Kachikenee!

If two decades of working in anime taught me anything, it should have been, "Never say never." In the post on Trust, a 2025 Anime no Tane OVA, I wrote, "Actually, this is the end of our work on all instances of the Young Animator's Training Project." Now, less than three months later, here's another, Kacchikenee! (Much Obliged!), from the 2016 edition of Anime Tamago.

Kacchikinee! is basically a rom-com with time-travel trappings. The protagonist is the 17-year-old daughter of a temple priest in modern Tokyo, named Aiko. She's an aspiring artist. Unfortunately, her creations are labeled "original" - not a good thing in an art cram school. 

She is thinking about giving up when, out of nowhere, a man pops out of a well in the temple courtyard.

His name is Souji, and he insists that he is from Edo - Shogunate Tokyo - from 250 years in the past. Aiko doesn't believe a word of it and finds his incredulous responses to the modern world annoying. 

Things begin to change, though, when she discovers that he's an accomplished artist.

Further, he is connected to the unfinished sliding doors in the temple. He was supposed to add a Celestial Maiden, but he was inexperienced and never found the right inspiration for his drawing. 

No points for guessing who the inspiration turns out to be.

Still, the absurdities of the plot don't really interfere with the light atmosphere. It's a fine rom-com, with perhaps more com than rom.

The voice cast includes:

• Akaneya Himika (Aiko) played the title role in Izetta: the Last Witch. She played Lada in the PriPara franchise, Ritsuka in Dance with Devils, and Minoho in Katana Maidens.
• Kako Rion (Souji) played Tsuneto in the Cardfight!! Vanguard G franchise.
• Ootake Hiroshi (Juushoku, Aiko's grandfather, the temple priest) played Nezu in Akira, Dayon in the first Osomatsu-kun, 004 in the first Cyborg 009 movie, and Boss in the Mazinger franchise. He also played Fox in Shounen Jack to Mahou Tsukai, Vailly in Greed, Takeshi in Yukuguni no Ouji-sama, Michael in the What's Michael? OVAs, and Director Hiruta in Ojisan Kaizou Kouza, all Orphan releases.
• Shibahara Chiyako (Aiko's grandmother) played Liquid in Captain Bal, an Orphan release, and appeared in Nana, Nodame Cantabile, Bakugan, and Hyper Police. 
• Ai Ichitarou (Takefumi, Aiko's brother) appeared in Tiger & Bunny, Hyouka, and Happy ComeCome.
• Koga Aoi (cafe owner) played the title roles in Komi Can't Communicate and Mistress Kanan is Devilishly Easy, Chima in Fairy Gone, and Kaguya in Kaguya-sama: Love Is War.
• Makiguchi Mayuki (Miwa, Aika's schoolmate) played Marin in 12-sai, Serena in Pokemon XY, and Yuuki in Beyblade: Metal Fury.
• Kajikawa Shouhei (Aika's teacher) played Magnus in the Bakugan franchise and Hien in Log Horizon.
• Ueda Yuuji (Souji's master back in Edo times) played Nakane Kisaburo in Ashita Genki ni Naare!, 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.

The director, Yoshimura Fumihiro also directed Kumi to Tulip and the Jungle Emperor segment of Tezuka Osamu Works: Kyoto Animation Theater, an Orphan release.

This project happened because Darkonius was infuriated by a recent release of the OVA, done with AI. He did a new translation and asked if Orphan would finish it. I edited and typeset the script - the typesetting of a long text-message conversation was a a bit of a nightmare. 

Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. The raw was encoded by Ohys from an Animax broadcast. It is watermarked in a few places, but it's the only source available.

Kacchikenee! was fun - not world-beating or thought-provoking but appropriately comic and airy. I  enjoyed it quite a lot. Still, this is not the start of a new project to go back to the Young Animator corpus. But... one never knows, do one? Meanwhile, you can get the show from the usual torrent site.