Miyuki - Forever Selection

Blame BakaBT for this.

When I offered the Miyuki batch on BakaBT, Al_Sleeper asked about including the AMV (animated music video) special called Forever Selection, which offers nine songs in complete form set to excerpts and stills from the series. The FroZen-EviL team hadn't considered the special important and hadn't encoded or scripted it. I didn't want to include a random Internet raw in the batch, and BakaBT didn't want to accept the torrent without it. So a compromise of sorts was reached: the batch went up with just the 37 TV episodes, and Saiei's version of the AMV went up separately.

Even though it's a music video, Forever Selection includes a small amount of dialog. I decided to make a script for the dialog. While I was at it, I included the signs that had been typeset as well. The result was never formally offered, although I posted a patch file to add the script.

However, I was quite dissatisfied with the result. The Saiei raw suffers from a lot of jitter, because it hadn't been put through image stabilization during the encode process. It doesn't "fit" with the rest of the series, video-wise. Accordingly, I badgered Skr, the series' encoder, to do Forever Selection. He graciously agreed. I adapted my script to the new raw, which required redoing all the typesetting because of the much-reduced amount of jitter, and now the special is released.

Forever Selection does not include song translations. All of the songs in the TV episodes are excerpts from longer pieces, and the full-length versions were never translated. Still, even as just an AMV with a bit of dialog and some signs, it's a nice reminder of the show and its soundtrack. I hope you enjoy it.

This version has been added into the batch on BakaBT and the separate AMV has been deleted.

The One(s) That Got Away

All cultural media suffer from artifact loss, as a result of time or changes in taste. Time causes books to decay, photographs to fade, movies to disintegrate, etc. Changes in taste relegate yesterday's popular art to the status of curiosities or embarrassments, best forgotten.

Another source of loss, though, is technology change and the costs it imposes. As media change over time, some works get left on the wrong side of the technology divide and become increasingly difficult to find or, if found, to play. For example, quite a few obscure folk music records or cassettes never made it to CD, because the economic justification for remastering was lacking. One of the goals of my retirement is to digitize my remaining LP and cassette collections, while I still have equipment to play them.

The world of anime is filled with examples of works that were stranded on VHS or at best Laserdisc and never made it to DVD or streaming digital format. Indeed, several of Orphan's projects have been directed at marooned shows. For example, the Maze special never made it beyond VHS; Sei Michela Gakuen Hyouryuuki and Yamato 2520 never made it beyond Laserdisc. Of course, there's a temporal component to this too. Orphan subbed Blazing Transfer Student off a Laserdisc rip, because that was the only version available, and then a BluRay version was released. FroZen-EviL subbed the two Yawara! specials off VHS and Laserdisc (obtained at considerable expense, I might add), only to see both included in the final Yawara! BluRay box set. Even Gosenzosama Banbanzai has been released on DVD. As long as masters exist, there's reason to hope.

Still, some shows seem doomed to be Left Behind. When Maze was released on DVD, its ecchiness was toned down considerably. The special doesn't fit with the current DVD release. Yamato 2520 is probably irretrievably tangled in legal difficulties about ownership and copyrights. Bakumatsu no Spasibo, a 1997 feature length film originally recommended by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, may have been a casualty of deteriorating relations between Russia and Japan. Other shows suffer from lack of demand. Is anyone really waiting for DVD versions of Hi-Speed Jecy or Hashire Melos or An Adventure in the Otaku Galaxy or AWOL, to name just a few shows available only on VHS or Laserdisc?

However, there are some items whose fate is mysterious: they simply never showed up on any medium. One example is the Maze movie. It certainly existed and played in theaters, but it has never been released on any consumer medium: not VHS, not LaserDisc, not DVD. Another is the long version of the Elfen Lied opening, Lilium. A full-length version must have existed, because excerpts from beyond the opening are quoted in other places in the series, but it was never released. And in both cases, no one seems to know why. Damaged masters? Rights conflicts? The mystery remains unsolved.

What anime shows are on your list of "the ones that got away"?

[Updated 24-Apr-2015]

D4 Princess (Take Four)

Starting off 2015 with a bang, Orphan Fansubs presents D4 Princess. This short-episode series has a long and checkered history. It was subbed back in the VHS days, but numerous attempts to do a DVD version came to grief. Anime SkyScraper (the aptly named ASS) did six episodes and stopped. DmonHiro did six episodes and stopped. Animeyoshi started a project but gave up before releasing anything. tipota encoded all 24 episodes and put together softsubs from the original VHS fansubs, but the subs were inaccurate, lacked previews, and had no typesetting to speak of.

Most of these projects got underway because CP, QC extraordinaire, owned the R2J DVDs and offered them to any serious-sounding team, with little luck. Accordingly, Orphan decided in early 2013 to sub the show. Our highly prolific translator, laalg, ripped through all 24 episodes in a matter of weeks, translation-checking DmonHiro's version of the first six episodes and translating the last eighteen from scratch. Skr encoded the first six episodes, and by the summer of 2013, those episodes were in relatively good shape. And then, the curse of D4 Princess struck, and everything just stopped.

There were a couple of problems. First, laalg had worked from the VHS encode, which lacked previews, so there were no previews for episodes 7-24. Second, tipota released his version, which took a lot of the urgency out of the project. Third, the series required  general translation checking as well as translation of additional signs and the previews, and no one had the bandwidth. And most importantly, the series proved to be a typesetting nightmare, far beyond my capabilities at the time. As a result, the project stalled out for eighteen months.

Then, in early November, 2014, the stars suddenly aligned. tipota's encode included the previews. convexity translated all the previews and missing signs, and then translation checked the last eighteen episodes, in a matter of weeks. ninjacloud joined the group and timed all the episodes in rapid succession. Through practice on the Lion Books series and Hanaukyo Maid Tai, I had acquired just enough understanding of motion capture typesetting to handle the signs; I edited the scripts as well. Juggen supplied a suitably bouncy karaoke for the bouncy ending song. CP, Calyrica, and konnakude QCd the episodes in rapid succession. In less than two months, all 24 episodes were finished, in time for a New Year's release.

So what of the show itself? Well, like many Orphan projects, it's no masterpiece. (Collectr's Law of Orphaned Anime: If a show has been abandoned by multiple subbing groups, it's probably for a good reason.) Ruridou Doris is a spoiled 13-year-old, the third Princess of the Rasen Empire. She's also a panzer, a person who can transform a household appliance or tool into a personal mecha. She's about to start attending Teito Toho Academy, a prestigious private school for the ultra-wealthy (the dorm rooms are bigger than most apartments, and it has a private subway), where she will be able to practice her panzer skills freely. Unfortunately, Doris is unaware that real life doesn't come with butlers and maids and that her panzer form, which includes a drill on her head and a mahou-shoujo outfit, is rather lame.

The series starts out as a fish-out-of-water comedy about a spoiled rich girl but transforms pretty rapidly into a girl-battles-girl mecha combat show. Doris's older sister, Doria, a famous panzer, shows up to train Doris for combat. Doris, called "The Drill Princess" because her panzer weapon is a drill, fights set-piece battles against Takaeda Hasami, aka "The Longhorn Beetle" (scissors based), Kurina Nozuru, aka "The Tornado Motor" (vacuum cleaner based), and Gaou Nejiru, aka "The Bloody Drill" (also drill based). The usual Serious Development sets in at episode 21 and is resolved by the end of the show.

D4 Princess suffers from a variety of problems. The animation is not great, with lots of chibis, still-frames, repeat sequences, and even some stick figures to stretch the budget. The tone varies wildly between slapstick comedy, mecha combat, and of course the dreaded Serious Development. The ending song is an earworm, particularly after 24 (or more) repetitions.

However, I see two more serious defects. First, the viewer is invited, rather too often, to ogle Doris's 13-year-old form (and those of her friends) in states of undress. Further, as Doris perfects her panzer skills, each stage of advancement endows her with bigger oppai and more revealing décolletage. I realize that the show was made 15 years ago, and that the Japanese have (or had) a different attitude about sexualizing young girls in anime, but I find it distasteful. Perhaps I've reached the same stage as the Danny Glover character in Lethal Weapon: I'm too old for this shit.

Second, the Serious Development is handled with a superficiality that is breathtaking. Doris undergoes a serious psychological trauma and is then magically cured by a single letter. I know 13-year-olds are resilient, but that is just ridiculous.

Well, as one team member remarked, if it wasn't the best show, at least it was short.

A couple of translation notes.

• The title, D4 Princess, references that Doris has the fourth Kaiser Drill in her family. The anime completely ignores the other three.
• Takaeda Hasami's panzer name is literally "The Longicorn Beetle." It has been rendered here as the more familiar "Longhorn Beetle."
• The interjection "mou" is rendered as "gee" rather than the more usual "geez" or "jeez," because that's how laalg preferred it - totally G-rated.

So here, at last, is an accurate, complete (and typeset) D4 Princess. In the end, CP didn't get to use his R2J DVDs for the project, unless his ISOs found their way to tipota, but he says he's satisfied with the result. More seriously, this release depletes the very last of the reservoir of scripts from laalg, whose extraordinary productivity fueled many of our projects for the past two years. Now we are truly Orphans.

2014 in Review

This is not a summary of my views on 2014's anime; why should you care? I didn't watch many shows. Instead, I was mostly working on editing projects, with a sideline of typesetting. Highlights included:

Orphan Fansubs

Without laalg, the team's prolific translator, the pace of work slowed. The group did more resubbing projects and fewer original translations. Still, Orphan completed twelve projects this year.

• Rain Boy, Lunn Flies into the Wind, Yamataro Comes Back, Adachigahara, Akuemon. Thanks to outstanding translation help from convexity and Moho Kareshi, we finished off Tezuka Osamu's Lion Book series. The shows range from sentimental fables (Rain Boy) to horror (Adachigahara) and illustrate the range of Tezuka Osamu's interests and talents. Along the way, I learned the basics of motion-capture typesetting, so the typesetting for the last four is better than for the first two, although it's still amateurish.
• Maze TV special. The notorious fanservice episode, subtitled in English for the first time as a public service to Maze devotees and anime connoisseurs alike.
• Yamato 2520. The notorious (for a different reason) incomplete sequel to the Yamato franchise, abandoned after three episodes. This was the first fully translated version in English.
• Sei Michaela Gakuen Hyouruuki. The token h-anime for the year (under the Orphan label, at least), distinguished by its mild content and wildly improbable and convoluted plot.
• The Adventures of Horus, Prince of the Sun. A resub project using neo1024's excellent subtitles and tipota's BluRay encode. A highly enjoyable family film, in the old-school tradition.
• Maroko. The baffling summary movie of the equally baffling OVA series, Gosenzosama Banbanzai! A resub project using Frostii/Ureshii subtitles and a sterling new encode by Skr.
• Amatsuki. A resub project using Ureshii subtitles and DVD encodes.
• Ranma 1/2 Live Action. Intended as a follow up to the very successful Usagi Drop live action project, it served to illustrate how variable the quality of Japanese live-action films can be - in this case, how bad the quality can be.

Orphan also established a formal h-anime sub-brand, Okizari, to allow for clearer labeling of h-anime releases; and at least one of the releases (Kunoichi Bakamatsu Kitan) was actually worth the effort.

The team has expanded a bit. It now includes three translators or translation checkers (convexity,  Moho Kareshi, and kokujin-kun), three timers (archdeco, ninjacloud, and Eternal_Blizzard), two typesetters (Juggen and me), four QCs (CP, Saji, konnakude, and Calyrica), and one editor (me). MrMew times the h-anime releases. macros74 pitches in on projects as well. Everyone has other commitments, but it's a fun group to work with.

Work for Other Groups

• Kiteseekers finished the first English translation of Limeiro Ryuukitan X, as well as the BluRay version of Hanaukyo Maid Tai, which turned out very well in my estimation.
• C1. My very first group has come back from beyond the grave, and I'm editing Kakyuusei 1999 for them. It's going slowly, as most back catalog projects do, but it got a pleasant boost when doll_licca was able to provide a DVD source for the series.
• FFF. I continue to work on TV resubs and BDs. TV shows included the utterly forgettable Golden Time and Seikoku no Dragonar and the far better Hoozuki no Reitetsu and Akatsuki no Yona. BDs included Hyakka Samurai Bride and Walkure Romanze, both guilty pleasures.
• WhyNot? I finished editing several incomplete series for the group, but they have not yet been released.
• FroZen-EviL finished Miyuki (and there was much rejoicing). Yawara! Blurays are next.
• Saizen roped me into Laughing Salesman and Psycho-Armor Govarian. On some of these shows, it's hard to tell the boundaries between Saizen, Live-EviL, Soldado, C1, and Orphan; the staffs overlap almost completely.
• m74. I edited a few shows for macros74 as he explored the back catalog through European releases and translations.
• ray=out. I finished editing Hiatari Ryoukou, but the show continues to roll out very slowly.
• Magai. I helped polish up Morellet's version of the charming The Rose and Joe.

I'm almost always willing to help out teams that need a hand... but I've become more particular about the kind of material I'll work on. Extremes of violence and moe are out of scope now, but sci-fi, slice of life, and cats never get old.

Looking Ahead

Next year's, Orphan will finish up D4 Princess and Tokimeki Tonight.  Beyond that, projects will be based on the team's interests and on the availability of raw materials. We'd all like to do more Tezuka Osamu, if raws are available. I'm working with LaserDisc encoders to see if we can get raws for series or OVAs that never made it to DVD or are only available as low-quality Internet raws. And I really want to do BluRay versions of Polar Bear Cafe and the Cosprayers trilogy; a different team is already working on Nodame Cantabile.

I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season and a joyous 2015. Thanks for reading, or watching, or both.

Miyuki, Complete (with Spoilers)

'Twas the night before Christmas...

FroZen(-Evil) has released the 37th and final episode of Miyuki. It's taken close to two years to do 37 episodes, or roughly an episode every three weeks. The team has stayed remarkably constant from start to finish:

• Translation: laalg
• Translation check: Tsubasa (1-30), kokujin-kun (30-37)
• Timing: Juggen (mostly), limpakos, Skr
• Karaokes: Juggen
• Editing: Collectr
• Typesetting: kokujin-kun
• QC: CP (all), Saji, sangofe, getfresh, limpakos, konnakude
• RC: Juggen
• Encoding: Skr
• Raw provider: CP (R2J DVDs)

Special thanks to getfresh for providing the original Miyuki no Tamari fansub scripts as a starting point for episodes 1-8, and to laalg for translating all 37 episodes in less than two months in the winter of 2013. The name change from FroZen-EviL to FroZen was due to some unimportant "dorama" in the team; Live-Evil staffers participated throughout. I've already discussed why Miyuki proceeded more slowly than Yawara! Given that the show aired in 1983, I don't think the delay matters all that much.

Perhaps of greater concern to viewers is that the series simply stops, with everything up in the air. The protagonist, Wakamatsu Masato, is still torn between the two Miyukis, although there's a hint about his ultimate direction. His sister is still being pursued by a host of inappropriate suitors. At least Kashima Miyuki is no longer slapping him every episode.

It's not surprising that Miyuki seemed to peter out. The anime didn't have a linear story line and adapted chapters from the manga sort of randomly. By the end of its third season, the TV series had plundered the first nine volumes more or less completely and run out of material. Rather than tack on an "anime-original" ending, the TV series just stopped. Perhaps the creators hoped to do a fourth season when the manga completed its run. It didn't happen.

So as a public service, I hereby present some Official Miyuki Spoilers! Yes, dear viewer, you don't have to be left in suspense any longer. In volume 11, an old friend of Masato, a talented soccer player named Sawada Yuuichi, returns to Japan and ends up staying in the Wakamatsu household. He falls in love with Wakamatsu Miyuki and proposes to her. She agrees to marry him, and her brother gives his consent. However, at the wedding ceremony, Kashima Miyuki learns that the Wakamatsu siblings are not related by blood and goes to Hokkaido to sort out her feelings. Then Masato breaks down and confesses his love for his stepsister. They run off together, eventually getting married in the Philippines, where his father is living. In Hokkaido, Kashima Miyuki encounters Sawada Yuuichi. The implication is that Kashima and Sawada will eventually pair up. And everyone lives happily ever after, I guess. Your mileage may vary.

The voice cast includes:

• Toriumi Katsumi (Masato) played Ryou in Call Me Tonight, Russ in Hashire! Shiroi Ookami, Shigeru in Yume Kakeru Kougen and Ishmael in Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament, all Orphan releases.
• Tsuru Hiromi (Kashima Miyuki) debuted as Perrine in Perrine Monogatari. She went on to play Madoka in Kimagure Orange Road and Mikami Reiko in Ghost Sweeper Mikami. She also played Hannah Robinson and robot mother in Space Fantasia 2001 Nights, Lily in Heavy, Sawamoto Aki in Junk Boy, Sara in Mother: Saigo no Shoujo Eve, Sonnet Barge in Blue Sonnet, Fengji in the third Sangokushi movie, Keiko in Hiatari Ryoukou, Nozomi in Nozomi Witches, Jill in A Penguin's Memories, UFO-chan in Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou, Milk in Karuizawa Syndrome, Kiyomi, the motorcycle rider, in Sotsugyou: Graduation, Asuza in Laughing Target, Sister Angela in One Pound Gospel, and big sister Shizuka in Tomoe's Run!, all Orphan releases.
• Ogonome Youko (Watamatsu Miyuki) was a singer and actress. Her only other voice acting credit was Baribari Densetsu.
• Tomiyama Kei (Yasujirou, Kashima Miyuki's father) played the title roles in Sabu to Ichi Torimono Hikae, Roppou Yabure, and the original Tiger Mask, as well as Lingham in Genmu Senki Leda, Sir Jogo  in SF Saiyuuki Starzinger, Susumu in the Yamato franchise, and Wen Li in Legend of the Galactic Heroes. He also played leading roles in Michite Kuru Toki no Mukou ni, Grimm Douwa: Kin no Tori, Ginga Tansa 2100-nen: Border Planet, Bremen 4, Sugata Sanshiro, the Sangokushi TV specials, Tottoi, and Yousei Ou, all Orphan releases. He won a posthumous Special Achievement Award in 2007.
• Mori Katsuji (Kenji, Masato's romantic rival for Kashima Miyuki) played Atlas in the 1980 Astro Boy, Seiji Hayama in Cutie Honey, Wolfgang Mittermeyer in LOGH, Haru in Real Drive, and Robespierre in Rose of Versailles. He also played Tsugawa Michihisa in Season of the Sun, Ion Plenmatz in Tooyamazakura Uchuuchou: Yatsu no Na wa Gold (Samurai Gold), Alcan in Amon Saga, Cemen Bond in Bagi, Tanguin in Cool Cool Bye, Ii Hyobushoyu Naomasa in Sanada 10, and Shiina in Stop!! Hibari-kun!, all Orphan releases.
• Oobayashi Ryuusuke (Ryuuchi, a suitor for Wakamatsu Miyuki) played Ranma's father in the Ranma 1/2 franchise. He also appeared in Techno Police 21C and Yuukan Club, both Orphan releases.
• Nakajima Chisato (Yuuko, a classmate) played Mari in the Kinnikuman franchise and appeared in Space Fantasia 2001 Nights, Kimu no Juujika, Nine, Nora, and Tenjou Hen: Utsu no Miko, all Orphan releases.
• Shozawa Kaneto (Muraki, comic relief) (played the title role in To-Y, Orochimaru in Tengai Makyou, Shin in Hiatari Ryoukou, Iason in Ai no Kusabi, Rock Holmes in Fumoon, Shiina in Chameleon, Sanzou in Tezuka Osamu Story: I am Son Goku, Kouhei in Karuizawa Syndrome, Amakusa Jiro in One Pound Gospel, Kaname in Bride of Deimos, Minamoto, the mad inventor, in Tsuyoshi Shikkari Shinasai: Tsuyoshi no Time Machine de Shikkari Shinasai, 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.

The director, Nishikubo Mizuho, also directed Karuizawa Syndrome, California Crisis, Purple Eyes in the Dark, Eiji, and Giovanni's Island.

In a previous blog entry, I was rather hard on the show, because I was suffering from "Adachi Mitsuri overload" as well as frustration about how long both Miyuki and Hiatari Ryoukou were taking to get done. In retrospect, Miyuki turns out to be a fun slice-of-life comedy, typical of the more innocent era in which it aired. The characters are engaging, the comedy is broad and straightforward, and the Serious Development is confined to the very last episode. There are are certainly elements I find questionable - such as the various adult men who lust after Wakamatsu Miyuki - but I can chalk that up to the times and to Japanese culture. I'm glad that Miyuki is available to an English-speaking audience at last.

FroZen-EviL isn't done (we're not quite dead yet). We're slowly gearing up for the Yawara! BluRays. We'll keep the joint venture name, even though Frostii is moribund, and the boundaries between Saizen, Orphan, Live-eviL, Soldado, and several other "back catalog" groups are becoming increasingly difficult to find. Whatever their official homes, this team is a great crew to work with, and I hope we can keep our winning streak going.

Lunn wa Kaze no Naka (Lunn Flies into the Wind)

Lunn wa Kaze no Naka (in English, Lunn Flies into the Wind) is the third installment of a Tezuka Osamu anthology series called "The Lion Book Series." It consists of six standalone episodes:

1	The Green Cat	1983
2	Rain Boy	1983
3	Lunn Flies into the Wind	1985
4	Yamataro Comes Back	1986
5	Adachigahara	1991
6	Akuemon	1993

Orphan has already released The Green Cat, Rain Boy, Adachigahara, Akuemon, and Yamataro Comes Back. With this release of Lunn, we have finished all the Lion Books.

This version of Lunn features a heavily-modified version of Viki's English subtitles paired with ARR's encode. Lunn is sometimes described as a "low-key" look at adolescent first love. While it certainly lies on the sentimental end of the Lion Book spectrum, there's more to the show than teen romance. The hero, Akira, is a loner and underachiever, bullied at school by both his fellow students and his teacher. He finds an imaginary friend in the picture of a beautiful girl on a coffee advertising poster. He names her Lunn. She becomes his companion and consolation, but he regards his situation as so desperate that he almost kills himself twice - hardly "low-key" children's fare. Eventually, he becomes strong enough to formulate a goal and a dream for himself. By the end of the show, he is on his way to his first real friendship.

convexity redid the original Viki translation, and the changes are extensive. Eternal_Blizzard did the timing, I did the editing and typesetting, and CP, Calyrica, and konnakude did QC. (The typesetting was a pain in the butt, because of all the coffee posters.) The raw is from ARR.

This concludes Orphan's Lion Book project. We're on the lookout for raws of additional untranslated Tezuka Osamu shows, notably Hidimari no Ki. In the meantime, enjoy this final Lion Book episode.

Yamataro Kaeru (Yamataro Comes Back)

Yamataro Kaeru (Yamataro Comes Back) is the fourth installment of a Tezuka Osamu anthology series called "The Lion Book Series." It consists of six standalone episodes:

1	The Green Cat	1983
2	Rain Boy	1983
3	Lunn Flies into the Wind	1985
4	Yamataro Comes Back	1986
5	Adachigahara	1991
6	Akuemon	1993

Orphan has already released The Green Cat, Rain Boy, Adachigahara, and Akuemon. With this release, only Lunn Flies into the Wind remains.

This version of Yamataro features an original English translation paired with ARR's dual audio encode, which had only Japanese subtitles. Yamataro is a sentimental and slightly weird take on friendship, in this case between a brown bear cub rescued from an ice flow and a class C62 steam locomotive. The steam engine teaches the bear cub how to be strong and break free from his human masters and then returns the cub to the wild. They have another, fateful encounter when Yamataro has become an adult.

Moho Kareshi did the translation, and convexity the translation checking. Eternal_Blizzard did the timing, I did the editing and typesetting, and CP, Calyrica, and konnakude did the checking.

Our last remaining Lion Book project is Lunn Flies into the Wind, which needs a new translation. In the meantime, enjoy this newly subtitled Tezuka Osamu episode.