Ten Years Ago on a Cold Dark Night...

It sort of slipped my mind with everything else that's going on these days, but this month is the tenth anniversary of Orphan Fansubs' first formal release.

As I described in this blog post, the name dates back to 2007, when I used it as a one-and-done cover for finishing the h-anime Kage. I came back to the name in the summer of 2010, when I started resubbing shows that suffered from truly horrific defects in their subtitles, like Hand Maid Mai and Nagasarete Airantou, or that had been abandoned in incomplete form. It took a couple of years to find a staff of like-minded enthusiasts, and to shift the focus from resubs to original projects, and from Internet raws to original source material. Now, ten years have passed. The world has gone to hell in a handbasket, but Orphan keeps on truckin' through the anime back catalog.

Throughout the decade, I have been blessed with talented collaborators - translators, timers, typesetters, QCs, encoders, raw providers. They made it possible to tackle more projects as well as larger scale projects. Orphan is a small team but quite harmonious - no "dorama" allowed. It's also geographically diverse, with team members in Europe, South Asia, and North America, plus a sizable contingent in Japan. After hundreds of projects, the team is still going strong.

None of this was planned. The group's focus changed over time, driven by the interests of the team members and by happenstance. Many of us, including most of the translators, are Tezuka Osamu fan(atic)s, and that drove a lot of projects: Cleopatra, Senya Ichiya Monogatari, the Lion Book OVAs, the "Love Will Save the World" TV specials, and of course, Hidamari no Ki. Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions has an amazing collection of anime laserdiscs and the ability to encode them, and that led to a focus on anime titles stranded on the wrong side of the Digital Divide. Our Intrepid Media Maven's curiosity about analog transcription systems brought the Domesday Duplicator and the All-in-Wonder uncompressed VHS capture system to bear on old sources, with outstanding results. Video streaming provided access to sources that seemed lost or out of reach. An anonymous benefactor financed some of the costliest purchases. And so on.

So after ten years, what are my favorites among Orphan's numerous projects? I was tempted to give myself more rope, by allowing groupings (e.g., all the Lion Book OVAs as one selection), but I decided to be disciplined and select my ten favorite individual titles.

1. Hidamari no Ki. This historical seinen series, based on a manga by Tezuka Osamu, tops the list. It hits all my sweet spots. It is dramatic and entertaining, with excellent characters, an exciting plot, and a bittersweet ending. The Orphan series to watch, if you haven't already.
2. Ginga Tansa 2100-nen: Border Planet. This is my favorite among Tezuka Osamu's "Love Will Save the World" specials. It is by turns romantic, scary, funny, and poignant. It exemplifies everything that's good in Tezuka's "entertainments".
3. Sanctuary. A dark, violent, and at times sexy one-shot that epitomizes what I expect in a 1990's OVA: drama, relevance, sex, and violence. It is an unstintingly harsh look at Japanese society in general and Japanese political corruption in particular. It seems just as relevant today.
4. Grim Douwa: Kin no Tori. This exuberant children's tale features amazing animation and outstanding voice acting.
5. Shirokuma Cafe. This show occupied a special place in my heart and weekly schedule for a year. It's funny, charming, and gentle. Give yourself a respite from these troubled times and drop in for an excellent cafe au lait or cafe mocha, while you savor the interplay between the characters and the never-ending puns.
6. Oruorane the Cat Player. You knew there would be a show about cats in my top ten, didn't you? Orphan's done quite a few, and this is my personal favorite. It's mysterious and playful, rather like cats themselves, and casts a spell from its opening frames to the ending.
7. Al Caral no Isan. "Hard" sci-fi about first contact with aliens. Human arrogance meets hidden alien powers with near disastrous results, but the show avoids the usual cliches and moves to an interesting and unexpected conclusion.
8. A Penguin's Memories. Cute penguins act out a serious drama about PTSD following a prolonged and meaningless war. The contrast between form and story is startling and keeps the viewer focused on the content.
9. Amatsuki. Another historical series, although more of a shounen than a seinen. A happy-go-lucky teenager is trapped in a virtual alternate Edo and finds that he is the inadvertent pivot for the entire alternate reality. Based on a long-running manga that has just finished.
10. Yume Tsukai. This show about "Dream Masters" is a deceptively deep study about the traumas of mental illness and the consequences they can have in the real world.

And what's my least favorite among Orphan's projects? That's easy:

1. Twinkle Nora Rock Me! Worst Anime of All Time™, bar none.
2. Bavi Stock II. The runner-up, but it's not really close.

Orphan has spawned a sub-label, Okizari, for h-anime. In addition, some releases (like the Happy Science movies, done for reasons now lost in the past) were left unlabeled.

Orphan will continue to evolve, driven, as much as anything, by demographics. As I get older (and I've been a senior citizen for quite a while), I've become increasingly reluctant to commit to or get involved with long projects. I feel I should leave the lengthy anime series to younger folks with longer time horizons. Meanwhile, there are enough movies, OVAs, and TV specials needing help to keep me entertained. I hope they'll entertain you, our faithful audience, as well.

Elf 17

Orphan's projects get started for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes, a raw intrigues one of the translators. Sometimes, an orphaned series gets resuscitated by fortuitous circumstances. And sometimes, one of the team members has a favorite that they want to do (or redo), and the right source material shows up. That's what happened with Nemesis and Jikuu Bouken Nuumamonjaa. That's what happened with Skr and the forthcoming Makoto-chan movie. That's what happened with me and Yume Tsukai. And that's what happened with our Intrepid Media Maven™ and Elf 17.

Elf 17 is based on a six volume manga (not available in English) by Yamamoto Atsuji. It chronicles the adventures of Prince Masukato Taira (or Muskat Tylor) as he travels around the Galactic Empire, accompanied by Ruu, a winged elf and the strongest creature in the universe, and K.K., a walking arsenal in an armored suit. The 1987 OVA recounts the start of their adventures. The prince stages a no-holds-barred martial arts tournament to find a companion for his travels. The contest is proceeding to a lethal climax when Ruu suddenly flies in and crushes all the competitors. The prince is delighted by the prospect of such a beautiful companion, but K.K. refuses to concede and proceeds to demolish the arena in his attempts to corral Ruu. The prince eventually decides to take both of them along.

Their first (and only) adventure occurs when their spaceship crash-lands on Planet Asaharu, home to a mysterious shrine containing the wine of Bacchus. Although the wine is stored in a supposedly impenetrable sarcophagus, Ruu and K.K. easily remove the lid. However, it's all a dastardly plot by the spaceship's driver, who brought them there deliberately in order to steal the wine. After suitable amounts of comic mayhem, Ruu and K.K. save the day, and everyone heads off for more fun - and trouble - in the galaxy. Well, the OVA is really just a teaser for the manga, a common practice in the 1980s (cf. Sanctuary and Meisou ou Border).

The voice cast is like a rogue's gallery of 1980's OVA seiyuu:

• Honda Chieko (Ruu) played Kurumi in Kimagure Orange Road, Marybell in Hana no Mahou Tsukai Marybell, Amy in the Gall Force OVAs, Rullishia in Dragon Century, Meroko in Full Moon o Sagashite, Sara Russell in Lady Lady!!, Marie in Soul Eater, and Lea in the Ancient Book of Ys OVAs. She had minor roles in Greed and St. Michaela Gakuen Hyouryuuki, both Orphan releases.
• Yao Kazuki (K.K.) is best known as Franky in One Piece, but he also played the lead in Makyou Gaiden Le Deus, the title role in Rance, Dark Schneider in Bastard!!, Chivas in Sorcerer on the Rocks, Yoki in Fullmetal Alchemist (both versions), Kouichiro in the Initial D franchise, and Hamel in Violinist of Hamelin. He played the title role in Samurai Gold, Date Ikkaku in Akai Hayate, Ryougaku in Wild 7, Charles Morbridge in Nana Toshi Monogatari, Robert Ryan in Star Dust,and Sofue Akira in Boyfriend, all Orphan releases.
• Kamiya Akira (Masukato Taira) is best known for the title roles in the City Hunter properties and the Kinnikuman franchise. He played Kazamatsuri in Yawara!, Roy Focker in Macross, Kyuusaku in the All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku properties, and Mendou in Urusei Yatsura. He also played Mizushima in The Izu Dancer, Sergent Zim in Starship Troopers, Abe Edinburgh in MAPS, Kiro in Nayuta, Kentarou in Nine, and stole the show as the lecherous robot Chiraku in Hoshi Neko Full House, all Orphan releases.
• Yara Yuusaku (Driver) played the destroyer captain in Zipang and Walken in BAOH. He played Lucky Roman in Heavy, Yang in Kimu no Juujika, Kai in Tomoe ga Yuku! and Hachisuku in Meisou-Ou Border, and he had many featured roles, appearing in Next Senki Ehrgeiz, Eien no Filena, Hidamari no Ki, Nozomi Witches, Samurai Gold, both Sangokushi OVAs, Prime Rose, Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, Nayuta, Elementalors, and both What's Michael? OVAs, all Orphan releases.

The director, Sakata Junichi, directed DNA^2, Kaze no Stigma, the To Heart OVAs, and the wonderfully goofy High School Agent.

Intrepid got the ball rolling by inveigling me into buying a used VHS tape of the show. He then ripped it on his uncompressed All-in-Wonder setup and encoded it. The original subs are by Box Subs (the BakaBT fansubbing group); Intrepid translated the ending song and quite a few additional signs. ninjacloud timed. I edited and typeset. BeeBee and Nemesis QCed. The typesetting was a PITA: hand-drawn signs that move, rotate, scale, and mostly won't track.

Elf 17 is the embodiment of light entertainment. It hasn't a serious thought in its head. The violence is all for comic effect, and there's no nudity or sex. However, it fails to answer a basic question: Is Ruu the 17th elf? Or is she 17 years old? The world waits for a definitive answer. While it waits, you can get the show from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Amon Saga

This one is a bit odd: a new release of the 1986 sword-and-sorcery movie Amon Saga, based on a laserdisc rip. Amon Saga has already been released, based on the R1 DVD. So why go back to the laserdisc? Erik of Piyo Piyo Productions wrote, "[The DVD licensor] just took the VHS master, (badly) upscaled it, and dumped it onto a DVD." A Domesday Duplicator rip of the laserdisc ought to look better. Does it? You'll have to be the judge of that. It still has a lot of blended frames, to my eye, but the interlacing artifacts are gone.

Amon Saga traverses well-worn fantasy-genre territory. Amon is a young warrior, seeking to avenge the death of his mother at the hands of the Emperor Valhiss. He decides to join the Imperial army to bore from within. Once inside the Emperor's fortified city, Amon unexpectedly encounters the beautiful daughter of King Darai Sem, Princess Lichia, whom Valhiss is holding as a hostage. The Emperor says he'll exchange the princess for a map in the King's possession, but he'd rather like to possess the princess too. Will Amon succeed in saving the princess (and her virtue) while achieving his revenge? That's a question I'm sure you can answer without any hints from me. Still, it's a good ride, with lots of colorful characters, including Amon's fellow "volunteers" in the Imperial Army, Gaius (the combative one), Alcan (the wily one), Vikin (the comic one), and Ho (the mysterious one), and the Emperor's evil henchman, the ambitious swordsman Denon and the scheming sorcerer Mabo.

The voice cast includes a host of familiar names from the 1980s:

• Horiuchi Kenyuu (Amon) played the title role in Guin Saga and Oscar in the Angelique franchise. He also played Ryuuichi in Aoko Honoo, Nest in Eien no Filena, Kubota in Meisou Ou Border, Jin Akira in Wolf Guy, Lid in Greed, and the refined son in Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, all Orphan releases. He recently appeared in Sirius the Jaeger.
• Takamori Yoshino (Lichia) played the arch oujo-sama Sayaka in Yawara! and the twin roles of Juliet Douglas and Sloth in Full Metal Alchemist. She also appeared as the romantic rival Shouko in POPS, and in Yousei Ou and the What's Michael? OVAs, all Orphan releases.
• Kobiyashi Kihosti (Valhiss) is best known as Jigen in the Lupin III franchise. He played Sekai in Wild 7, an Orphan release.
• Mugihito Amachi (Gaius) played the alien wombat in Cute Defense Club, Matsumoto in The Great Passage, Keiichiro in Princess Jellyfish, and Abe no Seimei (senior) in Shounen Onmyouji. He also appeared as Lin Shilong in Wolf Guy and Lu Su in the two Sangokushi specials, all Orphan releases.
• Wakamoto Norio (Denon) played the title role in The Gargoyle of the Yoshinagas, Vicious in Cowboy Bebop, Cell in the Dragonball franchise, Katakuriko in the Gintama franchise, Oda NObunaga in Sengoku Basara franchise, Sakakibara in Sanada 10, Guren in Ushio to Tora TV, Shining Saotome in the Uta no Prince-sama franchise, and Oskar von Reuenthal in Legend of the Galactic Heroes. He also appeared as Major Thrauza in Yamato 2520 and the Narrator in Joker: Marginal City,both Orphan releases.
• Totani Kouji (Ho) has played hundreds of roles. He appeared in Bavi Stock, Haguregumo, Nora, Fukiyama Gekijou, and Akuma Tou no Prince: Mitsume ga Tooru, all Orphan releases.
• Ginga Banjou (Ekuna) is a veteran voice actor. He played the title role in 80 Days Around the World with Willy Fog, Baloo in The Jungle Book, and Tohtsuki chairman Nakiri Senzaemon in the Shokugeki no Souma franchise. He played the title role in Oruorane the Cat Player and appeared in the two What's Michael? OVAs, all Orphan releases.
• Nagai Ichiro (Mabo) starred in numerous shows, playing 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 Manxmouse, Nora, Hidamari no Ki, Yuukan Club, and Yamato 2520, all Orphan releases.
• Tatsuta Naoki (Vikin) 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 also in Wolf Guy, an Orphan release.
• Ooki Tamio (Darai Sem) played Dr. Tenma in Tezuka Osamu Disappears, an Orphan release, as well as the 1980 version of Astro Boy, Ibuya in Hidamari no Ki (also an Orphan release), Aramaki in the GITS movies, and the title role in Planetarian: Hoshi no Hito.
• Katsuji Mori (Alcan) played Tanguin in Cool Cool Bye, Atlas in the 1980 Astro Boy, Seiji Hayama in Cutie Honey, Wolfgang Mittermeyer in Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Haru in Real Drive, and Robespierre in The Rose of Versailles. He also played Shiina in Stop!! Hibari-kun and Cemen Bond in Bagi, both Orphan releases. 
• Ginga Banjou (Ekuna, Amon's mentor) played Souther in the Hokuto no Ken franchise, the chief in Peter Pan no Bouken, Sascher Torte in Bakuretsu Hunter, Babbo in MAR, Nakiri in the Shokugeki no Souma franchise, and quite recently,  Nanashi in GeGeGe no Kitarou (2018).

The director, Ooga Shunji, has many other credits to his name, including Majuu Sensen, Bounty Hunter: The Hard, several Sore Ike! Anpanman movies, and the Golgo 13 TV series.

I originally OCRed the subs from an R1 DVD release. The subs have been extensively corrected by tenkenX6 and Nemesis. ninjacloud timed, I edited and typeset, and BeeBee and Nemesis QCed. Erik encoded from a Domesday Duplicator rip of his own laserdisc.

Amon Saga doesn't break any new ground, but it's a competent fantasy flick, and it will keep you  entertained for its modest 74 minute running time. You can get this release from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net

Late breaking news: there's a busted frame at 62934. Some sort of data dropout caused a problem in the Domesday Duplicator decoding software, ld-decode, and by now, the intermediate files have been discarded. If anyone knows how to patch an H.265 file without re-encoding it, 62934 should be the same as 62933. Otherwise, we'll have to wait until Erik can rip the laserdisc again.

 

Even later breaking news (November, 2022). A dual-audio version is available, for those who prefer dubs. niki provided the audio track, which is taken from the R1 DVD release. This version also includes a song-signs track. A ginormous patch to covert the single-audio release to dual-audio is available in the torrent description.

 

Sensou Douwa: The Boy and the Sea Turtle

Sensou Douwa (War Tales or War Fables) was a series of TV specials by Shin-Ei Animation that ran annually from 2002 to 2009. In chronological order:

• 2002    Umigame to Shounen (The Boy and The Sea Turtle)
• 2003    Tako ni Natta Okaasan (The Mother Who Became a Kite)
• 2004    Chiisai Sensuikan ni Koi o Shita Dekasugiru Kujira no Hanashi (The Tale of the Ginormous Whale That Fell in Love with a Little Submarine)
• 2005    Boku no Boukuugou (My Air Raid Shelter)
• 2006    Yakeato no, Okashi no Ki (The Cake Tree in the Ruins)
• 2007    Futatsu no Kurumi (Two Walnuts)
• 2008    Kiku-chan to Ookami  (Kiku and the Wolf)
• 2009    Aoi Hitomi no Onnako no Ohanashu (The Tale of the Blue-Eyed Girl)

Except for Two Walnuts, which has been subbed by Saizen, the series has not been translated into English before.

Umigame to Shounen (The Boy and the Sea Turtle) is set during the Battle of Okinawa, the most horrific battle between Japan and the United States in World War II. Almost the entire Japanese garrison of 77,000 men perished. American forces suffered more than 75,000 killed, wounded, or missing. Up to 30% (or more) of the civilian population of 300,000 were also killed - by bombardment, by starvation, by the retreating Japanese army, or - influenced by Japanese propaganda about the likelihood of American atrocities - by mass suicide.

The Boy and the Sea Turtle shows the war from the point of view of children.The central character is Tetsuo, a boy who escapes from the firebombing of Naha and goes to live in the countryside with his grandmother. He puts up a brave front with the other children and joins in their patriotic war bluster, but inside, he is lonely and terrified. A boy in his new class, Norio, sees him as an instinctive rival, but eventually their faux-macho competitiveness yields to friendship. Tetsuo also makes friends with a girl in his class, Hanako.

 

Norio show Tetsuo a beach where sea turtles return annually to lay their eggs. The three friends roam the countryside, scrounge for food, and help with the harvest. And then the invasion begins.

Like The Cake Tree in the Ruins, The Boy and the Sea Turtle is based on a short story by Nosaka Akiyuki. And like The Cake Tree in the Ruins, this special shows the ruinous effects that war has on children - physically and mentally. Ultimately, Tetsuo must make a terrible choice, between honoring his friends' beliefs and starving, or abandoning those beliefs and surviving. The ending is ambiguous and poetic... and deeply, deeply sad.

 

The artwork is simple and beautiful, with Okinawa depicted as almost a fairy-tale setting of quaint houses, lush fields, and beautiful beaches. The show makes effective use of child-like drawings to portray the horrors of war and the deep terror it causes for children.

 

As the first special in the series, The Boy and the Sea Turtle has a fairly modest voice cast, mostly consisting of veterans from Shin-Ei's "repertory company" who appeared in Shuukan Storyland:

• Tokiwa Yuuki (Tetsuo) appeared in Shuukan Storyland and dubbed Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter movies.
• Satou Ai (narrator) has played many maternal roles, including Light's mother in Death Note, Masami's mother in Wedding Peach, Misaki's mother in Dear Brother, Ban's mother in Getbackers, Shigeru's mother in Noramimi, and the unnamed mothers in Cinderella Express, Ai Monogatari, Guyver: Out of Control, and Kristin Adams in Yawara. Other roles include the refined mother in Eguchi Hisashi no Kotobuki Gorou Show, Ibuki's mother in Kiss wa Me ni Shite, Taichi in The Cake Tree in the Ruins, and the unnamed girlfriend in Lunn Flies into the Wind, all Orphan releases.
• Mitsuhara Rin (Tetsuo's aunt) played Irma in Birdy the Mighty, Yaobikuni in Blade of the Immortal (2019), and Torogai in Seirei no Moribito. She also played Miki in Wolf Guy, an Orphan release.
• Hisamatsu Yuuko (Tetsuo's grandmother) has just two other credits.
• Namatame Kento (Norio) and Takuya Ishihara (Haruo) only appeared in this show.
• Mimura Yuuno (Hanako) appeared in Hanebado, Kemurikusa, Hachi-nantte, and Aikatsu.

The director is again Yasumi Tetsuo.

kokujin-kun translated, Yogicat timed, and I edited and typeset. Nemesis and BeeBee did QC. The raw is a 480p webrip from UNEXT and looks pretty good. This show was broadcast in standard definition, and no attempt has been made to upscale it, fortunately.

The Boy and the Sea Turtle is again rather upsetting, but I recommend it strongly, for the simplicity of its storytelling and the impact of its message. You can find the show at the usual torrent site or download it from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net. 

Status 2020

Current status:

• Makoto-chan the movie. In QC.
• Rail of the Stars. In QC. 
• Sweet Spot. In RC. 
• Saiyuuki 1960 HD. In RC.
• Bocchan. In editing.
  

There's still plenty of backlog. Stalled at translation checking - encoding, translation, timing are done:

• Bakumatsu no Spasibo
• Fighting Beauty Wulong. The professional scripts we were given appear to be dub scripts. They need to be translation checked.
• Genji Pt 1
• Mother Saigo no Shoujo Eve
• Nayuta
• Cool Cool Bye
• The Choujo
• Hakujaden
  
• Adesugata Mahou no Sannin Musume

Next, stalled at translation - encoded and pre-timing are done in most cases:

• DAYS OVAs 2016
• Magma Taishi (Ambassador Magma)
• Mellow
• Raiyantsuurii no Uta
• Sanada 10 ep 10-12
• Sugata Sanshiro
• Tengai Makyou
• Tezuka Osamu Kyoto Animation Theater Works

Next, stalled at encoding:

• R2J DVD - Amatsuki; Haruka Naru Toki no Naka de 2: Shiroki Ryuu no Miko; One Pound Gospel; Mars OVA; Sanada 10 ep 10-12

So Orphan needs staff, of all kinds: translators, encoders, QCs (particularly an RC), but yes, even editors and typesetters - I'm now the bottleneck on too many projects. If you're interested, and you know what you're doing, please contact me or other staff members on IRC.
 
[Updated 20-Sep-2020]

Sensou Douwa: Yakeato no, Okashi no Ki

Sensou Douwa (War Tales or War Fables) was a series of TV specials by Shin-Ei Animation that ran annually from 2002 to 2009. In chronological order:

• 2002    Umigame to Shounen (The Boy and The Sea Turtle)
• 2003    Tako ni Natta Okaasan (The Mother Who Became a Kite)
• 2004    Chiisai Sensuikan ni Koi o Shita Dekasugiru Kujira no Hanashi (The Tale of the Ginormous Whale That Fell in Love with a Little Submarine)
• 2005    Boku no Boukuugou (My Air Raid Shelter)
• 2006    Yakeato no, Okashi no Ki (The Cake Tree in the Ruins)
• 2007    Futatsu no Kurumi (Two Walnuts)
• 2008    Kiku-chan to Ookami  (Kiku and the Wolf)
• 2009    Aoi Hitomi no Onnako no Ohanashu (The Tale of the Blue-Eyed Girl)

Except for Two Walnuts, which has been subbed by Saizen, the series has not been translated into English before.

Yakeato no, Okashi no Ki (The Cake Tree in the Ruins) in set in an unnamed town in 1945. Taichi is an elementary school student and the leader of a group that includes his little sister, Misako, and classmates Jirou, Tsuyoshi, and Yoshio. The boys play at soldiers, mindlessly echoing the nationalistic jingoism drilled into them during the war. Only Tacihi's friend Haruo stands apart. He is too sickly to join the militaristic games, and he spends most of his time reading. Food is scarce, but otherwise, the children haven't been affected much by the war.

This changes suddenly when their town is firebombed by American forces. In one horrific night, Taichi and his gang lose their homes and their school. Forced to eke out an existence by begging or stealing food, they retreat to a "secret fort" in a cave. Haruo's house still stands, and his mother does her best to protect him, going to great lengths to buy the last baumkuchen (tree cake) from the local German bakery. Then, all the children are orphaned and injured in further raids. [Spoiler alert.] Haruo dies of smoke inhalation. In a hallucinatory afterlife, he plants the last of the cake in hopes of creating a true cake tree. The other children reach the ruins of his house and collapse against a tree. One by one, they succumb to their wounds or malnutrition, starting with Misako. Eventually, only Taichi is left. Suddenly, the spirits of the other children reappear, partaking of the miraculous sweetness of the tree. Haruo's spirit shows Taichi that this is a true cake tree. But then, it's Taichi's turn.

The Cake Tree in the Ruins is based on a short story by Nosaka Akiyuki, who also penned Grave of the Fireflies. He grew up during World War II as part of "the generation of the ashes" - the children who experienced the bombing and destruction of much of urban Japan. Like Taichi in the story, many in Akiyuki's family died in the Kobe firebombings, and his younger sister died of starvation. These events haunted his life and informed his writing. Six of the eight Sensou Douwa specials are based on his short stories, which are available in English as a collection called The Cake Tree in the Ruins. Sagara Masae's music evokes the innocence of children's lives. She also scored five other Sensou Douwa specials.

The children are played by noted female seiyuu:

• Tonguu Kyouko (Taichi) played Kei in Dirty Pair, Leo in Saint Seiya, Kikunosuke in The Abashira Family, Jouhouya in the Akuma-kun movies and TV, and Nakamura in Black Magic M-66. She also appeared in Kuroi Ame ni Utarete, Kuro ga Ita Natsu, and the first Sangokushi special, all Orphan releases.
• Hidaka Noriko (Haruo) played Satsuke in My Neighbor Totoro, Minami (the female lead) in Touch, Akane (the female lead) in Ranma 1/2, Peter in Peter Pan no Bouken, Mrs. Yamada (the mother) in the first two Chii anime series, Near in Death Note, and Kikyo in the Inuyasha franchise. She also played Yuuki in Boyfriend, Noriko in Yuukan Club, and Harumi in Mikeneko Holmes, all Orphan releases.
• Oomae Akane (Misako, Taichi's little sister) played Shiina in the Negima franchise.
• Matsumoto Sachi (Jirou) played Watari in Fushigi na Melmo, Shinatuhiko in the Yozakura Quartet franchise, Houjou in the Ao no Exorcist franchise, and Ousaka in Chihayafuru 2 and 3.
• Kondou Reiko (Tsuyoshi) played Kosuke in Ultra Nyan, an Orphan release, and appeared in Lupin III part 3 and Ninku.
• Yukiji (Yoshio) played Michael in Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san and Gonzales in Yawara!

The director, Yasumi Tetsuo, was one of the stalwarts of Shin-ei animation, directing six of the eight Sensou Douwa specials and numerous lengthy series, including Obocchama-kun, Dororonpa!, Bonobono, Kochira Katsushikaku, Atashinchi, and Kuromajo-san ga Tooru, as well as several children's movies.

The Cake Tree in the Ruins marks kokujin-kun's return to translating for Orphan. He hopes to do the rest of the Sensou Douwa specials as time permits. Yogicat timed. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and BeeBee did QC. The raw is a 1080p webrip from UNEXT and is, unfortunately, badly upscaled and rather bit-starved. This show was the first of the Sensou Douwa specials broadcast in high-definition; the first four are standard definition.

The Cake Tree in the Ruins hit me (and others on the project) really hard. Stories of the deaths of children are always upsetting, and the last segment is particularly difficult to watch. Nonetheless, I recommend it strongly, for the simplicity of its storytelling and the impact of its message. You can find The Cake Tree in the Ruins at the usual torrent site or download it from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

Gekijouban Perrine Monogatari

 Another "Orphan-raw" release, the 1990 summary movie of the 1978 World Masterpiece Theater series, Perrine Monogatari. This show was started in C1 and finished in KiteSeekers-Wasurenai-Licca. I worked on it, as QC and editor, for both groups.

Originally, I wanted Orphan to sub the summary movie, as Orphan did for the Dallos summary special. I even bought the laserdisc when it came up for auction in Japan. However, the thought of grovelling through 53 episodes to find the relevant scenes was not an enticing thought, particularly because I hadn't like the show all that much to begin with. WMT series are best left to groups that specialize in G-rated shows. Personally, I prefer a grungy 90s OVA, preferably with a modicum of sex and violence, or at least a sense of humor.

Orphan's Intrepid Media Maven™ encoded from a laserdisc rip done with the Domesday Duplicator. The Duplicator software still doesn't handle CX-compressed analog audio all that well, so Intrepid also captured the audio conventionally and synchronized it to the encode. It's available as a separate file, in FLAC for, well, Reasons. And no, I don't know the reasons.

For the do-it-yourself-ers, the torrent includes a link to the script archives, so I'd encourage anyone who's interested to piece together a script for the movie by finding the relevant scenes in the 53 TV episodes. Or you could just watch the grass grow instead.

Gekijouban Perrine Monogatari can be found on the usual torrent site or downloaded from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.