosphere, although the gimmick explaining Marie's current situation is strictly an anime contrivance; but all the stories are good.

As in the other Heart Cocktail series, the animation is minimal, but the shots aren't completely static, as they are in Chalk-iro no People or the other "animated manga". But this lack of movement, and the much larger full HD canvas, created a problem: the scenes look empty and are visually boring. So this series adapts a trick out of the statically animated shows: it puts some (but not all) of the dialog into signs. There's no point in having the same English line as both dialog and sign, so the dialog signs are not typeset. Rest assured, real signs (there's only a few in these episodes) are typeset.

The voice cast is unchanged, as is the fansub staff. Darkonius translated and timed. Yume translation-checked. I edited and typeset; the biggest typesetting challenge was the rainbow in the title. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. Skr snarfed the raws off Japanese TV, and an anonymous friend encoded. MartyMcflies provided support and coordination. Like previous Watase Seizou projects, this is a joint DarkWispers, Orphan, and LonelyChaser release. 

You can get this mini-batch of the "Summer Stories" from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news. The remaining five episodes will follow soon.

Junk Boy

When I was "breaking into" fansubbing, if such a thing can be said to happen, I edited anything that was offered to me. That's how I ended up working on shows that were way outside my wheelhouse, like The Prince of Tennis OVAs. During that phase, I edited more than 80 shows for Erobeat, an h-anime fansubbing group, now defunct. (There's no point in denying it. The shows have credits, and my handle is in there.) As usual, I had an ulterior motive: I was willing to edit modern h-anime trash in order to get a few back catalog shows done. I managed to get two older shows subtitled: Junk Boy (1987), which had only been available dubbed, and Bouken Shite mo Ii Koro (1989), aka Junk Boy II.

Erobeat was a skeleton operation, with few staffers. Most h-anime don't require much in the way of translation or editing skills. ("Mouto! Mouto!" is pretty easy to render.) But Junk Boy wasn't an h-anime. It was an R-rated boob-fest comedy, with an actual plot and lots of dialog. Accordingly, I always wondered about the script. In addition, it was hardsubbed, with little or no typesetting. I had the original edited script, and WOWmd had the laserdisc, so a new version got added to the project rota. All other released versions use an R2E French DVD at the wrong frame rate; the OVA was never released on digital media in Japan.

The Junk Boy of the title is Yamazaki Ryohei, a 23-year-old whose hobby is looking at naked women and jerking off. 

He thinks he's the cat's meow, and his dream job is to work at Potato Boy, a men's magazine that's basically a disguised version of Playboy. He flubs the interview, hitting on the beautiful editor-in-chief, Oda Yuki. 

Nonetheless, he gets a job there, because his schlong is an infallible indicator of whether a model will appeal to Potato Boy's target audience, i.e., young men like Ryohei. (Perhaps the Junk in the title refers to his junk, after all?)

He then has a series of encounters, comical and amorous, that demonstrate he's way out of his league. He acts as a gofer on a photoshoot with fading idol Kanda Mika, where he inadvertently coaxes her into an extremely erotic posing session. 

He is sent to report on a soapland (a brothel), only to find out that his lady of the evening is undercover reporter, Sawamoto Aki.

Fortunately, luck, naivety, and overwhelming horniness see him through.

Those of my (ten) readers who remember my outraged reaction to the sexual harassment of the heroine in Smash Hit! may wonder why I'm so indulgent of this show, where Ryohei harasses every woman he meets. One reason is that he frequently gets his comeuppance. Female staffer Arizono Miru uses his belief in his infallible attractiveness to trick him into a night of overtime proofreading. Sawamoto Aki debunks his sexual prowess in front of the Potato Boy editorial staff. Editor Oda Yuki intercepts his lecherous moves with judo throws worthy of Yawara herself. He's a threat, all right, but mostly to himself.

Some translation notes.

• "Illustrator Peter Ito", whom editor Oda Yuki made famous, is a parody of Pater Sato. 
• "Copywriter Otoi Shigemo" is a parody of Itoi Shigesato.
• The fine print on Sawamoto Aki's book about strippers, Melancholic Butterflies, says: "A special documentary!!! Sawamoto Aki enters the world of stripping and creates a novel filled with the perspectives and challenges of real-life strippers!!"
• The fine print on her book about pachinko, Lucky 7, says: "Even the pachinko nail adjuster Samuyan is shocked!!! (A parody of Nail Master Sabuyan.) Even Gyutaro is in awe!!!! (A parody of Gyu Jiro, a pachinko author.) At last it's here!!! The much-talked-about female writer Sawamoto Aki's Life of a Pachinko Professional.

The voice cast is outstanding. It includes many well-known seiyuu from the 1980s and 1990s, all of whom, not surprisingly, have had leading roles in other Orphan releases.:

• Kusao Takeshi (Ryohei) played the lead role in Fujilog, the title role in Babel II, Trunks in the Dragon Ball Z franchise, Sakuragi in Slam Dunk, and Lamune in NG Knight Lamume & 40. He also played the teenaged Tezuka Osamu in Tezuka Osamu Monogatari: I Am Son Goku, Daichi in Singles, the fast talking orca in Sensou Douwa: Chiisai Sensuikau ni Koi wo Shita Dekasugira Kojira no Hanashi, Leedyle/Ranka in Hayou no Tsurugi, Hisamatsu in Bride of Deimos, and the icy director Kurume Kenjirou in Smash Hit!, all Orphan releases.
• Fujita Toshiko (Oda Yuki) played the title roles in the Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibouken properties, Fujiko Fujio no Kiteretsu Daihyakka, Ikkyuu-san, Tomcat's Big Adventure, and Ganbare Genki. She starred as Rui in Cat's Eye and Ryoko in Goku: Midnight Eye. She also played Venus in Bride of Deimos, the bunny in Heart Cocktail, Kiro as a boy in Nayuta, Lulu in Grimm Douwa: Kin no Tori, Takao in Oedo wa Nemurenai!, Cyborg 1019 in Oz, Gordon in Hitomi no Naka no Shounen: 15 Shounen Hyouryuuki, Sharaku in Akuma Tou no Prince: Mitsume ga Tooru, and Princess Iron Fan in Tezuka Osamu Monogatari: I Am Son Goku, all Orphan releases.
• Minaguchi Yuki (Arizono Miru) is best known for Yawara!, her breakout and defining role. She starred in numerous other shows, including Bosco Adventure, Dragon Ball Z and GT, Sailor Moon, One Piece, and Alexander (Reign: The Conqueror). She debuted as Kii in Greed and played Frieda in Apfelland Monogatari, Saki in Singles, Hoshimi in Maps, Yumi in Blue Sonnet, and Felicia in Oz, all Orphan releases.
• Sakuma Rei (Kanda Mika) played Batako in Soreike! Appanman, April in Sol Bianca, Peorth in Ah! My Goddess, the title role in Aika, Shampoo in Ranma 1/2, Vena in Dragon Half, Kitty White in Hello Kitty, and Mii in Muumin. She also played Yukihime in Tengai Makyou, Naru in Blue Sonnet, Carmencita in Starship Troopers, Lady Aoi in Bakuen Campus Guardress, and Belga the pirate in Cosmic Fantasy, all Orphan releases.
• Tsuru Hiromi (Sawamoto Aki) debuted as Perrine in Perrine Monogatari. She went on to play Kashima Miyuki in Miyuki, Madoka in Kimagure Orange Road, and Mikami Reiko in Ghost Sweeper Mikami. She also played Sara in Mother: Saigo no Shoujo Eve, Sonnet Barge in Blue Sonnet, Fengji in the third Sangokushi movie, Keiko in Hiatari Ryoukou, Nozomi in Nozomi Witches, Jill in A Penguin's Memories, UFO-chan in Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou, Milk in Karuizawa Syndrome, Kiyomi, the motorcycle rider, in Sotsugyou: Graduation, Asuza in Laughing Target, Sister Angela in One Pound Gospel, and big sister Shizuka in Tomoe's Run!, all Orphan releases.
  
• Inoue Kazuhiko (Manai Satoshi, a skeptical staffer with a large afro) starred as Yamaoka Shirou in Oishinbo, Yuki Eiri in Gravitation, the title role in Cyborg 009, Gorou in Moonlight Mile, Tachibana no Tomomasa in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de: Hachyoushou, and my favorite role, the irascible, sake-swilling Nyanko-sensei in the Natsume Yuujichou franchise. He also played Ando Shiro in Dioxin no Natsu, Saiki Haruka in Tobira o Akete, Iori in Tomoe's Run!, Kanuma Hayate in Akai Hayate, Ryousuke in Daishizen no Majuu Bagi, Kitten Smith in Starship Troopers, Liu Bei Xuande in both Sangokushi TV specials, Ayako in Lunn Flies into the Wind, Nakatsugawa in Boyfriend, Jinpachi Nezu in Sanada 10, Katsuhiko in Hiatari Ryouko, Minamoto no Yoshitsune in Genji, Part One, Hisui in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de 2, Arthur in Ai to Ken no Camelot, and Kajiwara Kagetoki in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de 3, all Orphan releases.
• Nanba Keiichi (Shiroyama Tsugunobu, the photographer on the Kanda Miki shoot) played the title role in Choujin Locke, Lundi in Honoo no Alpenrose: Jeudi & Lund, Uesugi in Touch, Schneider in Captain Tsubasa, and Junta in DNA2. He also played Eizawa in Chameleon, Kujou Kazuomi in Oshare Kozou wa Hanamaru, Hongou in Nozomi Witches, Kirk in Ai to Ken no Camelot, and gave an over-the-top performance as Roll the vengeful wizard in Girl from Fantasia, all Orphan releases.
• Shinohara Emi (newscaster) played B-Ko in the A-ko properties and Sailor Jupiter in the Sailor Moon franchise. She appeared as Yuri Onagara in Blue Sonnet, vulgar daughter Stephanie in Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, Reiko in Akai Hayate, Lady Manthrum in Hayou no Tsurugi, and Android 1025 in Oz, all Orphan releases.

In addition, members of the production staff voiced bit parts. For example, Maruyama Masao, president of Madhouse and producer of the show, voiced a dad, and the manga author, Kunitomo Yasuyuki, narrated the fake ads that appear from time to time. The director, Yamada Katsuhisa, also directed Oz and Yousei Ou, both Orphan releases, as well as Kentauros no Densetsu, Outlanders, Record of Lodoss War OVA, and episodes of Cream Lemon.

The original subtitles and timing were from the edited (not final) Erobeat script; the translation is credited to Voldemort. Perevodildo translation checked and did much of the typesetting; I filled in some additional signs. Paul Geromini edited. darkcart and Topper3000 QCed. I did a detailed release check. WOWmd ripped and encoded a Japanese laserdisc on the Domesday Duplicator. The source has frame blending, but it's good enough.

Junk Boy is not high-class entertainment, but it's a lot of fun, and fun to look at; the animation staff is outstanding (see Japanese Wikipedia for more details). It's full of nudity and sex and definitely NSFW; this will put off exactly none of my readers. You can get the show from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.irzon.net.

Gakkou no Yuurei (School Ghosts), Volume 5

No, Orphan didn't forget about this series. Real Life™ events sidelined the encoder, the timer, and others during the first quarter of 2025, but everyone's back now. So here are more ghostly doings in Japanese schools: Gakkou no Yuurei (School Ghosts), volume five, with five segments, both animated and live action.

The segments in this volume are:

1. "Transfer Student" (animated). The new transfer student is very pretty but more than a bit odd...
   
   
   
   
   
2. "Ghost on the Railroad Tracks" (animated). A train crossing gate haunted by multiple fatal accidents exerts an inexplicable pull on a girl in a nearby house.
   
   
   
   
   
3. "False Psychic Abilities" (live action). A schoolgirl lies about possessing psychic abilities in order to impress her friends, but during a test of courage, she suddenly discovers her true capabilities.
   
   
   
   
   
4. "Cat's Grudge" (animated). Never, ever treat a cat disrespectfully or cruelly.
   
   
   
   
   
5. "Print Fantasy" (live action). A broken photo printing arcade game suddenly comes to life, fulfilling a schoolgirl's romantic dreams.

The last segment, "Print Fantasy," reminds me of the 1988 movie Big, where a broken fortune-telling machine makes a small boy's wish come true.

The voice actors in the animated segments include:

• Fukami Rika played Spoor in the Crest of the Stars franchise, Myung Fang in Macross Plus, and Sailor Venus in the Sailor Moon franchise. She appeared in Raiyantsuuri no Uta, Tobira o Akete, Majo demo Steady, and Ear of the Golden Dragon, all Orphan releases.
• Kida Ayumi played Julian in Cybersix, Kiriomi in Yamato Takeru, and Mamoru in Ultra Nyan: Hoshizora kara Maiorita Fushigi Neko, an Orphan release.
• Takimoto Fujiko played the title role in Bad Badtz-Maru, Hideyoshi in Buzzer Beater, Fujisaki Suguru in Gravitation, Chihiro in Kujibiki Unbalance, Seiko in Lovely Complex, Misato Suguru in Mahoromatic, Yuu in Noein, and Million in Sorcerer on the Rocks.
• Araki Kae played lead roles in all the Sailor Moon properties, Yuki Miaka in the Fushigi Yuugi franchise, and Ann, the female lead, in Juliet. She alsoplayed Marceau, Yawara's unexpected challenger, in Yawara! The Atlanta Special, and Rena in Alice in Cyberland, episode 2, an Orphan release.
• Furusawa Tooru played the title role in Brave Police J-Decker, Nakago in Fushigi Yuugi, and Michale Howard in Speed Racer. He also appeared in Bronze: Zetsuai Since 1989, an Orphan release.
• Uchikawa Ai played D in Dual Parallel Trouble Adventure, Kana in Hamtaro, Mahoko in Kakyuusei 1999, Elanore in Madlax, and Marimo in Hi no Tori TV.
• Kikuchi Izumi played Azumi in Dokyuusei 2 Special: Sotsugyousei, an Orphan release.
• Nagashima Yuko appeared in Kiss wa Me ni Shita, Megami Paradise, Pops (all Orphan releases), Rizelmine, S-CRY-ed, and Saint Tail.
• Chafurin played the title role in Barbapapa Around the World, Inspector Megure in the Detective Conan franchise, Scotch Jii-san in the Hello Kitty franchise, Isono in Sazae-san (since 2014), and Kamoda in Yawara! He also appeared in B.B. Fish, Coluboccoro (2019), Jikuu Bouken Nuumamonjaa, Yamato 2520, Ohoshi-sama no Rail, the Sanada 10 Special, and Izumo (1991), all Orphan releases.

The director, Koizumi Kenzou, also directed Yamato series 2 and 3, Choujin Locke, and Eien no Filena, an Orphan release.

The staff is the same as for volume 4. Perevodildo translated and did initial timing. ninjacloud fine-timed. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and Topper3000 QCed. Our caffeinated encoder went under the pseudonym of "Latte Macchiatto" this time.

So here's volume 5 of Gakkou no Yuurei. Nothing really new or groundbreaking, but that's to be expected in an established franchise. You can get this release from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news in irc.rizon.net.

 

Tooyamazakura Uchuuchou: Yatsu no Na wa Gold (Samurai Gold)

To paraphrase the great Jimmy Buffet, I think this one might be my fault; but darkcart also accepts some responsibility, so this is a joint Inka-Orphan clusterfuck.

The awkwardly named Tooyamazakura Uchuuchou: Yatsu no Na wa Gold (Toyama Sakura Space Chronicles: His Name is Gold), commonly known as Samurai Gold, is a 1988 OVA based on a science fiction novel by Yuuki Kyousuke. It is an homage to the period novel Maragoshi-Bugyo by Jinde Tatsurou, if that helps. It tells the story of a young man named Gold Disasmount (can't make this up), who lives in a peaceful world ruled by a giant computer named EDO. 

Gold is dissatisfied and bored and spends his time gambling (and losing) and pursuing a barroom singer named Midi.

Gold's existence is suddenly upended when his estranged father, Retklaad, is attacked and nearly killed by a "ghost." Gold himself has a narrow escape from an oversized, effeminate assassin and several androids. 

He believes the answer to these sudden attacks lies in the tourist space colony of Fedvar, from which his father had just returned. 

Gold travels to Fedvar, with Midi as an uninvited guest, to meet his snoopy cousin Ritt.

In an endless infodump, Ritt explains that the King of Fedvar, Tonomono Plenmatz, his wife, and their son Prince Ion, had been killed in a spaceship accident. The spaceship had been delivered by none other than Gold's father Retklaad. There are many more twists and turns, most of them pulled out of places where the sun don't shine.

I don't want to spoil the story further. Besides, I'm not sure I understand it.

One translation note. Gold has tattoos on his back that only appear when his blood is circulating vigorously, e.g., after exercise or under stress. They're called 白粉彫り or "white powder engravings." They don't actually exist, but they make for a really convenient plot device.

The voice cast includes:

• Yao Kazuki (Gold Disasmount) played Franky in One Piece, the lead in Makyou Gaiden Le Deus, the title role in Rance, Dark Schneider in Bastard!!, Chivas in Sorcerer on the Rocks, and Yoki in Fullmetal Alchemist (both versions). He also played the title role in Hameln no Violin Hiki,  Morbridge Jr in Nana Toshi Monogatari, K.K. in Elf 17, Date Ikkaku in Akai Hayate, Ryougaku in Wild 7, Ryan in Star Dust, and Sofue Akira in Boyfriend, all Orphan releases.
• Fujii Ichiko (Midi) was an idol. She has no other anmie credits.
• Tsuboi Akiko (EDO) had featured roles in numerous shows, incuding Perrine Monogatari, Heidi Girl of the Alps, Lucy of the Southern Rainbow, Galaxy Express 999, Miyuki, Saint Seiya, and Nausicaa. She played Mensuran in Hayou no Tsurugi, an Orphan release.
• Mori Katsuji (Ion Plenmatz) played Atlas in the 1980 Astro Boy, Seiji Hayama in Cutie Honey, Wolfgang Mittermeyer in LOGH, Haru in Real Drive, Robespierre in Rose of Versailles, Alcan in Amon Saga, Cemen Bond in Bagi, Tanguin in Cool Cool Bye, Ii Hyobushoyu Naomasa in Sanada 10, and Shiina in Stop!! Hibari-kun! The last five are Orphan releases.
• Shioya Yoku (Ritt) played the title roles in Kariage-kun and the Umi no Triton TV series and movies, Ryouta in Slam Dunk, Jinpei the Swallow in Gatchaman, and Cosmo Yuki in Space Runaway Ideon. He played Tsuri in Tenjou Hen: Utsu no Miko, Yuzuru in Laughing Target, Mickey in Milky Passion: Dougenzaka - Ai no Shiro, Mizuki in Nayuta, and Zhuge Jun in the first Sangokushi movie, all Orphan releases.
• Saka Osamu (Retklaad Disasmount) played Daisuke Aramaki in the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex franchise and Oohara in the Oishinbo properties. He appeared in Toraemon, Aoki Honoo, Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament, Sanada 10, Next Senki Ehrgeiz, Fire Emblem, Kasei Yakyoku, Oz, and the third Sangokushi movie, all Orphan releases.
• Ikemizu Michihiro (Ebota, Retklaad's brother) had numerous featured roles, including the boy in Tsuki ga Noboru made ni, Zhuge Jin in the second Sangokushi movie, Hanezawa in Double Fantasy, Zhuge Jin in the second Sangokushi movie, and Lu Xun in the third Sangokushi movie, all Orphan releases.
• Yara Yuusaku (oversized effeminate man) played the destroyer captain in Zipang. He had many featured roles, appearing in Kimu no Juujika, Kimama ni Idol, Hayou no Tsurugi, Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, Eguchi Hisashi no Nantoko Narudesho, Next Senki Ehrgeiz, Eien no Filena, Hidamari no Ki, Nozomi Witches, both Sangokushi OVAs, Prime Rose, the second Sangokushi movie, and both What's Michael? OVAs, all Orphan releases.
  

The director, Umezawa Atsutoshi, also directed some of the Tenjou Hen: Utsu no Miko OVA series, Ghost Sweeper Mikami, and Gokinjo Monogatari, among others. At the beginning of this century, he switched over to planning and producing.

This project started in the fall of 2023, when WOWmd captured a laserdisc of Samurai Gold on the Domesday Duplicator. About a year later, Rezo had made a finished encode. I thought this offered an opportunity to supersede the hardsubbed VHS rip of the ancient R1 release. I advertised on Discord for someone to transcribe the hardsubs. darkcart, Fearless Leader™ of Inka-Subs volunteered, but by the time he finished, I forgot all about the idea. Reminded of my request, I asked Perevodildo to look at the subs. He concluded that were useless and translated the show from scratch. TougeWolf then checked the result, and darkcart did a first edit. However, by the time they had finished, I was having back surgery and forgot all about it again. Reminded (rather more bluntly) for a second time, I edited and typeset. ImAWasteOfHair, timx, and Muzussawa QCed. TougeWolf did a release check. The result is a joint Inka-Subs and Orphan Fansubs release; Inka's final word on the subject is here. You may ask, "Why does Inka use a hyphen in its name and Orphan doesn't?" I'll tell you, "I don't know. It's a tradition!"

Samurai Gold isn't all that bad. It has many lively sequences, and Gold makes a good protagonist in his initial goofball mode. But there are too many infodumps and too many improbable twists, and the prolonged courtroom sequence at the climax is simply unbelievable. It ought to be a stark lesson to me not to initiate a project without at least watching a raw; but because I don't understand Japanese, what good would that do? Anyway, you can get Samurai Gold from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net. And for extra punishment, be sure to check out the YouTube video on the Samurai Gold game. (A tip of the hat, I guess, to darkcart for pointing this out to me.)