Dallos (Blu-ray)

It's been more than ten years since Orphan first released Dallos. After release posts for the DVD version, the HD web version, and the laserdisc summary version, is there anything new left to say about this Blu-ray version? Probably not. But I have to say something. So I'll record some of my impressions after watching this show for the fourth, or eighth, or tenth time.

• Alex Riger has to be the dumbest police chief in the known universe. Did he get his training at the Bull Connor School of Pointless Brutality? As his subordinates point out, increasing repression will just draw more settlers to the guerillas' side. That's just what happens. And by the end of the show, Riger has learned exactly nothing, even after almost being fragged by his own side, except that he's not competent to be a military commander.
  
• Melinda Hearst is not a character, she's (in Hitchcockian terms) the Macguffin. She even looks like a Hitchcock heroine - blonde, cool, and aloof.
• Shun's journey from apolitical youth to committed revolutionary is supposed to be the core of the plot, but he's colorless.and not very compelling. His wannabe squeeze, Rachel, is a better character, more alive and passionate. Shun manages to miss or ignore that passion, among many other things.
• The music is as bombastic and annoying as ever. Nanba Hiroyuki has done much better scores, including Space Dandy.
• The concluding sequence, when Shun takes his dying grandfather to the light side of the Moon to see Earth for one final time, is unexpectedly moving. The concluding shot of the Earth hanging in the black sky, overlooking the sea of graves, is iconic.

• Dallos remains an uneasy mixture of hard sci-fi, societal allegory, and character drama. The tensions in the show - between action and story - can be traced to the presence of two directors on the show: Mamoru Ishii, at the time a wunderkind in his early 30s; and Toriumi Hisayuki, an industry veteran and Mamoru's mentor. (Toriumi is usually only credited with the story, but the interview in the Discotek release makes it clear that he was co-director.) They had different ideas about what was interesting and what was practical, and the tensions show. 

So I like the show, but I really don't want to work on it again..

A few notes on this release:

• First, I again used Orphan's fansubs, not the R1 DVD release subtitles. If you want the DVD subtitles, then buy Discotek's excellent release. It's very affordable, and it includes a highly informative interview with Mamoru Ishii and others who worked on the original show.
• Second, the subs have hardly been touched. I've put in a lot more line breaks, because of problems with different subtitle renderers, and added a few exclamation marks, but that's it. The subs have been edited and checked three times already. Further changes are unnecessary.
• Third, the release is 720p rather than 1080p. Both the encoder and I agree that the image quality isn't good enough for a 1080p release. If you think otherwise, feel free to encode your own version. These subs should be frame exact for any competent Blu-ray encode.

The voice cast includes:

• Sasaki Hideki (Shun) played the lead role in Gauche the Cellist; otherwise, his resume is very short.
• Ikeda Shuichi (Riger) played Char in Mobile Suit Gundam, Gilbert Durandal in Gundam Seed, Ulrich Kessler in Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and Azuma in Starship Troopers, an Orphan release.
• Genda Tesshou (Dog McCoy) 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 Miyoshi Harumi Nyudo in Sanada 10, 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, the loyal lieutenant Galbreath in Next Senki Ehrgeiz, the dragonman Baguda in Greed, the narrator in Akai Hayate and Meisou-ou Border, Dog McCoy in Dallos, Hebopi in Wild 7, rebel leader Oosukune in Izumo, and Rikiishi's trainer Kuroki and Kirishima in Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, all Orphan releases.
• Sakakibara Yoshiko (Melinda) played Sybil in Black Magic M-66, Sylvia Stingray in Bubblegum Crisis/Crash, Sir Integra Hellsing in both versions of Hellsing, Paula in Condition Green, Kaoru in Karuizawa Syndrome, and Mimau in Greed. The last three are Orphan releases.
• Ukai Rumiko (Rachel) played Fraw Bow in the original Mobile Suit Gundam, Rose in the Godmars franchise, and Kiyomi in Miyuki. She played Nohara Maki in Call Me Tonight and Michelle in Ginga Tansa 2100-nen: Border Planet, and she appeared in What's Michael? 2, all Orphan releases.
• Suzuki Mizuho (Shun's grandfather) played Dr. Mo in A Penguin's Memories, an Orphan release.
• Tanaka Hideyuki (Max, Dog's second-in-command) played Terryman in the Kinnikuman franchise and Rayearth in Magic Knight Rayearth. He also played 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, and Ma Su, Fengji's lover, in Sangokushi movie 3, all Orphan releases.

The credited director, Mamoru Oshii, rose to prominence with Urusei Yatsura and went on to direct many famous anime works, including Ghost in the Shell, Gosenzosama Banbanzai, and Sky Crawlers.

The project flow was straightforward. The subs from the HD web release required a one-frame timing tweak for the new encode, plus new typesetting for the color differences. I did the timing shift and typesetting. Topper3000 did a release check. bananadoyouwanna encoded from a Japanese Blu-ray. The encode includes FLAC audio. The pilot film subs came from the laserdisc summary special and required no more than a linear shift and the 720p styles.

So here is Orphan's last word (or so I sincerely hope) on Dallos.The new encode looks great, and the FLAC audio reproduces every thump, blast, and musical crescendo. You can get this version from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Yuki (BD 720p)

This one's for you, DmonHiro.

To prepare for encoding the 1080p version of Yuki, M74 made a "test" encode at 720p for review. It looked fine to me, so he encoded the big version, and it was released a few days ago.

Afterwards, I had the 720p encode sitting on my hard drive. I thought to myself, "That's a nice 720p encode you got there; shame if something happened to it." M74 vouched that it was frame-accurate with the larger encode, so I threw the subs into Aegisub, let it do its magic adjustments against the 720p raw, and then muxed the result. Voila! Yuki in glorious 720p with AAC sound, at just about one-third the size of the 1080p release.

Orphan has frequently released the same title at multiple resolutions, but that was usually the result of new (and better) source material turning up. Cleopatra and Senya Ichiya Monogatari went through three iterations over time - DVD, HD web stream, Blu-ray - but that was over eight years. Tezuka Osamu's "Love Will Save the World" specials were released in both 720p and 1080p, but the latter was done by Beatrice-Raws, not by Orphan. The closest timing from Orphan was probably Parol no Miraijima, when our release of a 720p web rip prompted Commie-Subs to provide the far better Blu-ray source, which was encoded and released at 1080p. Usually, though, one size fits all.

Personally, I always liked 720p releases, because they stood a better chance of fitting on the DVDs I used for long-term storage. (Yeah, I'm a technology Luddite, so sue me. And I prefer IRC to Discord, too.) When I bought a Blu-ray burner and started using BD blanks, my objections to large files became less strident, and Orphan began releasing relatively large encodes, like To-Y and Yuki. But there are anime fans with slow computers, or who have to pay for bandwidth by the slice, so I'm glad that DmonHiro (and Commie and Iznjie Biznjie and Soldado and OnDeed) still provide 720p encodes. I download them preferentially. I may have BDs for storage now, but I have a slow Internet link and a bandwidth cap.

This release has only been spot-checked. The subs were good before, and the signs looked right after downsizing to the new raw,. That's good enough for me. You can get this release at the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Yuki (BD 1080p)

Forty years ago, the famed "social realism" film director Imai Tadashi released his one and only anime movie, Yuki. It was based on a 1976 novel by Saitou Ryuusuke that is unavailable in English and out of print in Japan. The movie languished on analog media until recently, when a French Blu-ray was released. Orphan has encoded the Blu-ray and added English subtitles, translated from the Japanese rather than the French, to create the first English-language release.

Yuki starts out as high fantasy, set among the gods in the heavens. Yuki, the thirteen-year-old granddaughter of the snow gods, is charged to go down to earth and improve the fortunes of a suffering peasant village in rural Japan. Once Yuki arrives on earth, the movie becomes something else completely: a chronicle of the peasants' struggle for social justice against cruel oppressive forces: murderous bandits, predatory samurai, a rapacious landowner, and finally, the local demon-god himself.

The film breaks neatly into distinct episodes. In the prologue, Yuki receives her mission from her grandfather. In the first section, she meets an orphaned girl, Hana, and falls in with Hana's troupe of orphaned beggars. 

Yuki is too clean and too pretty to make a decent beggar, but she proves her usefulness by taming an "untameable" horse named Fubuki. In the second section, the bandit Tsumujikaze and his gang are planning to ransack the village and attack the local landowner, Goemon. Guided by an elder (known only as "the old man"), the peasants organize themselves to defeat the bandits. The next section is an interlude, where the grateful peasants and the beggars celebrate a winter festival. In the fourth section, "guardian" samurai bands demand tributes of crops and manpower for war. Once again, the old man organizes the peasantry, this time from multiple villages, to ambush and destroy the samurai. In the fifth section, Goemon, emboldened by the disappearance of both the bandits and the samurai, raises the rent and tribute on his tenant farmers drastically. Once again, the peasants rise up and destroy their adversary. As he is dying, Goemon calls down the wrath of the local deity, Shinjin-sama, on the peasants.

In the action sequences, Yuki has a catalytic but subordinate role. She rides Fubuki to provoke the bandit leader, to stampede the samurai's horses and overrun their fixed positions, and to guide her friends in pursuit of Goemon, but the peasants and beggars are the main focus. Only in the final chapter, the confrontation with Shinjin, does Yuki take the lead. The peasants are too cowed by superstition - what the old man calls "the enemy inside our hearts" - to face Shinjin. Only Yuki, a deity herself, and her brave band of beggars are willing to confront an angry god. An epilogue then brings Yuki's story to a tidy conclusion.

This summary makes the movie sound very schematic, if not dogmatic. The collective action of the "people" - first as individuals, then as a village, then as a collection of villages - is needed to overthrow the oppressors. The beggars are noble - forbidden to steal by their one-legged boss. The old man is wise and a tactical genius. But in fact, the movie is quite entertaining. There are no long political diatribes. The story flows organically, if a bit predictably, from one action sequence to the next. The festival interlude is charming. My main criticism is that Yuki remains a colorless cipher throughout. Even when one of the village boys, Tsukitarou, falls in love with her, she doesn't react. The members of the beggar troupe steal the show. Perhaps that's the point.

For some reason, the movie doesn't include the voice cast, so I have only a partial list of seiyuu:

• Ushihara Chie (Yuki) has no other anime credits.
• Sugiyama Kazuko (Hana) played the title roles in Gu-Gu Ganmo, Alps no Shoujo Heidi, and Laura, A Little Girl on the Prairie. She played Ten-chan in the Urusei Yatsura franchise, Akane Kimidori in the Dr. Slump and Arale-chan franchise, Mimiko in Panda Kopanda, Korosuke in Kiteretsu Daihyakka, as well as Yoriko Kisaragi in Yume Tsukai and Wendy in Manxmouse, both Orphan releases.
• Nagai Ichiro (the "old man") played grandfather Jigoro in Yawara!, the off-the-wall narrator in Gosenzosama Banbanzai!, Professor Hajime in Queen Millennia, and Happosai in the Ranma 1/2 franchise. He appeared in Blue Sonnet, Manxmouse, Nora, Hidamari no Ki, Yuukan Club, Amon Saga, Botchan, Ipponbouchou Mantaraou, Rain Boy, and Yamato 2520, all Orphan releases.
• Nakanishi Taeko (Yuki's grandmother) played Ryouko in Kuro ga Ita Natsu, Yuri in Kuroi Ame ni Utarete, Helen in A Penguin's Memory, Mrs. Bontempeli in Perrine Monogatari, and Liu Bei's mother in the first two Sangokushi movies, all Orphan releases. She had featured roles in Emma, Glass no Kamen (1984), Little Women, Queen Millennia, Ringing Bell, and Sailor Moon R.
• Kobayashi Akiji (Yuki's grandfather) played Toubei Tachibana in the Kamen Rider franchise and Dionysius II in Hashire Melos!, an Orphan release.
  
• Komatsu Housei (beggar boss) played Pride in Kaitou Pride and Jinba in Prime Rose, an Orphan release.

The director, Imai Tadashi, made many well-regarded films, including Aoi Sanmyaku, Until We Meet Again, Tower of Lilies, And Yet We Live, The Rice People, An Inlet of Muddy Water, and Night Drum.

Some notes, courtesy of Iri and Uchuu:

• The white horse's name, Fubuki, means "blizzard" in Japanese. 
• When the old man teases Hana about not finding flowers, she says she is one and has one and points to her nose. Hana means both flower and nose in Japanese.
  
• The beggars apparently go commando, and one of them is prone to doing handsprings when he's happy.
• At the festival, the beggars consume amazake, a fermented beverage. Despite the similarity in names, amazake is not sake and has much lower alcohol content.
• The volcano near the village is Mount Asahi in Hokkaido, which pinpoints the location of the movie. The volcano erupted in 1739, which may help narrow down the time frame.
  

Iri translated the show. Yogicat timed. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. M74 bought the French Blu-ray and encoded it. The project started with tribute's HEVC encode of the Blu-ray, but technical difficulties with timing synchronization led the team to do a new encode.

I quite enjoyed Yuki. Other reviewers, expecting a high fantasy, have been less enthusiastic. (Certainly the subtitle on some editions,Yuki: Snow Fairy, and the lilting opening song about "little Yuki" are misleading.) 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.

To-Y Blu-ray

To-Y is a 1987 OVA about a Japanese indie rock band and its lead singer. It is based on a ten-volume manga by Kamijou Atsuji. To-Y was stranded on the wrong side of the Digital Divide for years, until the eponymously named To-Y Restoration Committee subbed a laserdisc rip of the show in 2007. It quickly found a niche among devotees of indie rock and Japanese visual kei. Earlier this year, it was restored and released on Blu-ray. Orphan is now releasing a high-definition version featuring a new encode and a revised script.

To-Y tells the story of the indie rock-and-roll band GASP, which has a fervent following among Tokyo's rebellious youth. GASP is on the verge of a breakthrough, with a pending concert at an outdoor venue, Hibiya Yaon. However, the band's lead singer, To-Y (pronounced Too-i), seems indifferent to the possibilities of success. He's more interested in living his life, fighting when he feels like it, and balancing the attentions of his eccentric girlfriend, Niya, who seems to be part cat, and his beautiful cousin, Hiderou Koishikawa, who performs as a successful idol under the name Sonoko Morigaoka.

As the show opens, GASP is playing a gig at a seedy nightclub. For no particular reason, To-Y punches out the lights of a successful male idol, Aikawa Youji, who has come to see the band play. This arouses the interest of Youji's scheming manager, Katou Koshiko. She approaches To-Y and offers to make him an star - without his band, of course. When To-Y rebuffs her, she sets out to show him who really holds the power in the music business. She gets GASP's forthcoming concert at Hibiya Yaon canceled, throwing the band into a tailspin. But inspired by Niya, To-Y refuses to buckle, and he finds a way forward for the band and for himself without giving in to Katou's demands.

To-Y is as much a music video as it is a drama. It includes eight different songs in its 55-minute runtime, all performed by indie bands of the era, including Psy S, the Barbee Boys, the Street Sliders, Zelda, AMOR, and Qujila. The dialog is sparse, less than 300 lines, and very terse. Despite the brevity of the script, To-Y tells a coherent, complete story and fleshes out its characters in a few deft strokes.

The voice cast contains both veteran seiyuu and successful practitioners from other fields:

• Shiozawa Kaneto (To-Y) played Shin in Hiatari Ryoukou, Iason in Ai no Kusabi, Rock Holmes in Fumoon, Shiina in Chameleon, Sanzou in I am Son Goku, Kouhei in Karuizawa Syndrome, and Kurahashi Eiji in Nine, all Orphan releases. He also played Joe in Tokimeki Tonight, Yoshio in Miyuki, Takeshi in Touch, D in Vampire Hunter D, Narsus in the Arslan Senki OVA, Rosario in Dragon Half, and Abriel senior in Crest of the Stars.
• Nokko (Niya) is a singer-songwriter. To-Y was her only anime role.
• Uchida Naoya (Aikawa Youji, the rival singer) played the title role in the Cobra franchise, Yagami's father in Death Note, Daigo in the recent version of Dororo, Oda Nobunaga in Drifters, and Askeladd in Vinland Saga.
• Yayoi Mitsuki (Hiderou Koishikawa, aka Sonoko Morigaoka, the successful female singer and To-Y's cousin) played Maria Winter in Condition Green and Maron in Girl from Phantasia, both Orphan releases.
• Sogabe Kazuyuki (Nakahara Kimihiko, aka Kaei, the mysterious goth character) played Oda Nobunaga in Black Lion, Rei Ginsei in Vampire Hunter D, and Meyer in Hi-Speed Jecy, an Orphan release.
• Hitotsuyanagi Miru (Katou Koshiko, Youji's scheming manager) has only a few credits, appearing recently in Eizouken.
• Gendou Tesshou (Momo, the drummer) 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 Jin Kiryu in Blue Sonnet, Zigong in Eiyuu Banka Koushi-den, Paul Rusch in Yume Kakeru Kougen, Jim Hyatt in AWOL Compression Remix, the loyal lieutenant Galbreath in Next Senki Ehrgeiz, the dragonman Baguda in Greed, the narrator in Akai Hayate and Meisou-ou Border, Dog McCoy in Dallos, Hebopi in Wild 7, rebel leader Oosukune in Izumo, and Rikiishi's trainer Kuroki and Kirishima in Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, all Orphan releases.
• Seki Toshihiko (Shouji, the guitar player) played the title role in Izumo, Riki in Ai no Kusabi, the hero Seitarou in Hoshi Neko Full House, the gang leader Hiba in Wild 7, Miroku in Yuukan Club, Chuuta in Satsujin Kippu wa Heart-iro, the fighter Nagase Jun in Akai Hayate, Hayata in Call Me Tonight, Ootsuki in Milky Passion: Dougenzaka - Ai no Shiro, Junichiro in Kasei Yakyoku, and the unnamed protagonist of Oruorane the Cat Player, all Orphan releases. He also played Matsuda in the Yawara! properties, Sanzo in the Saiyuuki TV series, Mousse in Ranma 1/2, and the title roles in Alexander (Reign the Conqueror) and Kaiketsu Zorro.
• Yamada Tatsuo (Isami, the bass player) is an animator. To-Y was his only voice-acting role.

The director, Hamatsu Mamoru, also helmed B.B Fish (an Orphan release), Yoroiden Samurai Troopers, the Arslan Senki OVAs, B'tx, and the 2005 remake of Glass no Kamen.

This version started with the To-Y RC script. Iri did a thorough translation check. (One example of the changes: the originals script had the venue as Yaon Hibiya, as though it were a Japanese name that needed to be reversed for Western order. In fact, Hibiya Yaon is an acronym, short for Hibiya Yagai Ongakudou - Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall - not a name.) ninjacloud timed. I edited and typeset; the typesetting is much more extensive than in previous versions. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. bananadoyouwanna encoded from a Japanese Blu-ray. The file is 9GB for a show of less than an hour, driven by the visual effects, the film grain, and the FLAC soundtrack.

I guess Orphan is in the big (file) leagues now.

I quite liked To-Y. It is recognizably an 80s one-and-done OVA teaser for a long manga series, like Sanctuary, but it tells a complete story and can be watched without knowledge of the manga. It even has the usual 80s soupcon of gratuitous nudity, which I'm sure will discourage exactly none of our potential viewers. You can get To-Y from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Makoto-chan the Movie

Some western anime audiences are familiar with Crayon Shin-chan, a very long running Japanese anime series about a five-year-old boy with lecherous proclivities and a tendency to run around without his pants. The humor tends to be broad, ecchi, and sometimes gross. The first 52 episodes were given a US dub release, with scripts that were totally rewritten to emphasize "adult" humor. BuriBuri (Orphan's very own Skr) has been doing yeoman's work providing accurate, and just as funny, translations of the show.

Far fewer people know about Makoto-chan, a manga by Umezz Kazuo. Sawada Makoto is a kindergartner who gets into all sorts of trouble, often involving toilet and adult humor. He sometimes dresses in his mother's and sister's clothing. He usually has a long strand of green mucus dangling from his nose. He uses nonsense catchphrases like "Sabara!" and "Gwashi!" If Crayon Shin-chan is ecchi, Makoto-chan is sketchy. It was animated only once, in 1980, as a feature length movie. Now, on its fortieth anniversary, it is at last available to an (aghast) English-speaking audience. Don't all rush to thank us at once.

The movie has an interesting release history. For a long time, it was only available on VHS tape and laserdisc. At Skr's request, Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions ripped the laserdisc. While Skr was working on translations, a Blu-ray of the movie was released. The Blu-ray had some additional material, like the movie trailer and a promotional teaser, but it lacked the live action intro and outro, featuring Umezz Kazuo himself, from the laserdisc. So this release is a hybrid. The movie itself, the teaser, and the trailer are in glorious high definition, from the Blu-ray; the intro and outro sequences are in measly standard definition, from the laserdisc.

Makoto-chan doesn't have a through plot. Instead, it consists of five sketches of about 15 minutes each:

1. "My Little Lover." Makoto-chan, dumped by his kindergarten girlfriend, develops a crush on an older woman named Tomoko, who has broken up with her boyfriend.
2. "A Present for Mother's Day." To win the Best Child Award in his kindergarten class, Makoto-chan and his sister Mika-neesan develop a set of skits so unintentionally gross that the neighbors invited in to watch pee their pants (and worse).
3. "The Sparrow Egg." Makoto-chan rescues a sparrow egg from a demolition site and devotedly guards it until it hatches, only to find that the baby bird has imprinted on him as its mother.
4. "The Lunch of Love." When Makoto-chan's mother mixes up his and his father's lunches, he finds a series of lovey-dovey messages in his bento. This convinces him that his mother is harboring very inappropriate feelings toward him.
5. "The Best Child Award." In another attempt to win the Best Child Award, Makoto-chan helps a salaryman look for a lost paycheck, with disastrous results.

The voice cast includes:

• Sugiyama Kazuko (Makoto-chan) played Heidi in Alps no Shoujo Heidi, Akane in the Dr. Slump franchise, Maria in The Royal Tutor, Ten in Urusei Yatsura, and Wendy H. Troy in Manxmouse (an Orphan release). She appeared in Sangokushi movies 2 and 3, also Orphan releases.
• Okamoto Mari (Tomoko,) played the title role in Hana no Ko Lunlun and Ai-chan in Time Bokan Series: Yatterman.
• Yoshida Rihoko (Mika, Makoto-chan's sister) played Megu-chan in Majokko Megu-chan, Monsley in Future Boy Conan, Maria Grace Fleed in UFO Robo Grendizer, Michiru in Getter Robo, Clara Sesemann in Alps no Shoujo Heidi, Rosalie Lamorliere in The Rose of Versailles, Kurama in Urusei Yatsura, and Machiko in Maicchingu Machiko-sensei. She played Tonko in Chiisana Koi no Monogatari, an Orphan release.
• Ohara Noriko (Makoto-chan's mom) had a long career starting in the 1960s. She played the title roles in Future Boy Conan and Arabian Nights: Sindbad no Bouken, Nobita in the Doraemon franchise (through 2004), and Oyuki in the Urusei Yatsura properties. She played the mother bear in Katte ni Shirokuma, an Orphan release.
• Mizusawa Yumi (Makoto-chan kindergarten teacher) appeared in City Hunter and Space Adventure Cobra.
• Umezz Kazuo appears as himself in a few spots and acts as the guide for the intro and outro segments.
  

The director, Shibayama Tsutomu, was an industry veteran who started at Toei. His directing credits include Ganbare!! Tabuchi-kun!!, the first 18 episodes of Ranma 1/2, the Chibi Maruko-chan TV series and movie,  many of the Doraemon series and movies, and the long-running TV series Nintama Rintarou.

Skr was the principal propulsive force throughout the project. He translated, timed, typeset the movie logo (which is half the movie script), and encoded the movie, teaser, and trailer. Erik did all the translation raws; Intrepid reripped the intro and outro on the Domesday Duplicator and encoded them. Sunachan helped with translation issues in the intro and outro. I edited and did the rest of the typesetting. BeeBee alone QCed; perhaps the other QCs were put off by the dangling strands of mucus. Skr and I have also checked everything as best we can, but I'm sure some errors got through. Please be merciful.

Makoto-chan is definitely an acquired taste. It is gross, bizarre, and in spots, wickedly funny. If this sounds like your cup of... well, whatever, you can find the movie on the usual torrent site or on IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net. Gwashi!

Senya Ichiya Monogatari Blu-ray

Here is the Orphan's third version of Tezuka Osamu's 1969 "erotic cartoon" Senya Ichiya Monogatari, usually translated as 1001 Nights. The first was based on topfh's excellent but upscaled DVD rip; the second on a high-definition web stream; and this one on the UK Blu-ray. Each version has improved over the previous one, but as with Cleopatra, three versions of the same anime is a lot. I hope this release is definitive.

I'm not going to rehash my previous blog posts about Senya. It has the virtues and defects of later Tezuka Osamu "entertainments," with a lot more nudity and sex. The plot meanders all over the place, and the movie could have been shortened without much loss. However, the stylistic variability helps to keep it visually interesting, and the individual set pieces are usually engaging. There are frequent "easter eggs" to reward the movie buff. For example, the titanic confrontation between the three-eyed giant and the equally gigantic bird Loplop is a direct tribute to the fight between King Kong and a pterodactyl in the original 1933 movie. For me, it's best to treat Senya Ichiya Monogatari like a chapter book, taking it in small doses. This helps to tame its extreme length and makes it possible to appreciate the scenes and set pieces individually.

So what's new in this version that makes it worthwhile to download and watch it yet again? Several things.

1. A long and informative interview with Yamamoto Eiichi, the director of both Senya Ichiya Monogatari and Cleopatra. Yamamoto has great stories to tell about the movies themselves and his collaboration with Tezuka Osamu. His portrait of Tezuka is not always flattering, but it's always interesting.
2. The original trailer. This makes it clear that the erotic content was front and center to both the creation of and the marketing campaign for the Animerama movies.
3. The commentary track by Helen McCarthy, author of the excellent and informative The Art of Osamu Tezuka. She provides insightful comments on the movie and its individual scenes. She is particularly good in highlighting the (for the time) innovative imagery.
4. "Remastered" video and audio. Frankly, I don't find either of them an improvement over the prior releases. The video did not look good at "full HD", despite the alleged remastering, so this release still uses 1280 width.
5. Official subtitles. And therein lies a story.

The official subs for Cleopatra are quite good, so I had high hopes for the official subs for Senya. The fansub translator, convexity, thought they could be the default... until we looked at them. They're terrible: stilted, awkward, and, most surprisingly, full of grammar and translation errors. A sample:

• "Miriam" is translated as "Milliam." There's no excuse for this: Japanese has an "r" sound but no "l".
• "He might've been a guinea pig in his before life." Not "previous life"?
• "This will do to every women." Uh, "This will do for any woman" or "This will do for all women"?
• "So shall be it." How about something in English like "It shall be so" or "So shall it be"?
• "They both said same thing." What happened to "the same thing"?
• "We both seem lost." This is a fine sentence, but it's clear from context that the line is "We both seem to have lost."
• "All hell is going to break lose." No, it's loose.
• "I'll witness like that." Do they mean "testify"?
• "So what you say a big thing is this, huh?" I'm not sure I can even parse this one. Maybe "So this is what you meant by something big, huh?"

I could go on and on.

Accordingly, Orphan's fansubs are the default subtitles. For those who want to get the full BD experience, the official subs are included in two versions: untouched PGS and extensively edited and styled. This means the movie has six tracks:

1. Video (default).
2. Japanese audio (default).
3. English commentary audio.
4. English fansubs (default).
5. Edited and typeset English official subs.
6. Original PGS official subs.

The interview and trailer have four tracks: video (default), Japanese audio (default), edited and typeset official subs (default), and PGS official subs.

For this release, M74 obtained the Blu-ray, ripped and OCRed the official subtitles, and encoded the movie and features. ninjacloud retimed the fansubs and the features; Yogicat retimed the official subs. I edited the official subs and features and typeset (mostly in the trailer). BeeBee QCed. The fansub credits are unchanged.

So here's the Blu-ray version of Senya Ichiya Monogatari. Even if you found the previous versions sufficient, you'll want this version for the extras and the commentary track. 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.

Cleopatra Blu-ray

Here is the Orphan's third version of Tezuka Osamu's 1970 "erotic cartoon" Cleopatra. The first was based on topfh's excellent but upscaled DVD rip; the second on a high-definition web stream; and this one on the UK Blu-ray. Each version has improved over the previous one, but seven years is a long time to keep poring over the same anime. I hope this release is definitive.

I'm not going to rehash my previous blog posts about Cleopatra. It has the virtues and defects of later Tezuka Osamu "entertainments," with a lot more nudity and sex. Cleopatra is less coherent than its predecessor, Senya Ichiya Monogatari. The co-director, Yamamoto Eiichi, attributes this to Tezuka Osamu's greater involvement with the project, but the master is not around to defend himself, so it's impossible to know. It is certainly filled with Tezuka's trademark anachronisms and gags.

What's new in this version that makes it worthwhile to download and watch it yet again? Several things.

1. The commentary track by Helen McCarthy, author of the excellent and informative The Art of Osamu Tezuka. She provides insightful comments on the movie and its individual scenes, with a strong appreciation of the beautiful artwork.
2. The original trailer. The trailer has an extra scene not in the movie and puts the erotic content front and center, rather more than I had previously thought. Cleopatra may not be an "X-rated cartoon," but it's not just a Tezuka Osamu romp with more boobs.
3. Remastered video and audio. I don't find either of them an improvement over the prior releases - the audio in particular is very soft - but your mileage may vary.
4. Official subtitles.

The official subs are pretty good. I made some minor changes in the edited and styled version; the untouched subs are available as PGS.

• "Apollodoria" rather than "Appolodoria." Although the character is fictional, the root name comes from the god Apollo, so one "p" and two "l"s.
• Inconsistent naming. Octavianus is (mostly) shortened to the familiar form, Octavian, but Antonius isn't shortened to Anthony. I've left that as is, because it mirrors the audio track.
• Rationalized line breaks.
• Removal of ellipses (there are way too many).
• American spelling and usage rather than UK spelling and usage.

Here are some comparisons between the official subs and the fansubs on the script's "tricky bits."

•  6:00 - the Pasatorine words for the Cleopatra Plan. The official subs assume it's nonsense and translate it as "Beges Do Manto."  I agonized over finding any meaning and eventually came up with "Deces d'amant," as though it were mispronounced French, meaning "death of the loved one."
• 12:45 - The Mayor's flowery greeting is literally "Lord Caesar, child of the sun." The official subs have a nifty pun, "Caesar, Son of the Sun." The fansubs are simply "the Great Lord Caesar." 
• 16:20 - Apollodoria lists the attributes a woman must have to attract Caeaar. The official subs are explicit and crude: "She will need to be naturally tight, with the skills of a prostitute." The fansubs are indirect: "She must have both natural talent and consummate techniques."
• 22:57 - A well-known quote by Namikoshi Tokujirou. See http://www.shiatsu-london.net/whatisshiatsu.html. The official subs say "The Art of Shiatsu"; the fansubs, "The heart of finger massage."
• 29:02 - Caesar's exclamation at finding Cleopatra in the bag is literally, "Ah, says the surprised Tamegorou!" ("アッ驚く為五郎). This is Hana Hajime's catchphrase from a 1969-1970 TV variety show 『巨泉×前武ゲバゲバ90分!』; and Hana Hajime is the voice actor playing Caesar. "Tamegorou" is a character from a story Hana liked. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJh-FJXynzM. The official subs use a contemporary (to 1970) reference with "Sock it to me!" The fansubs are "Great gods of the heavens!"
• 41:20 - In order to break Ionius, Pothinus orders his men to gang rape Libya. The official subs emphasize the brutality: "Do it until she's torn!" The fansubs are more circumspect: "Do it until she faints!"
• 1:17:45 - Literally, "You can't get hemorrhoids without touching your ass." The start of some truly terrible punning, in Japanese and both English scripts. The official subs use "No butts, no glory hole." The fansubs are "No butts touched, no piles gained."
• 1:17:50- Literally, "You can't catch a tiger cub without entering a tiger's lair." Official subs: "But it's 'No guts, no glory.'" Fansubs: "You mean, 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained.'"
• 1:17:53 - Literally, "There's still the ass." "Ketsu" by itself means "ass"; tiger's lair is "koketsu." Official subs: "But nothin'!" Fansubs: "But you still gain something!"
• 1:21:20 -  Literally, "I mean, mine's just a tiny one with a compact vehicle license," meaning the Japanese license for engines of 360cc or below. Official subs: "Mine's a compact car." Fansubs: "I mean, mine's just a tiny subcompact."
• 1:21:24 - Literally, "Caesar's was a dump truck with a special license." Official subs: "Caesar's was a dump truck\Nthat required a special license!" Fansubs: ""Caesar's was a huge 100-ton dump truck."
• 1:23:43 - "The word i-impossible is not in my dictionary." A real quote from Napoleon, to match the onscreen image. Identical in both scripts.
• 1:27:26 - Here, the official subs ignore a pun on makase (leave it to me) versus Marcus. The official subs are the prosaic, "Leave this war to me, Marcus Antonius!" The fansubs have, "Big battles are a walk in the park for Big Mark!"
• Ending song - "Guerilla, Guevera, Gewalt." "Gebaruto" means violence. To keep the alliteration, the German term for violence, "gewalt," is used in both scripts.

Helen McCarthy takes exception to the translation of the puns at 1:17:50, but I think the localizations work well. The greater explicitness of the official subs is perhaps more in tune with current times.

Tezuka loved his Easter eggs, and manga cameos and pop culture references dot the movie:

• At 11:44, the spectators include Tensai Bakabon, Dame Oyaji, Osamatsu-kun.
• At 34:24, the spectators include Fugata Sazae from Sazae-san and Hige Oyaji from Tezuka's Star System.
• At 14:49, the ninja is Kamui, from Sanpei Shirato's manga of the same name.
• At 1:26:40, the messenger is Rat-man from GeGeGe no Kitarou.
• At 1:30:56, the fighter is Kagemaru from Sanpei Shirato's Ninja Bugeichou .
• At 1:33:44, Anthony's incapacity as a result of his addiction is symbolized by a brief shot (14 frames) of the stylized logo from Otto Preminger's 1955 addiction drama, The Man with the Golden Arm.

Japanese anime continued to be blasé about copyrights into the 1980s, but eventually real brand- and character references were banished.

Orphan's fansubs are the default subtitles. The official subs are included in two versions: untouched PGS and edited and styled. Thus, the movie has six tracks:

1. Video (default).
2. Japanese audio (default).
3. English commentary audio.
4. English fansubs (default).
5. Edited and typeset English official subs.
6. Original PGS official subs.

The trailer has only four tracks: video (default), Japanese audio (default), edited and typeset official subs (default), and PGS official subs.

For this release, M74 obtained the Blu-ray, ripped and OCRed the official subtitles, and encoded the movie and the trailer. ninjacloud retimed the fansubs and the trailer; Yogicat retimed the official subs. I edited the official subs and the trailer and typeset (mostly in the trailer). BeeBee QCed the edited official subs. The fansub credits are unchanged.

So here's the Blu-ray version of Cleopatra. Even if you found a previous version sufficient, you'll still want this version for the trailer and the commentary track. 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.

Discotek has licensed Cleopatra for U.S. distribution. The Blu-ray is scheduled to be released in March. Please support their ongoing efforts to rescue titles from the back catalog by buying the Blu-ray when it's available. I will!

Amaama to Inazuma (Blu-ray)

I'm a sucker for slice-of-life shows about children and parents (or parental figures), like Usagi Drop and Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari. So when Godless Fansubs asked me to edit and typeset the Blu-ray version of their Amaama to Inazuma release, I jumped at it. I ripped through all twelve episodes in two months, and Godless released the first six episodes at the beginning of 2017. After that... silence. It's been more than two years since the last release. Today, Orphan is releasing the rest of the series, including revised versions of the first six episodes.

Amaama to Inazuma (Sweetness and Lightning) is the story of a widowed high-school math teacher, Inuzaka Kouhei, trying to raise his kindergarten-age daughter, Tsumugi, as a single parent. In addition to the constant demands on his time, as a professional and a parent, he lacks certain basic life skills; in particular, he doesn't know how to cook. By accident, he meets one of his students Iida Kotori, the shy daughter of a famous restaurateur, Iida Megami. Kotori doesn't know much about cooking either, but the two team up to master the basics of Japanese cooking and liberate Tsumugi from a life of convenience store bentos and precooked meals.

The setup - a high-school teacher meeting his student at home while raising an adorable moppet - sounds like it could go disastrously wrong, but Amaama to Inazuma sidesteps all the traps. There's no romance between Kouhei and Kotori, or even a hint of one. Tsumugi is a sweet, happy child, but she's also a real one - she can be moody, throw tantrums, or get upset about childish misunderstandings. The show is filled with the minor crises of parenthood, not the major manufactured incidents of anime, and most of the issues are resolved around the kitchen counter at Kotori's mother's restaurant. The show will make you hungry. 

It's a good thing that the subject matter is engrossing, because the animation is nothing to write home about. Much of it is done at 8 frames per second (some of the OP is at 6, perhaps as a stylistic choice), and there are lots of signs to cover up the essentially static nature of the backgrounds. In contrast, the voice cast is very good:

• Nakamura Yuuichi brings a strong presence to the role of Kouhei. His love for Tsumugi is palpable, as is his reticence about expressing emotion and his sadness over his limits as a parent. Yuuichi starred as Shinkaku in the two Bakumatsu series, Tada in Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai, Kyousuke in Ore no Imouto, Hotarou in Hyouka, and Okitsu in DIVE!!, to name just a few of his star turns. He showed his comedic flair as Grizzly-san in Shirokuma Cafe, an Orphan release. He also played Hoshina, Touin's captain in DAYS: Touin Gakuensen, another Orphan release.
• Hayami Soari makes Kotori's shyness and love of food believable. She starred as Saki in the Eden of the East properties, Chiriko in the AnoHana franchise, Ikaros in the Sora no Otoshimono franchise, Leviathan in Leviathan: The Last Defense, Ayase in the OreImo franchise, Shirayuki in Akagami no Shirayuki-hime, and many other roles.
• Endou Rina endows Tsugumi with realism and charm, perhaps because she's a child actress. (She was 10 when the show was made.) She also starred as the scene-stealing Hina in Barakomon.
• Tomatsu Haruka gives the role of Shinobu, Kotori's genki wingman, the upbeat energy it needs. She starred as Anjo in the AnoHana franchise, Manami in Asobi ni Ikuyo!, Nagi in Kannagi, Corticart in Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica and its sequel, Lala in the To Love-ru Franchise, Haruka in Mitsudomoe, Mayu in Nekogame Yaoyorozu, Ichika in Ano Natsu de Matteru, Shiho in Zettai Karen Children, and numerous other roles.
• Seki Tomokazu nails the role of Yagi, Kouhei's morose wingman, concealing a deep attachment to Tsumugi under a gruff exterior. He starred as the title roles in Maze and Keniichi, Kyou in the original Fruits Basket, Yotaro in Showa Genroku Rakugo, Dee in Fake, Rentarou in Futakoi: Alternative, Ryuuiki in Saiunkoku Monogatari, Shuichi in Gravitation, Nobu in Nana, and my personal favorite, Chiaki in Nodame Cantabile. He appeared in Sanctuary and Haruka Naru Toki de Naka de 2, both Orphan releases.

The director, Iwasaki Tarou, also directed the tug-on-the-heartstrings Ishuukan Friends. The OP is a relentlessly genki Japanese earworm; you have been warned.

Godless Fansubs was responsible for the initial TV scripts, the encodes, and the timing of the first four episodes. Yogicat timed the last eight. I edited and typeset all of them. BeeBee QCed. The revisions to the first six episodes are numerous - typos, more signs, consistency fixes. Patches are available if you have the original release.

Although this is labeled as a Godless-Orphan release (a great name for a joint, don't you think?), the Godless team has not participated in finishing the series. I don't have the Godless 1080p raws, so this release is 720p only. If anyone wants to fit these scripts to a different 1080p encode, feel free. You can get Amaama to Inazuma from the usual torrent site or IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

 

Techno Police 21C (Blu-ray)

There's a saying: "Once in happenstance; twice is coincidence; three times is enemy action". If that's true, then Something's Going On, because the Blu-ray release of Techno Police 21C is the third time a high-definition source has appeared just after Orphan released a version based on laserdiscs (the other two were the Kindaichi movies).

Of course, I'm actually thrilled when one of our analog projects gets a digital release, whether it's a web stream, a DVD, or a Blu-ray. VHS tapes and laserdiscs both have finite lifetimes. Physically copying a VHS tape, if even possible these days, always results in degradation. Physically copying a laserdisc is impossible. A digital source, on the other hand, can be dispersed and preserved in multiple locations, providing better guarantees of longevity.

In past blogs, I've speculated on why anime properties are allowed to rot on analog media. Tangled intellectual property rights are one reason; loss of film masters is another. But the biggest reason, of course, is that remastering old anime costs money, and there is little prospect for most of the analog projects that Orphan has worked on making money in digital form. When a digital release happens, there's usually a fairly obvious reason. Kindaichi is a beloved detective series; Blazing Transfer Student is considered a classic of its kind; etc.

And that brings me to Techno Police 21C. I'm was a bit baffled that a Japanese company went to the expense of creating a Blu-ray release, complete with Blader action figure:

Techno Police 21C is not exactly well known, and it's certainly not considered a classic. The director's resume is very thin. There doesn't appear to be a compelling reason for a Blu-ray release, but then I saw it was from Bandai, the toy (and media) company. So here's a new one: a Blu-ray release to promote an action figure.

I won't go over the specifics of Techno Police 21C here; see the blog entry about the laserdisc release for details. It's a fun ride, and the Blu-ray certainly looks better than the laserdisc. The script is little changed from the previous version. The timing has been shifted and adjusted, the signs have been tweaked to match the Blu-ray's colors and dimensions, and a few lines have been fixed because of the wider screen. Jarly, a new team member, bought the Blu-ray and did the encode, which is an all-singing, all-dancing 1080p FLAC extravaganza. After I did the initial shifting, ninjacloud did the fine timing. I did all the typesetting and dialog adjustments, as well as the release check, so you can blame me for any errors.

You can get the Blu-ray release of Techno Police 21C from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Oishinbo Special: Japan-America Rice War (Blu-ray)

After a rather lengthy delay, here's the second Oishinbo special, Japan-America Rice War (Nichibei Kome Sensou). Although I have no firm evidence, I suspect that this delay resulted from a simple fact: Japan-America Rice War is one of the most boring anime movies I have ever seen. Ninety minutes about the pros and cons of liberalizing Japanese rice imports, with a side order about the dangers of agricultural chemicals? Most of the team would rather have a root canal. (I just had one, so I prefer the anime.)

If you don't know the background for the Oishinbo series, Kaibara Yuuzan and Yamaoka Shirou are estranged father and son, respectively. Kaibara is an icon of Japanese national culture, famous for his pottery, his cooking, and his traditional dress and outlook. Yamaoka is a slacker cultural reporter at a newspaper. He started a recurring feature on cooking, called Ultimate Menu, for his paper. In retaliation, his father created Supreme Menu for a competing paper. The two cooking teams compete for supremacy in matches organized around a single theme.

The plot of Japan-America Rice War centers around the visit of California Senator Dan Foster to Japan. He is determined to make Japan lower barriers to rice imports, because California is a major rice grower. His sister, Ann, is engaged to Misawa at Touzai News, home of Yamaoka's Ultimate Menu team. Ann crosses paths with, and is insulted by, Tsuchida Gisuke, an obnoxious agriculture bigwig turned politician, who is determined to block liberalization of rice imports. She relates this to her brother the Senator, who turns up the heat on the Japanese government by threatening massive tariffs against Japanese goods. While the government dithers, the two Menu teams have to work together to save the situation and, of course, Ann and Misawa's impending marriage.

The tone of the anime is a bit odd. At first, the scales seem tipped in favor of the Japanese viewpoint. Kaibara Yuuzan argues for strict limits on imports in order to preserve the Japanese tradition of rice farming, which yields treasures in art, culture, and food. On the other hand, the American negotiators are presented as rational and forceful, while the Japanese government is presented as hapless ditherers who only want to cover their behinds. In the end, the author's real passion, as represented by Yamaoka Shirou, is not about rice imports but about the overuse of chemicals in farming, and the threat that pesticides and other chemical residues in the food chain pose to human health. It's rather dull, except for the opening set piece, an Ultimate vs Supreme match about "side dishes for rice," and a later set piece, a dinner that Kaibara throws for the visiting Senator to teach him about the importance of rice in Japan.

The main voice cast is the same as in Ultimate vs Supreme:

• Inoue Kazuhiko (Yamaoka Shirou) played Yuki Eiri in Gravitation, but I know and love him best as the irascible, sake-swilling Nyanko-sensei in the Natsume Yuujichou properties. He also played Ryousuke in Daishizen no Majuu Bagi, Kitten Smith in Starship Troopers, and Liu Bei Xuande in both Sangokushi OVAs, all Orphan releases. He is still active, appearing recently in ACCA and Isekai Shokudou.
• Shou Mayumi (Kurita Yuuko) appeared in Aoki Honoo, Hoshi Neko Full House, A Penguin's Memories, and Katte ni Shirokuma, all Orphan releases. 
• Ootsuka Chikao (Kaibara Yuuzan) has had a lengthy career, starting back in 1963 in Astro Boy. He played Nezumi in the original GeGeGe no Kitarou series and Tora in the original Ushio & Tora OVAs. He appeared in several Tezuka Osamu specials (all released by Orphan) and played Captain Hook in Peter Pan no Bouken, among numerous other roles.

Some of the voice cast is unique to this special, of course:

• Hazama Michio (Senator Dan Foster) also began his career in 1963 with Astro Boy. He has appeared in numerous anime but has also been the preferred dubbing voice for Dean Martin, Steve Martin, and Sylvester Stallone. His most recent role was in Onihei.
• Yamada Eiko (Ann Foster) played the title roles in Anne of Green Gables and Legend of Lemnear, as well as Jo in Little Women. She also played Yu Jin, Cao Cao's stalwart woman warrior, in the Sangokushi OVAs and appeared in What's Michael? and Chameleon, all Orphan releases.
• Ootaki Shinya (Misawa) played Pete, the male lead in Scoopers. He also appeared in Aoki Honou, Hi-Speed Jecy, and Wolf Guy, all Orphan releases.
• Tanaka Nobuo (Tsuchida Gisuke) played Dio in the original JoJo's Bizarre Adventures OVAs and its sequel. He has had recurring roles in Detective Conan and One Piece.

Orphan again used the Yoroshiku subs with some tweaks. laalg did the original translation; izam translated the OP and ED. Yogicat retimed the subs for the Blu-ray encode; the original OP/ED timing, by sangofe, was retained. neo2001 styled the original; I edited and typeset both the original release and this new one. Saji and Oracle did QC on the original, Calyrica on the new one. Skr did the encode, from a BDMV.

Time has not been kind to Japan-America Rice War. The anime dates from 1993, when American paranoia about, and Japanese confidence in, Japan's technological and economic might was at its height (see, for example, Michael Crichton's 1992 scare novel, Rising Sun). Shortly thereafter, the U.S. began the longest sustained technological and economic boom in its history to that point, fueled by innovations in the Internet, biotechnology, and other fields, while Japan entered a multi-decade period of economic stagnation, rendering most of the arguments in the anime moot.

Japan maintained an effective ban on imported rice until 1995. At that time, Japan agreed to import a set amount at market prices, while raising subsidies to domestic rice farmers substantially. Most of the imported rice was designated for snacks and processed food; very little was earmarked for direct consumption. Even though the subsidies impacted the competitiveness of imported rice, by 1998 Japan accounted for about half of California's rice exports, or 20% of the state's total rice crop.

Japanese direct consumption of imported rice varies with economic conditions, with fast food restaurants leading the way in using it. However, both per-capita consumption of rice and domestic production are declining, as eating habits change, and the farming population ages out.

The issue of food safety remains unresolved. Recent testing has shown that rice from around the world, including so-called organic products, contain dangerous amounts of arsenic and other toxic chemicals.

So if you want to relive the passions of the early 1990s, as opposed to the ones that roil our politics today, you can get Oishinbo - Japan-America Rice War from the usual torrent site or download it from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.
 

Yawara Atlanta Special (Blu-ray)

It's been more than four years since FroZen-EviL finished the standard-definition Yawara! project by releasing Yawara! The Atlanta Special, more formally known as Yawara! Ever Since I Met You... The Blu-ray version of Yawara! has been proceeding by fits and starts, so the team has leaped ahead to the end to bring you the conclusion, in high-definition.

The climax of Yawara! was supposed to be set at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, but the series didn't finish until after those Olympics were over. There was a four-year gap before a project was started to provide an actual conclusion to the series, so the setting was moved to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and all the signs in the TV show about "xyz days until Barcelona" were removed in the Blu-ray releases.

Yawara! The Atlanta Special wraps up all the story lines of the show: Yawara's less-than-enthusiastic pursuit of Olympic glory; the subsurface romance between Yawara and the "third-rate reporter" Matsuda; Kazamatsuri's increasingly desperate attempts to evade the grasp of Honami Sayaka. Most of the subordinate characters put in an appearance: Fujiko and Hanazono, now married with an infant; Jody Rockwell, now bigger and stronger than ever; Kuniko, Matsuda's colleague and wannabe love interest; Kamoda, Matsuda's much put-upon photographer; and of course, Master Jigoro, ever ready to steal a scene, a medal, or a massive plate of food. Despite romantic mixups and the problems imposed by Japanese reticence, all ends happily. Or rather, the main characters all get what they deserve.

In all my blogs on Yawara!, I've never talked about the voice cast, which is just wonderful.

• For Minaguchi Yuuko (Inokuma Yawara), Yawara! was her breakout and defining role. She made her debut as Kii in Greed, an Orphan release, and appeared in numerous other shows, including Dragon Ball Z and GT, Sailor Moon, and One Piece. She played Roxanne in Alexander (Reign: The Conqueror) and Felicia in Oz (another Orphan release).
• The late Nagai Ichirou (Yawara's grandfather Jigoro) appeared in numerous shows, including Gosenzosama Banbanzai!, Nora, and Hidamari no Ki (the last two are Orphan releases).  He also dubbed Albus Dumbledore in the Japanese versions of the Harry Potter movies.
• Okabe Masaki (Yawara's absentee father Kojiro) played Shinichi, the conniving and lecherous politician brought down by Hojo and Chiaki in Sanctuary, an Orphan release.
• Seki Toshihiko (Matsuda) should be quite familiar to readers of this blog. He appeared as Riki in Ai no Kusabi, the hero Seitarou in Hoshi Neko Full House, Miroku in Yuukan Club, Chuuta in Satsujin Kippu wa Heart-iro, the fighter Nagase Jun in Akai Hayate, and the unnamed protagonist of Oruorane the Cat Player, all Orphan releases. He also played Sanzo in all the Saiyuuki TV series and the title roles in Alexander (Reign the Conqueror) and Kaiketsu Zorro.
• Chafuurin (Kamoda) played Inspector Maguro in the Detective Conan franchise. He also appeared as the Tera leader in Next Senki Ehrgeiz and Jog in Yamata 2520, both Orphan releases. He is still active, appearing in Basilisk, Baki, and Pop Team Epic in 2018.
• Kamiya Akira (Kazamatsuri) is best known for the title roles in the City Hunter properties and the Kinnikuman franchise. He also played Sergeant Zim in Starship Troopers and stole the show as the lecherous robot Chiraku in Hoshi Neko Full House, both Orphan releases. 
• Takamori Yoshino (Sayaka) played the twin roles of Juliet Douglas and Sloth in Full Metal Alchemist. She also appeared in the What's Michael? OVAs and Yousei Ou, Orphan releases.
• Kawashima Chiyoko (Fujiko) played Clair in Galaxy Express 999, Sailor Pluto in the Sailor Moon franchise, Okiyo in Haguregumo, and Iko in Greed, an Orphan release. She retired in 2001.

The director, Asaka Morio, did not work on the original TV series. After this special, he went on to direct many well-known and well-regarded shows, including Cardcaptor Sakura (and its recent revival), Galaxy Angels, Chobits, Nana, Chihayafuru (both series), and Ore Monogatari.

The staff credits are basically the same as for the standard-definition release. kokujin-kun translated and typeset; Juggen timed; I edited; CP, Saji, Juggen, Mamo-chan, and Skr all worked on QC. Suzaku encoded from the BDMV box set, which CP purchased. 

Today is the anniversary of CP's passing. His presence has been, and continues to be, sorely missed by all his friends and colleagues.

Bremen 4 (Blu-ray)

With the release of the 1981 TV special Bremen 4, Orphan and M74 have completed their high-definition survey of Tezuka Osamu's feature length anime movies for NTV's annual telethon. The eight Tezuka Production specials were:

1978: Hyakumannen Chikyuu no Tabi: Bander Book
1979: Kaitei Choutokkyuu Marine Express
1980: Fumoon
1981: Bremen 4 
1983: Time Slip Ichimannen Prime Rose
1984: Daishizen no Majuu Bagi
1986: Ginga Tansa 2100-nen: Border Planet
1989: Tezuka Osamu Monogatari: Boku wa Songoku

The 1985 special, Akuma Shima no Prince – Mitsume ga Touru, was based on a Tezuka Osamu character but was produced by Toei Animation. It has not been released in high-definition. Maybe someday...

Bremen 4 seems to have an official subtitle, Angels in Hell, although that does not appear in the anime itself. It tells the story of four animals - a cat named Coda, a donkey named Largo, a dog named Allegro, and a chicken named Minuet. 

(That's either a very big cat or a really small donkey.) The four are stranded or abandoned when their peaceful country is conquered by ruthless, Nazi-like invaders. Wandering the countryside, the animals save the life of a visiting alien, Rondo. In return, she gives them devices that transform them into humans. In this form, they become musicians, bringing some joy to their war-ravaged land. Eventually, they come to the attention of the invader's commander, Karl Presto. He falls in love with Coda in her human form, but she and her friends reject his overtures and, returning to animal form, help the resistance to fight the invaders. Eventually, the villains are defeated and peace returns.

Bremen 4 was the last of the TV specials that made heavy use of Tezuka's Star System, although the stars made cameo appearances in the later specials. The villainous, Wagner-loving commander, Karl Presto, is Rock Holmes, returning to his usual role as a heavy. Presto's father, an even more heinous warmonger, is Lamp, the guy with the candle on his head. Duke Red plays Count Lento, the hapless (and soon posthumous) leader of the invaded country. Ban Shunsaku is Adagio, the manager of a puppet theater who also leads the resistance. Black Jack is a mysterious figure who cares for the orphans of war. Astro Boy appears in a musical sequence, Don Dracula is an announcer at a concert, and Unico and Leo have cameos in the final triumphant march of the animals.

Okamoto Mari (Coda the Cat) played the female leads in Fumoon, Prime Rose, and The Wizard of Oz movie. The incomparable and now sadly deceased Tomiyama Kei (Largo the Donkey) stole the show as the wicked witch in Grim Douwa: Kin no Tori, an Orphan release. Kyouda Hisako (Minuet the chicken) has had a long career, with some unusual roles, such as the father in Shouwa Monogatari. Ishimaru Hiroya gave a bravura performance as the "interpreter" dog Allegro, speaking Donkey, Chicken, or Cat as required. He also played as Rodimus Prime in the various Transformer TV shows. Tomita Kousei and Nozawa Nachi reprised their roles as Ban Shunsaku and Black Jack, respectively, from Marine Express.

The eight specials exemplify Tezuka Osamu's style - the wandering plots, the use of anachronisms for humor, the obvious fanservice (in Bremen 4, Rondo's cleavage defies gravity). I think the later specials were better, with tighter plots and less overt preaching, but they're all very watchable. (Ginga Tansa 2100-nen: Border Planet remains my favorite.) They also make me more forgiving of Tezuka's earlier Mushi Production movies, the so-called adult cartoons Cleopatra and Sen'ya Ichiya Monogatari. There's a lot of continuity between the Animerama releases and the later specials; the former just have a lot more fanservice. While Tezuka Osamu could work in a much more serious vein (Hidamari no Ki, Hi no Tori), he reveled in the possibilities that his lighter works allowed.

This subtitles for this release were professionally translated. Yogicat transcribed them, and M74 timed them. I edited and typeset (not much). Nemesis and Calyrica did QC. M74 encoded from a BDMV provided by Beatrice Raws. I'm truly grateful to them for sharing their source material. The source material has a a variety of video mistakes. In one scene, the background disappears; in another, the foreground characters. Transitions are rough, and mouth movements are sometimes poorly animated. Still, this is the best source out there.

You can get Bremen 4, and all the other Orphan (or M74) HD releases of the Tezuka Production TV specials, from the usual torrent sources or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.