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 Geronimo 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.