AI on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown (Trust)

Inka-Subs and Orphan Fansubs finish their work on Anime no Tane 2025 with Trust. The other three shows were:

• Dive-In!, no dialog
• Galaxy Apartment Cosmo Hills, subtitled by Inka and Orphan
• Sora and the Big Tree, subtitled by Inka and Orphan

Actually, this is the end of our work on all instances of the Young Animator's Training Project,  whether called Project A, Anime Mirai, Anime Tamago, or Anime no Tane - because they're all done (mostly not by us). Except for two shows - Milky Panic: Twelve (2018) and Rock'n Oyone (2022) - for which raws have never been found, every show requiring English subs has been subbed. Quality varies, of course, but that's true for fansubs in general. No need to pursue the matter further. 

Trust is not the best in the Young Animators' series, but it is thought provoking and dense. However, it's difficult to discuss without giving away the plot, so if you don't want to be spoiled, skip down a couple of paragraphs to the voice cast. [Spoilers ahead] As the story opens, the management AI of a MMORPG called "To World" has summoned a user who has tried to hack the game.

The AI, known as Violet, intends to suspend the user, known as Mia, for violating the Terms of Service.

Mia argues back desperately, claiming that the hack was an excuse to find Violet, because Violet is, in fact, the projection of her mother, who is imprisoned by criminals and used as an enforcer in the metaverse (shades of The Matrix). The AI pooh-poohs this idea and fends off Mia's increasingly desperate advances with a weapon that displays like a banana, because Mia is underage and can't be shown real weapons.

Mia seizes on this. How could Violet know that Mia is underage? The AI must know from real life. Mia gradually wears Violet down and wins her trust. Eventually, Mia asks Violet to transfer admin rights to her, so that Mia can close Violet's account and free her. Wracked by conflict,

Violet eventually agrees and transfers rights. Cut.

To this point, Trust has played like a standard "escape from the virtual world" story, with a human entering the virtual world to rescue someone trapped there. All of the animation has been obvious computer graphics - planes and angles, triangles and pixels. Now, the camera pulls back to reveal three actual human beings, played by real actors, watching what has happened on a large screen. 

They are the CEO, CTO, and engineer of the MMORPG company. Their AI, Violet, has destroyed the game by transferring admin rights to an external entity, which in turn has given them to 70,000 users. The three humans are baffled. Violet is alone, talking to herself, thanking an invisible entity for returning her to reality. That is, Violet has hallucinated the whole thing - the intruder daughter, the discovery of her humanity, her return to reality.

I find this interesting because AIs do in fact hallucinate: they produce results labeled as accurate that are completely made up, as lawyers and graduate students have found out to their cost. Further, AIs exhibit emergent behavior: they do things beyond what their creators intended or programmed in. Is it beyond possibility that an AI would hallucinate that it is human and act accordingly? It's an interesting twist on the AI-runs-amok-and-destroys-mankind trope. This AI has no malevolent intentions against humanity. It thinks it is human and wants to rejoin its fellows. [End spoilers]

The animated segment is a two-hander, so the voice cast is small.

•  Matsumoto Sara (Mia) has had featured roles in many recent anime, including Loretta in Watashi no Oshi wa Akuyaku Reijou, Honoka in Kamerabi God.app, Fatima Double Darts in Undead Murder Farce, and Rin in The Water Magician.
• Takako Honda (Violet) played Mami in Apocalypse Hotel, Kiwi in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, PANDY in Dead Leaves, Ii Onna in Norageki!, Gimmy in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Hone-Onna in the Hell Girl franchise, Sasaki in the Knights of Sidonia franchise, Junko in Saotome, Hibari in Speed Grapher, Izumi in Un-Go, and Touko in the Kara no Kyoukai movies.

The live-action actors are real people (I think). Amusing, the Japanese cast is listed as "first name-last name", while the live Western cast is listed as "last name-first name", backward from practice in their home regions. The show was done by aptly-named CGI studio Polygon.

For this show, Darkonius translated and timed. Perry Dimes translation checked. darkcart edited. I typeset and QCed. TougeWolf also QCed. The raw is from Gecko and is the only one available. This is a joint Inka-Orphan release. You can tell I didn't edit if you look closely enough or read the comments in the script.

Trust is one of the better Young Animators' Training Project efforts. It makes effective and deliberate use of not-quite-right computer graphics to convey the virtual world's and Violet's gradual breakdown. The story is thought-provoking without falling back on the usual AI tropes. This is a good note on which to wrap up our Young Animators' work. You can get this show from the usual torrent site.

 

Sora and the Big Tree

Inka-Subs and Orphan Fansubs return to the scene of their last Anime no Tane heist with another short from the 2025 edition, Sora and the Big Tree. The other shows in that tranche are:

• Dive-In!, no dialog
• Galaxy Apartment Cosmo Hills, subtitled by Inka and Orphan
• Trust, raw only from a web source (but stay tuned!)

Like all the Anime no Tane shows since 2021, Sora and the Big Tree is short - under ten minutes. However, while Galaxy Apartment Cosmo Hills needed every second of its runtime for its jam-packed story, Sora seems padded, even though it's less than eight minutes not counting its ending song.

The actual Japanese title is Hoshi no Kodomo to Hajimari no Ki (Star Child and the Tree of Beginning), which is a lot closer to the content than the official English title of Sora and the Big Tree. It opens with a well-dressed boy walking into the lobby of an ornate hotel. The boy doesn't know his name, but the manager checks him in anyway. 

He shows the boy through the grounds, dominated by a gigantic tree. 

Later, the boy comes out in his pajamas to explore. He meets an obliging guide bird, which shows him into the interior of the tree.

It is studded with gems, and the boy collects the ones he finds prettiest. But after a while, he encounters an ogre king, who hoards gems. 

The king demands the boy surrender his red gem, but the boy refuses and escapes.

The bird and the boy climb to the top of the tree, where the bird shows the boy to put his gems in a silver basin.

 

The gems explode in light and coalesce into a golden globe, which the boy absorbs it into his heart. The manager reappears and wishes the boy a pleasant journey. The boy runs through golden fields, soon joined by other running figures.

 

They leap into the air and fall toward Earth - where they will be born.

The show is very pretty, although there's a distressing ten-frame video glitch at 3:23. But it's tepid stuff. The boy is clearly a preborn soul, collecting the attributes that will make him unique, and then jumping to meet his pregnant mother. Other than that, the show doesn't have a thought, or at least an original thought, in its head. What's the significance of the gem-collecting ogre king? No idea, except to pad out a very short runtime and even shorter dialog script.

The voice cast is:

• Tadokora Asuza (the boy, Sora) played Aoi, Karen, and Yuzu in the Aikatsu! franchise, Iyo in Big Order, Ryoma in Kami-tachi ni Hirowareta Otoko, Hiro in Himegoto, Caerina in Leadale, Itsuki in Mononogatari, Miharu in Pop in Q, Astaroth in Sin Nanatsu no Taizai, Mei in SSSS.Dynazenon, Symboli in the Uma Musume franchise, and Mohoro in Yashahime.
• Yamamoto Kazutomi (the bird, Carl) played Mochizuki in Another, Mimic in Blood Lad, Leonardo in Chaika: Blood Princess, Isao in Gleipnir, Kousuke in Love Stage!!, Lance in Hoshi no Samidare, Tsuyoshi in Nichijou, Ibuki in Shounen Maid, and Min-su in Akatsuki no Yona.
• Tooru Nara (the king) played multiple smaller roles in Boku no Hero Academia, Shingeki no Kyojin, Dorohedoro, Youkai Watch, Kiseijuu, Chihayafuru, One Outs, and numerous other shows.
• Shiraishi Kento (the manager) played Moruda in Kirei ni Shite Moraemasu ka, Nanasuke and other roles in Yashahime, and Seiji in Busamen Gachi Fighter.

The animation studio, Buemon, is relatively unknown, but they also animated 2016's Anime Tamago OVA Kaze no Matasaburou, an Orphan release.

For this show, Darkonius translated and timed. Perry Dimes translation checked. darkcart edited. I typeset and QCed. TougeWolf also QCed. The raw is from Gecko and is the only one available. This is a joint Inka-Orphan release.

Sora and the Big Tree is not one of the better Young Animators' Training Project efforts. It's good-looking, but it's insipid, and it vanishes from the mind the moment it's over. As Galaxy Apartment Cosmo Hills demonstrated, half-length OVAs can be a lot better. Meanwhile, you can get this show from the usual torrent site.

Growing Up

Seishun Anime Zenshuu (translated as Animated Classics of Japanese Literature for its English release) is a 1986 anthology series that retold well-known stories from modern Japanese literature. It's very much in the mold of its contemporaries, the World Masterpiece Theater series. Most of the 34 episodes were standalone, although there were a few two- and three-parters. The show was licensed by Central Park Media, but the English version was left incomplete when CPM went bankrupt. Only twelve episodes were released on DVD:

• Episode 1: The Izu Dancer by Kawabata Yasunari. 
• Episodes 2,3: The Sound of Waves by Mishima Yukio.
• Episodes 7,8: Botchan by Souseki Natsume.
• Episode 10: The Dancing Girl by Ougai Mori.
• Episode 14: Growing Up by Higuchi Ichiyou.
• Episode 16: A Ghost Story by Lafcadio Hearn.
• Episode 20: Season of the Sun by Ishihara Shintarou.
• Episodes 25,26: The Harp of Burma by Takeyama Michio.
• Episode S1 (33): Student Days by Kume Masao.

This episode, Growing Up, is based on the novella Takekurabe (Comparing Heights) by Higuchi Ichiyou. It has been adapted for film twice and for TV twice.

The story revolves around four young teenagers growing up in Meij-era Yoshiwara, the red light district. Midori is a playful 14-year-old girl, whose family lives in the Daikoku brothel.

Her older sister is a courtesan there, and Midori is supposed to become one was well. Shin is a 15-year-old boy, the son of the Ryuge temple's head priest.

He is training to be a Buddhist priest himself. Chokichi is the leader of the "back-street" gang. 

He is a hot-tempered and violent bully. Finally, Shotaro is the leader of the "main-street" gang. He is the son of a local pawnbroker, well-educated but naive.

On the eve of the Senzoku Shrine summer festival, Shota and Midori are planning a magic lantern show for the festival, with Sangoro,the "class clown" of the back-street gang, as narrator. 

However, Chokichi intends to ambush Shota at Midori's home. The latter is summoned away by his mother before Chokichi shows up. In the ensuing fracas, Chokichi beats up Sangoro, hits Midori in the head with a sandal, and calls her a whore. 

He even claims (incorrectly) that Shin supports these actions. Midori resolves never to speak to Shin again and resigns herself to being a courtesan. 

Shin, overwhelmed with guilt about what happened and too shy to speak to Midori, decides to become a priest. 

Despite several opportunities to speak and reconcile, they go their separate ways. All four are now on their paths to adulthood - paths over which they had little say and no control.

The art work in Growing Up is interesting and often beautiful, portraying Yoshiwara as an Edo-era throwback. 

Still, the show is very downbeat in portraying the realities of late Meiji hierarchical society. Children had little agency and no freedom. Their life choices were almost preordained by their positions in society. Parental pressures in traditional societies were overwhelming, and the aspirations of childhood were ground underfoot.

One note: when Shota visits Midori for the last time, she's is a bad mood and exclaims that she doesn't want to grow up. Her mother says, with a smirk, that she has "to start steaming the rice now." This is the red bean rice traditionally made for a girl's first period. For Midori, it means she is now old enough to become a courtesan:

 

The voice cast includes:

• Yamamoto Yuriko (Midori) played the title roles in Lady Georgie, Hello! Sandybell, Mahou Tsukai Sally 2, and the Iczer OVAs. She also played the title roles in Nora, Twinkle Nora Rock Me, and Tomoe's Run!, Rihabi and Sayuri in Stop!! Hibari-kun!, Maki in Choujikuu Romanesque Samy: MISSING 99, and Telenne in High Speed Jecy, all Orphan releases. 
• Nanba Keiichi (Shin) played the title role in Choujin Locke, Lundi in Honoo no Alpenrose: Jeudi & Lund, Uesugi in Touch, Schneider in Captain Tsubasa, and Junta in DNA2. He also played Shiroyama Tsugunobu in Junk Boy, Eizawa in Chameleon, Kujou Kazuomi in Oshare Kozou wa Hanamaru, Hongou in Nozomi Witches, Kirk in Ai to Ken no Camelot, and gave an over-the-top performance as Roll the vengeful wizard in Girl from Fantasia, all Orphan releases. 
• Shioya Yoku (Shotaro) played the title roles in Kariage-kun and the Umi no Triton TV series and movies, Ryouta in Slam Dunk, Jinpei the Swallow in Gatchaman, and Cosmo Yuki in Space Runaway Ideon. He played Ritt in Samurai Gold, Tsuri in Tenjou Hen: Utsu no Miko, Yuzuru in Laughing Target, Mickey in Milky Passion: Dougenzaka - Ai no Shiro, Mizuki in Nayuta, and Zhuge Jun in the first Sangokushi movie, all Orphan releases.
• Chiba Shigeru (Chokichi) played Megane in the Urusei Yatsura franchise and Nezumi in later GeGeGe no Kitarou movies. He played the title role in Kigyou Senshi Yamazaki: Long Distance Call and Watanabe Tsukasa in Tsuyoshi Shikkari Shinasai: Tsuyoshi no Time Machine de Shikkari Shinasai, and he and appeared in Ai no Kusabi, Akai Hayate, Bagi, Condition Green, and Yamato 2520, all Orphan releases.
• Tatsuta Naoki (Sangoro, a member of Chokichi's gang) played Oolong in the Dragonball franchise, the Cat Bus in My Neighbor Totoro, and Beta in New Dream Hunter Rem. He appeared in every GeGeGe no Kitarou series since 1985 and in One Pound Gospel, Amon Saga and Wolf Guy, all Orphan releases. 
• Kikuchi Masami (Bunji, a member of Chokichi's gang) starred as the male leads in the Tenchi Muyo, Aa! Megami-sama!, and Comic Party franchises. He played Murakami Mamoru in Magma Taishi, Iwayma Genzaburo in Princess Army, Terayama Suekichi in Asatte Dance, Makoto in Doukyuusei 2, Yukino Hiro in Houkago no Tinker Bell, and Taira no Kiyomori the younger in Genji, Part 1, and he appeared in Fukuyama Gekijou, all Orphan releases. His "Magma Taishiiiii!" at the end of each preview is unmistakable.
• Suzuki Kiyonobu (Ushimatsu, a member of Chokichi's gang) appeared in Akai Hayate, Bagi, Exper Zenon, and the Hiatari Ryoukou movie, all Orphan releases. He played Festa in Fang of the Sun Dougram, Dalph in Gordion the Warrior, Kotaro in The Kabocha Wine, and Reese in Sylvanian Families: Mini Stories.
• Mine Atsuko (Midori's mother) played Tarou in Sensou Douwa: Aoi Hitomi no Onnako no Ohanashu, Miwa, the artist's wife, in Lunn Flies into the Wind, and Maris' mother in Maris the Choujo, all Orphan release, as well as Tohdoh Yuki in Yawara
• Sakamoto Chika (Oyoshi) played Campanella in Night on the Galactic Railway, the title role in Tsuruhime, Nonoko in Tobira wo Akete, Tendonman in the Soreike! Anpanman franchise, and Agumon in the Digimon franchise. She appeared as Da in Galaxy Apartment Cosmo Hills, Kijimuna in the Utsu no Miko movie, Miko in Ohoshi-sama no Rail, Yasuda Yumiki in Nine, Kometora in Charapno Land no Bouken, and Suzume's erstwhile love interest, Katagiri-kun, in Stop!! Hibari-kun!, all Orphan releases.
• Suzuki Reiko (Yone) usually played elderly women. She appeared as Matsuda's mother in Yawara!, Megabaa in Dennou Coil, Jakotsu-baba in the 2007 version of GeGeGe no Kitarou, Kyousuke's grandmother in the Kimagure Orange Road franchise, and old lady Honke in My Neighbor Totoro. She also appeared in Ohoshi-sama no Rail, Tsuki ga Noboru made ni, and Eguchi Hisashi no Nantoko Narudesho!, all Orphan releases.
• Sawaki Ikuya (rickshaw man/Akio) played Gooley in the Dirty Pair franchise. He also played Captain Marco in Tottoi, Gonbei the cat in Satsujin Kippu wa Heart-iro, Samuel Hunter in Wolf Guy, Masayoshi Hotta in Hidamari no Ki, Barry in Joker: Marginal City, Alan in Mother Saigo no Shoujo Eve, Itakura Shirouemon in Sanada 10, and the Kaiser in Apfelland Monogatari, as well as bit parts in Dallos, Heart Cocktail, and Chameleon, all Orphan releases.
• Kanemoto Shingo (Shin's father) played Takezo Inukai in Dokaben, Ryuu the Owl in Gatchaman, Housaku in Kyojin no Hoshi, Ishii in It Rained Fire, and Pang Tong in Sangokushi 2. The last two are Orphan releases.

The director, Kumada Isamu, also directed A Ghost Story.

The original subtitles are from CPM's R1 release. Perevodildo translation checked, and Muzussawa filled in some missing lines. (This episode probably has the most changes to the R1 script of any so far.) ninjacloud fixed the original timing. I edited and typeset. Paul Geromini and Nemesis QCed. The encoder for the series wishes to remain anonymous. CPM's mastering includes hardsubbed translations for some of the Japanese credits. They are incorrectly timed and don't line up with the Japanese credits, but as hardsubs, they can't be fixed.

Growing Up is not my favorite episode of this series, but it's an earnest look at social conditions in late 19th century Japan, with interesting and rather tragic characters. You can get the show from the usual torrent site.

Shounen Jack to Mahou Tsukai

As promised (or threatened), Orphan is releasing more of the early Toei Douga anime movies; in this case, the 1967 tenth anniversary release, Shounen Jack to Mahou Tsukai (translated for its US release as Jack and the Witch). This is a lively comedy adventure, loosely (very loosely) inspired by the Old English saga Beowulf, read and despised by generations of put-upon English literature students.

The movie opens with a brief nod to its source: a portentous voice talks of a hero's valorous defeat of Grendel and the great feast that followed.

This is promptly forgotten, and action cuts to Jack, a young boy of indeterminate age, maybe a teenager, maybe a bit younger. Stocky and pimpled, he lives in a rambling house with his animal companions: a mouse named Squeaky, a bear named Pooh, a fox (unnamed), and a dog (also unnamed). 

Cruising around one day in his steam-driven car, which he also rides inside the house, Jack encounters a mysterious girl named Kiki, who is piloting a sort-of helicopter. She offers him a ride. 

He accepts, and she whisks him and Sqeuaky off to the castle of the evil witch Grendel and her crow familiar. 

Kiki, it turns out, is a demon and Grendel's servant. She and the other demons, including her brother Shibari, a rope master, are tasked with kidnapping humans and animals and bringing them to the castle to be turned into demons. 

Squeaky is caught, but Jack manages to escape and return to his house.

The next day, to avenge the humiliation of Jack's escape, Kiki comes back in her copter and kidnaps Jack's house, with Jack and his companions inside. They cut themselves loose, bring down Kiki's copter, and are about to finish her off when Jack has second thoughts (she's a girl, after all). 

He hesitates long enough for Kiki to escape. Jack and his friends return to the demon castle to liberate Squeaky, but Kiki, who claims she now wants to help, has set a trap for them. Slapstick mayhem, preposterous adventures, and narrow escapes ensue,

until the villainous witch is defeated, and Kiki, Shibari, and the other demons are returned to their human form. 

This summary can't convey how loose and funny the movie is. Toei's animation style had evolved substantially since the rounded, smooth, Disney-esque days of Hakujaden and Saiyuuki. Shounen Jack is more angular, abrupt, and, well cartoonish. Jack doesn't look like a typical shounen hero; he looks like a young adolescent, bad complexion and all. The movie is visually inventive, fast paced, and very engaging. Except for the saccharine ending song to accompany the happy-ever-after ending, the songs are bright, comical, and functionally integrated with the slapstick story. It even has a sly wink for the adults seeing the movie: Kiki's brother's name, Shibari, means rope bondage.

The voice cast is from another era:

• Yamaoka Hisano (Witch Grendel) was an actress. She had no other anime credits.
• Nakamura Meiko (Kiki, Young Jack) played the title roles in Henbe and Uchuujin Pipi. She voiced all the roles in Koneko no Studio, an Orphan release.
• Kuri Chiharu (Kiki's brother Shibari) appeared in several Toei anime movies, including Wanpaku Ouji no Orochi Taiji, Andersen Monogatari, and Chibikko Remi to Meiken Kapi.
• Ootake Hiroshi (Fox) played Tezuka-sensei in Fushigi na Melmo, Michael in the What's Michael? OVAs, Hamegg in Tezuka Osamu Ga Kieta?! 20 Seiki Saigo no Kaijiken, and the principal in Don Dracula. The last three are Orphan releases.
• Kumakura Kazuo (Pooh) appeared in both the 1963 and 1980 versions of Astro Boy. He played Papa Panda in Panda Gopanda, Oz in The Wizard of Oz movie, Thomas R. Manx Cat in Manxmouse, Sima Hui in Sangokushi, Pew in Shin Takarajima, and Inspector Unmei in Akuma Tou no Prince: Mitsume ga Tooru. The last four are Orphan releases.
• Kuroyanagi Tetsuko (Squeaky) is the daughter of Kuroyanagi Cho. She was a prominent character in Chocchan Monogatari and the main character in Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window. She played Petronella van Daan in The Diary of Ann Frank, an Orphan release.
• Mizugaki Youko (Dog) played Uran in the original Astro Boy, Touch in Hustle Punch, and Mauni in Taiyou no Ouji: Horus no Daibouken, an Orphan release.

The director, Yabushita Taiji, also directed Hyokkori Hyoutanjima, Hito no Kurashi no Hyakumannen: Mani Mani March, and Nihon Manga Eiga Hattatsushi: Anime Shingajou. None of them have available raws.

Perevodildo translated and timed. Yume translation checked. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. The raw is a web rip from heponeko. It is the best available; the movie has never been released on Blu-ray or broadcast in high-definition.

Shounen Jack to Mahou Tsukai was licensed in the US by American International Pictures (AIP), best known for the Roger Corman horror films and the Frankie Avalon/Annette Funicello beach party pictures, and released as Jack and the Witch. Unlike 1960's Saiyuuki, which was butchered for its American release as Alakazam the Great, the video of Shounen Jack to Mahou Tsukai  was left more or less intact. This would allow the dub, taken from ARR's release, to be used. However, the dub is a completely rewritten script and is not even remotely a translation of the Japanese. Accordingly, I've left it out. You can download a patch to create a dual audio version, with an additional signs-only subtitle track, from here.

Shounen Jack to Mahou Tsukai is a rollicking good time, one of the better Toei Douga anime movies from the 1960s. It has laughs, thrills, and chills for audiences of all ages, and the mandatory happy ending seems properly earned. You can get the movie from the usual torrent site.

A Ghost Story (Hoichi the Earless)

Seishun Anime Zenshuu (translated as Animated Classics of Japanese Literature for its English release) is a 1986 anthology series that retold well-known stories from modern Japanese literature. It's very much in the mold of its contemporaries, the World Masterpiece Theater series. Most of the 34 episodes were standalone, although there were a few two- and three-parters. The show was licensed by Central Park Media, but the English version was left incomplete when CPM went bankrupt. Only twelve episodes were released on DVD:

• Episode 1: The Izu Dancer by Kawabata Yasunari. 
• Episodes 2,3: The Sound of Waves by Mishima Yukio.
• Episodes 7,8: Botchan by Souseki Natsume.
• Episode 10: The Dancing Girl by Ougai Mori.
• Episode 14: Growing Up by Higuchi Ichiyou.
• Episode 16: A Ghost Story by Lafcadio Hearn.
• Episode 20: Season of the Sun by Ishihara Shintarou.
• Episodes 25,26: The Harp of Burma by Takeyama Michio.
• Episode S1 (33): Student Days by Kume Masao.

Once again, going out of order for Reasons™ to present A Ghost Story: The Story of Hoichi. It's based on a story in the collection Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcadio Hearn. He's a fascinating character: a Greek-Irish orphan who emigrated first to the United States and then to Japan, where he settled down, married, and wrote the first widely-read English-language books on Japan. A Ghost Story is based on a well-known Japanese legend and has been included in two movies.

Hoichi is a blind biwa (Japanese lute) player at the Amidaji Temple. 

His specialty is The Tale of the Heike, an epic account of the Genpei War between the Minamoto (Genji) clan and  Taira (Heike) clans, which ended with a decisive Genji victory at the naval battle of Dan-no-Ura. One evening, a gruff samurai asks Hoichi to play for a noblewoman, who is supposedly visiting incognito.

His playing overwhelms his audience, and they are moved to tears. 

He is asked to play again the next night. On the third night, his friends, concerned about his deteriorating appearance, follow him and find him playing in the temple graveyard, where the Taira dead are buried. He has been playing for ghosts. 

The head priest tells Hoichi that he is in danger of being possessed and consumed by the spirits. The priest covers Hoichi in sutras to protect him. 

When the ghost samurai returns, he cannot see most of Hoichi because of the sutras; only the musician's ears are visible. 

The samurai rips off Hoichi's ears as proof that he had tried to bring the musician again, but the spell on Hoichi is broken. He survives, earless, and becomes a living legend.

A Ghost Story is quite good: atmospheric, moody, and foreboding. Unlike most animated ghost stories, it doesn't rely on jump cuts or copious bloodshed to build a sense of dread. Hoichi's biwa playing and singing, heavy on prolonged phrases and minor keys, provide an aural tapestry that matches the plot and the visuals. This is the strongest of the Animated Classics series so far.

The voice cast includes:

• Etou Jun (Hoichi) is an actor. He has only one other anime credit.
• Utsumi Kenji (Samurai Ghost) played Roah in Fist of the North Star, Kaioh in Fist of the North Star 2, Senbei Norimaki in Dr. Slump and Arale-chan, the village chief in Watt Poe, and Alex Louis Armstrong in both versions of Fullmetal Alchemist. He played Ishikawa in Mahjong Hishouden: Naki no Ryuu and appeared in Nora, Bavi Stock, Stop!! Hibari-kun!, Techno Police 21C, Don Dracula (title role), 15 Shounen Hyouruuki, and Sanada 10, all Orphan releases. appeared in Nora, Bavi Stock, Stop!! Hibari-kun!, Techno Police 21C, Don Dracula (title role), 15 Shounen Hyouruuki, and Sanada 10, all Orphan releases.
• Takizawa Kumiko (Lady Attendant) played Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz (movie). She  played Madonna in Botchan (1986), Elena in Techno Police 21C, Kanako's mother in Boyfriend, Susan the gangster in The Green Cat, and appeared in Raiyantsuuri no Uta, Fumoon, Makoto-chan, and Scoopers, all Orphan releases.
• Kinomiya Ryouko (Taira no Tokiko - Nii no Ama) played Mozu in Fumoon, an Orphan release, Promethium in the Galaxy Express 999 franchise, the narrator in Queen Millennia, and Madame du Barry in The Rose of Versailles.
• Kitagawa Takurou (Yasuke) played Green Dragon in Dragon Knight and Private Baba in The Harp of Burma. He played Hosoki in Meisou-Ou Border and appeared in Utsu no Miko, both Orphan releases.
• Shioya Yoku (Young Priest) played the title roles in Kariage-kun and the Umi no Triton TV series and movies, Ryouta in Slam Dunk, Jinpei the Swallow in Gatchaman, and Cosmo Yuki in Space Runaway Ideon. He played Shotaro in Growing Up, Ritt in Samurai Gold, Tsuri in Tenjou Hen: Utsu no Miko, Yuzuru in Laughing Target, Mickey in Milky Passion: Dougenzaka - Ai no Shiro, Mizuki in Nayuta, and Zhuge Jun in the first Sangokushi movie, all Orphan releases.
• Fujimoto Yuzuru (Chief Priest) played Hiyoshi in both reasons of Moyashimon. He voiced the nameless Aoba gang boss in Kasei Yakyoku, the nameless police chief in Twinkle Nora Rock Me, Miyata Terukichi in The Sound of Waves, and Noah in Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament, all Orphan releases.

The director, Kumada Isamu, also directed Growing Up. 

The original subtitles are from CPM's R1 release. Perevodildo translation checked. kokujin-kun filled in song lines omitted from the R1 subs. ninjacloud fixed the original timing. I edited and typeset. Paul Geromini and Nemesis QCed. The encoder for the series wishes to remain anonymous. CPM's mastering includes hardsubbed translations for some of the Japanese credits. They are incorrectly timed and don't line up with the Japanese credits, but as hardsubs, they can't be fixed.

A Ghost Story doesn't go for easy shocks and cheap effects. It builds slowly and steadily to an effective climax, and it makes the tragedy of the Taira clan's disastrous end manifest. You can get the show from the usual torrent site.

 

Botchan (1986)

Seishun Anime Zenshuu (translated as Animated Classics of Japanese Literature for its English release) is a 1986 anthology series that retold well-known stories from modern Japanese literature. It's very much in the mold of its contemporaries, the World Masterpiece Theater series. Most of the 34 episodes were standalone, although there were a few two- and three-parters. The show was licensed by Central Park Media, but the English version was left incomplete when CPM went bankrupt. Only twelve episodes were released on DVD:

• Episode 1: The Izu Dancer by Kawabata Yasunari. 
• Episodes 2,3: The Sound of Waves by Mishima Yukio.
• Episodes 7,8: Botchan by Souseki Natsume.
• Episode 10: The Dancing Girl by Ougai Mori.
• Episode 14: Growing Up by Higuchi Ichiyou.
• Episode 16: A Ghost Story by Lafcadio Hearn.
• Episode 20: Season of the Sun by Ishihara Shintarou.
• Episodes 25,26: The Harp of Burma by Takeyama Michio.
• Episode S1 (33): Student Days by Kume Masao.

This time, we're releasing a two-part adaptation of Botchan. It's based on a wildly popular 1906 autobiographical novel by Souseki Natsume. The novel was adapted for the movies at least five times. It was also adapted as an anime in 1980; Orphan released that version in 2020.

The protagonist is a Tokyo resident and a recent college graduate. He is not named; his faithful old servant, Kiyo, calls him "Botchan" (young master). He accepts a job teaching mathematics at a boarding school in Matsuyama, Shikoku, which is about as far away from Tokyo as you can get in Japan.

He immediately gives all his colleagues nicknames:

• The slippery principal is "Tanuki"
  
  
  
  
  
• The flannel-wearing vice principal is "Red Shirt"
  
  
  
  
  
• Red Shirt's obsequious hanger-on, Yoshikawa, is "Buffoon" (nodaiko, field radish)
  
  
  
  
  
• The bluff head math teacher, Hotta, is "Porcupine" (yama arashi, which also means "mountain storm")
  
  
  
  
  
• The timid English teacher, Koga, is "Unprepared" (uranari, unripe gourd)

and so on. Botchan has had no training as a teacher, and his students tease him for his Tokyo accent, his gargantuan appetite, and his love of hot springs. 

When they place locusts in his futon, Red Shirt lies to him and tells him Hotta instigated the prank. 

Our hot-headed hero promptly breaks off relations with Hotta.

Later, Botchan finds out the truth: Red Shirt is a conniving liar. The vice principal has stolen Koga's beautiful fiance and is trying to get rid of Hotta. 

He even frames Botchan and Hotta when they try to stop a fight between their students and the normal school students. The two conspire to expose Red Shirt's hypocrisy by catching him in flagrante delicto with a geisha. Ultimately, they deliver rough justice to the vice principal and leave town. 

Botchan returns to Tokyo and the comfort of his old retainer, Kiyo.

I've already worked on this story once, and I liked the 1980 TV special better than this one. It has better character designs, livelier animation, and a lot more comedy. This version of Botchan is straightforward, almost pedestrian, like all the adaptations in the Animated Classics series. It is also much shorter; it omits the story of the protagonist's life before he leaves for Matsuyama.

A couple of translation notes.

• Localization of the nicknames can be iffy. The R1 subs used "Weakling" for Koga, which seems rather harsh. Uranari connotes unripe or not ready; hence, "Unprepared." The kanji for Hotta's nickname actually precludes "Porcupine," but it was used in older translations. Orphan's earlier version used the romanized Japanese.
• Normal schools (shihan gakkou) were teacher training schools that eventually became broad-based educational institutions.

The voice actors include:

• Yasuhara Yoshito (Botchan) played Scarecrow in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (TV), Ranze's father in Tokimeki Tonight (which Orphan finished), and Louis XVI in The Rose of Versailles. He starred as Kyousuke in Techno Police 21C and played the Black Night in Tobira o Akete and Yoshito in King Fang. All three are Orphan releases..
• Iizuka Shouzou (Hotta/Porcupine) played the Captain in The Sound of Waves and appeared in Yamato 2025, the What's Michael? OVAs, Neko no Midori, Rain Boy, and Hi-Speed Jecy, all Orphan releases. He played Lestrade in Sherlock Hound, Jumba in the Stitch! franchise, the wizard in The Wonderful Galaxy of Oz, and Humpty Dumpty in Alice in Wonderland.
• Nakamura Tadashi (Red Shirt) played Ahmad in Macro Polo no Bouken, Tetsuhara in the Kyojin no Hoshi franchise, and Quincy in Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 1940.
• Kamiyama Takuzou (Principal/Tanuki) appeared in Manxmouse, Bagi, and Prime Rose, all Orphan releases. He also played Greg Gates in Area 88, Shalulu in Castle in the Sky, Dracula in Dororon Enma-kun, Werewolf in the Kaibutsu-kun properties, Dayon in Osomatsu-kun, and Tinman in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
• Hase Sanji (Yoshikawa/Buffoon) played Shuunen in the Ikyuu-san properties, Kazuo in The Kabocha Wine, Nanako-san in the Kinnikuman franchise, and Cyborg 006 in Cyborg 009 (1979)
• Ogata Kenichi (Botchan's first landlord) played Yamada in It Rained Fire, a paper merchant in The Izu Dancer, the put-upon father in Maroko, Suzuki in Kigyou Senshi Yamazaki: Long Distance call, the crooked casino boss in Okane ga Nai!, the Hong Kong chef in Yuukan Club, Chichi's father in Chiisana Koi no Monogatari, the business chief in Okama Hakusho, Tadinori Tachimi, the Terayama family lawyer, in Asatte Dance, and the Narrator/Lord of Kaga in Oedo wa Nemurenai!, all Orphan releases. He also played Smee in Peter Pan no Bouken and Gran Torino in Boku no Hero Academia. However, he's best known to me as the voice of Ranma 1/2's Sataome Gemna, whose alter ego - the grumpy panda - is my avatar on most anime forums.
• Kyouda Hisako (Kiyo) played Minuet in Bremen 4, the Witch in Adachigahara, Yoshiko in the Black Jack segment of Kyoto Animation Theater, and the maid in Lunn Flies into the Wind, all Orphan releases. She also played Sawa in Mermaid Forest, Tama in Mushishi, Obaba in Nausicaa, Darkness in Peter Pan, Yoshi Tamazaki in Showa Monogatari, Rin in the Stratos 4 properties, and Magno Vivan in Vandread.
• Hayashi Kazuo (Koga/Weakling) played Yasuo Nanbu in the Yamato franchise and Gije Zaral in Space Runaway Ideon.
• Takizawa Kumiko (Madonna) played Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz (movie). She  played Elena in Techno Police 21C, Kanako's mother in Boyfriend, Susan the gangster in The Green Cat, and appeared in Raiyantsuuri no Uta, Fumoon, Makoto-chan, and Scoopers, all Orphan releases.
• Hanagata Keiko (Mrs. Hagino, Botchan's second landlord) appeared in Belle and Sebastian, Hajime Ningen Gyatoruz, A Little Princess Sara, and Shounen Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The director, Kondou Eisuke, also directed Gonbare Gonbe.

The original subtitles are from CPM's R1 release. Perevodildo translation checked. ninjacloud fixed the original timing. I edited and typeset. Paul Geromini and Nemesis QCed. The encoder for the series wishes to remain anonymous. CPM's mastering includes hardsubbed translations for some of the Japanese credits. They are incorrectly timed and don't line up with the Japanese credits, but as hardsubs, they can't be fixed. 

As I've already said, I think the 1980 version of Botchan is better, but this one is a lot shorter, so if you want to get the gist of the story, this version might be for you. You can get these episodes from the usual torrent site.