Raw, Raw, Raw!

It's my birthday (big whoop), so in honor of that, Orphan is releasing some more "raws from the attic." Or in more truthful terms, our stash of raws is overflowing, and we're releasing some in hopes of arousing interest from the anime community, particularly translators.

First up is a two episode OVA from 1992, Dragon Slayer Eiyuu Densetsu: Ouji no Tabidachi, more simply known as Dragon Slayer. This is a sword-and-sorcery fest. It was released with subtitles on VHS tape and hardsubbed by ARR. There's also an English dub. These raws were ripped from Japanese laserdiscs on the Domesday Duplicator and encoded by Rezo. They look considerably better than anything else that's out there.

If anyone has transcribed the hardsubbed episodes, it would be a start toward putting subs on these raws. Like most R1 subs of that era, it would need a full translation check. 

Next up is a four episode OVA from 2003-2004, Kingdom of Chaos: Born to Kill. It too is a fantasy, based on a game, and probably related to the Generation of Chaos OVAs. The first two episodes were subbed in 2004, probably from an R1 DVD release; then nothing. These raws were encoded from the R2J DVDs by an anonymous friend and include more than a dozen extras, all related to the game. It was letterboxed, so the resolution is 720 x 400, more or less.

If anyone has transcribed the hardsubbed episodes, it would be a start toward getting this orphan series completely subbed.

The third one really hurts. Michite Kuru Toki no Mukou ni (Beyond the Full Moon) is a 1991 TV special based on an award-winning fantasy novel by Suzuki Kouji. It tells the story of a pair of lovers  in Mongolia in ancient times. They are separated but, protected by the spirit of the Red Deer, they are reborn over 10,000 years, in locales from a South Sea island to modern-day America. Ripped from a Japanese laserdisc on the Domesday Duplicator and encoded by a (different) anonymous friend.

I've wanted to do this show for a long time, but I've been unable to find a translator. If you can help with this, or other untranslated shows in the Orphan raw archive, please get in touch.

And next, in celebration of the release of Captain Bal, the last OVA from Anime Tamago 2019, Chuck Shimezou, from Nippon Animation. This is charming comedy about "zipper youkai," whatever they might be.

This show definitely needs to be subbed, but in the meantime, enjoy the raw.

And now, a new rip of the 1992 OVA Princess Army: Wedding Combat. This is a shoujo romance (I think) about a young girl seeking true love among karate students.

This is a laserdisc source, ripped on the Domesay Duplicator. Anime-Fury subbed the show back in 2004 (!), but their version is hardsubbed. Paging all transcribers!

(Status update, October, 2024: all of these shows have been or are getting subbed. Yay!)

There Are Places I Remember...

I turn 77 today, reinforcing my title as Oldest Living Fansubber™. It reminds me how long I've been doing this (17 years - not as long as some, however), how many groups and people I've worked with (dozens, hundreds, respectively), and how few I've met in person (one). Most of my early colleagues have left the scene. Simultaneous streaming dominates anime. That's not a bad thing; anime is more accessible than ever before, to a wider audience. But fansubbing has shrunk to a fraction of what it once was.

I started in 2006, quite late in life. I had never watched anime as a child, because there wasn't any available in the US in the early 1950s. The arrival of cable TV in my rural town in the late 1980s ignited my interested in anime, thanks to the SciFi channel's annual anime movie festival. Then, in 2005, broadband Internet became available here, and I tapped into the proliferating fansub community via Internet Relay Chat (IRC). I was mostly a lurker, but one I day I offered some suggestions about improving Anime-United's release of REC. The group leader replied that if I thought I could do better, I should join their team. I did, working in QC.

Anime-United broke up almost immediately. The remnants, including me, were absorbed by a larger and better group named Yoroshiku. My first project there was again REC. With a few months, I had started editing; my first editing project was Tactical Roar, still a sentimental favorite. Later in 2006, I joined C1, again as a QC, and moved into editing there in 2007. For the next few years, I worked wherever I could, including now-defunct groups like Black Order, Animanda, GotWoot, Mendoi, Ureshii, and Erobeat (where I edited 80+ hentai scripts). However, I refused to take any competency tests. Believe it or not, in those days, major groups tested applicants for translation, editing, typesetting, or QC positions. I thought my work spoke for itself. Or to paraphrase the great Danny Glover, I was too old for that shit.

Working across so many groups, and accepting any and every script that was thrown at me, dimmed my initial enthusiasm, and at one point, I took a six months' "sabbatical" from fansubbing. When I started again, I worked with fewer groups - mostly Ureshii/Frostii/Monokage, FFF WhyNot, Kiteseekers, and Saizen. The tighter focus also allowed me to learn some additional skills: I picked up some basic timing and typesetting from the experienced staff at these groups.

As I've documented elsewhere, I also started my own group, Orphan, tentatively at first. It became my main focus when simultaneous streaming made fansubbing of weekly shows irrelevant, and mainstream fansub groups began to wither. Orphan flowered in the mid teens, releasing up to forty shows a year. It has now slowed down considerably, as have I, but the team still manages to crank out a project once a month or so.

The list of people to whom I am indebted - for teaching me the ropes, for giving me opportunities to try my skills, for supporting my efforts to subtitle old shows - is very long. I'm not going to list names (or handles, rather, since I rarely know real names), because I don't want to slight anyone by inadvertently forgetting to include them. You know who you are. I'm immensely grateful that you afforded me the opportunities to participate, contribute, and learn.

This is not a valedictory. I've worked on more than 3,000 scripts so far, and I don't intend to stop. I'm set in my ways, but I can still, under protest, learn new tools and techniques; for example, I use Discord now as well as IRC. The anime back catalog is far from fully explored. In short, subtitling anime remains a diverting hobby. Maybe it's even useful.

Bakuen Campus Guardress

When I first watched Bakuen Campus Guardress (Combustible Campus Guardress), a four-episode episode OVA from 1994, I was gobsmacked by how trope-ridden it was. Ancient conflict between Light and Dark Worlds dating back millennia! An overpowered school girl who is obsessed with her (not-related-by-blood) brother! Outlandish named attacks! Amazing power-ups pulled out of nowhere! And then I realized - with a lot of help from Perevodildo - that it's a parody of the "save the world" anime genre. For a detailed look at the show and summaries of the episodes, see this web page from NoName Anime.

Bakuen Campus Guardress has a long fansubbing history dating back to the VHS era. The most commonly available rip was done by ToyRC back in 2009. All available versions are hardsubbed. When the laserdiscs surfaced on Japanese media sites at reasonable cost, I bought them and commissioned new Domesday Duplicator rips and encodes. Then the actual ToyRC scripts showed up from "somewhere." (I don't know where. I don't ask questions.) Perevodildo agreed to go over the scripts with his usual microscope. We were in business.

According to Bakuen, 30,000 years ago, forces from the Dark World tried to invade our world through an interdimensional gate. Thanks to the sacrifice of a human called the Key, they were defeated, and the gate was closed. However, some of Dark World warriors were stranded in our world; they are called Remnants. Opposing them, and guarding the gate, are the descendants (or reincarnations) of the original warriors for Good, called Guardians. The Remnants believe that the reopening of the gate to the Dark World is imminent, and they launch a broad assault on the Guardians. The conflict centers on the Tobira (Gateway) campus of Monzen (Before the Gate) City High School. There, the defenders are led by uber bro-con Jinno Hazumi, who is totally overpowered and utterly hung up on her sibling Takumi, a basketball star and all-around good guy. But Takumi is also the new Key to the gate, and, just like 30,000 years ago, he must die to keep the Gate closed. (By the way, the campus is shaped like a keyhole.)

The Remnants are a gang of eccentric idiots, including McCoy, a muscleman who wears makeup and uses feminine speech; Lady Aoi, a seductive beauty who uses her Sexy Whip attack to go after the bodies (and more) of good-looking boys; Michel Yamada, an exaggerated parody of an amorous Frenchman; and so on. 

The Guardians are equally goofy. Chiryuu, when he isn't pounding Remnants, is looking up Hazumi's skirt. 

Kazuma, another strong Guardian, after defeating Murasaki, aka Lady Freeze, tries to glom a kiss from Hazumi by pretending to be mortally wounded. Hazumi's mother fights with spells named after dishes and recipes. Hime, a cheerleader and rival for Takumi's affections, uses her cheerleading props to fight. Honda, the student council president, is perpetually apoplectic about the chaos around him. Only the leader of the Remnants, the fearsome Kijima, and Takumi himself take this all seriously. Perhaps they're not in on the joke.

The voice cast is a who's who of famous 90s seiyuu:

• Matsumoto Rika (Hazumi) starred as the title role in Ninku and Jim Hawking in Outlaw Star. She played Satoshi in the Pokemon franchise, Kei in Dirty Pair Flash, Sushi Tori in Let's Nupu Nupu, and Okon in Hidimari no Ki. The last two are Orphan releases.
• Ishida Akira (Takumi) starred as Sasuke in Samurai Deeper Kyou, Chrno in Chrno Crusade, Howard in Uninhabited Planet Survive, Rion in Galerians: Rion, Komugi in Hen Zemi, and Arima in Princess Lover. He played Abe no Yasuaki in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de: Hachyoushou, Gaara in the Naruto franchise, Shinichi in Nana, Athrun Zala in the Gundam Seed Destiny properties, Cho Hokkai in the Saiyuki franchise, Xellos in the Slayers franchise, Natori in the Natsume Yuujinchou franchise, Tsukasa in the Shokugei no Souma franchise, and Kuchiki in the Genshiken series. He played brother Oomori in Let's Nupu Nupu, Gordon in Fire Emblem, Abe no Yasutsugu in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de 2, and Ridvan in Haruka Naru Toki no Nake de 3, all Orphan releases.
• Morikawa Toshiyuki (Kazuma) took over the role of dad Nohara Hiroshi in the Crayon Shin-chan franchise. He played lead roles in Gallery Fake, Yami no Matsui, Kyou Kara Maou, and numerous other shows. He's also a regular in Orphan's releases. He played the lead role in Ear of the Golden Dragon, Wolf Guy, and Nozomi Witches, as well as delinquent student Fuwa in Mellow and Inspector Kendo in the Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo series. He delivered a scene-stealing performance as Panda Mama in Shirokuma Cafe. He also appeared in Al Caral no Isan, Akai Hayate, Dragon Fist, Kiss wa Mi ni Shite, Blazing Transfer Student, and Wild 7.
• Tsujitani Kouji (Honda, the student council prez) played the title role in the Captain Tylor franchise and the lead role in the 3x3 Eyes OVAs. He also played Takei, Reiko's would-be fiance, in Sotsugyou: Graduation, Guy in Ai no Kusabi, Homare in Okane ga Nai, Shou in Condition Green, Saburou in Kasei Yakyoku, Kotarou in Genji, Part 1, and Seishirou in Yuukan Club, all Orphan releases.
• Tachiki Fumihiko (McCoy) played Taizou in Gintama, the narrator in Golden Kamuy, Ddraig in the High School DxD franchise, Ginpei in Nana, Gendou Ikari in the Evangelion franchise, and Daisuke in Oreimo.. He appeared in Sanada 10 and Jikuu Bouken, both Orphan releases.
• Hayami Kei (Kasumi, Hazumi's mother) appeared in Barakamon, Yuri!! on Ice, and other shows.
• Yamadera Kouichi (Chiryuu, the upskirt peeker) played many leading roles, including Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop, Sukeroku in Shouwa Ginroku Rakugo Shinju, Ryouga in all the Ranma 1/2 properties, and the nameless hero of Otaku no Seiza. He played the title role in Hashire! Melos, Benten in Oedo ga Nemurenai!, Almarick Aswaer in Nana Toshi Monogatari, Happyaku in Wild 7, and Ryouan in Hidamari no Ki, all Orphan releases. 
• Takehito Koyasu (Tenkuu) is reputed to be the most prolific voice actor currently active, with more than 365 roles under his belt. He played the title roles in Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo and Master of Mosquitron, Olivie in the Angelique franchise, Zeke in the Shingeki no Kyoujin franchise, Shinsuke in the Gintama franchise, Ryousuke in the Initial D franchise, Dio in the JoJo's Bizarre Adventures franchise, Sarutobi Sasuke in the Sengoku Basara franchise, Doujima Gin in the Shokugeki no Souma franchise, Thirteen in the Zero no Tsutaima franchise, and the lead roles in several Happy Science films. He played Izumi in Zetsuai and Bronze, Lennon O'Sullivan in Yamato 2520, and Bidou Granmarnier in Yuukan Club, and appeared in Kiss wa Me ni Shite and Dragon Fist, all Orphan releases.
• Kanai Mika (Hime) played the title role in the Licca-chan franchise, Normad in the Galaxy Angel franchise, Histoire in the Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise, Melonpanda in the Soreike! Anpanman franchise, Misato in Nana, and Lotte in Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko.
• Sakuma Rei (Lady Aoi, blonde Remnant) played Batako in Soreike! Appanman, April in Sol Bianca, Peorth in Ah! My Goddess, the title role in Aika, Shampoo in Ranma 1/2, Vena in Dragon Half, Kitty White in Hello Kitty, and Mii in Muumin. She also played Yukihime in Tengai Makyou, Naru in Blue Sonnet, Carmencita in Starship Troopers, Sizer in Hameln no Violin Hiki, and Belga the pirate in Cosmic Fantasy, all Orphan releases.
• Amano Yuri (Lady Freeze, purple-haired Remnant) played the title role in The Legend of Snow White, Julia in Daddy Long Legs, Kiyone in the Tenchi Muyo franchise, and Moemi in Video Girl Ai. She appeared as Catherine in Okama Hakusho, Kuzunoha in Akuemon, Angie in Condition Green, Elthena in Eien no Filena, Kitagawa in Nozomi Witches, Noriko in Singles, and Yuko in St. Michaela Gakuen Hyouryuuki, as well as multiple roles in Fukuyama Gekijou, all Orphan releases.
• Shiratori Yuri (Yuka, Hazumi's classmate) played the title roles in the Kiko Lala and Angelique franchises, Cherry in the Saber Marionette franchise, Aki in Boys Be..., and Hatoko in Angelic Layer. She appeared as Maria in Inochi no Chikyuu: Dioxin no Natsu and Lilith in Megami Paradise, both Orphan release. 
• Ohtsuka Akio (Kijima Touta, Remnant leader) played the title roles in most of the Black Jack properties, Ambassador Magma, Blade, and Montana Jones. He also played Gozo in the Aika franchise, Batou in the Ghost in the Shell franchise, the villain All for One in Boku no Hero Academia, and Nyanko Big in one memorable episode of Tada Never Falls in Love. He played Kenneth Guildford in Nana Toshi Monogatari, George in Condition Green, the narrator in Fire Emblem, Nobunaga the boss crow in Ultra Nyan 2, Zilu in Eiyuu Banka Koushi-den, and Black Jack in Tezuka Osamu Disappears, all Orphan releases.

The director, Nishikubo Toshihiko, is an alias for Nishikubo Mizuho, who directed Miyuki, Karuizawa Syndrome, Purple Eyes in the Dark, Oruorane the Cat Player, Heart Cocktail Again, and other favorite shows of mine.

The original scripts are by ToyRC. Perevodildo translation checked and filled in the prayers. ninjacloud timed. I edited and typeset. bananadoyouwanna, Topper3000, and Uchuu QCed. The raws are from Japanese laserdiscs, ripped on a Domesday Duplicated and encoded by an anonymous friend. The first two episodes are AAC; the last two are FLAC. Dunno why.

Bakuen Campus Guardress is action-packed, over-the-top, and utterly goofy. The ending is conclusively inconclusive and seems to show that the stakes were considerably lower than everyone thought. If you try to analyze it, you can blow a thousand holes in the story; but if you just let it wash over you, it's pretty good fun, if not exactly "must see" anime. 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. In addition, you can get a folder of scans, including end papers and LD covers, here.

Boku no Oldies wa All-Color

After Heart Cocktail, Watase Seizou released three more anime collections based on his stories:

• 1987: Boku no Oldies wa All-Color (My All-Color Oldies)
  
• 1988: Chalk-iro no People (Chalk-Colored People)
  
• 1992: Two on the Road

Like Heart Cocktail, these OVAs never made it across the Digital Divide and are available only on VHS tape and laserdisc. (Oldies and Two aren't even listed in AniDB.) Unlike Heart Cocktail, they have minimal animation and no dialog. Like a silent movie (or A-Girl), they have constant music, and signs or intertitles provide the dialog.

The first, Boku no Oldies wa All-Color (My All-Color Oldies), has five stories set to classic songs:

1. Riding a Wave to Ten Years Ago ("Love Me Tender")
2. Twenty Minutes to Kaguya-Hime ("Calendar Girl", "Fly Me to the Moon")
3. A Long Distance Call from a Town in the West ("Rhythm of the Rain")
4. 250km ("Moonlight Serenade")
5. The Two of Them Requested Gentle Rain ("Gentle Rain")

The opening and closing credits feature silhouettes (elegant, but minimally animated) of a couple, dancing to "Autumn Romance," which sounds vintage but was actually composed for the show. The stories are standard Watase Seizou: a man and woman, romance found and lost, the passage of time. The songs are covered, quite ably, by Japanese musicians and singers. They're in English, so they haven't been subtitled.

Once again, Darkonius (DarkWispers), MartyMcflies (LonelyChaser), and I (Orphan) collaborated on this project. Darkonius translated. Yume translation checked. Darkonius timed, and I fine-timed. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and Rezo QCed. The raw is a Japanese laserdisc, ripped on the Domesday Duplicator and encoded by an anonymous friend. We will be doing Chalk-iro no People next; we're still looking for a source for Two on the Road.

Because there's no dialog, and the signs linger long enough for even the slowest readers, Boku no Oldies wa All-Color seems to move more slowly that Heart Cocktail, which was already fairly laid-back. Still, I like the music and the stories. 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.

 

Science Saru x MBS Original Short Anime Daisakusen

Here's another set of four 90-second anime from Japanese TV. Titled Science Saru x MBS Original Short Anime Daisakusen - the title takes longer to read than the episodes take to watch - these shorts feature four different directors.

1. Okuninushi and Sukunabikona - The titular characters compete to see who can hold it the longest.
2. Moon (part 1) - A Moon creature's picnic is interrupted by a friendly dog (?) in a space suit.
3. Moon (part 2) - The dog returns to interrupt the Moon creature's camping trip.
4. The Bird in the Pantheon - A mood piece about a woman, a painting, and a bird.

Only the first has any dialog, and the seiyuu are quite well known for such small roles:

• Kobayashi Chiaki (Okuninushi) starred as Asakase in Sonny Boy, Yuiichi in Tomodachi Game, the title roles in Moriarty the Patriot and Ragna Crimson, Hayate in Cool Doji Danshi, Gabimaru in Jigokuraku, Stark in Sousou no Frieren, and many other roles.
• Izawa Shiori (Sukunabikon) played Piyo-chan in Dragon Goes House Hunting, Nanachi in the Made in Abyss franchise, Noriko in Kuzu no Honkai, and numerous other roles.
• Satou Rina (narrator) starred as Negi in the Negima franchise. She played Rina in the Natsume Yuujinchou franchise, Misaka Mikoto in the Toaru Railgun/Index franchise, Nagi in Eve no Jikan, Rinko in the Yondemsasu-yo, Azazel-san franchise (a favorite), and Saki in Genshiken Nidaime. She appeared in Shirokuma Cafe, an Orphan release.
  

The directors have worked on several recent series.

1. Yokoyama Akitoshi also directed Cutie Honey Universe, Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu, and Photokano.
2. Kinoshita Eri was the animation director for Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
3. Choi Eun-Yeong directed the "Akakiri" segment of Star Wars: Visions and produced Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
4. Murakoshi Makai was the key animator for Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

As with Fruit Brains, Skr saw these shorts, captured them, encoded them, translated them, and typeset. I QCed. Another timely venture! You can get these shorts from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

 

Heart Cocktail Again

Twenty years after the original Heart Cocktail manga, Watase Seizou released another anime collection, Heart Cocktail Again. Unlike the original series, which languished on the wrong side of the Digital Divide, Heart Cocktail Again was released on DVD, with an English dub and English subtitles. Although the DVD sells for exorbitant prices in Japan, it has been available as a DVD remux for a while.

The Heart Cocktail team was not happy with the timing or accuracy of the English subtitles, so we decided to do a new version with a new translation. The result is this release: eight new stories, a prologue, an epilogue, and a dialog-free special. It's good to be back in the Heart Cocktail universe again.

The format hasn't changed. The stories are four or five minutes long, typically involving a nameless man and nameless woman exploring the contours of romance - found, lost, or regained. If this set seems a bit more wistful and melancholy - with more emphasis on the lost than the found - that's only an impression. I still find the stories immensely appealing. The last story, "The Station I Passed in Two Seconds," is a particular favorite.

Chapters 1, 6, and 8 use the leads from the original Heart Cocktail volume 3:

• Okuda Tamiyoshi is primarily a narrator. He also appeared in the recent reboot of the series, Heart Cocktail: Colorful.
• Shimamoto Sumi debuted as Clarisse in The Castle of Cagliostro. She starred as Sara in Princess Sara, Nausicaa in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Otonashi Kyouko in Maison Ikkoku, and Dayan in Neko no Dayan. She also played Shokupanman in the Soreike! Anpanman franchise, Tinkerbell in Peter Pan no Bouken, Antoinette in Reporter Blues, Big Mama in Bakuretsu Hunter, Sue in Maris the Choujo, Elice in Fire Emblem, Miss Akiko in The Girl with Blue Eyes, Suzuko and Suzu in Fire Tripper, the female lead in volume 3 of the original Heart Cocktail, and the mother in Kiku and the Wolf. The last six are Orphan releases.

In the other chapters, the unnamed male and female leads are played by new actors:

• Yamadera Kouichi (man) played many leading roles, including Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop, Sukeroku in Shouwa Ginroku Rakugo Shinju, Ryouga in all the Ranma 1/2 properties, and the nameless hero of Otaku no Seiza. He plaued the title role in Hashire! Melos, Almarick Aswaer in Nana Toshi Monogatari, Benten in Oedo ga Nemurenai!, Happyaku in Wild 7, and Ryouan in Hidamari no Ki, all Orphan releases.
• Tanaka Atsuko (woman) played Mauve in ACCA, Nena Hargen in Aika, Cassandra in Alexander: Reign the Conqueror, Caster in the Fate franchise, Motoko Kusanagi in the GITS franchise, Bynas in Ozma, Claudette in Queen's Blade, and Jagara in Wolf's Rain. She also played Yuri in Nemure Omoigo, Sora no Shitone ni, new Mamamega in Megami Paradise, and Dana in AWOL Compression Remix, all Orphan releases.

The nameless extras are played by well-known seiyuu too:

• Imai Yuka starred as Jinto in the Crest/Banner of the Stars franchise. She also played Ranchiki in Maze, Otani in the Saber Marionette franchise, Shibuya in the Uta no Prince-sama franchise, and Sugimoto in Doukyuusei 2, an Orphan release.
• Koyama Takehiro had featured roles in Cowboy Bebop, Demon Lord Dante, Project Blue Earth SOS, and Robotics; Notes. He appeared in Nagasaki 1945: The Angelus Bell, an Orphan release.
• Ueda Yuuji played Johannes Krauser II in Detroit Metal City (OVA), Fuuma Yousuke in Wedding Peach, Sagara Sonosuke in Rurouni Kenshin, Tenkata Akito in Kidou Senkan Nadeseico, Keitarou in Love Hina, Makoto in Futari Ecchi, and Takeshi in Pokemon. He also voiced Shuichi in Arisa Good Luck, Takagi-kun in Let's Nupu Nupu, and Nanbara in Hand Maid May, all Orphan releases.
• Yasamura Makoto played Fumihiko in REC, Johnny Beppu in the Aikatsu franchise, Shouji in Ookiku Furikabutte, the father in Chii's Sweet Adventure, Shouzou in the Rinne no Lagrange franchise, Gasteau in the Galaxy Angel franchise, and Will Davis in Heroman.
• Okuda Tamiyoshi is primarily a narrator. He is listed as a 友情出演 (friendship performance). This usually indicates that the director, original creator, or the actor himself requested the performance, and that it was probably done at a "friendship price".

The director, Nishikubo Mizuho, also directed the Miyuki TV series, as well as some of my favorite Orphan OVAs - Karuizawa Syndrome, Purple Eyes in the Dark, and Ourorane the Cat Player.

The release has a plethora of tracks to choose from:

• Japanese 5.1 surround audio (default)
• Japanese 2.0 audio
• English 5.1 surround audio
• Music-only 5.1 surround audio
• Styled subtitles (default)
• Official English subtitles (VOBsub)
• Official Japanese subtitles (VOBsub)

So you can "pick a path" to create your own experience; for example, music-only plus subtitles, for a "silent movie" experience; or English dub, for a subtitle-free viewing.

The credits are basically the same as Heart Cocktail. This is a joint project from Orphan Fansubs, DarkWispers, and LonelyChaser Fansubs. Darkonius translated. ninjacloud cleaned up the timing. I edited and typeset. Nemesis and Uchuu QCed. Darkonius (for DarkWispers), Collectr (for Orphan) and MartyMcflies (for LonelyChaser) did the planning and coordination. Rezo encoded the raw from the aforementioned DVD remux. There are no animated credits - quite a departure from the lengthy (5 minute+) credit sequences in the original Heart Cocktail. Instead, the credits are displayed interactively in a special section of the DVD menu; the extracted frames can be found here.

This is not the end of the team's exploration of Watase Seizou's work. He released three dialog-free OVAs, Chalk-iro no People, Boku wa Oldies na All-Color, and Two on the Road. The stories are similar to Heart Cocktail, but the dialog is presented as signs rather than spoken aloud. We'll be getting to them in due course, if we find sources.

Meanwhile, here is Heart Cocktail Again, for your enjoyment. You can get the release from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.

 

Satsujin Kippu wa Heart-iro v2

Satsujin Kippu wa Heart-iro (The Murder Ticket Is Heart-Colored) is a 1990 standalone OVA based on a series of young adult novels for women by Yamaura Hiroyasu. Orphan released the show in 2016. We're happy to release an updated version with improved video.

Satsujin Kippu tells the story of Nagare Seiko, a teenage girl who has been temporarily suspended from her private high school in Tokyo for defending a friend from bullies. She decides to take advantage of this involuntary vacation by taking a trip to Nagasaki with her black-and-white cat, Gonbei. On the train down, she meets a handsome young man, a guitarist name Takano Kyouichirou, only to learn that he had apparently been murdered days earlier. 

 

She also encounters Misora Chuuta, a brash youngster who is clearly interested in her – an interest she doesn't reciprocate – and an older man, unnamed, who helps her when she's in trouble. Seiko repeatedly crosses paths with Chuuta as she tours Nagasaki, despite repeated attempts to give him the brush off. Eventually, Seiko gets involved in a murder mystery concerning a prominent local family, the Totsugawas. Reluctantly accepting Chuuta's help, she works to unravel the twin mysteries of the ghostly guitarist and the Totsugawa family. 

Satsujin Kippu is not a particularly deep mystery, and the solution comes out of left field, but it observes the rules of classical mystery fiction. (This allows the viewer to guess who the criminal is long before the main characters do.) Seiko makes a spunky heroine, never falling into tropes such as the maiden in distress or the tsundere. Chuuta is sufficiently eccentric to make him both interesting and suspicious. There's a lot more comedy and ghostly doings than clues and gore, so the result is a pleasant diversion for all ages (one brief nude scene aside). And besides, it has Gonbei, a cat that's rather talented: at one point, he gives Chuuta the traditional Japanese raspberry, the akanbe (pulling down one's lower eyelid and sticking out one's tongue).

 

The voice cast includes:

• Seki Toshihiko (Chuuta) played the title role in Izumo, Riki in Ai no Kusabi, Raiel in Hameln no Violin Hiki, the hero Seitarou in Hoshi Neko Full House, the gang leader Hiba in Wild 7, Miroku in Yuukan Club, the fighter Nagase Jun in Akai Hayate, Hayata in Call Me Tonight, Ootsuki in Milky Passion: Dougenzaka - Ai no Shiro, Junichiro in Kasei Yakyoku, Shouji, the guitar player, in To-Y, Bijomaru in Ai to Ken no Camelot, and the unnamed protagonist of Oruorane the Cat Player, all Orphan releases. He also played Matsuda in the Yawara! properties, Sanzo in the Saiyuuki TV series, Mousse in Ranma 1/2, and the title roles in Alexander (Reign the Conqueror) and Kaiketsu Zorro.
• Matsuoka Miyori (Seiko) has a thin resume. She is best known for playing Fa Yuiry in the Gundam franchise.
• Shimada Bin (Kyouchirou) played Ken Nakajima in the You're Under Arrest franchise and numerous other roles, as well as played Konaki Jijii and Wally Wall in the most recent version of GeGeGe no Kitarou. He appeared in Okama Report, Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou, Fukyukayama Gekijou, Tomoe's Run, and Sangokushi, all Orphan releases.
• Doi Mika (Totsugawa Misako) played the title roles in Angel Cop and Explorer Woman Ray, Hayase Misa in the Macross franchise, the empress (Lafiel's grandmother) in the Crest of the Stars saga, Tabitha in the Zero no Tsukaima properties, Eclipse in Kiddy Grade, the narrator in Mushishi, and Nanase in Natsume Yuujinchou. She appeared as Yukari in Mikeneko Holmes no Yuurei Joushu, Rosa in Seikima II Humane Society, Captain Deladrier in Starship Troopers, Hagar and Elizabeth in Tezuka Osamu's Tales of the Old Testament, and multiple roles in Kage, all Orphan releases.
• Sawaki Ikuya (Gonbei) played Gooley in the Dirty Pair franchise. He also played 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.

The director, Sugiyama Taku, started at Tezuka Osamu's Mushi Productions, where he was Art Director for Sen'ya Ichiya Monogatari. He directed a number of other movies and TV series, including Hi no Tori 2772 and Bosco Daibouken.

Some translation notes:

 

• Japanese Blue Trains were long-distance sleeper trains, nicknamed for the color of their cars. They were replaced by the Shinkansen (bullet trains).
  
• 3-kyu in Aikido. Aikido has two basic skill levels, kyu and dan. Within each level are grades, expressed by numbers. Kyu and dan are sometimes referred to as white belt and black belt, but other colors are used as well.
• Urakami Cathedral (St. Mary's Cathedral in Urakami) was built in 1895, when the long-standing ban against Christianity in Japan was lifted. It was completely destroyed in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945 and rebuilt in 1959 on its original site.
• The Nagasaki Peace Park abuts Urakami Cathedral. It contains a 10-meter tall sculpture, pictured in the anime, by local sculptor Seito Kitamura.
• The Dutch Slope (oranda-zaka) is a hillside residential area of Nagasaki where Dutch merchants settled in the second half of the 19^th century.
• Hinoki cypress bath. Hinoki cypress is a slow-growing Japanese tree. Its high quality wood is lemon-scented, light pinkish-brown, with a rich, straight grain, and is highly rot-resistant.
• Amakusa Shirou. He led an uprising of Japanese Roman Catholics against the Tokugawa shogunate in 1637. He also featured in two other Orphan releases, Samurai Spirits and Sei Michaela Gakuen Hyouryuuki
  
• Sannomaru means "third enclosure."

The original version used an anonymous Internet raw. Iri translated the show and did the initial timing. Yogicat did the detailed timing, I edited and typeset, and Redac and Xenath3297 did QC.This version stemmed from WOWmd's kind offer to rip his Japanese laserdisc on the Domesday Duplicator and then encode the result. It has many fewer blended frames as well as improved detail. This allowed for a bit more typesetting. I also took the opportunity to clean up some CPS issue in the original. Nemesis RCed this version. It has Opus audio, whatever that is. I thought Opus was a penguin in Bloom County.

Satsujin Kippu wa Heart-iro is a lighthearted mystery caper, with more comedy and romance than thrills and chills. I thoroughly enjoyed it both the first time and this time, and I hope you will too. You can get this version from the usual torrent site or from IRC bot Orphan|Arutha in channels #nibl or #news on irc.rizon.net.