Sakyou Komatsu's Animation Theater

Another anthology show, far better than the last one...

Sakyou Komatsu (1931-2011) was a Japanese science fiction author and screenwriter, best known in the West for his novels Japan Sinks and Sayonara Jupiter. He wrote numerous short stories, spanning not just science fiction but satire, political commentary, and even erotica. In 1989 and 1990, MBS aired 24 five-minute episodes (plus three specials) based on Komatsu's short stories. These were collected as Komatsu Sakyou Anime Gekijou (Sakyou Komatsu's Animation Theater). Orphan is proud to present the first English translation of this show.

Anthologies, particularly those with short episodes, are difficult to summarize. There is no through plot, no consistent set of characters, no set styles. If these episodes seem to reflect a skepticism about mankind and its technology, that's probably just my interpretation. Many of the stories include space travel and encounters with aliens; they rarely turn out to be either edifying (like Contact) or horrifying (like Alien).

Still, the stories are consistently entertaining. If I were to select a few personal favorites, they might be:

• Joining the Club, which demonstrates that what's truly universal about the universe.
  
  
  
  
  
• Construction Work, a pointed example of how city government (mal)functions.
  
  
  
  
  
• Lost Spaceship. Maybe those monoliths in 2001 were something other than they seemed?
  
  
  
  
  
• Summer Event. Humanity's traditions outlast us.
  
  
  
  
  
• Forgotten Land. What did happen to all of humanity's gods?
  

A few, like Sample #1 and Too Late, play like short segments of The Twilight Zone. I mustn't say more.

Some translation notes:

• Moon Viewing. The Tsukimi festival is held to view the autumn full moon. Decorations traditionally include displays of susuki, Japanese pampas grass, and mounds of tsukimi dango, moon dumplings.
• First Dream. The "Seven Luckies" is a play on the Seven Lucky Gods (七福神). Hotei, the disgruntled leader, is the god of fortune. Benzaiten plays the lute and is the only goddess. Ebisu, who performs with a fish, is the patron of fishermen. During the first three days of the New Year, the Seven Lucky Gods are said to pilot the Takarabune or Treasure Ship through the heavens..
• The Man Who Returned. In the legend of Urashima Tarou, a fisherman rescues a sea turtle. As his reward, he is taken to the Dragon Palace under the sea and entertained by Princess Otohime. He thinks only a few days pass, but in fact, it's a century before he returns. The princess gives him a forbidden jeweled box as a parting gift. When he opens it, he turns into an old man.
  

All of the many characters were played by just two people, who primarily appeared in films and TV rather than anime:

• Tomita Yasuko is an actress who has appeared in numerous films and TV shows. She narrated the original Time Patrol Bon and had a small role in My Neighbor the Yamadas.
• Nagoka Akira was an actor and comedian. He appeared in several early anime movies, including Senya Ichiya Monogatari and Flying Phantom Ship, and he had a small role in Princess Mononoke.

The director, Nishimora Akira, also helmed A.D. Police and Urban Square. This was Gainax' first ever TV production. All the episodes were written by Yamaga Hiroyuki, a famous director in his own right. (Thanks to Darkonius for this research.)

The raw, which includes Japanese closed captions, had been floating around Orphan's archives for more than four years when Darkonius decided to translate it. Perevodildo translation checked. I edited and typeset (lots of signs). ImAWasteOfHair and Rezo QCed. Skr found the raw, but after all this time, he doesn't remember the source or whether he encoded it. The Japanese closed captions have been left in place as an alternate subtitles track.

Sakyou Komatsu's Animation Theater is really good, and I strongly encourage you to download it and watch it. Because of its structure, you can dip in and out, or jump around from story to story, with no loss of continuity. Some of it is funny, some of it is sad, much of it is ironic, and all of it is thought-provoking. You can get the show from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Mikosuri Han Gekijou

Mikosuri Han Gekijou dates from 2013. It's basically a collection of short (30-40 second) dirty jokes grouped together by setting. It's based on a 4-panel comic strip of the same name by Iwatani Tenho. You may find it funny, or you may find it offensive; I found it juvenile. It reminded me of what passed for risque humor when I was a boy: books like Over Sexteen and collections of the Playboy jokes columns. In today's age of PornHub and OnlyFans, it feels positive quaint.

Still, Mikosuri Han Gekijou posed interesting problems for translation, because humor is very local, and sex slang even more so. Let's start with the title. Gekijou means "theater"; easy enough. But Mikosuri is not a real word, and Han means "half." So is the title Mikosuri Half-Theater? Not even close. Mikosuri han is Japanese slang for premature ejaculation; it's apparently a pun on mikudarihan, meaning divorce papers. (I guess the former could lead to the latter.) But "Premature Ejaculation Theater" doesn't exactly strike the right note in English. The team did extensive research on US and UK slang equivalents, but they all tended to be too long or too explicit. Finally, someone suggestion "quickshot," so the English title is Quickshot Theater.

Some other examples:

• In two cartoons with a doctor examining (ogling) a naked woman, she says, "Please examine me already," and he replies, "I'm already looking." This is a pun on 診る, medical exam, pronounced miru, and 見る, looking, also pronounced miru.
• In a cartoon where a samurai-era policeman admonishes a woman with a vibrator, it's a visual pun on jitte, a blunt melee instrument carried by Edo-era police.
• In the credits, a girl skipping rope has dialog balloons saying "106," "107," "Shakuhachi". It's a pun on how the sequence, including 108, would be pronounced in Japanese: hyaku roku, hyaku shichi, hyaku hachi. A shakuhachi is a Japanese flute played by blowing in the end; it's also slang for "blowjob."
  

There are probably more than the team missed.

The show has eight sections, with a common setting or theme, and four to six jokes per section:

• Family
• Police
• Third Street (meaning a generic suburban street)
• Company
• Hospital
• Couple
• Train
• Historical Drama

In addition, there's a short extra with four more jokes, illustrated statically.

As in other anthologies, the plethora of characters are played by a small number of voice actors:

• Tanaka Kazunari played Nyuudo in Brave 10, Dorowa in Freedom, Ijuin in Green Green, Ukai in Haikyuu!!, Hoshino in Planetes, and Matsukane in Chameleon, an Orphan release.
• Saitou Kimiko played the title role in Snack Basue, Rem in Death Note, Marie in Dimension W, Sofia in Golden Kamuy, Muugi in Made in Abyss, Micchan in Migi & Dali, Chieko in Princess Jellyfish, and Cerona in Kingdom of Chaos, an Orphan release.
  
• Okiayu Ryoutarou starred as the title roles in Gambler Densetsu Tetsuya, Toriko, and Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun, Mitsui Hisashi in Slam Dunk, Matsura Yuu in Marmalade Boy, Jinnai Katsuhiko in the El-Hazard franchise, Nueno Meisuke in the Hell Teacher Nube series,Samejima Ranmaru in Kizuna, Souma Shigure in Fruits Basket (2003), Berserker in Fate/Zero, Hideyoshi in Sengoku Basara, and Atsushi in Recorder to Ransel. He also played Takao-san in Let's Nupu Nupu, Yamazaki in Mellow, Abel in Fire Emblem, Gion in Okane ga nai!, Akram in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de 2 (a repeat of his role in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de: Hachyoushou), and Hakuryuu in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de 3, all Orphan releases.
• Komatsu Yuka played Deunan in Appleseed Alpha, Dorothy in The Great Pretender, Saeko Tanaka in Haikyuu!!, Setsuna in the Precure franchise, and Minako in Yuri!!! on Ice.

The director, Magari Hiroaki, is a mangaka by profession, most well known for Majokko Tsukune-chan. He has since directed another gag anime, Enomoto the Animation, and done some minor animation work here and there, including the first ending for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. (A tip of the hat to Darkonius for this research.)

I saw a FHD webrip of this show and thought it looked terrible, so I found the R2J DVD ISO and asked a friend to encode it. Perevodildo translated and timed. I edited and typeset. (There were too many signs, a sure sign of cheap animation.) ImAWasteOfHair and Uchuu QCed. Paul Geromini released checked, and his interactive suggestions with Perevodildo helped point up (so to speak) some of the jokes. The encoder asked to remain anonymous, and who can blame them? The crude, digipainted animation allowed for high levels of compression with no loss of video quality; the encode is very small.

Finally, a diatribe, yet again, about why encodes should never, never, NEVER be anamorphic. Here is a sign from the police segment, as seen on (my) Aegisub, VLC, and MPC-HC with xyvsfilter:

And here's the same sign as seen on MPC-HC with its default renderer, libass:

The angle of "MORGUE" is whacked. This is a straight up bug, caused by applying anamorphic stretch before or after the sign is rendered. The blame may lie with MPC-HC or libass or God knows what, but the simple point is: if the encode wasn't anamorphic, this wouldn't happen. Remember that, encoders.

Mikosuri Han Gekijou defies recommendations. It's either the sort of thing you'll laugh at, or it isn't. If you want to sample it, you can get the show from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net