Midnight Crazy Trail

Completing a triptych of Young Animator Training Project releases, Orphan presents Midnight Crazy Trail, from the Anime Tamago class of 2017. The other shows that year were:

• Red Ash: Gearworld, subtitled by multiple groups from a Blu-ray source
• Zunda Horizon, subtitled by multiple groups from a web source
• Charanpoland no Bouken, raw only from a web source

Midnight Crazy Trail is okay to watch, but it feels derivative, like a cross between Kiki's Delivery Service and Get Backers. And i'ts CGI, of the CGI-pretending-to-be-2D-animation school.

The story focuses on a young witch named Makina. She hates being a witch and having magic powers; she wants to throw away her grimoire and be a normal girl.  

On the night of the first full moon after she turns 16, she must go to the human world to be trained in magic and to prepare for marriage. She repeatedly attempts to destroy her grimoire, but it always resists. Then, she sees a vision of a special team destroying an arms shipment.

The team, Shout and Crunch, claim not to be thieves but garbage collectors: the Midnight Trash Throw Away-ers. Their garbage truck, the "Crazy Trail," has a massive incinerator, a crusher, and other tools for disposing of unwanted objects.

Once she's in the human world, Makina's placed under the tutelage of a senior witch named Dorothy.

Makina is supposed to learn clairvoyance and other skills, but instead she focuses on getting the Throw Away-ers to destroy her grimoire. They agree to try, provided she helps them on their next mission.

The mission succeeds, barely, thanks to Makina's help. However, the grimoire still resists destruction, so Makina insists that Crunch and Shout take her along for further adventures.

As I said, derivative. Makina is a Kiki clone, even having a cute familiar, a mole. The Throw Away-ers are the Get Backers turned upside down. It's engaging in places. Makina's attempts to "blend in" provide comedy, and the mission's action sequence is well done. However, in the end, it's just empty calories.

The voice cast include: 

• Uesaka Sumire (Makina) played the title role in Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san, the lead in Tearmoon Empire, Alisa in Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian, Lum in the Urusei Yatsura reboot, Akira in Bucchigire!, Rika in Genshiken Nidaime, Sora in Papa no Iu Koto o Kikinasai!, Fubuki in Kantai Collection, Peach Maki in the Hoozuki no Reitetsu franchise, Aya in Tonikaku Kawaii, and Chuchu in Show by Rock!.
• Matsuda Kenichirou (Crunch) played Mink in Dramatical Murder, Shuuji in Bakuten!, the narrator and Bond Forger in Spy x Family, and the narrator and Thors in Vinland Saga.
• Matsuda Toshiki (Shout) played Kazuki in the Pretty Rhythm franchise, Chikara in the Haikyuu!! franchise, Ryuu in the Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei Bu franchise, Eijirou/Red Riot in the Boku no Hero Academia franchise, Mikado in the B-Project properties, Iori in the Idolish Seven franchise, Rei in the Ensemble Stars properties, and Kiyomitsu in the Touken Ranbu franchise.
• Fujita Masayo (Dorothy) appeared as Nene in Hyakko and K-344 in Star Wars: Visions.
• Hachisuke Tomotaka (Dorothy's husband) appeared in Donten ni Warau, Moyashimon Returns, Eldive, and Kokkoku. 

The director, Yusa Kazushige, later directed a series of shorts called Odoru Mowai-kun, which have not been subbed in English.

Once again, Perevodildo translated and timed; the show did nothing to alter his negative view of the Young Animator OVAs. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. The raw is a web rip from Ioroid. There's a fair amount of aliasing, to add to the video annoyance of the CGI.

So here's another Anime Tamago OVA: Midnight Crazy Trail from 2017. I can't recommend it wholeheartedly, but it's not bottom tier. 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.