Ashita Genki ni Naare!

The firebombing of Japan's cities is less well-known than the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but they caused heavy loss of life and enormous property damage. From March, 1945 onward, American B-29 heavy bombers conducted night raids with napalm bombs on Japan's cities, which were mostly built of wood and burned rapidly. The first raid, in Tokyo on March 9-10, killed more than 100,000 people, destroyed 16 square miles of the city, and left more than one million people homeless. 

Further raids in May and June on Tokyo and other cities eventually destroyed one-seventh of Japan's total urban area and killed upward of 250,000 people. Attacks on smaller cities continued up until the end of the war.

Ebina (nee Nakane) Kayoko was twelve years old when the raids began.  

She had been evacuated to the countryside, but she lost six of her seven other family members in the Tokyo raid.  She became an essayist and writer. Her works inspired two anime movies: 1991's Ushiro no Shoumen Daare (Who's Left Behind?) and 2005's Ashita Genki ni Naare! ~Hanbun no Satsumaimo~ (Tomorrow Will Be Better! Half a Sweet Potato). The former was fansubbed several years ago, but the latter had not been, until now. Orphan is pleased to release the first English-subtitled version of this movie.

Ashita Genki ni Naare! is less a recounting of the raid and its immediate consequences than a sad study of the plight of orphan children immediately after the war. Kayoko is shuffled to her Aunt Yoshi, who resents her as an extra mouth to feed and uses Kayoko's surviving family possessions as a source of funds. 

Kayoko's surviving brother, Kisaburo, tries to eke out a living with other war orphans in the postwar black market, 

but the yakuza monopolize commerce and push everyone else out, by lethal means if necessary. 

Kayoko eventually despairs and is only saved by an encounter with a demobilized Japanese soldier, who shares a precious sweet potato with her and demonstrates that there is still good left in humanity.

The movie touches on several themes that rarely, if ever, get much play in Japan. In the aftermath of catastrophe, Japanese families closed rank and gave little thought, or help, to outsiders. (This theme, discussed at length in John Dower's Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, is also at the root of Grave of the Fireflies.) Further, the yakuza used defeat to fill the void left by collapsing governmental authority, often with open tolerance from the American occupiers.

The comparison with Grave of the Fireflies is instructive. Grave is a great movie, a tragedy that wrecks the viewer with understated artistry. Ashita Genki, on the other hand, is best described as sincere. Ebina Kayoko is openly and vehemently anti-war. The movie makes a straightforward case for peace. Still, I don't think I'd call it art.

The movie has four extras and, unusually for Orphan, they're translated too:

• Extra 1 is the trailer.
• Extra 2 is two15 second promos.
• Extra 3 is staff comments at the premiere.
• Extra 4 is the author's comments.

The voice cast combines professional seiyuu and amateurs. The professional cast includes:

• Ueto Aya (Nakane Kayoko) is primarily a singer.
• Doi Mika (Nakane Yoshi, the wicked aunt) played the title roles in Angel Cop and Explorer Woman Ray, Hayase Misa in the Macross franchise, the empress (Lafiel's grandmother) in the Crest of the Stars saga, Tabitha in the Zero no Tsukaima properties, Eclipse in Kiddy Grade, the narrator in Mushishi, and Nanase in Natsume Yuujinchou. She appeared as Yukari in Mikeneko Holmes no Yuurei Joushu, Rosa in Seikima II Humane Society, Captain Deladrier in Starship Troopers, Hagar and Elizabeth in Tezuka Osamu's Tales of the Old Testament, Totsugawa Misako in Satsujin Kippu wa Heart-iro, and multiple roles in Kage, all Orphan releases.
• Ueda Yuuji (Nakane Kisaburo) played Johannes Krauser II in Detroit Metal City (OVA), Fuuma Yousuke in Wedding Peach, Sagara Sonosuke in Rurouni Kenshin, Tenkata Akito in Kidou Senkan Nadeseico, Keitarou in Love Hina, Makoto in Futari Ecchi, and Takeshi in Pokemon. He also voiced Shuichi in Arisa Good Luck, Takagi-kun in Let's Nupu Nupu, and Nanbara in Hand Maid May, and he appeared in Heart Cocktail Again, all Orphan releases.
• Yamaguchi Kappei (Shimamoto Tatsuyoshi aka Tacchan, Kisaburo's protector in the black market) played the title roles in the Detective Conan, Ranma 1/2, and Inuyasha franchises, Usopp in the One Piece franchise, Sakuma Ryuichi in Gravitation, and the title roles in the Arslan no Senki OVA series and Mouse, among many others. He played Suzuki Kyota in Aoi Kioku, Shibuya in Zetsuai 1989,  Billia in Tottoi, Matsuoka Eiji in Chameleon, Nichol Hawking in Plastic Little, and Tooru in Boyfriend, and appeared in Shin Gakkou no Yuurei, all Orphan releases.
• Uran Sakiko (Osawa Kazushige) played, Miko in After School Midnighters, Marumaro in Blue Dragon, Wendy in Cinderella Boy, Kitu in Gon, Runa in Ozma, Setsuno in Toriko, and Raphael in Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san.
• Yoshinaga Sayuri (Narrator)  also narrated Buddha: The Great Departure and played Tatsuya in Taro the Dragon Boy.
• Higasayama Tsugumi (Osawa Yuriko) played Tsugumi in Aquarion, Otome in Pani Poni Dash, and Margaret in Project Blue Earth.
• Suyama Akio (Shinji, one of Kisaburo's gang) played Nile in Beyblade, Tom Benson in Element Hunters, Hatsuhara Soma in Fruits Basket, Patrick in Galaxy Angel, Ichiro Ogami in the Sakura Taisen franchise, Mike in Shibuya heart Hachi, and Hie in Wolf's Rain.
• Ishikawa Shizuka (Shigeo, another member of the gang) played Kamui in the Cardfight!! Vanguard franchise, Eimi Ooba in the Comic Party franchise, and Chinatsu in Refrain Blue.
• Katou Nanae (Tecchan, another member) played the title roles in Croquette!, Noramimi, and Princess Tutu, Makoto Korusaki in Inazuma Eleven GO, and Miki in the Shugo Chara franchise.
• Takagi Reiko (Noboru, another member) played Sei in Black Blood Brothers, Kahoko in La Corda D'Oro, Nobunaga in Haruka Nogizaki's Secret, Risa in Kujibiki Unbalance, Kaolla Su in Love Hina, Maki in Minaki-ke, and Tadase in the Shugo Chara franchise.
• Morikawa Toshiyuki (Demobilized Soldier)took over the role of dad Nohara Hiroshi in the Crayon Shin-chan franchise. He played lead roles in Gallery Fake, Yami no Matsui, Kyou Kara Maou, Damekko Doubutsu, and numerous other shows. He's also a regular in Orphan's releases. He played the lead role in Ear of the Golden Dragon, Wolf Guy, and Nozomi Witches, as well as delinquent student Fuwa in Mellow, Kazuma in Bakuen Campus Guardress, Bluebone in Tezuka Osamu Works: Kyoto Animation Theater, and Inspector Kendo in the Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo series. He delivered a scene-stealing performance as Panda Mama in Shirokuma Cafe and also appeared in Al Caral no Isan, Akai Hayate, Dragon Fist, Kiss wa Mi ni Shite, Blazing Transfer Student, and Wild 7.
• Tsumura Makoto (Aiko, another gang member) appeared in Bakumatsu no Spasibo and Ultra Nyan Hoshizora, both Orphan releaes. She played Takato in Digimon Tamers, Kimihiro in Hikaru no Go, Wakame in Sazae-san from 2005 on, and Ai in Submarine 707R.
• Kawasaki Eriko (Shizue, Kayako's good aunt from Numazu) played Miyuki in All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku and Mike in Those Who Hunt Elves.
• Ooguro Kazuhiro (Shizue's husband) had small parts in Bakumatsu no Spasibo, Ao no Exorcist, Hellsing, and Tegami Bachi.
• Kosugi Juurouta (yakuza leader) played Murakami Atsushi)  in Magma Taishi, Mochizuki Rokurou in the Sanada 10 special, Utsubushi in Amatsuki, Aizman in Bavi Stock, Takanesawa in Hiatari Ryouko, Daisuke in Sei Michaela Gakuen Hyouryuuki, Gisuke in Shadow, Dr. Bayfam in Joker, and a bit part in Hi-Speed Jecy, all Orphan releases, as well as Krest in Ariel, Fernand in Gankuutsou, Hertz in Marie and Gali, and Touji in Ninku.

Ebina Kayoko's real family supplies the voices for the remaining Nakane family members who died in the raid. The director, Takeuchi Yoshio, helmed many shows, including Cat's Eye, Space Cobra, Oishinbo and its two specials, Tengai Makyou, Ipponbouchou Mantarou, and The Mother Who Became a Kite.

The DVD ISO for Ashita Genki ni Naare! had been knocking around for a while, and I finally secured an encode in June. The encoder noted:

The DVD was a very clean source which IVTC'd well. Other than some light dehaloing, only minor debanding was applied for certain scenes... The anamorphic widescreen film fills almost the entire video frame of the DVD picture, which is why it only required slight black border cropping & resizing to 864x486 (16:9 DAR). Meanwhile DVD Extras 01, 02, & 04 were similarly widescreen, but forcibly letterboxed into an anamorphic 4:3 frame; hence the need for some significant vertical cropping and resizing which resulted in their 16:9 resolution output being a bit smaller @ 736x414.

Extra 03 was recorded using camcorder video and was traditional 4:3 footage, so it resolves to a 720x540 resolution. Also Extras 03 & 04 both being video-capture live-action were deinterlaced to full 59.940 fps to retain smooth motion, and a portion of the interview in Extra 04 was inserted into the movie promo of Extra 02, hence it was encoded as VFR.

With raws in hand, Perevodildo translated and timed the movie and four extras that came with it. Paul Geromini timed. I typeset and QCed. Uchuu also QCed. The encoder wishes to remain anonymous.

Ashita Genki ni Naare! shines a bright (and mostly unfavorable) light on postwar Japan, a subject rarely seen in anime. The movie and its extras are available from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha i channels #nibl or #news in irc.rizon.net.

 

Orphan at 15

Orphan Fansubs turned 15 in September. I missed it completely, just like I did its ten-year anniversary, but better late than never.

In that blog post, I recounted the impetus for the group's creation and its early history. It has morphed almost continuously since its founding, from an initial focus on finishing incomplete series to an expanded focus on shows trapped on the wrong side of the Digital Divide, as well as cats, the works of Tezuka Osamu, and anything else that catches the team's fancy. After more than 400 projects, the group is as active and productive as ever, thanks largely to an infusion of new blood from the kairetsu of back-catalog groups that hang out on Discord. 

When one of the team's current translators told me that he grew up watching Orphan's releases, I was touched - and astonished - but it also made me wonder: what makes an Orphan release? At the outset, that was easy. The subs and encodes came from other sources; I did the editing, the typesetting, sometimes the QC or timing, as well as the release checking. But over the years, that has mostly changed. Orphan's been blessed with many talented and productive translators. Experienced timers took that task away from my incompetent fingers early on. Encoders have allowed Orphan to use "primary sources" for its encodes. Multiple eagle-eyed QCs have checked the releases. Now, even some of the editing and typesetting is done by other team members. So what's the difference between, say, an Orphan release and a Discord-keiretsu release that uses exactly the same people for translation, timing, editing, typesetting, QC, and encoding?

The answer is final approval. It's not an Orphan release unless I sign off on it. If that makes me more like "Inspector 12" in the Hanes underwear commercials than anything else, so be it. "It doesn't say Orphan until I say it says Orphan." I want everyone who works on an Orphan release to be proud of it. That includes me as well.

I'm glad that Orphan is going strong, but, as Clint Eastwood presciently remarked, "A man's got to know his limitations." Ten years ago, Orphan could knock off a 50-episode series like Shirokuma Cafe. Even a couple of years ago, we could do a 26-episode series like Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament. Nowadays, I'm much more cautious. I don't have the stamina for prolonged projects. One season - twelve or thirteen episodes - is the limit. Mostly, I prefer smaller projects, like movies and OVAs. Fortunately, there are still lots of those.

The last five years have included so many good releases that adding another "Top 5" or "Top 10" list to the original blog seems impossible. Instead, I'd point to themes: World War II movies and series like Kimu no Juujika, Hoshizora no Violin, Aoi Kioku, Chocchan Monogatari, Natsufuku no Shoujo-tachi, and the Sensou Douwa specials; the continuing work on Tezuka Osamu's oeuvre, including Tales from the Old Testament, Magma Taishi, and Kyoto Animation Works; the extended Sangokushi project of movies and TV specials; the Takahashi Rumiko OVAs; the works of Watase Seizou, including Heart Cocktail, its sequels, and other manganime; and the many Young Animator's Training Project OVAs. Other standouts have been Tistou Midori, Michite Kuru Toki no Mukou ni, Hameln no Violin Hiki, and MAPS. The team even finished a few orphans: Sanada 10 and Kingdom of Chaos: Born to Kill.

The last five years have included productive collaborations on joint projects, with Inka, DarkWispers, LonelyChaser, Saizen, and others. Orphan and the other back catalog teams have amorphous boundaries, which is just fine. The staff has evolved constantly; that's fine too. The current crew is as good as any I've worked with. Thank you all for joining and sticking with Orphan.

What does the future hold for the group? Mostly a focus on anime's past. We're redoing Animated Classics of Japanese Literature, from 1986, where sources are available. I'd like to do more of the early Toei Douga features, many of which now have remastered sources. There's the rest of Cat-Eyed Boy, hopefully from the remastered DVD box that comes out in 2026. Anything with actual cats. You know the drill. I dream of subbing Tezuka Osamu's first color anime series, 1969's Gokuu no Daibouken, but at 39 episodes, that's a bridge too far.

I'll close by acknowledging and thanking Orphan's audience. I know it's not large, but it has been both attentive and supportive. I'm glad that Orphan's releases help to lighten these dark times, at least for some. We'll try to keep it up for a while longer.

P.S. Skr's group, Buriburi, just turned ten. Congratulations, and onward to more Crayon Shin-chan! 

The Izu Dancer

Seishun Anime Zenshuu (translated as Animated Classics of Japanese Literature for its English release) is a 1986 anthology series that retold well-known stories from modern Japanese literature. It's very much in the mold of its contemporaries, the World Masterpiece Theater series. Most of the 34 episodes were standalone, although there were a few two- and three-parters. The show was licensed by Central Park Media, but the English version was left incomplete when CPM went bankrupt. Only twelve episodes were released on DVD:

• Episode 1: The Izu Dancer by Kawabata Yasunari. 
• Episodes 2,3: The Sound of Waves by Mishima Yukio.
• Episodes 7,8: Botchan by Souseki Natsume.
• Episode 10: The Dancing Girl by Ougai Mori.
• Episode 14: Growing Up by Higuchi Ichiyou.
• Episode 16: Kaidan: The Song of Hoichi by Lafcadio Heran.
• Episode 20: Season of the Sun by Ishihara Shintarou.
• Episodes 25,26: The Harp of Burma by Takeyama Michio.
• Episode S1 (33): Student Days by Kume Masao.

I first encountered Seishun Anime Zenshuu through Medgirl's rip of the R1 DVDs. After correcting the timing, I started rounding up other episodes, which came from a variety of sources, including YouTube rips. The English version of episode 30, The New Story of Touno, has never been found; Japanese Wikipedia indicates that it was omitted from the initial home video releases.

I always felt that the series deserved better than the R1 DVD rips, with their ancient encodes and bad R1 timing. I bought the available DVDs on Ebay and, after an untoward delay, got them encoded and translation checked. Orphan will be releasing them one story at a time, that is, nine releases in total. I would like to do the whole series, from R2J DVDs preferably. I know they exist, but years of searching have failed to turn up any copies. Even Japanese VHS tapes are rare, but if we find any, we'll do those stories too.

The first story is The Izu Dancer, based on the novella by Kawabata Yasunari. It's a deceptively simple story and has been filmed at least six times. The protagonist, Mizushima, is a 20-year-old student. During summer break, he is walking the Izu peninsula to cheer himself up. He encounters a family of traveling entertainers; the youngest is 14-year-old Kaoru, a dancer.

He is smitten and finds excuses to travel with the family for a few days. He would like to get closer to Kaoru,

but her mother realizes that the social gap between a Tokyo student and an uneducated dancing girl is too great to be bridged.

She gently pushes them apart. Eventually, the student returns to Tokyo, with mixed emotions. 

The script is straightforward and spare. It's difficult to capture the nuances of the story, and beyond the protagonist's inner monologue, the anime doesn't really try. One oddity: there are, in effect, two narrators. There's an overall framing narration, provided by a female voice actor; but the protagonist's inner monologue also narrates part of the story. The framing narration is rendered in a distinct style (blue outline), and the protagonist's narration is provided as thought (normal outline, italics).

The animation is straight out of the World Masterpiece Theater playbook: beautiful depictions of country scenes and awkward character designs. The Izu Dancer frequently cuts between the rural countryside and closeups of Karou, to emphasize her natural and unforced beauty. 

The voice cast includes:

• Kamiya Akira (Mizushima) is best known for the title roles in the City Hunter properties, the Kinnikuman franchise, and Babel II. He played Kazamatsuri in Yawara!, Roy Focker in Macross, and Mendou in Urusei Yatsura. He also played Abe Edinburgh in MAPS, young Kiro in Nayuta, Sergent Zim in Starship Troopers and Musakato Taira in Elf 17, and he stole the show as the lecherous robot Chiraku in Hoshi Neko Full House, all Orphan releases.
• Shimamoto Sumi (Kaoru) debuted as Clarisse in The Castle of Cagliostro. She starred as Sara in Princess Sara, Nausicaa in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Chocchan in Chocchan Monogatari, Otonashi Kyouko in Maison Ikkoku, and Dayan in Neko no Dayan. She also played Nayotake no Kaguya-hime in Utsu no Miko the movie, Shokupanman in the Soreike! Anpanman franchise, Tinkerbell in Peter Pan no Bouken, Antoinette in Reporter Blues, and Big Mama in Bakuretsu Hunter. She also played Sue in Maris the Choujo, Elice in Fire Emblem, Miss Akiko in The Girl with Blue Eyes, Suzuko and Suzu in Fire Tripper, the female lead in volume 3 of the original Heart Cocktail, the unnamed female lead in Heart Cocktail Again, and the mother in Kiku and the Wolf, all Orphan releases.
• Komiya Kazue (Chiyoko, Kaoru's mother) played Youshi in Giant Robo and Gin Rei, Jeanie in Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair, Maam in Synduality: Noir, Mutan in Tekkaman, Ran in Urusei Yatsura, Chigusa in Hiatari Ryouko, and Alice in White Fang. The last two are Orphan releases.
• Tsukayama Masane (Eikichi, Kaoru's father) played Washizu in Akagi, Kouichirou in Crystal Triangle, Zouken in Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel, Leo in Jungle Emperor Leo (1997), father in Lady Georgie, Scarface in Millennium Actress, Gold Roger in One Piece,and the  title role in Ulysses 31.
• Ogata Kenichi (paper merchant) played the put-upon father in Maroko, Suzuki in Kigyou Senshi Yamazaki: Long Distance call, the crooked casino boss in Okane ga Nai!, the Hong Kong chef in Yuukan Club, Chichi's father in Chiisana Koi no Monogatari, the business chief in Okama Hakusho, Tadinori Tachimi, the Terayama family lawyer, in Asatte Dance, and the Narrator/Lord of Kaga in Oedo wa Nemurenai!, all Orphan releases. He also played Smee in Peter Pan no Bouken and Gran Torino in Boku no Hero Academia. However, he's best known to me as the voice of Ranma 1/2's Sataome Gemna, whose alter ego - the grumpy panda - is my avatar on most anime forums.
• Imai Kazuko (Otatsu) played Calpurnia in Cleopatra, an Orphan release. 
• Takamura Akiko (Old Teahouse Woman) played Grandma Ayanokouji in 3x3 Eyes, Obaa-chan in Doraemon: Obaa-chan no Omoide, and Mama Moomin in New Moomin. 
• Kiuchi Midori (framing narration) narrated multiple episodes in this series.

The overall director for the series was Kurokawa Fumio, who also directed Princess Sara and Little Women for World Masterpiece Theater. The director for The Izu Dancer was Takasuka Katsumi, who directed episodes for Doraemon, Galactic Patrol Lensman, and Blue Sonnet, an Orphan release.

The original subs were from the CPM R1 release. Perevodildo translation checked. I retimed (this one only - ninjacloud is doing the rest), edited, and typeset. Paul Geromini and Nemesis QCed. The encoder wishes to remain anonymous. He noted:

A surprisingly clean IVTC back to 23.976 fps without blended frame for material of this age and sourcing. That said, one can see the filmstock master was showing it's age at the time of this DVD set's release with plenty of dirt spots and celluloid damage around the edges visible during scene transitions that would require professional restoration of the physical negatives if we were ever so fortunate. Also the fact that the DVD volumes were a mixture of various episodes and not in any real order made labeling them a bit confusing.

Believe it or not, I did apply some denoising to reduce source artifacts even if it doesn't look like it [did much to] grain and texture detail in testing. Some dehaloing, derainbowing, and significant anti-aliasing were also applied along with grain matching of the darker scene areas. See the comparison sets above. I think the results are an appreciable step-up from Medgirl's encode in regards to lineart and texture detail retention as well as some slight extra vertical resolution via less cropping. 

CPM's remastering includes hardsubbed translations for some of the Japanese credits. They are incorrectly timed and don't line up with the Japanese credits, but as hardsubs, they can't be fixed. That's one reason, among many, why I would like to find a Japanese source.

I'm glad that Orphan is revisiting these stories from almost forty years ago. You can get The Izu Dancer from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

 

 

Heavy

Orphan has done a couple of shows about boxing already: Takahashi Rumiko's 1989 OVA One Pound Gospel and the 1992 three-part OVA Nozomi Witches. We're now releasing another, the 1990 movie Heavy. All three tell the story of the rise of a boxing champion and the unlikely mentors or helpers who started him along his journey. One Pound Gospel and Nozomi Witches have splashes of comedy and romance to lighten the story. Heavy, on the other hand, is unremittingly serious, almost grim..

Heavy is based on an eight volume manga by Murakami Motoka. It has never been translated into English. The protagonist is Guy Hyuga, a karate fighter living with his father in Harlem, New York City. 

The streets are violent, his school is violent, and his neighbors are thugs and whores. Dr. Alex Gordon is a sports physiologist. He's dying of cancer and is haunted by a dream about a champion-level fighter of his creation. 

One night, Gordon is caught up in a swirl of people going to see a "Champion Fight" to settle a dispute between two high schools. Guy is his school's "champion" and promptly demolishes his opponents conventional wrestling moves. Suddenly, Gordon is seeing the champion of his dreams, in the flesh.

Gordon tries unsuccessfully to convince Guy to become a boxer when they witness a local gang raping Lily, a street girl. 

Gordon rushes to help and nearly gets himself killed. Only Guy's intervention, which maims Billy, one of the gang members, saves them all. The gang vows revenge and eventually put Guy's father in a coma. In desperate need of funds, Guy agrees to Gordon's proposition.

Gordon wants to recruit a famous trainer, Lucky Roman, to train Guy. But Lucky is a flamboyant cross-dresser, dying of AIDS, and is ostracized by everyone. He only agrees to help after experiencing Guy's skills at first hand. 

The training regimen is hard, but Guy's a natural athlete and a natural fighter. Gordon draws on past friendships to get guy a boxing license and sets up a debut fight against Don Bailey, a Harlem brawler and neighborhood favorite. 

The odds are loaded against Guy - hostile crowd, devious opponent, no prior experience - but the rest writes itself.

Despite the underdog status of everyone involved - Gordon and Lucky are terminally ill, Guy is a stranger both in this country and his city, Don Bailey is trying to carve out a living for his family - I didn't find Heavy engaging. Gordon's cancer and Lucky's AIDS diagnosis are props, and their characters lack depth. Guy is a Japanese good guy victimized by US discrimination. Lily is primarily there for eye candy. The portrait of African-Americans is more than a little racist. And the denouement, culminating in a heartfelt plea by Don's little sister that soothes the anger of a murderous crowd, is unbelievable. Still, the story moves along briskly, with a mix of melodrama and violence. But it's tonally flat and downbeat.

The voice actors include many of the usual suspects for Orphan releases.

• Matsumoto Yasunori (Guy Hyuga) starred as Ichitaro in Ushiro no Hyakutaro, Akira in Mellow, Johnny in Starship Troopers, Kaname in Singles, and Tooru in Every Day Is Sunday, all Orphan releases. He was in numerous OVAs in the 1990s, including Houkago no Tinker Bell, Ziggy Sore Yuke! R&R Band, Seikimatsu: Humane Society, Fukuyama Gekijou: Natsu no Himitsu, and Al Caral no Isan, also Orphan releases. Among his other notable roles were Wataru Akiyama in Initial D, Jean Havoc in Fullmetal Alchemist, Gourry Gabriev in Slayers, Ryou in Sonic Soldier Borgman, and a personal favorite, Dick Saucer in Dragon Half.
• Takayama Minami (young Guy) starred as the title roles in Kiki's Delivery Service and Space Girl Yamamoto Yohko, and, most famously, played Conan Edogawa in the more than 1000 episodes, OVAs, movies, and specials of the Detective Conan franchise. She played Kuroyanagi Meiji in Chocchan Monogatari, Yuu in Cosmic Fantasy, and Emi in Genji, Part 1, all Orphan releases.
• Naya Gorou (Dr. Alex Gordon) played Koichi Zenigata in Lupin III, Juzo Okita in Space Battleship Yamato, Shocker in Kamen Rider, Yupa in Nausicaa, Schott in Hashire! Shiroi Ookami, King Magma VII in Kaitei 3-man Mile, Weedon Scott in White Fang, and Yamaarashi in Botchan; the last four are Orphan releases. His deep voice provided the narration in Shinzou Ningen Casshern, Vampire Miyu, Golden Boy, the original Dororo, and other shows.
• Tsuru Hiromi (Lily) 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 Sawamoto Aki in Junk Boy, 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.
• Ikeda Masaru (Ryuu Hyuga, Guy's father) had major roles in Yatterman and Sakura Taisen. He appeared in Utsu no Miko, Don Dracula, Bagi, Greed, Kasei Yakyoku, Every Day Is Sunday, Bakumatsu no Spasibo, Techno Police 21C, Tobira o Akete, and the first Sangokushi TV special, all Orphan releases.
• Genda Tesshou (Don Bailey) played Colonel Muto in Joker Game, Moloch in Yondemasu Azazel-san, Rei in the Urusei Yatsura franchise, Moguro Fukuzou in New Laughing Salesman,  and "Oyaji" in Mitsuboshi Colors. He also played Tyler in Michite Kuru Toki no Mukou ni, Tamura in Ore no Sora, Akauma in Fire Tripper, Jin Kiryu in Blue Sonnet, Zigong in Eiyuu Banka Koushi-den, Paul Rusch in Yume Kakeru Kougen, Jim Hyatt in AWOL Compression Remix, Galbreath in Next Senki Ehrgeiz, Baguda in Greed, the narrator in Akai Hayate and Meisou-ou Border, Dog McCoy in Dallos, Mayor Carlo in Inochi no Chikyuu: Natsu no Dioxin, Hebopi in Wild 7, Oosukune in Izumo, Miyoshi in Sanada 10, and Kuroki and Kirishima in Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, all Orphan releases.
• Yara Yuusaku (Lucky Roman) played the destroyer captain in Zipang. He had many featured roles, appearing in Tooyamazakura Uchuuchou: Yatsu no Na wa Gold, 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.
• Yajima Akiko (Mary Bailey) 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), and Unico in Tezuka Osamu Works: Kyoto Animation Theater, and she appeared in Gakkou no Yuurei, volume 2, all Orphan releases. 
• Umezu Hideyuki (boxing license clerk) played Akadama-sensei in Uchouten Kazoku and Uranos Corsica in Gangsta. He had featured roles in Shibuya Honky Tonk, Asatte Dance, Star Dust, Apfelland Monogatari, Blue Sonnet, Hashire Melos, Hi-Speed Jecy, Hidamari no Ki, Nana Toshi Monogatari, Neko Neko Fantasia, Singles, the What's Michael? OVAs, Yamato 2520, Genji, Part 1, Mellow, Ushiro no Hyakutaro, and Ziggy Sore Yuke! R&R Band, all Orphan releases.  
• Sawaki Ikuya (referee) played Gooley in the Dirty Pair franchise. He also played Kentaro 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, Gonbei the cat in Satsujin Kippu wa Heart-iro, and multiple role in Shibuya Honky Tonk, as well as bit parts in Dallos, Heart Cocktail, and Chameleon, all Orphan releases.
• Ono Kenichi (Jack Redman, Guy's training opponent) played Toujirou in Mikan Enikki, Shiro Shirota in Dai-Guard, Asurada in the Future GPX Cyber Formula franchise, and Touma in Dirty Pair Flash. He played Abe no Yasuna in Akuemon and Sugawara in Kindaichi movie 2, and he appeared in AWOL Compression Remix, Bavi Stock, Seikima II Humane Society, Wolf Guy, Shibuya Honky Tonk, and Ziggy Sore Yuke! R&R Band, all Orphan releases.
• Hirose Masashi (Jack's trainer) appeared in Tengai Makyou, Al Caral no Isan, Dallos, Nora, Kage, Shibuya Honky Tonk, Wolf Guy, Junkers Come Here: Memories of You, and Kageyama Tamio's Double Fantasy, all Orphan releases.
• Shioya Kouzo (Billy, gang member) appeared in GeGeGe no Kitarou since 1985, as well as dozens of featured roles. He also played Kumada in Princess Army, Wildcat B in Grimm Douwa: Kin no Tori, Tsunaga in Blue Sonnet, the Announcer in Nora, Kaji in Stop!! Hibari-kun!, a policeman in Dallos, a bodyguard in Elf 17, and multiple roles in Hi-Speed Jecy, all Orphan releases.
• Kojima Toshihiko (Commissioner Gaston) appeared in Laughing Target and Eiyuu Banka Koushi Den, both Orphan releases.
• Narahashi Miki (Ronnie) played Hanako in the Chibi Maruko-chan franchise and Misae in the Crayon Shin-chan franchise. She appeared in Asatte Dance and St. Michaela Gakuen Hyouryuuki, both Orphan releases.

The director, Ishiguro Noboru, was an industry veteran who directed several episodes of Animated Classics of Japanese Literature. He also worked on Mushishi (another Artland property), Hoshi Neko Full House, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and Tytania.

An internet raw for Heavy had been banging around the Orphan archives for years, but the project didn't really get started until WOWmd encoded a new raw. Perevodildo translated and timed, Paul Geromini edited, I typeset, VigorousJammer and I QCed. WOWmd's encode is based on his Domesday Duplicator rip of the Japanese laserdisc.

So here's another "all Discord" Orphan project - all the contributors hang out on Discord rather than IRC. Although Heavy didn't resonate with me, I'm glad that it's now available to an English-speaking audience. You can get the movie from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net

Chocchan Monogatari

Orphan is really pleased to present another full-length anime movie set before and during World War II: 1996's Chocchan Monogatari (Chocchan's Story). Based on an autobiographical story for children by Kuroyanagi Cho, mother of the famous actress Kuroyanagi Tetsuko, it tells about Cho's life as a wife and a young mother before and during the war. It's another fine addition to Orphan's releases about this terrible period. And like Hoshizora no Violin, a violin has a prominent role.

Cho is a musically-inclined teenager, born in Hokkaido. (We meet her singing the chorus of the Habenera aria in Carmen.) She is attending the Tokyo Conservatory, when she meets and falls in love with a violinist in an orchestra, Kuroyanagi Moritsuna. 

When her parents refuse to countenance a marriage, she and Moritsuna elope to Tokyo, where he ekes out a living as concertmaster of the New Symphony Orchestra. Despite their poverty, they start a family and find happiness. After some difficulties, Cho finds a progressive school suitable for Tetsuko's ebullient temperament. 

But the war soon casts a long shadow over their lives. One of the children dies of septicemia, and then Moritsune is drafted. 

Cho is left to fend for herself and her three surviving children, as the war brings the horrors of aerial bombardment and starvation closer and closer, including the firebombing of their home in Tokyo in March, 1945. 

We know from the outset that the family will make it through, but it's a close-run thing.

As might be expected, the movie includes a lot of period songs. Fragments are heard as insert songs:

• 5:40 "Sun is setting..." From Yuyake Kokaye. 
• 17:54 "Father, you were strong..."  父よあなたは強かった, a Japanese patriotic military song.
• 41:58 A folksong, Yasubigushi; its lyrics differ from performer to performer. 

The voice cast includes:

• Shimamoto Sumi (Kuroyanagi Cho "Chocchan") debuted as Clarisse in The Castle of Cagliostro. She starred as Sara in Princess Sara, Nausicaa in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Otonashi Kyouko in Maison Ikkoku, and Dayan in Neko no Dayan. She also played Nayotake no Kaguya-hime in Utsu no Miko the movie, Shokupanman in the Soreike! Anpanman franchise, Tinkerbell in Peter Pan no Bouken, Antoinette in Reporter Blues, and Big Mama in Bakuretsu Hunter. She also played Sue in Maris the Choujo, Elice in Fire Emblem, Miss Akiko in The Girl with Blue Eyes, Suzuko and Suzu in Fire Tripper, the female lead in volume 3 of the original Heart Cocktail, the unnamed female lead in Heart Cocktail Again, and the mother in Kiku and the Wolf, all Orphan releases.
• Tanaka Hideyuki (Kuroyanagi Moritsuna) played Terryman in the Kinnikuman franchise and Rayearth in Magic Knight Rayearth. He also played Kusuri in Tenjou Hen: Utsu no Miko, Max in Dallos, Unno Rokurou in Sanada 10, Harmer in Al Caral no Isan, Sammy in Bavi Stock, Sawamura in Nozomi Witches, Ronron in Greed, Aoto in Oedo ga Nemurenai!, Katze in Ai no Kusabi, Minowa Takanari in Karuizawa Syndrome, Kazuhiko, Chiko's father in Ohoshi-sama no Rail, Ma Su, Fengji's lover, in Sangokushi movie 3, and an extra in Heart Cocktail, volume 5, all Orphan releases.
• Tamagawa Sakiko (Kuroyanagi Tetsuko, oldest daughter) played Natsumi Rumi in Call Me Tonight, Shiori in Akai Hayate, Lar Lipp in Greed, Shuko in Genji, Part 1 (all Orphan releases), Athena in Appleseed XIII, Tachikoma in GITS SAC, Kanoko in Shouwa Monogatari, Dotta in Sorcerer Hunters, Rouge in Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko, Masaki in the Tenchi Muyo franchise, Natsumi in the You're Under Arrest franchise, and Princess Suurya in Kamasutra.
• Kanai Mika (Kuroyanagi Noriaki, first son) played the title role in the Licca-chan franchise, Normad in the Galaxy Angel franchise, Histoire in the Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise, Melonpanda in the Soreike! Anpanman franchise, Misato in Nana, Lotte in Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko, Kanna in Gakkou no Yuurei volume 1, Tanaka Kumi in Tanjou: Debut, and Hime in Bakuen Campus Guardress. The last three are Orphan releases.
• Takayama Minami (Kuroyanagi Meiji, second son) starred as the title roles in Kiki's Delivery Service and Space Girl Yamamoto Yohko, and, most famously, played Conan Edogawa in the more than 1000 episodes, OVAs, movies, and specials of the Detective Conan franchise. She played Yuu in Cosmic Fantasy and Emi in Genji, Part 1, both Orphan releases.
• Ito Hiroshi (Kadoyama Shuutsuu) played Kousaku in Barakamon, Souchirou in F, Hugues in Lord Marksman and Vanadis, and the Aquironian commander in Nana Toshi Monogatari, an Orphan release.
• Niki Terumi (Kadoyama Miyoshi) played Simone in Etoile de la Seine and Miyoko in the Ganbare!! Tabuchi-kun!! movies
• Nakajima Toshihiko (Kobayashi Sousaku) played Sakon in Moeyo Ken, Masami in Paranoia Agent, Da Ruma in Tenchi Muyo! GXP, Doc Gaward in Angel Links,  and small parts in Next Senki Ehrgeiz and Nozomi Witches, both Orphan releases.

The director, Tokito Hiroko, helmed many famous series, including Touch, Hiatari Ryouko, Yawara!, Miracle Girls, Yami no Matsuei, and Kaikan Phrase. After 2002, she turned her talents to screenwriting.

The R2J ISO for this show has been knocking around for a while. Because the DVD for this show is badly mastered, particularly the audio, the team debated working on it but finally decided to proceed. Perevodildo translated and rough-timed. Eternal_Blizzard fine-timed. I edited and typeset. Eternal_Blizzard, Paul Geromini, and bananadoyouwanna QCed. The encoder was an anonymous friend, who tried valiantly to deal with the audio and video issues:

As you mentioned, the footage was quite atrocious. Despite ostensibly being progressive, it looks almost like they took a telecined source and hard deinterlaced it to the disc (which would explain the "progressive" 29.97 frame rate and innumerable frame blends). I can hardly believe it was sold to the public in such a state.

Trying to manually freeze/replace each blend would be unfeasible, but fortunately I was able to detect and eliminate about 85-90% of the blended frames automatically and then preserve the correct film frame rate of 23.976 fps. It's not quite perfect but should yield an appreciably cleaner and smoother playback. The footage also displayed some gnarly aliasing which I applied some light AA to help correct to extent possible without harming fine detail, even if it appears like I hadn't. Stronger AA filtering passes could be applied to fully resolve it, but in testing I found the required amount oversoftened the image to the point that small details like a character's beard whiskers would get blurred out, so I decided against it. Even so, if you think the overall presentation still appears too jagged, let me know and I can go back and apply stronger AA for a v2 and you can see which is option is less objectionable. [Ultimately, we used the "stronger" AA version; easier on the eyes.]

Other than the above and some light dehaloing, the source was slightly bitrate starved in dark scenes, with noticeable smoothing/macroblocking. Instead of applying DNR, I inserted a bit of adaptive grain matching to dither it out.

With respect to the audio, sheesh, you weren't kidding.  :-/ We've had sources from the 80s (on Laserdisc!) that sounded more comprehensible in places. I'm not sure if it was the result of poor mixing, where dialogue just was given lower priority than the classical BGM and prominent violin accompaniments, or what. Audio restoration is not really my forté, but I decided to try a few rudimentary steps to clean up the DVD audio track imported into Audacity. I losslessly exported the result and compressed it to FLAC and included it above, which I think did improve the audio clarity for the treble/midrange for speaking, particularly in quieter aside-remarks/inner-monologues such as around ~25 minutes in... [We used the edited audio as well.]

Just as with Aoi Kioku, this show really needs a remastered release from film source. And just as with Aoi Kioku, it's unlikely to get one. Cho's antiwar views are clear, and the film's sympathies are equally clear. This movie would not be popular with today's Japanese government.

Despite the video and audio flaws, Chocchan Monogatari is really good. I recommend it highly, as does the rest of the team. (Perevodildo awards it his highest accolade, "kino.") You can get the release from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net. 

Shin Takarajima (DVD)

Orphan presents a revised version of Tezuka Osamu's 1965 TV special Shin Takarajima (New Treasure Island). The first version, done four years ago, was based on a web raw. This one uses an R2J DVD encode. The DVD encode is crisper and has better contrast, and the script has undergone minor cleanup, but otherwise, nothing much has changed. 

Here's a comparison of the DVD release

to the original release

I wrote about Shin Takarajima at length for the first release, so I don't see a need to rehash the plot or the voice credits. Shin Takarajima doesn't really follow the story line of Tezuka Osamu's 1947 manga of the same name. Instead, it hews more closely to the plot of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic adventure novel, Treasure Island, but with animal characters. The good guys are mostly herbivores: Jim Hawkins is a rabbit, Dr. Livesey a deer, Squire Trelawney a pig, Captain Smollet a bear. The pirates are all carnivores: John Silver is a wolf, Bill Bones a mountain dog, Pew a wildcat, Ben Gunn a lion, and so on. It's a lot of fun, with a rollicking blend of action, suspense, and humor, in Tezuka Osamu's trademark style. The sight gags when the ship sets sail are non-stop, including a misspelled sign that is far funnier today than when the show was made sixty years ago. 

Because of the improvement in video quality, I would recommend this version unconditionally, except for a couple of things: the encode is anamorphic and five times bigger. (No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to break encoders of this habit.) As I documented here, angled signs may play incorrectly. Further, some players will shrink the 720x480 video to 640x480 instead of stretching it to 720x540. If your video player renders the angled signs wrong, or shrinks the video, you'll want the first version, or a new video player.

For the first release, Iri translated and kokujin-kun kindly filled in a few lines that were difficult to hear. ninjacloud timed. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. Nemesis pointed out that a black-and-white anime should not have subtitles with colored outlines, so Orphan's usual color scheme for overlapping and song lines was changed to gray-scale. Uchuu supplied some interesting notes, particularly on verbatim quotations from the novel. For this release, WOWmd supplied a new encode from the R2J DVD. Perevodildo did a translation check, and Paul Geromini a release check. They pointed out that lyrics for "Fifteen Men" were incorrect; they should have been "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest," not "a dead man's chest."

I loved Shin Takarajima when Orphan first worked on it. I still do, and so does everyone who worked on either release. The original release stands the test of time and will continue to be available; the new one improves on both the video and the subtitles, at the cost of a five-fold increase in file size and the usual anamorphic caveats. If you want the new release, you can get it from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Cat-Eyed Boy (Ep 9-12)

Once again, Orphan is releasing more Cat-Eyed Boy for Halloween; in this case, episodes 9-12. This brings the project almost to the halfway point (there are 24 episodes). These episodes 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; or a kind boy working hard to preserve his family, reminding him of himself. Then, the monster appears. Cat-Eyed Boy must fight and defeat the creature. But his triumph is short-lived, as he has to hit the road and continue his search.

Several developments make me hopeful that Orphan will be able to finish this project in my lifetime. First, Perevodildo, indefatigable foe of Orphan's untranslated backlog, stepped in and translated episodes 11 to 24. Second, Orphan's media maven found a way to flatten the warped discs in the Cat-Eyed Boy laserdisc box set. (It involves a T-shirt press; don't ask.) The warped discs are now readable, and the team should have usable raws for all the episodes soon. Better still, a DVD box set is coming out next year. Unfortunately, it's 39,600 yen; time to pass the hat.

Two reminders. First, Cat-Eyed Boy is done with gekimation, hand-manipulated paper cutouts paired with simple live-action special effects. Second, the episodes are from the laserdisc box set and are very primitive, with lots of grain, jittery images, noisy soundtrack, and film burn at scene changes. With those caveats, the episodes in this release are:

• Episode 9 - The Dark Priest. Cat-Eyed Boy saves a boy, Tamotsu, who was bitten by a viper while out gathering roots to feed his family. His village is suffering from floods and famine, brought on by the Dark Priest, a malevolent spirit masquerading as a monk. He prophesies that Cat-Eyed Boy is responsible for the village's misfortune. The mesmerized villagers capture Cat-Eyed Boy and bring him to the Priest's cavern. The Priest reveals that he is actually the descendant of the Dark Chancellor, whom Cat-Eyed Boy's father killed, and he intends to kill Cat-Eyed Boy in revenge.
  
  
  
  
  
• Episode 10 - The Mountain Widow's Blood Curse. Cat-Eyed Boy meets a kindly woman who makes charcoal for a village. She recognizes him as her son, and he enjoys a heartfelt reunion. But meanwhile, animals are being snatched from the village and slaughtered. Cat-Eyed Boy's "mom" is actually a shape-shifting demon, pretending to be his mother to enjoy the novel experience of family life.
  
  
  
  
  
• Episode 11 - Weedling, the Monster of the Lake. Cat-Eyed Boy inadvertently eats the sacred fruit of the golden peach tree. In retaliation, the guardian god kidnaps a local boy, Tsuneo, and maroons him on Green Island to drown. In order to be forgiven, Cat-Eyed Boy must rescue Tsuneo, but the evil Weedling, a swamp monster, stands in the way.
  
  
  
  
  
• Episode 12 -The Trembletail. Cat-Eyed Boy tries to save a sick and starving grandfather, who has beendigging a tunnel through Mount Kojin to allow faster access from his village to doctors in the city. This arouses the wrath of the Trembletail, who uses earthquakes and other disasters to scare the villagers and keep them away from his lair.

The credits, so carefully translated, only have room for six or seven voice actors. Two are always Junko Hori (Cat-Eyed Boy) and Katsuhiko Ikeda (Narrator). The others in episode 9:

• Shojiro Kihara (The Dark Priest) played Captain Hawk in Manxmouse, an Orphan release.
• Toshitaka Someya (Tamotsu) does not appear in anime databases.
• Keiko Yokozawa (Hidemi) starred as Sheeta in Castle in the Sky and played the title roles in the Dorami-chan franchise and Esper Mami, Misuzu in Lady Lady!!, and May Lynn Jones in Plastic Little, an Orphan release.
• Eiichi Onoda (Mayor) appeared in Teppei and Space Runaway Ideon.
• Michiro Okada (Gosaku) played Shozo in Kuroi Ame ni Utarete, an Orphan release, and the Chief in the You're Under Arrest franchise. He appeared in other Cat-Eyed Boy episodes

In episode 10:

• Reiko Kimura (Woman (Mountain Widow)) appeared in other Cat-Eyed Boy episodes.
• Yuji Shikamata (Shigeo) appeared in Raccoon Rascal and SPT Layzner.
• Shin Aomori (Monk) played Kingo Tanaka in Shibuya Honky Tonk, Solomon in Tezuka Osamu's Tales of the Old Testament, Kurokawa in Meisou-ou Border, and Wailing Man in Cat-Eyed Boy episode 5, all Orphan releases. He played Basque Grand in both versions of Full Metal Alchemist and Gonzo in the currently airing Oi! Tonbo. He appeared in Perrine, Oishinbo, Sousei no Aquarion, the Dragon Ball franchise, and numerous other roles in a career that has spanned almost 50 years.
• Kiyoko Shibata (Nobu) appeared in The Rose of Versailles and Reideen the Brave.

In episode 11:

• Joji Yanami (Weedling) played the wine-loving Big Bird in Grimm Douwa: Kin no Tori, Ozora Ibari in Stop!! Hibari-kun!,  Akahatsu (Red Shirt) in Bocchan, Lump in Ginga Tansa 2100-nen: Border Planet, Murphy in Maris the Choujo, and the cart vendor in Akuma Tou no Prince: Mitsume ga Tooru, all Orphan releases. He narrated most of the Dragon Ball Z properties. He played Ittan Momen in several of the GeGeGe no Kitaro series and movies and Chuta Ban in all the Kyojin no Hoshi TV series.
• Kyouko Kano (Michiko, Tsuneo's Mother) also appeared in Yatterman.
• Yuji Shikamata (Tsuneo) also appeared in episode 10.
• Michiro Okada (Voice of Buddha) also appeared in episode 9.

In episode 12:

• Ritsuo Sawa (Trembletail) played Magoroku in Kage (Shadow) and Tom in White Fang, both Orphan releases.
• Michiro Okada (Tsunesaku (Father)) also appeared in episodes 9 and 11.
• Midori Kanbe (Kumi (Mother)) has no other anime credits.
• Yoshinori Endo (Yasuo (Son)) also appeared in Kino no Tabi.

Once again, Skr was the driving force behind this release. For episode 9 and 10, he translated, timed, edited, typeset the credits, and encoded the show. For episodes 11 and 12, he checked Perevodildo's translation as well as edited, typeset, and encoded. I did a little actual typesetting and additional editing. Nemesis and Skr QCed.

So for the fifth Halloween in a row, Orphan is pleased to bring you more Cat-Eyed Boy. You can get these episodes from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net. Apparently, Orphan is not the only fans of this series: there's a modern cover of the full opening song, with original homage animation, available on YouTube. The original OP and ED are available as a 7" vinyl 45RPM record on Japanese auction sites, at exorbitant cost.